Tremor: If your world was falling apart, how far would you go to save it? (The Tremor Cycle) (5 page)

Could he really use it to get away from the Enforcers? He looked at the photograph and tried not to think about where his mother was. What was he thinking? The pass had his mother’s name and picture printed across it! The only way he’d be able to get away with it was if the men were severely short-sighted.

‘Found another abductee again today, dead as always.’

William pricked up his ears.

‘We’ll never find a live one,’ said the second man.

‘How do you know that?’

‘Cause we aren’t dealing with anyone close to sane. You seen the state of the bodies?’

The voices faded as they headed down the road William had just exited. William hoped that Markus and his family were still inside.

He pushed himself up and ran down the street to his right. Terrafall had always implied the Scavengers were behind the abductions, so what were those two Enforcers on about?

For his mother’s sake, William hoped they were joking about never finding an abductee alive.

He finally made it to Thorny Hills, where many people had enough land to grow crops. It was in a much better state than the outer housing estates. Although many homes were shadows of their former selves, the townhouses still held onto some of their character, with their wide bow windows and solid oak doors. This area was adjacent to the suburbs where the Terrafall top brass had their mansions, protected by huge numbers of Peace Enforcers. William scowled.

He stepped towards a small cul-de-sac. The large houses curved in on each other, their roofs colliding in places making the slate hang dangerously over the edge. But their bricks clung together, pressing against each other, and this probably made them more stable against the tremors.

William always felt safer in this part of town. The buildings were better built, which meant they wouldn’t collapse so easily. He slipped through an open portico between two houses, careful to avoid the four Enforcers who stood guard in a booth by the entrance of the cul-de-sac.

Did he actually have a plan? Sort of, he’d go to Althea’s for help. He had no other family, so it was the only place that was safe enough, especially at night.

The lights in the street fizzed then went out, and darkness drifted over William like a falling sheet.

‘That crappy power plant.’ He put his arms out like a zombie, trying to feel ahead so he didn’t run smack bang into something. ‘Flippin’ piece of junk.’

The plant had been built five miles outside Kentvale, to create power from a disused coalmine that had been discovered by Terrafall after the war. It was the organisation’s base of operations in the north of England. And yes, it made life more comfortable, when it worked.

As far as William was concerned, Terrafall supplying electricity was yet another way of keeping a stranglehold on what was left. His mother, however, had always praised them for rebuilding it, as it brought some normality back to their lives.

Mum.

With great effort, William stopped the tears before they formed again and pushed on, keeping his arms out.

Tentatively feeling his way forward, he shuffled along, making slow progress. It really didn’t surprise him when his foot slipped down a crack. He felt his ankle twist and managed to suppress the scream, but couldn’t stop himself losing his balance. He smashed into the floor, smacking his head on a fragment of rock.

His eyes closed. The darkness became real now.

The dark shadow slipped through the streets, the eerie mist making him look like a phantom. All he needed now was the horse and the severed head and his look would be complete. His pale face twisted into a disturbed contortion. The images were unnerving, and made him move faster.

It wasn’t possible to stop; he had to know who this boy was. Did the child live with the woman? If so, the woman was most likely his mother, although you could never be sure nowadays, could you? Well, he wasn’t about to be outwitted by a child.

He looked to the sky. Night was upon him. No matter, he’d find the boy and when he did the answers would be his, but how to approach it? Delicately, or with force? He needed the answers. They were the only things that could relieve him and this was the first time he’d found someone alive. A gentle approach might be the most appropriate way, the boy was a mere child after all, but would aggression help pull the answers from his tongue with greater haste?

Hesitating, the man placed a gloved hand over his heart. This quest had rendered him barely recognisable; he’d very nearly lost his once peaceful identity. The world had taken enough from him already, but he wasn’t going to let it transform him into a monster, not just yet anyway.

The boy would fall into his web, eventually.

Chapter 4

Althea

‘Help me put him on the bed, quickly!’ shouted a familiar voice. ‘I found him in the alley. It’s a good job I took the rubbish out when I did. Oh God, Will, what have you done to yourself?’

Pain pricked his head and he felt a warm, sticky substance seep down his cheeks. ‘What–w–where am I?’ he managed to say, as his body fell onto a soft surface.

‘War ate this planet. Oh the panic, oh how terrible it was! Everything’s gone now, all gone,’ spluttered another voice close to William. ‘Oh William, oh son, what have you done to yourself? Sleep now, yes, sleep.’

‘Grandad, calm down, William’s really hurt!’ said the first voice. ‘Go sit in your chair.’

William now recognised the voice as belonging to Althea and it made him relax a little, despite the throbbing pain.

‘What’s happened, Alfie?’ said a new voice, a much younger one: Althea’s eleven-year-old brother Orion.

‘Go and get me some bandages, Ori, I’m going to clean him up. Bring me a bowl of warm water, too!’

William winced, trying to push himself into a sitting position. ‘You’ve got to help me, Althea,’ he said, his forehead wrinkling in pain, blood-tangled hair falling into his eyes.

‘I will, I will, but you’ve got to rest. We’ll talk in the morning,’ replied Althea, pushing William back down.

‘B–but, Mum’s been taken. S–someone was after me. I fell… terrafall… mum…’ William said, trying to struggle against Althea’s strong push. His head spun feverishly.

‘You said all that when we found you. It was a bit mumbled, but I got it,’ said Althea, wiping some blood from William’s cheek and washing his hair. ‘It’s too late now. We can’t do anything until first light, we’d just get arrested.’

Althea was right. They’d just have to wait, which meant that his mother would have to wait too, wherever she was.

William felt his eyes roll back and he let the rocking of another tremor lull him into a deep sleep.

Light filtered into the clutter-filled room, which was crammed with all kinds of gardening equipment. William grabbed his head, teeth clamped tightly down against the pain. ‘Flippin’ crap, it hurts so much,’ he gasped, falling back onto the pillow.

‘You’re awake!’ said Althea, getting up from an armchair in the tidiest of the corners.

‘It’s a long shot, but have you got anything for the pain?’ asked William. Along the walls in front of him, piles of old cardboard boxes filled with plant pots were stacked up, blotting out some of the invading light, but it was still too bright and he had to look through half-closed eyes.

‘Of course, I had it ready for you,’ replied Althea, smiling. ‘Take this.’ She passed him a glass of water and dropped something into it with a plop. ‘Aspirin.’

‘How d’ya get it?’ He shook the glass and watched the small chalky lump dissolve in the water, fizzing slightly.

‘Terrafall made us VICs,’ said Althea, shrugging. ‘It’s kind of good because we’ve got Grandad’s arthritis to worry about and we get access to medicine. And he’s beginning to get really confused lately, so Terrafall might be able to give us something for that too.’

‘VICs?’ asked William, downing the liquid with a grimace.

‘Very Important Citizens, because we grow food for the town. Terrafall needs it more than ever, now that the tremors are getting worse, so it’s made it clear it needs us, I suppose.’

‘How come I haven’t heard of it?’ William asked.

‘Only people who grow food get given it when they supply a certain amount. I guess we hit the target. We’ve been given extra protection too. Terrafall sent over three more Enforcers to guard the cul-de-sac.’

The mention of the guards spurred his memory. His mother! The pain of the night before had almost blinded him to reality.

‘What are we going to do about my mum?’ he asked, attempting to climb out of bed, but falling back again. ‘Crap, my head…’

‘Tell me everything that happened. From the beginning.’

William sank back into the pillow, closed his eyes and began recalling the events of the previous night, even though it brought tears to his eyes and caused the pain in his head to intensify.

Althea jumped up. ‘Right, first we’re going to have something to eat, and then I think we should go to the Peace Station and report what’s happened,’ she said. ‘We’ll need to be careful too. If there really is someone after you, who’s to say they won’t have followed you?’

‘You don’t think we should go back to the house?’ said William.

‘Might not be safe.’

He tried sitting again, and this time managed to step out of bed. On top of the covers he found a clean set of clothes waiting for him and slowly pulled them on. Not only did his head throb, but he remembered how he’d also jarred his knee. He hobbled a bit but didn’t fall. ‘To be honest I don’t actually care. I just want to find her, Alfie.’

‘We will. There’ve been so many abductions that the Peace Force must have something in place for when it happens. At least, I hope they do.’ Althea smiled reassuringly, briefly stepping out of view behind some crates. She appeared again wearing black trousers and a grey cardigan draped loosely over a purple top.

‘God knows how long it’ll take though,’ replied William, rubbing his sore knee.

‘Kentvale isn’t too big, so if she’s been taken she couldn’t have gone too far,’ Althea said, after which she paused for a moment to massage her temples. ‘The Enforcers might be in my bad books for not helping my parents, but they’ll know more about what’s been happening on the streets so they might have news, or at least a clue. We can’t pass up on that possibility.’ She headed out of the room as she spoke.

‘But from what I heard last night, no one’s been found alive yet,’ said William, slowly following her, wary of the wobbliness of his legs.

Althea stopped for a second but didn’t say anything, then continued to stride on.

William thought back to what the Enforcers had said the night before: ‘Dead as always…’ He shivered.

The pungent smell of boiling cabbage and herbs hit William’s nostrils as they entered the cluttered kitchen. Althea insisted he ate, as she figured out he’d not eaten since The Brambles. His stomach felt hollow, so despite the pressing need to get to the Peace Station, he agreed.

‘I thought I’d make you something. I was worried about you after last night,’ said Ori, Althea’s brother. He stood by the stove, his wooden spoon barely making contact with the saucepan he was stirring. He was wearing faded superhero pyjamas and a blue dressing gown, his big brown eyes twinkling as he beamed at William. ‘You feeling better now, Will?’

‘Been better, mate.’ William smiled in return as he took the cabbage and ruffled Ori’s bright blond hair. The kid was wise beyond his years; William supposed he had to be.

‘Oh, so Robin Hood has come for breakfast. Well I never!’ exclaimed Althea’s grandfather, Jim, who sat in a wooden chair by the stove. ‘I must get some gardening done today, Althea darling.’

Althea crossed the room and patted her grandfather’s arm. ‘Grandad, it’s William, not Robin! Remember? Ori, have you given him some breakfast?’ She tucked a blanket around her grandfather and seeing Ori shake his head, passed the old man a bowl of cabbage.

‘Oh Alfie, you do look like your mother. I haven’t seen her in some time, Alfie. I do miss her. My arms ache.’ His brow furrowed. ‘I must go, those vegetables won’t grow themselves you know! And you, Robin, better not swing from my vines again!’ His face went blank. ‘You’re not Robin, are you? Oh, I do forget things. It’s all muddled up there you know,’ he finished, tapping the side of his head.

William frowned. Although he’d grown used to Jim, sometimes the randomness of the comments took him by surprise. To forget things, even the most simple of things like names and whether people had died, was cruel. Almost worse than death, he supposed. He couldn’t imagine forgetting about those who meant so much to him.

Like his father.

Or mother.

William ate quickly. The sooner they were on their way to the Peace Station to report his mother’s disappearance – he shook his head – abduction, the better.

William finished his breakfast and looked at the clock. ‘We should set off,’ he said, standing. The sudden movement caused his head to throb.

Althea swung on her rucksack. ‘Let’s go,’ she said, kissing Ori on the cheek. ‘Look after Grandad. And make sure he doesn’t do too much in the allotment. You know what he’s like, always overdoing it.’

‘Don’t worry Alfie, I’ve got it covered. He turns into old Grandad when he gets near that veg, plus I think I’m picking up a few things from him.’ Ori unlocked the door for them. ‘Good luck, Will. I hope you find her, I really do.’

‘Me too, mate,’ replied William, rubbing Ori’s shoulder as he went through the door.

‘William,’ Jim’s voice boomed out across the kitchen.

William paused, half out of the door.

‘I may forget things from time to time, but I do remember your mum, and I hope you find Judy, she is a great woman,’ said his friend’s grandfather.

William nodded, appreciating the fact that Jim had said ‘is’ and not ‘was’, and walked outside.

They came out of the cul-de-sac and into the main street. A few market stalls scattered the breadth of it, mostly filled with harvested food as well as worthless rubbish that the poorer people wanted to trade for the items they needed.

That’s how people got by now. They swapped what they had in order to make a living. Money was worthless, which was why most of the shops and buildings lining the road were boarded up and no longer in use. Any bartering or trading had to be done outside, where Terrafall’s Enforcers could keep an eye on things. William knew they did this to make sure that no one traded anything important like weapons, which could be used against the town rulers.

William limped along determinedly, but something caught his eye. He peered into a doorway and spied the moving outline of a person. Looking more closely, the sight that greeted him was shocking.

‘Do you have any food?’ he asked Althea.

‘Why?’

William pointed. Sure they were in a rush, but he had to help this woman, who seemed to be one of the walking, or rather crouching, dead. Her skin was sucked deep into her face, cheekbones protruding at horrifying angles.

Althea quickly complied and placed a solitary carrot in his hand. ‘Happy to help but I only had two and we’ve got to be careful! VICs or not, we’ve only got cabbage, lettuce and some parsley in the allotment, and a few cans of soup to last us the month.’ She grimaced. ‘And I know for a fact those cans went out of date a month ago.’

Thanking her, William knelt down and passed the carrot to the elderly woman, curled up under a ragged hessian sack.

‘Bless you, child, bless you both,’ she said, gently stroking William’s hands before hungrily beginning to gnaw on the carrot.

‘Stay safe,’ William replied, nodding. He got up and they carried on walking.

‘You’re too nice,’ said Althea, after a while.

‘Hey, the carrot was yours.’ William nudged her playfully. ‘By the way, I owe you for these clothes, too.’ The old woman’s gratitude seemed to be infectious.

‘It’s fine, they were my dad’s. I don’t think Ori will be needing them anytime soon,’ said Althea, linking William’s arm. ‘Dad always said, when a man’s gone his spoils should be–’

She was cut off by a voice squawking: ‘The people at Terrafall take our food! They sit in their mansions and watch as this town, this world, crumbles! When it ends you can bet they will be locked up safe in their bunkers while we’re left to die. I tell you, vote against them; vote for a fairer system!’

The voice belonged to a raggedly dressed man with no hair on the crown of his head, standing on a plinth in the centre of the main road. As they watched ten Enforcers quickly surrounded him, and before he could utter another word the preacher was dragged off.

‘I think I saw that guy preaching the day my parents… you know. He got dragged off to The Pit then, too. He must have gotten out. I didn’t think that was possible.’

William looked across at her as she led them through the crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle. He took her hand.

‘Is it three months since they died?’ he asked. ‘My mind’s a bit fuzzy this morning. I think it was just after we got moved here wasn’t it? A month before Dad…’

Althea breathed in, green eyes looking up. ‘About three months, yeah,’ she said, breathing out.

Pain mixed with raw emotion suddenly made William feel nauseous. ‘It’s so flippin’ crap. I wish people could just work together instead of hurting each other…’

‘I wish it were that simple,’ Althea said, her mouth set in a straight line. ‘We just have to hope the Peace Force can help you now, don’t we?’ She tightened her grip on William’s hand.

William pushed himself to walk faster, ignoring the punching pain. The cobbles, numerous cracks, market stalls and scurrying people made it difficult to make any sort of meaningful progress, but they did their best to move quickly.

They passed the clock tower of the town hall, which rose into the sky in front of them, the weathervane reaching an impressive height even though its stature had been disfigured by the tremors. The tremors had knocked off the Corinthian pillars, the gargoyles and even the original façade, but Terrafall always found a way to restore it. William couldn’t count how many times it had been rebuilt. Terrafall had recently declared in a news report that it was a symbol of hope; that as long as the clock tower stood, Kentvale would survive.