Part 26 (2/2)

'We'll see.' Tommy reloaded the shotgun and motioned for everyone to get moving again. 'Let's go!'

At Mary Mills' house, Jean and Rita were still hiding in the understairs cupboard. Jean was desperate to go to the toilet but did not dare leave the cramped s.p.a.ce for fear of discovery. She had promised Mummy not to go out and she would keep the promise as long as possible.

Rita started coughing and wheezing again as the air in the cupboard became increasingly stale. Jean wondered how long her sister would survive. Bette had faded away over several hours and now Rita was showing the first signs of the same slow, painful process.

Something creaked in the house. Jean had jumped at the first few noises they heard while hiding in the cupboard, but that was just the house s.h.i.+fting. At night she sometimes thought the house was like an old man breathing, the way floorboards creaked and groaned. But this noise was different. Somebody was at the front door.

Jean put a finger over her sister's lips, willing her not to cough. Then the elder girl crept to the door of the cupboard and pressed her face against the wood. She peered through the gap between door and wall, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

The footfalls grew nearer, as someone stepped into the hallway from outside. Wood splintered and broke apart as the visitor stood on the broken front door. The steps got louder as the intruder shuffled along the hallway, getting ever closer to the cupboard.

Jean saw movement as a dark shadow pa.s.sed the cupboard, but she could not make out the shape of it. She craned her head round, trying to follow the figure. A smell like rotting fruit began to fill the hallway and filter into the cupboard, putrid and disgusting. Then Jean heard the sniffing.

The intruder was breathing in heavily through its nose, then hissing the breath out through its teeth. Jean could see the intruder twisting its head, as if trying to locate the source of an elusive scent. Then the figure turned around beneath the naked lightbulb in the hallway and Jean forced her fingers into her mouth to stop herself screaming.

'Can you hear that?' Brick asked. 'Sounds like screaming, people screaming.'

The quintet had reached St Luke's and was making final preparations before entering the church. The Doctor opened his satchel and flicked a switch on the device. Lights began blinking into life as the power supply began to spread its energy through the a.s.semblage of wiring and circuitry. The others were reloading their weapons and filling their pockets with spare ammunition.

In the heat of battle there would be no time to stop and open boxes of bullets before reloading. All five men were stopped by the sound of screams.

'Where's it coming from?' Tommy asked. The smog deadened sound, making it difficult to determine from which direction it was emanating. A light flashed briefly from a building in the distance, accompanied by more screams.

'The bread factory, over there!' Brick said.

There was another flash of light, accompanied by a single, female scream. This time the source was inside St Luke's Church. The stained-gla.s.s windows were illuminated from within by a powerful beam.

'And that was the church,' Tommy said. 'Where's Jack and the rest of the lads? There's only five of us here. We can't split our numbers up even further!'

The Doctor gazed at the church before making his decision.

'I recognised that last scream. It was Sarah. She's still inside St Luke's.'

Tommy took a step towards the church but the Doctor stopped him. 'No, I'll save Sarah. I brought her to this place, it's up to me to see she gets out alive.You have to go to the bread factory and try to close it down. More and more police stations are falling under the control of the Xhinn. London is dying from this smog, but you've seen how the Xhinn use even the dead to do their dirty work.'

'That's where the old bill is getting all the reinforcements!'

Tommy realised. 'So no more bread, no more coppers to fight?'

'Exactly. You have to shut down that factory. Stopping the bread supply will take away their army, make them weaker and more vulnerable.'

'What about you?'

'I've got to face the Xhinn myself that's why I came here.

Unless I can stop them, this world will be ripe for colonisation.

This is just a scouting mission. Stop it and the main Xhinn force might think twice.'

'Might?'

The Doctor smiled weakly. 'It's the best we can hope for.'

'What about Miss Smith?' Brick asked.

'If they haven't already killed her, then she's a hostage. It was Sarah who persuaded me to come here, to stop this tragedy. I won't let her become another victim of the Xhinn.'

'I'm coming with you, Doctor,' Brick said.

'But Brick ' Tommy began to protest.

A single glance from the big man silenced his boss. Tommy turned to Billy and Charlie. 'You boys ready for some action?'

The brothers grinned at each other. 'Too right!' they agreed.

'Then let's get going,' Tommy replied. 'Good luck, Doctor.'

He shook hands with Brick. 'Thanks for all your help, Arthur.

It's appreciated.'

Brick didn't trust himself to speak.

Tommy and the brothers ran off into the smog, towards the bread factory. They were quickly swallowed up by the yellow and grey mist. The Doctor and Brick walked to St Luke's. They paused in front of the church.

'Brick, I want you to stand guard outside these doors. Let n.o.body else in,' the Doctor said. He held up a hand to silence the big man's protests. 'I know you want to save Sarah we both do. But what I have to do will be very dangerous. I need you here, guarding my back. Fair enough?'

'Fair enough.'

'Good man.' The Doctor checked the contents of his satchel, straightened the frilled cuffs of his s.h.i.+rt and opened the door to St Luke's Church. Light blazed from within, almost blinding him. Squinting to see his way forward, the Doctor stepped inside and the door closed slowly behind him.

Brick took up sentry duty outside, listening intently for noises from within.

Jean could not help staring at the dead policeman. She knew he was dead because his lower jawbone was missing, along with the flesh and skin that should have surrounded it. His clothes were soaked with dried blood, as if someone had spilled beetroot juice down his front.

Jean noticed the dead man still had his tonsils, even though his tongue was missing. Her own tonsils had been removed when she was five. Her Mummy had promised she could have all the jelly and ice cream she wanted afterwards but Jean's throat had been so sore she didn't feel like having any. She wondered if the dead man liked jelly and ice cream.

He seemed to be staring right at her, but his eyes had no life.

They were more like a doll's eyes, empty and cold. Instead he was trying to sniff them out. Jean closed her eyes and started praying silently to herself, lips mouthing the words. Please don't let the bad man find us, she thought, and please look after Mummy and Bette. Jean knew Mummy had gone away to die but she hadn't cried in front of Rita. Better to be brave. Better not to let her little sister know the truth, that they would never see Mummy again.

When Jean opened her eyes, the bad man had turned away again. He shuffled into the kitchen. We're safe, Jean thought then Rita began coughing again. Jean crouched by her sister and clamped a hand over Rita's mouth.

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