The Hunter Inside (46 page)

The centre of
the craft was now in a direct line with him. Somewhere deep in the back of his
mind he could hear the other car screaming away, its tyres spinning on wet
leaves as its occupiers attempted to

…get the fuck
out of here…

The thought
suddenly came to him as the tail-end of the craft passed his vantage point.
Simultaneously, his paralysis was broken and he kept his eyes on the craft as
it positively oozed through the air, while fumbling for the key in the
ignition.

This wasn’t no
weather balloon. It wasn’t a top secret military aircraft either. Luke knew
that. This was
them
.

They
were
here.

He got the
engine started, groping blindly as he watched the craft, thinking that you
could fit the whole population of Camberway
and
Turton inside it at the
same time.

In his haste to
get moving, he put the car into drive and almost tramped down on the
accelerator without thinking about the drop below. He forgot in an instant how
close he had come to death, as the craft disappeared behind the copse of trees
where…

…where his
father dumped his mother’s body.

All at once he
knew for sure, without a doubt, that his father, Art Bonalo, was a murderer.
They had told him, he knew that, and he suddenly wanted to follow them. Follow
them for as long as he could.

Luke backed out
onto the road. He went too fast – if there had been any cars coming up to Key
Brow, he would almost certainly have been shunted over the edge. They would
have no reaction time whatsoever, but Luke was in luck.

The other car he
had seen earlier had already roared away recklessly from the scene. It had, in
fact, wrapped itself around a tree, killing the wide-eyed young couple inside.
But Luke wanted to follow it.

Maybe it would
land. It was certainly too high-tech to crash, and maybe he would get a chance
to see what the creatures inside it looked like.

With a flash of
light that merged the different colours in the million lights on the craft, it
soared upwards into the sky. It ascended smoothly and effortlessly away from
Luke Bonalo, leaving him open-mouthed and shaking as he watched it travel
faster than he could ever have imagined, but without trailing a sonic boom
behind it.

He hadn’t gotten
to see what was inside, and he pulled onto the side of the road as he watched
it become no bigger than the stars.

But maybe they
would come back, and maybe he would get to see exactly what they looked like.
His body tingled with anticipation that felt like
more
than
anticipation. Like the energy force of another world washing over him.

Yes, he was sure
that they would be back, and that he would see them again.

And he was
right.