Trust (20 page)

        `Well what else are we going to do?’ she screamed.

        I didn’t know. I walked away. I had to think.

        The only logical explanation I could find although it sounded bizarre and completely illogical was that the behaviour of the population had been controlled and manipulated by the aliens. And the ships we had just seen must have been a part of the same plan. The bastard things had enslaved the whole bloody planet right under our noses. So why hadn’t Clare and I succumbed? Why were we different? `Stay here and keep out of sight,’ I said suddenly. `Don’t go out and don’t let anyone in.’ `Where you going?’ she asked anxiously. `To get Rob and Siobhan. I don’t care what condition they’re in, I’m going to get them in the car and bring them back here.’ `You can’t leave us!’ `I can’t take you with me, can I? We can’t risk moving Penny.’ `But you can’t leave us…’ `I have to,’ I sighed. `I don’t want to but I’ve got to go. I need to know that Rob and Siobhan are safe. They’re all I’ve got left.’

        I walked over to Clare and held her tightly. Leaving the relative safety of the house really was the last thing I wanted to do but I didn’t seem to have a choice. I couldn’t bear the thought of Siobhan being alone with all of this going on. Even if she was still in the same desperate condition when I reached her today, at least we would be together again. I didn’t think she’d offer much resistance. And as for Rob, my duty to him was just as strong. `I’ll be back as soon as I can,’ I said quietly. `Okay,’ she said, still holding on to me tightly. `Just promise me that you’ll keep the door locked and that you won’t let anyone else in.’ `I promise. But what if…’ `No buts.’ `Okay.’

        Deliberately moving quickly so that I didn’t have the opportunity to change my mind, I grabbed my coat and headed for the front door. Clare followed close behind me. `See you later,’ I muttered and, with that, I went outside and pulled the door shut behind me.

28

        It was half-past six.

        As I fastened up my coat and shivered in the icy-cool air of early morning I walked to the end of Clare’s short drive and looked up and down the street. It was deserted. No doubt those people who were still capable of functioning rationally were curled up in fear deep inside their homes waiting for whatever was going to happen next.

        My car’s remote central locking wasn’t working.

        I tried the key in the lock and managed to open it manually.

        Once inside I quickly pulled the door shut and started the engine.

        Nothing.

        I checked the immobiliser, checked I had the right key and even checked that I was in the right car. I tried again.

        Nothing.

        It was completely dead.

        I looked back at Clare’s house and could see her standing in the shadows of her living room, watching. I got out of the car and gestured for her to get out of sight. I didn’t wait to see if she’d understood, I just started to jog back towards the village and then, ultimately, home. I had no idea how I was going to reach Siobhan’s house without the car. Maybe I could find a bike or something else to use so that I could…

        A sudden change in the light and shadow around me made me freeze. I looked up into the turbulent sky directly above me and watched in terrified awe as one of the immense alien ships carved a silent passage through the swirling clouds over my head, heading in the general direction of Thatcham. As it cruised powerfully forward, a bright opening appeared in its otherwise featureless belly and from it swooped a fleet of seventeen sleek, grey-silver shuttle crafts. As each one of the shuttles dropped down into the morning air a single pulse of brilliant white light appeared from their engines and they raced on ahead of the mother ship.

        Although the entire fleet was gone in seconds I knew that I couldn’t afford to drop my guard. No matter where I was standing, I could always see at least one other alien ship somewhere in the sky. I had no option but to keep on moving towards home. I hoped that my insignificance would be my saviour on this bitter and desperate morning.

        The streets of the village were silent and dead.

        I had a thousand and one unanswerable questions spinning round my tired mind as I ran and then walked towards my house.

        Why was I the only person stupid enough to be out in the open?

        Where was everyone else? I searched pointlessly for the answers to the most serious questions of all why were the alien ships here? There was no point in avoiding the obvious this was a full scale invasion. But why? And how had it happened? I didn’t get any comfort from knowing that my long held mistrust of the aliens had been well-founded. But Clare and I couldn’t have been the only ones who’d thought this way, could we?

        I took a right turn into Hope Street. Bloody ironic, I smiled to myself. `Hey, you…’ a voice hissed from out of nowhere. I span around quickly, looking for whoever it was who had spoken. The back doors of a inconspicuous-looking transit van slowly opened outwards. `Who’s there?’ I whispered.

        From out of the shadows of the van a small and very slight young woman appeared. Perhaps aged between twenty and twenty-five, she looked exhausted and dishevelled. She began to get out of the van. I gestured for her to go the other way and climbed in with her. `What’s your name?’ she asked quietly. `Tom Winter,’ I replied. `I’m Bhindi, Bhindi Shah,’ she croaked, her throat dry.

        I pulled the door closed behind me. `What’s happening, Tom?’ she sobbed. She must have known that I couldn’t answer her. `Don’t know. How long have you been here?’

        It was dark and cramped inside the van. In the low light I could just about make out a blanket, a pillow, some clothes and the remains of a little food scattered around. `I slept here last night,’ she explained. `I’ve been staying with my aunt and uncle just over the road for the last few days and…’ `And?’ `And last night Uncle started going ballistic. He was shouting and screaming and throwing things around. Aunty started to do the same and then my cousins and I just had to get out…’ `Have you seen them this morning?’

        She nodded. `I went back about an hour ago. They were all just sat there, not saying or doing anything. I tried to get some help but I couldn’t find anyone. I was walking round for ages but I couldn’t find anyone…’ `I understand,’ I interrupted. `You do know that it’s not just your family this is happening to, don’t you?’ `I know that.’

        Bhindi looked past me and out of the window behind me. I turned and saw that another alien ship was soaring through the sky perilously close to where we were hiding. `What do they want?’ she asked. `Don’t know,’ I replied truthfully. `I wish they would just fuck off,’ she spat. `Fuck off and leave us. I never wanted them here anyway.’ `You and me both,’ I mumbled under my breath. `Look, I can’t stop here. I’m going back into Thatcham to fetch my brother then I’m going back to my friend’s house. If you want to come with me then…’

        She shook her head. `No.’ `Sure?’ `I’m not going any further into the village. You’re a fucking fool if you do.’ `Why do you say that?’ `Those bloody aliens,’ she hissed. `The place will be full of them.’

        I turned back to look out of the window again. What if she was right? In any event, did it matter? I had to go back to try and find Rob and Siobhan. If the village really was crawling with aliens then I would just have to take my chances with them. I didn’t have any choice. I couldn’t turn back without having tried to reach Siobhan. If something happened to me along the way then so be it. It was a chance I knew I was going to have to take. `Are you sure you’re going to stay here?’ I asked again, just in case. `Sure,’ she replied. `I want to stay close to my family.’

        I nodded and made my move. I crawled carefully out of the van. `Take care of yourself,’ I said quietly.

        Bhindi nodded and snuggled down under a blanket in the far corner of the van just behind the front passenger seat. I slammed the door shut, looked around anxiously, and then carried on walking.

        I didn’t see or hear another soul in all the time I was out there.

        If they’d wanted to I was sure the aliens could have taken me out. I was obviously of very little concern to them. It helped to put things into perspective what could a single man do against an invading force of such vast and unprecedented power?

        As my confidence increased, so did my speed.

        I ran towards home.

29

        The last mile home was the longest.

        I sensed that I was being watched, but I didn’t know who by or where from. Despite having reassured myself that I was in no immediate danger because I didn’t seem to matter, I was still filled with an unimaginable dread not that my life was in danger, but that I was never going to see Siobhan or Rob again. I was almost home. I had to force myself to close my mind to all memories of Siobhan because I knew that there was hardly any chance of me ever being by her side again. The end of everything that I knew and loved was beginning to seem hopelessly inevitable.

        I continued to run for a while but eventually stopped. In the dense silence which filled the world around me my footsteps seemed to echo and bounce off the walls of empty, lifeless buildings. In contrast to ground level, the skies above me were teeming with activity. More and more alien ships seemed to arrive with each passing moment. If each ship was like the first (and many seemed to be much, much larger) then it stood to reason that there were many thousands of aliens arriving every minute. Thatcham was a small and insignificant place. Elsewhere there would be countless more. I knew that there would be millions of aliens swarming through the skies above every country in every continent.

        A salty spray hung in the air, washed over the grey sea wall by a strong wind gusting off the ocean. The smell was instantly familiar and strangely comforting. The rest of the world felt different, as if all the life and energy had been drained from it.

        There was little movement. I couldn’t see another soul.

        I paused at the bottom of the hill and looked up towards my house. It was little more than a dark black silhouette against the cold grey sky behind. It looked like all the other houses I had passed empty and lifeless but for one slight difference.

        There was a silver alien shuttle craft hovering outside.

30

        After almost an entire day away from home I finally dragged myself wearily back up the steep and twisting pathway which led to my front door. What had started out less than twenty-four hours earlier as a simple trip into the village for food had eventually become a silent nightmare played out in the dead streets of Thatcham. Alone and afraid I felt lost in the sudden hugeness of my tiny home village.

        The shuttle craft hovered about ten meters away from the door. Perfectly still and silent it was just sat there without reason or explanation. Cold and tired and not daring to take my eyes off the alien ship, I fumbled in my jacket pocket for the keys to the house. My hands were numb and cold and I struggled to try and open the door. But it was already unlocked and for a fraction of a second I felt some hope. The only other people who had keys were Rob and Siobhan. Finding the door unlocked meant that one of them at least had to be inside. `Rob?’ I shouted as I pushed my way in. I kicked the door shut behind me and looked hopefully down the hallway. `Rob?

        Siobhan? Are you here?’

        My words echoed off the cold walls of the house just as my footsteps had echoed in the streets outside. I didn’t believe for a second that either my brother or my girlfriend really were there but I instinctively knew that I wasn’t alone. Before I had seen or heard him I sensed that Rob’s alien friend was about. `Your brother’s in here,’ he said in his dull and dishearteningly familiar voice. He was in the living room. He stepped out of the shadows and stood in the doorway. `What the fucking hell are you doing here?’ I spat as I barged past the alien and shoved him to one side. I found Rob sitting motionless on the sofa, staring at the ground between his feet.

        For a split second the room was filled with an immense black shadow and I turned and watched through the wide window with frightened fascination as one of the immense black alien machines powered silently through the turbulent sky towards the centre of the helpless village. `Rob,’ I said, quickly turning back to face my brother, `can you hear me? Are you okay?’

        What had once been my brother was now just a shell. Cold and emotionless, he was as empty and lifeless as my house and the entire village. I crouched down so that I was directly in front of his dull, vacant eyes but there was still no response. I gently shoved his shoulder and, although he rocked to one side, he still didn’t respond. His corpse-grey skin was clammy and cold but he was still breathing. `He can’t hear you,’ the alien said softly. I ignored him and continued to try and elicit some response from what remained of Rob. `Come on, son,’ I whispered. `Just give me a sign. Let me know you’re still there, will you?’

        Nothing. I wiped tears of pain and frustration from my eyes. `I know how you must be feeling…’ the alien began. `Fuck off!’ I spat. `Why don’t you just fuck off? How the hell do you know how I feel?’