Underwood (22 page)

Tony hadn’t slept much the night before, perhaps it was because he didn’t indulge in any more homebrew, wanting to leave his head clear, he knew what the duties were on the morning of a night before storm, Steve Duce had done it before him, picking up what the storm had left, he wondered how he felt, whether he hoped there was nothing to pick up, as he closed the driver side door and started the engine, he hoped no one outside of Underwood had taken the wrong move and taken solace from the rain, all except for one person, he hoped Peter Ford had the common sense to do just that.

As he pulled out of the car lot, he thought about the weather and how the storms always come at night, and the next morning the sun would shine and the landscape changed, then something broke his trail of thought and he pulled up sharply outside of the lot, the landscape hadn’t changed, the view that he could see was exactly the same view that he had seen yesterday, only there was something different, the trees did not look the same, they were not fresh, vibrant and threatening, they were shedding leaves at the peak of summer, the trees looked as if they were dying.

Either the potent mixture he put in the trees was not what he thought, or the wino of Underwood, she was not what she seemed.

He put the car in gear and drove to the top of the estate, because whatever the landscape, that is where the new people come in, the place where they enter Underwood through the trees, that’s where the road to freedom leads, just the other side of the woods, the dying woods.

The sun was rising, the streets a hauntingly quiet, the anticipation building up inside him like vile in the mouth, he bit hard on his bottom lip, forcing it inside his mouth as he saw the battered overturned SUV on the edge of the woods, he pulled up beside it and killed the engine, got out of the mini bus and examined the vehicle, it was very badly damaged and as he looked Tony could see that the car had rolled and eventually came to rest on its roof, there was car debris everywhere and a whiff of petrol in the air where the tank had been ruptured, he circled the vehicle, he could see no one inside and there didn’t seem to be anything in the vehicle that could tell him who it belonged to, he looked around at the debris, took his lighter out of his pocket and ignited the trail of petrol leading to the SUV.

As he watched it burst into flames, he would tell the sheriff that he had found the vehicle burning and that anyone inside had perished, he really hoped that whoever was in that vehicle had somehow managed to stay on the other side, but somehow he doubted it, he guessed there fete lay in the woods, and that made him cringe.

He opened the driver door of his bus, sat in the driver seat and lit a cigarette.

‘Can I have one of them’ said a voice behind him,

Tony almost jumped out of his skin, he dropped the cigarette in his lap which made him quickly jump up and bang his head on the bus roof,

‘What the fuck’ he said, as he turned around in his driver’s seat, to see who was there, but he knew who was there, how could he not recognise that voice?

A grinning Peter Ford was the man he could see, he had a cut above his eye but other than that he looked fine,

‘How, how,’ Tony stuttered,

‘I’ve no idea,’ said Peter, ‘I remember aiming for the trees as I thought I was too late, the next thing I know I woke up beside the car in Underwood,’

Tony looked around the outside of the vehicle, he told Peter to get out of sight,

‘I have to hide you, you will have to come to the basement,’

Lying on the floor of the mini bus Peter replied,

‘Are my family okay,’

‘There fine absolutely fine, there’s quite a bit I’ve got to tell you, but that can wait, I have to get you hidden,’

‘I’m no good to anyone hidden,’

‘You’re no good to anyone dead.’

Sandra Skellam woke up and for a moment was wondering who the hell it was that was lying beside her, until she saw that it was the young Delyn Brown, who lay fast asleep, she looked at her for a moment, thankful that the young girl could at least get some sleep, at such a young age and no family here to support her, she wondered what the hell she must be thinking, she snook out of the bed so as not to awake her and went into the kitchen, she clicked the kettle and prepared her coffee and as she sipped it, the events of the previous night came flooding back, how she was the one that was due to be sentenced and would have surely perished if it wasn’t for the intervention of Sue Bradshaw, she remembered the skies changing and the storm coming,
how did she do that ?
She thought,
did she do that?

Delyn walked into the kitchen not long after, Sandra was on her second cup of coffee, enjoying the taste that was lingering in her mouth, she could never remember coffee tasting this good, it was no different to what she used herself, she was wondering whether it was the euphoria building up inside her, something had changed last night, she wasn’t sure what it was, but the fear normally shown by the residents of underwood just wasn’t there last night.

‘Did you sleep well’ she asked Delyn, who had sat down with a glass of orange juice, Sandra recalled the beautiful girl she had first met even though she was covered in mud, now she looked like some washed out teenager,

‘I did actually’ she answered, sounding a bit more sprightly than usual ‘I think it was because I had someone beside me’ she gave a smile as if wanting assurance, Sandra leant across the table and took her hand in both of hers,

‘Looks like you’re going to have some company for a while’ she told her, Delyn’s face showed that she was pleased with that.

They sat drinking their drinks until they heard the hatch opening in the other room,

‘Quick hide’ Sandra told Delyn in a somewhat panicky voice, Delyn looked around the kitchen, there was nowhere to hide, to get to the other rooms she would have to go through the room with the hatch and she would surely be seen, Sandra realised this and grabbed the largest knife she could find in the kitchen drawer and she stood in the kitchen to face her assassin with Delyn shaking behind her.

She watched the door slowly open, wondering whether to attack straight away and have the element of surprise, or wait until she saw her attacker was and then hit them with all her might, but she waited a moment to long as the door opened,

‘Put the kettle on, I’m dying for a coffee,’

She ran at Peter still with the knife in her hand, Delyn thought she was about to stab him and let out a scream, Sandra threw her arms around Peter’s neck,

‘It’s so good to have you back,’ she said, as she hugged him, letting the knife drop to the floor, Delyn’s heart went back to where it should be at the sight of the two people hugging,

‘Wish I could say the same,’ Peter mocked as they both withdrew from their hug, he noticed the young girl standing there, looking scared and as lonely as anyone possibly could be, Tony had told him as much as he could,

‘Who are you’ Delyn nervously asked.

Peter’s mind flashed back to the sign he first saw, the sign that read “Underwood, one way in” he smiled at the recollection.

‘I’m the one who’s going to get you out,’ he told her.

Tony walked to see the sheriff, glad to have his accomplice back, he knew the sheriff would be wanting a report, he just hoped he wouldn’t react to badly at his first assignment of people recoverer, not that Tony was ever going to recover anybody, he knocked at the sheriff’s door waiting for it to open, he did not but he heard a voice telling him to come in, Tony did so and walked into the sheriff’s office.

‘Well’ said the sheriff, Tony looked at the sheriff slumped at the table, with his head in his hands, he did not turn his head to meet Tony, Tony could see the sheriff had not shaved, the stubble starting to turn into a beard, this was so unlike the sheriff, he was normally so threatening but as he looked at the man sat at his desk, Tony could tell he didn’t look the same and he thought about trying to take the sheriff out, but he quickly came to his senses, recalling the events of the past and how strong and able the sheriff had dealt with everything and everyone who had come before him, even a weakened sheriff would overcome him.

‘It’s good news’ replied Tony, thinking on his feet ‘a family of four, twin daughters about 14 years old’ he told the sheriff.

The sheriff turned his head to face Tony, he let out a feint grunt,

‘That is good news’ he said, but as he said it, Tony noticed the look in his eyes, that cold colour was not there anymore, they weren’t the looks could kill kind of eyes he was used to seeing, now they were distant and desperate, the pupils were dilating.

‘You deal with them, I have too much to do’ the sheriff told him,

‘Shall I get the vicar or the judge…?’

‘NO’ the sheriff shouted, and Tony turned to leave

‘Certainly sir’ he said as he left, knowing full well now that the three were one, and he smiled as he thought,

And the three are dying.

Lily done her silly dance of joy for at least 10 minutes, Nathan clung onto his father as if he was never going to let him go again, for if he did he was sure he would disappear again.

Eileen kissed her lover again and again and Delyn looked on, a smile forming on her lips, hoping soon that she would be hugging her own father and kissing her own mother, she had renewed hope, as did everyone in Underwood that day.

The creature in the woods lay in his den, lying beside what remained of Stuart Hillman, his remains covered in the creatures vomit, such was his hunger he had torn into the flesh, swallowing great chunks of it before realising it didn’t taste like the human he was used to, this one was bitter, his instincts told him it had been tampered with, the excruciating pain ripped through his gut as he lay whimpering in the night, doing the only thing he could do, transferring the disease inside him to those he controlled, sharing the pain, the torture that had been forced upon him, the animal was feeling better now, the sharing of the poison was helping his healing.

He would survive this attempt to kill him, as he had done with so many other attempts in the past, maybe those that he controlled would do as well, but that was not important, there would be others he could choose.

The news that Tony Griffiths had picked him up a bit, but the pain that ripped through Allan Herapath’s gut had not gone.

He believed the creature, his creator would come through this, then his strength would return and he could get on with sorting the mess out that the judge had left, they had all made mistakes lately, they had taken their foot off the pedal, they had been too soft, the laws would have to be stricter, the punishments more severe, when he was well he would wreak his havoc across the town of Underwood, along with the pain.

“There’s work to be done,” said Tony, grabbing Peter by the arm, they were all still in the basement, a celebration drink in their hands as they toasted the return of Peter Ford.

“Go back home, act as normal. Peter and I have things to see to, Sandra you stay with Delyn, you’re a wanted lady,” Tony added in a commanding voice.

“I want to stay with my dad,” protested Ivy as she grabbed her father’s arm, Peter pulled her close to him and kissed the top of her head.

“When this is over I will never let you out of my sight he told her,”

“Isn’t it dangerous for Peter to be out there,” asked a concerned Eileen, she really didn’t want to let him go again,

“The sheriff and the rest are not available at the moment,” Tony sniggered, “I’m not sure how long that will last,” he added.

Peter sat with his head in his hands, a cigarette poking through the fingers burning away, a tear trickled down his chin, Tony stood and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, they were in the living room of the car lot, Tony went to the kitchen and got two bottles of homebrew, he handed one to Peter, Peter doused his cigarette and took it, he took a long swig, his face still distorted with emotion as he tried to digest the news that his 14 year old daughter had killed someone to save her mother, the emotions going through his mind were to incredible to digest, but one emotion he knew he would never get rid of was the emotion of guilt.

I should have been there for them.

He kept repeating that thought over and over again, that thought will remain there for as long as he lived.

‘She’s bearing up well, an amazingly strong girl,’ Tony told Peter, who had sat down beside him with his beer, his words offered no comfort, even though Peter appreciated the effort.

Peter sat there in silence, swigging his beer, it was a while before he spoke.

‘I’ve been to Underwood,’

Tony almost choked on his beer,

‘When you were on the outside,’ he asked, his eyes wide in expectation.

Peter told him all that had happened, about how Underwood is just a normal council estate, how different it was to the Underwood they were now sat in, he also told them about Sue Bradshaw and June Murphy and how he had a drink with them in the pub, how they disappeared and were no longer there, he finished with,

‘What sort of world am I living in?’

‘I really don’t know, but I have to go and see those two,’

‘Tony,’ Peter shouted, calling him back, Tony turned around, noticing the change of expression on Peter’s face, he could tell he was holding something back,

‘What is it,’ he demanded,

Peter gulped, ‘How old are you’

’52,’ he rolled his tongue across his bottom teeth, waiting for a reason for the question,

Peter pulled his lips inside his mouth,

‘I saw your gravestone, you died at 52,’

Their eyes locked for what seemed an age,

‘That changes nothing,’ Tony said and turned around to leave.

‘All right love,’ said June Murphy as she opened the door to let Tony in, Sue was sprawled out on the sofa, looking as if she was recovering from having one to many the night before, she sat up when she saw Tony.

‘We don’t want to buy a car today,’ she mocked, Tony grinned and cast his eyes across the room, he noticed how warm and homely it felt, not giving the cold aurora that so many other buildings in Underwood gave off.

He offered the two girls a cigarette, they both took one, the three of them lit up,

‘Wanna drink?’ said Sue, Tony replied in the negative,

‘So what do you want?’ She added.

‘Can’t you be nice to someone just this once,’ asked June as she handed Sue a glass of wine.

Tony told them everything from the day Peter entered Underwood, to the murder of Steve Duce and Stuart Hillman, how Peter had got out and had a drink with them at the Iscoed Tafarn, he looked for a reaction at that point, there was none, as if it was just normal.

When Tony told her his thoughts on the storm the night before, and that in his opinion, Sue had created it, she laughed loudly, swigged her wine, she handed her glass to June for a refill, June refilled both glasses and sat back down.

‘What makes you think I started the storm’ laughed Sue, her look was mocking, challenging.

‘Of course you fucking did,’ said June in between sips.

Sue laughed and stood up looking down on Tony,

‘So what if I did?’

‘I’ve got to get those kids out, my only chance is a storm, the sheriffs not well, it has to be tonight,’ he pleaded with his eyes, Sue gave a smile and suddenly as their eyes met, she appeared as not the old wino that Underwood had turned her into, but the beautiful young girl that she once was, Tony tightly closed his eyes and opened them again, and stood before him once more was the old wino, but this time her grin was wide, her eyes full of excitement.

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she said

‘Of course she fucking will,’ said June.

Both girls escorted him to the front door, Tony turned to the two old ladies,

‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘why don’t you come with us, there’s room in the bus,’ he added.

‘Is there free wine and cigarettes in the world where you’re going to?’

Tony smiled, ‘Don’t think so,’

‘Then I’ll take my chances here,’

‘Me too,’ said June.

Later that evening, Sue Bradshaw went out into her garden, put the glass of wine she held down on the patio table, she raised her hands and the storm clouds came at the command of an angel.