transport. George had paired Katie with me and, despite the wave of guilt and grief that followed it, I felt a small thrill surge through me when she smiled. Maybe she was pleased to be with me, too. I couldn’t help it. I liked that thought.
We walked silently in single file, Jane protected as best she could be between us, and in Katie’s firm grip was the knife I’d fled from the cafe with. There’d been a moment when it had looked as if Nigel was going to argue that he and George needed it more, but he’d wisely shut his mouth, his bottom lip trembling and moist. If he hadn’t kept himself quiet then I might have forced him into it. However, Jane seemed to unsettle him and make him edgy, and that silenced him. His eyes couldn’t rest on her. It was strange; you’d think she would bring out his paternal side and make him more protective, but as far as I could tell he just wanted to stay as far from her as possible.
94
Small flies gathered buzzing around my head as we cautiously passed The Plough, and I could see them forming haloes above the girls ahead of me. Jane swatted around her impatiently, but Katie ignored them, her slim frame striding forward like some kind of jungle huntress, out of place amongst the brick and concrete surroundings. Although, as the encroaching oppressive heat of the afternoon promised to end this first day of our changed world in an angry downpour, I wondered if she was that out of place at all. There was no safety left in the walls we’d built to protect ourselves. The Englishman’s home was no longer his castle. It had become a nest of widows.
We paused at the narrow cobbled road that led into Horsefair Green. In the long summer days, rock, jazz and folk bands would play on makeshift stages, entertaining lazy crowds relaxing on the grass, and in the cooler months of April and May it would be host to numerous fairs and fetes. The green with the bandstand was a sought after living area, the small terraces that surrounded it fetching huge sums for the charming but very small living space they provided. And I should know. In that past life of less than a week before, someone from the Green putting their house on the market would set my heart racing. They sold themselves and it was an easy bonus.
Along with the smaller properties there were also several very beautiful larger houses, some almost medieval cottages, and others more Georgian in look, with their large windows peering down from impressive whitewashed walls. They were all terraced, and as we stared ahead of us, what had only a few days ago been a beautiful, if slightly quaint, view, was now claustrophobic and brooding. It seemed as if the
95
houses were glaring at us threateningly, daring us to come forward. The small roads at the far two corners seemed a long way away. Too far away.
“Well, I don’t want to sound paranoid,” Katie’s voice was low and soft, “but I’m not sure I want to go in there.” With her free hand I noticed she’d reached for Jane. The child looked up at her sister, and there was more than a little fear in those wide eyes.
I glanced from the women to the green and back again, mulling it over. If I were honest, I wasn’t keen to wander into such a densely populated part of the village myself, not with only one small weapon and a woman and a child. The memory of that man in the cafe flashed again in my head and I shivered, a ripple of nausea and fear twisting my nerves. If the widows ambushed us, then I doubted there would be much we could do. I wondered how fast they could move. On eight legs, however pale and spindly, I figured they could easily keep up with us. Too easily.
I wasn’t talking myself into going forward, that was for sure, but this was the part of town we’d agreed to check out and I didn’t want to let the others down. Hell, I didn’t want to let myself down. And a very small part of me didn’t want to look like a coward in front of Katie. I guess when
We walked silently in single file, Jane protected as best she could be between us, and in Katie’s firm grip was the knife I’d fled from the cafe with. There’d been a moment when it had looked as if Nigel was going to argue that he and George needed it more, but he’d wisely shut his mouth, his bottom lip trembling and moist. If he hadn’t kept himself quiet then I might have forced him into it. However, Jane seemed to unsettle him and make him edgy, and that silenced him. His eyes couldn’t rest on her. It was strange; you’d think she would bring out his paternal side and make him more protective, but as far as I could tell he just wanted to stay as far from her as possible.
94
Small flies gathered buzzing around my head as we cautiously passed The Plough, and I could see them forming haloes above the girls ahead of me. Jane swatted around her impatiently, but Katie ignored them, her slim frame striding forward like some kind of jungle huntress, out of place amongst the brick and concrete surroundings. Although, as the encroaching oppressive heat of the afternoon promised to end this first day of our changed world in an angry downpour, I wondered if she was that out of place at all. There was no safety left in the walls we’d built to protect ourselves. The Englishman’s home was no longer his castle. It had become a nest of widows.
We paused at the narrow cobbled road that led into Horsefair Green. In the long summer days, rock, jazz and folk bands would play on makeshift stages, entertaining lazy crowds relaxing on the grass, and in the cooler months of April and May it would be host to numerous fairs and fetes. The green with the bandstand was a sought after living area, the small terraces that surrounded it fetching huge sums for the charming but very small living space they provided. And I should know. In that past life of less than a week before, someone from the Green putting their house on the market would set my heart racing. They sold themselves and it was an easy bonus.
Along with the smaller properties there were also several very beautiful larger houses, some almost medieval cottages, and others more Georgian in look, with their large windows peering down from impressive whitewashed walls. They were all terraced, and as we stared ahead of us, what had only a few days ago been a beautiful, if slightly quaint, view, was now claustrophobic and brooding. It seemed as if the
95
houses were glaring at us threateningly, daring us to come forward. The small roads at the far two corners seemed a long way away. Too far away.
“Well, I don’t want to sound paranoid,” Katie’s voice was low and soft, “but I’m not sure I want to go in there.” With her free hand I noticed she’d reached for Jane. The child looked up at her sister, and there was more than a little fear in those wide eyes.
I glanced from the women to the green and back again, mulling it over. If I were honest, I wasn’t keen to wander into such a densely populated part of the village myself, not with only one small weapon and a woman and a child. The memory of that man in the cafe flashed again in my head and I shivered, a ripple of nausea and fear twisting my nerves. If the widows ambushed us, then I doubted there would be much we could do. I wondered how fast they could move. On eight legs, however pale and spindly, I figured they could easily keep up with us. Too easily.
I wasn’t talking myself into going forward, that was for sure, but this was the part of town we’d agreed to check out and I didn’t want to let the others down. Hell, I didn’t want to let myself down. And a very small part of me didn’t want to look like a coward in front of Katie. I guess when
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