Rule of Night by Trevor Hoyle Page B

his hips in a grinding motion.
    â€˜Can you feel that?’
    â€˜Yeh,’ Janice said, the word so soft as to be lost in her breath.
    â€˜Do you like it?’
    â€˜Yeh.’ Softer still.
    Immediately she said this it became harder still and stuck out as far as his clothing would permit, and the blood-red mist glimmered behind his eyelids. He could have ripped her dress off, unzipped himself, and pushed it up then and there. Janice said:
    â€˜Oh Kenny don’t.’
    â€˜You like it, don’t you?’
    â€˜Yeh.’
    â€˜Well then.’
    â€˜It’s no use here. You know we can’t do owt.’
    Kenny held her wrist. ‘Put your hand here.’ Obediently, like a good little girl, Janice pushed her hand between the two of them and felt him. ‘Fuckinell,’ Kenny said, shutting his eyes. Janice wasbreathing loosely and yet it was as if there was something binding her chest and preventing her from drawing in enough air.
    Five lads were coming along the cindery dirt path towards them, walking in single file. Their heads were shorn and their trouser-bottoms ended just below the knee, leaving several inches of sock exposed; they wore scarves in their belts, which Kenny recognised as Bury colours; Bury were playing Swansea at home, so why they should be here he couldn’t fathom – unless they’d been barred.
    The one in front wore a bowler hat several sizes too small for him and had make-up on his eyes. Kenny thought: Another bunch of yobboes been to see
Clockwork Orange
. He pressed closer to Janice to allow them to pass, her hand still trapped down below. The lads went past, each lad staring into Janice’s face as he did so. Kenny could feel their eyes on the back of his neck, like the burning sensation of the sun through a magnifying glass as the five stepped round him. The last one made a remark, which was enough.
    The other four stopped, came back, and were all around. They had been short of an excuse, that was all, and none but the last had been bright enough to think of one.
    â€˜After tomming it were you Charlie?’ one of them said.
    â€˜Rochdale lad,’ said Bowler Hat, plucking at Kenny’s pullover.
    â€˜What a fucking team,’ said another, yanking Kenny’s scarf.
    â€˜Does she do a bit then?’
    â€˜Had your end away?’
    â€˜Looks a dozy cunt to me,’ Bowler Hat said. He winked slyly at the others and kicked Kenny on the ankle.
    â€˜Shall we do him then, Mick?’ one of them said.
    Bowler Hat considered, and said slowly, ‘Yeah. Let’s do him; then his bird. We’ll do her too.’ He grinned at the others and leaned close to Kenny’s shoulder. ‘What did you say?’ he askedsharply, the smile vanishing. ‘What did you just call me? A dozy what? I’m asking you a question. What was it you called me? A dozy what?’
    â€˜I heard him,’ one of the others said.
    â€˜Are you laughing at me?’ Bowler Hat said. He thumped Kenny’s shoulder. ‘Don’t fucking laugh at me.’
    â€˜Let’s have him, Mick.’
    â€˜These Rochdale lot. Soft as shit.’
    â€˜Nobody calls me that,’ Bowler Hat said. ‘Nobody.’ He wasn’t quite as tall as Kenny, leaning forward on his toes, his eyes afire.
    â€˜You fucking try,’ Kenny said quietly.
    â€˜And?’
    â€˜Just you try.’
    â€˜And?’
    â€˜Try it.’
    Bowler Hat hit Kenny with incredible savagery in the lower back with his coiled fist, aiming for the kidneys. Janice couldn’t make out what happened next except that Kenny was rolling down the grass embankment with the five of them kicking him. At the bottom he tried to get up but was surrounded, all of them taking short steps backwards and running in to kick him. She saw Bowler Hat land one in his face and another of the lads edging round the back to kick him in the neck. They all had weapons of various kinds