see Isidor staring at the both of us.
“Whatever it was they were giving us back at that zoo,” Kayla started, “I don’t know what sort of meat it was, but it was delicious and I can’t get enough of the stuff.”
I glanced at Isidor and something struck me. He looked like a corpse that had been warmed-up – all bones and loose skin, and I looked pretty much the same. But although Kayla looked battered and bruised in other ways, she didn’t look undernourished. Kayla looked as if she had eaten well during her time in captivity at the zoo. And although my whole being craved for the red stuff like an agonising itch that wouldn’t go away however much I scratched it, Kayla was yet to understand that she was addicted to human flesh.
Knowing that this wasn’t the time to explain to her what the Vampyrus and Lycanthrope had been feeding her, I dreaded the moment when I would have to tell her everything that had happened while she had been held prisoner. With my heart sinking in my chest at the thought of that conversation, I put my arm around her shoulder and said, “C’mon, we should find somewhere to hide until we can figure out how we get Luke out of that place.”
Supporting me as I limped down the country road, Kayla said, “Kiera, why are you limping? Have you got something wrong with your leg?”
“It’s a long story,” I said back, “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Okay, sure,” she smiled, happy enough with my reply. Then, she added, “Hey did you meet my father at the zoo?”
“Uh-huh,” I said, not knowing what to say.
“I think he musta escaped like us,” she smiled at me.
“What makes you think that?” I asked her, knowing that by now he was probably dead.
“Because he stopped coming to see me,” she said, and looking into her eyes, I wondered if she actually believed that.
I glanced back over my shoulder in search of Isidor, another person to join in the conversation, so I wouldn’t have to answer all of Kayla’s questions. But he walked several feet behind us, his head stooped low and I guessed he could hear all of Kayla’s questions and he was wondering how he was going to tell her that he was her brother.
Chapter Nineteen
The track leading away from the zoo carved its way through dense areas of woodland. I was grateful for the trees that climbed high above on either side of us, as they offered a natural camouflage against any of the Vampyrus that might still be searching for us high above. But all the while I kept heading east, towards the town that Nik had called Wasp Water.
When the trees thinned out along the roadside, I ushered the others towards the bushy hedgerows to avoid being seen, just like Murphy would have told us to. Thinking about him, I put my hand into my coat pocket and brushed his tiny silver crucifix with the tips of my fingers. We made our journey in silence, all us looking paler and weaker by the minute and I knew that like me, Kayla and Isidor were fighting their cravings for the red stuff. My stomach continued to cramp, and even though the morning air was bitterly cold, hot beads of sweat streamed from my forehead. Kayla’s fiery red hair lay matted to her brow and cheeks in damp clumps and Isidor staggered along the uneven road, cradling his feverish body with his arms.
I don’t know for how long or how far we had walked, but the meandering track that we had been walking on widened and we found ourselves on a road, which had signposts and markings on it. I prayed that we were nearing the town and hopefully some help.
A small cluster of houses appeared ahead but I could see no signs of life anywhere. The world seemed eerily silent, only broken by the sound of crows squawking from high up in the trees. As we drew nearer to the houses, I could see that some of them looked as if they had been smashed down, like buildings that had been bombed during the Second World War. Now all that was left was mountains of rubble, with the
“Whatever it was they were giving us back at that zoo,” Kayla started, “I don’t know what sort of meat it was, but it was delicious and I can’t get enough of the stuff.”
I glanced at Isidor and something struck me. He looked like a corpse that had been warmed-up – all bones and loose skin, and I looked pretty much the same. But although Kayla looked battered and bruised in other ways, she didn’t look undernourished. Kayla looked as if she had eaten well during her time in captivity at the zoo. And although my whole being craved for the red stuff like an agonising itch that wouldn’t go away however much I scratched it, Kayla was yet to understand that she was addicted to human flesh.
Knowing that this wasn’t the time to explain to her what the Vampyrus and Lycanthrope had been feeding her, I dreaded the moment when I would have to tell her everything that had happened while she had been held prisoner. With my heart sinking in my chest at the thought of that conversation, I put my arm around her shoulder and said, “C’mon, we should find somewhere to hide until we can figure out how we get Luke out of that place.”
Supporting me as I limped down the country road, Kayla said, “Kiera, why are you limping? Have you got something wrong with your leg?”
“It’s a long story,” I said back, “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Okay, sure,” she smiled, happy enough with my reply. Then, she added, “Hey did you meet my father at the zoo?”
“Uh-huh,” I said, not knowing what to say.
“I think he musta escaped like us,” she smiled at me.
“What makes you think that?” I asked her, knowing that by now he was probably dead.
“Because he stopped coming to see me,” she said, and looking into her eyes, I wondered if she actually believed that.
I glanced back over my shoulder in search of Isidor, another person to join in the conversation, so I wouldn’t have to answer all of Kayla’s questions. But he walked several feet behind us, his head stooped low and I guessed he could hear all of Kayla’s questions and he was wondering how he was going to tell her that he was her brother.
Chapter Nineteen
The track leading away from the zoo carved its way through dense areas of woodland. I was grateful for the trees that climbed high above on either side of us, as they offered a natural camouflage against any of the Vampyrus that might still be searching for us high above. But all the while I kept heading east, towards the town that Nik had called Wasp Water.
When the trees thinned out along the roadside, I ushered the others towards the bushy hedgerows to avoid being seen, just like Murphy would have told us to. Thinking about him, I put my hand into my coat pocket and brushed his tiny silver crucifix with the tips of my fingers. We made our journey in silence, all us looking paler and weaker by the minute and I knew that like me, Kayla and Isidor were fighting their cravings for the red stuff. My stomach continued to cramp, and even though the morning air was bitterly cold, hot beads of sweat streamed from my forehead. Kayla’s fiery red hair lay matted to her brow and cheeks in damp clumps and Isidor staggered along the uneven road, cradling his feverish body with his arms.
I don’t know for how long or how far we had walked, but the meandering track that we had been walking on widened and we found ourselves on a road, which had signposts and markings on it. I prayed that we were nearing the town and hopefully some help.
A small cluster of houses appeared ahead but I could see no signs of life anywhere. The world seemed eerily silent, only broken by the sound of crows squawking from high up in the trees. As we drew nearer to the houses, I could see that some of them looked as if they had been smashed down, like buildings that had been bombed during the Second World War. Now all that was left was mountains of rubble, with the
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