Dog Blood

The room was instantly silent. Even Kate’s parents became quiet-her mother in shock and her father concussed. Gurmit Singh, who’d been cowering against the door with his hands over his head, stood up and reached for the handle. Mark also stood, the throbbing pain in his balls begi

“You open that door and go out there and you won’t get back in again. Your choice.”

Singh looked at him. Mark didn’t know for sure whether or not he understood, but was relieved when he hesitated with his hand on the latch, then stopped and trudged slowly back to the armchair he’d claimed as his own. He stepped over Ellis’s inert body and pointed down at her.

“Evil,” he hissed. He jabbed his finger at the door. “Nasty bitch! Get gone! Not here!”

With Kate busy dealing with her suddenly catatonic parents, Mark held Ellis still as Lizzie lashed her legs together with a length of nylon clothesline, then gagged her again. She rubbed antiseptic cream from an almost empty tube on the countless sores and abrasions that covered Ellis’s skin, caused by weeks of struggling against her bonds.

“What the hell happened?”

Lizzie shook her head, wiping away tears and trying to stay in control.

“I’m ru

She stopped speaking and began to sob, stroking her daughter’s lank, greasy hair. She shuffled back as Mark dragged Ellis into the bathroom and chained her to the base of the sink pedestal.

“How many of those shots have you got left?”

“That was the last one.”

“And the pills?”

He backed out of the bathroom and shut the door. Lizzie didn’t answer until it was fully closed and her daughter had disappeared from view.

“A week at the most.”

“Jesus…”

“What am I going to do, Mark?”

“That thing has to go,” Kate interrupted, shouting from across the room and pointing accusingly at the bathroom door. “Get it out of here, because if you two don’t, I will.”

He walked over to her and reached out to put his arms around her, but she pulled away. She leaned against the wall and slid down it, cradling her distended belly.

“That thing,” Lizzie sobbed, “is my daughter.”

“She was your daughter,” Kate quickly replied. “Christ knows what she is now. She’s more animal than human.”

“I know that, but what am I supposed to do?” Lizzie asked, sitting on the floor opposite and holding her head in her hands. “You tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

“Just get rid of her. She’s one of them, Lizzie. She won’t stop fighting until she’s killed us all-”

“I know, but-”

“She killed your boys. How can you ever stand to be anywhere near her when she took your sons from you?”

“I can’t,” she immediately answered, pulling her knees up to her chest and bowing her head, ashamed by her own admission. “I don’t want her here either, but I don’t know what else I can do. I’m her mother and-”

“You could turn her over to the military.”

“You know I can’t. We’ve been through this. As soon as they’ve got her they’ll put a bullet in her head.”

“So?”

“I can’t let that happen,” she snapped with sudden anger evident in her increasingly desperate voice. “You’re right, Katie, I should never have brought her here, but what else could I have done? If I just let her go now, she’ll start killing, and they’ll hunt her down. Even if I could get her out of the city she wouldn’t survive. She won’t be able to find food or keep warm or look after herself or-”

“Tough. We should just do it.”

“How would we get her through the crowds?” Mark asked, trying hard to remain practical and focused and not let fraught emotions cloud the situation.

“Pump her full of drugs, then. Give her everything you’ve got left. Kill her, for Christ’s sake.”

“Katie-” Mark began to protest.

“I can’t hurt her,” Lizzie sobbed. “She’s my daughter, my own flesh and blood. Regardless of what she’s done or what she might do, I still have to protect her.”

30

ARE YOU MCCOYNE?”

I sit up quick. Eyes blurred. Where am I? No chains. Dull gray light. I look around and try to make sense of my surroundings. It’s one of the upstairs rooms in the social club. I found these cushions on a sofa downstairs and-

“Are you McCoyne?” the voice asks again from somewhere behind me. Neck’s stiff. I look back over my shoulder and see a figure standing in the open doorway.

“Yeah, what’s the problem?”

“No problem. Come with me.”

He turns and disappears, and I’ve got no choice but to follow. The building is cold, and I jog across the landing to catch up with him. I recognize him now. His name’s Craven. Julia introduced me to him yesterday. I think he’s her right-hand man.

We enter the largest upstairs room. Julia and another man are sleeping here. Craven gestures for me to sit down next to him at a table in the corner, where he fires up a laptop. I saw him using it when I first arrived.

“Have we got power here?” I ask, noticing that there’s a power cable co

“Sort of,” he answers, sounding as tired as I feel. “There’s electricity a few streets away. We’ve just run a cord here to keep the laptop going.”

“What, an extension cord?”

He looks at me, dumbfounded. “Yes, a fucking extension cord.”

He shakes his head and turns his attention to the laptop. I watch as he logs on to some kind of central database. Is this the same system that Mallon talked about? My knowledge of this kind of thing is limited, and I don’t want to piss him off any more than I already have by asking him how the hell he can co

“Sorry about the early wake-up call,” he mumbles, still concentrating on the screen. “Access to the system’s intermittent, so we have to make the most of it when we can. They’re usually ru

His words fade away as the screen changes and he concentrates on entering more details.

“There… got it.”

“Got what?”

He slides the laptop over to me. “We’re in. Enter your details.”

“What details?”

“Your name, date of birth, last known postal code.”

I start jabbing at the keyboard with two fingers. It’s months since I typed anything.

“Wait,” he says. “Da

“Yes.”

“Put your full name in.”

I do as he says.

“What’s all this about? What are we doing?” I ask.

“Killing you,” he replies without a hint of sarcasm.

“Killing me?”

“Thing about this war,” he says as he takes the laptop back again, “is that it’s made everybody’s priorities change. Everyone’s worried about their physical safety, and some of the things that used to matter now get forgotten about or overlooked. This is a prime example. This is just about the only national system that’s still ru

“But what exactly is it you’re doing?”

“Is that you?” he asks, angling the screen back toward me. I scan the details.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Right,” he continues, working his way through various menus and submenus. “Ah, good, you’re dead already!”