Infinity

  ‘We’re not,’ he says. ‘We’re heading to the stores. Come on, this way.’

  ‘The stores?’

  I’m trying to talk to him as we walk, but I’m puffing with the effort of keeping up.

  ‘It’s the only other way out. They start off in a corridor and then lead into a network of caves going right through the hill. People have been coming in and out that way since the bunker’s been occupied. They get stuff from the stores, medicines, all sorts.’

  We’ve turned into a side corridor now.

  ‘This is where I say goodbye,’ Adrian says, and puts Mia down. He strokes her cheek. ‘Bye, sweetheart. Just keep moving, Sarah. You’ll find the way without me. And there’ll be someone to meet you at the other end.’

  But I’m not ready to let him go yet. Suppose there are more explosions. Suppose Mia gets so frightened she won’t walk. I can’t carry her in this state.

  ‘Won’t you come a bit further?’ I say. ‘Just a bit. Let me get my breath back.’

  ‘Okay, but not far. I ought to be back in post before they realise you’ve gone.’

  Chapter 36: Adam

  The concrete vibrates against my cheek. Once. Twice. Then the noise comes. Two bangs, like car doors slamming.

  I sit up. That weren’t no car doors.

  There are people running down the corridor, officers yelling out orders, an alarm ringing. I lean against the door and listen to the panic outside. After a while the sound of boots on concrete is gone, but the bell keeps on and on and on.

  It feels like it’s inside my head.

  Then the door opens. By the time the crack of light widens into an oblong, I’m on my feet and ready to thump whoever’s coming in.

  ‘Adam!’

  A man calling my name – that’s odd. They don’t normally speak and the light normally flickers on before they come in.

  I stay silent, back pressed to the wall next to the door, so he has to come right in to the room to see me.

  He’s hunched over, dragging something behind him. The light from the corridor outside shows army kit, but he’s shorter than most of the squaddies here and his hair’s tied in a pony tail. This ain’t no soldier. And the something he’s dragging into the cell is a body.

  He turns to face me and his face widens to a grin underneath the dirty beard.

  ‘Adam … Adam, are you all right?’

  ‘Daniel?’

  ‘Let me park this …’

  I help him lug the body clear of the door. It’s a guard, unconscious.

  Daniel straightens up, steps over the guard and pushes the door nearly to. Then he finds me and wraps his arms round me in a man-hug, slapping my back. I hold onto him for a minute, hardly believing he’s here.

  ‘I’ve come to get you out. You ready?’

  ‘God, yeah. Yeah! We got to get Sarah, though. They’re after our baby, Daniel. It’s sick in here, a sick place.’

  He looks grim. ‘You can fill me in later. Someone else is helping Sarah, my contact here, my supplier – Adrian. We’ll meet them if we’re lucky. If not, we’ll see them outside.’

  ‘I gotta see her.’

  ‘Adam, it’s under control. Trust me. Put this on.’

  He hands me an army jacket. The pockets are bulging. I feel inside. There’s a knife and a torch and all sorts in there.

  ‘This isn’t going to fool anyone.’ I point to my face, the face that was on the telly in a million front rooms.

  ‘Tie this scarf round. It’ll get you past a first glance. That’s all we need. They won’t be looking at you – the focus will be somewhere else.’

  He holds his arm up to catch the light seeping in round the door and looks at his watch.

  ‘Let’s give it a minute.’

  ‘What are we waiting for?’

  My answer comes in the form of a massive series of explosions.

  Immediately sirens start wailing and there’s the sound of running in the corridor again. I hope to God no one sees the cell door is open.

  Daniel edges towards it, and peers out.

  ‘Let’s go. We’re running with the herd to start with.’

  And then we’re off, breaking into a jog, soldiers in front of us. Daniel’s limping, and then I remember – three days ago Saul shot him in the leg. Must have just been a flesh wound, ’cause it ain’t slowing him down much. We run for a few minutes – at the back of the pack – then Daniel slows, letting the soldiers ease ahead before he darts down a side turning. I follow him, checking over my shoulder. We’re okay – no one’s behind us.

  ‘Not far now,’ he says, as I catch up.

  ‘Where we goin’?’

  ‘Same way I came in. Through the back door.’

  ‘And Sarah?’

  ‘She’ll be there too. Sooner or later. Try not to worry.’

  There’s another series of explosions and the whole place shakes.

  ‘Fuck! What is that?’

  ‘Friends, Adam. Friends. They may get in this time, destroy the place. But even if they don’t, it’s the perfect diversion.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’re springing me.’ I put my hand up and he meets it with a high five.

  ‘Believe it, Adam,’ he says. ‘I told you – we need you. We couldn’t let you disappear. Here we are.’

  We turn a corner into another corridor.

  Halfway down there are three people with their backs to us, a soldier and a woman and a girl. They must have heard us. They spin round. The soldier draws a gun from his belt. Just as he lifts his arm to take aim Sarah shouts, ‘Adam!’ and Mia screams, ‘Daddeee!’

  Adrian relaxes and puts the gun away, and I’m running to Sarah and Mia. Sarah looks exhausted, huge rings under her eyes, but her eyes are blue as ever and they’re sparkling now. She puts her hands round my neck and draws me down for a kiss.

  Mia’s clinging to my legs, begging to be picked up. I keep one arm round Sarah and reach down to her.

  Sarah looks past me. ‘Daniel, is that you? You’re alive! Oh, thank God. Where are Marty and Luke? Are they safe?

  ‘They’re fine,’ he says. ‘You’ll see them soon. But we’ve got to get through these caves first. It’s a bit tight in places, but you’ll be okay. There are white marks on the wall, you just have to follow them. Here—’

  He digs in his pocket and gives Sarah a torch.

  ‘Now let’s get out of here. Are you coming, too?’ This to Adrian.

  ‘No, Daniel,’ Adrian says. ‘I’m staying. What would I do outside? Good luck, though. I’ll see you in a couple of months.’

  ‘This place might not be here by then.’

  Another explosion booms through the bunker.

  ‘I’ll still be here. Safest place in England.’

  We start walking away from him down the corridor. At the end of it is a door. It’s open.

  Daniel stops dead. ‘That’s not how I left it,’ he says. ‘I’ve got a key. I locked it.’ We look at each other. ‘Someone’s been in there, or come out. Maybe more of our people have got in, but I don’t think that was the plan.’

  I set Mia down, so I can go in with Daniel, see what the problem is. But he’s already dodging back, running towards Adrian, who’s still standing where we left him, leaning against a wall, head tilted to the ceiling, eyes closed.

  ‘Adrian,’ Daniel says, and he jumps out of his skin. ‘The door’s open. Was that you?’

  ‘No,’ Adrian says, holding both hands up. ‘I didn’t do anything.’

  ‘Come and look.’

  ‘I’ve got to get back, Daniel.’ Even at this distance I can see his face is flushed.

  ‘Daniel,’ I call. ‘Leave him. Let’s just go.’

  But he’s pulled a gun on Adrian now. I don’t get what’s going on – I thought they were mates – but I’m not going to argue with Daniel in this mood.

  ‘Adrian’s going to go first,’ he snaps. ‘Aren’t you?’ He walks him towards us. As they pass, I can smell the sharp whiff of fear coming from Ad
rian. There’s sweat trickling down the side of his face.

  An open door to an unguarded exit. It can’t be that easy, can it?

  Daniel takes the gun away from Adrian’s neck and gives him a shove in the back of the ribs with it. Adrian walks into the room.

  ‘It’s clear,’ he shouts. ‘There’s no one here.’

  Daniel follows him in. I let Sarah and Mia go next and bring up the rear.

  I freeze.

  We all freeze.

  The room beyond the door isn’t empty. Saul is standing in front of Daniel and Adrian and he’s holding a revolver.

  ‘Welcome,’ he says. ‘Do come in, all of you. Come in and shut the door.’

  Chapter 37: Sarah

  I turn round and grab the edge of the door. It’s a huge, thick wooden thing, with rivets and old-fashioned locks. Sound-proof. As I swing it to, Adam suddenly lunges towards Adrian. He twists his left arm and pulls it up his back making him squeal. Then he reaches into his pocket, draws out a knife and holds it at Adrian’s neck.

  ‘Adam, stop it! Stop it!’ I scream, but Adam’s holding him tight and he’s not letting go.

  Daniel’s standing next to them. His gun is still in his hand. He’s aiming at Saul.

  ‘Sarah,’ he says turning his head my way and speaking through gritted teeth, ‘start running. We’ll catch up.’

  Adam yanks Adrian’s arm further up his back. ‘You knew,’ he says, thickly. ‘You ratted on us.’

  I squeeze Mia’s hand and start edging behind Adam, Adrian and Daniel.

  ‘I’m s-s-sorry.’ Adrian can only just get the words out. His voice is staccato with fear. ‘I d-d-didn’t have a-a-a choice.’

  Adam digs the knife tip in deeper. It’s not breaking the skin. Yet.

  Mia and I are past them now and, keeping our backs to the wall, we sidle further into the cave.

  ‘I don’t want to hear your excuses. You betrayed us. Your mate, Daniel. Sarah and me. Even Mia.’

  ‘Put the knife down, Adam,’ Saul cuts in. ‘You know you’re not going to use it. Sarah, stay where you are.’

  ‘Keep moving, Sarah,’ Adam says. ‘I will use it, Saul. I’ll kill him if I have to, and I’ll kill you too.’

  This is an Adam I haven’t seen before. I’ve seen him hit people in a temper. I’ve seen him throw objects around and smash things up, but I never thought I’d see him threaten someone with a knife. Looking at him now – with the hatred in his eyes, the sinews in his hand taut like violin strings, the vein in his neck pulsing with anger – I’m not sure he won’t use it.

  It’s frightening seeing him like this but there’s something noble about him too. He’s defending Mia and me. He’ll fight to the death for us. I can’t tell what’s going to happen next, but I don’t want Mia to see any more. I ignore Saul and keep moving. We’re three or four metres away from them now.

  ‘Go on, then,’ Saul says. ‘Kill him.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Kill him.’

  Adrian squeals, a sound of sheer animal terror.

  ‘You want me to kill him,’ Adam says.

  ‘I don’t particularly want you to. It doesn’t bother me one way or the other. I just want this sideshow to be over with. Get rid of him. Get rid of the hippy with the six shooter as well. Then it’s me and you.’

  It’s silent for an achingly long time, silent apart from the sound of Mia and me shuffling along on the uneven stone floor and Adrian, panting like a dog, his breathing fast and loud.

  Then Adam speaks.

  ‘I can’t do it,’ he says. ‘You’re right, Saul, I can’t do it.’

  ‘Let him go then.’

  Adam moves the knife away from Adrian’s throat. Adrian staggers forward, arms flailing.

  ‘You can’t, but I can,’ Saul says. ‘This is how you do it.’ Still aiming the gun at Daniel, he squeezes the trigger.

  It’s only a tiny movement, but the ear-splitting blast fills the cave, echoing off the walls so if you couldn’t see the smoke coming from the barrel you wouldn’t know where the sound had come from. Daniel’s gun flies out of his hand. He bends over clutching his wrist.

  I put my hand over Mia’s eyes and I start running, dragging her with me. I glance back.

  Saul moves the gun towards Adrian.

  There’s another gunshot and another.

  Adrian convulses where he stands and then folds forward.

  I race deeper into the cave. I don’t look back any more. I can’t.

  I follow the line of the rock wall, past the first white mark and on and on and on.

  Chapter 38: Adam

  Adrian and Daniel are both down. Adrian’s lying on the floor, face in the dirt. Daniel’s crouching on his haunches, squeezing his wrist, trying to stop the flow of blood.

  ‘Gun beats knife,’ Saul says, his voice as cold as ice. ‘Put it down, Adam, before you do yourself some harm.’

  I drop the knife.

  ‘Now take the hippy’s belt off.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Just do it.’

  I duck down next to Daniel, undo his belt buckle and pull the belt out through the loops.

  ‘Sit back to back with him,’ Saul says.

  I do what he says. Saul kneels next to us and binds my hands to Daniel’s behind my back with the belt. Daniel yelps as Saul touches his wrist.

  ‘Saul, please. I need to keep hold. I’ll bleed to death like this.’

  ‘Yes, you will, won’t you?’ Saul says, carrying on with his task.

  He’s very close to me. I can see his pulse throbbing in his neck. As soon as he’s done here, he’s going to be chasing after Sarah. I’ve failed to stop him. I haven’t even bought her much time.

  There is a way to save her, though.

  I could give Saul what he wants.

  ‘Saul,’ I say, ‘you don’t need to catch up with Sarah. You don’t need to kill my baby.’

  He tightens the belt until it digs into my skin.

  ‘Oh, but I do,’ he says.

  ‘You want some more time,’ I say. ‘You want to see numbers. You can see them through my eyes. My life, my gift. They’re yours, if you promise to leave my family alone. I’ll give them to you.’

  He studies my face, like he was seeing it for the very first time.

  ‘I thought we were the same, Adam, but we’re not,’ he says. ‘We are different. You’d give me your number?’

  It’s the only thing left to me. I didn’t have the guts to kill him when I had the chance. I let my girls down, like I’ve let them down so many times. I can do this for them and I will.

  ‘Yes. At least, I wouldn’t stop you taking it, however it is that you do it.’

  ‘All I need to do is make contact, like this—’ he leans forward and grips my shoulder, ‘—look into your eyes and reach inside.’

  I can’t help it. Instinctively I try to look away, but his hand switches from my shoulder to my jaw. He forces me to face him. I screw my eyes up, shutting him out. He laughs and lets go of me, pushing my head away from him.

  ‘You really don’t get it, do you? Your baby is everything I’ve ever dreamed of, Adam. What gifts do you think she’ll have? Yours and Sarah’s, Mia’s and Val’s? She’s the product of generations of gifted people. Why do you think your number will do when I can have hers?

  ‘Anyway, I can’t kill you. I haven’t given up on you yet. Think what we could do if we worked together. You haven’t got the stomach for it at the moment, but you’re young. You’ll learn. We’ll be like blood brothers – number brothers.’

  ‘Please, Saul. Leave Sarah and the baby alone. I’m begging you. I am begging.’

  ‘Like I said, you’re young. You’ve got plenty of time to breed another one and another. As many as you like.’

  I’ve got goosebumps on the back of my neck.

  ‘Stop it. Don’t talk like that.’

  ‘Like what? Like someone who’s lived for two hundred and fifty years? Like someone who knows the score?’
>
  ‘No. Like someone who’s forgotten how to be human.’

  ‘What’s being human, Adam?’ he says. ‘It’s having intelligence. It’s being better than animals. It’s being able to outwit nature, to triumph, to persist.’

  Maybe he’s right, in a blinkered sort of way. But he’s missing something. Something massive.

  ‘What about love, Saul? What about caring for other people, working together, living together? What about families, neighbours, friends?’

  ‘Not important,’ he sneers. ‘People come and go – you find that out when you go down the path I’ve chosen. No point getting attached if they’re going to die after seventy years. Three score years and ten is over before it’s begun.’

  ‘But it’s what life’s about. You get one chance to get it right. One lifetime to live.’

  ‘That’s old thinking. I can have as many lives as I like. Go on for ever.’

  ‘But every time you gain a life, someone else dies.’

  ‘That’s how it is.’

  I’ve known it all along. He’s an insanely dangerous man.

  But for his own warped reasons he’s choosing to keep me alive. And if I live, then my baby will die. I can’t let it happen. I can’t.

  I’ll have to make him kill me.

  ‘You really are stupid, Saul,’ I say.

  He shrinks away from me, almost as if I’d hit him.

  ‘Stupid to think I’d ever help you. I wouldn’t lower myself. Never. Ever. And if you leave me here, I’ll escape and I’ll do everything I can to stop you. I’ll tell everyone exactly who you are, what you are, what you’ve done.’

  Behind me, Daniel is tugging at my hands, trying to shut me up. He don’t know what’s at stake. He don’t know I have to do this, go further, wind Saul up until he bursts with rage.

  ‘You’re the weakest, stupidest person I’ve ever met. You’re beneath contempt. You’re—’

  He picks up his gun and holds it by the barrel, then he slams the handle into the side of my head. I’ve just got time to close my eyes and I keep them closed as the force of the impact carries me over, dragging Daniel with me. I’m out before we hit the stone.

  Chapter 39: Sarah

  I keep moving. There are lights at intervals along the path, but the surface under our feet is rock, wet in places and very uneven. We’re managing a slow jog at best. Mia is doing pretty well, but she doesn’t have much choice. I’ve got an iron grip on her hand and I’m pulling her along.