Birthdays for the dead

McKenzie screamed, clutched both hands over the hole where a big chunk of his left ear used to be as the boom echoed back and forth from the breeze-block walls.

He sank down onto his haunches, blood oozing out through his fingers.

Where is she?

I DON T KNOW!

I backhanded him with the gun, and he clattered back against the shelves.

Aaaaaagh

Katie Henderson: your fourteenth bloody victim.

He blinked up at me, eyes wet with tears. Fourteen?

There was a sink in the corner, by a mop and wheelie-bucket. The bucket was full of greasy grey water. Wasn t exactly a

96 Pinot Noir, but it d do.

Last chance.

I don t understand He stared at me, eyebrows pinched together, mouth turned down, blood trickling down his cheek. Why would we need fourteen?

Have to find something to tie the bastard down to. The door was too heavy couldn t kick it off the hinges anyway. The shelves would do though. I grabbed the nearest set and hauled them away from the wall toilet roll and bottles of cleaning fluid bounced off the floor as it smashed into the concrete.

McKenzie screamed, both arms wrapped around his head. I didn t touch her!

Ever been waterboarded? Because you re

A noise behind me.

God s sake: why did no one ever listen? Alice, I told you to wait in the mortuary. I turned. Froze.

It wasn t Alice. It was the Rat Catcher. She was huge, shoulders hunched, staring down at me. Her eyes shone in the torchlight, like the rats in their cages She bared her teeth. Leave my little brother ALONE!

The fist came from nowhere sparks exploded deep inside my head, making everything fuzzy as the floor rolled beneath my feet. Then another one.

I lurched back, stumbled over something, went crashing against the wall of cages. Hissing, rattling, snapping yellow teeth.

The next punch drove all the air from my lungs, and wrapped barbed wire around my chest.

Fight back. Fight back, you useless bastard.

I swung for her face. Missed. Got another punch in the stomach for my troubles.

Knees wouldn t work any more.

She grabbed me by the lapels, pulled me forwards, then slammed me into the cages again.

Screeching rats. The stink of piss and droppings.

Gouge her eyes out. Bite her. Kick her in the crotch. DO

SOMETHING!

She curled her fist back and grinned at me. You ve been naughty.

Bang.

I blinked. How? I was on the floor, lying on my back, looking up at a network of wires and pipes. Ringing in my ears, black dots swirling in front of my eyes. Unnngh

Voices in the red-tinted gloom.

McKenzie: Who s Katie Henderson?

Rat Catcher: Dunno.

He thinks we took fourteen girls, I mean, why would we take fourteen girls? It doesn t make any sense.

I m tired.

It took three goes to haul myself up onto my elbows. I blinked again, tried to shake the black dots away. My head throbbed.

The pair of them were sitting on the concrete floor, the wall behind them full of glowing eyes.

McKenzie brushed the hair back from his sister s face.

It s OK. Soon be time to go home.

All finished.

He smiled. All finished.

Your ear looks sore.

It looked like a chunk of chewed bacon.

I grabbed the tipped-over shelving unit and used it to pull myself up, until I was sitting with my back against the sink in the corner. Panting, sweating, every move fanning the flames. My foot throbbed and burned, my back crackled, my head filled with boiling smoke.

The Rat Catcher pointed at me. He knows.

McKenzie nodded. Everyone knows, now.

We should kill him. Kill him and put him in the incinerator.

Fuck Fuck the pair of you. I reached into my jacket But the gun wasn t there.

McKenzie held it up. Shook his head. No.

We kill him and we put him in the incinerator. She stood, towering over both of us.

Lisa, we can t. I can t. He stared at the gun in his hands. We need to go away, before more people come.

We can t go away till we see to Andrea.

They ve got her. They came to the house. They ve taken her away. He looked at me. Haven t you?

I wiped the sweat out of my eyes. It s over.

It s not over. The Rat Catcher curled her dirty hands into fists. We get her back. We get her back and we make the bitch pay for what she did to us! The blood, the screaming, the photographs. We get her back.

There s a firearms team on its way down here right now. You re not going anywhere.

We get her back and we tear her apart, just like all the others. She stepped forwards. We kill him and we put him in the incinerator.

I grabbed a bottle of bleach from the debris on the floor. Fumbled at the lid with my aching fingers. What stupid bastard invented child-proof caps? Come on

She grabbed me by the throat and dragged me to my feet.

Ulk Her hand was a noose around my neck, tightening, cutting off the air, making the blood thump in my ears. I scrabbled my hands at her creased face, pulled at her fingers. They wouldn t budge.

The bleach bottle thunked to the floor.

A door creaked.

We kill him and we put him in the incinerator. Her breath reeked of Parma Violets.

I blinked staring over her shoulder.