“D’you have any of you own clothes?” she asks.
I suddenly realise that she’s studying my appearance. “Oh, well I have a pair of jeans and a t-shirt upstairs but they’re probably a biohazard risk or something.”
She tuts but doesn’t say anything more and leans back deeply into the armchair that’s in front of the television set, letting it swallow her up. From the sound of the music, she’s watching an old romance film, nothing that would interest me. That said, there’s never anything real on TV; it’s all too heavily censored.
I look at the clock, its quarter to six. I wonder whether we should eat before we go but I’m not sure that I could manage anything. My stomach feels like it has a drawstring around the top that’s been pulled tight.
I lean closer to Lake. “Do we know where his house is?”
He pulls the side of his lip up into a snarl. “Sort of, but we’ll leave in good time just in case we get lost. I’m going to write a letter for my father in case he gets back when we’re out and wonders where we are.” Lake says and gets up from the table.
I don’t say anything, I just watch him disappear upstairs because I think if I do it won’t be very nice. What I’m thinking is that I don’t know why he’s bothering because his father certainly wouldn’t do the same for him.
“Where are your parents then?” Mrs Ford calls over to me from her chair.
Christ what a question, I almost say aloud.
“I never knew my father,” until last month, I add in my head. “And my mother recently passed away,” as I say it an icy chill passes over me, I’m alone.
I see a flash of remorse on her face. “Oh,” she says in a much quieter voice. “And you don’t have any other family, any siblings?”
“No,” I reply simply, looking at the floor because I don’t want to see her pity.
“Oh,” she says again “Well you’ve got us now, Lake will look after you.”
I look up to see her smiling and nodding, although her eyes shine bright with tears.
“And you?” I ask. “You don’t have any family?”
“My husband died young and I never wanted children, not here.”
We sit in quiet contemplation until Lake reenters the room carrying both of our coats. “Time we were making tracks,” he says, handing me my jacket.
“Where are you going?” Mrs Ford asks.
“Just to meet a friend,” Lake lies, but she maintains eye contact with him for too long for me to think that she believes him.
“Am I to expect you back tonight?” she asks, but I know what she means. She’s asking if we don’t return is she to presume that we’ve gone missing, although there won’t be anything she can do. Perhaps she’s just trying to make sure that we keep our wits about us.
“Yes,” he replies matter-of-factly as he passes me my shoes.
We’re ready even earlier than we decided that we’d leave, but we can’t hang around waiting for another fifteen minutes to pass otherwise we’ll have to tell Mrs Ford what’s happening, so we just decide to leave early. We walk through Narrowmarsh, not only because it’s safer amongst the stalls and back alleys, but also because it’s longer and will kill some time. The streets are filled with people crowding around stalls or hovering over people at restaurants, hoping to fill their seats when they leave. This area used to scare me and as a child I was warned not to come here because it was filled with desperate people, but now I think it’s the most alive part of the whole compound.
The scent in the air changes as we pass different stalls, from fried chicken to chilli noodles. Behind the next stall is a woman so short that I can only see the top of her greying hair over the glowing barbecue coals. I watch with envious eyes as she turns cobs of corn; I’m starting to regret not having eaten before we came out. She meets my gaze as we walk past, then glazes two of the cobs with butter and shakes salt on them before holding them out to us.
I smile gratefully but decline. “Sorry, we don’t have any money.”
“That’s why they’re free,” she replies.
I furrow my brow and turn to Lake, who’s just done exactly the same thing to me. The little woman thrusts them towards us impatiently and Lake shrugs. I take the corn tentatively from her hands as if I imagine that she’ll snatch them back at any moment.
“Thank you,” I say. “These look lovely.”
She nods curtly and then resumes turning her corn. We walk a little further before I say anything to Lake.
“Well that was strange,” I say, drawing out the word ‘strange’.
“Yup,” he nods in agreement. “But good to see that relations here are going well; the others must be doing a good job.”
“Either that or they’re laced with poison,” I joke, inspecting my corn more closely.
Suddenly I see a spray painted logo on the side of one of the houses. It depicts two playing cards, the two of diamonds and the seven of clubs. Wrapped around them is a scroll with the words, ‘A hand not worth playing,’ written inside.
“Oh my God!” I exclaim, pointing at the image on the side of the house.
“What is it?” Lake replies, surprised by my excitement.
“It’s my hand,” I say, transfixed. “It’s one of the hands I got in cards on our last night. I threw them in saying that they weren’t worth playing and then drew a metaphor between them and our lives in here. We were dealt a hand not worth playing.”
“So what does it mean?” he asks.
“It means that Neve and team are alive and well,” I beam, clapping my hands together and almost dropping my corn. “It means that the revolution has started,” I cry out louder, looking back over my shoulder towards the woman that gave us the corn. Her act now seems to have taken on greater significance.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“There it is,” Lake says, pointing with his free hand towards a moderately sized house in a well-respected area.
I can’t remember how we got here or even how long it took; since we saw the graffiti I’ve been consumed by thoughts about the others. Today’s Tuesday and there’s a slim chance that one of them will go to the drop site. I make a mental note to tell Lake when we leave Patryk’s house.
Approaching the house I feel an air of calm descend over me, not at all what I’d been expecting. In front of the shiny black gloss door are three stone steps. Lake hesitates for a moment but I leap up them in a single bound and rap my knuckles on the door. The sooner we get this over with, the more we’ll know and the more we’ll be able to tell the others. I listen carefully for a few moments, then when I’m sure I hear someone making their way towards the door I move back down the steps to join Lake. The door clicks as the lock releases but the door doesn’t swing wide open. Instead a sour-faced looking man keeps it tightly closed so there’s only enough space for him to look out.
He glares at us with small beady black eyes, taking in every inch of our appearance. After seeming satisfied that he’s observed every inch of us, he then repeats the process looking up and down the street. I turn around and do the same but I can’t see anyone, and then suddenly without warning he opens the door wide. We quickly climb the stairs and step over the threshold, in case he changes his mind and closes the door.
Once inside we’re assaulted by a mass of different fabrics and patterns. Every spare piece of wall in the hallway is covered with ornate painted plates and gilded photo frames with pictures of a women and a young boy in. Patryk walks a little way down the hall before halting abruptly and sighing heavily. I hold my breath behind him, like I’m trying not to spook him, but after a short pause he continues to lead us into the sitting room. He gestures for us to sit on a flowery plush couch but remains standing himself. I look around the rest of the room in great distaste. Hardwood cabinets filled with porcelain figurines are crammed into all four corners of the room and every window is dressed with heavy green and pink curtains.
He looks at the floor swaying from side-to-side in an agitated manner before
straightening up and meeting our increasingly concerned gazes.
“Do you know what you’re asking me to do?” he snaps in a harsh tone, but doesn’t give us time to answer before following it up with another question. “They’ll know that I did it. They’ll know I let you in and then what will happen to me?” Patryk asks, but I think it’s more to himself than meant as a question for us to answer, and starts to sway once more.
“How will they know we were there if we stay out of sight?” I ask, trying to get some sense out of him. “We’ll go at night. There can’t be many governors around at that time; they’ve got their grand houses to get back to.” Although looking around the room once more I regret my last words.
“They’ll see you on CCTV. The whole compound is rigged with CCTV,” he snaps, having clearly thought about this already.
Not the whole compound, I think to myself and smile inwardly at the thought of Redd sabotaging the CCTV cameras in the apartment block.
“And who checks the CCTV footage?” Lake asks.
“The officials...” he replies, tailing off into deep thought and starting to pace up and down the room. “No, it’s too risky,” he snaps, suddenly closed to the idea. “I can’t be sure who’d see it and I can’t risk being caught.”
I turn to Lake in despair and hope that my face conveys what I want to say aloud. I thought he was supposed to be helping us!
“And anyway, why would I help you? I have a good life here,” Patryk adds.
That’s certainly true; I’ve never been in a house filled with so much decorative and pointless junk before. I can’t think of a good reason so I throw my hands up and look over at Lake, hoping he has an idea. His face is contorted, like he’s on the verge of saying something but thinks it will either make or break the deal.
“If you did, this house wouldn’t just be filled with things,” he pauses to assess the damage caused by what he’s saying. “They’d be here too,” he adds quietly.
“It’s not fair to blame what happened on the officials,” Patryk says, becoming agitated again. “Now you really should leave.”
I get to my feet, not really wanting to spend a moment longer in this wretched house, but Lake doesn’t follow my lead.
“I’m not blaming them; it’s the compound as a whole. We can’t live like this,” Lake says in a desperate tone that worries me.
“Then you’ll die, do you understand? I can make you go away!” Patryk hisses through clenched teeth. Patryk grabs Lake by the front of his jacket and pulls him to his feet before pushing him in the direction of the door. “GET OUT!” he shouts.
I move swiftly to the door and open it with Lake close behind me. Once we’re back out on the street I feel the weight of what’s just happened fall upon me. Everything that’s happened so far means nothing without him, if he’s not willing to cooperate.
As we walk back the way we came I break the silence. “What happened to his wife and kid?”
“According to Adelaide, she died whilst giving birth to their second child, a daughter who died at the same time.”
“It’s like the article said; after day six hundred there were no more offspring successfully born,” I reply.
Lake nods gravely. “And after that the little lad just failed to thrive and died when he caught one of the bouts of influenza that come in the autumn.”
I feel very sorry for him, losing not only his wife and unborn child but also his son in a separate incident. I think I understand why he fills his house with objects and furnishings, but there’s not a doubt in my mind that it isn’t enough to fill the void. I can’t understand why he isn’t furious like I am about my mother’s death. Perhaps he’s just given up.
“Didn’t Adelaide say that he’d help us, and wanted to meet us?” I ask.
“Yes, but judging from tonight I think we can gather that Adelaide convinced him to meet with us.”
“Well that went brilliantly,” I say sarcastically, although I know I’m taking my frustration out on the wrong person. “We’ll be lucky if we don’t end up dead ourselves!”
We walk back through Narrowmarsh in the direction of the drop site.
“You remember what day it is, don’t you?” Lake asks as we walk.
“Yes,” I reply with a smile. “Do you think anyone will be there?”
“I don’t know,” he replies honestly. “Maybe Redd or someone will write a letter and a new recruit will drop it off.”
My gaze is drawn into one of the small makeshift restaurants by a pale and desperate looking face in the corner. It’s Star. I stop dead in my tracks and Lake follows my gaze until he sees her, then jogs over and wraps his arms around her as she cries on his shoulder. I follow them into the restaurant, feeling uncomfortable and take a seat on the stool next to her. She looks older, with sunken cheeks; clearly she’s found what she was looking for. She breaks away from Lake and looks at me, attempting to pull her thin lips back into a smile.
“You need to leave,” she says in a quiet and shaky voice.
Lake refuses to let her hand drop. “Not till you tell us what’s going on, Star.”
She pulls it away. “I can’t. Please leave, they’ll be furious if they find you here.”
“Who?” I ask.
“The Block Eight gang,” she whispers in a voice so quiet that I barely catch it.
“Who are they?” I whisper back.
Lake answers on her behalf. “A rival gang.”
“But why?” I ask, not understanding why she immediately got involved with another gang after leaving one.
“Where else was I supposed to go?” she snaps. “I have no family. I’d just left my friends. I had no money and needed drugs.”
“And now she’s ours,” an unfamiliar voice says from behind Lake, who straightens up on hearing it.
He spins around on his heels and comes face-to-face with a boy of approximately the same age and height as him. Instead of loose dirty blond hair the boy has a shaved head and tattoos covering every part of his skin that I can see.
“I don’t want any trouble,” Lake begins. Probably a good call since there’s only me and him here, and I’d be about as much use in a fight as a dead dog. “But Star should know that we’re always here for her if she needs us.”
“Well she doesn’t,” the tattooed yob spits, pushing Lake backwards. “So why don’t you just do one, Block Thirteen?”
Block Thirteen was the number of the apartment block where the gang lived when I first met them. I walk past the Block Eight members slowly with my shoulders back and chin high, trying to fool them into thinking that I’m not scared but inside my heart is thumping against my ribcage so hard that its making me feel woozy. We walk further into Narrowmarsh without looking back, but I can tell that Lake’s stewing on what’s just happened.
“Well she looked like crap,” he eventually says.
I nod in agreement unable to add anything. Although I’m sad that she’s clearly in trouble, I can’t bring myself to dwell on it at the moment because I’m still preoccupied with thinking about the others.
Walking through the streets that we passed earlier they all look very different. Narrowmarsh has a fluid quality to it, always moving and changing. The street restaurants and food stalls have been replaced by stalls selling tobacco and bottles of cheap liquor. As we approach Lankyan Palace I notice a group of children sat huddled around a fire that burns in the bin at the dead drop location. This means that any letter already dropped will have been burnt. I wish we had some money to rent the same room as before so we could keep a watch over the site when I realise that we’re the ones being watched.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Looking up at the window of the room we rented, I see at least one pair of eyes peering out of the darkness. I feel a cold chill run down my spine when I realise that our actions are being monitored. A moment later the side door of the brothel flies open. I grab Lake’s hand and feel my legs tense like coiled springs ready to explode into action, but
pause for just a moment. Around the door I see orange hair emerge, followed by a large white grin. I’m so thrilled to see Redd that I run across the road and throw my arms around his neck. Redd pulls both me and Lake inside the doorway where I see Neve and Dave waiting for us.
“It’s so good to see you,” Neve squeals, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing tightly.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I reply excitedly. I hold her at arm’s length inspecting her face, like she’s a mirage that could disappear at any second.
Dave pushes me up the stairs, urging me to move. “You guys are late. We thought you weren’t coming.”
“We saw Star on the way,” Lake says in a voice tinged with sadness.
“Yeah, we saw her two nights ago,” Redd replies, echoing his sadness. “There’ll be a time to save her. It’s just not now.”
I nod my head violently in agreement, even though I don’t think anyone can see me in the dark hallway.
Neve leads us to the same room we rented before and pushes the unlocked door open. I’m greeted by the smell of damp and mildew, but none of this can taint how good it feels to be reunited.
Walking over to the window I say, “So you watched us approach?” “Yup,” Dave replies from the other window. “Have you seen any sign of TJ and the others?”
“No, but the owner said they passed through a few nights ago,” Dave replies.
“The owner?” I ask, recalling the vile man that we encountered last time we were all here together.
“Yeah,” says Neve with a laugh. “He’s actually a really nice bloke when you get to know him, and one of our biggest supporters because he hates all the officials and governors. He’s letting us stay here for free.”
“Speaking of officials,” Lake says. “We went round the official’s house that does security at the governor’s building.”
“No way!” Redd jumps in. “Is he gonna help?”
“Unlikely,” Lake replies. “In fact there’s a chance he might inform the governors, so we should all keep out of sight as much as possible.”