Days Like This (23 page)

‘No, we won’t be doing that again,’ Kieran said. He glared at Luca and Sal.

‘Again?’ Lily said.

Kieran ignored her. ‘Shah, take her back to the community,’ he said. ‘It’s not our place to kill her. Without the serum, she’ll die anyway.’

‘No,’ the woman screamed. ‘I need to go back. I need the serum. If I can’t have it, I’ll get old and ugly and then I’ll die!’

She went still and silent, her eyes wide and scared, flicking between them.

‘Yes, we know what you need,’ Kieran said. ‘But you came out after us and now you’re never going back.’

Tears pooled in the woman’s eyes and ran down the sides of her face.

‘She killed Nerita,’ Sal said. ‘Why take her back to the cave? She deserves to die.’

‘Yeah, Kieran, are you sure about this?’ Shah was frowning, staring at the woman.

‘We can’t kill her,’ Greta said. She spoke firmly and with more passion than Lily had heard from her before, even when she was telling her terrible story. ’Just because she killed doesn’t mean she deserves to be killed. We can’t help her, but we can’t kill her. The only choice is to take her back, keep her secure and let nature take it’s course. That’s the best we can do,’ Greta said.

Luca shrugged and turned away. ‘Do what you want,’ he mumbled. ‘Just watch her closely. She can’t be trusted. She’ll try and get away.’

‘Let her try,’ Shah said grimly. ‘On your feet and you’ll be staying in front of me.’ He hauled Chrissie upright and gave her a shove in the back and another one for good measure so that she stumbled awkwardly. ‘Get going then before we all burn to death out here,’ he said.

Whimpering, the woman limped off.

‘Spies,’ Sal spat out, narrowing her eyes at Lily.

‘Why did you even come with us today, Sal?’ Kieran said sharply, ‘If Lily’s such a problem for you?’

‘She doesn’t want to leave Lily with Luca,’ Ingie muttered.

‘You’re spot on, Ingie,’ Kieran said.

Sal reddened, tossing her head and turning away.

‘Okay.’ Kieran touched Lily’s arm gently. ‘It’s done. We need to get going now, if you want us to try and find your family and get back before sunset.’

Lily looked towards Shah and his captive, retreating across the harsh landscape, the woman defeated, head down and Shah watching her closely from behind.

‘You’re right, we should go,’ Lily said. She glared at Sal and Luca.

Kieran took off again and the others followed.

The front door of Lily’s parents’ house was slightly ajar and there was an ominous silence from inside.

They’d crossed the Wall without incident, though the sun was still high in the sky, leaving them exposed in no-man’s land. As they had crossed the rubble, Lily had thought of all the poor people who’d been beaten and killed by Blacktroopers as they tried to re-enter the city when the Wall first went up. She wondered where Kieran’s house had been.

Once over the Wall, Lily had kept expecting to hear the rumble of armoured cars and the march of the Blacktroopers, but they were lucky, making it to the front courtyard of Lily’s old house without running into any trouble. The house, the neat streets, the lush green of the trees and plants were so different from the wasteland on the other side of the Wall. This had been Lily’s world. The air was thick with loss, as if each molecule trapped a memory of the failure of love and hope.

‘Come on,’ Sal said now. ‘We can’t waste time standing around.’

‘Agreed,’ Ingie added. ‘Not if we want to have any hope of getting your brother as well.’

Kieran moved closer to Lily. She pushed at the door. There was no chirp of Sherbet, no ticking of the clock, no creak of floorboards or murmur of computer screens. The house was empty of everything. Dust had settled on the old wood floors, the walls were bare and darkness filled every corner. They moved from room to silent room. The house was as abandoned as the ruins outside the Wall.

Lily had no idea where her parents had gone or, more importantly, where they had taken Alice. Kieran and the others searched through every room, both in the main part of the house and in her parents’ wing. Back in the kitchen, they stood uncertainly.

A tiny scrape of noise came from the front of the house. Lily knew the others had heard it too because they all adjusted their bodies to face this new possibility of danger. The sound came again. Greta put her finger to her lips and then took a step towards the doorway, but Lily grabbed her arm, shaking her head.

‘I’ll go first,’ Lily whispered. She pointed to the floorboards. Kieran and Greta nodded, understanding.

Lily walked carefully, avoiding the boards she knew would squeak. She didn’t look back, but could sense the others following, moving as carefully as she was. They crept down the long passageway towards the front door, which was slightly open, just as they’d left it.

‘Hello?’ The voice sounded unused, cracking a little at the edges. ‘Is that you, Megan?’

A woman was silhouetted against the glass-paned front door. She held a doll which had bright pink cheeks and old-fashioned, sagging pantaloons. Lily thought there was something familiar about the doll. Then she remembered it had sat in an armchair in the hallway of the house next door, long ago in the days when they had been allowed out to visit the neighbour’s.

‘Mrs Tantallon?’ Lily said, tentatively.

‘Megan, it’s you. You’ve come back like you promised,’ the woman said.

The woman dropped the doll and shambled forward with her arms outstretched. Lily stopped abruptly.

‘It’s Lily, Megan’s daughter,’ Lily said.

The woman hesitated, confused, and then dropped her hands, her body slumping. ‘I thought it was Megan,’ she muttered.

Now that she’d moved closer, they could see that the woman wore just a nightdress. It was torn and old, stained down the front. The woman was torn and old, too. Lily reached down and picked up the doll, but the woman snatched it back and cradled it protectively. ‘I thought it was Megan,’ she repeated, beginning to cry.

‘Mrs Tantallon, where did my parents go? Are they all right? Did they take Alice?’ Lily asked.

‘They went away to a better house,’ Mrs Tantallon said. ‘Not so long ago,’ she added. ‘Megan said she’d come back to visit me. She promised she’d bring me what I needed, but she hasn’t and I don’t feel well.’ A tear slid down her old cheek.

‘What about Alice?’ Lily said.

The woman looked at her blankly.

‘My sister,’ Lily prompted her.

‘I don’t know,’ the old woman mumbled, shaking her head impatiently. ‘Megan was my friend but she went away to a better house. She said she’d come back and give me what I need. She promised.’ Still shaking her head, Mrs Tantallon turned to go, shuffling back towards the open door.

‘Wait!’ Lily grabbed her arm. The woman flinched and raised her hand to shield her face. ‘Don’t. Don’t hurt me.’

‘No one’s going to hurt you, Mrs Tantallon. I just need to know where they went.’

‘I told you they’ve gone to a bigger house.’

‘Where?’

‘Lily,’ Kieran said gently, ‘you’re frightening her. Mrs Tantallon, my name’s Kieran. We’ve come here from over the Wall. Lily’s trying to find her sister and brother. Can you tell us where Megan went?’

At last, the woman focussed. ‘If I tell you, will you ask Megan to come and see me and bring me what I need?’ she said.

‘You can leave with us now. Mrs Tantallon. You can tell her yourself and then you can come back with us over the Wall,’ Kieran said.

‘No, no, not over the Wall, never.’

‘It’s safe there,’ Kieran said calmly.

‘No.’ She gathered the doll against her and backed away.

‘Well, then tell us where Megan went and we’ll pass on your message,’ Kieran said quickly.

Mrs Tantallon looked at them suspiciously before finally saying, ‘They went to a better house, by the water, where the air is cool.’ She paused and then whispered, ‘I have the address in my head. Megan told me. it’s 25 Crescent Avenue, Point Piper. Across the harbour, by the water. Will you tell her what I said?’

‘Yes, now let’s take you back to your house.’

‘No. I’m not going anywhere with you.’ The old woman moved away surprisingly quickly, shoulders hunched, bare feet scraping along the ground. The front door swung slightly on it’s hinges and then she was gone.

‘Completely bonkers,’ Sal said. ‘Let’s get going.’

‘Hang on,’ Greta said. ‘We need a plan. We have to cross the bridge and get to the east of the city.’ She looked at Lily. ‘Where your parents have moved is near the place I was taken to,’ Greta explained. ‘We don’t know yet whether your sister is still at that place or back at your parents’ house in Crescent Avenue.’

‘We’ll have to get down to the harbour,’ Kieran said. ‘With any luck we’ll find a boat to take us across.’

‘No, it’s far too dangerous going across the harbour to the east,’ Sal said. ‘That wasn’t our plan. We were going to come to her house and then go and find her brother at the draining facility. Why didn’t you tell us before that the breeding place was across the harbour?’ she snapped at Greta.

‘You wouldn’t have let me come. Or her,’ Greta said, nodding towards Lily.

‘Well, we’ll just have to abandon the plan to get her sister. You should’ve told us, Greta. So we’ll just go to the facility that’s nearby and then get back over the Wall,’ Sal said. She spoke dismissively and with such finality, as if Alice and Daniel were just wisps of nothing.

‘No!’ Lily protested, leaning slightly forward and clenching her fists. She was certainly not about to let Sal bully them into abandoning Alice or Daniel. She would find her own way; alone, if necessary. She took a deep breath.

‘We’re going east to my family’s new house and we’re going to find my sister, either in the house or in the place where Greta was.
Then
we’ll go to the facility where I’m hoping Daniel is.’ She stopped and glared at Sal.

‘How does Greta even know the directions to the place they took her to?’ Sal said, her voice rising. She turned to Greta. How would you know? Weren’t you drugged or taken in a closed van or something?’

‘I know exactly where it is,’ Greta said. ‘My parents took me back for regular check-ups when … it … was inside me. They didn’t bother to hide where they were taking me by then. They didn’t need to.’

‘For heaven’s sake, Sal,’ Ingie said in a low voice.

‘We can cross the harbour first and then come back for Daniel,’ Lily said.

‘No, that’ll take too much time,’ Luca interrupted. ‘I’ve got a better idea. We find your brother first. The draining facility is nearby anyway. Once we’ve found him we split up. No, wait,’ he said when Sal started protesting. ‘Some of us can take the floaters and go back over the Wall and the others can go on to see if we can find the sister.’

Everyone looked at one another.

‘But we said we shouldn’t split up,’ Sal said dubiously. She’d taken hold of Luca’s arm.

‘Sal, I can’t believe you of all people would abandon the search for the girl,’ Luca said.

Sal looked down, blushing. There was an awkward pause.

Lily jumped in impatiently. ‘It’s a good idea, Luca,’ she said.

Ingie and Kieran nodded and Sal shrugged.

‘Okay, well let’s get on with it then,’ Luca said. ‘No point hanging around here.’

‘Yeah, that mad old bat might have contacted someone by now,’ Sal said.

‘She seemed too scared,’ Lily said.

‘How would you know?’ Sal said sharply.

‘Shut up, Sal,’ Ingie said. ‘Everyone needs to stay positive. Are you okay with this, Greta?’

‘Yes.’

‘The battery still seems okay,’ Kieran said. He glanced at the jamming device that hung off his belt. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Everyone, be alert and keep close together,’ Ingie said. ‘If you hear anything, pipe up.’

They had negotiated the streets from Lily’s old house, moving roughly parallel to the Wall. Kieran led them, but the others seemed to know exactly where they were going, too. The streets were lined with trees, which gave them some welcome protection.

Thank goodness for the water moon
, Lily thought.

The draining facility, on the other hand, was built on a treeless plateau that rose out of the surrounding suburban neighbourhood. The main building was in the middle of a flat concrete expanse that provided little cover. The concrete was bordered by scrubby bush that dropped down to where suburban homes began.

The Wall had dramatically reduced Sydney’s liveable area. Lily knew non-residential buildings like the draining facility, and no doubt places like Committee buildings, Blacktrooper barracks, food-production complexes and power and water plants had to co-exist within the suburban environment. Still, she was shocked by how close the draining facility was to her old home.

They crouched at the perimeter of the facility, amidst the scrubby bushes. Lily recognised the smaller building where Kieran and Ingie had attacked the Blacktroopers on the day she’d been rescued. She looked across at the big main building, with it’s blinding, windowless walls. She shuddered.
Please let Daniel be here and be alive.

Lily noticed that there was a hangar-like building with sliding doors adjacent to the facility. A short, covered walkway linked the facility to the hangar building. Lily squinted to see inside the open doors of the hangar. There were two armoured cars parked inside, as well as a row of what looked to Lily to be motorbikes.