Free It'll Come Back... by Lisa Richardson Page B

paused then, and he turned to look at Kate.
    ‘Could you stay? I mean, just for a bit, just…’
    ‘You want me to check inside for you.’ It had been a statement and not a question.
    Kate glanced at her watch and was surprised to see it was already 12.45pm. The detour had eaten up more time than she realised. But she guessed she could take a quick look inside and still make it back to Wilkos by 1pm if she ran the whole way – possible now that the High Street should be clear.
    Louie edged into the living room and towards a staircase at the back. ‘Mum? Sally?’ Louie called up the stairs. ‘Mum?’
    There came a bang from somewhere upstairs and Louie turned to Kate, his eyes wide. ‘Mum? MUM?’ He began to climb up.
    Kate grabbed his elbow and held him back.
    ‘Be careful,’ she mouthed.
    Louie nodded and trotted up the steps. Kate followed him.
    He stopped on the landing and the pair listened. Kate spotted three bedrooms on this floor and a smaller set of stairs at the end of the corridor. The noise came again. It had clearly come from above them. Kate expected Louie to make her go first but he darted off ahead of her, and she followed him up the staircase.
    He reached the next floor and stopped at the top of the stairs. Kate heard him cry, ‘NO! NOOOO!’
    She darted up and eased herself past Louie. She saw blood everywhere. Not just blood but body parts too – a hand lay on the floor in front of them, blood dripped down the peach walls, a leg lay twisted and half eaten on the other side of the room and on the bed sat a head, its flesh striped to the bone on one side. Its eyes moved and it fixed Kate and Louie in a stare as it snapped its jaws at them.
    ‘Mum! MUM!’
    ‘Ssssh!’ said Kate, holding him back. But too late – a little girl, around seven or eight, an arm clutched in her stiff fingers, rose and lurched at them from behind the bed. Her throat had been torn out. Blood dripped from her mouth, her eyes were wild and her teeth bared. She headed towards Kate.
    ‘Sally, no!’ yelled Louie and he dived in front of Kate, and caught his sister by the arms. He flung her back across the room, her little body smashing against the far wall.
    ‘Run!’ yelled Kate as the little girl sprang to her feet.
    Kate and Louie tore down the stairs. Kate spotted patio doors to their left, wide open. ‘This way!’ she yelled, the little dead girl right behind them.
    Kate flew outside first, followed by Louie, and she slid the door shut after him. The little dead girl slammed into the glass, leaving a trail of blood. She smashed herself against the glass again and again.
    ‘Stop it! Sally, stop it!’ cried Louie, putting his arms over his head.
    Kate glanced around the small courtyard garden. ‘We have to get out of here,’ she said but all she could see were three tall brick walls enclosing them in the tiny space. She glanced at her watch – 12.55pm. She wouldn’t make it back in time but she would try and catch up with Phil and the others – they might not get far ahead.
    ‘Come on, Louie. We’re going to have to climb.’
    Kate put her arm around the boy. His body remained rigid for a moment and then he clung onto her, wrapping his arms around her and he sobbed while his dead sister smashed her small body against the patio doors.
    ‘Louie, we have to get going,’ she said after a moment.
    He stopped crying but he held onto her for a while longer, before pulling back and looking at her. His red rimmed, puffy eyes sought out hers. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
    ‘What for?’
    ‘For the way I behaved back with that girl in the van. I should have helped. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being a fucking twat the whole time you’ve known me.’
    ‘These aren’t really normal circumstances, Louie,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to judge you on today’s behaviour. None of us know how we’re going to react in extreme situations. I normally spend way too much time caring about my hair and make-up and taking