Lambs: World Gone Down by Benton Ford

Author:Benton Ford [Ford, Benton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AMMFA Publishing
Published: 2023-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

They were lucky. No one had any serious injuries beyond a few bumps, and even though Claire would never say it out loud to Connie, Lisa’s sprained ankle was little more than a bruise. The pub’s power was still running, and there was an ice machine in the kitchen. Aware they’d had nothing to eat or drink since their escape from the Clent Hills, she found a couple of jugs and filled them with some iced water. After she’d set the first jug down on the table, however, Mick Williams got up and wandered behind the bar, leaning down out of sight. When he reappeared, he was holding a bottle of Coke in his hand.

‘I’d rather have one of these, Miss,’ he said.

‘Mick, that’s stealing. Put it back.’

‘No one’s here.’

‘I don’t care. Put it back.’

Mick stared at her for a moment, the light fading from his face the way it sometimes did in class when he was asked a difficult question.

‘Or what, Miss?’

The question caught her off guard. ‘Ah … or you’ll … I’ll….’

‘Will you put me in detention, Miss?’

‘Mick, just—’

‘Put it back, you fucking wanker!’ Tim Parkson shouted.

‘Make me.’

‘All right.’

Tim, chastened by his bus ride dust up with Danny, looked ready to unleash war. Claire walked in front of him as he headed for the bar.

‘Sit back down!’

Tim pushed against her, but Claire shoved him back far harder than she had meant to, sending him staggering into the table where the others sat, almost knocking over the fresh jug of water.

‘All right, Miss. Take it easy,’ Tim said. ‘Williams, you’re a fucking wanker.’

‘Put it back,’ Claire said again, and this time, to her relief, Mick Williams did. ‘We have to maintain our respect,’ she told him, as he threw her an angry glance and grabbed an empty glass from a shelf behind the bar. ‘This isn’t an easy situation for any of us—’

‘I want to go home,’ Lisa said.

‘Fucking bird should have eaten you instead of Sy,’ Connie said.

‘It wasn’t a bird,’ Danny said. ‘It was a pterodactyl.’

‘Whatever it was—’ Claire began, but Danny was shaking his head.

‘It was a pterodactyl. Please hold all the bull about how they aren’t supposed to exist. It just fucking ate a bunch of us, and it would have eaten the rest if we hadn’t got back to the bus on time.’ He started shaking his head back and forth, more and more violently. ‘It just ate—’

Danny leaned over and threw up behind his chair. Daisy jumped out of the way, but Ishy patted him on the back as his body heaved. He retched a few more times, then sat up, chin smeared with vomit and with tears in his eyes. Claire was grateful for Ishy comforting him, even though the girl looked no less broken.

The shock’s starting to hit them. Just as I’m getting over it, they’re starting to get screwed up.

‘All right,’ she said, sitting up. ‘Let’s get our shit together. Simon, Andy, Emma, Marco and the rest aren’t coming back. And if by some miracle they’re still alive, there’s nothing we can do.

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