NO SIGNAL by Jem Tugwell

Author:Jem Tugwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime, Thriller, Sci-fi
Publisher: Serpentine Books
Published: 2020-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 40

As Sully settled across the seats in Ruth’s warm and dry car, Lilou was scanning left and right, crouching by the side of the road. Rain patted down onto the road and she wiped her hand across her brow before double-checking her map, using her body to shelter it from the rain. In spite of walking hard for hours, she was cold, and the wet was starting to seep through the waterproofing in her shoes.

She’d reached Kerne Bridge and checked the display on her game controller. ‘Distance to finish – 42 to 45 miles.’ She’d travelled about thirty-two miles in sixteen hours – a slow two miles an hour. Disappointing if she had stayed on the roads the whole time, but she’d kept mostly to lanes and fields to avoid as many people as possible. When a car did come, she skulked in the bushes and hid. Doing OK, she thought and smiled despite the drop of rain on her nose.

She needed to cross the River Wye and worried it would leave her exposed. As she crossed the B429 and followed the sign for Goodrich Castle, she shot a glance at The Inn on the Wye hotel. It’s so close to the bridge, but at least it’s quiet. The guests might be at breakfast, she thought. Her stomach rumbled.

Lilou crouched by the tall gates to someone’s house and waited. The bridge had a hump in the middle that she couldn’t see over. She didn’t know if there were any people or cars coming in the opposite direction. Risking a few steps forward, she saw that on the far side the road approached from her left before it turned towards the bridge and she lost sight of it. Clear.

With near-silent electric cars, she couldn’t hear anything coming, but she waited in case there was a car close to the bridge.

She started a fast, half-walk, half-jog across the bridge, praying that she had waited long enough. Despite the pace of her walk, she held her breath and followed the upwards incline of the bridge. Lilou breathed out and laughed when she could see over the top of the hump. Nothing coming.

She ran over the rest of the bridge. Where the walled sides of the bridge ended, steps had been cast in concrete down into a field. She turned off the road and skipped down the steps, past the ‘Private Fishing. No day tickets’ sign, and jogged along the edge of the field. Her easy stride was accompanied by squelching noises at each muddy footfall and the sound of her rucksack sliding across the waterproof material of her coat.

The rain meant she wouldn’t look like a tourist out enjoying the fresh air by the river, so she sprinted the last few metres of the open field. The hill rose in front of her, covered in trees, but thankfully not so dense that she couldn’t keep jogging.

‘Get to the top of the hill, then breakfast,’ she told herself. She jogged on, breathing harder as the hill climbed.

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