The Hole by Guy Burt

Author:Guy Burt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780345454867
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2002-05-28T04:00:00+00:00

“He simply doesn’t make mistakes,” Mike said again. “So this is either deliberate or something’s happened to him.”

“Such as what?”

“I don’t know. Suppose he broke a leg or something, and had to go to hospital. He could be gone for weeks.”

“But that—” Alex said, and stopped.

“That wouldn’t happen to Martyn?” Geoff finished for her. His voice was harsh. “Of course it might. What did you think? That Martyn won’t let nasty things happen to him?” He slammed his palm down on the floor. “Shit. Nobody even knows we’re here.”

“What are we going to do?” Frankie said.

“It might not be that at all,” Mike said. “It might be the other thing.”

“That this is deliberate?” Alex looked up at him. “In what way?”

“Well, perhaps it is just a part of the Hole. I know it’s not very likely,” he added quickly. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t be true.”

“I don’t see why it should be,” Frankie said.

“Maybe he’s just trying to scare us,” Geoff said.

“Then he’s succeeded,” Alex said.

“Oh, come off it.”

Alex frowned. “Really. This isn’t funny any more. In fact, it never was.”

“So we all reckon this is something Martyn intended to happen?” Frankie said.

“I bloody well hope so,” Geoff said quietly.

“Why? Do you enjoy this sort of thing?”

Geoff stared at her. “Can’t you work it out for yourself?” There was a silence. Everyone waited for him to continue.

“If this is deliberate—if it’s Martyn’s idea of a good laugh—then everything’s going to be all right. Eventually. But if he walked in front of a bus, or dropped off a cliff or something—then we’re stuck here, aren’t we?” He paused, took a breath. “Like I said. Nobody even knows we’re here.”

Frankie’s mouth was partly open. “That’s not what you said before. You said he’d be here any minute.”

“Well, it’s not looking that way any more, is it?”

“What are you all saying?” Alex asked. “That Martyn’s dead? That doesn’t seem very likely.”

“But we don’t know, do we?” Geoff said savagely. He passed a hand across his eyes. “We don’t know anything about what’s going on up there. The whole fucking world could have ended, for all we know.”

“That’s just—” Alex began.

“Ridiculous? A bit far-fetched? Sure. But you get the point, don’t you? We don’t have any control over what goes on outside. And if Martyn can’t get to us, how are we supposed to get out?”

Above them, the blank face of the door sat squarely at the top of the wall, locked shut, forgotten.

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