‘What’s happened’ She said ‘is this who I think it is’ pointing to Delyn, Delyn just looked on, she thought for a moment she had been mistaken for someone else and she went to protest, Sandra put her own finger to her lips and Delyn said nothing.

‘A new resident’ said Tony bitterly, he gulped down some more beer, finished the bottle and grabbed another, and he drank it down in one.

Sandra looked at the young lady, the pretty girl with a tear stained face and muddy clothes and her heart immediately went out to her, she stroked her head in a manner that told her everything was going to be ok, but Sandra knew it wasn’t, not unless Tony had an idea,

‘What you going to do with her’, Delyn prayed it would be quick and painless.

Tony grabbed another bottle and gestured for them both to follow him, he got Sandra to help him move the furniture above the hatch, Tony went down first, followed by Delyn and Sandra, at this time Delyn was sure she was being taken to a torture chamber, her body went cold as she shivered, the fear building up inside her making her want to scream, Sandra noticed this and drew the girl closer to her,

‘I swear no one’s going to hurt you, we are here to protect you’ it offered no comfort to Delyn, if they were protecting her than why were they taking her to a torture chamber, she tried to scream but Sandra put a hand over her mouth.

Delyn looked around at the underground home, it was not at all what she was expecting, there were no torture chambers, no instruments of terror, in fact it looked like a nice comfortable basement home, she felt a little better, just a little.

Tony handed Delyn a dressing gown and told her to go and have a shower, Delyn did pleased to see that the door had a lock on the inside, she locked it and got undressed, the shower seemed to wash some of the demons away, just some, as she showered Sandra and Tony sat on the sofa,

‘What is this place’ asked Sandra as her eyes scanned the underground building,

‘An old basement I converted’ he turned to face Sandra’ you’re not going to turn that girl in are you’

‘Of course not, but you can’t keep her here forever’

‘I don’t intend to, I’m going to get them out and the kids from Hawthorne, and then Sandra saw something in Tony that she had never seen before, not fear, or determination, he was angry, he looked like a man who has had enough and Sandra liked that look.

He told her of his and Peter’s plan and last night was a test, they weren’t expecting a new resident, he told her Peter had gone but he wasn’t sure where, Sandra listened without saying a word until Tony mentioned Peter missing,

‘He wouldn’t leave his family’ said Sandra, even though she had only known him a short time,

‘I know’ said Tony ‘he’s either died or he’ll be back, I like the second option, either way I’ve had fucking enough of this place’ he spat his words out like venom,

They just sat for a moment, until Tony spoke,

‘There’s something I haven’t told you’

Sandra just raised her eyebrows as if to say you’ve told me enough,

‘I’ve killed Steve Duce’

Now Sandra stood up her face was startled,

‘Why the fuck did you do that’

Tony stayed seated, he finished the last of his beer,

‘He was going to take her, I had to stop him, and he’s taken his last resident to the sheriff’.

‘I had better go and try to clean it up then, and Tony rose to his feet and they shook hands and their eyes met and both could see the bond they had just formed in those eyes, then Delyn came from the shower, clean and fresh, her natural beauty shone and both Sandra and Tony realised what a catch she would have been for the rulers of Underwood and how right had they been to save her,

‘Can you tell me what’s happening please’ her voice was croaky and she was shaking.

‘What’s your name sweetheart’ asked Sandra

‘Delyn’

‘Sit down Delyn, I’ve got to sort some things out, then I’ll come back Tony will explain.

And that’s just what Tony did.

Chapter 15

His whole body seemed to ache as he awoke, for a moment he couldn’t comprehend why he was lying on the side of the road, then suddenly as if he was hit by something hard, it all came flooding back to him, and a total feeling of terror overcame him, he remembered undoing his chains and being swept into the air, hurtling towards what he thought was certain death, the breath being sucked from his lungs, only it wasn’t, he was alive, he sat up on the pavement, his clothes were damp, which was surprising as he expected them to be soaked, he looked up into the sky, the sun was beating down, then it all came back to him, he recalled seeing a car, in it sat a young lady, he remembered flying past her, trying to shout for her not to go into the woods, he now realised by that stage it was probably too late, she had already been caught up in the storm and somehow passed through, he then stood up, nervous of his surroundings, he looked all around, this wasn’t Underwood, he could see roads in the distance, what looked like to be a motor way, he looked up into the sky, he could see a trail from a plane, he could see the churchyard that they had passed on the way into Underwood, the one that scared them all, now it looked just like an ordinary  churchyard, he looked towards the road to underwood, there were just trees, it was then his heart missed a beat as it suddenly dawned on him, he was on the outside, his family were not, they were still stuck inside that crazy place, he had to get back in, but he guessed he would have to wait for a storm, there was a way out after all, he had found it, he had to give himself time to think, to work it out, he searched his pockets, his wallet was still in there, he wondered whether his bank accounts were still in order, he could see no reason why they wouldn’t be, they had been missing for only 10 days, they were on holiday after all, he started walking the 2 mile walk to the Magor services, all the time thinking of his wife and children and the tears streamed down his cheeks when he remembered seeing something else in the woods, he wasn’t sure  if it was just a vision an image, but whatever it was Peter knew it wasn’t human.

‘I can’t leave them with that’ he thought ‘I have to get back in’

He stood at the cash machine at the services with his card in his hand, he wasn’t sure how long he had been stood there, he could not remember walking the two miles, he guessed his head was in such a whirl, he turned around to make sure there was no one behind him waiting to use the machine, there wasn’t, he put his card in the machine and paused for a moment, his mind momentarily blank as he tried to remember his pin number, it came to him and he entered the number, he pressed the maximum amount of £300, it seems an age as the reader said “we are dealing with your request” eventually the machine changed to “we are counting your money, please take your card” he took his card out and the money followed, he gave a big sigh of relief, not because he had money, the whole process made him feel human again, he was on the outside world once more, but he had left something behind that he could not live without, his family.

He walked into the service station, there was a sports shop inside, he bought some track suit bottoms and two sweat shirts, he paid on his card and was again pleased that the transaction went through, it wasn’t his usual attire but he had few choices at that moment, he booked a room in the adjoining travel lodge and again such a trivial thing as his cash card working made him feel real, but he knew he wasn’t real, there was still too much missing from his life, he went into the room to wash and change, it seemed a million miles away from what he had left that morning, but he knew only a short while away was a town called Underwood, a town no one knew existed, well not the one he had just come from, he went down the stairs to ask the receptionist where to hire a car, he felt he may need one, a taxi ride took him to Caldicot where he hired a SUV, he drove the 7 miles back to the travel lodge, had a KFC as he ate he begrudged himself every bite as he thought of his wife and children.