The Hollows(52)

She tried to take his hand, to pull him away, absolutely sure this was another mistake, but then it was too late. Both Buddy and Darlene appeared on the path, about twenty metres behind. They were still wearing their masks. Frankie eyed the bulging, lumpy pockets of Buddy’s tracksuit top warily, knowing they were full of rocks.

‘Hey, guys,’ called Ryan. ‘Let’s talk.’

He took a step towards them. They didn’t move. Frankie thought she might throw up.

‘I don’t care what kind of weird games you’re playing,’ Ryan said, projecting his voice. ‘I want to make peace. Okay? Buddy? Darlene?’

They turned their masked faces towards one another, like they were surprised that Frankie and Ryan knew who they were. She had a feeling Ryan had just made things even worse. She was convinced they were going to start shouting to the man, letting him know they’d caught up with their quarry. At least then she would know who he was, assuming they called him ‘Dad’ or his name. But they stayed silent.

‘Oh, come on,’ said Ryan. ‘Are you just gonna stand there like a pair of creeps?’

He couldn’t help himself, thought Frankie, as Buddy and Darlene stepped forward and shortened the distance between them.

She tugged at Ryan’s arm. ‘Please. We need to go.’

What if they had knives? Or the gun that they had, she was now certain, used to frighten the horses? All she could hear was what those children had said about them burying a cat alive. Anyone who was capable of doing something like that had to be a psychopath. She needed Ryan to shut up.

But now he was set on doing the opposite. So much for apologising. ‘What, you guys celebrate Halloween early around here? Planning on going trick-or-treating later? Come on, take off the masks and let’s talk.’ He held up his phone. ‘You really don’t want anyone seeing these photos, do you?’

The way Buddy and Darlene stood completely still was making Frankie’s blood run cold. They had been exactly the same last night when she’d seen them in the woods, before Nikki had found her. They both held their arms straight down by their sides. She was sure they knew exactly what they were doing, that they understood this stillness made them scarier, more intimidating.

And then, as if they were communicating with their minds, like they had that mythical twin link, they both lifted their arms, and Frankie saw the rocks clutched in their fists, and she grabbed Ryan’s T-shirt and tugged at it. ‘Come on,’ she urged.

Finally, finally, as two rocks came arcing through the air towards them, Ryan turned and the two of them ran.

One of the rocks struck a tree beside Frankie and ricocheted off it, missing her by inches. The other landed somewhere nearby. She glanced over her shoulder. Buddy and Darlene were running too. They both had more rocks in their hands and Frankie experienced a spasm of fear in her gut. The ground was dry and rough and it was difficult to run without tripping. Another rock flew past her, so close it skimmed her ear, and she tried not to think about the damage it would have done if it had hit the back of her head. There was a sob somewhere deep inside her, trying to get out, but she needed all her breath. She increased her speed as another rock whizzed by, and then, beside her, Ryan cried out and went down, flat on his belly.

Frankie skidded to a halt as Ryan tried to scramble to his feet. ‘Did one hit you?’ she demanded and he shook his head. He must have tripped. But as Ryan got into a crouching position, another rock flew towards him, and as he twisted his body to dodge it he fell back on to the dirt.

Buddy and Darlene stopped ten metres from where Frankie stood, Ryan finally getting to his feet beside her.

Buddy pulled back his arm. He was clearly aiming at Ryan and, without thinking about what she was doing, acting on instinct, Frankie stepped between them.

‘Please,’ she said. ‘Stop.’

Buddy froze for a second, his arm still pulled back, then he took a couple of steps to the left so he had a clear shot at Ryan. Again, Frankie moved to cover her friend.

‘We’ll delete the photos,’ she said, her voice high and strange in her ears. ‘We won’t tell anyone we saw you. Whatever you’re doing, we don’t care.’

Ryan had his phone out again and held it up for the other teenagers to see. He seemed a lot more contrite now. Or maybe just scared.

‘Look,’ he said. ‘I’m deleting them. I’ll empty the trash too.’ His phone clicked as he did it. ‘They’re gone.’

He held the screen out so they could see, even though they would have needed incredible eyesight to make anything out from where they stood.

‘We’re going to go now,’ Ryan said. ‘Okay? I’m really sorry about what we said. What I wrote.’

They were both doing that weird standing-still thing again.

Ryan reached out and took Frankie’s hand. He nodded at her, a look that asked if she was okay. She nodded back, even though she was very far from okay, and as they turned to go she heard movement behind them, a scuffing sound, and Frankie’s heart was skittering like Swifty’s when she held him, so fast she feared she was using up a lifetime of heartbeats.

She dared to look back and saw both Buddy and Darlene had raised the rocks they held, and were bracing to throw them. And again like her pet rabbit, she froze, bracing herself. Beside her, Ryan did the same.

‘Hey!’ said a voice from further down the path. ‘Hey, what the hell?’