36

As Rebekah emerged from between the houses, she heard the sound again.

Click click click.

This time, it was coming from somewhere else.

The gas-station forecourt.

Raising the hammer, she edged out of the long grass, stepped over the collapsed fencing that marked the former edges of the lawns, and back onto the road, never once taking her eyes off the building. If someone was there, they had nowhere to exit, except out towards her.

She had them trapped.

‘I know you’re there.’

She sounded more confident than she felt.

The windows of the building were all misted with sea salt, making it difficult to see in, but if the person was inside, that meant the door should have been open – and, as far as she could see, it was still closed. That meant they were where the Explorer was.

‘There’s no point in hiding,’ she said. ‘You might as well –’

A shape emerged from behind the building.

Stunned, Rebekah stumbled to a halt.

The shape paused, half covered by shadows, but clearly looking in her direction. There was a wound in the space next to the ear, and the injury had swollen that side of the face, closing the left eye. But with her working eye, she found Rebekah and stared at her.

Roxie?

The dog moved, her claws making the distinctive click click click on the polished concrete of the road, then stopped again, looking away from Rebekah, back towards the houses.

‘Roxie? Do you remember me?’

She seemed unsettled, spooked by Rebekah’s presence, and it was clear she was in pain. But, for now, she was still, at the edge of the forecourt.

‘It’s okay,’ Rebekah said. ‘It’s okay, girl.’

She started crossing towards Roxie, placing one foot in front of the other, like she was walking a high wire. The moment she moved, Roxie stiffened and Rebekah stopped, not wanting to scare her.

For a moment, they were frozen, facing one another, and then Rebekah shivered in the wind, and Roxie seemed to do the same, her fur prickling and shifting, like a wave had passed through it.

‘Are you real?’ Rebekah said.

Roxie blinked at her.

‘Where did you come from?’ She looked up and down the road. ‘How have you survived for so long?’

Roxie remained, an image of an animal that Rebekah worried might be a mirage, a clear and undeniable sign of madness.

‘I thought you were dead.’

The dog flinched, whining a little.

‘It’s okay, girl,’ Rebekah said, holding a hand out to her. ‘You remember me, don’t you? I won’t hurt you. I want to help you.’ She took another step. ‘I’m a doctor, I can …’ She faded out.

She’s a dog, Bek.

Suddenly, Roxie flinched.

Rebekah didn’t know why, but then she looked down at her feet: she’d unwittingly taken a big step forwards, drawn closer without realizing.

‘Wait,’ she said, and the movement sent another jolt through Roxie’s body. ‘Wait,’ Rebekah repeated. ‘Wait, Roxie. Wait, girl, I don’t want to h–’

Roxie made a break for it.

‘No!’ Rebekah screamed after her. ‘No, no, no!’

She hurried after her, taking the same route between the houses, Roxie disappearing into the grass ahead of her.

‘Roxie!’

She’d guessed right earlier: a storm was coming, the sky swelling with cloud, the wind picking up. Broken wood rattled on the houses. Grass ballooned and shrank. Everything was moving as she looked desperately around the backyards – but she couldn’t see the dog anywhere.

Roxie had vanished.

‘Please, girl,’ Rebekah muttered, forlorn. ‘Please come back.’

But the dog didn’t reappear.

And then, a moment later, things got even worse.