The others are sceptical when I tell them what I’ve seen and what I believe.
Carl — ‘You can’t know that they’re going to New Kirkham.’
Ashtat — ‘It is probably coincidence that our paths have crossed.’
Shane — ‘You might have imagined Owl Man being with them.’
Rage — ‘Hell, you might have imagined the whole thing. Vinyl told you the KKK were running wild, you spot a group of people on the move, your brain puts two and two together and comes up with five.’
‘Believe what you want,’ I snarl. ‘I’m going back. I’ve got to help them.’
‘How?’ Carl asks. ‘Even if you’re right, and that was the KKK, and they are going to New Kirkham, what can we do about it? They’re in trucks and jeeps. We can outpace humans on foot, but we can’t match the speed of a car. They’ll get there before us.’
‘Not necessarily,’ I argue. ‘They might run into roadblocks. Or they might take it easy, figuring there’s no need to rush. Anyway, we have to try. Even if they get there first, we can pitch in and help the people of New Kirkham fight back.’
The Angels are unconvinced.
‘Come on,’ I groan. ‘This is what we’re here for. What’s the point of escorting humans safely to the compound if we’re going to leave them to the mercies of a load of racist scumbags?’
Pearse scratches the back of his neck. ‘I suppose it couldn’t hurt to check.’
‘It would only delay us by a matter of hours,’ Conall agrees.
‘And if B is right …’ Jakob murmurs.
‘OK,’ Rage says. ‘I can see she’s won you over. I must admit, I’m curious. And if it really is the KKK, and they attack, well, it will make a change to kill living people instead of zombies.’
‘You’re all heart,’ I sneer, then pull on the rest of my clothes and hat and set off. The others aren’t far behind. They grumble about me being deluded, about the sun and how much they’re itching, but they follow.
We make good time. Because we don’t need oxygen, we don’t get tired the way humans do. We’re able to maintain a constant pace. We could even talk while we’re jogging, but nobody’s in the mood for a conversation.
It takes maybe an hour to retrace our steps, and soon we come to the top of the hill overlooking New Kirkham, the spot where we first caught sight of the walled town earlier this morning.
The Klan convoy has made it there ahead of us. The jeeps and trucks are parked inside the compound. As I stand, looking down, I see figures in white dashing round the buildings, herding people ahead of them. There are gunshots. Someone blows a horn, over and over.
‘Bloody hell,’ Carl gasps, surveying the chaos.
‘Believe me now?’ I ask grimly.
‘How did they take over so quickly?’ Ashtat asks. ‘Why did the people on the gates let them in?’
‘We’ll quiz them about that later,’ I grunt. ‘Right now we’ve got to focus on just stopping this if we can.’
Carl instinctively runs his tongue over his lips. ‘How?’
I shrug. ‘We get stuck in.’
‘But there are dozens of them and it looks like they’re packing serious hardware.’
‘Doesn’t matter. We’re Angels. We fight. Screw the odds.’
‘She’s right,’ Shane mutters. ‘We didn’t train for battle with humans, but we can take them. We have to.’
‘I’m not sure what Dr Oystein would think of this,’ Carl says. ‘He wouldn’t want us to get captured or killed. Perhaps we should observe and follow them, then report back to him, try to rescue them later with the help of the other Angels.’
‘You do that,’ Ashtat snorts. ‘But what you are going to be observing is me kicking arse and hammering their hood-covered heads into the dirt.’ I stare at Ashtat, surprised to hear her use such language. She smiles grimly. ‘I was already angry about the racists inside the compound. Now I am royally pissed.’
Rage hoots. ‘That’s the kind of fighting talk I like! Count me in. I could never resist a good scrap.’
Carl sighs. ‘I think it’s a mistake, but OK, if the rest of you are game, so am I.’
‘Then we’re going in,’ Pearse sniffs. ‘Any plan other than that?’
‘We don’t need one,’ I tell him, trying to sound more confident than I feel. ‘Hit them fast. Hit them hard. And if you kill any of them, mash their brains while you’re at it. We don’t want those bigoted buggers coming back to life and causing even more trouble.’
I look round. ‘Everybody up for this?’
They nod, Carl reluctantly.
‘Then let’s go show those bastards what we’re made of.’
To a roar of approval, we head down the hill and make a beeline for the besieged compound.