One (Alone Book 3) Read online

  “What is it to me?” Sian said sternly, “What is it to me? How about this Helena, it is to me that you went out and didn’t feed me and Ollie and that Ollie cried all night with hunger pains. That the door went at three am this morning and your dealer was at the door demanding money. That’s what it is to me”.

  “Oh piss off you smart ass little cow”, Helena snapped her eyes focusing on the open bottle of wine on the table that she had started drinking before her night out. There was a small drop left and she sucked it out, her mouth working at the neck of the bottle like a baby to a bottle of milk.

  “So what should I give Ollie for breakfast?” Sian asked taking the bottle from her mother’s grip and throwing it in the bin.

  “I wasn’t finished with that”.

  “There was nothing left in it!”

  “You aren’t the boss of me little girl”.

  “Maybe not but I’m Ollie’s older sister, his surrogate mother and he’s tired and hungry and we have not even a crumb in the cupboard”.

  “Surrogate”, she laughed, “You couldn’t mother a cat let alone a child”.

  “He is hungry”, Sian repeated ignoring her mothers comment as inside she knew the comment was really for Helena herself not her.

  “Fine”, Helena hissed grabbing her purse and searching through it, she found a few coins left over from her binge the night before. Two pound coins and twenty pence piece along with their ration card which had already been torn to pieces on her mission to get drugs meaning their box was out of the question for this week.

  “Hardly a three course meal is it, Helena”.

  Their mother rose and rushed across the room and smacked Sian in the face, her nose popped and blood spilled out over her top lip, “You little bitch”, she cried out.

  “I’m not the bitch Helena it’s you. You’re everyone’s bitch, they all own you and you bow down like the little scab you are!”

  “How dare you speak to me like that”, Helena screamed a lone tear lining her make up covered cheek.

  “I can speak to you however I like”.

  “I am your mother”, Helena sobbed.

  “No…You are an excuse for an existence”, Sian said her own tears spilling over, “I’ll be glad when he comes back for you later and it will be you with the bloody nose and black eye when he finds out you drank away the money you owe him”.

  “Stop it! Shut up!”

  Sian left her grovelling mother to cry on the floor, clutching her chest as if she was in pain but the only pain she felt was the need for her next fix. Sian climbed up onto the bed and cried, still holding onto the money to hopefully get Ollie something to eat but first she needed a moment.

  Ollie snuck out from the bedroom to give Sian some time but he also wanted to check on Helena, yes she was a bad mum but to him, she was the only mum he had. Little did he know that Sian would soon take over that role in more ways than one. She would feed him, teach him and keep him alive.

  Helena spotted him standing by the kitchen door, his eyes studying her making sure it was safe.

  “My little Ollie, come here”, she sniffed.

  He done as she said and knelt down to be held by her, she sobbed into his scruffy hair and dirty clothes. He knew she didn’t mean to be this way it was just something that happened over time, she had got in with the wrong people and then the drugs took over.

  He sat there for a while until she fell asleep, passing out on the grubby sofa. He grabbed a blanket and placed it over her.

  “Why do you look after her?” Sian asked from the bathroom, she had cleaned herself up and had a different top on. Still grimy and dirty but no longer covered in blood.

  He shrugged, “She’s still our mum”.

  “Come on, let’s go get some food”, she snapped ignoring her brothers comment just like she had learnt to ignore her mothers.

  Sian took Ollie to the local ration station only to be told their rations had already been collected for that week, which of course Sian already knew but she had to try. Probably sold to another dealer at the underground rave party that their mother had been to. Yes the world was at war but there was still an underground for all the dodgy people that still roamed it.

  She then took them to a small diner that remained open, it was run by a group of church people who decided to share out their own rations and any ration boxes that weren’t collected that week to people in need. As usual the door had a long line already outside but Sian scooted in with Ollie and waited.

  Their turn came and the local priest came over, “Well Sian what can I get you today?”

  “Any food?” She asked.

  The priest sighed, he had met their mother and knew all about her problems but with the war the care system was struggling and they had been forgotten about, slipped through the net. The social services just didn’t have the funds to look out for desperate children in need anymore. There were still a few people around who tried to help children that needed it but Sian and Ollie had slipped through the loop somehow. “Come this way”, he told them and they followed.

  He took them to the back room where volunteers were sorting the rations into smaller ration boxes to help the needy. He looked through and made up another box just for them, “Here, it’s not much my dear child but it should help”.

  “Thanks”, Sian smiled this small amount would last them fine, she was good at portioning food out to last, “Oh and here, give it to the church”. She passed him the few coins Helena had given them.

  He smiled, “Such a kind heart Sian but no, keep it. You might need it”.

  With their box full of goodies they left the old diner, Sian handed Ollie who was practically salivating at the mouth at all the food something to eat and he wolfed it down.

  Together they both wondered down to the old pier, it wasn’t lit up any more like it used to be, the rides no longer swung in the air with screams filled with fun, the hotdog and fish and chip stands all boarded up and the stench of rotting rubbish filled the over flowing bins as no one had collected them for a long time. She climbed over one of the barriers to stop people gaining access to the rickety old pier but she knew at least there they could eat in peace. They took to a bench just near the fairground rides and ate some more, Sian being a little more generous than normal.

  “Why aren’t you saving more?” Ollie asked looking up at her, his long red eye lashes reminding her of their mothers and she looked away.

  “Because I have a bad feeling, I think you should eat as much as you can”.

  “What about you?”

  “I’m ok”, she smiled at him picking apart her food in her hands and nibbling at it.

  “Sian?”

  “Yes”.

  “Do you really hate her?”

  She put her food down back in the ration box and looked out over the sea, the sky was darkening and she knew they would have to get home soon, “I pity her”.

  “What’s that?”

  “Pity?”

  He nodded.

  “You’ll understand one day and you will pity her too”, she then stood up balancing the box in her small and frail arms, “Come on storms coming”.

  The door to their flat was open and both Ollie and Sian knew that it wasn’t a good sign. Sneaking in and hiding the ration box in the airing cupboard they then both ventured into the lounge to find their mum bloodied and sobbing on the floor.

  “Mum”, Ollie said running to her and grabbing her bloodied face, “What happened?”

  Helena looked up at Sian, her eyes pleading with her, “He came looking for money, please tell me you have some”.

  “What?” Sian snapped, “All I had was the money you gave me for food”.

  “Do you still have it?”

  “What, a couple of pound isn’t going to please him Helena. And no I gave it away to get Ollie something to eat”.

  “You selfish little cow”, she screamed, “Look at what he done to me and you knew he was coming. You knew and still took the money”
.

  “I’m selfish?” Sian laughed, “I’m selfish? Excuse me but you are the adult who had children, it is your responsibility to feed, clothe and love us but instead you’re too busy snorting crap up your nose. So if anyone here is selfish it’s you”.

  “Well said Sian”, a male voice said from the front door. It was Dean her dealer, “See Helena even your own kids hate you”.

  “Get away”, Helena started screaming loudly and Dean rushed her, smothering his hand over her mouth to quieten her down.

  “Stop it”, he hissed, “Now where is my money? You said the girl had it”. Dean looked towards Sian who looked alarmed she had no money, other than the two pound something in her pocket.

  “She spent it”, Helena cried, snot running from her nose as she sobbed.

  “Kids, please go into your room, you don’t need to see this”, Dean told them.

  Ollie ran off crying whilst Sian nodded and closed the door behind them, they heard the first hit before the lock clicked in the door. Their mum tried to scream but Dean had his hand around her neck making her noises strangled and raspy. Again and again and again he hit her until Sian could take it no more. She opened the door and screamed at him to stop, “Here take it, take it!”

  Dean stop as she threw the money at him, he watched as the two pounds coins rolled on the floor, “I’m sorry kid but that isn’t enough to cover her bill”, he turned to hit her again.

  “Wait we have food, I’ll give you some food…Will it pay off some?”

  Dean sighed, “Let me have a look”.

  Sian retrieved the ration box from the airing cupboard, the dealer saw how pitiful it was, how it was just random bits and bobs that had been thrown together but still he took it off them.

  “Fine, this time I’ll let you off but next time you buy some crap, I want my money”, and with that Dean took off.

  Ollie looked at his mum as he came out from the bedroom, her face bloody and raw, a tooth missing now from the top row of her front teeth, her eyes bruising and swollen but he didn’t run to her he ran to Sian.

  “I love you sis, you’re so brave”, he said crying into her shoulder, “You gave all our food to save her even though you pity her”.

  Helena looked at Sian, the pain of knowing that her daughter really did pity her was so clear to see but it was one of the last looks she ever saw her daughter give her because a few weeks later when the acid rain fell she died in the toilet of the centre they went to hide in and that was where Sian and Ollie left her body to rot as the creatures stormed in.

  ~

  Of course his big sister had been right, once he had grown older he had pitied his own mother and how her life had been for the drugs and not her children. He had loved her like a child always loved their mother but now as he looked around him Ollie knew she should never have had kids. The world had turned to crap and it had been Sian who looked after him and then kept him alive, then when she had sacrificed herself it had been Stacie who had helped him and then Callum and Monique. All of them young, none of them knowing what they had to do but all of them caring for him like a parent should have.

  Ollie sat in his old bedroom in the house he had shared with Monique and Callum. It was quiet, calm and full of memories. No one occupied it now, it was more like a home of remembrance, to remember all those lost and today was no different for Ollie. For today he wanted to remember her. He lit a lone candle and sat by it and placed a small teddy he had looted.

  “Happy birthday sis”, tears trembled down his cheek, “There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about you”. The candle’s flame flickered in the gloom of the room. “We have a journey to make soon, the one I told you about the other night. We have to take Kaley to this place in Norway, apparently the war isn’t over and she thinks she is the only one who can stop it. I believe her and I want to help her but at the same time I’m scared of losing her like I lost you”.

  Silence flooded the room as he paused just staring at the flame.

  “I wish you were still here, I think you would like Kaley, she’s sweet. She’s my best friend”.

  More silence filled the air.

  Knock, Knock…

  He got to his feet and looked out of the curtained window, he could see Kaley standing on the driveway trying to peer into the front room. He knew there was no point in trying to hide from her, she always knew where he was so he opened the window.

  “Kaley?”

  “Hey”, she smiled softly at him, “I brought some dinner round”. She lifted up a bowl of something.

  He smiled as his tummy rumbled, “I’ll be right down”.

  Within a few moments he had blown the candle out and headed down the stairs to greet her. She strolled in carefully and glanced around the still full house of all Monique and Callum’s possessions.

  “What’cha doing here?” She asked.

  “It’s Sian’s birthday”.

  Her face dropped a little, “Oh, I’m sorry I can come back and see you later”.

  “No it’s fine, I could use the company”, he smiled.

  Nodding she then headed to the kitchen, “Mrs Baker made us a deer stew to share and some bread”, she said revealing the warm food. He collected some bowls and spoons and they soon sat down to eat but he noticed how Kaley wasn’t really touching hers.

  “What’s up?” He asked finishing his and sitting back in the chair.

  “Huh?”

  “Your food, you’ve hardly touched it… You not feeling great?”

  “I’m not Ill”.

  “Ok?”

  “I saw something”.

  “Outside the walls?”

  She shook her head, “No, I saw something”.

  “Oh that kind of something”, he took her hand in his, it was warm, “What did you see?”

  She lowered her eyes to table, “I don’t want you to come with me”.

  He let go of her hand shocked, “Kaley you know that isn’t going to happen, of course I’m going to come with you”.

  She shook her head, “You can’t… You will die if you do”.

  A numbness hit him inside.

  “If you come with me to Svalbard you will die and I think this is the only way to stop that”.

  He stood up from his chair and went to the kitchen window, peering out over the small but green garden. “I can’t not come Kaley, you know that”.

  “I won’t let you”, she replied.

  “You can’t stop me”, he told her.

  “I could if I needed to”.

  “But I don’t want you to, you mean everything to me Kaley… This journey could and possibly is your last journey that you will take. I want to be with you for that, I want to be with you till the end even if it means only seeing you for half of that”.

  “If I find a cure at this facility I could cure myself and we could be together, I can come back and be with you but if you come and you die and I live…”

  “Kian said there was no cure Kaley”.

  She sighed, “I know but, I have to hope there is one”.

  “Why?”

  “Because this can’t be the end, not for us”.

  “But it might be”.

  “Please Ollie just listen to me and don’t come, if I lose you on the journey I’m not sure I could continue on”.

  “You will, because you wouldn’t let me die in vain”.

  “You can’t come”.

  “I will and you can’t stop me”, he snapped, “If I survive I will be with you, if I die I will… Be with her, with Sian. I’m not afraid of death because either way I will be with someone I love”.

  “I am afraid”, she admitted.

  “You will have Stacie, Lara and the others, they will help you”.

  She thought back to the flash she had, the scene of the people who had made it and who hadn’t, “Most of them won’t make it either Ollie”.

  His eyes fell, “Will you make it though? You’re the one who really needs to get there”.
r />   “Yes”.

  “Then don’t worry about the rest of us”.

  She then began to sob uncontrollably and he went to her and cradled her in his arms, “I don’t want to lose you Ollie, it’s horrible”.

  He sank his head down into her shoulder, “Even if I die you will never lose me, I will be with you till the end”.

  “Promise”.

  “I promise”.

  She clung onto him with a vice like grip so he carried her to the sofa and lay down with her. He did wish very much that he could kiss her, that he could make her feel happy and safe but he could not, all he could do was hold her and comfort her. Stroking her hair until she fell asleep in his tired young arms.

  Chapter Four…

  I was in the small house we used for supplies when I heard the knock at door, I needed some new twine to repair my bow and arrow with and found some loose ends stacked up with some DIY supplies. I opened it to see Dwayne standing there, he was meant to be on watch at the gate.

  “Stacie sorry to bother you but there is a large horde of creatures headed this way. You wanna deal with them?”

  I nodded, “Yeah I’m just coming”. I stashed the twine in my pocket to use later and locked up the door.

  “They are coming from the direction of the mansion, around thirty I think I counted”.

  “Cheers Dwayne, I think the melting snow is bringing them all back out from their hibernation”, I laughed.

  “You gonna send the Crusher’s?”

  I nodded, “Might as well”. I sent out the silent message to them and I felt them take flight, running from their positions and charging into the woods and silently killing the trespassing creatures. Within minutes the threat was gone and the camp was safe once again.

  “Cheers Stacie”, Dwayne said his dark features looking concerned still.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “What do you think of the new guy?” He asked me.

  I shrugged, “Not sure why?”

  “Dunno, don’t you think it’s strange how he’s here?”

  “Well Kaley called to him and she’s admitted to doing so”, I answered.