CHERUB: The Fall - Robert Muchamore Page 0,8

in position, Lauren and Rat took up the poles at the front, with the pair who’d made the stretcher at the back.

‘Heave,’ Lauren shouted, as the foursome bent at the knees and raised Mr Large off the ground.

Some of the other kids realised that they were struggling and took part of the weight by grabbing the poles along the side.

‘He stinks of booze,’ someone complained.

‘Which way?’ Rat groaned.

‘GRAHHHHHHHHH,’ Large shouted groggily.

‘He’s awake,’ said one of the boys standing along the side.

‘Forward,’ Lauren ordered. ‘Head towards the track, we’re about a mile from the main road. We can jog it in ten minutes and hitch a ride from there.’

But as Lauren and Rat stepped forward, Large insisted on sitting up.

‘Stay still,’ Bethany shouted desperately. ‘You’ve just had a heart attack.’

‘Poppycock,’ Large bellowed. ‘Let me off of this contraption.’

Large swung his legs around, upsetting the balance of the stretcher. The two girls at the back couldn’t hold on and the wooden beams slipped through their hands, splintering their fingers as the stretcher crashed to the ground. As the girls moaned in pain, Large made a brief attempt to stand up before clutching his chest and collapsing into another spasm.

‘I’m dying,’ he gasped.

Rat tried to calm him down. ‘You need to sit still, Norman. We’ve sent messengers in all directions to get help.’

‘Norman?’ Large growled. ‘How dare you call me Norman. You address me as sir.’

‘He’s drunk on top of everything else,’ Lauren said, shaking her head with contempt.

‘Shall we try getting him back on the stretcher?’ Bethany asked.

‘What’s the point? He’s too heavy for us to carry if he won’t stay still.’

‘I want my Hayley,’ Mr Large moaned as he sat in the grass. ‘I want to live to see my beautiful girl get married.’

‘You’re not going to die,’ Rat insisted, making a brave second stab at calming Large down. ‘You’re in shock. You’re very weak. You’ve got to lie flat on the ground and try to stay calm.’

Lauren felt massively relieved as she saw a set of car headlights crawling along the dirt track towards the lines of tents. It was a small Hyundai with an elderly lady behind the wheel and Rat’s mate Andy Lagan in the passenger seat. The woman looked appalled when she stepped out of the car and saw the giant man thrashing about on the ground.

‘He’s dead drunk,’ the woman said. ‘Are you sure he’s had a heart attack?’

Andy ran around from the passenger seat and tried to reassure the heavily perfumed woman that Mr Large wasn’t just roaring drunk.

‘I’m not having that in my car,’ she said indignantly. ‘I can smell the drink on him from here. It’s only done four thousand miles. What if he vomits inside?’

As she said this, Large twisted over on his side and made a deep groaning sound.

‘Now listen, lady,’ Lauren said desperately, ‘we’re out of options here. He could die. You’ve got to help us get him to the hospital.’

‘No, no, no. I’ll drive back to my house and call an ambulance from there. It’s less than ten minutes’ drive.’

Lauren couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

‘An ambulance might take a half hour or more to get here, you stupid old bat!’ Bethany squealed.

Lauren looked at Rat and pointed towards Mr Large. ‘Get him into that car.’

‘Hold on, young miss,’ the old lady yelled. ‘I’m not taking orders from you. I’m not driving that man anywhere.’

‘I’ll drive him then,’ Lauren shouted back. ‘Isn’t a man’s life slightly more important than your precious upholstery?’

Rat, Andy and several others began dragging Mr Large towards the car. The woman turned to go after them, but Lauren grabbed her willowy arm and pulled her back sharply.

‘I’m truly sorry,’ Lauren said, as she saw that the elderly lady was frightened and close to crying. It was odd that she’d been kindly enough to stop her car for Andy and drive to their aid, but now seemed more concerned about her car than Mr Large’s life. Lauren guessed it was just that she was old, eccentric and not up to handling stress.

‘Come on,’ Lauren said, trying a gentler tack as the lady struggled to free her arm. ‘We need your help. Can you tell us the way to the nearest hospital?’

But the old woman screamed and made a desperate sobbing noise, which made Lauren feel absolutely awful. The two girls who’d built the stretcher grabbed her flailing arms and tried getting her to calm down.

With all the madness going on, Lauren hadn’t noticed another messenger arriving