of his feet on hard tarmac and finally he emerged in front of the soldiers and stood before her. ‘Well, look at you …’ He checked her over. ‘Look a state, so you do.’
She felt a rush of relief so intense her legs felt unsteady beneath her. She noted the bandage on his head. ‘You got hurt?’
‘Knocked out, Sal. Stupid, I should’ve ducked. That’s why I –’
‘So, this is your sister, is it?’ called out another voice, crisp and commanding.
Sister? She glanced up at him. He nodded slightly. She realized Liam must have told them that for a reason. Out of the bloom of sunlight, she saw a tall wide shape emerging. Unmistakably Bob. Beside him another man, slim, wearing a white pith helmet.
‘This fella here,’ said Liam as they approached, ‘is Captain McManus. It’s really all thanks to him we found you, so.’
Beneath the helmet’s peak she saw the taut face of a young army officer. ‘Sister?’ He frowned. Confused. ‘But you’re white and she’s …’
‘My step sister, so she is,’ cut in Liam. ‘Closest family I got, so help me.’
McManus cocked his head and shrugged. ‘Well, then –’ he extended a white-gloved hand – ‘Really rather pleased we found you in one piece, young lady.’
She reached out and shook it lightly. ‘Thank you.’
‘And you, sir?’
Lincoln shook his hand. ‘Abraham Lincoln.’
‘Jolly good to have retrieved you unharmed, Mr Lincoln.’ McManus nodded politely. ‘Now … we’ve got a few of these runaways back in the alley, have we?’
Sal nodded. ‘Look … please don’t hurt them!’
He frowned at her. ‘Don’t hurt them?’
‘Please! They’re harmless!’
He tapped his finger pensively against his chin. ‘How many of them down in that side street there?’
She shrugged. ‘Couple of dozen, I think.’
‘These creatures, Captain … they did not kill any people. It was other creatures. Nor have they hurt us,’ said Lincoln.
‘They treated us really well,’ added Sal. ‘Gave us food and water. They didn’t hurt us.’
‘Really?’ McManus looked bemused. ‘That’s rather untypical behaviour of these things. They’re feral animals. You can’t predict how they’ll behave from one moment to the next.’
‘You sure they didn’t hurt you?’ said Liam. ‘I mean they were … well, they seemed pretty ferocious back in that farmhouse.’
‘They were scared, Liam! They’re like frightened children.’
‘Frightened, perhaps, but they are still exceedingly dangerous. They need to be apprehended. And then we can decide what’s to be done with them. I can’t promise clemency if we discover any of them were directly involved in the recent killings – you understand that?’
Sal nodded. ‘Honestly, it wasn’t any of them.’
He glanced over her shoulder at the deserted brick tenement building. ‘Do we need to flush them out of there as well?’
She shook her head. ‘No … I told them not to go inside and hide. That it would just make things worse.’
‘Very sensible advice.’
‘They’re all just waiting back in the alley. They just want to come out … like we did. Just come out with their hands up.’
He shrugged. ‘Good.’ He cupped his hands round his mouth. ‘YOU RUNAWAYS HIDING IN THE ALLEY … BEST YOU COME OUT NOW!’
Nothing emerged from the alleyway. For a moment Sal had a sinking feeling that fear had got the better of them and they had quietly slipped away into the tenement buildings on either side. But then they heard a soft frightened whimper emerge from the gloom.
Too frightened to budge.
‘Let me try,’ she said to McManus.
‘If you wish.’
‘SAMUEL!’ she called out. ‘It’s OK! They’re not going to hurt any of you! Do as he said … all of you! Just like I did … slowly, with your hands nice and high!’
Silence. Not a murmur. She was about to cup her mouth and try again, but then the first pale figure slowly emerged, blinking, into the sunlight.
Samuel. He was doing as she’d instructed: his thin, child’s arms raised above his oversized head. Twenty yards away, she could see he was trembling. The ape emerged behind, towering above him, huge muscular arms raised.
‘No shoot!’ it cried in a deep voice.
Sal nodded encouragement. ‘That’s right! No one’s going to shoot you. Come on!’
The others began to emerge one by one. ‘That’s it … come on. It’s OK!’
Captain McManus studied the creatures as they stepped into the daylight. ‘By the shape of the heads I’d say these are mostly Watson-Rutherford Class Eugenics. Manufactured fifteen … some of them twenty years ago,’ he mused. ‘Hmmm, all old stock, very poor condition looking at them, largely malnourished.’
He ordered some of his men over to