Running on Empty Read Free Page A

called Gunther to heel, and proceeded past the Steins into the hallway.
    ‘Search’ he ordered, and the dog began scanning to and fro, nose to the ground, with Matteus following closely behind. They worked through each room slowly, methodically, until finally the only place left was the cellar. Matteus called Gunther to his side, and they proceeded down the steps. It took the soldier a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the dim half light. The dog began sniffing, exploring each area of the room. Suddenly it stiffened, and began clawing at a stack of boxes which lay to one side. It barked a number of times, its eyes fixed on an area high up on the stack, near ground level. Matteus followed its gaze. In the dim light it was difficult to clearly make out what he was seeing, but what was that dark shape? Was it….part of a child’s shoe?
    He froze. He looked back towards the steps, then again at the shoe.
    He stood motionless, eyes fixed on that piece of children’s footwear in the gloom of the cellar, thoughts ebbing and flowing and tumbling and fighting for supremacy in his consciousness.
    After standing there for what seemed like a minute, but may well have been a lifetime, he finally spoke.
    ‘Down’ he ordered the dog.
    Gunther looked at him, puzzled.
    ‘Down’ he ordered again.
    The dog emitted a whining sound, but did what it was ordered.
    ‘Heel’ he instructed the canine, who immediately came to rest behind his master. The two of them made their way back up the cellar steps to the kitchen, the dog giving one last glance back to the stack of boxes as they did so.
    ‘Well?’ asked the officer.
    ‘There was nothing, sir’ answered Matteus.
    The officer gave him a puzzled expression.
    ‘But, why was the dog barking?’ he asked.
    ‘Oh, he just disturbed a rat sir’ was the reply.
    ‘Indeed, it appears this area is rife with vermin’ he said, glancing at the Steins.
    ‘Well, gather up whatever it is you’ll need for a journey’ he continued, ‘and make it quick. You must come with us’
    ‘But where….., where are we to go?’
    ‘Somewhere else’.

Chapter 2
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The Three Little Pigs
    Tom took another drag on his cigarette as he lay naked beneath a sheet strewn in disarray across the bed, staring at the shafts of December sun which penetrated the curtains and created abstract images on the ceiling.
    What am I doing hanging with Rachel anyway? What’s the fucking point of it all?
    Well, there’s the sex for starters. That’s good anyway, isn’t it? I mean, she’s pretty damn hot in the sack, isn’t she?
    No, not really.
    Not once the novelty has worn off.
    And the novelty has been getting more than a little threadbare of late.
    And, what else?
    Not a fucking lot if the truth be told.
    Ride the big dipper first time and you’re blown away, but go on it a dozen times, and you just want to move on to the cocoanut stall. No thrill in repetition.
    Tom resigned himself to the fact that he and Rachel weren’t going to be an item for too much longer.
    He checked his watch on the bedside table.
    Time to get up and do his Saturday grocery shop.

    Tom stepped out onto the landing, pulling the door behind him.
    He paused, conscious that he wasn’t alone, and turned. There was a figure, a silhouette, difficult to make out exactly, backlit by the large bay window at the end of the corridor. As his eyes adjusted, Tom began make out the form of a woman, an old frail woman he now realised. She appeared to be motionless, with one hand holding the varnished wooden handrail at the top of the stairs, while the other appeared to be resting on a walking cane. Tom seemed to recollect that someone had mentioned to him before that his next door neighbour was, what was their phrase?, ‘a bit of an oddball’. He’d never heard any noise coming from the apartment, nor seen or heard anyone enter or leave, in almost a year of living next door.
    Still no movement, so Tom approached, cautiously.
    He didn’t want to be