The Fallen Read Free Page A

grown-ups out through the front doors. There was a dark smear across the tiles. She took the body to the wide, shallow steps at the front and hauled it down, its head bumping as they went. She was too pumped up to feel frightened. She had a job to do and that was all. She knew she’d pay for it in the morning. She’d be exhausted and moody and short-tempered, but if they could clear the museum tonight thenshe could sleep all week if she wanted. Hell, she had no right to be tired. She’d spent most of the last day lying in bed. She supposed it was the stress that took it out of you, though.
    She dumped the body with the others at the bottom of the steps and went back inside where she helped one of the museum kids secure the doors.
    ‘So we’ve got the blue zone, yeah?’ she said to him. ‘Talk me through it.’
    ‘It’s about ten rooms. Half of them are locked, though, so we shouldn’t need to check them.’
    ‘OK. And the others?’
    ‘Two main corridors. And the mammals gallery, human body and dinosaurs.’
    Oh great. Just great … 
    Blue’s party had already met two grown-ups halfway down the stairs to the lower level, wandering, confused. They didn’t look too dangerous, more scared than anything, pale and thin and weak. They’d somehow got through the doors and now didn’t really know what to do. Blue wasn’t in the mood to show them any mercy, though. He wanted this night over. He wanted to sleep in peace.
    ‘I’ll do it,’ he said, holding Boggle back, and clubbed the grown-ups to the floor. Then smashed their skulls against the steps.
    ‘We’ll collect the bodies later. Try and remember where they’re lying.’
    At the bottom of the stairs they found three more grown-ups, but these ones were already dead. There was the body of a young girl lying with them; they’d obviously dragged her down here before they killed her.
    Blue shone his torch both ways down a long straightcorridor. Pipework, wiring and strip lighting ran along the ceiling; ancient filing cabinets, piles of boxes and junk lined the walls.
    ‘How far to the doors we need to lock?’ Blue asked.
    ‘There’s a sort of crossroads to the right,’ said Boggle. ‘A door there.’
    ‘And the other way?’
    ‘About the same distance that way. There’s a T-junction. Another door.’
    Boggle’s voice sounded hoarse, and there was a catch in it. Blue shone his torch in his face. Boggle was crying.
    ‘You all right?’
    ‘Not really, no.’ Boggle looked at the dead girl. ‘She was called Emma. She was a friend of mine.’
    ‘Sorry. You cool to carry on?’
    ‘Yeah. Don’t want anyone else to get hurt. We need to fix this up.’
    ‘Good man.’ Blue held out his hand and locked wrists with Boggle. Boggle took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
    ‘I’m with you, mate,’ said Blue and they crept down the corridor side by side, Blue’s troops sticking close behind them. After about thirty metres they came to where another identical corridor branched off to the right.
    They found two lads of about thirteen crouching there in the dark. They were staring off along the corridor towards an open door and nearly jumped as high as the ceiling when Blue’s team stumbled on them.
    Once they’d got over their shock they looked hugely relieved to see Boggle.
    ‘What’s happening?’ Boggle asked.
    ‘There’s loads of them down there,’ said one of the boys,who was clutching a short ornamental sword like Boggle’s. It was splashed with blood. ‘We don’t dare go any further.’
    ‘We got to lock that door,’ said Boggle.
    ‘We ain’t going no further. No way, Boggle.’
    ‘Any idea what happened tonight?’ Boggle asked the boys.
    ‘Don’t know. We checked all the doors earlier. They was fine. But maybe we made a mistake. Maybe we mucked up. Maybe it’s our fault. That’s why we came down here. And then our candle burned out and we were stuck in the dark.’
    ‘We checked them all at nine o’clock,’ said the other