Thea breathed hard, gulped in air, her face wet with what she first thought was blood, but what surprisingly turned out to be tears. Her knees seemed to dissolve and her legs gave out, sending her sprawling onto the floor, still clutching the handle of the axe. Vomit burned in her throat and she put out a hand to support herself.

It slipped in some sort of thick fluid.

Rory crawled towards her and reached out, big-eyed and pale.

Rory.

Her breath hitched.

She turned to him, tightened her grip on the axe handle and tugged at it, her face turned away, until it slid free. Rory, reading her expression, started to scurry backwards, but not quick enough …

She swung the blunt handle of the axe right into his soft, fleshy middle.

He bent double, making a weak “oof” sound.

She hauled herself up, feeling every joint scream at her as she did so, then she turned back to the doors, her chin high, the axe clutched in both hands, not thinking because thinking would lead to feeling and she couldn’t feel anything right now. If she did, she would just crumple—

‘Wait!’ Rory gasped.

She shoved one of the doors open.

‘Please … wait!’

Her footsteps were muffled by the cushioned hi-tech floor material, but she knew her steps were confident and determined as she left the room. She wasn’t going to speak to him. She didn’t know how much of a part he’d played in all of this and she was tired of being lied to, tired of having to try and work out the real motive behind what everyone was saying and doing.

Just tired.

‘Wait!’ he called again. ‘Don’t you want to know about Rosie?’

She slowed, just a little, the name tangling her steps.

‘Rosie’s safe!’ he continued. ‘I managed to keep her safe! She’s still alive!’

Chapter 53

‘Do you have any idea? Any fucking idea, Rory Thirwood?’ Thea marched back along the corridor to him, eyes blazing, raising the axe in front of her, gesticulating with it. ‘I saw you sit back and watch Kyle kill Ethan. I watched him die! And Delores. And Moses. I’ve seen those bodies in there. And do you know what? I am sick of it. Of watching. I’m not watching anymore. This is it. I don’t trust you. I think I might even want to use this axe on you and if you are lying right now about Rosie, if this is yet another elaborate trap you’re setting for me, I swear to God I will take this axe and I will ram it right between your eyes.’

She marched up close to him, her chest heaving.

‘I know,’ Rory said meekly. ‘I know what you saw. I’ve seen a lot too.’

She didn’t drop the axe.