‘There’s something out there,’ said Trio. ‘But the signal’s thin. Not crowds … I don’t know what. We should be careful. I mean, we’re never alone.’

‘You’re never more than two metres from a rat,’ said Kyle. ‘Or a sicko.’

‘What would any sickos be doing around here?’ Macca asked. ‘Except maybe camping.’ He laughed at his joke.

‘He’s right,’ said Brooke. ‘Except maybe camping.’

‘If there’s kids around there’s likely sickos too.’ Ed really was a cautious type. ‘That’s what they prey on. Everyone’s after the same thing. Food and water. Staying alive. Lewis, what do you think?’

‘Worth a look,’ said Lewis. ‘We got the car, we’re mobile. If it’s a waste of time we can move on quick. And if it’s dangerous no probs, we easily just roll away.’

Ed pressed the power button and brought the music back up, but still keeping the volume down.

‘Head for the smoke,’ he said and Lewis set the car rolling forward.

Chapter 37

37

It took them some time to find where the smoke was coming from. It wasn’t as easy as they’d assumed. There were too many trees in the way to get a clear view and it felt to Lewis that for a lot of the time they were driving around in circles. It didn’t help that none of the roads went in a straight line and they had no idea of just how far away the smoke was. But eventually they thought they had a beam on it.

The road they were on went through thick woodland. Their view was cut off as they got nearer, so they had to trust that they were heading in the right direction. When they finally came to a junction and broke clear of the trees, they saw a gateway in a high wall leading on to a private road. It was trashed. A car had driven into one of the posts and knocked the gate down. It must have started a fire because the sign explaining where the road led was all burnt and blackened. There were the charred remains of two skeletons in the front seats.

‘Yeah, well, that’s a good sign,’ said Macca. ‘Very welcoming. What is this? The gates to hell?’

‘If this was hell there’d be a three-headed dog waiting for us,’ said Trio.

‘Yes, well, you would know all about that,’ Ebenezer muttered.

‘What are you saying?’ Trio sounded none too pleased with Ebenezer’s comment.

‘I am not saying anything.’

‘Oh, OK, fine,’ said Trio with heavy sarcasm. ‘Only a more sensitive person than myself might have thought you were making a comment about us having three heads.’

‘I didn’t mean anything by it.’

‘It’s the law of threes,’ said Trey.

‘Oh, don’t start on that,’ said Trio.