XIII
Charlie
hadn’t followed Josh back to the others.
He didn’t want to see the old man looking frightened. He didn’t want to know what he had
seen. He had more important things to
do.
They were
being led, he was sure of it. Someone
or something didn’t want them to get to the city centre, that much was clear
from all the horrible barriers they had found so far, but it was also clear to
Charlie, if to no one else, that someone else did want them to pass, but only
if they went a certain way. If anyone
had asked him why he felt this way he would have had trouble explaining
it. It was just a feeling. There was something about the alleyway they
were now travelling down which felt different than all the places blocked up. This wasn’t an entrance left by the same
something which was keeping them out, but a street kept clear by something
else. They weren’t being herded, of
that he was sure. This was guidance.
And so as
the others tried to work out what was wrong with Henry, Charlie turned away and
began to walk along the alley, through the dark, following that sense of
guidance wherever it might lead. He had
never really been a trusting child – his father had made him wary of adults –
but even so, he trusted this feeling, but not because of anything inside
himself but because whatever the source was made itself so obviously
trustworthy. He wanted to follow, he
wanted to go where he was led and he wanted to know what he would be shown,
because he was sure that was the next stage.
Ever
since the vision in the hospital, Charlie had been expecting another one and
now, through some tingling in the air, some sense in his gut, he knew that one
was just about due. Somewhere along the
alley something would be revealed to him.
He only hoped the others caught up in time to see it.
And then
there is was, a light in the fog, coming out from between the twisted metal
bars that were supposed to keep people out of the factory ruins, covering a
space where once glass had been. It was
a dim glow, but as he got closer it seemed to grow brighter, drawing him
in. This was it, he realised, this was
what they had been led here to see. He
took another step forward, peered into the old factory and gasped.
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