Read Tunnels 04, Closer for Free Online

was very unsophisticated, with a painted metal dashboard in which the usual dials and speedometer were mounted. She tried the driver's door but it was locked, and as she was passing around the front of the vehicle she stopped by the bonnet. "It is a Volkswagen," she said, studying the chrome emblem. "But I've never seen this model before."
    Hearing a rumbling noise, she swung to the stretch of road ahead. Through he heat haze she caught a glimpse of a large vehicle, possibly a lorry, as it changed up a gear and accelerated across the carriageway at a crossroads.
    "Come on, girl," she said, as she picked up her sister, who murmured something unintelligible. Rebecca One's face was as white as a sheet except for the dark smudges below her eyes. "Not far now. Just hang in there," Rebecca Two told her, praying that help would be at hand when they reached the end of the road. And soon.

    * * * * *

    Chester slowly crawled a little way out of his sleeping bag. Although the sun was up, he had no idea what time of day it was. As he peered through the branches of his shelter, he thought he could make out Martha's slumbering form in her sleeping bag. In outline, she resembled a large pile of dirty laundry, which wasn't far from Chester's perception of her. For a few minutes he watched her carefully for any sign of movement.
    The loopy cow's still out of it. Time to leg it , he finally told himself, remembering all too clearly how she'd set about him on the pretext that a Bright was about to attack. It really had been the last straw -- and he wasn't going to stick around for more bouts of her deranged behavior.
    It's not as if I owe her anything , he decided and, trying his hardest not to make any noise, slid the rest of the way out of his sleeping bag. She doesn't need me around. She can take care of herself .
    Chester checked Martha once again. His plan was simple. He was going to get himself back to his home in London, even if he had to walk the whole way. And as he didn't have any money, he had no alternative but to walk, unless he could hitch a lift. Or unless he handed himself into the authorities, which he knew he couldn't do because Will had warned him that the Styx had agents everywhere. The future looked rather bleak and uncertain, but anything was better than staying with mad Martha.
    His joints felt stiff as he put on his rucksack and set off on all fours over the forest floor, grimacing as the dry leaves rustled under him.
    He was some meters away from the shelters when he threw a last glance back at them to make sure she wasn't stirring.
    "Sleep will?" said Martha cheerily.
    As he wheeled around, his hands slid in the leaves and he nearly fell flat on his face.
    She was in the shade of the low-hanging branches of an elder tree. On the ground beside her, feathers were wafting around in the light breeze, and the pink and plucked bodies of three small birds were laid out in a row. Like some obscenely overgrown toddler playing with its ghoulish doll, she was sitting with her legs splayed out in front of her as she worked on a fourth bird. From its size, Chester guessed that it was a wood pigeon.
    "Er, yes," he gasped, watching as she tore the last feathers from its limp corpse.
    "Easy pickings, these dumb Topsoil beasts," she said matter-of-factly, putting the pigeon with the others. "And I found a bumper crop of mushrooms," she added, indicating the small pile beside the birds.
    As she lit a fire, then began to cook the first of the birds over it, Chester could see she was having little trouble adjusting to this new environment. And he wondered if she realized that he'd been about to ditch her.

    * * * * *

    Rebecca Two continued through the industrial area until she came to an open gateway in yet another wall. It wasn't by any means the end of the dual carriageway she'd been following, which seemed to extend for some considerable distance. And, at the very end of it, Rebecca Two was sure she was again catching glimpses of the