At the back of the tiny well was a door into the main part of the boat. It was inset with two windows and I knocked hard as I peered inside. It was still too dark to see much so I pulled a torch out of my rucksack and shone it round inside. As the light moved across the room, I could see a bed, and a flash of movement. I knocked again, ‘Liam?’ I called. I tried the door handle, but it was locked. ‘Liam?’ I called again, ‘it’s Zoe, are you in there?’
I waited but there was no response. I looked at my watch, time was moving on. ‘Liam, it’s Zoe, some of us made it home, Mark and Freya have gone looking for the others and I came looking for you.’ I had a sudden idea and screwing my eyes tightly closed I shone the torch against my face. I waited. ‘See,’ I said, ‘it’s me.’ there was still no response. I waited a little longer. I was sure I had seen movement. But maybe I was mistaken. I pressed my face up against the door. In the silence the cough was clear, there was someone in there! I shone the torch in through the window ‘Liam,’ I called, ‘Liam please come out, there isn’t anyone here but me.’ I waited hopefully but heard nothing more. I looked at my watch again. I had time, I could wait. I slid down into the well and sat with my back to the door. Then I began to talk, I spoke about how I had escaped, falling in the canal, running along the train tracks and through the tunnel, sleeping in the shopping centre, finding Alex at the station and then Mark and Freya and Matty at the house. I talked about Matty’s injuries and about Alex finding Taz and Leila. I looked at my watch again. I was running out of time; I would have to leave. I was sure there was someone inside, but maybe it wasn’t Liam, maybe it was someone else.
I stood up and eyed the front of the boat. I would have to swing myself back out onto the front, stepping up onto the edge of the boat to do so. I scrambled up, grabbed the lock gate rail and stepped up. I looked at my watch; it had been over ten minutes. I stared down at the boat and then walked down to the tow path. I picked up my bike and looked around, not knowing what to do next. Then from behind me I heard a faint noise. ‘Zoe…’
I turned around; standing in the well at the front of the boat was Liam. We stared at each other and then I dropped my bike and bounded back onto the lock gate as he stepped up onto the front of the boat. I reached out to steady him and pulled him off the boat and into a hug. He was cold and still damp and looked very, very tired. ‘Let’s get away from here as quickly as possible,’ I said.
I wheeled the bike along the path as he walked beside me, stumbling and silent. ‘What happened?’ I asked, ‘Have you been here since Saturday?’
‘I hid in the boat,’ said Liam, ‘and then when everyone was gone, I untied it, but I couldn’t get past…’ he trailed of exhaustedly and I decided that questions could wait.
I took us up into the village and we went into the first house we found; it was a big white house overlooking the canal with small windows but nice enough inside. I took out the clothes and trainers. ‘They’re size five,’ I said, ‘is that ok?’
‘Yeah, close enough.’ Liam took the clothes into the front room while I poked around in the kitchen. I tried the electricity and found it was on, so I took the bottle of water from my rucksack and boiled the kettle. A hot drink would do him the world of good. There hadn’t been any sign of soldiers, but I wanted to be sure.
‘When you’ve dressed, I put food and a hot drink on the table, eat quickly and we’ll get going,’ I said, as I climbed the stairs. The room at the back had a window overlooking the canal and I scanned the towpath as I waited. Soon enough Liam was ready. My old tracksuit bottoms and fleece were a bit big for him, but at least he would be warm.
‘Are you up to cycling back?’ I asked, he nodded, ‘then we need to find you a bike.’ I hadn’t planned this very well; I could have found the bike on my first trip through the village. We went back out onto the road and began methodically searching. We were in a small estate of new-build houses with tiny gardens and block parking at the rear. Fortunately, someone had methodically smashed in the wooden fencing, giving access to all the houses. I made him sit and eat the refresher bar from my survival kit as I searched; he looked like he needed the energy.
I found a lot of children’s bikes; tiny princess bikes with training wheels and small bikes with reflectors and bright colouring for younger kids, but eventually found one that Liam could use. It was small but functional. I took it back to him and found him staring into the distance. ‘Come on, let’s get you back,’ I said.
The journey back was quicker, and we were up by South Oxhey in less than thirty minutes. ‘Nearly there,’ I said quietly, but Liam just nodded in reply. We pulled up outside my bungalow and I left the bikes at the side. I opened the door and called out quietly ‘it’s just me, and I found Liam.’
Nina came out into the hallway, ‘that was quick,’ she said.
‘And easy,’ I said, ‘I should have gone yesterday.’
‘But you were busy, you were helping all these children, and you found me and William and Rachel, you did the best you could,’ she said, as we moved into the kitchen.
I looked at Liam, ‘are you injured?’ I asked, ‘You’re very quiet.’
‘No,’ he replied, ‘Just tired, I didn’t sleep much on the boat.’ He stood patiently as I looked at him abstractly. There wasn’t room in my place, but I could put him with Leila and Taz for now, and we could work something out later, maybe secure another bungalow.
‘Are you hungry?’ I asked.
‘No I’m fine,’ he said, the exhaustion showing.
‘Ok, this is my house, I’m going to take you to Taz and Leila, it’s a little early, but hopefully they won’t mind.’
We walked over silently, and I rang the doorbell. I heard a quick movement inside and then Leila was at the door, ‘Liam!’ she pushed past me and gave him a hug then looked at me concerned when he just stood there, unresponsive.
‘He’s very tired, and perhaps coming down with something, can he sleep at yours?’ I asked.
‘Of course,’ she replied as she pulled him in.
We had regained another member of our little group. Now we just had to wait for Mark and Freya to come back to see if we could rescue the others.
Chapter 20: Planning
I couldn’t settle to anything, just drifted from task to task waiting for Mark and Freya to get back. Vik hadn’t messaged and the worry was starting all over again. I checked on Matty who didn’t seem to be any worse. Mark had changed his dressing and clothes and taken him to the bathroom the night before, but he hadn’t really woken up properly. He hadn’t eaten anything only drunk some water. I was worried about dehydration. I made a large flask of peppermint tea and periodically woke him up to make him drink some. It seemed to me that he was slightly better, and I was encouraged when he asked for Mark so he could use the loo. I went off to get Alex instead who then stayed for breakfast. He was surprised and slightly upset to hear about Liam, I think that, like me, he felt guilty that we had just left him there. He wanted to go see him immediately, but I held him back explaining that Liam needed rest more than anything else. I did some desultory gardening, and then walked down to Robert and Sheila, just for a chat really.
Robert was in his greenhouse, pricking out the seedlings from trays into individual pots. Like me, he had a lot of old seed packets and had more than enough to grow the food he needed.
‘I’m going to need to save the seed from the veg this year,’ I said, ‘I just wish I didn’t have so many F1 varieties.’