Tunnels 04, Closer

picket fence. In the drive at the front of the cottage a car was parked carelessly, as if it had been left there in a hurry. And two suitcases lay on the ground under the rear of the vehicle. One of these had been opened and a few articles of clothes had spilled out. Drake didn't venture any closer -- he didn't want the sound of his boots on the gravel to give him away.
    Keeping low as he went, he stole over to the front of the cottage and squatted under a window, rising slowly so he could peer over the sill. There was the glow of a fire inside the room, but he couldn't see anyone moving around. Drake wished that he and Eddie were hooked up with communications units. He was torn between entering the house there and then, or going to fetch Eddie who was probably still up on the hillock and watching the area with his light-gathering scope. Although Drake was desperately concerned about Chester and his first impulse was to storm the cottage, he knew the right thing would be to involve Eddie. If there was to be an assault on the building, then better that they entered the front and back simultaneously to confuse the occupant or occupants. So he retraced his steps down the side of the cottage, heading toward the gap in the hedge.
    He'd almost reached it when he caught a fleeting glimpse of something -- it was a person, and a woman at that. She had wild, frizzy hair and her fleshy face glistened with sweat. And there was a weapon in her hands.
    He heard a swish.
    He had no time to react as a projectile struck the lens over his eye. It was enough to knock him back and he let himself go with it, rolling as he hit the ground and coming up a few meters away. He was poised with his handgun, but the view through the lens of his headset flared an intense orange, then flickered out. Pieces of shattered glass dropped down his face. Whatever the projectile had been, it had struck him with enough force to smash the lens.
    And without his night vision, he had no hope of seeing the woman in the murky shadows.
    In the bushes to his left he heard a click.
    A crossbow?
    Had he been hit with a bolt? He remembered what Will had told him about the former renegade who had taken Elliott and the boys under her wing. He was sure Will had said that she used a crossbow.
    "Martha?" he called out.
    A loud crack issued from the hill and he heard a woman's guttural voice as she swore. Then there was another crack as Eddie fired again, the report of the rifle shot echoing all around.
    Drake ducked down behind a bush and remained hidden for what seemed like an eternity, listening for any movement. Then he made a break for the cottage. He was running blind in the darkness and he wanted something solid behind him, to protect himself from an attack from the rear. As he reached the building, he flattened himself against it, still listening to every sound and watching. That was when he heard the panicked shrieks coming from inside. He found the back door to the cottage and tried the handle, but it was locked.
    He heard more cries.
    "Chester!" Drake said, recognizing who it was.
    He kicked the door open and found the boy lying in the hallway.
    "STYX! HELP!" Chester was yelling as, still tied up, he bucked and squirmed on the carpet, like a maggot on a hotplate. He'd seen Eddie slip in through the front door.
    "Tell him I'm a friend," Eddie said.
    "Chester, it's okay. He's on our side. And thank God you're all right," Drake shouted.
    Chester's startled eyes found Drake, then filled with tears of gratitude as he began to weep.
    "You're safe now," Drake said, slicing through the boy's bonds with his knife.
    Chester wouldn't let go of Drake, clutching onto his arm. He was still crying and trying to speak, but not making any sense.
    "The woman?" Drake asked Eddie.
    "I winged her but couldn't get a killshot. She fled around the side of the house and toward the road. There was no sign of her when I got there, except this," Eddie said. He held up her crossbow, which Drake noticed was covered in blood, then Eddie moved to open the front door to peer out at the drive. "No question she's a renegade -- I saw the bodies of those people in the shed she's been eating. I've come across cannibalism like that bef--"
    "No-- don't...!" Drake yelled, too late.
    Chester went rigid as he took in what Eddie had been saying. He sought out the dirty plates and spoons Martha had discarded on the hallway carpet -- pieces of dried meat still clung to some of them. "Bodies... people...?"