Tunnels 06 - Terminal

will be killed by those Armagi,’ Martha said. There was no answer from Chester, who wobbled his head again, his mouth puckered as if in a silent whistle.
    ‘We really do have to slow down, dearie,’ Martha murmured, sounding quite desperate now.
    Stephanie had just slipped the stopper from her perfume again and was taking a sniff when Chester yelled at Martha, ‘Shut up, will you?’
    Stephanie was so shocked by his reaction that she almost dropped her perfume. She found she was seized by the almost irrepressible urge to punch Chester in the back of the head. He was being so selfish, dragging them all on his insane quest for revenge without the slightest consideration for anyone else. Not even for me, Stephanie told herself.
    Suddenly she’d had all she was prepared to take. Maybe it was the stifling and rather unpleasant atmosphere in the car, or possibly her fatigue, but she didn’t care any more.
    ‘Stop the car. I want to get out!’ she shouted right in Chester’s ear. As she’d barely uttered a word for the whole journey, her outburst came as even more of a surprise.
    ‘What?’ Chester gasped, the four-by-four swerving wildly on the road.
    ‘I saw a sign for motorway services up ahead,’ Stephanie replied. ‘Drop me off there.’
    Chester didn’t wait that long, pulling over onto the hard shoulder. As both he and Martha turned to Stephanie on the back seat, she said nothing, simply grabbing her wash bag and getting out. As she began to walk away from the car, Chester hurried after her.
    ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ he asked.
    Stephanie came to an immediate halt. ‘What is wrong with me ?! What about you ?’ She shook her head. ‘Okay, let me spell it out. You are being a foul shit and I’ve had enough.’
    He swept a hand at the open fields on either side of the motorway. ‘But we’re in the middle of nowhere. You’ll die.’
    ‘Like you care,’ she snapped back at him. ‘Anyway, I’d rather take my chances out here than with you in that stinking car.’
    ‘Whatever,’ he spat, turning on his heels and stomping back towards the car. ‘Do whatever you want.’
    ‘You’ll kill us all anyway if you keep driving like that,’ Stephanie shouted after him. She snorted to show her disdain. ‘You’re such a hypocrite! I bet your sister was run over by an idiot like you driving too fast.’
    Chester froze on the spot, but remained facing away from her. He didn’t know how to respond. Stephanie’s remark had struck him to the very core; at that moment, something penetrated his anger and the all-consuming desire for revenge.
    Stephanie wasn’t finished. ‘And what’s so stupid is, haven’t you noticed there are only Armagi when we’re near towns? So if we lose some Brights now, like, how will we manage when we get to London, which seems to be where we’re heading?’ She shrugged. ‘It’s probably full of Armagi So without Martha’s fairies , we’re as good as dead.’
    ‘I have to say she’s right, dearie,’ a voice suddenly declared.Martha had come over to listen. ‘We need to let my fairies have a breather and some food. And you do need to steer a little slower.’
    ‘It’s drive , Martha. You drive a car.’ Chester turned to Stephanie, and cleared his throat. ‘Yes, maybe I’ve been pushing it, and I reckon we could all do with a proper break. How many miles to these services you saw?’ he asked.
    Stephanie didn’t reply.
    ‘Come on. Put your stuff back in the car. London isn’t that far, and you love London,’ he argued, trying to be consolatory as he gave her a sheepish smile.
    Stephanie humphed. ‘Yeah, so what’ll we do when we get there? I just know it’s going to be, like, the most terrible place on Earth,’ she said. ‘I just know it.’
    ‘But it’s still London, with all the shops you love. And there’s bound to be something open,’ Chester said, maintaining his smile. He was obviously making a huge effort to be pleasant to her, but Stephanie could see the deranged light hadn’t left his eyes. ‘Come back to the car, will you, Stepho?’
    ‘Stepho? Nobody calls me Stepho,’ Stephanie said under her breath. But against her better judgement, she began towards the vehicle, dragging her feet and asking herself what the hell she was doing.

    ‘And we thought it looked bad the last time we were here,’ Drake whispered. He and Jiggs had crawled over to the windows and were poking their heads up just high enough to gaze out over