It'll Come Back... by Lisa Richardson Read Free Book Online

his injured arm and held the bloodied keys up towards Kate. He used the palm of his other hand to press against his bite wound, stemming the flow of blood as best he could. His torn shirt sleeve had been stained vibrant red and the soaked fabric glistened in the overhead strip lighting.
    ‘Take them,’ he said as he rose onto his knees.
    Kate swiped the keys and placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘Stay,’ she said, not wanting him to attempt standing while he looked so pale from the blood loss and shock. ‘I won’t be a sec and I’ll sort that out for you,’ she added, nodding at the bite.
    The keys jangled as Kate thrust them into Screamers hand. ‘Lock the front and back and then stack as much shit up in front of them as you can,’ she said to the teenage girl.
    ‘I don’t want to go near the doors,’ said Screamer. ‘Those things are at the doors.’
    ‘You’ll be fine.’
    ‘But which key…?’ Screamer held the bundle of keys up. There were at least six to ten keys.
    ‘Just go and try them all,’ said Kate. ‘Just go. Come on. The sooner we get this place secure the better. Go!’
    Screamer hesitated, before speeding off to the front of the store.
    Kate darted back to the counter and poked her head around the edge to see the trembling feet and lower legs of the boy.
    ‘We really could do with some help out here, you know,’ she said to him. When he didn’t reply, she opened her mouth to speak, to coax him out somehow, when the old lady stomped – or as close to stomping as her frail, bony legs would allow – around the other side of the counter ahead of Kate.
    ‘Come on, lad,’ she began. ‘Look lively, there’s a good boy. There’s jobs that need doing around here and they’re not going to do themselves. And a strapping young boy like yourself needs to get up off his arse and come and help! Come on – quick march!’
    Kate watched as the boy’s trembling feet went still, then, slowly, he placed them flat on the floor and he raised himself up to standing. His wide eyes flicked between hers and the old lady’s while he waited for the next order.
    ‘Help reinforce the doors with, um… with that girl. Just shove whatever the fuck you can find against them. Okay?’
    The boy nodded at Kate and mumbled, ‘Um, yeah. Yeah,’ and he shuffled off in the direction of the front of the store, after Screamer.
    ‘Thank you,’ Kate said to the old lady.
    ‘You’re welcome dear. No room for hangers on, eh?’
    Kate smiled and gave the old lady’s forearm a gentle squeeze, before returning to the injured man. She sat down on the floor next to him.
    ‘Are you okay?’ Kate asked him.
    ‘I’m okay,’ he said with a forced smile.
    ‘That must really hurt,’ she said, nodding at where he clutched his torn flesh.
    ‘Yes, it fucking hurts. But compared to what happened to her,’ he said, nodding down to the half-eaten store manager beside them, ‘I think I got off lightly.’
    Kate smiled at him. She unzipped her bag, rifled through it and pulled out a packet of tissues. She ripped open the plastic wrapper and pulled it off. ‘Let me,’ she began as she placed a hand on BG’s bloody one, easing it away from the bite. Blood welled up from the wound and ran down his arm. ‘Nasty. It’s deep.’ She placed the wad of tissues against the bite.
    He winced and sucked air between his teeth but he didn’t complain.
    ‘Here, keep these pressed against it. I’ll see if I can find something to make a bandage.’
    ‘Will this do?’
    Kate turned to see the old lady holding out an off-white fabric handkerchief.
    ‘It’s clean,’ she added, nodding at Kate to take it from her.
    ‘Thank you,’ said Kate and she grabbed the piece of fabric. It wasn’t the delicate lace sort of handkerchief she’d have expected an old lady to have but a large, plain and functional square of thick off-white cloth. She noticed initials stitched on one corner in dark blue cotton. A.N .
    ‘My husband’s,’ said