The Road to Winter by Mark Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

there?’
    She shakes her head. ‘Not at first. We skirted around the back of town, keeping to the trees until we found a safe spot that had a view along the main street. Before I went to check things out, we agreed that, if we got separated, Kas should keep moving towards the coast, as far away from Ramage as possible.’
    Rose takes a deep breath.
    ‘I found them out the back of an old general store—four men and a couple of kids sitting around a fire. The smell of cooking meat was driving me wild. I knew it was stupid, but I was so hungry I wasn’t thinking straight. I walked out into the open and stood about ten metres from them. They allmoved at once, grabbing sticks, and one guy picked up a shovel. They circled me.
    ‘It was so stupid. It was never going to be right for a girl to be travelling on her own unless she was running from someone. A woman stepped out of the back door of the store and came up close to check me out. She had wild red hair and she stank. She smiled—most of her teeth were missing. She said they didn’t have much, just a bit of deer they’d shot, but I was welcome to join them.
    ‘So they gave me some food, and I ate like a pig but I didn’t care. They all just sat and watched me. Then one of them asked where I was from, and something in his voice gave me the creeps.
    ‘I told them I’d come from the north, that I’d avoided Longley because I’d met people on the road who said bad things about the place. It was weird when I mentioned Longley. One of the men spat into the fire and said they hadn’t seen anyone on the road in months. Then he asked me if I was one of Ramage’s Sileys.’
    Rose looks away and I reckon she’s embarrassed. I’ve got to admit, it sounds pretty dumb to have just walked into danger like that.
    ‘I got to my feet slowly, said thanks and I’d be on my way. But one of them grabbed me, one of the big guys. He tied my hands behind my back and dragged me off to a pump shed at the back of the yard. Said he’d be back for me during the night.’
    I have to look away, out the kitchen window to the backyard. I don’t want to hear any more. I don’t want to know if she’s been abused. But she squares off her shoulders again andstares me down. I know she’s going to tell me the rest, even if I don’t want to hear it.
    ‘It was pitch black in there,’ Rose continues, quieter now, ‘and the fumes were making me sick. I must’ve slept because I woke up when I heard the door opening. I made out a figure in the moonlight and kicked out as hard as I could. Got him in the balls, too.
    ‘He grabbed me by the hair and tried to drag me out of the shed, but then there’s this strange sound, like metal hitting bone and the big guy falls sideways onto the pump. Then it goes quiet.’
    Rose is shaking her head now, a small smile playing on her lips.
    ‘It was the woman. I couldn’t believe it. She helped me up and cut the ropes around my wrists. She started talking fast, telling me I had to run. Ramage would find out eventually and he’d come after me with everything he had. She pushed a chunk of meat into my hands, said us girls have gotta stick together these days. Then I started running.’
    The afternoon sun slants through the kitchen window, filling the room with light. Rose turns her face up to the warmth and closes her eyes.
    I don’t know what to make of her story, but the way she tells it makes me think it’s the truth. She talks a lot with her hands, splays them on the table then rakes them back through her hair. And her eyes narrow every now and then when she tries to remember details about what’s happened. I’m mesmerised justlooking at her, this other person, this girl , sitting across from me at the table, her skin, her eyes, her smile that disappears as soon as she lets it sneak out.
    ‘By the time I’d finally made my way back to where I’d left Kas it was getting light. But…’ Rose falters. ‘She wasn’t there. She wasn’t there . I