The Village King by Eddie McGarrity Read Free Book Online Page B

to shoot.
    Stephen looked behind her.
“Alana!” he yelled and pointed behind her. Her arm recoiled and she twisted
round. The two soldiers, left behind by Morgan, were closing in on her. She
tried to react but they were on her. One punched her on the cheek and she
stumbled. The pistol fell away from her hand.
    Gary had two men on him. Phil had
pulled himself away. Someone punched Stephen on the back of the head. It was
Tim, now taunting him, as Rory poked the muzzle at Stephen’s body.
    The pistol hit the ground and the
soldiers had overwhelmed Alana. Someone grabbed Stephen’s body and stopped him
moving forward. Phil saw the pistol on the ground. Deek slapped Stephen on the
head. Stephen pushed him back but it provoked the others into punching him. He
tried to move.
    The soldiers had grabbed Alana
and were dragging her away. She screamed and reached out towards Stephen.
Someone punched Stephen in the gut and he folded. Phil grabbed the pistol from
the floor at the same time as someone else. He wrestled it away. He looked at
it in his hand. He pointed it unconvincingly at the crowd, who baulked, giving Phil
space to turn and run away.
    Stephen saw Gary go down and he felt
punches on his head and on his back as he fell to the ground.

18
     
    “ S hame you’ll miss the party, lads.”
    Paul looked in the service hatch
of the cell door, his smirk evident. He lifted the hatch and locked it from the
outside. His steps went back down the hall and they could hear his voice mix in
with others in the Police Station.
    Stephen sighed. Locked in a
police cell, he looked up at the window, a high up panel of diffused light. It
was late afternoon. Gary sat opposite patting a burst lower lip. Gary put his
foot on the concrete slab which passed for a bed.
    “Party?” Gary said.
    “I don’t want to even think about
that,” Stephen responded, genuinely meaning it.
     
    “What do you think will happen to us?” Gary sounded
afraid. It was dark now and he was little more than a vague shape to Stephen’s
eyes. He sat curled up on the bed.
    “I would have killed us by now.”
    Stephen heard Gary whimper. He
thought about Ellen and Jack and wondered how he had managed to become
responsible for other people again.
    “He ran off,” said Gary. “I
thought he was a mate.”
    “Yeah,” was all Stephen could
manage to discuss Phil.
     
    Something popped. It woke him up. Stephen was
hugging himself in the cold. Some sounds from the police station outside their
cell.
    “Gaz.” Stephen slapped Gary on
his curled up leg. Gary jumped awake.
    Keys jangled and someone shuffled
in the hall outside the cell. The door opened. A blaze of light from the
hallway but Stephen could make out Paul. He readied himself to rise and rush to
door.
    “Stephen, it’s me. It’s Phil.”
Someone pushed Paul forward and he landed at Stephen’s feet.
    “It is Phil,” Gary said,
recognising the boy first. Phil stood in the doorway, grinning. The Glock was
in his hand. He waved at them with his other hand for them to follow him.

19
     
    O ut in
the old public area
of the police station Stephen found Frank pointing a garden fork at the back of
a man on his knees. Frank grinned. “You alright, fella?”
    “I’m fine, thanks. Who’s this?”
Stephen walked round to take look at a face of the person on his knees. Stephen
knew the face but not his name.
    “His name’s Dave. One of Rory’s
friends.” Frank was scathing and he pushed the points of the fork into Dave’s
head.
    Dave flinched and he looked
really scared. Stephen just looked at him. He heard Phil and Gary dragging Paul
back through. They threw him to the floor next to Dave. Paul glared at Stephen;
blood trickled down the side of his head.
    “Did my friend shoot you?”
Stephen asked, with exaggerated sympathy and looked up at Phil, who shrugged
apologetically.
    “He tried to,” said Paul,
unrepentant and angry. “This is a splinter off the counter.”
    Stephen laughed. “But it made