Underwood by Colin Griffiths Read Free Book Online

acknowledge them but Eileen was sure she saw him smiling, but assumed it was more in hope than reality, they started walking to where they had left the car, no one really saying anything, Peter wanting more than anything to get out of Underwood, the list of captains, or lack of them had unnerved him and he wasn’t sure why, it just didn’t seem natural, there was something about Underwood he didn’t understand, but he didn’t want to wait to find out what it was, Lily was thinking ‘how cool it would be if everything was free’ . She played with her phone and cursed it when there was no response, Nathan held onto his dad’s arm just wanting to get back in the car and go home.
     
    They Passed by Terraced concrete houses as they walked, the day had warmed up considerably as the sun beat down on them and the streets drying, though large puddles still remained in places, all the houses looked the same, picket fences all around, grass on every home, some with flowers or garden ornaments, all very mundane, in all but two of the houses they were sure they saw the curtains move, but they never saw a living soul, it was like they didn’t like strangers around here, and that was fine with them, they just wanted to get out, Eileen had thought that the Underwood people were a strange lot and certainly would not be sorry to leave this place behind, they seemed to be walking a long time, the earlier bus journey had taken less than a minute, but they were sure they were going the right way, surely it couldn’t be this far.
    ‘What the hell’ gasped Peter, Eileen just put her hand to her open mouth,
    ‘Dad I’m scared ‘ said Lily and Eileen cuddled her, as did Peter hug Nathan as he burst into tears, it wasn’t the fact that their car was no longer there, although that was scary enough, yes the car was gone, they stood on the waste ground where they had parked it that morning, the derelict huts with the water tower in the distance still loomed, it was exactly the same place they caught the bus, the same place where a fox had run out and gave them the stare before running into the woods, the same place when the strange man in the waistcoat told them they couldn’t drive, there was no mistaking that, but now there was no road with the battered kerb stones and potholes, there was no lane that was inches thick with mud that they drove up on that morning, they all looked around in horror, and no one really believed it, because where that road was, all they could see was trees, thousands and thousands of them.

Chapter 3
     
    The Siren did not go off at 8am that Sunday morning, as it did every other morning, waking the residents of the town that never really wanted to exist, Sunday was a lie in day in Underwood, Sunday was a non-working day, Sunday was the day they buried their dead, Sunday was a day the courts were held, Sunday was Judgement day, Sunday was grievance day, Sunday was creation day, Sunday was welcoming new family day, And some Sunday’s was a day somebody was sentenced to go into the woods and feed whatever was in there, To some people in Underwood, Sunday was just like any other day, smoking and drinking, trying to forget, No Sunday was not a working day, there was far too much to do on a Sunday.
     
    The Sheriff of Underwood lived in the last house in Woodland road, that’s what he wanted to be called in Underwood, he relished the name, thought it gave him an aura of power, it had a bit of Americanism to it and he loved that, he missed hearing about the states, but he didn’t need no name for people to feel that he was the one with power, he knew people smelt that every time they saw him, he could tell by the fear in their eyes, he wasn’t up  early that morning, Allan Herapath was never up that early, he was a big man, he looked as broad as he was tall, and at 56 years of age, he had a good head of hair that shone a colour of silver, ruggedly handsome, ‘fit as a butchers dog’ everyone would say, ‘the