Page 92 of No Man's Land

And then Josef heard it too, a wet slavering sound. Something—someone—eating.

God help me, I only feel…hunger.

Without thought, Josef reached for the door. Dutta grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. Silently, he raised his gun, readying himself, before nodding to Josef. He pulled on the door, wrenching it open on screeching hinges. Something crouched in the stairwell, bent over. When it lifted its head, gore dripped from its mouth, blue eyes like lamps in the dark.

Josef had half a second to processnot Alexbefore the ghoul launched itself at Dutta. The gun fired, the bullet ricocheting into the stairwell but missing the ghoul, and the creature bore Dutta backwards and down. The Witch Light flared in Lottie’s hand, suddenly, shockingly white, making the ghoul howl and rear back from Dutta. Violet swung her truncheon at the creature’s head and sent it staggering sideways, time enough for Dutta to spring back to his feet. The ghoul howled again, a wet, hungry furious sound.

And Josef shot it between the eyes.

It crumpled and fell, and in the ringing silence, he was aware of everyone’s eyes on him. Well, what did they think? The conchie didn’t know how to fire a gun?

“Good shot,” Dutta said, as if they were on a fucking grouse hunt.

Josef just said, “What was it eating?”

He couldn’t bear to look, his heart a lead lump in his chest. The Witch Light had faded back to its soft purple, but it was still bright enough to see by. He heard someone turn back to the door, and then Violet said, “It’s part of an arm. Can’t say whose.”

The tension in the pit of Josef’s stomach tightened further, and he nodded. “At the top of the stairs, there’s another door. I think that’s where they are. We heard them through the door.”

“Your light was a clever trick,” Dutta told Lottie, sounding a little grudging. “Do that when we go through the next door, would you?”

“Yes, I had intended to.” She exchanged a wry look with Violet. “Witch Light blinds them temporarily. Didn’t you know that?”

Dutta didn’t answer. He said, “We don’t know how many we’ll be facing. If Beaumont is up there, we’re going to have to grab him fast and pull him out.”

“He can’t walk,” Josef reminded them.

Lottie said, “And by now, he may well not be…quite himself. He may resist.”

Josef closed his eyes. “I’ll get him,” he said, “if you lot can hold them off. I’ll carry him out.”

Like I should have done before.

Dutta frowned. “Beaumont is a large man, and you—”

“I can do it.”

“We’ll need to treat him as soon as possible,” Lottie added. “Right there, if we can, though itwilltake a few moments to muster the enchantment.”

“At least get a door shut between you and them first,” Violet told her. To Josef and Dutta, she added, “She can’t burn the Witch Light and cast an enchantment at the same time.”

Which made sense to Josef. “Right,” he said. “Me and Dutta get him through the door, then hold it while you two get to work.” He looked at Dutta, expecting him to baulk at Josef giving orders. Dutta only nodded, though.

“Then let’s get to it.”

They stole quietly, quickly to the top of the stairs. Blood streaked the steps, as it had done last time Josef was there. More blood? He couldn’t tell. Didn’t want to think about it. Just like he didn’t want to think about howAlex could have climbed these stairs, or how he might have been dragged up instead, or whether he was still alive…

He didn’t want to think about it, and yet it wasallhe could think about as they gathered around the door at the top of the stairs. Sounds bled through it, snarls, strange howls, shuffling movement. Josef felt sick with fear and desperation. He didn’t want to go through that door, but the thought that Alex might be on the other side, alone with those monsters, made him want to rip it from its bloody hinges.

“Right,” Dutta said grimly. “On three. One, two…”

Chapter Twenty-seven

“Three!”

They burst through the door in a blaze of Witch Light, so bright even Josef had to squint. Howls rose around them, and a desperate snarling, scrabbling. The space beyond the door may once have been used for storage, but it had obviously been abandoned for years. Pipes ran across its ceiling, some looking new, the walls Victorian brickwork. The floor…? God only knew, because it was covered now in vile, stinking rags. The whole place stank like a charnel house.

Or a dressing station.

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