The Crowmaster. Barry Hutchison

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      For my big sis, Carol Anne.

      Sorry for turning your Bucks Fizz record into a clock.

      But it was 18 years ago.

      Let it go.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Prologue

      NINETEEN DAYS EARLIER...

      Chapter One - BROUGHT TO LIFE

      Chapter Two - OF MONSTERS PAST

      Chapter Three - A GOODBYE

      Chapter Four - JOSEPH

      Chapter Five - MEETING MARION

      Chapter Six - LOST

      Chapter Seven - UNDER ATTACK

      Chapter Eight - DRESSING UP

      Chapter Nine - RUDE AWAKENING

      Chapter Ten - SHEDDING SKIN

      Chapter Eleven - THROUGH THE SQUARE WINDOW

      Chapter Twelve - GUARDIAN ANGELS

      Chapter Thirteen - CAUGHT BY THE CROWS

      Chapter Fourteen - A FALL TO RUINS

      Chapter Fifteen - INTO THE BIRDHOUSE

      Chapter Sixteen - FLAMING CLOSE

      Chapter Seventeen - DEMON IN DISGUISE

      Chapter Eighteen - SNEAK ATTACK

      Chapter Nineteen - THE MAST

      Chapter Twenty - THE MONSTER WITHIN

      Also available in the INVISIBLE FIENDS series

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

      PROLOGUE

      What had I expected to see? I wasn’t sure. An empty street. One or two late-night wanderers, maybe.

      But not this. Never this.

      There were hundreds of them. Thousands. They scuttled and scurried through the darkness, swarming over the village like an infection; relentless and unstoppable.

      I leaned closer to the window and looked down at the front of the hospital. One of the larger creatures was tearing through the fence, its claws slicing through the wrought-iron bars as if they were cardboard. My breath fogged the glass and the monster vanished behind a cloud of condensation. By the time the pane cleared the thing would be inside the hospital. It would be up the stairs in moments. Everyone in here was as good as dead.

      The distant thunder of gunfire ricocheted from somewhere near the village centre. A scream followed – short and sharp, then suddenly silenced. There were no more gunshots after that, just the triumphant roar of something sickening and grotesque.

      I heard Ameena take a step closer behind me. I didn’t need to look at her reflection in the window to know how terrified she was. The crack in her voice said it all.

      ‘It’s the same everywhere,’ she whispered.

      I nodded, slowly. ‘The town as well?’

      She hesitated long enough for me to realise what she meant. I turned away from the devastation outside. ‘Wait… You really mean everywhere, don’t you?’

      Her only reply was a single nod of her head.

      ‘Liar!’ I snapped. It couldn’t be true. This couldn’t be happening. She stooped and picked up the TV remote from the day-room coffee table. It shook in her hand as she held it out to me.

      ‘See for yourself.’

      Hesitantly, I took the remote. ‘What channel?’

      She glanced at the ceiling, steadying her voice. ‘Any of them.’

      The old television set gave a faint clunk as I switched it on. In a few seconds, an all-too-familiar scene appeared.

      Hundreds of the creatures. Cars and buildings ablaze. People screaming. People running. People dying.

      Hell on Earth.

      ‘That’s New York,’ she said.

      Click. Another channel, but the footage was almost identical.

      ‘London.’

       Click.

      ‘I’m… I’m not sure. Somewhere in Japan. Tokyo, maybe?’

      It could have been Tokyo, but then again it could have been anywhere. I clicked through half a dozen more channels, but the images were always the same.

      ‘It happened,’ I gasped. ‘It actually happened.’

      I turned back to the window and gazed out. The clouds above the next town were tinged with orange and red. It was already burning. They were destroying everything, just like he’d told me they would.

      This was it.

      The world was ending.

      Armageddon.

      And it was all my fault.

      NINETEEN DAYS

       EARLIER...

      Chapter One BROUGHT TO LIFE

      The house was quieter than I ever remembered it being. The stairs didn’t creak as I tiptoed barefoot down them. The kitchen door didn’t make a sound when I edged it open. Even the fridge, which usually gives a strange gurgle when anyone so much as touches it, stayed silent as I pulled back the door and blinked in the faint orange glow of the light.

      The floor was cold beneath my feet. I curled my toes in and tried to balance on my heels, minimising contact СКАЧАТЬ