Raggy Maggie

Raggy Maggie
Barry Hutchison

Afraid of a cute little dolly, are you? Well, you should be…Billy is the hardest kid in school and a horrible bully. So Kyle could almost find it funny that Billy's childhood invisible friend was a little dolly named Raggy Maggie.Almost, but not quite.Because now Raggy Maggie is back, and she wants Kyle to play a game. The game is very simple. Find where she's hidden Billy – or Billy dies…

Invisible Fiends

Raggy Maggie

Barry Hutchison

To Mum and Dad.

For believing, even when I didn’t, and for

having confidence when I had none.

Oh, and for all the food and money.

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u3f843dda-c7ca-5c29-976c-333c61df1edc)

Title Page (#uc7f8f798-5db6-56a8-8513-2bd860e1d233)

PROLOGUE (#ud73af444-70c4-57cf-a7ff-caa64fa2b0c9)

TWENTY-THREE DAYS EARLIER… (#u7e581f07-9a33-56f2-8caa-b838e73fb4d2)

Chapter One I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS (#u9362b3f5-825e-5e6b-94d9-d3178503c24c)

Chapter Two BILLY GIBB (#u98f338ad-10c9-52c2-a5df-0165f0617bf9)

Chapter Three FAMILIAR FACES (#ud68cce0f-f420-527b-aedc-32396865d872)

Chapter Four TAG, YOU’RE IT (#u04eaea27-0252-54c7-a1c5-4a3778e1c14c)

Chapter Five SOMEWHERE ELSE (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six TEA FOR THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven THE GAME BEGINS (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight SHADOWS OF THE LOST (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine SWALLOWED WHOLE (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten CADDIE CADDIE HA-HA (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven CREAMING IT (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve THE CLIMB (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen THE RED ROOM (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen COMPLETE SURRENDER (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen THE CHASE (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen HOME SWEET HOME (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen DOLL’S HOUSE (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen SUDDEN DEATH (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE (#ulink_06b47626-858f-5605-bb02-ca9950d5c4f0)

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.’