“Then try.” Scarlett took Dylan’s hand supportively.
“You’re full of confidence in my powers today.”
“Well, I guess I owe you in that department.”
“OK, I’ll give it a go.”
“Don’t try, do,” she said with a wink, parroting his own advice back at him.
Dylan waved his hand in front of the main group of rejects and started building an ice wall, which quickly ran from the floor to the ceiling, blocking their opponents off.
“It worked!” he said.
“Brilliant! Now let’s take out the three that are left on this side of the wall.” Scarlett picked them all up and flung them back at the floor to knock them out.
“Don’t worry, that will give them no more than a headache,” she assured Dylan.
As she checked they were out cold, she took a look at their appearance, one had yellow skin, another was the boy with purple spots and the third was more gruesome with sharp teeth and loose, wrinkly skin. It looked like all his hair had fallen out.
“What they hell did Goulden do to these people,” she whispered.
“I dread to think, but it looks like failed genetic tests to me. His bodged experiments must have drastically altered their appearance. Come on, let’s help the others before that ice melts or breaks.”
Scarlett noticed the rejects were furiously punching and kicking the ice. “We’d better act quickly,” she agreed.
Dylan and Scarlett scarpered over to the group, who were still bound and gagged. They freed Neelam and Jay first. “What happened?” they asked.
“We managed to get the door to the Holding Pens open, then made our way to the lab, but Goulden was already in there holding Toshiko, Sasha, Andrew and Ethan captive. We tried to help Alex free them, but we didn’t stand a chance. His policemen took us out in less than a minute.”
Dylan looked towards the other group. For a second, Scarlett thought he was going to object to freeing them, but after a moment’s hesitation, he cut them loose from their ties.
“Thanks,” Alex said. “I’m so pleased you two turned up. I thought we were goners.”
“We can handle ourselves,” Toshiko snapped.
“Not this time,” Andrew said. “Cheers mate.”
“No worries,” Dylan said. “What were you all doing here anyway?”
“Same as you lot – we wanted to find out the full extent of Goulden’s plans to create super-powered soldiers and put a stop to them. You and I may not agree on a lot of things, but we’re as appalled by all this as you are.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Scarlett said, “but it looks like the ice is melting.” She pointed over to where Dylan’s handiwork was turning into a mushy pool of water and the rejects were starting to push their way through.
One girl, who didn’t look too mutated bar a pale purplish hue to her skin and hair flew through the wall and straight at them.
“I’ve got her,” Sasha shouted as she took to the air, grappled with the girl in mid-flight and threw her viciously to the floor.
“Don’t hurt them,” Dylan shouted as he hastily patched up the hole with more ice. “They’re innocent victims in all this.”
“One: they’re attacking us,” Ethan said, “and two: you’re not our boss.”
“I am today. We need to work together if we’re going to get out of this.”
“He’s right,” Andrew said a little begrudgingly. “Do as he says.” Dylan gave him an appreciative smile as he slapped him on the back to say thanks.
“Right,” Dylan said. “Sasha, you tackle any air-borne rejects. Andrew, Scarlett and I will take on the ones on the ground and use our powers to fling them through the air or knock them out. Toshiko and Jay, you keep our backs covered and use your skills to distract, out-run and take out any rejects before they hurt one of us. Ethan, you perform a similar role, but only use your bombs to shock and distract groups of the rejects – remember, don’t hurt them.” Ethan nodded.
“But didn’t you just say you’ll knock them out?” Toshiko asked with her eyebrow raised.
“If needs be, you can punch, kick, throw them or whatever, just be gentle so you don’t cause lasting damage.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Does everyone understand their role here?”
They all nodded.
“What about Alex and I?” Neelam asked.
“Well, Neelam, you’re powerless and I’m guessing Alex can’t teleport in here?”
“Yep. Lined with gold again,” Alex sighed. “We can still fight though.”
“OK, but be careful and keep near the back.”
The ice cracked.
“Here we go,” Scarlett said as she, Andrew and Dylan ran to the front of their group. She instantly threw three of the rejects to the back of the room. “Well that’s a good start.”
“Hey, they’re my friends,” shouted an unnaturally tall and skinny orange girl with long arms that reached the floor. She waved her hand at Scarlett and produced a cacophony of sound and light. It was like a million Catherine wheels had gone off in the room.
“Call that an explosion?” Ethan scoffed as he threw a bomb, which landed a metre in front of the girl, throwing her in the air. She retaliated by launching more fireworks at him, but Jay had already run to the rescue and rushed Ethan out of the way.
Scarlett didn’t have time to watch the battles going on around her through – the werewolf boy and a girl who appeared to be half fox were running at Andrew and Dylan. “Get back!” she commanded as she flung them away, only for them to run back at her. “I said, shoo!” She threw them further and harder this time and they landed with an awful thud. There was no time to feel guilty though because a stunningly beautiful girl with three arms was running towards her brandishing a sword. “Move it lady,” She shouted, but before she could telekinetically lift her opponent, the girl had vanished. “Where did she go?” she muttered.
“Scarlett, watch out,” Alex shouted as he ran behind her. Scarlett turned to see that the girl had reappeared and would have certainly stabbed her if Alex hadn’t jumped in the way.
“Thank you,” she said feeling surprised and shocked, then she saw a huge cut on Alex’s arm. “Oh my goodness, you’re bleeding.”
“I’ll be OK, worry about me later – we’ve got more pressing concerns.” He nodded at the green boy with bug-like eyes, who was hovering just above them.
“Eww, look at those,” Scarlett gasped as she pointed at the insect-like wings on his back.
“I’m more concerned by them,” Alex said, nodding at the yellow liquid that was shooting from the bug boy’s warts. As it hit the floor, it sizzled a hole through the surface like acid. “Better keep out of his way,” he said as he dragged Scarlett across the room, but they were in even more danger there.
Werewolf boy had made a full recovery and was racing right at them, while a girl in a long, black, hooded cloak was producing knives from her arms and throwing them expertly in their direction. Scarlett managed to telekinetically deflect the first round of blades, but now the girl was hurling more knives and the werewolf was leaping at her too. “Get back!” she yelled, throwing the werewolf away again, but it was too late to stop the daggers that were sailing through the air towards Alex.
“I’m on it!” Sasha shouted as she flew to push Alex out of the way. However, she must have misjudged her timings because she flew straight into the knives and three of them pierced her chest, stomach and thigh. Sasha screamed in pain and crashed to the floor with a loud thud.
“Oh my goodness!” Scarlett shouted.
“You monsters!” Ethan yelled. He threw a series of bombs at the dagger-throwing girl in anger. As the sound of explosions echoed around the room, everyone on both sides stopped mid battle to see what was happening.
“Sasha!” Andrew shouted, running over to her lifeless body.
“Is she OK?” Toshiko asked, barely louder than a scared whisper.
“I don’t think she is,”
Neelam said. She knelt down at Sasha’s side to look at her injuries and take her pulse. She placed her head to Sasha’s chest as if looking for a heartbeat, breathing or any signs of life. “I’m sorry,” she said as she stood up and stepped away from the body. “I’m so sorry.”
As Toshiko burst into screams of despair, one of the rejects also started sobbing. Scarlett turned around – surely Goulden’s brainwashed puppets couldn’t be showing compassion for Sasha? Then she saw what the rejects were so distressed about. The hooded knife girl, the werewolf boy and the thin girl who threw fireworks were all lying on the floor – fatally wounded by Ethan’s bombs.
“Oh no, no, no,” she said. “Not them too. We have to put a stop to this.”
Suddenly, the sound of Goulden’s laughter rung out across a speaker system that was installed in the room. Scarlett had almost forgotten that he was still here, watching them from the other side of the glass.
“Bravo!” he boomed. “Marvellous. I’m loving the show so far, please do carry on.”
“You animal,” Dylan yelled. “How are we supposed to keep fighting now? We’ve all lost teammates.”
“Oh Dylan, you’re still so naïve. You will keep battling, because those disgusting rejects are drugged and conditioned to obey my orders. And I’m telling them to attack you again, which means you must defend yourselves.”
Goulden wasn’t bluffing, as soon as he had finished talking, the rejects shook off their despair and started to run towards them again.
“I can’t do this,” Andrew said.
Toshiko picked up a dagger from the floor and threw it at Goulden with impressive precision, but it merely bounced off the toughened glass. She somersaulted over to the glass wall and started punching it with rage. “I’ll kill you for this,” she shouted at Goulden, before bursting into the tears.
“Come on,” Dylan said. “Don’t give up – Sasha wouldn’t want you to. No one else dies here today.” He swiftly threw the fox girl out of the way as she leapt through the air towards them.
“Oh you’re wrong Dylan,” Goulden said through the speakers. “You will all die here today and I’m going to love every minute of it.”
“Not if I can help it,” said a defiant voice from behind him. Scarlett turned to see Lucy and a blond boy stood behind the PM. The boy threw what looked like laser balls from his hands, knocking Goulden off his feet, while Lucy shot lightning at the control panel on the wall, which made the glass wall start to lift up.
A policemen ran over and furiously hit the buttons, causing the partition to start sliding back down. Scarlett stared at it as their opportunity to escape slipped away as quickly as it had presented itself.
“I’ve got to get under there before it closes,” she thought. “It’s the only way to put a stop to this.”
Chapter 27
Scarlett ran towards the glass wall, which was rapidly lowering towards the ground, threw herself to the floor and rolled under it.
“I made it!” she thought. “I can’t believe it.”
Staying on the ground, she slid to the side of the room and telekinetically shuffled a cupboard in front of her. Her heart was pounding as she hid from Goulden and his men – she didn’t want them to notice she’d escaped while she decided what to do next.
“What do I do next?” she thought, panicking. She looked towards the Super Soldiers room. If she could free the kids she’d seen in suspended animation, they could provide them with the back-up they needed. Surely those teenagers would be angry enough with Goulden to stand by their side and fight him. It was the only way she could see to beat the PM, his men and his rejects before anyone else got hurt.
She glanced around the room quickly. Katy had mentioned there was a switch somewhere in this lab that could be used to both unlock her prison and switch off the machines that were keeping her friends unconscious. As Scarlett looked at the walls, she saw there were many buttons dotted around – some of them looked like simple light switches, while others were complicated control panels. “Which one is it?” she thought anxiously. “I don’t have a clue.”
She stared around the room in desperation, then to Lucy and a boy she assumed to be her brother. They were locked in battle with Goulden’s men, but thanks to their long-range lightning and laser balls, they were keeping their attackers at bay for now. She looked through the glass wall to see her friends weren’t faring so well – Andrew and Dylan were trying their hardest to fight six rejects and the rest of them looked outnumbered too.
“They’re going to die in there if I don’t help soon,” she realised. “I’ve got to act now.”
She took a deep breath and focussed on all the switches, buttons and control panels in the room, then willed them all to click at once. “Did it work?” she thought trepidatiously, but as the lights flicked off, the sound of the heating whirred to a halt and the glass window again began to roll open, she realised it must have done.
“What the hell?” Goulden shouted. “Who did this?” He sounded furious.
While it was still dark, Scarlett dashed to the Super Soldiers room to make sure she’d released the teens in there. As she reached the door, the lights came back on, so she closed it behind her as quickly as she could.
“Katy!” she shouted as she saw the telepath standing there. “You’re free.”
The girl, who looked about 18 and had long dark hair, beamed a smile at Scarlett. “And so are Isabella, Elijah, Mason, Mallory, Heather, Casey and Stan. All thanks to you.”
Scarlett looked past Katy to see seven other teenagers smiling at her. “I’m Isabella,” a tall girl with red, shoulder-length hair said. “I can’t thank you enough for saving us. We were scared we’d be stuck in there forever or made to work as Goulden’s soldiers.”
The others chimed in with their shows of appreciation, but as much as Scarlett would have loved to bask in their admiration, she had more urgent matters to discuss.
“Goulden is here,” she said. She paused as they took the news in, some of them looking wide-eyed with fear and others full of rage. “He’s taken my friends hostage and right now they’re losing a fight with this huge group of super-powered rejects.”
“Oh no,” a boy with black hair said. “Not those creepy guys.”
“Don’t be nasty, Stan,” a girl with long brown hair said. “We could very easily have turned out just like them.”
Aware that time was running out, Scarlett tried to move things along. “We’re outnumbered and I’m scared that my friends will die. Can you help us conquer him and his rejects, so that we can then all help you escape the building?”
“Sounds good to me,” Katy said. “Let’s go!” She gave Scarlett a hug and darted through the door, ready to face the battle that lay ahead, but as Scarlett followed her, one of Goulden’s men shot right at them. “No!” she shouted. Her reactions were too late to deflect the bullet and it hit Katy right in the head. Scarlett grabbed her as she fell backwards.
“Oh Katy, no. Katy! Stay with us,” she urged, but she knew it was no use. She’d watched enough cop shows to know bullets like that could kill someone instantly.
“Dude, she’s dead,” the boy called Stan said. “It’s sad, but we don’t have time to grieve now because we’ve got to hunt us some Goulden.”
Scarlett knew he was right. Using her telekinesis, she gently hovered Katy’s body back into the other room away from the battle.
“Right,” she said to the others, whilst simultaneously deflecting any bullets that came their way. “See that blonde girl over there. That’s Lucy and her brother – they’re fighting Goulden while the rest of my friends battle the rejects beyond that glass wall over there. If you all run towards it, I’ll cover Lucy and Aaron’s backs, so Lucy can unlock the wall and we can finish the battle. Sound good?”
“Sounds scary,” Isabella said.
“Alright,” a blonde girl said “We’ll meet you there.” She stamped her foot on the floor, making the whole room feel like an earthquake was shaking it.
“That’ll distract them,” she smiled, then she and her friends dashed across the room.
Scarlett flew over to Lucy and telekinetically grabbed both her and Aaron and hovered them over to the glass wall.
“Scarlett!” Lucy shouted. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Likewise! Now, I need you to have another go at unlocking that control panel. I’ll deflect Goulden’s men while you do it.”
“No probs.” One blast of lightning and the wall scrolled open and this time there was no closing it.
“Good work,” Scarlett said. “Now let’s save our friends.” She turned to the new teens. “You know which ones are our mates and which ones are the rejects. Right?”
“Oh yeah,” Isabella said. “They’re pretty easy to spot.” She wrinkled her nose as the bug-eyed boy flew at her, then threw up her arms and froze him in place.
“That’s cool,” Scarlett said as she telekinetically lifted a huge, strong, blue guy and batted him away. “What’s your power?”
“I freeze time.”
“That’s amazing!” She suddenly had an idea. “Can you freeze this whole battle?”
Isabella shook her head. “I’m not that powerful. I can barely freeze one thing.”
“Scarlett,” a voice said. She turned round to see Dylan standing there. “Take her hand and will her to use her power to freeze all the rejects in time and stop the fight.”
“What, why?”
“Just a hunch. Try it.”
Scarlett was baffled by his orders, but she did as she was told nonetheless. “Isabella,” she said taking her hand. “You can freeze all the rejects in time. Do it!”
“I’ll try.” She flung her arms up and scrunched her eyes closed, then time stood still for half of the room. “Yay!” she shouted as she opened her eyes.
Scarlett stared at the statute-like rejects in amazement. “They’ve all just stopped there.” She turned around and saw that Goulden and his men were standing dead still too. “Now that’s a bonus,” she laughed. “Absolutely amazing.”
Lucy, Aaron, Toshiko, Andrew, Alex, Neelam and Jay ran over.
Out Of Time Page 20
