‘Project La what?’
‘It was created under the guise of my family,’ Eli explains. ‘But really, we had stopped funding it as she and her pathetic husband never came through with any of the good they had promised us. But through them I learned of the other Mages. Ones like yourself, and my dear love, Mei –.’
His voice catches as he tries to speak the name of his lover and Julie rolls her eyes.
‘So what about these Fire Twins?’ Guy asks, not caring for the sorrow that has now crossed his prisoner’s face.
Chagrin flares in his eyes as Eli answers, ‘two boys, taken as mere children from the nearby Tuchersfield Village were trained into incendiaries and genetically manipulated for bigger and better firepower. They were bent to the will of The Elites that trained them, Ascension granted to them. Heti was due to give them over to my brother, who worked closely on the weapons program with her and her husband. But they lied of course, claiming that the twins were killed in a fireball of their own making – a freak accident.
‘Really, they wanted to start their own army. An army heralded by these Fire Twins, so that they could one day overthrow my family and reign as supreme instead. Of course, they had no idea I had taken care of my siblings, and my parents’ radiation addled bodies could no longer survive despite the healing they had received.
‘And Heti had sided with my cousin, the stupid woman. Trusting him, when he had come to power, with the information of their weapons program and her and her late husband’s plan to overthrow my family and I. Little did she know, he would soon come after her and her prized artillery.’
Whilst the group contemplate this new information, a whining sound suddenly fills the air.
‘Run!’ Xavier pulls Kaley by the arm as Guy follows closely behind.
Ari searches the skies for the source of the sound to see a tiny black dot growing larger as it nears its target. Without thinking, she runs back into the town, hunting for Cinnamon and her mother.
‘Ari!’ Kaley calls after her sister.
Xavier holds tight on her arm as he continues on, not allowing her to follow after Ari. Delta, Malik and Ai-Ling follow suit, running for their lives.
Frantically searching each dingy alleyway and makeshift home, Ari starts to call out for the little girl.
The whining grows louder as the ballistic missile nears.
Rushing through the town, Ari slips on a loose tile half buried in the dirt, falling hard, chin splitting as she hits the ground. Dazed, she slowly sits up, looking around for the direction she had come.
A blonde-haired doll face down in the dirt.
Crawling for it, Ari looks towards a makeshift cave between two homes, made with sheets of metal. Two piercing blue eyes stare back at her from the darkness.
‘Cinnamon,’ Ari whispers, as she crawls forwards, voice drowned out by the missile.
As she enters the hideaway, she sees Cinnamon cowering in her mother’s arms, her mother whispering how everything will be okay.
But it wouldn’t be okay.
It was too late.
The heat of the missile was growing stronger.
The scream of the warhead growing louder.
Ari starts to wish how she got to tell her sister that she loved her.
She wishes she were able to gaze upon the ruggedly handsome face of her assassin one last time.
As the missile reaches its target, she shields her head and face with her arms, crouching low to the ground.
The town is engulfed in a ball of flame, and melting plastic and metal as the missile hits, a roaring sound filling Ari’s ears.
Then all is quiet.
Chapter THIRTY-ONE
Dear darling don’t you cry. It’s your grandma’s lullaby. Close your eyes now and rest, may your years be blessed. Guardian angels sleep near, so go ahead sleep without fear..
Maude wakes from her forced slumber – a state she wills herself to enter to endure the hours of torture. Her mind travels back to when she was younger.
A child with brown freckles across her nose and cheeks, strawberry hair in ringlets around her cherub-like face. The smell of fresh bread baking in her grandmother’s kitchen, as she lays on her grandmother’s lap, whilst she listens to her lullaby.
◆◆◆
As the embers of the missile’s blast start to subside, Ari dares to open her eyes. She, Cinnamon and her mother, are enshrouded in a sphere of tousled air, encircling them, sweeping the surrounding powdered stone and metal all around them. A wall of earth stands before them, taking most of the force of the missile. Standing in the centre of the sphere are Malik and Ai-Ling. Malik moves his hands slowly, manipulating the air around them. Ai-Ling squeezes her eyes shut in concentration as she wills her wall constructed from the earth to stay.
Cinnamon’s mother lets out a cry as she hugs her daughter tightly, grateful that they are both still alive. Malik and Ai-Ling bring their hands down to their sides and the air and earth settles around them.
Ari hugs them both, thanking them for following her back through the town. She heals Cinnamon’s mother’s wound and after a long hug, she returns to the outskirts of town, where the others had taken shelter in an underground bunker. Unfortunately for their prisoners, Eli had been lost in the frenzy of escape prior to the rocket meeting its mark. And in the chaos, Julie was able to escape though she did not realise how difficult it would be to walk the arid landscape by herself without the resources of the others.
Chapter THIRTY-TWO
‘Maude.’
‘Maude.’
A voice travels on the ether, bringing Maude back to life, bringing her back to the present. Her eyes flicker open, the bright lights of the lab now replaced by the blue glow of the computer screens. A dull hum fills the silence.
‘Maude. Are you okay?’
Her eyes open wider, as she glances around, searching for the source of the voice.
A male stands above her, concern furrowing his brows. A dark scar runs down the right side of his face – a face that is familiar to Maude yet is different to how she remembers it, months of physical and mental torture having taken its toll.
‘We must go,’ a melodic voice.
Maude looks up, expecting to see an angel accompanying her friend.
A woman with beautiful warm chocolate skin and white-blonde hair set in tight curls stands beside Justin. Her almond eyes of amber are set beneath long black lashes.
Justin unshackles his fellow assassin from the chair, and helps her onto her feet. She stares at the shorter woman before her.
‘No time for introductions,’ Justin says quickly, as he takes her good hand to lead her from the lab, the other woman leading the way.
They creep silently through the corridors, before stopping before a trap door in the floor. Without a word, the amber-eyed woman slips through the door, white gown trailing behind her small frame. Justin ushers Maude to follow before entering the trap door himself.
Waiting below the surface amongst the maze of pipes and wires, a young man, skin so pale, he appears as if he is almost glowing in the dark. His platinum blonde hair falls to his shoulders. His slight figure is dressed in the same deep blue and white uniform as the many guards of this facility.
‘Good to see you alive and well,’ he says to Maude, ‘River Daniels at your service.’ He bows.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Justin hurries them along the underground basement, ‘you’ll have time for introductions later. Now is the time to move.’
Together, they run along the grates that make up the floor, bodies close to the large copper pipes. Maude grabs the white cotton gown closer around her body, in the freezing cold, fearing she might die down here due to hypothermia. Her breath curls in front of her as she struggles to keep up with the others. Months of sitting in a cell and being experimented on with little nutrition and no exercise these last few months had caused her to become unfit.
They come across metal steps leading to a small circular door above. Justin turns th
e round handle anti-clockwise twice and it swings outwards. Silently, he lifts himself out of the hole and into the night. He extends a hand down helping the others out one by one.
Maude cannot describe the feeling of bliss as her feet touch the dry earth, toes sinking into the dirt. The crescent moon is slightly obscured by a veil of cloud, creating the perfect conditions for the escapees to leave the facility without detection.
As Maude creeps slowly behind them, she notices a plasma fence shining in the distance. They inch closer, having to pass it on their route of escape. A beam of light shines down from the watchtower, searching the grounds for escapees and insurgents.
A little girl stares at her from the other side of the fence. Her face is gaunt, eyes flat, hair cut short in a mess. She is dressed in a dirty gown that was once white like the very gown Maude herself wears. Her feet are bare, likely as cold as her own. The girl extends a hand towards her, just stopping short of the fence. Maude peers through the darkness to find more children like her standing beyond. Adults and the elderly – commoners, Sub-Elites and Elites alike stand in the background, heads shaved, all wearing the same tattered white gowns.
Justin places an arm around her shoulder and leads her away.
‘What was that?’ Maude still sees the gaunt face of the little girl in her mind.
‘Prisoners,’ Justin says quietly. ‘It’s an interment camp.’
‘We can’t just leave them.’
Justin spins Maude around so they are face to face. ‘What do you want us to do?’
Maude doesn’t answer. She knows the four of them cannot rescue all those people. She feels maybe even some of them, like the Elites probably don’t deserve saving but leaving them to their fate just doesn’t sit right with her.
Justin lets out a long breath, ‘look, we will come back for them. Once we get back to The Underground, we will advise The Colonel of this place and what has been happening here. We’ll lead an army back here and help them. I promise.’
Somehow, Maude feels The Colonel may not feel rescuing those not a part of The Underground movement to be a priority but she nods in agreement anyway.
They pass more camps as they venture further away from the facility of their containment for the past three months.
‘So how did you escape?’ Maude asks Justin.
‘It was thanks to these guys,’ he gestures towards their two companions.
‘It’s quite the compelling story,’ the amber-eyed woman answers. ‘But first, we must get away as far as possible.’
The four of them continue on into the dark of the night, walking on bare feet until the sun starts to peek through the clouds, casting their silhouettes into long skinny shadows. Finally, they come across a small town abandoned.
Or perhaps all its inhabitants now reside in one of the internment camps, Maude figures as they make their way through the deserted streets and onwards to Mavel Swamplands.
Chapter THIRTY-THREE
‘So tell me how you escaped?’
Maude, Justin and the two others sit in a small tavern, heads bowed, hoods up casting their faces in shadow. After trudging through the swamplands that spanned kilometres from the Uranium Mines to the Kibble Mountain ranges, for five days straight, they chanced across a small village – Alamanach. Just a few kilometers north of the town, nestled amongst the mountains is The City of Secrets.
‘Well,’ the woman with a voice like wind chimes, whose name Maude learnt was Hani, explains. ‘I too was subject to the horrible experiments of Chvostek’s scientist. For months I was tortured, drugged and beaten, forced to delve deep into my power so that those scientists might take samples of my blood to study my DNA.’
‘Your power?’
Hani smiles a sad smile. ‘A power I was born with. As was my brother, Malik. We can manipulate the air around us; create storms, tornadoes, flurries. A curse that caused our family to be hunted through the Tiberian Plains, where my parents and sisters were finally slaughtered. My brother and I were eventually sold separately when we were older by the Elites that captured us. I was sold to a brothel owner in The Republique and my brother to The Weapons Magnate Herbert Chavez.’
Anger flared in Maude’s chest as she imagined this poor girl being subjected to the lusts and debauchery of the Elites that frequented Madame Trousseau’s whorehouse.
River places a comforting hand over Hani’s resting on the table before them, before she continued.
‘Then one day the brothel was disbanded – Madame Trousseau hadn’t returned after one of her outings – and I was auctioned off to the highest bidder.’
Maude swallows hard, feeling responsible for this girl’s fate, wondering what was worse – spending her life in the brothel or tortured in Chvostek’s labs?
‘Soon after being taken to Chvostek’s labs I met River.’ Hani casts her amber eyes on the pale man beside her, and squeezes his hand. ‘He was also subject to the same experimentation but he had more freedom.’
‘I gained the freedom to roam the grounds of the camps after swearing my loyalty to the cause,’ River said. He was soft spoken, voice like the pitter-patter of light rain.
‘At first, I was losing my mind,’ he says. ‘I needed to find a way out and after learning The Fire Twins had freedom and were The Chancellor’s right-hand men, I figured I could pretend to be like them. It took many months, almost six in total.’ Tears start to well up in his turquoise blue eyes. ‘I was subject to torture at the hands of Chvostek’s top scientist, Cecilia Hadrad – I pretended it didn’t bother me. That I had accepted my place amongst them and that I was to be one of the pioneers of the new Super Human race.’
They all sit in silence and pull their hoods further over their faces as a Sub-Elite Guard in blue and white uniform and a phoenix badge passes their table, two tankards full off amber brew. He sways slightly as he walks over to his colleagues who are harassing the bar maids of the tavern.
River takes a long swig of his own draught before continuing, ‘eventually it worked. I was give small freedoms – first I was given tasks, such as supplying the meals to the other tests subjects, such as yourself.’
Recognition suddenly hits Maude. ‘It was you. You were the one to give me my last meal there – with the newspaper.’
Smiling, River nods. ‘I also gained access to the library. Chvostek is quite the curator. He has collected numerous relics from The Old World over many years, and had some of them on display in his library. He wanted it to be known that we, as a human race, needed to evolve and move forward from the mistakes of our past.’
‘And that’s how you found the newspaper.’ Maude is astonished at the clever plan that had unfolded prior to her escape.
‘I also had access to the infirmary. There I met Justin after he had been beaten to just within inches of his life.’
Maude looks over to Justin, noticing him flinch on occasion with movement, sometimes placing a hand subtly over his ribs. Rage flared hotter inside her chest, threatening to explode forth, causing her to slay all the Elites and Sub-Elites in this town. But she looks down at her mangled hand and the fire is immediately snuffed out.
‘Justin told me about The Underground movement and how you are all vehemently opposed to The Chancellor’s rhetoric. How we all might work together to save everyone like us, from the torture and the slaughter they are being subjected to in those camps and the mines,’ River says, voice growing louder with every word.
‘It was then that we hatched a plan for escape,’ River goes on, voice back to the soft pitter-patter of rain. ‘My Hani and I, we concocted a plan to help you and Justin to escape.’
‘I was in bad shape,’ Justin finally says. ‘I was being used for cell harvesting. I grew tired of that and I lashed out, killing four of Hadrad’s guards and two other scientists. It was then that I was beaten and subject to the Fire Twins’ power. I was then taken to the infirmary where I was left to either heal on my own or die. Hadrad made comments about hurting the others – you.. Ari.. I
couldn’t let that happen. So I fought, back from the brink of death.’
‘I was left to clean up after that outburst,’ River explains. ‘I was in charge of moving the bodies of the scientists and guards to the mortuary just below the infirmary, near the prison cells. Unbeknownst to our captors, or perhaps they were just too naïve to think I would betray them; they left me alone with them in the mortuary.
‘And so I cut out their eyes and stole their uniform,’ River finishes.
‘You what?’ Maude asks, astonished that this slight male could be so nonchalant about such an act.
He shrugs. ‘How else was I to gain access past the retinal scanners?’
‘I suppose.’
‘You’re not going soft on me are you?’ Justin asks, laughing before wincing, splinting his ribs with a hand.
‘Of course not,’ Maude says defiantly, glancing down at her smashed hand.
‘It was then that I was able to gain access to the lab where they kept my Hani, break out Justin and then you.’
‘And you couldn’t just break me out of my cell? I had to go from the lab,’ Maude asks, cradling her right hand.
River winces slightly as he glimpses Maude’s hand. ‘Unfortunately, no. The cell’s come from a time well before us – they use very old technology – locks and keys. Something I have no idea about how to use.’
‘Guys,’ Hani whispers, ‘I think it’s time we make to leave.’
‘What is it?’ Justin asks.
‘I’ve noticed this group over there have been staring at us for some time. I think they have been tracking us for some time now.’
Sitting across from them, at another table in the corner of the tavern are four figures, enshrouded in heavy cloaks, faces covered by the shadows of their own hoods. As the four escapees slowly rise from their table and leave the tavern the group of four hooded figures follow suit.
Elite Nation: Book One Page 15
