Every Second Counts

by Sophie McKenzie

  ‘Charlie?’ I hissed.

  No reply. I raced up and down the basement corridor. Charlie was nowhere to be seen. Heart beating fast, I rushed up the stairs to the ground floor. Lucas and Aaron were walking towards me, expressions of disappointment on their faces. So they hadn’t found anything useful either.

  I stared up at them, my vision smudging again, my pulse throbbing.

  ‘Where’s Charlie?’ Lucas asked, looking around.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said, as the full horror of the situation sank into me. ‘She’s gone.’

  Charlie

  My second search of the kitchen revealed a low door at the back of the dresser which neither Nat nor I had noticed before. It was locked, but one of the keys from the security guard’s bunch fitted.

  I crept through and found myself able to stand upright. The room I was in was pitch black and utterly silent. I felt for a light switch with trembling fingers. There. With huge relief I flipped it on. The two naked bulbs hanging from the low ceiling cast a dim and shadowy glow around what I realised straight away was a narrow corridor. There was a fire door at one end, with an alarm set over the top of it, and a door halfway down the corridor that led into a room on the left. No sounds came from the room, so I scurried inside. It was some kind of storeroom, with boxes stacked against three of the four walls.

  I hurried over to the nearest box. What was inside? The docket on the top of the seal made me gasp.

  Serum 3489 for use in treatment of Qilota Virus

  It was the antidote. Yes.

  I tore open the box. Inside were eight or ten smaller boxes. I lifted one out and opened it up. The box contained twenty or so tiny plastic phials, each filled with a pale yellow liquid. The label on the box read:

  Serum 3489. 5ml phial – one adult dose. Half for children under 12.

  This was it. At last I had a cure for Nat and his family in my hands. For the first time in days, hope surged through me. I grabbed a box, tucked it under my arm, and headed back to the low door that led into the basement kitchen.

  The door had shut. I pulled and twisted on the handle, but it wouldn’t open. It must have self-locked when it closed behind me. Panic rising, I fished Latimer’s bank card out of my pocket and slid it along the gap, trying to find the edge of the lock. But, unlike most of the other doors I’d used this trick on, the little basement door was crooked, its wood warped. I tried again and again but it was no good.

  I was trapped.

  Nat

  I checked the security guard. He was still tied up, exactly where we’d left him.

  ‘Maybe Charlie went outside?’ Aaron suggested.

  ‘She wouldn’t have gone anywhere without telling me,’ I insisted.

  ‘You’re sure she isn’t still downstairs?’ Lucas asked.

  ‘Definitely. I went into every room.’

  ‘Let me check,’ Lucas said. ‘You and Aaron take a look outside, just in case.’ He hesitated. ‘Charlie’s great, Nat.’ He winked. ‘I’m impressed.’

  I nodded. A year ago Lucas’s approval would have meant everything. Now, all I could think about was how much danger Charlie might be in.

  As Lucas disappeared down the stairs to the basement, I hurried over to Aaron. He was already at the front door, his hand pressing against the wood. With a sudden shove, it opened against him. Aaron stumbled back. A second later, two masked soldiers forced their way past him.

  ‘No!’ I yelled. I turned, ready to run. A huge hand gripped my shoulder.

  ‘Let me go!’ I shouted, as the soldier wrenched me round to face him. In seconds he wound a length of rope around my wrists and yanked on it, hard. Across the room, Aaron was being similarly trussed up. A moment later Lucas was shoved into the room, his hands also tied.

  ‘Roman Riley wants a word, Nat,’ the soldier hissed.

  And, leaving Charlie goodness knows where, we were forced out of the building and into the car that had pulled up outside.

  Charlie

  I tried – and failed – to break through the lock on the low door again.

  ‘Nat!’ I yelled. ‘Nat!’

  There was no reply. Had he gone to look for me upstairs?

  I couldn’t help but think how weird it had been seeing Nat with his brother. Of course, it had been weird seeing Lucas at all. He didn’t look like Nat. Well, maybe around the eyes. But Nat was all I really saw in any room. He hadn’t said anything when I’d told him I loved him. I hadn’t expected to say it, but the words had just come out. At least I’d told him how I felt. But how did Nat feel?

  I tried the lock of the low door one last time. It still wasn’t opening. With an exasperated sigh I gave up on it, picked up the box of antidote serum and ran along the corridor to the alarmed fire door at the other end. It was marked Emergency Exit. A key sat in a tiny glass box on the wall, along with a notice explaining that the exit was set with an alarm and only to be opened in an emergency or with prior permission from the security desk.

  I hesitated. I had no idea what was on the other side, but I had to find out. Staying here any longer simply wasn’t an option. Gritting my teeth, I broke the glass and took the key. As I pushed open the door, an alarm screeched into the air. Cursing under my breath, I raced outside. The door opened on to a small basement yard. Stairs led up to the pavement. I didn’t recognise the street, but I was clearly at the back of the building. Gripping the box of antidote vials, I ran up to ground level, the alarm still ringing in my ears. I crept to the end of the road and peered around the corner. I waited a few seconds, my heart pounding, then raced over to the Institute’s main entrance. The front door was open wide. I went inside, blood thundering in my ears. The place was utterly silent. Where had Nat and Lucas and Aaron gone?

  And then I saw the two EFA guards – I recognised them both from Riley’s house. They were by the reception desk, untying the security guard.

  Horrified, I spun around. Only to find Taylor blocking my way. Before I could make a move or a sound, he had grabbed my wrist and wrenched the box of antidote vials out of my hand.

  ‘We’ve got her,’ he said into his mouthpiece. Terror spiralled in my head. I struggled, but Taylor held me tight. ‘We’ve got them all.’

  Nat

  I paced up and down past the window. Even if it hadn’t been locked, with concertina bars fastened over the glass, the rope around my wrists would have made it impossible to open. I peered out. The sun was low over the horizon outside, glinting off the fishpond.

  Lucas and I were prisoners in Riley’s house. We had been here for roughly an hour and the only person we’d seen so far had been Taylor. He had marched us up the stairs into this bedroom without speaking.

  I had no idea what had happened to Aaron. He had been trussed up with me and Lucas and shoved into the back of a van, but taken out when the van first stopped, ten minutes or so before Lucas and I had arrived at Riley’s house. As for Charlie, I didn’t know if she had got away or was a prisoner too. I didn’t want to think about Parveen or the other members of the resistance who had been trying to stop Operation Neptune. Were they still being held captive somewhere? Or had they already been killed? As for me and Lucas, I could only assume that Riley was just waiting for it to get dark before he disposed of us.

  I wandered over to the bed. Lucas, his hands tied like mine, was nudging open the top drawer of the bedside table. He peered inside.

  ‘Nat?’ he whispered. ‘Look.’

  He indicated something in the drawer. As I bent over to see what it was, my vision blurred again and a wave of nausea rolled through me. I stopped moving, closing my eyes for a second, fighting off the feeling of sickness. How much time did I have left? Another whole day? Until midnight? Whatever, Jas had even less time. Not wanting to think about it, I looked up.

  Lucas was still staring down at the drawer. I leaned closer, my vision clearing. A pair of nail scissors met my eyes. The points looked sharp but the blades were short.

  ‘If you hold them, you can cut thro
ugh my ropes,’ Lucas said. ‘Then I’ll do yours.’

  I thought it was unlikely the scissors would cut through anything tougher than our hair, but it was better than doing nothing.

  ‘Okay.’ I scrambled off the bed, turned around so my back was to the drawer and felt for the scissors. I opened them and, holding one blade between my fingers, I started sawing at Lucas’s binding.

  Even if we managed to cut through the rope around our wrists there was nothing here – other than the wooden lamp by the bed – that could conceivably be used as any kind of weapon.

  Still, Lucas was not yet showing any effects from the virus and he had once been trained as an EFA agent. If we could get the ropes off we stood a chance of overpowering whoever next came into the room.

  It was hard work, sawing at the rope without being able to get my bodyweight properly behind what I was doing. I frowned, trying to press harder. I couldn’t tell if the scissors were making any difference or not.

  As we worked, Riley’s voice rose up from the floor below. ‘You little idiot. What were you thinking?’ he shouted.

  Another voice, younger and male, shouted back. It was Spider. ‘You said no one would die. You said it was controllable.’

  ‘I said containable,’ Riley’s voice was like ice. ‘You know sometimes sacrifices have to—’

  ‘They’re not your sacrifices though, are they?’ Charlie’s voice sounded above the others.

  I froze, the scissor blade still in my hand. She was here, just downstairs.

  ‘Get her out of here.’ Riley sounded furious. ‘As for you, Spider, I’m sending you back to your mother.’

  Silence fell.

  ‘Nat.’ Lucas moved his wrists impatiently. ‘Nat, keep going.’

  I redoubled my efforts with the blade.

  Charlie

  Taylor shoved me into the living room. I sank on to the sofa, my head in my hands. Where were Nat, Lucas and Aaron? And what about Parveen and Mayor Latimer and the rest of the resistance? Where was Riley keeping them? Were they prisoners somewhere in the house? Or were they already dead?

  At first I had thought it was Spider who had betrayed us. After all, he was the one who had told us about the Silvercross Institute. But as soon as we’d got back to Riley’s home, Uchi had explained that he had been suspicious of Spider and forced the truth out of him earlier today.

  ‘I told him I didn’t want anything to happen to you,’ he had said.

  ‘So Spider thought he could trust you?’ I shook my head, despair filling me to my fingertips. I couldn’t believe after all my efforts I was back here, a prisoner, and that Taylor had taken the vials of antidote I’d found.

  At least I knew Spider had genuinely tried to help us. Not that it mattered now. Riley had everyone exactly where he wanted them. And even if Nat was still alive, he would only stay alive for a matter of hours without the antidote. Jas, who’d been infected first, had even less time.

  Outside in the hall, Riley was barking out orders. He sounded more stressed than I’d ever heard him. Taylor was in the doorway, arms folded, watching me. I stood up, all my frustrations and fears turning to fury at this man who had done so much to train us, to give us a sense of identity and purpose – then who had ripped it all away with his betrayal. I stormed over to him. He looked down at me, his eyes hard and clear as emeralds.

  ‘I suppose you’ve been given the antidote?’ I asked.

  Taylor nodded.

  ‘You’re a coward and a liar and a murderer, sir,’ I spat.

  Taylor’s expression didn’t waver.

  ‘I hate you.’

  There was a long pause. For a second I thought I saw just the faintest tinge of regret in Taylor’s eyes. ‘I know you do,’ he said, then he left the room.

  I heard him a moment later in the hallway. He was on his phone, talking about arrangements for tonight’s rally. I shook my head, my fury now morphing into coruscating despair. How could Taylor and Riley carry on electioneering with all this upheaval going on in the house? It was a sign of how powerful they were, of how easily they had controlled Nat and me – and everyone else – right from the moment I arrived here.

  Suddenly distant voices were raised. Who was arguing? Taylor was still on his phone call just outside the door. Was that Uchi yelling at Riley? I strained to hear what they were saying.

  ‘For the last time, it’s the cleanest option,’ Riley shouted. ‘It deals with Nat and Charlie. It’s the only way.’

  Deals with Nat. My heart skipped a beat. That meant Nat must still be alive. Was he somewhere here, in the house? Were the others?

  ‘Not Charlie.’ Uchi sounded emphatic. ‘You went against my wishes using her as bait in the first place. And I didn’t force the truth out of Spider earlier only to—’

  ‘Will you shut up!’ Riley roared.

  Silence. I opened the living-room door a crack. Taylor was still on his phone. He stood by the coat stand next to the front door, his back turned to me. He was ordering a car for Riley. There was no sign of Riley himself – or of Uchi – but I could just make out their voices, now lowered to the point where I couldn’t hear what they were saying, coming from the dining room. A moment later, Taylor finished his call and bounded up the stairs. He was calling out to one of the men. His voice faded away as he went into a room on the first floor.

  I walked into the empty hall determined to look around upstairs, to see if I could find out where Nat and the others were being held. I tiptoed towards the stairs.

  ‘Charlie?’

  I spun around. It was Spider, whispering at me from the kitchen doorway.

  ‘Go away,’ I hissed, still mad at him for telling Uchi where we were. ‘You talked.’

  ‘I know, I’m sorry.’ He hurried over. ‘I need to speak to you. In private. It’s about Nat. About the antidote. Please.’

  I hesitated for a second, then followed him into the kitchen.

  Nat

  With a final, ragged cut, I sliced through Lucas’s ropes. He spun around and grabbed the scissors from my hands.

  ‘My turn,’ he muttered. He began carving through my rope as my vision blurred again. ‘We need to be ready. Are you sure you’re up to this?’

  ‘Definitely,’ I said, ignoring the weakness in my limbs and the sick feeling in my stomach. There was no point worrying Lucas by admitting how horrible I felt.

  It took Lucas just a few minutes to free my wrists. As my vision cleared again, a tumult of thoughts raced through my head. Where was Charlie? Had she found the antidote? Might there be some in the house? How much time did Jas and I have? And what about Lucas and our parents? Soon they too would be showing symptoms.

  Lucas sawed at my wrists for a couple of minutes, his movements fast and hard. ‘There.’ He stood back, triumphant. The rope fell from my hands and I rubbed my wrists. I should have felt glad we were free, but all I could think was that my hands, like my feet, were numb. And that I felt weak and achy – all signs of the virus taking hold. I couldn’t ignore them any longer.

  Metal on metal. The sound of a key, turning in the lock, made me spin around. Lucas was already at the door, fists raised.

  I tried to focus, praying my eyes weren’t going to blur just at the wrong moment.

  The door opened softly. A masked soldier walked in. Quick as a flash, Lucas jumped forwards, landing two swift punches to the man’s sides.

  Except it wasn’t a man. It was a woman, and quite a slender one. She staggered sideways, clawing at her mask as Lucas loomed over her, reaching for her arm.

  ‘Wait.’ It was Parveen. She ripped the mask off her face and glared at Lucas. ‘Stop it, I’m freakin’ trying to help you.’

  Lucas’s mouth fell open. He glanced from her to me.

  ‘Par?’ I gasped.

  She rolled her mask down over her face again. ‘Come on,’ she said, beckoning us to the door.

  I hurried over. Lucas was still staring at Parveen.

  She peered out, along the corridor.

&
nbsp; ‘How did . . .?’ I started.

  ‘I was being held outside,’ she whispered. ‘I heard you were up here. I just got away, took down the girl on guard at the front door. If we hurry we can get out that way too.’

  I grabbed her arm. ‘What about Charlie? And Latimer and Aaron? We have to help them.’

  ‘Latimer and his men are somewhere else. Aaron’s with them,’ Parveen said, her chocolate-coloured eyes narrowing with impatience. ‘And Charlie’s okay here for now, her dad’s protecting her. Come on, we need to go.’

  I opened my mouth to protest, but Lucas spoke before I had a chance.

  ‘Whoever this is, she’s right,’ he said, flashing Par a quick grin. ‘Er, who are you?’

  ‘Parveen, from Nat’s cell, we trained together.’ She flushed slightly as she spoke, then she peered outside again. ‘It’s clear,’ she said.

  We crept outside, along to the stairs. The hall was still empty, the front door ajar. I could just make out the splayed figure of the soldier Parveen had knocked out on the doorstep.

  I held my breath as we tiptoed down the stairs. There, by the front door, was the coat rack I remembered from my first visit here all those months ago. Except that now the scarf I’d seen was gone. I glanced at the row of coats belonging to Riley and his girlfriend. Taylor’s leather jacket hung from the rack beside them. I shivered. Riley’s other men were bad enough, but Taylor was a ruthless soldier. Him being here made it even more important that we tried to rescue Charlie.

  ‘I think we should look for Charlie,’ I whispered.

  ‘Later,’ Parveen insisted.

  ‘Come on, Nat, it’s too big a risk,’ Lucas added.

  Parveen slid out through the front door. She held up her hand, indicating we should wait for her signal. Lucas glanced around, checking I was alright. I gave him a swift nod. I could feel the adrenalin coursing through my body, the weakness and numbness lifting.

  Seconds ticked away.

  Riley’s voice drifted towards us across the hall. I was pretty certain it was coming from the room opposite.