“Well, aren’t you the little ray of sunshine,” Scarlett said with a laugh. “I know it won’t be easy, but we should all be ready to seize an opportunity to get out of here if it presents itself. When it presents itself.”
“Ready?” a voice barked as a man unlocked the door. The foursome all nodded their heads. “Then follow me.”
A few minutes later, they stepped into a large, white, open space where they were joined by Toshiko, Sasha, Maria, Neelam, Jay, Ethan, Andrew, Rhianna, Louise, Lucy, Aaron and Alex.
“Good morning,” Goulden said as he strode purposefully into the room. He was followed by a skinny man in a long, white lab coat. “I trust you all slept well. This is the genetics expert, Dr Mark Kitts – he’s the one who identified this anomaly in Andrew’s DNA that he thinks gave him powers. He’s coming round to take a blood sample from you all, so be good to him.”
“I’m starving,” Jay complained as the doctor worked his way around the group. “How can they expect me to give blood on an empty stomach?”
“You’re not giving a pint of blood, just a small sample,” Neelam said. “You’re so dramatic.”
“Yeah well, I still don’t like it.”
“Me neither,” Dylan agreed.” “There’s something very unnerving about all this.”
Soon, Dr Kitts had completed his task. He placed the samples in a briefcase and carried it out of the room, assuring Goulden that he’d get the results to him as soon as possible before he left.
“OK, so that’s that done. How about we try a bit of resistance training? I want to find out if stress helps the powers emerge in those of you who are still plain old normal. Dr Kitts believes that these abilities manifest during moments of extreme panic and pressure, which could be a result of the adrenalin kicking in or some kind of survival reflex, so let’s see if putting you in danger helps you discover your talents.”
He eyed the group up and down, pacing back and forth and scrutinising them one by one. Dylan gulped. There was something about the way Goulden stalked the room that made him very on edge. The Prime Minister strolled away from the group again.
“Alex and Toshiko. You’re first. Come over here please. The rest of you can sit over there and watch.” He pointed to the far wall.
The two stepped forward with some trepidation. Even the usually over-confident Toshiko looked a little scared. They both stood in the middle of the large, empty room, looking around expectantly.
“What happens next?” Alex asked.
“You’ll see,” Goulden said with a sadistic laugh. “Send them in!” he shouted to someone outside the room.
Two lines of uniformed guards marched into the room. Dylan observed that they were all kitted out in riot gear and there were at least 20 of them.
“Take them hostage,” Goulden ordered. “And you two, try your best to escape.”
“We can’t sit here and watch this,” Scarlett said to Dylan.
“I don’t think we have much choice.” Seven of the men had positioned themselves between the group and the fight, forming a human wall to stop them interfering with the action.
Four of the attackers ran towards Toshiko and she turned to flee them. One swung at her with a baton, but she did a perfect backflip to dodge him. And there was more where that came from. As Goulden’s guards tried their hardest to capture her, she deftly leapt, spun, kicked and punched her way out of trouble. She looked like a highly skilled ninja from a martial arts movie.
“Is she a black belt or something?” Scarlett whispered.
“I think it’s her power,” Dylan said.
Alex, on the other hand, wasn’t faring so well. He’d been captured by two of the men and even though they were giving him the beating of his life, his powers still didn’t seem to kick in. Toshiko somersaulted through the air towards him and swiftly took the two men out with a mid-air spinning kick.
“Leave him alone!” she yelled. She reached down to Alex, who was sitting bruised and battered on the floor. He tried to nod bravely, but it was obvious he was badly hurt.
“Still think we don’t need an escape plan?” Scarlett said to Dylan. “That could be us next.”
Dylan didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to take in what had just happened.
The uniformed men dispersed as Goulden walked back into the centre of the room, clapping enthusiastically. “Very good, very good indeed. Well, Miss Kobayashi, it looks like we have found your power. Mr Connor, sadly, you’re still a disappointment. Don’t worry, we can try again later.” He reached down and gave Alex a hand up off the floor. “Right, I want you all to take a rest and have breakfast. I’ll see you here for more in half an hour or so. Jason Ryder and Ethan White, we’ll be trying out your skills then, so be ready to fight.”
“Can’t wait,” Jay muttered as they all left the room. “It’s just what I always wanted.”
Chapter 6
“That was not good,” Scarlett said as she tucked into a bagel. They had all been sent to a small room down the corridor, where they helped themselves to bagels, toast and orange juice from a small kitchenette in the corner.
“Tell me about it,” Jay groaned. “And apparently I’m next in line for a battering.”
“How’s Alex?” she asked the group in the hope one of them knew the answer.
“I think the doctors are checking him over,” Toshiko said. “They took him away when we came through here.”
“I hope he’s OK,” Neelam said. “That was quite some beating he took.”
“I know,” Scarlett agreed. “He looked an absolute mess. I’m really worried about him.”
“We all are,” Dylan said. “Goulden is sick and that makes him dangerous. He’s mad enough to believe he’s right to hurt us because the ends justify the means. Those twisted ends being that he wants to use us as his super soldiers.”
“We need to get out of here,” Scarlett said, not for the first time.
Dylan sighed. “If only it were that easy. His guards watch every move we make.”
“We have super powers,” she argued.
“Scarlett, while it sounds like you are in charge of your abilities and kicked some butt yesterday, the rest of us don’t know what we’re doing. I can freeze water, hardly scary is it? Neelam reads minds, Sasha flies and Lucy does a light show.”
“Hey,” Lucy said. “I only got my powers yesterday and I did a pretty good job of knocking one of those guys out considering I didn’t know what I was doing. My lightning bolt thingies could prove to be pretty lethal.”
“There you go,” Scarlett said. “All powers can be practised and used effectively. Neelam, have you tried using your telepathy to control someone’s mind so they do your bidding?”
She shook her head. “I hadn’t thought of that and wouldn’t it be wrong?”
“Not if you’re doing it against the bad guys. It’s not like you’re hurting them. And, Sasha, your flight skills must allow you to lift people, drop them, sneak up on them and all kinds of things. It’s a nifty skill to have in battle.”
Sasha seemed to agree. “Like most of you, I haven’t used my power much, but I could do that yeah. So far, I’ve just flown places on my own when no one’s looking.”
Scarlett turned to Dylan. “Do you need actual water to be around to use your powers?”
“Yes.”
“And what can you do with it?”
“Heat it, cool it, freeze it, move it and stop it flowing. That’s about it.”
“I see. Can you manipulate it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, take the water from this cup and use it to form an ice lasso around me.” She stood up.
“What?”
“Give it a try.”
“You moved water to freeze that lock yesterday, mate,” Jay said.
Dylan stared from the cup to Scarlett and back again. He pointed at it and lifted the water up into the air, whooshed it over to her, then wrapped it around her before freezing it and pinning her arms a
gainst her side with a tight ice chain.
Scarlett looked down and smiled. “I’m impressed. Now if you could do that quickly in a fight, it can help you to defeat your opponents.”
Suddenly, three of the men in uniform marched into the room. Dylan quickly melted the ice.
“Argh!” Scarlett yelled.
“What’s wrong?” one of the men said gruffly.
“Nothing. Just spilled my water,” she lied, realising that Dylan had acted quickly to hide the fact they’d been practising their powers.
“Come on, break’s over. The Prime Minister wants you all back upstairs.”
The teenagers and their siblings quickly finished their drinks and followed their captors back upstairs to the big, white room.
“Ah, greetings. It’s good to have you back,” Goulden said when they arrived a few minutes’ later. “Now let’s crack on because we have a lot to get through today. Jason and Ethan, step forward.”
They both obeyed his instructions, but they didn’t look happy about it.
“OK, boys, you know the drill, fight for your life. Focus on survival and accessing those excellent powers of yours. I’m sure you have them.”
Jay gulped. He looked more scared than geared up for a fight and Ethan didn’t appear to be full of confidence either.
This time, only 10 of the uniformed guards walked in, but these men had large Alsatians with them. Angry-looking ones with lots of teeth. Jay jumped back as one of the dogs barked at him.
“Let the games begin,” Goulden called with a deranged laugh.
Three of the men blocked off the fight from the large group of teens, while four went for Ethan and three went for Jay.
Jay raced away from them, but the guards quickly took chase after him. He was soon easily outrunning them, so the men let go of their dogs and allowed them to pursue him instead.
“Faster, Jay!” Dylan shouted.
Suddenly, Jay went into turbo mode and started speeding around the room so quickly that he was practically a blur.
“Nice one,” Dylan whispered with a smile. “I knew he could do it.”
Meanwhile, Ethan had been outsmarted and backed into the far corner of the room.
“Oh man, why won’t my power kick in?” he complained.
He threw his arms in the air. “Superheroes do that when they’re brandishing their powers, right?” he thought. Just then, a small, round, metal dome appeared in his hand. “What the hell is this?” It was ticking. Ethan didn’t wait a second longer – he threw the small sphere at his assailants and it exploded, knocking them all flying back through the air. The dogs whimpered, but Ethan was pleased to see none of them were hurt.
“It’s lucky that bomb wasn’t too powerful,” Dylan said. “He could have really done some damage to those people there.”
“Hopefully, that’s just the start of his powers,” Scarlett replied. “It’d be handy for us if he could learn to produce huge explosives that put holes in walls.”
“Bravo!” Goulden declared as he gave Ethan a round of applause. “I guess we can call it game over there. Thank you guards, you can leave now.”
Six of the men strode out and the four who had been injured by Ethan slowly found their feet and followed them.
“So,” he said. “All of you older children have your powers now except for Mr Connor.” Goulden rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Looks like Dr Kitts’ hunch abut you lot was right.”
“Where is Alex?” Scarlett asked. “We’ve all been worried him since the horrific beating he suffered.”
“He’s being looked after,” Goulden said evasively. “Now, onto the younger ones.”
“You’ll leave them alone,” Dylan said. He grabbed Sophia’s hand protectively. “They’re just kids – they’re all under 14, so they’re not eligible for your new powers act.”
“No they’re not, you’re right, but I’m still intrigued to know if they have any special talents. Stand up. Just the youngsters that is. Come over here.” He beckoned them to him with a hand gesture.
Sophia, Maria, Aaron, Dan, Rhianna and Louise walked cautiously over to Goulden.
“So, you’ve seen what your brothers and sisters can do?”
They nodded.
“Would you like power like that?”
Dan, Aaron and Maria signalled a yes by bobbing their heads again. The others looked scared and unsure.
“Then, we’ll have to see if we can coax it out of you.”
“No!” Dylan shouted. “They’re too young. Sophia’s only nine. We all came into our powers much later.”
“He’s right,” said Dr Kitts, who strode into the room at that moment.
“But I have to know,” Goulden said impatiently. “I need to know what they can do.”
“There’s no point testing them like the others,” he said. “We’ll only risk mentally scarring them. That could even hinder their chance of accessing their powers further down the line. I forbid it.”
“You forbid it?” Goulden looked angry.
“Yes.” Dr Kitts gulped.
“Then what can we do?”
“We will look at the blood results when we get them and see what they tell us. In the meantime, I’ll run some experiments on the children. The same ones we’re trying on the Connor boy.”
“What?” Scarlett shouted. She leapt forward. “You said he was being looked after.”
“Sshhh,” Goulden said as he shooed her away with his hand. She looked enraged.
“OK,” he said to the doctor. “That sounds good to me. Take them away.”
“No!” Scarlett and Dylan shouted in unison.
Goulden sighed.
“This is going to happen either way, so it will be a lot easier if you don’t resist. Trust me.”
“Never,” Lucy said. She shot one of her bolts of lightning at Goulden, but he jumped out of the way just in time.
Goulden laughed. “Nice moves, Miss Watts. I like it. You might want to do some target practise though.”
“Gladly,” she said, as she raised her hand again. Several guards entered the room.
“No, Lucy. Not now. He’ll only hurt you,” Neelam said telepathically in her head.
Lucy looked at Neelam, then reluctantly backed down. She knew her new friend was right – although it creeped her out to be spoken to in her head like that.
“Men!” Goulden shouted. “Take the younger ones to the lab and the older ones to their rooms. Lock them in and keep a firm eye on them. Make sure you put the little bomber boy away in a secure room on his own.”
The guard at the front nodded, then the men grabbed a teenager each.
“No!” Scarlett shouted. She attempted to fling them off, but a second man grabbed her other arm.
“Watch that one,” Goulden said before turning to head out of the room. “Oh, and Dr Kitts, keep me updated – I’ll be very interested to hear your progress.”
Chapter 7
For what seemed like the hundredth time in the last 10 minutes, Scarlett flung her arms at the door in a desperate bid to telekinetically rip it off its hinges.
“Argh!” she screamed.
“Scarlett, I don’t think it’s working,” Dylan said. He put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.
“It has to,” she said. “It has to.”
Scarlett and Dylan had been locked in a room with Neelam and Toshiko for 10 minutes now and they had all been going out of their minds worrying about what Goulden was doing to the children. Sasha, Andrew, Lucy and Jay were in the room next door, while Ethan had been taken to an unknown location on his own – presumably because Goulden was worried that he would use his bombs to break them all out of there. Alex, meanwhile, was still in a lab somewhere being experimented on. Whatever that meant. Dylan shuddered to think.
“Maybe the others will find a way out and come to get us,” Neelam suggested. “Lucy’s lightning looks pretty powerful.”
Scarlett sat down on the floor and sighed. She banged her head backw
ards against the wall, then turned to look at Dylan.
“Can’t you have a go?”
“Me?” Dylan had already scoured the room, but there was not a drop of water to be seen. “There’s no liquid in here, but I’ll give it a try. Maybe I can use the vapour from the atmosphere or something,” he said. He doubted that was possible, but he’d try anything to please her – especially when she was so worried about her brother, Dan. He needed to give it his best shot for Sophia’s sake too. He was going out of his mind with worry about his little sister, so he understood why Scarlett was so frustrated.
He walked over to the door and placed a hand on the door knob. He willed it to freeze, not really expecting anything to happen. Suddenly, it began to get colder. “It’s working,” he said. Scarlett and the others sat up excitedly. Was Dylan about to save them all? But then the icy, fragile door knob snapped off in his hand. “Oh no,” he said glumly. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Scarlett let out another huge sigh and rocked backwards again.
“I’ll try,” Neelam said. “There’s a guard out in that corridor somewhere, right?”
“I think so,” Toshiko said, speaking up for the first time since they had been thrown in the room.
“OK.” Neelam tiptoed over to the door, then peered through a gap near the door frame. “I think I can see him.” She closed her eyes as though she was concentrating really hard.
“What’s she doing?” Toshiko asked.
“Sshhh,” Dylan said. He became worried as he heard footsteps approaching the room. Who was coming for them now?
A key turned in the door and it clicked open.
“Hello,” the guard said, somewhat robotically as though he was in a trance. “I need to release you now. Go.”
Neelam stared at the guard intently.
“Please take my keys,” the man said. “I am to stay in here.” He sat down on the floor.
“Quick,” Neelam said as she grabbed the keys and dashed out of the room, quickly followed by the others. She locked the door behind them, trapping the guard in there.
“Did you control his mind?” Scarlett asked.
“Yes, thanks to you. That was a brilliant suggestion you made earlier.”
Out Of Time (Book 0): Super Unknown Page 4
