At thirty seconds to the hour the Captain looked up. “Well?”
Sarah stood up slowly, using the precious seconds that action took to think desperately.
“I wasn’t lying before, I really don’t have clear memories of the event,” she said. The Captain frowned and she quickly moved on. “But I know it’s associated with the Hourglass Group. I know that they are responsible for creating most of the weapons we use now. I know… I know they experiment on prisoners.”
The Captain’s frown deepened. “And do you know what these experiments entail?”
“Um, no,” mumbled Sarah, somewhat weakly.
The Captain stood up. He rounded the table again and came so close to Sarah that she had to fight her impulse to take a step back.
“You are telling me the truth now. This is good. But you aren’t telling me everything.”
He brought up his knife. Sarah swallowed. Suddenly, quicker than lightening, the Captain grabbed a handful of her hair, steadying her head as he brought the knife up to her right eye.
“Don’t,” whispered Sarah. “I’ve told you what I know. Everything else is just flashes, images. They don’t make any sense.” She was talking fast now, her terror finally swimming to the surface as he pressed in the knife so that it dug into the soft flesh under her eye. “Please, I’m not lying. I’m not even a volunteer. I was forced into the army. I don’t care who wins. I’d tell you if I knew, I swear. I just don’t know.”
The pressure of the knife disappeared and the Captain let go of her hair. He took a few steps backwards and leant casually on the side of the desk.
“Tell me about these flashes.”
“There’s a man,” began Sarah. The adrenaline had managed to bring back the image, focusing it in more detail than she been able to recall before. “I can’t see his face, he’s turned away from me, but…” she focused, recalling the detail. She almost caught her breath as she remembered something she hadn’t before. “He has his shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He has the same Hourglass logo on his forearm, only it’s not burnt in, it’s tattooed. And…” she hesitated, “I think… I think he’s worried.”
The Captain looked interested now, and what’s more, he looked like he believed her. Whatever he was about to say, however, was lost as the door opened and the same guard as before appeared.
“Sir, apologies for interrupting, but the General is on the line.”
The Captain looked annoyed but nodded curtly.
“Take her back to her cell,” he ordered.
The guard nodded, giving Sarah a disturbing grin.
“Alive,” added the Captain, “and in good shape.”
The guard looked a bit disappointed but came and collected Sarah all the same. He walked her back to the cell without incident. Sarah was secretly glad he was holding up her arm. She felt like she would have stumbled and fallen if he wasn’t there. She had never felt more drained of energy or emotion in her life. Finally they arrived at the cell and the guard unlocked her handcuffs with his own key. She swung her arms around to the front gratefully, only wincing a little as the pain hit her, and sunk down onto the bench between Finn and Boulder, who were now both fully awake and looking at her anxiously.
“Are you ok?” asked Finn, his face a mask of worry. “What happened?”
“You know what?” said Sarah, a little faintly, “I’m still not sure. He wanted to know about my scar.”
“Your scar?” asked Boulder, bemused. “Maybe he has a fetish?”
“Shut up, Boulder,” said Finn and Sarah simultaneously.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sarah was on edge for the next two days, expecting that at any moment the Lieutenant would return and take her back to the Captain. It didn’t happen. She didn’t know what was worse; the nervous anticipation or having to face the man. At some point two female soldiers came down with a device that fried the GPS nano-chips in their necks. It made their necks itch like hell. Every now and then a few of the other prisoners would be taken away and didn’t come back. It got to the point when soon it was only the three of them in their cell and a few others in a cell on the far side of the room. On the upside, her face had mostly recovered, the blisters and lumps having settled nearly completely.
It was on the morning of the third day, just after she had woken from a terrible night’s sleep when the first bomb landed. The whole room seemed to shake and bits of plaster rained down from the roof and walls. Suddenly they were all wide awake.
“We’re getting bombed,” said Finn, stating the obvious.
Another bomb went off, this time a bit further away. An alarm blared into life.
“A bit late for that,” snorted Boulder. He walked over to the cell’s sliding door, yelling at the guard. “Hey! Hey, let us out!”
The guard didn’t even bother to look at them. He was frantically talking to someone on the radio.
“Let us out man!” yelled Boulder. “You can’t leave us trapped in here with bombs going off!”
The man turned around. “This is a concrete basement. You are safe here,” he said, but his eyes were worried.
Boulder kicked the wall angrily.
Finn was eyeing the roof warily. “I hope so,” he muttered.
The bombs continued intermittently throughout the morning. Then at around lunchtime they stopped. There was complete silence for an hour. Sarah was just starting to think that they had survived it, and that it was all over, when another one hit. It was closer this time.
A large crack appeared in the roof.
“Hey!” Yelled Boulder again, this time with Finn joining in, “let us out! Look at the roof!” But they were drowned out by the noise of more bombs falling. The crack got bigger. The guard was yelling into his radio again, one hand covering the other ear to try and block out the surrounding noise.
“Sir!” yelled the guard. “Which one?” There was a slight pause as another bomb rocked the room and they had to scramble to stay upright. “Yes, Sir!” A small section of the roof caved in ten metres from their cell.
The guard slammed his radio down and scrambled over towards the cells, keys in hands. He let out the four prisoners in the far cell first. They ran out of the cell and up the stairs they had been originally brought in through. The guard then made his way over to their cell.
“Hurry up man!” encouraged Boulder as the room shook again. They coughed dried plaster out of their throats as it rained down on them. The guard jammed the key in the lock and pushed the button to release the door, but nothing happened.
“What’s happened? Do it again!” said Boulder, watching the guard’s movements.
The guard did it again. Still nothing. The building shook and a further section of the roof caved in, this time falling closer to them. The guard looked up, his gaze terrified.
“No, no, no, no,” begged Boulder, reading the guard’s intentions in his eyes. “You can’t leave us here, man. You can’t do that to us, please!”
Sarah and Finn where standing right there with Boulder. “Please,” Sarah squinted, reading the guard’s nametag, “please, Robertson, don’t leave us here,” she added.
The guard, Robertson, tried one more time. It didn’t work. The room shook. He fled.
“No!” Yelled Boulder, slamming his fist against the cell wall. “Come back!”
The guard was at the top of the steps and nearly out the door when another bomb hit and the roof above him collapsed. Sarah gasped as Robertson was covered in rubble, his neck bent at an unnatural angle.
“Holy shit,” said Finn.
“And the bloody door,” moaned Boulder. Sarah tore her gaze up from the prostrate man and saw what Boulder did. The door to the outside had also been completely buried in the collapse. There was no way they were going to get out that way, which only left going up through the house that was collapsing above them. That is, if they could get out of their cell. They started yelling, screaming for anyone to hear them, to come help them, but there was no noise except f
or more artillery fire.
“Hey!” yelled Finn again, only this time with more excitement, “here! Over here!”
Sarah swivelled around to find out who he was yelling at. It was the Captain and the Lieutenant. They had come through from the door that led up to the house. If Sarah had a choice she wouldn’t have picked them, but as she didn’t, she was more than happy to see them.
“Get us out!” she yelled, “please!”
They two officers strode over. The Lieutenant used the key, which had been left in the lock, and poked the button with no effect.
“It doesn’t work!” yelled Boulder.
“Manuel over-ride,” said the Captain. The Lieutenant nodded, already onto it. He slid apart a section of the wall that Sarah wouldn’t have imagined contained a secret panel and started dialling numbers on a pad. The numbers lit up green but the door didn’t budge. The Lieutenant looked up, frowning.
“It’s unlocked. It must just be stuck.” He strode over to them and almost fell over as the room shook again. He locked his fingers into the sliding door of the cell and heaved. On their side Finn, Boulder and Sarah joined it, heaving in unison with the Lieutenant. The door gave the slightest amount.
“C’mon,” moaned Boulder, putting everything he had into it. The room shook again, only this time it seemed to help as the door suddenly slid open. Sarah and Finn lost their feet beneath them, Boulder only just staying upright. The Lieutenant leaned down and gripped Sarah’s forearm tightly.
“You’re coming with us,” he said.
“What about them?” asked Sarah as she was dragged to her feet.
“I don’t care. We don’t have time.” The Lieutenant and Captain hurried out of the basement, back into the main part of the house, which was collapsing around them, dragging Sarah with them. The boys followed. There wasn’t much else they could do. Instead of turning left, as Sarah had done previously, they instead turned right down a narrow corridor. Then, much to Sarah’s surprise, they descended another set of steps.
“You’re taking us down to another basement?” asked Sarah, horrified.
They didn’t bother to reply. The Captain fished a key out of his pocket and used it on a thick, steel door. It opened up a small compartment and he typed quickly, his fingers flying over the panel. After an agonising ten seconds the door swung open and Sarah was pushed through. She gasped. She was in a tunnel. One made of concrete and steel.
“Get moving,” ordered the Lieutenant, shoving her forward. They all climbed in and the Lieutenant shut the door behind him, enabling the locking mechanism.
Both Finn’s and Boulder’s eyebrows shot up, clearly impressed, but they kept quiet. Sarah had the distinct impression that they were hoping to go unnoticed. The Captain was ahead of them now, leading the way. After they half-jogged approximately one hundred metres, the Captain slowed down to a steady walk.
“We are safer now,” he stated.
“Where are we going?” asked Sarah.
“To a boat.” The Captain turned to look at her. “Then you are going to help me find the Hourglass Group.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sarah stared at him, confused.
“What do you mean? They’re a huge multimillion dollar corporation. You can find them easily.”
“I don’t want them,” said the Captain dismissively. “I want the rebel offshoot. The ones who have developed the weapon to end the war.”
“What?” asked Sarah, blinking She had heard about the defectors before, and knew that her scar might be linked to them, but it was the first time she had heard about a weapon. “I don’t even know what that is! How am I meant to take you to it?”
“Because,” said the Captain, “someone in that group saw fit to mark you with their symbol, to identify you as one of them. Now, obviously you are no scientist. You were far too young when you got the mark to be considered that, but they considered you one of them, so you are something. You have seen something, even if you can’t remember it. But you will. I will make sure of that.”
“And if she can’t?” asked Finn from somewhere in the background.
“Then she is of no use to me,” said the Captain dismissively. It sounded ominously like a death sentence to Sarah.
They walked the remaining distance in silence. Eventually they came to the end of the tunnel. Before they ascended the stairs the Lieutenant pulled out his gun.
“Captain,” he said casually as he checked his magazine, “what about these two? They know about the tunnel.” He motioned to Finn and Boulder.
Finn and Boulder backed up a little, and then stood very still as the Lieutenant pointed his gun at them.
“You don’t want to do that,” said Boulder, warily.
“Oh?” asked the Lieutenant politely.
“We’re useful. We can help. I’m strong. I’ll carry all your equipment. You’ll need equipment, right?”
“Maybe,” said the Lieutenant with a shrug, “but he can’t. He’s injured.” He pointed the gun at Finn.
“Don’t shoot him. If you shoot him I won’t help. I won’t help if you shoot either of them. Even if you kill me,” said Sarah earnestly, her heart in her mouth. She turned to face the Captain, as it was ultimately his decision. “I won’t do it without them.”
The Captain studied her face for a moment and then smiled without warmth. “Take them with us,” he told the Lieutenant. “We can find uses for them. And if the girl doesn’t perform, we’ll have a good incentive at hand.”
The Lieutenant shrugged and holstered his gun. He then ascended the ladder and opened the door. They all climbed outside. It was cloudy. The whole world was bathed in a grey sheen and Sarah felt a shiver go down her spine.
“Finally,” said a girl, leaning against a nearby shed. It was the only visible building for kilometres. “I thought you were never going to make it.”
She was about eighteen years old. She had smooth dark hair that was tied back in a ponytail but still framed her face. She smiled and made her way towards the Captain, but he brushed passed her quickly, scanning the area around them.
“Are you ready?” he asked brusquely.
An odd look passed over the girl’s face, but she hid it beneath indifference too quickly for Sarah to quite catch its meaning.
“Of course,” she replied briskly. “I have been for a while.”
This time it was her turn to brush past them. She led them down a spindly, slightly overgrown tract until, much to Sarah’s surprise, they came across a river. There was a small, enclosed boat tied up against a dingy old pier. The girl stopped at the entrance of the pier, looking proud.
“The Guardian,” she said, telling them the name of the boat. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
“She’ll serve her purpose,” said the Captain, walking past her.
The girl watched him pass and then turned back to the others. Her gaze narrowed in on Sarah.
“So that’s her then?” she asked, “the key to everything?” she added, a bit obscurely.
“With any luck, yes,” replied the Captain, stepping on to the boat.
“The key?” asked Sarah, getting sick and tired of not knowing. “They key to what?”
They all ignored her.
“And the other two?” asked the girl, as if spotting Finn and Boulder for the first time.
“Insurance,” came the prompt reply from the Captain.
The girl’s eyebrows went up at that but she didn’t comment.
“Let’s get going,” ordered the Captain.
The girl turned away from them and gracefully jumped aboard the boat. She disappeared down a flight of steps as Sarah walked down the pier. With a sinking feeling Sarah stepped onto the boat.
“Move it,” came Boulder’s voice from behind her.
She turned around. Boulder was standing behind Finn, waiting for Finn to step on the boat. Finn wasn’t moving. His face was blank, his skin pale. Sarah couldn’t blame him. Their only experience with boats so far had been nothing but
horrific, but at least she could swim. As Finn was only too well aware from his last trip on a boat, he sunk like a stone.
Boulder gave him a rough push from behind. Finn remained standing, feet planted firmly on the pier. His face didn’t even register the push.
“Finn,” coaxed Sarah gently. Finn’s eyes flickered and he glanced up at her. “Finn, come with me,” she said, leaning over the edge and holding out her hand to him.
“I can’t,” he croaked, his voice hoarse.
“Dude,” hissed Boulder, his tone a little more urgent as the Lieutenant, hand on his revolver, turned around to assess the hold-up. “You’ve got no choice. Move! Or you’re going to get us killed.”
Sarah turned around quickly and confirmed what Boulder saw. She swivelled back to Finn.
“Finn, please,” she said, extending her hand once more.
After a moment that seemed to last an eternity, Finn grabbed her hand and stepped forward. Sarah gripped his hand and dragged him more firmly aboard, afraid that the boat might start and knock him off his feet and overboard. Boulder jumped across after him, landing heavily. He stared at Sarah, like it was somehow her fault that Finn had baulked.
“That was too close,” he warned.
“Not my fault,” she muttered back.
“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”
“No, you’d still be trapped down in the cellar while the roof caved in.”
The Weapon (The Hourglass Series Book 2) Page 10
