by Thomas Shaw
My eyes were burning from lack of sleep and my head was still hurting. I wiped my face with my hands, which were bigger and more alien than I could ever remember. At the end of my fingers, long claws instead of nails formed to a sharp point. My skin, a dirty green, which seemed to look more like the skin of a lizards than human. I ran my nails down my arm, at first gently but then with more pressure, trying to break the skin but it seemed very tough.
I looked down at the ground, between my legs when a bright light cast a ray of warmth over my knees. I looked up and saw a large ball of light poking through two tall buildings down town which started to cover everything in its warm glow. It illuminated the whole of the beautiful, clean city. I had a good view and I could see most of the island from where I sat. I could see the jungle of tall buildings, and further in the distance, a suburban area with tall trees dotted around. The island didn't seem so big, I could’ve walked from one end to the other in probably an hour. I caught a glimpse of the time on the billboard; it was 6:07am. I stood up and started pacing, thinking about what I was going to do next when all of a sudden I could hear someone talking.
“What am I going to do, what am I going to do?” The voice was low, meek and quiet. But I recognised it as one of the others who escaped. I looked around to find the direction of the voice, but I was alone. I heard the slam of a car door and I ran to the edge of the building. The builders had arrived to continue their work. I retreated to a dark corner of the building and slumped against a wall. Then I heard the voice again, “Is someone there? Where did the others go?”
Then I realised, the voice was in my head. I closed my eyes and thought hard, “Hello, who is that?”
After a few seconds there was a reply, “I suppose I'm now Three? Who’s that?”
“I guess I'm One” I replied, “Three, where are you?”
“I'm on top of a building, a hotel I think. There's a sign on the roof that says ‘The Best Hotel in New London’”
New London. I remembered something about it being created to combat overcrowding and as an experiment for some new home system, but the exact details escaped me.
“I think we need to meet up” Three suggested, “Why don't you head here, and we'll be able to figure out what we should do?”
I looked out over the city. I could see, maybe a mile away, a large building with a long sign on the roof. I couldn't see what it said from my angle, but it was the only building with a billboard. I thought of my options to get there. I could’ve climbed down and snuck around at ground level, hoping my makeshift clothing wouldn’t draw any attention. I could go around the island but that might take too long, and I’d still have to get into the city centre as that’s where the hotel was. Instead I chose to embrace my new strength and the perks it brought with it. I stepped back and took a deep breath. Then I ran. I ran to the edge, jumped with all my might and landed in the empty builders yard below. Without a pause, I ran and jumped up over the fence, clearing it by a few meters, over the road and I landed on the roof of the petrol station. I clambered down from the roof into a small cluster of trees. I looked about and couldn't see anyone around, so I continued running. I found a building and started scaling; burrowing my claws into the brickwork with ease. I reached the top and looked towards my destination. It was at least two blocks away and at least ten floors higher than where I was. I climbed onto the adjacent building and jumped from that roof to the building across the street.
After a few more leaps and sprints, I was by the hotel. A quick peer through a window and I could see the signs of a hotel room: freshly made bed with an emblem, paper door hanger hanging on the door knob, minibar with a glass door stocked with tiny drinks, it all gave it away. I began to climb once again. After five floors I pulled myself up to the edge of the building.
It seems I wasn't the only one who had received Three’s call. Sat around on pipes, air vents and a single chair, sat the others. They had all found things to use as clothing; rags, sheets, Five was just wearing an extremely large coat. None of them was talking, they were just sat around looking at each other in a state of confusion.
“One, join us” Two said, he shifted up on the pipe he was resting on so I could sit down. I held a hand up to say I was happy staying stood.
“I see some didn't come?” I pointed out, noticing Six and Seven were absent.
Three stood up and walked over, “Yes, I couldn't get through to Six. But I'm sure he'll join us soon”
“Does anyone remember anything?” Five asked. I noticed the hint of an Eastern European accent in his speech.
“I remember my name I think” Four said quietly, “But then it escapes me”
“All I remember is being dizzy all the time, like everything constantly spinning” Three explained.
“My family” Two said, “I remember my family”
We all looked at him. I couldn't remember anything recent, it was like every time I could start to see something in my head, it turned to smoke. But Two, he could remember his wife, his three kids and his baby granddaughter.
“Where are they?” Four asked.
“That…I can't remember” Two said, “Or why we are like we are”
“How do you do the telekinesis thing?” I asked Three. He shrugged his shoulders, explained that whenever he closed his eyes, he could sense all of us. And when he thought of talking to us, it worked. None of us could do it, we all tried there and then, it just seemed to be him.
“Has anyone slept?” Three asked. No one answered. I could see that everyone looked shattered, like they could all just fall asleep sat up, but at the same time, they all looked like they could all just get up and run all the way around the island. I noticed a few of them, Two in particular, rubbing their heads or eyes. Headaches, just like me.
“We need to piece together what we do know” Three said, “Two, you remember your family, Four remembers being in a lot of pain but he doesn’t know why. One, how about you?”
“The pain thing or my memories?” I asked, “Because I remember pain. Right here” I pointed to my head. It wasn’t just the headaches now that was giving me trouble. I could remember being human and holding my head in pain. I told them that I knew we were on New London and what I could remember about the island. I turned to Five, “What about you, what do you remember?”
Five was stood looking over the edge of the edge, “I not remember much, but I'm now able to jump over buildings and have really big muscles. Maybe this not so bad” He turned around with a large smile on his face, showing rows of sharp teeth. I licked mine, and they were a lot sharper than they were before. I thought suddenly, that I had not actually seen my own face, and was just going from what everyone else looked like.
“But you don't remember anything before?” Four tried to clarify.
Five shook his head, “No, but I'm hungry. Let us go get food”
After leaping across more rooftops and scaling even more buildings, we found ourselves back at ground level and in a fast food restaurant.
We got a table at the back where no one else was sat whilst Five went and ordered food. We had least four large meals each. Our hunger was intense and luckily, the food managed to pacify us.
None of us spoke much; it seemed we were all trying to focus on remembering. I had glimpses of something, a train ride I think? I couldn’t fully picture it. It was like being hung over after a session of heavy drinking and knowing you did something during the previous night, but not able to full remember it or even be sure it actually happened.
The others started talking about not being able to sleep, and how they noticed that our bodies didn’t seem to need it, but we still had the instinct to do so. At first Two had an idea it was an adrenaline thing, but even after we had eaten and were (somewhat) calm, we still weren’t able to relax.
“Do you think there is cure?” Five asked.
“There has to be” Two replied quietly, “There has to be”
Five stood up, “Then we need to find it. We cannot be
like this way forever”
“Where are you going?” I asked, nearly standing up with him.
“To go find cure” Five replied quickly, then he ran out of the building and down the street.
“He's going to be seen” Three said with a hint of panic in his voice, “Should we follow him?”
Four shook his head, “No, we’ll only draw more attention”
“We need to find out why we're like this” Two said and he stood up and just left.
Me and Four looked at one another, then to Three who was staring down at the floor. I leaned over the table to Four, “What is it? The headaches?”
He looked back at me with a pitiful smile, “I feel alive. Like I haven't been for years. Like I've been locked inside a cage all my life. Now I just want to run, and be free” He stood up and, like the others, left the building.
“Three, we need to find out what's happened to us”
Three was watching the door. Whether he was waiting for the others to come back or was wanting to go after them was unclear. Either way, I wanted to go. I, like Two, wanted to find out why we looked like we did. He looked back at me and I stood up, “I'm leaving. I'll find you when I find something” and I left.
There was a drastic change in temperature from the warm interior of the restaurant to the cold winter afternoon. I could feel the cold, I was aware it was probably the right temperature for it to start snowing, but it didn't bother me. I seemed to be able to keep my body at a comfortable level.
I pulled the rope around my waist tighter, and pulled a loose part of the tarpaulin over my head, creating a sort of hood and started to head down the street. Towards where, I wasn't too sure, but something compelled me to walk this way.
The streets were busy, even for a Tuesday. The paths were full of people carrying large colourful bags filled with boxes and other bulky items. People doing their Christmas shopping I guessed. Everyone was in a rush; in one building, and straight out and into another. No one payed any attention to me, too busy with their own lives to notice my large, oddly clothed body. This was the main strip of the city. All the stores on both sides of the road were big named companies. They all had Christmas displays and colourful lights attached to the building. I could hear singing in the distance, probably some shops PA system or worst: carolers. The buildings were tall, at least five stories high. I saw a figure stood at the top of one of the clothing stores roofs. I focused and could make out a figure like myself. From my position, it was hard to determine which one of them it was. He didn't stay long and within seconds he had ducked away. I continued walking around, getting a feel for the city. As I walked out further and further, the shops got smaller and smaller, and the crowds thinned until I was walking alone. I found myself at the petrol station next to the construction site I was staying at. I chose to turn back around and go the other way.
After passing through the city again this time on the other side of the street, I reached the south end of the city centre. The road at the end turned into a T-junction. I looked right to where the road went. About a mile on, the road started raising over a hill and continued as a bridge. A bridge to where I couldn't see, but I assumed it was to mainland England. I turned to look down the other road, which winded down a grassy hill towards the suburban part of the island. I crossed the road and stood path, looking at the little white houses in the valley. I felt like I was remembering something, like something was calling to me but I couldn't grasp it. My brain was trying to remember things but just couldn’t do it. I turned and headed backwards into the city. Instead of walking, I had a better idea. I looked around for anyone watching and when I was sure I was alone, I jumped onto the side of a building and started climbing up. As I reached the top I found the next tallest building and headed for that. I continued this process for four more buildings until there was only one more building left, it must've been thirty stories tall, but it had a large triangular roof at the top with a metal spire. I climbed to the top and grabbed a hold of the spire.
I could now see the entire island. To the north, on the edge of the city, was the building I was staying at. From this angle I could see a large sign posted on the pitch in front with a large picture of a classy hotel and large bold letters saying 'coming soon'. Further north, the island had a large price of land jutting out in a hook shape and at the end was the laboratory building we had escaped from. It was alone and seemed abandoned. Either no one had responded to the alarm or everyone was inside. I moved around and looked east and could see what looked like factories, and further out was a shopping yard. A large freighter was docked, and I could see people loading and unloading crates. I looked west and could see the bridge more clearly, alongside it was a monorail line. My mind seemed to flash up an image of a long white and blue monorail and just then, shooting out from the station below, was a white and blue monorail train. It shot up the raised track next to the bridge and sped away. I watched it as it went far off into the distance. Across the sea I could make out the faint outline of a large cliff face. It was at least forty miles away how I knew that I wasn’t sure, it must’ve been some ingrained knowledge I had from before. I was fixated on the monorail line though, but I didn't know why. I shook my head and turned away.
South was suburbia. All the houses looked like they were built to the same template. They were all white with charcoal coloured roofs, a large front garden and an equally big fenced back garden. Some were larger than others, but they all followed the same design. The only thing that seemed to differentiate one from another was the Christmas lights the owners had stuck all over their roofs, walls, windows and gardens. I looked up and saw the sun beaming down from the sky. It was well past midday at this point. I looked down at the city below. It had been designed very neatly, each block was about a hundred feet long and wide. Someone with a thing for symmetry had designed they layout I was sure.
I started to climb down the building but lost my footing! I fell at least three floors down and landed on a stone balcony outside what looked like an office. I laid there for ages, my back shooting with pain but as far as I could tell nothing was broken, I didn't even have a scratch on me! I turned and looked into the office, luckily, no one was inside to see me land. I got back to my feet and looked over the skyline, then down.
That was when she caught my eye. She wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, she wasn't trying to draw attention to herself, but she stood out of the crowd, like she was the only one in colour in this black and white city. Her hair was partially covered by a little turquoise hat, a flat one, similar to a beret. The chestnut curls bounced just above her shoulders as she walked down the street. She walked straight forward, people seemed to walk around her, so she didn't have to deviate from this line she was determined to walk down. Her hands were in the pockets of a long brown coat that came down to her knees, from this angle I couldn't tell if she was wearing a skirt or a dress underneath, but her legs were visible, covered by thick black tights. It felt like she was emanating a glow, some sort of radiance that made her stand out. I couldn't see her face as she was walking away from where I was, so I jumped down on to a lower building and started to follow her. I needed to catch up to her, to talk to her. She was captivating. As I jumped down to another building, one on the corner of the street, she crossed the road and headed east. She stood in the island in the middle of the road and was about to cross again when she looked to the side to see if there was any traffic heading her way. It was a glimpse, but I saw the beauty of her face. Her skin was pale, like she hadn't seen much sun. Her eyes, big and beautiful. Her nose was small but also sharp. And she had small but powerful lips, deep purple in colour. She crossed and started to get away again. I looked for a way down, one that wouldn't draw too much attention to myself. I thought about jumping straight across, but it was too much of a risk. Instead I jumped down between the building I was on and the one behind it, landing in an alleyway. I ran out and across the road, in between the cars waiting at the lights and ran down the street
the woman had gone down.
She was gone. I had lost her. I continued down the road, looking in between building and peered through the windows too. The shops became offices, which then became small apartments which then became warehouses and small factories. In the distance I could hear the sea, and over the roof of a building in the distance, I could see the antenna of the cargo ship at the docks. I wandered down streets as the sky above grew darker. There weren’t many people about and the roads were clear. I heard a woman shouting, then followed by the shouts of a man. I darted down a street, to where the noise was coming from. I heard more voices and then the sound of a child crying. I picked up speed and turned another corner to see two people and a child stood in the opening to an alleyway.
A man in a dark coat and baseball cap was stood in front of a woman holding a knife up to her chest. She had a little girl stood by her leg, holding tightly and burying her face into the tails of her coat. The woman was trying to hold back tears but wasn't doing a good job. She was different to the one I had been following. She had dark curly hair, a darker complexion and her coat was different in style and colour.
The man had scars down the back of his neck, looked like he had been in a few fights. His coat was covered in holes, patches and stains. As I drew closer I saw he had a long scraggly hair and an even worse kept beard. He was just shouting incoherently at them, all the while jabbing the knife closer and closer at the woman. She caught my eye and just screamed at me.
I stepped behind the man and placed a hand on his shoulder. He spun round and jabbed the knife into my stomach. I didn't feel any pain, barely even registered the pressure. Me and the man both looked down at the knife, and then back up at each other. He let go of the knife, it stayed in my body and he looked terrified.
“Leave. Now” I ordered, quietly, in the mans face.
He had a face of fear. I think it was more the way I looked, rather than the failed stabbing. He turned, I thought to leave, and tried to grab the woman's bag. She tried pulling away whilst screaming. Before I could grab ahold of him the man gave up and tried to run down the alleyway, but something had stopped him in his tracks. A shadow, bulky enough to block the ally had appeared and a large green arm stuck out of the shadows, holding the mugger by his shoulder. Seven stepped out and stared the mugger down. He was wearing a large jacket, and his face looked pretty beat up too, like he had been fighting. He pulled the mugger close and grabbed him by the throat, pinning him up against the wall. He lunged his other arm into his gut, grabbed a hold of something and pulled! There was a loud, visceral snap and the man screamed in agony. Seven smiled and tightened his grip on his neck till I heard another snap. The shouting stopped and Seven let go of him. The body fell to the floor in a bloody slump. I turned to the woman who screamed at me, grabbed her child and ran off down the street.
