by Ryan Casey
And then she reached the top.
She held on. Looked down. Turned her head over.
That’s when she saw it.
A woman.
A woman on her knees at the gate.
The woman called Lana.
She was crying. But she looked mad. Angry.
And she was pointing in the faces of these two men, who were still inside the confines of the extraction point but leaning out to talk to her.
Saying something.
Something she could only just make out.
“You can’t do this. You expected me to just stay away. You expected me to never come back. You were wrong. You can’t keep doing this. You can’t keep lying to everyone.”
And then she heard the other voices.
The voice of one of the men.
The guard. Aiden.
“You know what the rules are, Lana,” he said. “Once you’re extracted, you never come back here. You just—”
“You can’t keep everyone away, Aiden. You can’t just expect to keep ‘extracting’ people from this place to some fake safe haven and for it not to come back to haunt you somewhere.”
“Once you’re extracted… you start your new life, and you never show your face again. As hard as it is to take.”
“I told you I—”
“And if you do return here…”
Another voice.
There was silence. Silence, just for a second. A momentary look of fear on the woman’s face.
“You—”
“No!” Aiden shouted.
And then there was a flash.
A muffled shot, cutting through the solitude of the night.
Kelsie let out a whimper. She almost slipped from her grip.
Because she saw exactly what had happened.
The woman fell back.
A bullet had blasted her face into pieces.
She fell to the ground.
Bleeding.
Kelsie stayed there. She held on. Totally still. Totally silent.
Because she couldn’t wrap her head around what’d happened.
She couldn’t understand.
But she didn’t need to. Not really.
All she knew was that someone had been “extracted”.
They’d come back here.
And because they had… they had been killed.
Her heart pounded. Stomach knotted. She knew she was in trouble. In big danger.
She went to climb down the ladder.
That’s when she felt something.
Saw something.
The light of a torch landed on her.
They had seen her.
Chapter Eleven
When Mike opened his eyes this time, it didn’t take him long to remember where he was.
That familiar white ceiling. That familiar feeling of a hospital bed. And that slight medicinal hint to the air of disinfectant that brought him flying right back to the time before, back to a time when hospitals and doctors’ surgeries were just a normal part of the world, totally taken for granted.
Except there was nothing normal about this place.
It was special. No doubt about that.
It should be protected at all costs.
But at the same time… he couldn’t stay here.
“You got a bit light-headed.”
Mike looked up. Saw Vincent at the foot of his bed. He wasn’t alone, though. Nina, the woman who had been dumped by the people at the extraction point. She was here, too. Her arms were folded, covering her chest. She looked at Mike with suspicion, with concern. That familiar look. Like she didn’t totally trust him.
Mike knew exactly how it felt not to trust someone.
Vincent walked back around the side of Mike’s bed. “Figured we’d be better off getting you back here. Letting you rest. Can’t have you passing out all the time.”
But Mike wasn’t here to wait around. He wasn’t here to do nothing. He got up. Climbed off the side of the bed, despite the pain in his stomach, the dryness in his throat, the dizziness in his mind. “I’m fine.”
Vincent put a hand on his arm. “You’re not fine. That’s exactly the problem here. There’s nothing fine about y—”
Mike knocked Vincent’s hand away. “Whatever state I’m in. However wounded or weak you think I am… I can’t just sit back here. I can’t just relax here and wait around while my people might be at that extraction point. While—while they might be on some kind of list just waiting to be taken into the middle of nowhere; just waiting for their hopes to be crushed all over again. While they stand the risk of being dumped somewhere at the other side of the country. I just… I just can’t let that happen.”
“And I appreciate that,” Vincent said. “Really, I do. I get it. But… But I can only tell you the truth about this place, or at least what I know of it. There’s no getting in there and getting your friends out. Not without causing a major meltdown.”
“But why? Why won’t whoever’s in charge of this place let people out? Why won’t they let people go?”
“Because like most people in charge of these places, he’s a control freak,” Nina said. “Richard, he’s called. Puts people on a list and promises they’ll be taken to a place called Albion, eventually. The rest of the place is working, up and running. Farms. Schools. It’s not a bad place. Just has a nasty surprise waiting at the end of it. But yeah. That place has its limitations, as you can imagine.”
Mike looked at her. Saw her smile. “How’s that much different to you people?”
Nina frowned, looked at Vincent. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re strongly advising I don’t leave this place. Even though it’s not exactly going to cause you much trouble. Why? And how’s that any different to whoever’s running this extraction point?”
Vincent looked back at Nina and sighed. Then he turned to Mike again. “We’re not stopping you going anywhere. We’re not stopping you leaving. We just… Look. We could use all the help we could get keeping this place running. Building something. And if the time comes that we need to… then yeah, protecting this place. You seem like someone who is tough. Who understands how to survive. You must have, to have made it this far anyway. We value that. So yeah. We’re not stopping you leaving. We’re not stopping you going anywhere. We just hope you’ll reconsider. Because honestly, I worry about you. We all worry about you.”
“I second that,” Nina said.
Mike felt a knot in his stomach. He felt torn in two directions. Because on the one hand, he liked what was here. He really wanted to stay, to help make this place work.
But on the other hand… his people. Kelsie. Gina. Alison. Ian. Arya—yeah, he pretty much classed her as a person now. She was close enough, after all. And hey, even Sonia, wherever she was out there.
He needed to know where they were at.
He needed to make sure they weren’t sleepwalking into disaster.
He needed to make sure they were okay.
And he needed to bring them here.
Their new home.
“I appreciate that,” Mike said. “Really. If it sounds like I’m not being grateful or that I’m being rash or whatever, then I don’t mean for it to be coming across that way. It’s just—”
“You have people you care about out there,” Vincent said. “People you’d do anything for.”
He smiled, then. A real warmth to his face.
“I know how it is,” he said.
Mike smiled back, as well as he could anyway. Then he got to his feet, as weak and unsteady as he was on them. He’d get his strength back. He’d build himself up again. He’d been through a shock. His body had been through a trauma. It would take time to get back to normality; for reality as he knew it to resume.
But he’d do whatever he could.
“If you must go,” Vincent said, “then you aren’t going alone.”
Mike shook his head. “Out of the question. You can’t send any of your people—”
“He doesn’t have to,” Nina said, stepping forward, smiling. “I’m volunteering to come with you.”
Mike didn’t know what to say. He could only shake his head. “But you’ve been taken from that place. At least I can pretend I don’t know their deal.”
“I’ll take you there. I’ll make sure everything’s going okay, from afar. Make sure they let you in. Things like that. But the last thing we want is you passing out on your way down there and dying in a muddy ditch. So I’m coming with you for the ride.”
Mike felt like there wasn’t a lot he could do but nod. “You have cars, though. Right?”
Nina smiled. Then, she raised some car keys. “We have a car. That’s another reason I’m coming with you. Only I’m insured to drive this mother.”
She smirked. And Mike found himself smiling, too. Smiling at Nina. Smiling at Vincent. Smiling at the absurdity of this whole situation.
But in the back of his mind… this journey still lay very clearly ahead.
He took a deep breath.
It was time to go to the extraction point.
It was time to try and find his people.
And it was time to try and bring them back to a new home, once and for all.
Chapter Twelve
The second the lights landed on Kelsie, her entire body went solid.
Her throat tightened. She couldn’t move a muscle. She really did feel like a rabbit trapped in the bright glow of headlights.
She wanted to get away. She wanted to get out of the light. She wanted to break free of this moment, which felt like it was dragging on forever.
But there was no going anywhere.
She was stuck at the top of this ladder, a woman with her face blown off at the other side of the gate, the knowledge of what had happened and why she’d died resonating around her mind.
And then something happened.
The lights.
The torchlights that had landed on her.
They moved from her.
Moved right past her.
And then the men below started to open up the gates and step outside.
Kelsie didn’t know what to think, how to react. She still felt like they were watching her. Like they were onto her, and they were just playing with her, biding their time, waiting for the right moment to strike.
But she had to face the reality right now.
The men were going outside.
Which meant she had a chance to get away.
She had a chance to slip away from them without them knowing.
She clambered down the ladder. Her hands shook. She couldn’t stop replaying the memory of what she’d witnessed.
That woman at the gate. Lana.
The things she’d said. The things about how the extraction point wasn’t really an extraction point. That Albion didn’t exist. How they’d dumped her somewhere far away.
And then how they’d told her that she’d not listened, and for that reason they were killing her.
Silencing her.
She’d known something was wrong with this place. Not exactly what, but she’d known there was a dark secret.
Was this it?
Was this the truth?
It had to be.
Which meant she had to tell Alison.
She had to tell Gina.
And they had to get out of here.
She kept on climbing down the ladder. A bitter, sickly taste filled her mouth when she thought about Tom and Siobhan. Her new friends. She wasn’t particularly attached to them, but she still felt bad that they didn’t know the truth. They didn’t know the absolute reality of this place.
They could be taken off on that helicopter and out of here… only to find themselves stranded miles from home, miles from help.
They wouldn’t make it out there. Not after what they’d told her about how protected they’d been since the beginning.
Kelsie, she would find it difficult. She would find it hard.
But she could adapt.
She knew she could.
Anything was being better than being trapped in this lie.
She clambered her way down towards the bottom of the ladder. Her heart was racing faster. The urgency was building and growing by the second. The thought of all the things she’d have to do and all the ways she’d have to explain and warn the others without raising alarm. And then there was Arya, and there was Gina, and there was…
She heard the voices right beside her.
Then she heard the footsteps walking right past.
From outside the extraction point to inside, all over again.
She froze. Totally still again. Couldn’t look. Couldn’t turn. Her feet were glued to the steps. She was convinced that they were going to turn. They were going to see her. Somehow, they hadn’t seen her when they’d shone the light up towards her. But that was just luck.
She was rumbled now.
She was in trouble.
Big trouble.
She held her breath. Then as she heard the men talking right behind her, she looked around.
She saw them. Aiden and that other man. They were facing away from her. It looked like they were worried about something.
She froze. Because these men were standing right in the way of the direction she needed to go in.
There was no other way. No other route.
She thought about that woman. The way they’d shot her. The way they hadn’t even hesitated.
And she thought about if she put a foot wrong, how easily that could be her.
She lowered herself further down the ladder. Took it as slowly as she could. And eventually, after a torturous few moments, she felt her feet making contact with the ground.
She kept still. Very still. Didn’t want to make a sound. Didn’t want to make any sudden movements.
Just wanted to get out of this situation.
She looked ahead. Looked at those two men. Looked at the path they were blocking. And she realised she was going to have to wait if she wanted to get past.
But then…
She looked around. Looked outside. Looked at the woods in the distance.
She felt nauseous when she saw it.
But she thought about Mike. About how his body had been gone.
Which meant that he could still be out there…
And if she knew one thing about Mike, it was that he could help.
He always had a plan.
She looked back again. Looked at the extraction point. Looked at the buildings. Looked at the place so many people were calling home, now. And she felt bad for everyone here. For everyone hoping. For everyone believing.
Because as good as this place was… there was no place after it.
There was nothing that followed this.
So she took a deep breath. Thought about Arya. Alison. Gina.
Then about Tom and Siobhan.
Then about what those guards did to that woman who’d come back.
And as much as she wanted to help the others… as much as she wanted to stay here… she knew she had no choice.
She’d come back here.
She’d make sure she saved her people.
But to do that, she needed to be outside.
She needed to take this chance.
So she took a deep breath, and she turned and ran.
She ran past Lana.
Then she ran towards the woods without looking back.
The darkness hid her tears.
Chapter Thirteen
Aiden looked at the corpse of the woman Dom had shot, and he felt a surge of regret plough through his body.
It was late at night. Darkness everywhere. But all he could see in his vision was light. The light of the flash from Dom’s rifle, silencer neatly wrapped over it.
The light of the explosion that had come out of the end of it.
The light of Lana’s head as it blew to pieces.
A sickening dread sent shivers down his spine every time he recollected the moment. Because he’d b
een determined to bargain with Lana. He’d been determined to find a more peaceful solution to what had happened.
But then tensions had got too high, and Dom couldn’t keep his emotions in check and…
Yeah. The rest was history.
And now he was here. Staring down at the still remains of Lana’s body. The blood seeping through to the ground below.
He’d liked Lana. He’d got on well with her. They always could have a laugh and a joke together, even if the guards weren’t supposed to get too close to the citizens.
It all sparked from the very first day they’d met, when Aiden tripped up over his lace, and Lana snorted at him. His first instinct was embarrassment. He’d belittled himself in front of one of the people.
But then he’d soon seen through that.
They’d had fun together. Always small talked in the mornings. Even grabbed lunch together one day when Aiden was off-duty.
But through all that time, Aiden had to be careful.
Because he knew something could be coming.
Something inevitable could be on the horizon.
He knew he couldn’t allow himself to get too close.
He knew the number of people who were actually extracted was low, in general. They only needed to take a few out at a time to give the impression that movement was occurring, of course. And it was usually the people who had been there the longest, creating that waiting list, treadmill approach.
But he remembered the day he’d walked down to the helipad and seen Lana sitting there by the helicopter window, hand raised, smiling at him, and his whole world had changed.
“What’re you gawping at?”
When Aiden heard Dom’s voice, he snapped back into the present moment, back into reality. And the first thing he felt was hatred. Pure hatred for Dom. For what he’d done.
And pure hatred for this place.
He turned around. Looked at Dom.
And that’s when the hatred went up a level.
Because Dom was smiling.
“What?” Dom said. “You fancy her or something? Well at least I dealt with that problem, huh? Not so pretty anymore, is she?”
Aiden turned around. “Just leave it out.”
“Oh, you did have a crush on her, didn’t you? Forgot about that. Shit. Well, you don’t have to hide it from me. I know how it can be. Emotions. They’re complex things. But like I say. She’s gone now. So you don’t have to let those old emotions go confusing you anymore.”
