by Ryan Casey
She could feel something. Crippling pain on the back of her head. Like she’d bumped it. And she wondered how she’d done that. She couldn’t remember why exactly she’d ended up in this situation, only that deep in her gut, she got the feeling that something was wrong. Something was desperately wrong.
She was in danger.
She looked around. Realised there was nothing covering her eyes. She could see that she was just locked away in some small, dark room. Alone? She wasn’t sure. But it certainly felt like it.
She went to open her mouth to call out for someone… but then she realised her lips were covered. Taped up.
The anxiety grew, then. Because the memories were returning. The memories of what had happened to her. The memories of how she’d ended up in this mess after all.
The helicopter.
Walking towards it.
Then the feeling that something wasn’t right.
Standing up to those guards. Telling them they wanted to see Kelsie’s body. That they wanted to see her before they blindly believed in what Richard was telling them.
Then, being escorted towards that cabin that Richard was standing by. Guards behind them.
Then Gina telling her they had to make a break for it. That none of it was right.
And then…
She heard something, then. More footsteps right ahead of her.
And then she realised she definitely wasn’t alone.
A man stepped right in front of her. The room was still dark, but she could make out his silhouette. She could detect that musky smell of aftershave.
She could tell that this man was most definitely Richard.
“You’re awake,” he said. There was no kindness to his voice anymore. No softness. “Good.”
He crouched opposite her. That’s when Alison realised she was on some kind of chair. Ankles tied to it. Wrists tied to it. She tried to pull at the tape around her ankles. Tried to pull at the tape around her wrists. But with no luck. She was trapped. It didn’t matter how hard she tried to scream. She was stuck here, and there was no way out.
Richard didn’t say anything. He just kept crouched there, kept looking at her. “It’s a shame you couldn’t just believe me,” he said. “It’s a shame you couldn’t just accept what I told you. After all… it’s a shame Kelsie even got away at all. But you don’t have to worry about her anymore. I’ve got people out there. People making sure she doesn’t come back here. People making sure that horrible accident she suffered remains a horrible accident. That there’s no way the truth—whatever the truth is—comes back here at all.”
Alison wanted to speak. She wanted to ask Richard what he was talking about. But it was clear, now. It was growing clearer by the second.
“She saw something she shouldn’t have seen,” Richard said. “And then she got away. But… well. Let’s just say my people are out there. And if they haven’t found her already, they will do. So I wasn’t lying when I said she was dead. Not technically.”
Alison felt herself crying. Because this was the confirmation she needed. She was alive. Even if she was in danger, she was alive.
It felt like she’d been given a second chance. And Alison just had to hope she took it. She just had to hope she got as far away from this place as she could, no matter what.
She heard something else, then. More movement somewhere to her left.
And it was only when Richard stood and walked over to her side that she realised where the movement came from.
Who the movement came from.
It was Gina. She was tied to a chair, just like her.
“Looks like you’re both awake,” Richard said.
Alison felt anxiety totally taking over her. She felt caught up in its web, to the point she felt like she was having a heart attack.
But she had to get to grips with her thoughts.
She had to manage them.
She had to fight through them.
And she had to take this opportunity to keep on moving away at that tape around her wrists.
She rubbed her wrists against it. And she rubbed against the side of the chair. But it didn’t seem like anything was happening. It didn’t seem like anything was changing.
She just kept on going.
Kept on moving her wrists.
Kept on tugging at that tape.
Doing everything she could to break free.
“See, I would’ve loved to have put you both on those helicopters,” Richard said. “But… well. You didn’t exactly make it easy for me. Or for yourselves. If I’d put you on those helicopters, you would’ve lived. I can promise you that much. Not at Albion, of course. Not anymore, at least. I mean, maybe you’d have found your own Albion out there. Maybe you’d have found a way to survive. But Albion isn’t… it isn’t what it used to be. It’s a myth to keep this place running. To maintain order. To maintain respect. And so far, it’s working just fine.”
Alison felt the news hit her like a brick wall. Because she’d feared as much. She’d feared that Albion was just too good to be true.
But at the same time… a part of her had believed. A part of her had hoped. A part of her had wanted to trust.
And it left her with a pressing question.
What now?
What next?
She kept on tugging at that tape. Because the horror of what Richard was doing was building up. The lie of this place. The illusion of hope.
“But after all,” Richard said. “It’s worth it. The people who are extracted. They are just… well. Necessary sacrifices. And in the end, it’s only a minority. The rest of the people here keep on working away. Keep on helping away. Keep on hoping. All things considered… is that so bad, really?”
He stepped up to her then. Crouched right opposite her again. Smiled.
“But now I suppose we’ve got to figure out exactly what we’re going to do with you,” he said.
Alison felt fear. She felt raw anxiety, raw dread.
But not as deeply as maybe she would’ve done.
Because there was something Richard didn’t realise.
Something that he wasn’t aware of at all.
He stepped up. Walked over to the door. “We’ll get you some water. Get you some food. For now… just meditate or something. Pass the time. While we decide what to do next.”
He opened the door.
Stepped outside.
Slammed it shut, then locked it.
Alison looked at that door. Felt that timer ticking away. The time she had left. The time until Richard decided what he was going to do with her and Gina.
She heard shuffling over where Gina was.
Saw the fear in her eyes.
But she didn’t have time for fear.
She didn’t have time for any more tension.
Because she was too focused on that one thing Richard hadn’t realised.
The sharp paperclip that had dropped out of his jacket pocket.
The sharp paperclip just inches from her feet.
The paperclip she was going to get hold of.
Then use to slice her way out of this tape.
No matter how hard it was. No matter how long it took.
She wasn’t dying here.
She was getting out of here.
And she was getting out of here fast.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Aiden watched as Kelsie stepped out, and he felt like his whole world was crumbling apart all over again.
The darkness was intense, but the moonlight cut through it. Illuminated the faces of Marco and Adrienne. Illuminated their rifles, which were pointed towards him.
And illuminated Kelsie’s face as she emerged from behind the tree, no choice in the matter.
They’d spotted her.
They’d seen her.
They were onto her, and they were onto him.
“Doesn’t look dead to me,” Marco said. “I’d say she looks… well, she looks ill, sure. But she certainly doesn’t look anywhere near dead. Wh
at do you reckon, Adrienne?”
Adrienne’s eyes narrowed. She looked at Kelsie, then Aiden, then back at Kelsie again. “Nah. I’d say she looks very much alive.”
“Which leaves us with a question,” Marco said. “A very serious question. If Kelsie’s alive. If you’ve been looking out for her for whatever weird reason, all this time… then where is Dom?”
Aiden felt caught. He felt trapped. On the one hand, he wanted to just confess. To just tell the truth. Because he couldn’t lie anymore. He’d already been caught red-handed. Lying wasn’t going to make things better. It was only going to make things worse.
But then if he told the truth about what he’d done… he was a dead man.
And Kelsie was dead, too.
“I’d say that pause right there is problematic,” Marco said. “So I suggest we try something. Kelsie. It is Kelsie, right? Why don’t you bring yourself right over here where we can see you?”
Aiden felt sickness right in the pit of his stomach. He turned around, over to where Kelsie had been hiding.
He saw her wide eyes looking over towards them all in fear.
Total fear.
“Come on,” Marco said. “No point sticking around there anymore. No point messing around. There’s no way out of this, lovey. So, the way I see it, you’ve got a choice. You can stay right there, and we’ll kill your friend here, and then we’ll kill you. Or you can come out here, and we can just see how things progress, hmm? How’s that sound?”
Aiden looked at Kelsie. He looked into her eyes. And he wanted to tell her to stop. He wanted to tell her that she couldn’t come out here. He knew what Richard’s order was. He knew what Richard would do to maintain his secret; what lengths he would go to in order to sustain the illusion of hope.
But then he saw Kelsie begin to step even further towards him, towards Marco and Adrienne, and his heart sank.
“She was ill, Marco,” Aiden said. “She—she had no intentions of coming back to the extraction point. I just wanted to get her some stuff so she could… so she could survive out here.”
Marco and Adrienne both looked at Aiden with disgust. “So, it’s true. You’re a traitor.”
“You can call me what you want, but the thing is… I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be the person you want me to be anymore. I can’t ditch kids in the wilderness because of an illusion. I can’t keep on telling families that there is a new world out there when there’s not. It’s not right. Don’t you see it? Don’t you both see it?”
Marco’s eyes twitched, and Aiden thought he might just shoot him down, right there.
But instead, he lurched forward. Pointed his rifle at Aiden’s chest.
“I should kill you right here,” he said.
Aiden nodded. “Maybe you should.”
Marco looked at Aiden. His eyes darted around his face. Really narrowed, really studied him closely. “But I think I’d rather Richard dealt with you. I think he’d rather know exactly who you are.”
Aiden breathed a little. Time. Time to figure something out. Time to try something.
“On one condition,” Marco said.
Aiden frowned. “What?”
Marco pointed at Kelsie. “You shoot her, right here.”
Aiden felt the weight of deja vu sinking down on his shoulders. Because he’d been here. He’d been here before.
But things were different. That was a spur of the moment thing. That was a reaction. A reaction to an awful situation.
But maybe he could change things.
Maybe he could fix things.
“Kill her,” Marco said. “Kill her right this second, or you both die, right here. If you kill her… well. You’ll have to answer to Richard. I’ll give you that opportunity. But it’s more of an opportunity than you’re going to get otherwise. So what’s it going to be?”
Aiden looked at Kelsie. He saw the way her wide, tired eyes stared back at him. Her pale flesh illuminating in the light of the moon. And he held on to his rifle with his shaking hand.
“Do it,” Marco said. “Do it right this second.”
So Aiden did the only thing he could.
He took a deep breath.
And then he lifted his rifle.
Pointed it right at Kelsie.
He saw her, then. Saw the way her look changed. Saw the way a new look crossed her face. Like she was let down. Like she’d been betrayed.
And he wanted to speak to her. He wanted to call out to her.
But he just had to hope she saw.
He had to hope she saw, right within his eyes.
“Do it,” Marco said. “Right this second. Or I’ll—”
That’s when Aiden turned around and shot Marco in the neck.
He turned to Adrienne, then. Turned to her and prepared to fire a bullet into her.
But then he heard something. Just as he pulled the trigger, just as Adrienne went falling to the ground, he felt a thud in his shoulder.
A thud that made him fall forward.
It was only when he hit the ground, when Kelsie came running over, that he realised exactly what had happened.
“You’re—you’re shot,” she said. “You’ve been shot.”
Aiden looked at the blood coming out of his shoulder. He touched it, saw it covering his fingers.
He was about to tell Kelsie that things were going to be okay, that everything was going to be okay, when he heard footsteps behind him.
And then he saw a man appear over him.
A familiar man.
A smirk on his face.
Rifle in his hand.
“Harvey,” he said.
Harvey leaned down and put a hand on Kelsie’s back. “You might want to run along, kiddo,” he said. “This isn’t going to be nice to watch.”
Then he pressed the rifle against Aiden’s bullet wound.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Alison stared at the sharp paperclip opposite her, and she knew she had to get it, no matter what it took.
She wasn’t sure how long had passed since Richard left the room. Since he’d told her that he’d be back here soon. Only when he came back here, things were going to be different. Because his decision was going to made. His mind was going to be made up.
His decision about what to do with Alison and Gina.
And somehow, Alison couldn’t see it being a positive outcome.
She stretched out for that paperclip right in front of her. Stretched her leg out, stretched her foot out, stretched her toes out. But it wasn’t going to be easy. The tape around her ankles and her wrists was tight. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get to it, and even then, she wasn’t sure how she was going to use it with her toes anyway.
But it was all she had.
So she had to make the most of it.
She had to do whatever she could to get out of this mess.
And right now, this seemed like the best option.
So she took a deep breath, and she stretched out even further. She pushed against the tape at the front of her leg. Pushed against it as hard as she could, her feet rubbing against the wooden floorboards of the cabin floor.
But it didn’t seem to be moving.
It didn’t seem to be budging at all.
She felt the frustration building inside her. She felt the tension building up. Because she knew if she didn’t get out of this mess, it’d be trouble. Big trouble.
But she just felt stuck.
She just felt completely trapped.
She took in a deep breath through her blocked nostrils. She had to pull herself together, had to keep herself in order. Because at the end of the day, she had a choice. Either she could try and get out of here, as frustrating and uphill a battle as that was… or she could just give up.
Giving up wasn’t a good road for anyone to go down.
Especially not someone in her and Gina’s situation.
So she took a deep breath, and she stretched out her toes again.
This time, she noticed some
thing different.
The tape.
The tape around her right ankle was loosening.
Not enough to move it completely. Not enough to totally dislodge it.
But enough to give her more room to stretch out.
Enough to give her more room to manoeuvre.
She took a deep breath, and she stretched out her foot and her toes as far and as hard as she could.
She felt the pain splitting down her leg. Felt the cramp crippling her toes.
And every instinct in her body was telling her to give in; telling her to stop.
But she couldn’t stop.
She just had to keep on gritting her teeth; she just had to keep on stretching.
She looked down, tears streaming down her cheeks. And she saw it. She saw just how close to the paperclip her toes were now.
Again, that thought sparked in her mind. That thought about what she was actually going to do when she reached the paperclip. How she was going to use it. How she was ever going to use that thing with her toes to get out of this mess.
But again… it was all she had.
So she stretched out a little further.
She stretched until her toes just about made contact with the tip of the paperclip…
But then she felt something.
The paperclip.
It budged.
She nudged it with just enough force to knock it.
And when she saw where it fell, her heart sank.
It slipped down a crack in the wood beneath them.
It fell down through the wood, down underneath the cabin.
Alison felt total despair slip through her body. She felt like giving up now more than ever. Because that was her chance. That was her one chance of getting out of this mess. As slim as it was, it was an opportunity.
And now that opportunity was gone.
She looked down at the gap the paperclip had slipped down.
And then she saw something.
She squinted. Squinted to make sure she was seeing things correctly.
But when she focused, when she squinted into the dim light she could see in this cabin now, her heart started to pound.
Because it was true.
