Out Of Time (Book 2): Heroes and Villains

by Oldfield, Donna Marie

  “I won’t even bother logging an incident. Who needs all that paperwork? Go on, get home now.”

  Scarlett had seen Neelam use that mind trick many times before, but it still impressed her. Her power was very useful in sticky situations like this. The nine of them hurried along the street before the men changed their mind, but they weren’t quick enough. One policeman broke free from the spell and chased after them.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Scarlett turned around to see him raise and fire his gun. “Run!” she yelled. “We can’t get caught by the police, they’ll work out who we are and send us to Goulden for sure.”

  As they raced up the road in a blind panic, Scarlett desperately looked around for somewhere to hide, but she couldn’t see anywhere to turn. Then suddenly, a door opened to the left of her.

  “Quick,” said a girl who popped her head out. “In here.”

  Chapter 5

  “Up those stairs,” the girl, who was around 5ft 2in with dark blonde hair said. “Quickly.”

  Scarlett winced at the sound of the stairs creaking underfoot as she, Dylan, Lucy, Aaron, Neelam, Jay, Alex, Isabella and Mason raced up the rickety steps after their helper, who looked a similar age to them.

  The building they’d entered had seen better days. The walls were damp and crumbling, the floors were bare and the stairs felt like they could collapse at any minute. The policemen outside began banging on the door as the group ran and Scarlett wondered how long it would take them to bash the door down. They had to escape, and fast.

  “Alex, can you get us out of here?” Scarlett whispered.

  “No,” Neelam said. “No powers. If those policemen tell people that a group of teens magically disappeared, then people will figure out that we’re in Manchester.”

  “Now you’re being paranoid,” Scarlett said. She rolled her eyes. “If they catch us, they’ll definitely know we’re in Manchester.”

  “Sshhh,” their helper said as she crept across a landing at the top of the stairs and pushed a door open. “Keep following me.”

  They rushed through the doorway and as Scarlett closed it behind them, she heard the door being smashed downstairs. The police had made their way in. She swiftly locked the door with her telekinesis, then moved a table in front of it before racing after the rest of the group. That should buy them a few more minutes.

  Dylan didn’t look too impressed with her handiwork though.

  “Didn’t you hear what Neelam said about not using powers?”

  “Chill out, Dylan. A locked door and table are hardly evidence of superheroes.”

  His constant worrying got on her nerves at times, but she let it go. Now wasn’t the time for an argument.

  They followed the mysterious girl through another door, across a hallway and in and out of four more rooms before she finally came to a standstill. She turned to the group, then looked at the ceiling above her before pulling a telescopic cane from the pocket of her khaki jacket. She extended it, pointed it at a hatch above, used it to open the door and pulled down a hidden set of loft ladders.

  “Up there,” she said. “I’ll go last.”

  They scrambled up the steps into the loft and once they were safely inside, the girl yanked the ladder up and slammed the loft door closed.

  “Is this it?” Jay said.

  Scarlett hoped so, she was tired of all this running now. But their helper shook her head, then beckoned them to pursue her across the attic floor.

  “Be careful and only step on the beams,” she said.

  They tiptoed through the loft for another five minutes or so. It was the largest attic Scarlett had ever seen and it must have spanned several buildings. They ducked under a low partition to enter a new area, then the girl came to a halt.

  “Here we are,” she said.

  She walked across the room, which had proper floorboards rather than exposed beams, then reached into a small cupboard and pulled out a rucksack. She took a candle out and lit it, then removed a large bottle of water and a bumper-size bag of crisps. “There you go,” she said. “You must be hungry.”

  “Starving,” Jay said.

  “I’m sorry it’s not much.”

  “It’s more than enough, thank you,” Dylan said. “So who are you?”

  “My name’s Rachel,” she said as she grabbed a handful of the crisps and sat cross-legged on the floor.

  As Rachel brushed her dark blonde hair from her face, Scarlett noticed she had an interesting tattoo on her neck. It was an unusual-looking green star about the size of a 10-pence piece, but Scarlett decided not to be rude and ask questions about it.

  “Good to meet you. I’m Dylan, this is Scarlett, Neelam, Lucy, Aaron, Isabella, Alex, Jay and Mason.” He gestured around the group as he made his introductions.

  The girl nodded her head to say hello to each of them as she continued munching her food.

  “Who are you running from?” Dylan asked. “I assume you’re hiding here for a good reason.”

  “Everyone: the police, the government, the Guardians. They all want me to go back.”

  “Guardians?” Scarlett said. “As in the supervisors from the workhouses?”

  “They’re the ones. Have you met them?”

  “I’ve come across some of them, not round here though, this was at Holdforth Workhouse in Essex.”

  The girl looked wide eyed and delighted at the mention of the place. “No way! You’ve been to Holdforth? They all escaped today! I heard the Prime Minister trying to cover it up with some excuse about moving everyone to a better place on the news, but it was obvious there’d been a breakout.”

  “Yeah, we kind of set them all free.”

  “You what? Get outta here!” She shook her head and grabbed another handful of crisps.

  “We did,” Scarlett insisted.

  “But that was only a few hours ago. No way could you have got up here in that time.”

  “The train only takes two hours,” Scarlett said defensively.

  She remembered catching the Manchester to London train a few times back in her old life before she entered this crazy world. Rachel laughed. She wasn’t buying Scarlett’s lies.

  “Yeah, but you have to be minted to afford a ticket. That line is dead fast, but it’s first class only, so you’re looking at a grand for a ticket. No offence, but you don’t look like you could afford it.”

  “How do you know?” Lucy snapped. She was from a well-to-do family and most definitely could have afforded it back in the day.

  “We didn’t take the train, bus, plane or anything else,” Alex said. “I teleported us here.”

  Neelam shot Alex a disapproving look and the rest of them looked at him in horror. Scarlett couldn’t believe he’d announced his powers like that. Was he crazy? She shouldn’t have been worried though because Rachel clearly didn’t believe a word of it. She simply started roaring with laughter.

  “Good joke,” she said as she wiped a tear of amusement from her eye. “You guys crack me up. Thanks for that, I needed a good giggle.”

  Not one of the group smiled along with her.

  “I’m serious,” Alex said.

  Rachel stared at him incredulously, raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes towards the heavens. “Give over. You teleported here from the south and brought this lot with you?”

  Alex nodded.

  “Bobbins! You must think I was born…”

  But before Rachel could finish her sentence, Alex vanished in a flash of light, then reappeared behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned round to see him standing there and screamed.

  “What the hell did you do?”

  “I teleported, durrr. I thought that was obvious.”

  “But how?”

  “Alex has a special talent, that’s all,” Neelam said.

  Scarlett knew that panicky look and high-pitched tone meant that Neelam was stressing out. She wasn’t happy about how much Alex was revealing.

  “Pleas
e! Don’t tell her anything else,” she said telepathically in all their heads. “I don’t want to have to wipe her memory.”

  “Sorry,” Alex replied, also in their minds, so Rachel couldn’t hear them.

  Rachel looked puzzled, intrigued and suspicious all at the same time. “How come you can do that?” she said to Alex.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” he replied, trying to move the conversation on. “Anyway, back to what we were saying. So we rescued all the slaves from Holdforth Workhouse and we know all about these Guardians. The ones down there are a nasty, sadistic bunch. Is it the same up here?”

  Rachel nodded. She must have wanted to ask more about Alex’s powers, but she politely took the hint and went back to her own story.

  “I used to work at the Irwell Tower Workhouse over in Spinningfields. Do you know it?”

  They shook their heads.

  “You’re really not from round here, are you? It’s the tallest building in Manchester and it’s summat like 650 feet and 60-something floors high. You must’ve seen it.”

  Scarlett remembered the highest of the new additions to the skyline they’d seen earlier; that must be the building Rachel was talking about. She nodded and let their new friend continue her story.

  “The government called it an amazing new business centre when it opened, but it’s a modern-day workhouse where the unemployed are treated like slaves.”

  “Sounds like Holdforth,” Dylan said. “They had thousands of people pedalling away on cycling machines to generate electricity. Their supposed payment for working long hours was a hard bed in a damp dorm and disgusting food. They weren’t even allowed to leave the premises. Is that what Irwell was like?”

  “Summat like that. There, we were working for the National Allied Bank, you know the one the government took over a couple of years ago? They replaced all the customer service, admin and cleaning staff with warehouse slaves to save money. I was in the call centre where they treated me like a robot and while I wasn’t slaving away physically, it was still complete torture. I wasn’t allowed to go ‘home’ to my dorm until I’d hit their ridiculous targets. By the end, I was working 20-hour days with nothing to look forward to but lying on my cold metal bed at the end of it, so I escaped.”

  “How did you manage it?” Scarlett asked.

  “One day, a gang broke in to steal stuff, so I snuck out in the middle of all the chaos. I wish I could tell you some heroic tale about a great escape, but I got lucky, that’s all. That was three months ago and I’ve been on the run ever since.”

  “You did well to get out and stay out,” Alex said. “Don’t be so modest about how well you’ve done.”

  Rachel smiled shyly.

  “I guess so.”

  “And you saved us today,” Jay said. “That was damn right impressive.”

  “Not as impressive as freeing thousands of slaves. Speaking as someone who’s been in their shoes, I can’t thank you enough for doing that.” Rachel said. “So, how come you ended up coming to Manchester?”

  They all stared at each other as they wondered how much they should say. Scarlett looked to Neelam and Dylan, urging them to speak up. She knew that whatever she said would be wrong or too risky in their eyes.

  “The police were after us,” Neelam said.

  Scarlett couldn’t believe her ears. How could she be so hypocritical?

  “It’s OK, I mind scanned Rachel and she seems innocent and trustworthy,” she said through the mind link. “I still think we should keep quiet about our powers though; only tell her as much as we have to and fudge the truth where necessary.” She smiled at Rachel as she started speaking aloud again. “They were so angry when they heard what we’d done that they ambushed our home. We had to run away as far as we could, so we came to Manchester.”

  “As you do,” Rachel laughed.

  “Alex and I both grew up here,” Scarlett said. “It’s changed a lot though.”

  “Yeah, for the worse.”

  “This side of town seems like a complete no-go area now.”

  “That’s right. The Northern Quarter, Ancoats and all around is run by criminals. Most of the shops and bars have shut and the ones that are still open are controlled by the gangs or forced to pay them protection money. It’s so sad.”

  “What happened to the Arndale? I noticed that’s closed down now too.”

  “Most of the shops went bust long ago, so it’s been turned into another workhouse. I don’t know what they make in there, but I do know the Prime Minister has something to do with it.”

  Dylan was angry. “I should have known Goulden would be involved.”

  Rachel nodded. “Sounds like you hate him as much as I do.”

  “More than you could possibly know,” he said. “He’s destroying this country with all these workhouses. I wonder how many more there are. At this rate, almost everyone will be working as slaves to help a few get rich.”

  “That seems to be the plan,” Rachel said.

  Just then, Isabella yawned. “Sorry,” she said. “That was down to tiredness not boredom.” She looked at her watch. “And it’s only 8pm.”

  “Really?” Neelam said. “It feels much later.”

  “The nights all feel long since the curfew,” Rachel said. “You do know about the curfew, right?”

  “Sort of,” Scarlett said. “The policemen mentioned it. They said they were chasing us because we were out after curfew.”

  “Yeah, you have to make sure you’re indoors by 6pm if you’re under 21, which I’m assuming you are.”

  Scarlett nodded.

  “Everyone else has to be home by 8pm. The city used to be dead busy, but it turns into a ghost town in the evening these days. The police claim it’s to stop crime, but the quietness has made the streets more dangerous. It’s an excuse to control us if you ask me.”

  Isabella yawned again. “Sorry,” she said for a second time.

  “Why don’t you all get some sleep?” Rachel said. “It sounds like you’ve had an exhausting day.”

  “I am shattered,” Scarlett admitted.

  “Me too,” Lucy said.

  “Then sleep, please. I can’t offer you a bed, but there’s plenty of space on the floor over there. Don’t worry, I’ll keep watch and let you know if anything bad happens if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “She’s telling the truth,” Neelam whispered telepathically in their heads, signalling that it was OK to do as Rachel said.

  “Thanks,” Dylan said. “We appreciate it.” He wandered over to the other side of the room and rolled up his navy blue overcoat to use as a pillow.

  “Thank you, Rachel,” Scarlett said. She went to make a space next to Dylan, then grabbed his hand for comfort and smiled at him.

  “Night,” he said as he squeezed her hand and grinned back at her. His eyes grew heavy as he gazed at her and seconds later, he was asleep.

  “Trust him,” she laughed to herself. “He can sleep anywhere.”

  Scarlett tried her best to stay awake as her friends bedded down and nodded off around her. Even though she trusted Rachel, she felt uneasy going to sleep in this strange, new place. However, despite her efforts, she quickly drifted off to sleep and began dreaming of her old life with her family, when everything was normal and carefree. Those dreams were the only thing that kept her going after bad days like this.

  Chapter 6

  The next morning, Scarlett was woken by the blinding light of the early morning sun streaming into the room. She covered her eyes and peered over to the attic window, which had decaying wooden frames and no curtains. She turned to look at Dylan, who was snuggled up beside her, but he was still fast asleep. She gently moved his arm from around her waist, pushed herself up into a standing position and tiptoed over to the window.

  The skies were optimistically blue, but Scarlett knew it was a freezing March morning and she could see signs of frost on the ground outside. In the cold, harsh light of day, the dire state of the city beca
me cruelly apparent to her. It broke her heart to see it looking so different to the beautiful place she once loved.

  Scarlett had grown up in the South Manchester suburb of Didsbury, but her parents had moved to London when she was 16. Eighteen months later, she’d somehow been transported to this reality and joined her new friends in trying to help people, overthrow Goulden and put the country right again. Although at this moment, she wondered if that was even possible; everything had changed so much.

  She turned away from the window and glanced back at the sleeping group of teenagers. They looked so innocent and peaceful, the way kids of their age should. They hardly ever had a chance to rest or behave like normal teens because they were far too busy trying to save the world. They didn’t go to the movies and gigs, spend the afternoon in the park or hang out with their families. In fact, they didn’t even know where their families were because they’d sent them into hiding after Dylan’s parents and sister were killed by Goulden. She knew teenagers were well known for proclaiming that life wasn’t fair, but in their case it really wasn’t, and now they’d been chased away from their home and Scarlett had been told she might die. Things had definitely taken a turn for the worse.

  “Morning,” a voice whispered, interrupting Scarlett’s thoughts. She glanced towards the door to see Rachel standing there.

  “Hi,” Scarlett said back. “What time is it?”

  “8am. You lot must have been exhausted; you’ve been asleep for hours.”

  “Sorry…”

  “Don’t apologise! Sounds like you had a dead busy day yesterday.”

  “I know, but you must have been watching over us all night.”

  “Don’t worry, I grabbed a few hours’ kip around 3am. I’m gonna make a coffee. Want one?”

  “Please.”

  “OK, I’ll pop into the next room to make it, I don’t have any milk or sugar though.”

  “That’s fine, thank you.”

  The blonde gave her a smile before rushing out of the room, then Scarlett turned around at the sound of someone wriggling and stirring on the floor. Jay had woken up and he didn’t look too happy about it. He opened his eyes a tiny bit and glared at her.