“Urgh. Why are you so loud?”
“We were whispering,” Scarlett said.
“You were yelling.”
“Jay!” Scarlett said a little more angrily.
He jumped bolt upright and glowered at her. “Quiet!” he yelled. “You’ll wake the others.”
“What’s going on?” Neelam grumbled, pulling her coat over her head.
“Shut up, Jay,” Lucy complained.
“Urrrr…” Dylan grumbled.
“Yeah, I’ll wake them,” Scarlett laughed.
The rest of the group slowly woke up and started rubbing their eyes reluctantly.
“It must be like 6am,” Isabella said.
“Eight,” Scarlett said.
“Still too early. Why don’t we ever get a lie in?”
“Because we don’t have the time for such a luxury,” Dylan said.
He’d only been awake a minute, but he was already swinging into full-on leader mode. “If we lie in, we literally get caught napping.”
Neelam and Scarlett groaned at Dylan’s poor attempt at humour.
“How many times have I told you to leave the jokes to me?” Jay said.
Dylan shot him a look, ignored his comment and went back to dishing out orders. “Seriously, we need to get moving and figure out what our plan is.”
“Here’s my plan. I want to go home to London,” Lucy said.
“Me too,” Aaron agreed.
“And me,” Isabella added.
“I’d rather stay here,” Neelam said. “At least we’re safer this far away from Goulden.”
Jay nodded in agreement, as did Alex, Scarlett and Dylan.
“Majority vote says we stay,” Jay said.
“Common sense says we stay,” Dylan said. He lowered his voice so he couldn’t be heard by Rachel, who was still making coffee next door. “You heard what Mason saw.”
He turned to look at their new friend, but Mason was sat holding his head in his hands in horror.
“Mason, what’s wrong? Are you OK?” Scarlett said. She dashed over to his side and crouched down next to him. He looked incredibly troubled.
“No,” he said. “Not at all.”
“Another vision?”
He nodded.
“Did I die again?”
“Not just you; everybody. Us, Rachel, the whole of Manchester.”
“The whole city?”
“Yes and probably the surrounding areas too. I couldn’t be clear what happened, but it was like everyone got sick all at once and started dying. It was awful.”
“Sick?” Dylan said. “How?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know or remember the vivid details, it was so horrible. We were standing back out near the public square, you know where the department stores were open, and some kind of cloud descended on us. It hit everyone for as far as I could see and all I could feel was pain, agony and death.”
“Everyone died?” Scarlett said.
He nodded again. He was too drained to say any more. Scarlett gave Mason a comforting stroke on the shoulder, then walked over to Dylan. This didn’t sound good.
“What could it be?”
Dylan shook his head in bemusement. “I don’t know. The best guess I have is some kind of chemical or biological weapon. I think Mason’s seen a vision of the entire city being wiped out in one fell swoop.”
The group fell silent.
“Millions of people getting sick at once. Is that even possible?” Lucy asked.
“Very much so,” Dylan said. “A few countries have developed weapons that release diseases or use chemicals to kill millions. It’s much more possible than we think.”
“Yeah, I saw a documentary about germ warfare and World War Two once,” Jay said. “Surely no one would dare to do that in this day and age though.”
“Just as much as someone would dare to blow up Victoria Station in the middle of day and kill thousands of innocent people.”
Dylan was referring to the Victoria Incident, which had happened a couple of years before. Goulden staged the event and placed the blame on the superhero teenagers in a bid to make the public afraid of their powers and force them into hiding. His plan had worked and as a double win for him, it made the public keener to vote for him too.
“Do you think Goulden will be behind it?” Scarlett said. She wouldn’t put it past him.
“He could be or maybe one of his enemies or someone else who has a grudge against the country. I have no idea, but we need to find out as soon as possible.”
Scarlett may have only known Dylan for a few months, but that was long enough to know that his “as soon as possible” meant “right now or preferably five minutes ago”.
“So we’re staying?” Lucy asked glumly.
“Yes,” Dylan said. “We’re staying.”
“I’m not,” Mason announced.
Everyone but Scarlett stared at him in disbelief, but the teenager, who must have been around 17, had made his mind up. She could see there was no use in arguing with him, but no doubt Dylan had other ideas. He always thought he could talk everyone into backing their cause.
“But where will you go?” Dylan said. “You’re one of us now.”
“I’ll go home. I’m not cut out for this superhero stuff and I never was. I told you that when I first met you all those months ago and I’ve managed to live a normal life since then. I only came to warn you about Goulden’s attack and what happens to Scarlett…”
He looked at her apologetically as his voice trailed off. Dylan’s face fell sombre and everyone else fidgeted nervously as they avoided mentioning that word: death. Why couldn’t they say it? Why were they so afraid of even talking about the fact Scarlett had been prophesised to die? It was no big deal, she hadn’t actually died. And anyway, she should be the one feeling awkward, not everyone else.
Scarlett knew the only way to cut the morbid atmosphere that had descended on the room was to move the focus of the conversation back to Mason and change the subject, so she plastered on a fake smile and started to chatter.
“And you’ve done what you set out to do, Mason, I understand. We’re all grateful… especially me. I think it’s only fair that we let you make your own mind up if you want to return to your family now.”
“Thanks, Scarlett. I’m not cut out for all this. I don’t even have a useful power, so I’d be no good in a fight.”
“How will you get home?”
“My folks live in Sheffield, so I can get a train from Piccadilly. It’s not far at all.”
“I would teleport you, but I’ve never been there before,” Alex said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be happier by train.”
“We’ll come to the station with you,” Dylan said. “Just in case.”
He stood up and purposefully strode to the other side of the room. Scarlett could tell he was still rattled about the whole death thing but, as ever, he was doing an excellent job of hiding his emotions. He straightened his back to adopt an air of confidence as he stuck his head out the door to get Rachel’s attention.
The blonde walked back into the room carrying two mugs. She handed one to Scarlett, then turned to the rest of the group.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were all awake. Do you want one? I don’t have many mugs though.” She laughed as if to emphasise her apology.
“It’s OK,” Dylan said. “We’re going to leave now and I wanted to thank you for helping us last night and letting us stay here. You’re too kind.”
“Don’t mention it.” She beamed a chirpy smile. “You’re welcome back any time.”
Scarlett sensed a hint of flirtation in the grin Rachel gave Dylan, but she tried not to let it bother her. He was her boyfriend now, after all, so she shouldn’t feel insecure about such things. She made a mental note to keep an eye on Rachel though, just in case.
The nine of them gathered their things, said their goodbyes to Rachel, then made their way outside. Once they were sure their new friend wasn’t lo
oking, Alex teleported them straight out of the building and into a dingy car park at the side of Piccadilly train station. It didn’t look like the nicest of places, but from what Scarlett remembered, it had never been the most appealing location in the first place. She’d used this as a shortcut out of the station a few times and she’d never felt too comfortable there.
She followed the others to a side entrance, which led them into the station. Scarlett looked around in amazement at how quiet the place was. In the past, the concourse had been busy with people dashing in every direction and sometimes she feared she would be spun around and knocked off her feet if she didn’t race to keep up with the crowd. Today though, there were only 10 or 20 people ambling around. The place wasn’t completely deserted like some of the shut-down stations she’d seen in London, but it was close.
“You sure the trains are running to Sheffield?” she asked Mason.
“Yeah, they’re not as frequent as they used to be, but there’s still one every couple of hours. If the timetable hasn’t changed, there’ll be one in 15 minutes, which is good. I hate waiting around.”
“I’m with you there,” Alex said. “Do you have enough money for a ticket?”
“Yeah, I borrowed some from my folks before I came down to find you lot. I told them I had a job interview in the big smoke and they got all excited. I guess now I’ll have to let them down.” He shrugged. “Anyway, I’d best start making a move.”
Alex, Scarlett, Dylan, Neelam, Jay, Isabella, Lucy and Aaron hung around while Mason bought a ticket and got on the train, then they headed back to the car park. While they were sad at saying goodbye to their new friend, they had plenty of other things on their minds and the main one was Mason’s latest vision about an attack on Manchester.
“I’m kinda glad he’s gone,” Jay said with a nervous laugh. “First he told us Scarlett was going to die, then he predicted the end for everyone in Manchester. Who knows what he would have scared us with next?”
“It’s not a joking matter, Jay,” Dylan said. “The threat to Scarlett and the city are very real.”
“I’m not going to die,” Scarlett said with desperation. “Leave me alone.”
She folded her arms defiantly and shot Dylan a look that told him to back off. He knew her well enough to let the matter drop for now, but he still wasn’t done with worrying about the fate of the city and Scarlett knew he was right not to be. They had a responsibility to find out more about the attack and do their best to stop it.
Life seemed even more unpredictable than ever now they’d lost the cosy home that had provided some kind of anchor in their lives. Sure, life was tough when they were in London, but at least they could retreat to the same beds at the end of the day. Now it looked like they would be spending their lives on the run for the foreseeable future. If they had a future that was because even that was uncertain thanks to Mason’s visions. Scarlett had felt scared before, but never as much as she did right now. Everything seemed so helpless.
“We have to stop this happening,” Dylan said. “We can’t allow millions of people to die.”
“But how?” Scarlett said. “We have no idea who is going to attack, when they’re going to do it, how they’ll go about it or even what their motives are. I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Scarlett…” Dylan said. “We’ll figure out a way, we always do.”
“Will we?” She felt as angry as she was despondent. “Admit it, Dylan, you have no idea what to do; we’re grasping at straws here.”
“Come on, you’re just tired and hungry.”
“I’m not! I’m fed up of fighting and running and all this.”
“We’ve only been here a day.”
“Oh please, it’s the same old depressing stuff we always put up with only now it’s taken a turn for the worse. We don’t even know what…”
“Guys,” Neelam said. “I think we’ve got trouble.”
Scarlett turned away from Dylan to see three Detectobots floating towards them. She’d encountered the spherical robots, which were about the size of a football, before in London and she knew they were bad news. One of them hovered in front of her and Dylan.
“Targets unidentified,” it said as it opened up its top to reveal a laser gun. “Prepare to neutralise.”
“Not this lot again,” she said.
A second earlier, she’d felt empty inside, but now the rage jolted her to life, causing anger and adrenalin to surge through her veins. She was all fired up and ready for a fight and she intended to take it out on these cursed little machines. She lifted her hands and threw the Detectobot hard against the wall of a nearby building, causing it to whirr and fizz before falling to the ground.
Well, that was a lot easier than Scarlett had expected; these Detectobots weren’t as tough as the ones they’d battled down in London. The two remaining machines sped towards them and unveiled their lasers. Lucy glowered at one of them as she let out an almighty crack of lightning, which overloaded its circuits and caused it to explode with a loud kaboom.
“Good work,” Dylan said as he used his power to freeze the third and final Detectobot and destroy it.
It had rained overnight, so there was plenty of water on the ground for him to use to his advantage. He looked around apprehensively at the commuters rushing by.
“They seem oblivious to what just happened.”
“Don’t worry,” Neelam said. “I tapped into their minds to make sure no one saw a thing, or at least they think they didn’t.”
Lucy stared at the surrounding buildings and lampposts with much scrutiny, throwing out a few well-aimed lightning blasts as she did so. “And I’ve taken care of the CCTV, so there’ll be no record of what happened either.”
“Excellent,” Dylan said. “That was a lot easier than I expected.”
“That’s what I thought,” Scarlett said. “They weren’t impervious to our powers like the last lot we encountered and they didn’t even seem to know who we were.”
“Which is a good thing,” Neelam said.
“Maybe they’re not as advanced up here,” Lucy mused. “They seemed like older models to me. Whatever the reason is, I’m not complaining; come on, Alex, ’port us out of here while the coast is clear.”
But Lucy spoke too soon. More than ten police officers ran round the corner towards them, their heavy boots making a loud, thudding sound as they raced along the hard concrete. They pushed passers-by out of the way as they raced past and several of them were reaching into their holsters for batons and guns.
“You! Kids!” one of them shouted. “Wait there.”
“You under-21s shouldn’t be loitering on the streets,” another said. “We’re taking you to the workhouses where you belong.”
“Run!” Scarlett said.
The police in this reality were very much on Goulden’s side, so she knew better than to hang around to be captured. She raised her arms ready to use her powers, then paused as she tried to consider if that would be a bad move. Did she want to alert the authorities to the fact there were superpowered kids running around Manchester?
“Neelam,” she said via their mind link. “What shall I do? If I take them out, can you amend their thoughts afterwards?”
“I’ll try my best. Go for it.”
Scarlett glanced around for something to grab and noticed a row of industrial-sized rubbish bins standing by a building to her left. She mind lifted four of them, hovered them through the air, then flung them at the policemen as hard as she could. She knocked over five cops, but six more were still marching towards them.
“Halt!” one of them said. “Now!” He raised his gun and took aim at Scarlett, but luckily Isabella rushed to her side and used her power to freeze him in time.
“Thanks,” Scarlett said.
By now, the whole group had jumped into action, with Lucy throwing out her best lightning bolts and Dylan creating ice chains that were tough enough to hold one of the officers. However, despite their best efforts, the
men Scarlett had knocked over were now back on their feet and racing towards Isabella, Aaron and Jay. Before Scarlett could retaliate, they had grabbed their three friends and yanked their arms behind their backs. Three men were closing in on Scarlett, Dylan, Neelam, Lucy and Alex too.
Scarlett froze to the spot. Her heart was racing with panic and her mind was all jumbled with confusion about what to do next. They were cornered and there was no way they could free the others and evade capture. It was one or the other.
“Get outta here,” Jay shouted. “You five run while you still can.”
“We can’t…” Dylan started to say.
“Alex,” Isabella said. “Take them to safety, there’s no use in us all getting captured.”
He looked unsure.
“Do it,” Neelam said. “I’m using my telepathy to wipe the cops’ knowledge of our powers, but I can’t keep it up for much longer. We’ll come back for them.”
Alex didn’t need to be told a third time. He grabbed his friends’ hands and with a swift flash of light, he teleported them out of danger, leaving Isabella, Jay and Aaron behind.
Chapter 7
Alex took the group to the first safe place he thought of: back to Rachel’s hideout. She squealed with shock as he, Dylan, Scarlett, Lucy and Neelam appeared in front of her in a flash of light. When they arrived, she was sitting on the floor with a book, which she threw flying in the air.
“Sorry,” Alex said. “This was the first place I thought of when choosing a safe haven.”
“How do you do that,” Rachel said with a mix of fear and awe.
“I dunno, I just can.”
“It’s pretty amazing.” Rachel stared at them as though she was trying to think of something more to say, but couldn’t find the words.
“Anyway…” Scarlett said, getting back to more pressing matters. “What are we going to do about Jay, Isabella and Aaron?”
“Where are your mates?” Rachel asked.
“A group of policemen caught them and they said they were taking them to the workhouses. We weren’t doing anything wrong, but they attacked us anyway. Is that even allowed?”
Out Of Time (Book 2): Heroes and Villains Page 5
