by Eliza Green
Sal knelt down beside Greyson and picked up a handful of earth, letting it fall through her fingers ‘No, the soil doesn’t feel right. It’s too clumpy. If there’s no sun or rain, then the dirt doesn’t dry out. It doesn’t harden. If this was dumped here two years ago, it would still feel fresh. This earth could have been put here when it was still the Deighton Mansion.’
Greyson lifted a brow at her. ‘And you know this how?’
‘I was a gardener, before this world went to shit.’ She stood up and brushed her hands on her trousers.
‘We need to hurry before they find us out here,’ said Jenny.
Ben dropped to his knees and dug with his hands, which were more effective earth-moving tools. With everyone else pitching in, more of the window became visible.
Ben studied the metal frame that looked to be part of the original structure and was just about big enough to crawl through. Maybe Sal was right about the criminals not knowing it existed.
‘Where are they?’ said Isobel, asking the invisible someone in her head.
She nodded and spoke to Greyson and Jenny. ‘He says they don’t use the basement for anything other than storage. We should have a clear entry point into the house.’
Sal insisted on climbing in first, and given her gruff mood, nobody tried to stop her. They each squeezed through the gap until all ten stood in the dark and musty basement.
Isobel climbed the stairs and tried the door at the top. It opened first time. She exited and Greyson and Jenny followed, then Ben and Sal with the five Italians close behind.
They stood underneath the staircase in a wide corridor with panelled walls and peeling paint that led into a kitchen to the left and a large foyer to the right. From where Ben stood, he saw the front door, heavily bolted from the inside. The house appeared to be empty.
‘I don’t like this,’ said Sal. ‘Where is everyone?’
Isobel cocked her head as she listened. ‘There’s commotion on the upper levels. They don’t know we’re here yet.’
She asked her invisible guide another question: ‘How many of them are on the upper levels?’
‘Did you see much of that when you were on Exilon 5?’ Greyson said to Jenny.
Jenny smiled. ‘A little, but they prefer to speak to each other silently. It’s more natural than talking.’
Isobel snapped her attention back to the group. ‘There are ten guards in the building. Marcus isn’t here. They say he’s running errands in one of the other neighbourhoods. Three men are guarding someone upstairs...’ She trailed off. ‘Tell me.’
‘What is it?’ Ben couldn’t bear not knowing. Where was Albert? Kevin? Were they alive? Were they too late?
‘Isobel...’ His voice strained. ‘Are they okay?’
‘He says the guards are armed,’ said Isobel, ignoring his question and speaking to Jenny. ‘I asked if he could get weapons to us. He says he can’t. We’ll have to make do with what we brought.’
‘Isobel,’ whispered Ben. ‘Are we too late?’
She studied him for a moment too long. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so.’
Ben looked down at his metal pipe covered in bits of rubber and bound by scraps of old bedsheets. He glanced at the other makeshift weapons. He hoped it would be enough.
Isobel’s expression hardened. ‘I sense a lot of anger from the people on the first floor. I can’t sense Albert or Kevin. There’s too much noise.’
With no weapon of her own, Isobel placed her foot on the first step of the stairs, then the second. She hesitated for a moment, then resumed her climb. They all followed her, step for step.
Sal held up her weapon to the group and whispered, ‘Shield yourself if they fire at you. The rubber should ground the electricity and absorb some of the damage.’
They nodded and carried their weapons close to their chests.
Ben’s heart pounded in his chest as he ran his hand along the smooth railing. Even in the mansion’s state of disrepair, he could sense the building’s past opulence.
At the top of the stairs, Greyson and Jenny moved to the front with their Buzz Guns. They led the others down a long corridor with several doors on both sides.
‘They’re in the room on the left, at the end of the hall,’ said Isobel, pointing to a door.
Jenny turned to the group. ‘The rest of you stay here. And if any trouble comes your way, get out.’
Isobel, Jenny and Greyson inched closer to the door, weapons raised. Ben and Sal ignored her request to stay put.
Isobel slipped to the front and reached the door first. She tilted her head and put a finger to her lips.
Ben could hear nothing from the room. His stomach churned as he considered the worst.
Isobel lifted her heavy boot and slammed it against the door. The wood splintered and the door unhinged before crashing to the ground.
Ben’s pulse thundered as Isobel, Greyson and Jenny charged into the room. With a tight chest and wobbly legs, he followed them. He raised his weapon, ready to swing it at someone.
The scene stopped him cold. A bloody and barely conscious Kevin was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. His head lolled to the side and his hands and feet were bound by wire.
Three guards stared at them, wide-eyed, grappling for guns on their hips.
Ben couldn’t move, not even when Sal pushed past him.
A sharp jolt shoved him out of the door, almost knocking him to the ground. He stared at an angry Isobel who returned to the room to take on the first guard. Jenny fired at the second guard, while Greyson tackled the third, who snatched his weapon out of his holster and fired. The awkward angle of the Buzz Gun sent its burst of electricity bouncing off the walls. The guard brought the handle down against the side of Greyson’s skull.
A surge of anger snapped Ben out of his trance. He ran to the third guard, who was trying to grapple the gun out of a dazed Greyson’s hand. Ben drove his own weapon into the guard’s neck. The distracted guard yelped, giving Greyson time to roll away from him. Isobel caught the guard’s head in her hands and twisted sharply. He fell to the floor.
Ben stared at her. He’d never seen an Indigene kill before. Isobel’s efficiency made him shudder.
She panted and looked at the fallen guard. ‘Better them than one of us.’
Jenny nodded as she knelt behind Kevin and untied his hands. Sal checked his pulse. Ben’s shock slipped away when the wire coil dropped to the floor. Where was Albert? He could barely look at the boy he called his brother. If anything had happened to Albert, he’d never forgive him.
‘Where is he?’ he said to Kevin. ‘Where’s Albert?’
A frail and bloody Kevin mumbled something inaudible.
Ben swallowed hard and picked up one of the Buzz Guns dropped by the guards.
Greyson and Sal helped a barely conscious Kevin to his feet. Blood from several gashes on his face dripped down his cheek. Someone had worked him over; it looked like he’d been whipped with something.
Isobel straightened up, looking distressed. ‘There are more of them coming. They heard me kicking in the door and the commotion after.’
Ben gripped the Buzz Gun. When Jenny tried to take it from him, he held it out of her reach.
Greyson and Sal handed Kevin off to two of the Italians just as Kevin became more alert. The others created a defensive arc in the corridor and around the busted door frame.
‘Where’s Albert?’ Ben said to Kevin again.
Tears fell from Kevin’s eyes, mixing with the blood on his face. ‘I’m sorry. It’s all my...’
Ben grabbed a fistful of Kevin’s shirt, ignoring his protests. ‘Where the fuck is he?’
He heard voices—loud and angry—downstairs. The other guards were on the move.
Isobel tensed. ‘I need to talk to someone, now,’ she said to her invisible ally. She listened for a moment then ran up a set of nearby stairs leading to the next floor.
Jenny and Greyson switched to the front of the group. Jenny handed two
of the Italians spare guns from the guards and explained how to use them.
Ben heard a racket on the stairs Isobel had taken. Two guards tumbled down and landed on the carpeted floor. Their eyes were vacant. They were dead.
‘We need to find Albert,’ said Ben, as Jenny tried the other doors on the floor.
None opened. They were trapped.
Two guards ran up the main stairs and fired at them. They held up their modified metal pipes; the rubber absorbed the electricity. Ben fired back with his gun; once, twice. The guards jerked backwards and tumbled down the stairs.
More voices below. It sounded to Ben as if there were more than three guards downstairs. A man shouted orders in a strange English-Italian accent.
‘We’re trapped here,’ said Jenny, looking around. ‘We need to get out of this corridor. Upstairs!’
They ran for the stairs leading up, stepping over the two dead guards. The stairs took them to another floor, wider than the one below and with more doors.
Jenny called out for Isobel. She appeared from a room with double doors and motioned them inside.
When they were safely in the room, one of the Italians set a crying Kevin down on the floor.
Everyone worked quickly to barricade the door.
‘It won’t hold them for long,’ said Jenny.
‘We might not need it to.’ Isobel gestured to a second Indigene in the room; a male, about the same age as her. ‘This is Johan. He was the one I was talking to. He was on the same spacecraft that brought us to Waverley docking station.’
Ben recognised the male from the auction. Marcus had sold him, then reneged on the deal and taken him back to work at the mansion.
‘And you’ll help us?’ said Jenny.
Johan nodded. ‘In exchange for your help to free us from this place.’ Johan held a different, bigger version of a DPad. The screen was divided into sections, like a security feed with multiple pictures.
‘I use it to control the force field surrounding this place,’ said Johan. ‘Gaetano and his bastard son, Enzo, keep me in line so I’ll protect the mansion.’ He held up his shackled wrists, which seemed to spark with electricity.
‘I heard someone downstairs with a strange accent,’ said Jenny.
‘That would be Enzo.’
‘Just get us the hell out of here and we will help keep all of you safe.’
Ben slid to where Kevin sat, on the ground against a wall. ‘Where’s Albert?’
Kevin sniffed. ‘It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have trusted Marcus. I’m a fucking idiot.’
Sal hunkered down beside Kevin. ‘We don’t have time for regrets. Where did they take him?’
Commotion ensued outside the door as the guards tried to break it down.
‘Marcus took him somewhere else,’ said Kevin. ‘He and another man were torturing him. They came to the tavern wanting to know where Ben was. They wanted to know how the life support had been restored to the neighbourhood.’
Ben felt sick. ‘Shit. What did you tell him?’
‘Nothing!’ Kevin looked at him, his eyes streaming. ‘That’s why they took us.’
‘Can you do anything to disrupt their fire?’ Jenny said to Johan.
‘I can loop the charge in their weapons back on itself.’
Jenny nodded. ‘That should give us some time.’ She pointed her Buzz Gun at the door and nodded to the Italians. ‘Get Kevin on his feet. We need to go.’
But Isobel seemed reluctant. ‘What about Johan and the others?’
‘I always keep my promises. Stephen will verify that. But right now we need to make it out alive.’
‘Don’t fire your gun once I’ve reversed the electrical flow,’ said Johan. ‘It works on all weapons.’
Jenny and Greyson nodded. Ben pulled his shaking finger off the trigger.
They removed the barricades and the first guard fell into the room. Jenny fired at him and kicked his gun away. Sal picked it up. The next two guards came through.
Johan shouted. ‘Wait!’
The guards fired, but their guns recoiled and the electricity travelled back up their arms and through their bodies. They shuddered and fell to the floor.
Another three guards piled through the door. One of them pointed his Buzz Gun at Ben.
Ben flattened his back against the wall and braced himself for the hit. But the electricity whizzed past and hit something behind him. Sal blasted the guard with a shot of electricity from her own gun.
The other guards grappled with the Italians and their makeshift weapons. They slipped past and came further into the room. One grappled with Jenny; another got off a shot which hit the wall beside Kevin’s head. Then another. The electricity nipped at Ben’s skin as it bounced around the room.
A moan drew Ben’s attention away from the fight. He looked back to see Kevin slumped to the side, a burn hole scorched into the front of his tattered jumper.
The others drove their makeshift weapons into skulls, arms and exposed throats. Ben checked Kevin’s neck for a pulse. It was weak.
‘Wait!’ Johan shouted a second time. Sal stood in front of one guard. She was shouting at him, threatening him to shoot her. The guard hesitated, looked at Johan, then raised his weapon and smacked the butt against the side of Sal’s head.
She stumbled backwards and hit the wall.
Two of the Italians had been shot, but Ben couldn’t get close enough to check their injuries without drawing fire. Isobel and Johan grabbed the remaining two guards and knocked their heads together. Jenny pumped several electrical charges into their dazed bodies.
The commotion settled into an unnerving silence. Ben crawled over to Sal.
‘Kevin’s been hit,’ he said to Greyson.
Greyson went over to examine him while Ben checked on Sal. He let out a breath when she opened her eyes. He stood up and turned to Johan.
‘Where have they taken Albert?’
Johan studied his security console. ‘The Kings were worried about the implications of life support being turned back on in the neighbourhoods. They liked the control it gave them over the people. Glitchy life support, even if it wasn’t their fault, was another way to keep the population under control. Marcus took off with Albert. I don’t know where he went.’
‘We have to go after him.’ Ben’s voice strained with emotion. ‘Where would they go? Where would Marcus take him?’
Jenny pulled Ben to the side. ‘Listen to me. We’ll find Albert, but if we have any chance of surviving this, we need to put our plan into action. We need the Indigenes’ help to deliver the communication devices to the surrounding neighbourhoods.’ She turned to Johan and Isobel. ‘Are the rest willing to fight with us?’
Johan nodded. ‘They now believe you can help them. The devices you’re looking for are in a warehouse facility. We know where they are.’
‘You’re not seriously giving up on Albert, are you?’ said Ben. ‘We have to find him now before Marcus kills him.’ His hard gaze cut to Isobel. ‘Can’t you find him, you know, with your thoughts?’
Isobel shook her head. ‘I can no longer hear his thoughts. We have set off a chain reaction here and word will spread. We must prepare for retaliation and forewarn the neighbourhoods of what’s to come.’
Ben couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t hear his thoughts. Did that mean Albert was dead?
Isobel continued. ‘I’ll show Johan how to remove the device in the base of his skull. He can then pass the word on to the other Indigenes. In less than an hour, all the Indigenes in the New York area, and possibly beyond, should be able to communicate with each other. Johan will remain here until all the devices have been removed.’
Jenny spoke to Johan. ‘We will return for you all shortly. You’ll need a place to hide out while we battle the Kings and whatever other factions come calling. When we reclaim Waverley neighbourhood, we will bring you there as soon as we can. Are you okay staying here for a few days?’
Johan nodded. ‘As long as you keep your wor
d to return, yes. The Kings have most likely abandoned this place now.’
‘But Albert doesn’t have a few days,’ said Ben.
‘I agree with Ben,’ said Sal, wincing. ‘Albert is running out of time. That man is the only family Ben has.’
‘What we’ve done here is unforgivable,’ Isobel said to Ben. ‘We broke into Gaetano Agostini’s mansion, his sanctuary. They weren’t expecting us, nor were they expecting the Indigenes to help us. I sensed that from the guards. Otherwise, they would have prepared themselves better. But they were too cocky. They thought we wouldn’t care enough to come looking for Albert and the others. Your neighbourhood has been so passive until now.’
Ben gritted his teeth. ‘So, we just let Albert die? He stuck up for you, helped you when you had nothing.’
‘And now the criminals will retaliate and we must prepare for them,’ said Isobel. ‘They won’t waste time kidnapping people. If they can’t get inside the neighbourhoods, they will shoot people dead on the streets. I promise we will keep looking for Albert, but first we have to get out of here.’
Sal, Jenny and Greyson left the room.
‘Wait. What about Kevin?’ Ben looked down at the still form of his brother. His eyes were closed, and his chest no longer heaved.
‘I’m sorry, but he’s dead,’ said Greyson. ‘We have to leave him.’
‘What? No!’
Ben resisted when Sal pulled him out of the room. ‘I’m sorry, Ben. He was too injured. We’ll come back for him when things have died down.’
A dazed Ben allowed Sal to lead him away, and stepped over fallen guards. It shouldn’t have happened like this.
They exited through the front door and reached the edge of the force field. Johan had weakened the signal enough for them to pass through with less resistance than before.
When they arrived at the main gate, the car that had brought them to Astoria Park emerged from a side road. Ben climbed in after the others and it set off for Waverley.
‘We have to warn the vendors at the market,’ said Greyson. ‘They need time to prepare.’
Jenny nodded. ‘I agree.’
‘We must channel our resources into protecting the neighbourhoods now,’ said Isobel. ‘They must act as a sanctuary for anyone hiding from the factions. Marcus will regroup, bring more firepower. We need to weaken the factions’ life support and isolate them.’
