by G S Banks
I scream.
‘Stop!’
Matias’ head rolls back as a red streak lights up along his neck.
‘She came here herself,’ he croaks.
‘Not true!’
Matias looks at me.
‘Your sister is here. I’ve seen her. She’s in the Burrows, with the Rabbits, deep underground… There’s a lift, near the atrium…’
The guard whips back his arm again and before there is a chance to say anymore he hits Matias again across the neck with another excruciating crunch. Matias’ head lolls forward, bruised and quiet, eyes closed. The guard peers at his face. Then he turns to face me.
‘Doesn’t matter what he tells you. You’re never getting out of here.’
He raises his weapon high in the air and stalks toward me. I steel myself for an almighty blow, but then, through the corner of my eye I see the outline of someone familiar appearing from the whiteness of the wall close to the door. Then, one by one, in lightning quick succession, the three other guards drop to the floor. I begin shouting, wailing … trying to cover the noise of their falls; to keep the attention on me. Meanwhile in the background I sense the figure getting closer … raise its arms and pound down on the back of the guard’s head. There is a bewildered look on his face before he too drops to the floor. His Electron spins across the ground.
‘Nina!’
Lucy, her face intent. Her eyes flashing scarlet.
‘He said Kelci is here!’ I say, pointing at Matias. ‘He told me where she is…’
‘We have to go now,’ says Lucy.
She grabs the Electron then makes a lunge towards the door flinging it open to reveal James already moving into the room looking extremely edgy, his eyes landing on me.
‘This place is insane!’ he shouts. ‘It’s worse than my uncle Steve’s house! And that’s really saying something.’
He bounces over to me and grabs hold of me by the shoulders.
‘Matias,’ I say. ‘We have to help him. He’s a Horse. He just saved me and told me where Kelci is.’
I lurch across the table. I touch his cheek but there is nothing, his face is smooth against my fingers but there’s no animation there, nothing at all.
‘Matias! No!’
‘We have to go, Nina,’ says Lucy. ‘Now.’
‘But… He’s an Anitar…’
I lift my hand to his neck, searching for the beat of life in him. There’s nothing. A sob rises up in my throat but before I have the chance to say anything Lucy is lifting me at the elbows. Here’s a boy I didn’t even know, willing to give his life to protect me, the mission, Muldoon and my sister. All of it. Hot tears well up in my eyes and I place my hand on his face which is still warm and soft.
‘We won’t let them win,’ I whisper to him. ‘I promise.’
I look at the guard lying on the floor his face turned upwards with his nose glowing. With that Lucy takes a tight grip on my hand and with James at our side she leads me out into the blank, white corridor.
25. Why, Thank you
Twelve days since Kelci was taken, Lotus Corporation
We race down the corridor but my mind stays with Matias, in the room whose door is slipping away as we hurtle down the hallway. I think of his lips held tight even when that guard was about to end his life. That last blow to his neck. The sickening sound of the crack. The walls whizz by, Lucy swirls ahead and James runs close at my heels. I have no idea where we’re going. In my head I hear the sound of Terence’s body hitting the street. I see the way he looked moments before he was gone.
‘There was nothing I could do,’ I say.
My breathing is coming out in pants. Lucy turns to look at me, frowning.
‘Of course there wasn’t Nina. Their weapons are deadly.’
‘No, I mean…’
My voice trails off. Lucy drags us to the corner of the hallway and grabs hold of my shoulders. James’ face hovers over her shoulder, looking at me.
‘Damn, girl,’ he says. ‘You did what you could for that guy. That ugly guard killed him. Not you. He wanted to help you, he told you where your sister is. I say let him help you and let’s get out of here.’
‘Nina,’ says Lucy, eyes searching. ‘Next we have to find Alisdair.’
The sound of his name is like a slap in the face. Alisdair. His face swims into my head and it’s like seeing a shadowy apparition rise up out of the gloom. He’s not here, with us. He’s… god knows where.
‘Alisdair…’
‘Yes,’ replies Lucy. ‘And Kelci.’
I wince. I see Kelci’s face swirling up to replace Alisdair’s. I reach for the glasses case tucked in my trouser pocket.
‘I just wish I could’ve…’
Lucy’s frown melts and she curls a strand of my hair around my right ear as her eyes glow violet.
‘I know you do,’ she says. ‘But don’t let his death be in vain.’
‘Yes sir, I could not agree more,’ says James, nodding his head.
I frown, then nod.
‘Ok, ok.’
I rub my eyes and shake my head from side to side.
‘Now where did they take that big wild cat friend of ours?’ says James.
‘I don’t know,’ I reply.
Did they wheel in another Horse to interrogate him? They won’t make Alisdair talk that way, but how far will things go? They killed someone in an effort to get answers from me. How many of those Electron blasts until a person ends up in the ‘Specimens’ section? A new wave of panic rises up.
‘Let’s try the East part,’ says Lucy, pointing to the nearest door. ‘We haven’t been there yet.’
‘Ok, yes,’ I say, hardly recognising the croaky tones of my own voice.
I feel Lucy’s hand holding mine, freezing and delicate.
‘The only way to the East side is through there,’ she says, pointing to the nearest door.
We nod. Lucy whips out a security card and swipes it through the entry system. The door glides open with a hiss and we walk through, finding ourselves in a cramped passageway which is set high up near the ceiling of a cavernous room covered in screens. I gasp. Far below there are people hovering by banks of workstations, some huddled in little groups, talking.
‘Look at all those glum-faced freaks,’ hisses James.
‘Shhhh!’ says Lucy. ‘You’ve got to shut up some of the time.’
James glares at her but he does shut up. We shuffle along and no one looks up towards the balcony, they’re too intent on whatever it is they’re doing down there. Regardless, the three of us crouch down below the barrier. I glimpse a map of the world flashing on the largest screen but there’s no time to take in the details. We scrabble along the passageway picking up the pace as we go. Eventually all three of us slip out the door to the other side.
We head for the east side of the building, hiding around corners, slipping into doorways and ducking inside rooms for cover. It doesn’t take much longer to reach the ‘Research’ area and without a pause Lucy begins to check each of the rooms.
‘Alisdair,’ she says eventually, her voice grave. ‘In there.’
My stomach lurches. Lucy has turned pale and her hair is snow-white. I try to calm my breathing. There are four people in there, she tells us. Three guards fully kitted up with Electrons and a woman hovering around Alisdair, ‘doing things to him’. I try not to choke at the thought of him in there. Doing what things to him? We line up – Lucy nearest the door, me next, then James. My muscles tense in preparation.
We blast into the room. Alisdair is as Lucy said – laid out on a bed, strapped down, with a band across his mouth. The three guards hover in the corners of the room and the women hangs around Alisdair next to some grim, pristine looking machines. I sense Lucy and James behind me. Immediately, one of the guards shoots me with a bolt of electricity, sending me flying across the room, smashing into a wall. A shock of pain travels from my neck to my legs. I touch my head and feel a wetness there. Blood, sticking to my hair.
>
‘Nina!’ cries Lucy.
I manage to open my eyes for a second, in time to see her dodge another shock of electricity. She races towards the wall and disappears from sight. James dives towards Alisdair on the bed but before he can get there one of the guards hits him with his Electron across the back and the other guard zaps him with a jolt of electricity, making him judder and fall to the floor. The unarmed woman, by the bed, stares open mouthed at him writhing around beneath her. I’m weak, so weak I can barely move. All three guards pull James up, hitting him and kicking him, as Alisdair lies motionless on the bed. We’re all going to be caught.
Just as I’m trying to lift myself back up, out of the corner of my eye I see Lucy’s little body whipping through the air so fast I can barely make her out – I just see the guards dropping James to the floor and then themselves, dropping to the floor as they try to fend her off. She’s so quick … and now she has one of their Electrons, which she turns on them, letting out a wild cry as she hovers over them, shooting wildly. She pivots to the unarmed woman too and turns the Electron on to her. The guards and the woman are quiet now, laid out on the floor. James picks himself up. I feel my head once more, feeling woozy from the sight of more blood on my hand, but I manage to pull myself up, sensing some strength coming back to me. I drag myself over to them and turn to Lucy.
‘That was seriously badass,’ I say.
‘Why thank you, Nina,’ she says, in a sweet voice, grinning.
The three of us move over to Alisdair. His shirt hangs open with lots of wired up monitor things clinging to his chest, all of which I remove in one disgusted motion.
‘What were they doing to you?’ I whisper.
His eyes open.
James rips the band from across his mouth and works his way downwards removing all of the restraints.
‘Nina.’
Relief washes over me.
‘We’re here.’
He gives me a weary smile. I touch his brow. It feels unnaturally cold.
‘Are you ok?’
He nods, looks me over.
‘What about you? What did they do to you?’
I shake my head.
‘I’m ok.’
He nods again then holds his head and sits up. Lucy runs into his arms.
‘You’re ok,’ she says, looking up at him as he strokes her hair.
He gives her a little smile and looks around, taking us all in. He looks surprised when he sees the groaning bodies below.
‘You guys have been busy,’ he says, raising his eyebrows.
‘It was all Lucy,’ I say.
‘Lucy?’ he says, looking at his sister.
She shrugs her shoulders.
‘Oh, you know, it’s my job to look out for my brother sometimes.’
He ruffles her hair. Then he edges off the bed, moving stiffly and putting his arm around my neck. I feel the bare skin of his shoulder against my cheek. And I become burningly aware of his bare chest right next to mine. Without my permission my cheeks are getting hot, and I’m praying no one can see.
‘Did you find Kelci yet?’ he says right into my ear as we stagger towards the door.
‘No,’ I reply.
He squeezes my shoulders.
‘I’d say it’s about time we did.’
Together we tumble out the door, Alisdair and I first, followed by Lucy and James. There’s no one in sight but I hear voices around the corner. Loud voices. Tense. Familiar.
‘Heather,’ I say, breathless. ‘Ben.’
I hear exclamations around me and we swarm as one around the corner, following the voices. Sure enough there they are – Ben and Heather battling it out with three guards, dodging Electron rays, throwing kicks and punches. The Fox and the Bear. My heart rises. I crane my neck to see if maybe, just maybe, they have Kelci but she is nowhere to be seen. We race towards them and just as Heather delivers a final whip-like blow to the last guard, catapulting him to the ground, she turns to face us, exposing a cut down the side of her face. Heavy breaths fall from her mouth and she frowns, startled, as though ready to keep up the fight.
Without turning to him, her hand reaches for Ben who spins to face us. His hulking frame rises and falls with each hefty breath. Their bodies kind of sag in relief. Up close they look bedraggled with their clothes torn and half of Ben’s top is burnt; Heather with blood on her hands, as well as her face, and bright streaky marks across her wrists. Ben has a dark swollen bruise on the right side of his neck and it looks as though some of his hair and a bit of his right eyebrow have been burnt off.
‘Right on cue, people,’ says Heather, pulling herself together then placing a hand on her hip.
She checks over her shoulder, as does Ben.
‘Did they capture you?’ I say.
‘Briefly.’
‘I know where they’re keeping Kelci,’ I say.
‘You do?’ she says, echoed by Alisdair and Ben too.
But before I get the chance to go on, she raises an eyebrow. Then she cocks her head to the side.
‘Do you hear that?’ she says.
We fall silent. There’s a rhythmic kind of rumbling sound.
‘Footsteps,’ says Lucy.
James curses loudly. A ripple of apprehension works it’s way through the group. We stare at each other for a moment as the sound grows. Before we have a chance to move I spot them. A thick swarm of guards, all armed and all headed in our direction.
26. Deathly Quiet
Twelve days since Kelci was taken, Lotus Corporation
The first thing I am aware of is Heather grabbing me by the arm, putting a weapon into my hands and willing me forwards at top speed.
‘We know a place with more room, we’ll have to take them on there. We’ll be destroyed in this corridor.’
We all run, side by side. I turn to see the uniformed mass behind us, bearing down with pulsing footsteps. We run towards the huge atrium, the same one Alisdair and I came through when we first arrived and I see the doors for the lift that Matias described. The way to Kelci! But there’s no way I can get to it now. We arrive in the atrium and see that there are stairways running across the walls, held in by long, curved balconies. We catapult into the space with such force the people who have been wandering around dressed in their tunics scatter immediately. Heather yells instructions – Alisdair and Ben to remain on the ground, James and Lucy up to the lowest set of stairs and Heather and I up to a higher level. And so I stand here on the white steps looking down as the bodies pour into the space below. My fingers shake as my right hand touches the balcony. All of the guards are heavily armed.
They trample in, stony faced, determined. Where have they all come from? We can’t fend all of them off. I wipe the sweat from my brow – almost too tense to notice the heaviness of my aching limbs. The guards are moments away from Alisdair, who stands tall as they come towards him. I can just see Lucy on the other balcony, her hair flashing rainbow-like. James is hopping madly and I hope he doesn’t bounce over the edge. Ben runs a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face, and lets out a low growl. At least fifty of these guards must have entered the space before one of them, slightly taller, slightly broader than the rest raises his voice.
‘We are giving you one chance to step down and come with us.’
His eyes flicker from left to right beneath heavy brows. A long pause follows until I catch a look from Heather who is clearly urging me to respond.
‘We will do no such thing,’ I say, trying to sound authoritative.
Their leader locates me with his glare, craning his neck up to see me.
‘You are trespassing. It will be better for you all to come forward peacefully. Otherwise, my men will be forced to use all means available to them.’
His neck looks like that of a rooster, crinkled and flapping.
‘We will not surrender.’
He turns to his men. I see Lucy out of the corner of my eye. She discreetly points from herself to the guards as if asking
my permission to move. I turn to her and nod. She rushes to the wall then disappears. The front guards spring forward, followed immediately by those behind them. They hold out their weapons, charging towards Ben and Alisdair. I see that already, at the front of the throng, that guards are falling to the ground, as if tripped by invisible wires, which I can only presume is Lucy working her way through the crowd. Bodies circle Alisdair and Ben as they begin to lunge and kick. I see Alisdair take a hit across his face, which is so painful to watch, it may as well have been me. James catapults himself into the fray and disappears into the sea of grey. I feel the weapon in my hands and prepare myself to go down there and fight. Then I hear Heather, beside me, shouting over the din.
‘You have to go get Kelci.’
‘I can’t do that now!’ I shout, gesturing towards the ground. ‘They’ve sent an army. I have to help. None of us will find her if we’re dead…’
She grabs me by both arms.
‘No, and that’s why you need to go, right now, to get her. Most of the guards will be here. We’ll keep them occupied. I’ll help you get out of here but you must go, now!’
‘Alone?’
I feel the blood drain from my face.
‘The rest of us will have to stay here.’
I search her sculpted face, those foxy eyes. Now I need to trust this girl with my life? With my sister’s life? As though she knows what I am thinking, she says:
‘I’ve come this far with you, Nina. I want us to complete this mission and return to Muldoon alive. This is the best plan we have now.’
I look down at the fighting. I don’t see James, I don’t see Lucy.
‘I can’t do it alone, I don’t have any powers! It’s just me,’ I say. ‘I just can’t.’
What if I get there and I can’t help her? What if there’s nothing I can do? What if I don’t even get to her? Heather grabs hold of my wrist.
‘You have to try,’ says Heather, squeezing my wrists.
I look at the commotion below and can’t imagine how all of us would ever get to this underground place unseen. It dawns on me… it’s like chess: I can’t afford to get caught up in the distractions, I just can’t. I have to go for the piece that wins the game. Kelci. Heather knows that and I hate to admit it, but I do too. I nod quietly. There’s just no avoiding what needs to be done. Heather nods back at me and squeezes a security card into my hand.
