“Where are you going?” Samuel called after him.
“To collect my part of the deal.”
- -
Catlin
She was alone in the medical bay, seated on the floor with a blank look to her face.
Dr. Paul lay on the floor, along with two others, all dead where they’d dropped only moments before. On the bed, the former boss of Destiny lay.
Also dead.
Catlin was plonked on the floor for at least half an hour before she moved, and only then to get a sheet from the cupboard and cover the remains of Ma’am. She’d been sitting there staring at it for far too long before realising she should’ve covered it up.
It was a horrible, bloody mess and the second time she’d had to witness murder that day. She wasn’t sure what drove Sousa to do it, but she could tell he wouldn’t care if she asked. Somehow, she thought he was also responsible for what happened back in the street with the steel net. That somehow, he might’ve deliberately not engaged his explosive device and caused the net to fall incorrectly.
But why would anyone want to create such a mess? What possible purpose could there have been other than to satisfy some perverted, psychotic delusions.
After she’d covered the bloody mess that remained she sat back down in a corner of the room, resting her chin in between her hands. She didn’t care what anyone else was doing, or what was going on in the world, she only cared about the thoughts that were meandering inside her head. The world that she was now a part of.
Mark, Peter and Ursula dead. Three dead doctors on the floor, who knows how many others in the facility.
Ma’am, or Lucinda … shot dead in front of her. Clearly taken before her purpose was achieved.
Sousa, the killer, off chasing some power rubbish with Samuel and Fahwad.
And then there was her, Catlin, destination unknown.
Catlin thought she had it all, an exhilarating, adventure riddled life. She’d travelled to most parts of the world, met all manner of people and had amazing memories. If ever one could’ve dreamt a perfect existence in the world, she had lived it.
Then life had suddenly turned dangerous and she’d somehow ended up in Destiny, seemingly at the beginning of a new journey, a new life with a grand purpose.
Then that too was taken from her, before she’d even had a chance to settle in, a chance to learn about the great mystery of the threads. And not only that, she was led to believe she was brought in to run things, to be a driving force. But that dream vanished when the facility was abandoned, when the staff abandoned her.
She’d felt lost, ever since this had started. She didn’t even know who she was anymore, life had been so much simpler when she was back in Africa.
The woman laying opposite her had alluded to something, before she’d been shot in the head by Sousa. Lucinda had made a point of trying to convey some sort of a message on her death bed, but she’d passed before she could tell Catlin anything.
“Special child … special parents …” Lucinda had said. “Father …” were the last words Lucinda was ever to utter.
Why take the trouble, in her last moments to raise a question, to make matters worse? And what exactly had she meant by the use of her words? It put her in quite a reflective state, and Catlin wondered back over many events, especially on some of the conversations she’d had in the past.
She remembered her training on the threads with Ursula and how they’d brought up the wrong thread. Ursula had later said that she couldn’t find Catlin’s thread but didn’t know why.
Ursula had also let slip, several times, that perhaps things weren’t as Catlin was led to believe, she remembered the last time they spoke she referring to her as being exactly like her mother. At the time it hadn’t made sense, but when Catlin recalled the time with Marion near death, something clicked.
Marion said Lucinda had absorbed some power and afterwards had taken more than a passing interest in Catlin’s wellbeing. Marion claimed Catlin’s good fortune during this time wasn’t luck, that she had someone protecting her.
Could Lucinda have been behind that? Was she protecting her from the facility? Or was there indeed something special about her. Catlin also knew herself, knew she never really got injured, not like everyone else.
Even as she sat on the cold floor of the medical bay, the wounds from the glass shards in Melbourne were dissipating, now almost fully healed without a scar to show.
Why wasn’t anyone telling her anything?
Why was she really brought here?
Who was Catlin Conley?
Almost as if someone had heard her thoughts, footsteps echoed loudly in the hallway, coming in her direction. Sousa entered the room in a hurry, storming in with a look of intent on his face.
“She’s dead,” Catlin whispered. “I don’t know what she wanted to tell me.”
“Screw that bitch, she had it coming.” He moved towards her.
She looked up at him and noticed the bulge in his pants, he looked down at himself and then back at her. Sousa didn’t wait for any kind of signal, he just moved towards Catlin stealthily with a set look on his face.
Catlin didn’t know what to make of the advancing Sousa, she’d felt the same urges herself but didn’t expect him to walk into the room. She sat with a confused look on her face as he approached, her heart thumping a million miles an hour.
“Sousa?”
“Yes,” he replied, coming right up close to meet her.
“What are you doing?”
“Something I should have done already,” he replied, leaning down and grabbing her hand.
She tried to pull it away but he’d taken a firm hold and pulled her up off the floor easily. Now standing he grabbed at her hips, pulling her close into him and advancing towards her with his mouth.
“Hey, wait a minute,” she whispered.
Catlin could hear objections coming from her mind but her mouth failed to announce them with any severity. All she could feel was a warm sensation from between her legs, the impulse of her heart controlling her. Sousa ignored what she said and inched in slowly.
She felt his member as they brushed together and herself go weak with desire, her legs threatening to topple. She looked up at him demurely and slowly inched forward, her lips parted as well.
“Sousa?”
“What my darling?” he nudged her ear.
Despite the desire flooding through her, she couldn’t help thinking back on Ursula and what she’d said to her the last time they spoke. She’d accused Catlin of being the same as her mother, being more of an obstacle to the situation.
Was she right? Was she just stuffing everything up?
The more she thought of it the less she wanted to, meaning there was probably some truth to it. She’d always had so much confidence in herself that she never really thought she was fallible, but recent evidence was contrary to that.
Her actions had cost people’s lives. She’d been responsible for Destiny falling into government hands. Peter had died because of her. She’d left Marion on the mountaintop. She’d gotten Ursula killed and then she’d stabbed the black man, saving Fahwad and Sousa in the process.
She was supposed to help the black man.
The more she thought of it the more she realised Ursula was right.
She was useless. Everything she touched turned to ash. She was tainted.
“Sousa?”
“Mmm,” he mumbled, grabbing at her clothes.
“Why did you say that you’ve wanted me for so long?”
“What?”
“Back in the apartment, the first time we met …”
“Because.”
“Because why?”
“Because for years I watched you, from the background.” He cupped her face in his hands.
“What?” she pushed
him back, out of reach.
“Ma’am, that’s why she brought me to the installation, to watch over you, to protect you.”
“Oh my, are you serious?”
“Yes Catlin, I kept you safe all those years. I stopped many bad things from happening to you, but I was never allowed to reveal myself to you. I had to stay hidden, but always I was there, watching you, protecting you.” He moved forward again, the bulge starting to protrude from his black fatigues.
“The hell …?”
“Ja.”
“Wait, so why didn’t you help me out in Africa, when I really needed help.” Again, she pushed him back, preventing him from advancing on her.
“Who do you think killed all those government men who came for you?”
“I mean after that.”
“After that, I was told to get to the airport.”
“The airport?” she wondered, “Johannesburg?”
“Sydney.” He reached again, unsuccessfully for her, getting more frustrated with the rejections by the second.
“You were there when I came back?”
“How do you think you got out of the airport?”
“Huh?”
“Who do you think killed Mark?”
Catlin’s face went white. “What?”
“Ja, you heard me.” He replied, rubbing his hands over her hips forcibly.
“Why?”
“Orders, why else?” He thrust himself towards her.
“You knew he was my brother, why did you kill him?”
“He wasn’t your brother. And I killed him because I was ordered to. Plus, he was a bloody turncoat anyway.”
“What?”
“A turncoat, fibber, tell-tale.” He grunted, dry humping her leg. “He was the one who told the government about you in the first place.”
“Bullshit!”
“Ja, whatever hey, I don’t care.”
“Screw you Sousa.” She slapped him, hard across the face.
The strike didn’t seem to bother him, but the persistent resistance from Catlin did and Sousa’s advances became more aggressive. When she rejected him once more, Sousa grabbed her by the throat and forced her against the wall, ripping at her top with his other hand and exposing her soft white breasts underneath.
He buried his head in between them, sucking and licking at them whilst grunting. But his joy was short-lived, as Catlin clawed at his ears with her fingernails. Screaming, Sousa pulled back painfully and backhanded her across the face. He hit her with such force that the blow sent Catlin cascading to the floor.
“Sousa!” she yelled, gathering herself. “Stop it!”
He followed and hit her again, this time with a closed fist, the strike powerful enough to break the skin of her nose and send a gush of blood to the floor. Sousa used the moment to quickly rip at her pants with one hand, whilst freeing himself from his own with the other.
Within moments he was on top, forcing her legs apart and driving himself forcefully inside her. Catlin tried to wriggle free but every time she moved he would thump her hard in the face, stunning her. Consciousness became a dream as he forced himself inside her, having his way.
“You’re mine now Catlin,” he grunted between thrusts. “We’re finally together.”
She was powerless to stop it, she fought him at every moment but his strength was too great for her. After a few grunts he spent himself quickly and rolled off straight away, gathering his breeches and rising to leave.
He left her bleeding on the floor, naked and alone.
It was quiet in the facility when she regained her consciousness. She dazedly got herself back up and tried to cover herself but her clothes were ruined, so she used a nearby sheet to wrap herself in instead.
Walking back down the hallway towards the staff quarters to find clothes, she noticed somebody splayed out on the floor in the hallway, dead. Bodies lay in various places as she went, but she didn’t feel anything for them as she recognised them.
They were all people she recognised from before and they were all people who’d abandoned her when she’d taken over Destiny. She felt no sorrow for them. Whatever happened to them, they deserved it as far as she was concerned.
She did wonder why she was still alive though, it appeared as though everyone but her, Sousa and Samuel had been affected.
“Special child …” Lucinda had said.
As she paced the hallway she heard a loud knock come from the sleeping quarters and went to see who it was that was making the noise, hopeful that someone else was still alive. As she entered she thought she could hear noises coming from the staff quarters and moved there with intrigue.
Reaching the door, the knocks became voices, clear ones belonging to men. Catlin opened the door quickly and three men looked up at her in complete surprise.
“You?” Catlin said as she recognised the first one, recognising him by his perfumed smell, “… and you too!” she recognised another, the big guy from the street back in Melbourne.
“Who the hell is this?” a third man with large glasses asked.
“Ah, it’s you again.” Yonas smiled from behind, recognising Catlin, “Looks like you’re in a spot of bother there, come at a bad time did we?” he commented, noticing her in nothing but a sheet.
She instinctively wrapped the sheet tighter. “What are you doing here?” she challenged him. “And how did you get in?”
Yonas was casual in his reply as another man came from behind and joined them in the room. “There’s another passage, behind us.”
“I know, but how did you get in there?”
“The passage.”
“Passage to where?”
“Looking for a way out are we dear?” He smiled down at her.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Yonas, who is this?” A man with the glasses asked.
“No one important,” came the response. “Let’s keep going.”
Catlin was shocked at the response, it was a low blow, delivered intentionally by Yonas to hurt her. He knew she didn’t treat well to rejection and was surprised, in her condition, that he’d treated her thus.
“Hey!” She instinctively tried to stop them, but Iegar stepped forward and glared at her menacingly.
“You know what, whatever you’re doing here, I don’t give a crap.” She backed away to the side, realising she didn’t care for trouble anymore.
“What’s the matter lady?” Yonas mocked her. “Strung out?”
She ignored the insult, “Did you guys come from in there?” she said, pointing to a small passageway that lay open.
“Yes,” the bigger guy responded.
“And where does it go?”
“To the other end,” Yonas replied, still with a surly look on his face.
“Where does it go asshole?” she barked.
“Follow it, it will take you back to the surface.”
“Out of here, to the mountain top?”
“Yes.”
“Right then,” she said, as if to say get out of my way.
“You won’t stop us?”
“I’m sick of playing games mister … just get the hell out of my way,” she wiped at the tears streaking down her face
“Come on,” Yonas moved on, walking past her. “Let’s leave the cry baby alone.”
Catlin ignored the comment, allowing them to pass and moving inside the tunnel herself, crawling her way along until reaching the room on the other side.
Oh no! she gasped, dropping her sheet and falling to the ground, noticing a body on the cave floor.
Marion.
Catlin quickly checked her for a pulse, for a sign that she was breathing. But Marion was cold as ice.
Now everyone truly is gone, everyone is lost and I’m all alone.
This is all my fault
. Oh Marion, I’m so sorry.
Seeing Marion on the floor only solidified in Catlin’s mind the negativity already in there, Ursula was right all along.
She was useless.
Sousa had given her a glimmer of hope, only he destroyed it in an instant of passion. Catlin cried as she thought of him atop her. She cried again when the image of Ursula’s decapitated head flashed into her mind, along with images of all the others she’d lost. Life was truly lost to her.
And the life she had lived before coming here had been a sheltered one, someone from this facility watching over her the whole time. Had they revived her? Was she meant to have died already?
Catlin resolved herself quickly.
No more shit, it was time to end this, why wallow in misery when you can end it. If Destiny had truly been the reason she was still here, still alive, then she didn’t want to exist as a part of it.
Taking a moment to bend over and kiss Marion’s forehead, Catlin rose and exited the tunnel, up along the ladder to the surface.
She recognised where she was straight away, as it wasn’t too far from where she’d exited the previous tunnel not so long ago. She looked up the escarpment and moved with haste up the to the ledge of the mountain, coming right to the edge of a cliff.
Catlin sighed deeply at the great drop in front of her but wasted no time in deliberation, she promptly dropped the sheet, removed her torn clothing and threw it all over the edge.
Standing naked on the precipe, looking above, she wondered why it suddenly started raining again. It was as if Earth mirrored her moods.
But the rain only distracted her momentarily, she took a step forward and leapt from the ledge, allowing gravity to do its work.
She stepped right off the cliff, this her only solution to her pain, to the problems she’d had to deal with.
Catlin fell through the air with eyes closed and felt the troubles begin to leave her as she plummeted three hundred feet to the rocky floor below her.
With too many things to bear Catlin had decided there was only one way out.
She chose to end her life.
- -
Sousa
Sousa’s first thoughts upon rising were of Fahwad, for he’d simply left him back in the secret cave whilst he came after Catlin. As he collected his fatigues and put them on, he looked at her unconscious body and licked his lips. He savoured the smell of her on his lips and excitement threatened to overwhelm him again.
Recalling Destiny Page 71