by Mike Essex
Why would anyone live here? I wondered. Was the need for shelter really worth the risk of exposure to the signal? It just showed how broken the world had become.
“What was London like before all of this?” I asked.
“This city,” said Tobias through Rex. “it wasn’t meant to be like this. Without the signal this never would have happened. London would have remained a glorious city and would have climbed out of recession.”
“So how can you blame the people who hurt you? Didn’t they only want to stop all of this?”
“There is no only want,” he replied. “The people who unleashed the signal only wanted to help save people’s lives when their twin died. The people who operated on me only wanted to make the world right again. Neither of them thought about the cost of what they were doing.”
“But they did save the world.”
“Yes and I am the cost of that. That is a cost that must be repaid.”
“So you plan to kill the people who did this to you?”
“Yes. Every last one of them,” said Tobias.
We entered a large expanse of green land. It was odd to see such a mass of countryside in the heart of the city. On the edges of the grass were large signs which read; ‘Olympic Park’
I’d seen photos of the Olympics in books at school. It had been one of the late great triumphs of London and Great Britain before the 20 Day Siege. The city had thrived and been at a high point in the years surrounding that event. Yet now those glory days were gone.
Many of the buildings that had housed events such as basketball, cycling and swimming had been torn down after the Olympics had finished. The legacy that remained after the events – a large river, beautiful green parks and a glorious stadium were no longer the same.
In the last twenty one years the grass had been uncared for. It has spiralled out of control creating dense green fields that looked like you could get lost in them. The river was now polluted and no longer had anyone who cared enough to clean it.
At the heart of this the stadium stood tall. It no longer looked a thrilling and inviting sight. With weeds, grass and tress spiralling wildly around it, it was a menacing image. A metal structure that had served as a viewing tower lay shattered on the ground, leaving pieces of broken metal and glass scattered through the grass.
There were no other tall buildings around for miles.
Whatever Tobias had planned, this was the place. I was sure of it.
Rufus and Rex walked me towards the stadium, towards an entrance with a ‘D’ letter above it. In front of the gate stood a man with blonde hair that curved around each side of his face. He was dressed in a light grey suit and impeccably well presented. His eyes were a bright blue. Whatever he was doing, he was doing it under his own free will.
“Welcome, Emmie. My name is Jacobs,” he said to me. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with us today. Tobias is waiting for you inside.”
Rex and Rufus started walking into the base. Tobias must have had something else planned for them.
“What will he do to my friends?” I asked.
“Those two?” Jacobs motioned to Rex and Rufus. “He’ll probably keep them alive for a bit. You seem to like them.”
He didn’t sound sure. I hoped I’d be able to repay some of the debt I owed Rex and Rufus for their earlier heroics. They didn’t deserve to be a part of this. This was between me and Tobias. R&R, Grace, March, Gabe, they were all at risk.
That’s why I’d travelled this far and why when Jacobs asked me to follow him I did it without fighting him. Whatever Tobias and this man wanted it may be the only way to save my friends.
“Tobias has waited six months for you,” said Jacobs. “He doesn’t like to be kept waiting but somehow you’ve avoided his detection for six months. How did you do it?”
“I had a little help,” I replied. It made me wonder for the first time that day whether The Deck would be trying to find me. I hoped they weren’t. Tobias had trusted me to come this far alone and if they arrived it could jeopardise everything.
The blonde haired man walked me through the D gate and we turned a corner into a room located under the main seats of the venue. He closed the door behind us and locked it.
He turned away from me and leaned forward. “What are you doing?” I asked. Then I saw the steam rise above him and as his mask melted away I recognised it instantly.
I stood up and walked towards him to see who he really was. He held out a hand to keep me back. I tried to push towards him but he kept me away.
“Sit down,” he said.
I sat and then he turned around.
There was only one word I could say when I saw him.
“Dad?”
FIFTY-FIVE
Grace Wilkerson
Gabe and Grace walked back to the central area of the Houses of Parliament unsure what they would find and how many of their team would have been injured.
What they saw surprised them.
There were no more orange eyed people. The Deck team had secured the area and everyone seemed to have returned to normal.
The have-nots were tending to their injured and Chris thought about how although these people had very little it was clear they understood the importance of family and friendship.
“Chris. What happened?” asked Grace.
“We don’t know,” he replied. “Suddenly everyone just stopped fighting and their eyes turned back to normal colours. Whatever was controlling them it’s gone now.”
“It’s not gone forever,” she showed Chris her phone. “We met someone downstairs who told us where we could find the source of the signal. It’s at this location.”
“But that’s the old Olympic park. Why would anyone go there?”
“Exactly. It’s out of the way and has a lot of land. You could build anything out there now that London is a lawless city.”
The Deck regrouped. Only nine of them remained, including Gabe, Grace, Chris and March. They walked outside and were instantly ambushed by a crowd of orange eyed people.
“Where do they keep coming from?” asked Gabe as he pushed off his attacker. “Use the lights.”
The Deck formed two circles one with five of them and the other with four and shone the light around them which helped stop any of their attackers temporarily.
“We can’t do this the entire way,” said Grace. “Look over there,” she pointed to an underground station with steps descending downwards.
“We’ll be trapped,” said Chris.
Grace pulled out her phone and dialled a number, being careful to keep the other hand held down on her weapon. “Jill?” she asked.
“No. It’s Kenan. Jill isn’t here.”
“Well where the heck is she?”
“We have no idea. Can I help?”
“The London Underground. Does it still run?” asked Grace.
“It was never fully deactivated if that’s what you mean,” he replied. “Jill trained me so I should be able to help.”
Grace could see the orange eyed men starting to work their way through the gaps in their defence. “We have to run,” she shouted.
The Deck turned and ran towards the underground station. “I’ll stop them,” said one of the team who stayed at the entrance and pointed his blue light outwards. “Run!”
The eight remaining team mates didn’t look back, there was no time to argue about what was the right action. They ran down the stairs into the main entrance. Grace looked at her phone and saw it dip down to one bar of signal. “Kenan, are you still there? If you are then I need you to activate the train from Westminster to Stratford on the Jubilee line. Can you hear me?”
There was no reply.
“Kenan?” shouted Grace. She looked at her phone and saw that her phone signal was gone. In the background she heard the scream as the team mate she had left behind was attacked.
There was nowhere else to run. The only way was down.
She ran towards Gabe. He asked if the train would be wai
ting for them on the platform and she said she wished she knew.
The eight remaining members of The Deck worked their way down to platform 5. The Jubilee line. As they reached the platform edge Grace had to stop herself from almost running off the edge in the darkness.
“Where is the train?” asked Gabe.
“I couldn’t get through,” replied Grace, with no idea what they could do next.
“We can’t go back up. How far is it if we walk through the tunnels?”
“It would take hours. Time Emmie doesn’t have.”
Behind them they could hear the footsteps coming. The platform had six separate entrances. There was no way they could cover them all. “We have to defend ourselves.”
They positioned a person at each entrance with two of the team ready to run to cover any problem areas. The entrances were bathed in blue light but the light was not wide enough to cover each entrance.
Although they managed to stop six separate attacks, it was futile. An orange eyed woman jumped through one of the gaps and punched March to the floor. Chris was the only person who wasn’t holding back an attacker so he dashed towards March and pushed the woman back into blue light shone by Grace.
“We can’t hold this line forever,” shouted Chris.
“Come on Kenan,” Grace hoped he had received the message.
They could hear more footsteps coming. A second wave of attackers and it sounded like more than they could handle.
“Retreat into the tunnels!” shouted Gabe.
“No, wait,” said Grace. She could hear a faint rumble coming towards them. It was different to the sound of the incoming wave of orange eyed people.
The team held the position and the rumble grew louder. Lights started to flicker in the tunnel.
Grace turned around and saw the train whizz into the station. It was fast. Worryingly fast and wasn’t slowing down.
It was only when the train had nearly passed the platform that the brake engaged. The train gave off sparks on the track as the wheels responded to the instant application of pressure at such high speeds.
The train began to slow down but overshot the platform. It roared past The Deck, leaving them stranded.
“We have to move,” shouted Gabe and this time Grace agreed. They lowered their weapons instantly freeing the first wave of orange eyed people, just as the second wave appeared.
The team jumped off the platform and ran towards the train as it finally reached a stop. Their pursuers did the same and chased after them.
Grace reached the doors first and tried to pry them open. She wasn’t strong enough and they stayed shut. Gabe grabbed hold as well and the two of them tried to open them but even their combined strength was not enough.
As the orange eyed people ran down the tracks March dropped his backpack to the floor. “Everyone focus on the train doors. I’ve got this,” he said. The rest of the team struggled with the door.
March pulled a large light from his backpack and held it in front of him. An orange eyed person stood in front of him and spoke. “I trusted you March.”
March flicked a switch and a huge blue beam of light filled the tunnel. It covered every crack and allowed The Deck enough time to open the door. They worked their way inside and Gabe found a control panel.
“Come on March,” shouted Grace.
He started to walk backwards, being sure to keep the light steady and not break the coverage the light had made.
Grace held out her hand ready to help March onto the train. “You can do it,” she said.
March made the last few steps without error and then turned around to grab Grace’s hand. As he was pulled upwards on the train the light flickered and it gave the orange eyed people the chance to attack.
They instantly went for the light, grabbing it from March and throwing it to the floor. The glass lens shattered as it hit the hard concrete. “No!” shouted March in shock.
They kicked the lens until it broke completely and then tossed the light backwards down the tunnel. It was now surrounded by fifteen orange eyed people.
“We have to get it back,” said March but Grace held him back. She gave a thumbs up to Gabe who pushed forward on the train’s control panel and moved them down the tunnel.
“Without that there’s no way we can stop the signal,” said March.
“It’s gone. It’s not worth your life,” replied Grace, hoping that March was wrong.
March looked at the light as it was left in the distance. He had a plan B but it didn’t bear thinking about.
FIFTY-SIX
Emmie Keyes
“Dad?” Although those words left my mouth I didn’t know what to believe.
I hadn’t seen my father for five years. Not since he abandoned us over the guilt of my mother’s death, yet this man in front of me was now identical to him.
“Is that really you?” I asked, unsure if this was some kind of trick. This man had had a totally different face seconds ago.
The steam had stopped coming from his face and it was unmistakable. He looked so similar. He looked like my Dad.
“Emmie,” he said. “It’s me.”
I stood up in shock. “You abandoned us!” I shouted. “And now I find out you’ve been working for this villain. What happened to you?” I felt fuelled by rage and questions flooded through my brain. How could he leave us? Was this really going to avenge my mother’s death? Working for the man who had killed Will?
“Just tell me he’s controlling you. Tell me he forced you to do this,” I shouted. “Just tell me something to make sense of this.”
“No. I am working for him under my own free will. Working with Tobias is the best way to get payback for what happened to your mother.”
“But how?”
“Tobias is the reason your mother is dead,” he replied. “Tobias killed her and by working with him I can stop him before he hurts anyone else.”
“No Dad. The 20 Day Siege killed her. It wasn’t Tobias’ fault.”
“In time you will see that it was. He is just as guilty as the people who started the signal on that day. I’ve seen what he is capable of. He killed your brother and he’ll hurt you too.”
“He has said he will protect me. That there are people out there who want to hurt me. I have to at least talk to him.”
“The only people you can trust now are The Deck.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Because I fund them,” he replied.
“What?” I shouted. “You are in charge of The Deck?”
“Yes. That’s how I’ve been able to keep you safe all of this time. They are my private army in monitoring Tobias and watching after you. Why do you think they hold you in such high esteem? Miss King of Clubs? It’s because I told them to protect you.”
I didn’t know what to say. All of this time my father had been alive and had been watching out for me, whilst he tried to get justice for my mother.
“You could have told us you were alive!” I shouted. “Why didn’t you send me a message?”
“No. I couldn’t. It would have blown my cover,” he replied. “That’s why I’ve been working for Tobias for three years. I’ve slowly gained his trust and helped fund his research. It’s given me a front row seat for his latest experiment.”
“But how do you have so much money?”
“I found someone who hates Tobias as much as I do. He has his own motivations for wanting him stopped and so he was more than happy to help,” he said, not giving away any names. “I know this is a shock but I need you to do exactly what I tell you. I promise I will tell you everything as soon as Tobias is stopped.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You know how much your mother’s death affected me Emmie. You saw me during my worst times and you know I would do anything to get her back. I now finally have the chance to get revenge. This is the man who killed your mother and brother. We can stop him.”
He placed a box on the table. On the side it said �
�Skin 1.5’. “It’s not as advanced as the tech Grace has but it’s gotten me this far,” he scooped a pink blob of skin from the box and turned back into the blonde haired man I had seen earlier.
It was like a bizarre dream. For a brief moment I had my father back and now he had morphed into someone else. He left the room and promised to return. I stared at the dark room and wondered how my life had changed so much.
FIFTY-SEVEN
Grace Wilkerson
“There it is!” shouted Grace as she pointed towards the Olympic park in the distance.
Chris, Grace, Gabe, March and the handful of remaining Deck team members ran towards the park and the stadium ahead.
“That’s the location marked on the map,” said Grace.
“And if it’s a trap?” asked Chris.
“Then as least we’ll meet the people who have Emmie,” she replied. “We can still get answers one way or the other.”
As the park got closer they could see people standing between them and the stadium.
“There’s a welcome committee,” said Gabe.
“I doubt they will be very welcoming,” replied Grace and they were soon close enough to see orange eyes across the crowd.
“There must be fifty of them,” said Chris. “We can’t take them.”
“We don’t have to,” said Gabe. “We just have to get past them and into the stadium.”
“Then what?”
“Find Emmie no matter what the cost.”
The group formed into a circle and walked towards the crowd of orange eyed people. The crowd ran towards them and they aimed their guns outwards emitting a circular ray of blue light that temporarily stopped their attackers in their tracks.
In no time The Deck were surrounded but they held their ground and continued to force their way through the crowd.
“The door is just up ahead,” said Gabe.
No one looked for the door. They kept their focus on the targets and walked one foot next to each other, slowly and carefully. A tumble or fall would mean the line would be broken and they would be attacked.