The Unleashed

by Sarah Dalton

  Daniel rushed through the door. He lifted his gun and clenched his jaw.

  “You’ve come back to me,” Mum said. Her voice faltered, it was high, breathy and full of panic. She eyed Daniel’s gun warily. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “No you’re not,” I spat. “You couldn’t give a toss. If you cared about me, you’d be out there searching for me. You’d be getting her to call off the army. What’s Phase 2?”

  Mrs Murgatroyd smirked. “None of your business, little girl. Why don’t you run along and play with the clone army?” Her slug-like lips parted to reveal her teeth in more of a grimace than a smile. “This is grown up time now.”

  “Don’t talk to my daughter like that,” Mum snapped. She moved towards me.

  “Stay back!” Daniel shifted so that he was level with me and aimed his gun at Mum.

  Mum raised her hands. “All right. I’ll just stay where I am, Daniel.”

  “This is ridiculous,” said Ethan. “Let me go at once. I’m still the Minister of the GEM.”

  “No one cares, Ethan, don’t you get it? No one cares about you and your Ministry anymore. You’ve spent all your money, you idiot. You ran it into the ground. It’s over.” Murgatroyd kicked the chair to send it spinning. “And now you’re going to die here with the rest of them. With me and your precious Ministry.”

  “You stupid woman,” Ethan shouted, struggling against the ropes around his chest. “If this is all about your dead brat of a kid––”

  “Our dead brat of a kid,” she corrected.

  “––then you’re completely unhinged.”

  My mind flashed back to the moment Daniel and I broke into Mrs Murgatroyd’s house to get back at her for torturing me in class. I glanced at Daniel, remembering the ultrasound picture we’d found.

  “Joseph,” I whispered.

  Her head jerked in my direction. “Don’t you dare speak his name! You… you violated my home. Both of you.” Her lip twitched and her eyes opened wide and manic.

  “Margaret, just calm down,” Mum said, wafting her hands.

  “Don’t you tell me to calm down.” Murgatroyd’s voice wobbled.

  “Margaret,” Ethan said. He lowered his voice. “I’m sorry about what happened all those years ago. I know… I know it was our baby. Listen, Margaret… Maggie… getting us all killed like this… it’s not the way.” He sighed. “Let them go and just keep me.”

  She shook her great mane of red curls. “No. No I won’t. You all have to pay.” She waved her gun around the room. “All of you had a part in this.” She pointed the gun to Ethan. “You got me pregnant and then left me to deal with it all on my own.” The gun swung round to me. “You violated my home. You and your boyfriend here… leaving those disgusting messages on my wall.” Finally the gun turned to Mum. “You are the worst of all. You think creating life is a game. You made a weapon and called it your daughter. Why should I watch people like you and all those Blemished out there who screw and give birth to accidents? Why should I have to put up with it when the one and only thing I ever loved died? Why?”

  “Because that’s what life is!” I screamed. “That’s what happens to us! We suffer and we move on.”

  She faced me, her eyes red with tears and bulging from her skull. She pointed the gun at me. Her fingers travelled to her ear and she moved a speaker to her mouth from her Plan-It. “Initiate Phase 2.”

  And then her eyes widened with glee and I knew what she was about to do. In that split second I tried to knock the gun from her hand, but my powers were dead. Daniel surged forward as I shielded my face with my hands. The crack of a gunshot sounded. Someone knocked into me from the side. Another gun fired. As I fell, I opened my eyes to see Mum landing heavily on the floor across me, her pristine white lab coat stained with red. Mrs Muragtroyd stood over us, clutching her arm – where blood poured from a wound – as Daniel kept his gun trained on her. Somehow he’d disarmed Murgatroyd in the chaos.

  I scrambled around to Mum, cradling her head in my arms. My heart hammered against my chest and my throat closed as the tears welled in my eyes. She bled profusely from her left breast.

  “No! No!”

  I pressed my trembling hands into the blood, trying to slow the bleeding. Mum’s eyes stared up at me, glassy and unmoving.

  “No! Please, no!”

  I shook her. I shook her body over and over.

  “She’s gone, Mina,” Daniel said.

  I wiped tears from my eyes – smearing blood all over my face – and faced him. He held both guns aimed at Mrs Murgatroyd.

  “You killed her,” I said to Murgatroyd. “You killed my mother.”

  The corner of her mouth twitched. “I was aiming for you. She got in my way.”

  I leapt at her, knocking the murdering woman to the floor.

  “Mina, no!” Daniel screamed. “No!”

  I moved back away from them, my hands shaking with rage. My knees buckled beneath me as my body lost all its strength.

  “What is Phase 2?” Daniel stepped towards Mrs Murgatroyd, both aimed at her.

  “It’s the bombers,” Ethan said with a sigh. “Jet bombers. If the Resistance began to win on the ground, we had an air strike ready to be unleashed. And now we are all going to die, because it will obliterate London. Only Margaret can control the clones. She’s their leader. They recognise her voice and the smell of her pheromones.”

  “Well, that was a stupid plan.” Daniel seized Murgatroyd and placed a gun to her head. “Call it off.”

  She tipped her head back and chuckled. It sent shivers down my spine.

  Daniel pressed the gun into the wound on her arm, twisting it until she screamed. “Call it off!”

  “Never!” she yelled. Her red curls plastered to her sweaty forehead. Her bloodshot eyes protruded from her skull. She didn’t seem to blink anymore. Her chest heaved up and down, and she clenched and unclenched her fists. She was a crazed woman. There was no reasoning with her now.

  I had an idea. I pulled myself to my feet, taking deep breaths and trying to regain my strength. My stomach lurched as I stepped around Mum’s body and moved towards Ethan. “If you don’t call it off, I’ll let him go.”

  It caught her attention. Her head jerked towards me. A bead of sweat trickled down her temple and our eyes met. I stared into the eyes of the woman who’d killed my mother.

  Mrs Murgatroyd stood with her back ram-rod straight. Her eyes flitted from me to Ethan and back again. Surely someone so hell bent on revenge would concede? She had to.

  “If I let him go he’ll have time to get out,” I said. “He’s probably got a private plane waiting for him somewhere.”

  She swallowed and closed her eyes. Her shoulders slumped. “All right.” She pulled the speaker back down from the earpiece on her Plan-It. “Abort Phase-2.”

  I heard a reply. “Mission aborted.”

  “Now tell them to stop fighting,” I said.

  Mrs Murgatroyd hesitated. I moved towards Ethan, hooking the ropes between my fingers.

  She sighed deeply. “Stop all fighting. I repeat, abort all fighting. All troops surrender.”

  Ethan shook his head. “You idiot. You’ve just signed both of our death warrants.”

  Mrs Murgatroyd held his gaze. “That was the point. It’s always been the point, Ethan. It’s the reason I took the job in the first place. I’d just wanted to cause a bit of mayhem first.”

  I stopped hating her at that moment and pitied her instead. I didn’t want to be like her, twisted with revenge, a shell of a human. No matter what happened or however many people I lost, I’d never let hate twist me up inside.

  “Now, remove your Plan-It,” Daniel said.

  Mrs Murgatroyd pursed her lips and removed the ear piece. She popped out the contact lenses, and took the plastic rectangle from her pocket. I snatched them from her open palm.

  “We need to get out of here and find Ali. He went after Des alone,” I said. I cast a glance at Mum. The thought of leaving her
there made my stomach churn. There was nothing else I could do.

  Daniel nodded. He edged away from Mrs Murgatroyd, still with both guns pointed at her. We slowly backed out of the room. Just as I thought of locking the door to keep them inside until the battle ended, a deafening boom sounded out in the building, and the floor shook with such vigour that I fell backwards.

  I seized hold of Daniel in panic. “Ali!”

  47 ~ Mina ~

  The building started to collapse, folding in on itself like a house of cards. I stood frozen as the hallway caved in. Chunks of flooring fell to the depths below. My throat closed with fear. Ali followed Des because of me.

  “Come on!” Daniel took my hand and yanked me towards the stairs. My body responded. “Faster!”

  The hall disappeared behind us in a wave of crashing ceilings and sinking floors. We erupted through the doors onto the stairway as plaster trickled down from the ceiling. Daniel pulled me down the steps. Dust irritated my eyes – blurring my vision. I ducked my head to shield them.

  My feet felt unsure on the littered floor. When I forced myself faster, I pushed too hard and tripped. I toppled forwards, out of control and unbalanced. In desperation, I stretched out my arm to grasp the nearest banister, when it groaned and fell away from me, tipping me over the edge. I screamed and flew over the side of the stairs, trying desperately to keep hold of Daniel’s hand. He dropped to his belly and held onto my wrist with one hand, while keeping his balance on the stairs with his other arm.

  “Hold on!” he shouted. “I’ll pull you up.”

  I peeked down at the four stories below and my stomach flipped. My body dangled in the gap between the stairs, swinging like a pendulum.

  “Hurry!” I shouted.

  A hunk of plaster fell from the staircase, hitting my shoulders and causing me to lose grip. My hand slid from Daniel’s and he thrust out his free arm to catch my wrist. Pain shot up and down my arm. I cried out. I swung from side to side above the cavernous drop. It took the breath from my lungs, so close, inches from death.

  Daniel gripped my arm. Slowly, he lifted me high enough to hook a leg over the stairs and climb up. His thunderstorm eyes examined me with total intensity and he growled “come on” low and husky.

  I moved fast, new adrenaline pumping through my body. We leapt down half a flight of stairs, keeping pace with the destruction of the building. Sweat poured down my forehead – stinging my eyes with the dust and smoke. I ignored it. I wanted to live. I wanted us to have a future, and there was nothing else on my mind. With Daniel by my side, I ran so fast my lungs ached.

  “Don’t look back!” Daniel shouted. “Keep going.”

  The stairs crumbled behind us as we ran until my muscles sang out in pain. Daniel pulled me out of the path of a huge chunk of collapsed ceiling and my breath caught in my throat; another near miss.

  My heart soared as the last flight of stairs came into sight. We held hands and vaulted into the air, just as an ear-splitting crunch sounded behind us. It brought the staircase down with it, as well as tons of heavy plaster, wood, and metal. They all crashed to the ground with a thundering smash. The dust was so thick in the air that I couldn’t see an inch in front of my face. Daniel’s hand slipped from mine as I reached the door to the lobby.

  I whipped around, shielding my eyes from the dust. “Daniel?”

  Nothing.

  “Daniel?” my voice became high-pitched with panic. “Daniel, where are you! Are you okay?”

  I stepped back to the staircase rubble and felt around with my hands, coughing the dust from my lungs. My leg bashed into a broken banister and pain shot up my shin. I stumbled. My body landed heavily on a sharp strip of metal that sliced open my palm. I ignored it and carried on searching for him.

  “Daniel!” I cried out, crawling desperately through the rubble.

  The dust settled, and shapes finally formed around me; heaps of broken steps and torn up pieces of carpet. I lifted my head to see a chunk of steps swinging precariously above me. I swallowed and continued on. My arms and legs trembled with fear.

  “Mina?”

  I exhaled in relief and rushed towards the sound of his voice. The dust cleared and I saw him caught under the rubble; laid backwards with his blond hair covered in white dust. I pulled the debris from him. It scratched my fingers, drawing blood from my fingernails, but I didn’t care. I’d found him.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Think I passed out for a second.” He moved into a sitting position. “My leg is sore.”

  I touched his cheek where a thin trickle of blood travelled down his face. “We have to get out of here.” The suspended stairs swung ominously above us. “Put your weight on my shoulder.”

  We struggled out of the piles of rubble and hopped to the hall door. When I reached to open it, the door creaked and toppled downwards to slam to the floor with a bang. A hysterical giggle rose in my throat. We strived together, moving slowly over the fallen door, when a loud creaking made me turn. The suspended staircase plummeted to the floor in a colossal explosion of dust and plaster. The doorway began to crumble.

  “Hurry!” I urged Daniel into the lobby as the doorframe gave way. My foot caught on a loose wire and I fell to my knees. He picked me up roughly and we hurried.

  We rushed through the lobby – so close to outside air I could smell it. I felt it in my lungs. Daniel limped and I took some of his weight against me. His hot breath panted by my ear. My legs ached from ankle to hip.

  “Just a bit further,” I said, more to myself than to Daniel. “We can do it. We’re nearly there.”

  I coughed and staggered on as the building groaned and leaned in on itself. The TV Screen fell from the wall and smashed, silencing the Ministry broadcast forever more. DNA sequencing machines tumbled through gaping holes in the ceiling. The world as we knew it collapsed around us and we carried on, stumbling into the street in time to see most of the building implode on itself. Something propelled me forward – the last ions of my energy – enough to get us away from the old Ministry. We limped across the deserted streets to find an old shop to rest against – away from the debris. Only then did I turn in time to see its demise. My eyes welled up. Ali. Where was Ali?

  “Ye all right, kid?”

  I almost dropped Daniel. Ali appeared from behind me and pulled us both into a huge hug. He broke away and punched me lightly on the arm.

  “Thought ye hadn’t made it. Don’t do that te me ever again.”

  I wiped tears from my eyes. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”

  Daniel took his own weight. He rested against the shop. Ali pointed to the GEM workers he’d helped out of the building.

  “I couldnae talk Des round, and I couldnae get a good shot te end it.” He shook his head. “I always thought he was a good man.”

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “Then you should remember him like that.”

  “Aye,” Ali said. “Aye, yer right.”

  We watched the Ministry crumble – regaining our strength from the struggle – and I thought about Mum with a heavy heart. She’d died trying to save my life. Just as Ali would think of Des as the friend who helped us into London, I would remember Mum as the woman who laid down her life for mine. Both my parents did. They had their faults, but after everything they proved their love for me in the most tragic way possible. My tears fell for them. I had so much to live for that I brushed them away and composed myself.

  “What now?” Daniel asked.

  “We get these people to safety. And then we find our friends,” I replied.

  “Ye stopped the war, kid. Again.” Ali squeezed my shoulder.

  The ashes of the Ministry rained down like snow in the middle of summer, covering the ground with white. I’d lost so much in this war and yet I had so much left. My chest swelled with possibilities as I inhaled sweet, fresh air. For the first time ever I had the right to choose who I wanted to be.

  ~ Epilogue ~

  We worked hard in the weeks
that followed. With Ethan Moore gone – and Ministry resources depleted to extinction – the GEM finally crumbled, leaving the country bruised but not broken. We had the opportunity to rebuild and create the society we’d always wanted.

  After the collapse of the GEM Headquarters, the rescued scientists helped Luce set up medical centres around London. It was in one of Luce’s centres that Angela had the bullet removed from her chest. Cam stayed by her side for weeks as she recovered. Against all the odds, I got my best friend back.

  K died in the battle at the border, and it left the Resistance without a commander. It left the country without a Minister, and I knew just the person to fill the role. Dad once said to me that any person who wanted to lead shouldn’t, which made Mary the obvious choice.

  Many usurpers tried to take power during the months after the Border Battle. It meant the country relied on the Freaks to stop each attempt. The assailants gave up eventually, and after everything settled into peace, people nicknamed us the Protectors. The name stuck and it became our official title. It felt nice to be wanted.

  When the GEM fertility clinic burnt to the ground, many of the parents of designer babies panicked. They wanted to be able to choose their future, and so with the help of the leftover scientists and after introducing many regulations, we built it into a new guise: the Genetic Research Centre – aimed at helping those in need.

  The border walls came down. Blemished and GEM mixed with each other for the first time. They didn’t like it at first – in the same way dogs and cats are wary of each other – but with some domestication they got used to it. They already knew the alternative. They’d seen the fighting, the wounding and the dying, and they didn’t want that anymore.

  Angela and Cam set up the first ever rehabilitation centre for Blemished women and Angela was reunited with her mum at last. With Cam and her mum she built the family she’d always wanted. Ginge and Sebastian worked to find a purpose for the clone soldiers after the battle. The death of Margaret Murgatroyd left them lost without a controller. Slowly but surely Ginge and Sebastian helped them think for themselves and take a role in society, mostly using their super-strength on construction sites, rebuilding the country.