Morgan laughed softly and Leci felt a little better, it had been a bad joke but an ok tension breaker.
‘I think me and him are the first ones ever to set foot outside the prison. We’re probably as noticeable as you, if we get seen people will know straight away, if they see the scars.’
‘Yeah, Beriael got it right didn’t he? Condemned, the lot of us. If we get caught we’re dead, if we don’t we can’t ever go back to bein’ normal.’ She stopped pacing and leaned against the wall, watching Bitsy.
‘What are you two gonna do? You got anywhere to go?’
The other woman shook her head slowly.
‘Nope. Been gone too long to pick up old ties, couldn’t even if we wanted to, we might go off just the two of us later on, but for now I think we’re safer if we all stay together. What about you, you sticking with Amato?’
Leci frowned. That had been the plan, up until the night before when he had told her things that it seemed so hard to forgive him for. Maybe it would just be easier if she got herself straight back on track, got on with the only thing that really mattered, forget about these guys, she didn’t need ‘em.
‘I got somethin’ I need to sort out, somethin’ I’ve been working on a long time. I reckon I might just go my own way, get on with shit, y’know?.’ She shrugged.
It was hurtful to know she was the one solely shouldering the blame from Beriael, but it struck her as childish to expect Amato to come clean to the other man about his role. What good would it do? It would cause distrust and friction between the two men, would drive a wedge that just didn’t need driving right now. They needed to be working together as a group.
She knew this and acknowledged it but that didn’t mean she had to like it. The anarchical teenager inside her cried out against the unjustness of having to carry the burden alone, but the woman blossoming within humbly accepted it as her cross to bear.
On the other hand, it seemed wise to think that sticking around for a while would also be beneficial. She had more chance of staying free if she was with Amato and she had time to rest, recuperate, get strong enough to deal with her issues and then go looking for a fight, when she was ready, not before.
Alecia chose the path of maturity and quietened her rebellious side. Her inner turmoil eased slightly, she managed a smile for Morgan.
‘But I don’t think I could manage alone. You guys are my family now.’
The other woman returned the smile warmly, clearly sensing that something inside Leci had changed, something had been resolved, and the girl was a little more settled than she had been.
The moment felt strange, as though they were on the verge of something important. Leci was suddenly acutely aware that at some point in the future they could be relying on one another for their lives, it was paramount that she give her trust and her faith entirely to the other woman, and that she receive the same in return.
Neither one of them spoke, they just stared at each other until the grating of the heavy metal covering that fell into place over the opening of the shelter startled them into action.
Bitsy looked up at the entryway and crouched quickly, reaching under the bed and pulling out a decent sized rock that she must’ve hidden there earlier. As weapons went it wasn’t fantastic but at least she was trying. She glanced towards Alecia who was focused entirely on the hatch, waiting to see who was coming through it and if they needed burning or not. She felt a dread in the pit of her stomach and her gut told her that the Officials had found them, had come for them.
Maybe the men had been spotted in town, captured and tortured and forced to say where the women were hiding. Maybe they had been followed back, killed outside and their bodies lay only feet away as the bad guys closed in on the girls trapped like frightened animals inside what suddenly felt to Leci to be nothing more than a giant coffin.
Maybe the shelter hadn’t been so empty after all and now its inhabitants were returning, they’d be angry at the intrusion, thirsty for blood, maybe-
Stop it!
Was it harder to breathe all of a sudden?
Were the walls closing in around her?
It felt smaller in here than it had been, the air was thin and stale.
Leci knew she was close to panicking and that she needed to be alert but couldn’t seem to dispel the worry that was rising inside of her.
Chapter 14
Maybe it had all been a trap after all, maybe Amato had gone to fetch the other Officials, maybe-
Beriael ducked into view, Amato close behind him and Alecia sighed with relief, feeling her coiled muscles relaxing, the tension easing from her body. She hadn’t realised she’d become so wound up just anticipating having to face the men who wanted her back in their possession.
Bitsy and Beriael were sharing a warm hug, Leci looked at Amato and caught him watching her. His expression gave away nothing, he was waiting to see what kind of reaction he would get from her.
Alecia smiled at him and before she knew it he had crossed the small room in two swift strides, taken her in his arms, one hand pressed against the small of her back, pushing her against him. She felt fingers in her hair and then he grabbed a handful, tugging her head back gently but firmly. She looked up at him and then closed her eyes as he lowered his lips to hers.
Leci pulled away from the kiss but stayed in his arms. She lay her cheek against the soft leather of his jacket and breathed in the scent of it; musky and strong, it stirred distant memories and she associated it with noisy bars and people laughing; things she wouldn’t get to experience again but somehow that didn’t seem so important or like too much of a loss.
‘I missed you. I was worried.’ She raised her head and looked up at him, he was smiling down at her, his expression was somewhere between pleased and amused.
‘Brought you something.’ He grinned and let go of her, shrugging a linen backpack from his shoulder, he reached in and took out a pair of dirty running shoes with frayed laces, their colour indistinguishable. Leci took the shoes and purposely avoided lifting them anywhere near her nose. She sat on the bunk and slipped her feet into them, wiggling her toes. They were a little big but they weren’t going to fall off. She tightened the fraying laces and checked the soles, they were intact.
‘No holes, awesome, who’d you have to kill for these?’ She joked.
Amato laughed and handed a similar pair to Morgan who squealed with delight and quickly put them on.
Beriael carried a pair of old baseball caps and he handed them to the girls.
‘Wow, you two thought of just about everything, you didn’t get seen?’ Bits asked as she tugged one onto her head, pulling the bill down low to shield her face as much as possible.
Leci tucked hers into the back pocket of her jeans but Amato shook his head, plucked it out and put it on her, tugging it down too far, covering her eyes and forcing her to readjust it so that she could see.
‘We didn’t. It’s still early, not too many people about, we even managed to grab a couple of horses so that should make travelling easier. We should think about getting out of here. I don’t like the idea of spending too long in one place and as soon as people notice stuff is missing it’ll find its way to the wrong ears and we’ll have Officials crawling over the area in no time.’
It made good sense and Amato received argument from nobody. Bitsy packed up their remaining food into the linen satchel and the four of them headed outside to where the two horses were tethered and waiting.
Morgan climbed into the saddle behind Beriael and Amato reached down for Leci’s hand, pulling her up to sit with him. She slid her hands up under the jacket and around his waist, holding tightly as he kicked the horse into motion and the four of them rode out, leaving behind the shelter for the next set of renegades seeking a place to stay for the night.
Chapter 15
The guard carried a sheaf of paper under his arm, protectively glancing about the deserted corridor as he approached the door at the end. He paused, gathering courage before
raising his fist and knocking.
When a voice answered the knock he entered the room, holding the file out in front of him like some talisman, warding off the attack that had to be coming; the Governor was pissed, really pissed.
The stark white walls and the shiny, pristine surface of the marbled floor bounced the light around the small area. It hurt to look anywhere other than the far wall which was composed entirely of a thick layer of glass and looked down over a room filled with medical type equipment.
The man stood with his back to the door, looking out of the huge window and down into the area below. The examination room was empty and the man who stood at the observation deck was staring at nothing.
The guard with the file waited patiently until his presence was acknowledged. The man in the suit turned and looked at him, the guard almost took a step back but managed to stay where he was, felt his balls shrivel up and try to escape inside him under the scrutiny of such a powerful individual.
‘Are those the reports?’
‘Yes Sir, the Official ones anyway.’
‘And the unofficial documentation?’
‘I’ll have them burned, Sir.’
The man in the suit shook his head.
‘No, bring that to me aswell, and any copies. I want to see it and then I want to destroy it myself. I can’t trust you incompetent fuckwits to wipe your own arses let alone get rid of something that could damn us all.’ The man scowled and the guard felt his insides turn to ice, wished for the millionth time that he hadn’t drawn the short straw and been selected to deliver the paperwork.
‘You should be fucking thanking whatever God it is you pray to that we took the casualties we did, otherwise I’d have your sorry ass Cloned and tortured. I can’t spare the men for my own fun right now though. Consider yourself lucky.’
He turned back to the windowed wall and the guard hesitated a moment, not sure if he had been dismissed or not.
‘GO! GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!’
He ran.
The Governor sighed to himself as the door slammed shut behind the idiot. This whole situation was a mess, a complete nightmare and since he was the one taking the flack from higher up it only seemed fair that he got to wreak a little misery on his own minions into the bargain.
The loss of the Fire Mutant was inexcusable, if the moron who had facilitated her escape hadn’t been dead already, the Governor would’ve delighted in ordering and overseeing a slow torture followed by an agonising death. It made the whole thing harder to swallow that he wasn’t even going to be allowed the enjoyment of that.
As if he didn’t have enough work to do as it was, now he had to go through all the shitty paperwork aswell, make sure that the cover-up was in order. Officially, no one could ever know she was out there, free among the general public. They would have to say she had died in here and when she was found and brought back she would be readmitted under a new identification.
As far as he was concerned, the escape had never happened. He sighed again and started to read the papers from the file.
#
Official Statement of Events Regarding the Death of a Prisoner
Report Number: 00311
Prisoner ID: PYRO009
Prisoner Type: Mutation
Prisoner Gender: Female
Prisoner Height: 5’2”
Prisoner Weight: 97 lb’s
Prisoner Hair Colour: Blonde
Prisoner Eye Colour: Blue
Date of Death: August 13th, 2154
Cause of Death: Asphyxiation
At approximately 07:00am on the morning of the 13th, the inmate, ID PYRO009, a Mutant held in the flameproof section of the prison was delivered her daily feed.
At 09:00am of the same morning guards entered the cell in order to remove the prisoner and have her taken to examination room 03 for further testing.
At this time the inmate was discovered in an unresponsive state on the floor of the cell.
Guards attempted to resuscitate but at 09:23am the inmate was declared dead.
An autopsy of the body revealed the cause of death to be asphyxiation. The inmate had choked to death on her food.
The remains were incinerated.
The Clone who had been held in the wing for testing was returned to the Enclosure, where he subsequently perished as a result of a later, unconnected security breach.
The third prisoner held in the wing had been awaiting Cloneification and testing. The Cloning procedure was carried out and this man was also returned to the Enclosure, where he also perished at a later date.
This concludes the investigation into the death of Prisoner ID PYRO009.
Official Statement of Events Regarding Breach of Security
Report Number:00312
Date of Security Breach: August 20th, 2154
Compound Breached: Clone Enclosure
At approximately 03:00am on the morning of the 20th, the guard on duty in the Clone Enclosure, one Sidney Washborne, has been determined to have suffered a lapse of sanity which resulted in a breach of security within the compound.
From reports gathered from recaptured Clones it can be established that Washborne unlocked a number of the pens within the compound. At this point he was overpowered by several of the freed Clones and was killed. The key-card he carried was stolen and the remainder of the Clones, 500 in total, were released into the main section of the prison.
The resulting death toll, although high, was not alarming in respect to the enormity of the situation. The prison staff can be commended on their quick thinking and well trained actions, all of which saved many lives. In order to put a stop to the proceedings in as timely a manner as was possible, a high percentage of Clones were needed to be shut down irretrievably, a significant but necessary loss.
Total losses incurred are as follows:
Death of Prison Officials: 74
Termination of Clones: 368
The remaining Clones were recaptured and security tightened within the Enclosure.
Action will be taken to prevent these events from occurring again.
During this breach no prisoners reached the outer compound.
External security has at no point been breached. The prison remains a secure unit.
This concludes the investigation into the Security Breach.
Governor:
The following sheets are the unofficial notes as handwritten by Guard Nate Benson in regards the events of the 20th August, as requested by yourself.
I wer sposed to be takin over shift from Mafyews at free in the mornin on Chewsday Awgust twentyuff. Wen I clokt cloct in he weren’t ther and I got a feelin rite away somefin wasn’t rite. Mafyews was new to the wing and he’d been told abowt the Firebug but he’d only pulled nite shift sofar and he hadn’t seen what she did durin the day so I don’t fink he believed it. I’d seen him lookin at the girl funny sometimes. I got a bad feelin and I ran down to the sells. All free of the dores wer open and ther was a nayk naki nood burned man on the flore in the Firebugs sell. I was pretty shur it was Mafyews. Later reports conferm it was. I raydeeowd raydeowed for bakup but didn’t set off no alarms cos protocol says not to caws un nessesserry panik rite away. We startid to serch the wing and all the surowndin arears airears but cos ther was noledj that Benelli was wiv the Firebug and the Clone we assoomd he wud leyd em rite to the egsit. We put most of owr men inside the mayn dores so we cud stop them before they got owt. Security in uvver uver aereas was kompromisd to put atenshun wer we fort it needid to be. We had no way to no that they wer goin to the Clone Pen or that Benelli wud no to avoyd the mayn dores. At free oh eyt the first Clones wer seen aprochin the mayn gayts and that was the first time we new ther was a problem and we set the alarm goin. By this time almost all the guards in the bildin wer eyver tryin to get controle of the Clones or wer gardin the mayn dores. Ther was minimum security owtside the prison as it was not egspegted egspektid that they wud get owtside. From reports we got from torchurd Clones afterwuds
we have establishd that Benelli, the Firebug and the Clone enterd the Pen. Benelli was disguysd as a guard and the Firebug killed Sid. The Clones sed that Benelli was yewsin a kard to open dores. We assoom this was Mafyews kard. They wanted wun Clone. Reports vary on hoo it was but most ov em agree it was a female Clone. Wer still goin fru tags to try to identify her.
They yewsd Mafyews kard to free the woman Clone and they left the Pen. Reports from Clones say that Benelli instruktid them to wayt fiyv minnits before they opend the uver cages, akkordin to the clones Benelli also diskardid parts of Mafyews suwt before they left. After fiyv minnits the clones yewsd the flame resistant gluvs to serch Sid’s boddy and steel his kard.
Most ov owr manpower was yewsd tryin to controle the Clones wen it was fownd owt that they were runnin lews in the prison.
There are no reports ov enywun seeying the Firebug, Benelli and the too Clones after they left the Pen but we have establishd that they used Benellis noledj of the bildin to mayk ther way to a serviss egsit that was unguarded.
We layter fownd evidens to show that fore guards had beyn kild at the owter mayn gayt and that Benelli, the Firebug and the too Clones had eskapd the compound.
We have no noledj as to ther werabowts.
Officials owtside of the prison have beyn alerted and arr awer ov the sityewayshun sityooay sityewash awer ov wat has hapnd and are lookin owt for the eskapd prisoners.
At this time it has beyn dissidud that lornshing a full skale sertch wud only panik civilians and cud even help them to stay hidn. It is egspectid that the Firebug or Clones will mayk a mistayk soon and they will all be bak in captivity wivin free days at the most.
Under instrukshun I have distroyd any notes for tests run on the Firebug after Awgust firteenf.
Sined
Nate Benson
The Condemned Page 12