by Mark Walden
‘What now?’ Tolya asked as he too peered down into the snow-covered courtyard.
‘First we need to . . .’ Natalya stopped as the courtyard was suddenly flooded with bright, white light. A small figure bolted out of the storeroom she had just been planning to loot and sprinted across the cobbles towards the perimeter wall. He was wearing full survival kit with one pack on his back and was carrying another two bulging packs, one in each hand.
‘Dimitri!’ Natalya gasped as she recognised the boy running across the brightly lit square. There were shouts from the guards on the wall as they raised their rifles to their shoulders. Dimitri slowed to a halt, dropping the other two packs to the ground and raising his hands in surrender.
‘What’s he doing?’ Tolya asked, sounding bewildered.
‘You idiot, Dimitri,’ Natalya said under her breath. ‘Why do you always have to play the hero? We should have all gone together.’ But she knew what he had done. He had been trying to get the gear that all three of them would need to escape. He had more chance of successfully escaping on his own but he was going to come back and take her and Tolya with him. That was why he had propped the skylight open and left the rope in place instead of taking it with him.
‘Oh no,’ Tolya whispered as he recognised the two figures that were walking out of the front door of the compound’s main building. Anastasia and Pietor Furan. They walked towards Dimitri who stood his ground defiantly, head held high. Pietor Furan raised his hand and delivered a scything backhand fist to the boy’s jaw, knocking him to one knee. Dimitri slowly stood back up as Anastasia put a restraining hand on her brother’s arm. She began to talk to Dimitri and Natalya strained to make out any details of the conversation from her high vantage point but it was pointless, they were too far away. Her mind raced as she watched the scene unfolding below. There had to be something she could do to help him. Anastasia turned away from Dimitri and reached inside her long white coat. Natalya felt the scream issuing unbidden from her lips as she saw the woman raising a pistol towards Dimitri’s chest.
‘Nooooo!’ Natalya screamed, standing up and watching powerlessly as Anastasia Furan’s head turned slowly towards her. The woman stared at Natalya, looking her straight in the eye as she pulled the trigger. Natalya felt her legs give way underneath her as Dimitri fell backwards, the white snow blooming with crimson red beneath him.
Natalya sank to the floor, turning her back against the parapet and wrapping her arms round her knees. She sat there staring vacantly into space as Tolya, tears streaming down his face, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.
‘Natalya, please, we have to run, now!’ he pleaded, knowing in his heart that there was really nowhere to run to. She didn’t offer any resistance as the guards poured out of the nearby door on to the roof and dragged her down the stairs to the courtyard. What was the point? The guards hauled her across the snow-covered cobbles and threw her to the ground in front of Anastasia Furan. The older woman leant down and cupped Natalya’s chin in her hand, raising her face until she was looking directly into her eyes.
‘What a terrible waste,’ Anastasia said as she looked towards Dimitri’s body, ‘of a bullet.’
Deep inside Natalya something broke, something that would never again be truly whole. She let out a scream that turned the nearby guards’ faces pale as she launched herself at Anastasia Furan with every intention of killing her where she stood with nothing but her bare hands. Pietor slammed Natalya to the ground, pinning her against the cold cobbles as she fought fruitlessly to get free. Tolya could do nothing but watch in horror as he saw his friend Natalya replaced by someone . . . no, something . . . different.
‘I wondered how long it would take us to find the animal inside you, Natalya,’ Anastasia said, a chilling smile on her face. ‘And now I have my answer.’ More guards helped Pietor to restrain the feral girl. ‘Take them both to the detention block,’ Anastasia said with a dismissive wave as she turned to leave. ‘Indefinite isolation.’
There was no such thing as time to Natalya any more. There was no daytime or night-time, just unrelenting blackness that was broken for a few seconds each day by the shaft of light that poured into the cell through the hole in the door when the guards used to give her food and water. She slept only fitfully – the nightmares that plagued her were too terrible to grant her even that refuge.
Days passed, then weeks, or so she guessed. There was no way of knowing for sure. There was a part of her that just wanted to fade away, here in the darkness, shrinking to nothingness, but there was another, stronger voice in her head. That voice told her to hold on, to not let the despair and the isolation break her. She had a mission, one that only she could complete and so she could not surrender to the pain. Killing Anastasia Furan, that was all that mattered. She would not let them break her, she would not give them the satisfaction.
Then, one day, without warning, the door to her cell was opened. There was no one on the other side, just a corridor that seemed impossibly bright. She stepped out into the light, squinting in pain as the glaring brightness seemed to almost press down on her. The door at the far end of the corridor was open and she walked slowly towards it. Beyond that door was a circular room, its smooth concrete walls leading up to a caged gallery ten metres above. As Natalya entered the room the door slammed shut behind her and locked. She stood staring up at the gallery above as Anastasia and Pietor Furan appeared.
Natalya tried to speak, but her voice was little more than a croaky whisper. It had been a long time since she had used it.
‘What was that, Natalya?’ Anastasia said with a smile.
‘I said you should have killed me,’ Natalya whispered.
‘No, Natalya,’ Anastasia replied, ‘you have too much potential for that. I saw it in you the first time we met. Call it instinct if you like but I can always spot a killer. I look at you and I see myself many years ago.’
‘I am nothing like you,’ Natalya said, her voice seeming to grow stronger again each time she used it.
‘Not yet perhaps, but you will be in time and today you take the first proper step on that path.’
The door set in the opposite room of the circular pit swung open and a barely recognisable figure staggered into the room.
‘Tolya,’ Natalya gasped. There was no hint of recognition in his eyes as he looked at her, just a terrible blank stare that made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. ‘What have they done to you?’
‘He has received exactly the same punishment as you, my dear,’ Anastasia said, ‘but I’m afraid he lacks your strength. They say that if you leave a person in darkness for long enough they will always carry some of that darkness around inside them. I fear that in this poor boy’s case it has consumed him.’
Tolya made a terrible low guttural growling noise, more beast than human and he ran at Natalya. She dodged to one side, pushing him away from her and into the wall. He spun and lunged back towards her with an infuriated roar and she backed away, circling him, trying to stay out of his reach.
‘Tolya, it’s me, Natalya,’ she said as they circled each other. ‘We’re friends, please, try to remember.’
‘Let’s speed things up shall we,’ Anastasia said as she watched Natalya duck away from another of Tolya’s lunging grabs. She signalled to Furan and he opened a section of the cage that surrounded the upper walkway and threw two objects into the centre of the pit. Natalya stared at the gleaming pair of blades that lay on the floor between her and Tolya. He dashed forward and snatched the twin katanas from the floor before Natalya could react. She ducked backwards as he swung the blades wildly at her. She felt the concrete wall at her back and he lunged. The tip of one of the blades sliced into her cheek, leaving a long curved gash, and she hit back blindly, punching him in the face. Tolya staggered backwards as Natalya advanced feeling the blood trickling down her cheek. The training she had received over the last two long years suddenly kicked in and she delivered a series of precise punches and kicks to Tolya’s
torso. He flailed at her with one of the swords and she ducked beneath the wild swing and jabbed at his wrist, paralysing his hand and sending the blade clattering away across the floor. He swung at her again with the other katana and she ducked beneath the sweeping blade and rolled towards the sword lying on the floor. She scooped it up, despite the fact she had never fought with a sword in her life, and turned back towards Tolya who charged at her with an animal roar. She brought her sword up in a vain effort to defend herself as he hit her like a freight train and she felt a sudden, shuddering impact run through her weapon. She struggled to throw him off her as she felt his hands closing around her throat and squeezing. She couldn’t breathe, feeling panic as the fringes of her vision started to blacken. Then Tolya’s grip slackened and just for a moment Natalya thought she saw a flicker of recognition in her friend’s eyes. He gave a small pained gasp and then collapsed on top of Natalya with a final rasping sigh. Natalya rolled Tolya’s limp body off from on top of her and staggered to her feet. She grabbed the hilt of the katana that protruded from her dead friend’s chest and pulled it free before picking Tolya’s sword up from the floor. She looked up at Anastasia Furan, half her face covered in blood and with a sword in each hand. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t need to, her expression made the depth of her hatred perfectly clear.
‘She’s going to be dangerous,’ Pietor Furan said, looking down at Natalya.
‘No, Pietor, she is going to be magnificent,’ Anastasia replied with a smile.
now
Raven caught the Shroud’s co-pilot’s wrist in a vice-like grip a moment before he actually touched her shoulder. For a fleeting instant there was a look of such unbridled malevolence in her eyes that he felt his heart quicken but then her expression softened.
‘I’m sorry to wake you,’ the man said slightly nervously.
‘I wasn’t asleep,’ Raven replied, trying to shake off the feeling of lingering despair that always accompanied the memories of her childhood. ‘Are we nearly home?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ the co-pilot replied with a nod. ‘Five minutes.’
‘Thank you,’ Raven replied, standing up and heading over to the stretchers on the opposite side of the passenger compartment. She checked the unconscious boy’s pulse – still strong.
‘I know you’re awake,’ Raven said to the girl in the other stretcher, smiling to herself. ‘So feigning unconsciousness will not catch me off guard.’ The girl’s head turned so that she could see Raven.
‘Where are you taking me?’ the girl asked, straining against the straps that secured her to the stretcher.
‘You’ll find out very soon,’ Raven replied. ‘If you stop struggling, I’ll undo those straps.’
The girl stared at Raven for a moment and then lay still. Raven moved over to her stretcher and released the straps one by one. The girl sat up and looked at Raven, as if sizing her up.
‘Who are you?’ the girl asked, frowning slightly.
‘You may call me Raven.’
‘Why have you kidnapped us? Who do you work for?’ the girl demanded. Raven could not help but admire her apparent lack of fear.
‘Let’s just say that I work in . . . recruitment,’ Raven replied with a slight smile.
‘Recruitment for what?’ the girl asked, looking round the dimly lit interior of the Shroud.
The boy in the other stretcher let out a low moan and his eyes fluttered open. Raven moved over to his stretcher, undid the restraining straps and helped him to sit up. He was tall and handsome with a thick mop of brown hair that hung down over his forehead and his dark brown eyes. He seemed totally disorientated for a moment or two and then his eyes widened and he pushed himself back against the bulkhead away from Raven.
‘What’s going on?’ he said, sounding bewildered.
‘I’ve already asked her that,’ the girl said as she sat down next to the confused-looking boy. ‘I’m afraid straight answers don’t seem to be her speciality.’
There was a sudden soft thud as the Shroud touched down and Raven moved over to the boarding ramp release switch.
‘You’re about to get all the answers you could possibly want,’ Raven said as she hit the button and the ramp began to descend. ‘Please, after you,’ she said, gesturing for them to proceed.
The girl helped the boy get unsteadily to his feet and they walked down the slope. At the bottom were several security guards armed with Sleepers.
‘This way please,’ one of the guards said, gesturing for them to follow. They followed him without question, eyes wide and mouths hanging open in amazement as they tried to take in the scene that greeted them. Dozens of sleek, black insectile dropships like the one they had just disembarked from were spread out around the floor of the huge hangar that surrounded them. There was a rumble from high overhead and they looked up to see two massive reinforced shutters sliding together far above them, sealing them inside the enormous floodlit cavern. Several other children were climbing down from the strange aircraft and following security guards across the hangar floor towards a massive opening in the rocky wall. They shared the same look of dumbstruck awe.
‘All retrieval teams report for debriefing,’ a soft, vaguely synthetic voice said over speakers hidden somewhere in the walls. ‘All flight crews to perform post-flight checks.’
Raven watched as the pair of new students who she had recruited joined the group of twenty or so other children who were being herded towards the main meeting hall by their security team escorts. She followed along behind, quietly taking up a position at the back of the enormous cavern that was used for all full school assemblies. There was a low-level buzz of nervous chatter now as the new intake of students was arranged in lines in front of the lectern at the far end of the room. Behind the lectern was a sculpture depicting a fist hammering down upon a cracked globe, the symbol of G.L.O.V.E. At its base was inscribed the G.L.O.V.E. motto: ‘Do Unto Others’.
A moment later the door at the side of the stage hissed open and Dr Nero strode over to the lectern. He paused for a moment, looking at the array of bewildered but curious faces that stared back at him.
‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,’ Nero began. ‘Welcome to H.I.V.E. and the first day of the rest of your lives.’
chapter five
A few hours later the two new students who had been retrieved by Raven sat down on one of the sofas in the atrium of accommodation block seven looking exhausted and overwhelmed. They were both now wearing black Alpha stream jumpsuits.
‘Well,’ the boy said with a sigh, ‘I think it’s safe to say that today couldn’t possibly get any weirder.’
‘And that’s just where you’d be wrong,’ the girl said, looking at something over his shoulder, a broad grin spreading across her face. ‘I don’t believe it.’ The boy stood up and turned round as his companion ran past him.
‘What on earth are you doing here?’ Otto said with a grin as the girl hugged him. The girl stepped back and the boy grabbed Otto by both shoulders.
‘Jeez, Otto, we wondered where you’d got to, but I think it’s safe to say that this is just a bit stranger than any of the theories we came up with.’
‘Are you gonna introduce us?’ Shelby asked as she and Laura exchanged confused looks.
‘Of course, sorry,’ Otto replied. ‘Guys, this is Tom and this is Penny and let’s just say that we used to work together.’
‘You mean we used to nick stuff for you,’ Penny said with a grin.
‘I was trying to make it sound more classy,’ Otto replied with a chuckle.
‘You guys knew each other before this place?’ Laura asked, still looking slightly confused.
‘Yeah and I suppose this is exactly the sort of place that I should have expected Otto to end up in when I actually stop and think about it. Penny Richards, pleased to meet you.’ She stuck out her hand.
‘Laura Brand,’ Laura said, shaking her hand, ‘and this is Shelby Trinity.’
‘Hi,’ Shelby said with a little wave
.
‘Hi to you too,’ Tom said with a smile. ‘Tom Ransom, a pleasure to meet you both.’
‘So when did you get here?’ Otto asked as they all sat down on the cluster of sofas.
‘This morning,’ Penny replied. ‘Let’s just say that it’s been a pretty strange twenty-four hours.’
‘I can imagine,’ Otto said. ‘I can see you had a bit of a rough day.’ He gestured towards the bruise on Penny’s cheekbone.
‘Yeah, I think that Raven woman must not have been too pleased when I tasered her,’ Penny replied with a lopsided grin.
‘You are tasering Raven!’ Franz said slightly too loudly as he sat down on the sofa. ‘This is not being a clever thing to do.’
‘That’s one way of putting it,’ Nigel said as he sat down next to Franz. ‘Glad to see that you still have all your limbs at least.’
‘I doubt that Raven would have resorted to dismemberment except under circumstances of extreme provocation,’ Wing said with a slight frown.
‘I was jok— Never mind,’ Nigel said, rolling his eyes.
‘And here’s the rest of our motley crew,’ Otto said. ‘Tom, Penny, this is Wing, Franz and Nigel.’
‘A pleasure to meet you,’ Wing said with a slight bow. ‘I believe that Otto has mentioned you to me before. You lived in the same orphanage before he came to H.I.V.E. did you not?’
‘Yeah,’ Tom replied, ‘good old St Sebastian’s.’
‘How is Mrs McReedy these days?’ Otto asked.
‘Fine, though she was rather sad to lose her best revenue stream when you disappeared,’ Penny said.
Mrs McReedy had been the head of Otto’s old orphanage or at least that was what she and Otto let the rest of the world believe. In reality Otto had been essentially running the place at the time he was recruited by H.I.V.E. while making sure that Mrs McReedy was living the affluently comfortable lifestyle to which she had become accustomed. They had an unspoken agreement that she should not enquire too closely about where the money for all her little luxuries had come from.