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by Trish Moran

  ‘I don’t think Angus is going to give us any names,’ Ruby said. ‘And I’m sure he does know where she is.’ ‘Well, we could start with her emails,’ Celia turned towards the computer. ‘I have her address here, I just have to work out the password.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Each morning Zig was taken to a room in the hospital wing and completed various tests.

  Dr Neilson had beamed delightedly as he held up scans of her head.

  ‘These are by far the most successful eye enhancements implemented!’ he said as Takir came to study them.

  ‘What about the darkroom tests?’ Takir asked.

  ‘They are timetabled for this morning. Shana is arranging things now,’ the older man replied. He nodded at Zig, ‘come on then, we’ll need you in the cubicle.’

  Zig sat and looked straight ahead.

  ‘Come on now,’ he repeated.

  Takir looked at Zig’s set face.

  ‘It’s no use fighting us, you know. You won’t win. I thought you might have worked out what happens to those who are no longer any use to us …’

  ‘OK! I’ll cooperate. If I can have a few minutes to talk to Angus.’

  A moment later, she heard Angus coming up beside her.

  ‘How could you let them do this to me, Angus?’ he drew back as she spun around. ‘You let them turn me into a freak!’

  He stood silently.

  ‘What did you tell them at the Compound? You let them think I’d just gone off, left without a goodbye, didn’t you?’

  ‘It’s what you would have done in the end, Zig. We all know that,’ he shrugged, his face a cold mask.

  ‘For the first time I had friends, a home, a good job. I was going to go to college …’

  Angus gave a short laugh and shook his head. ‘It was never going to happen! You’re not the studying type, Zig. You’re more useful here.’

  She jumped out of the chair and faced him, ‘I’m going to get out of here and I’m going to prove you wrong, Angus. And I swear I’ll get you back for this!’

  He recoiled as her pupils narrowed into slits.

  As Takir appeared in the doorway, Zig punched Angus hard in the chest and strode out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Jez and some of the others were sitting in the lounge watching television that evening. Cam watched hungrily as Tony tucked into a plate of pasta.

  ‘You shouldn’t be such a loser, should you?’ Tony taunted.

  ‘Hey, I don’t want this.’ Zig offered him her plate of fruit salad.

  Cam looked as if he wanted to refuse, but instead he grabbed the plate and tucked in noisily.

  ‘Where are Rhys and Tyler?’ Zig asked.

  ‘Those lucky sods are getting extra muscle-building supplements over in the main building,’ Brit replied.

  ‘And where’s Simpson?’ Zig continued. ‘He wasn’t in either team tonight was he?’

  ‘Bart’s gone!’ Cam said. ‘He told me they were finished with testing him and once they’d cleared his memory he’d be outside again. Lucky guy!’

  Jez met Zig’s questioning look with a slight raise of her eyebrows.

  Later that evening Zig found Jez doing some hand washing in the kitchen.

  ‘Is it true, about Simpson?’

  The other girl nodded, turning the taps on so Zig could hardly hear her next sentence, ‘And I heard them say that Cam is on the way out, too.’

  ‘No! We have …’ Zig began, but stopped as Jez’s expression reminded her that all their conversations could be overheard.

  ‘That’s the way it is,’ Jez said simply as she turned off the tap. ‘Come to my room. There’s a good film on at eight. The others will be watching the football.’

  The two girls sat in Jez’s room later that evening.

  ‘Help me do this crossword,’ Zig said, opening a puzzle book on her knee.

  ‘Oh, I’m not really that good at …’ Jez began, then glanced at the page, ‘OK, I’ll give it a go.’

  She watched as Zig carefully wrote ‘WE MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT CAM’ across the top blank squares.

  ‘I’ve got one!’ She snatched the pencil. ‘IT’S IMPOSSIBLE’.

  ‘NO WE WILL FIND A WAY OUT’, Zig continued.

  ‘I don’t think that can be right. Not here,’ Jez shook her head. She grabbed the pencil and wrote, ‘CAMERAS EVERYWHERE!’

  ‘THEY MOVE AROUND?’

  Jez shook her head. ‘PRETTY QUICK’.

  ‘Me and Cam were getting pretty quick on the assault wall today.’ Zig told her. ‘How long do you think he’ll have to get really good? Days? Weeks?’

  ‘Does Thursday fit in there?’ Jez asked.

  ‘Yes, and look what else I can fill in!’ Zig smiled.

  ‘THERES 1 PLACE WHERE THE CAMERAS DON’T GET A FULL PICTURE, AT THE BOTTOM CORNER OF THE HEDGE’.

  ‘R U SURE IT WILL WORK?’ Jez responded.

  Zig wrote down the ideas she had for their escape.

  ‘It’s the closest match we’ve got. Worth going for.’ Zig lowered her voice. ‘Time to find out what Cam thinks.’

  ‘You mean you think that the Irish girl and Weird Davey and Bart are dead?’ Cam whispered in disbelief. ‘They just killed them?’

  ‘Shhh!’ Zig pushed her lips close to his face, ‘I’m going to pretend to kiss you! They mustn’t hear us!’

  She snuggled against him and pulled his face down onto her shoulder. He stiffened.

  ‘Don’t worry, Cam; this is just an act!’ she whispered fiercely.

  ‘Just think about things. How do they treat us here? We are only useful for their experiments. Why would they let anyone go free? We know too much!’

  ‘But they wiped Bart’s memory clean, he can’t tell anyone anything.’ was Cam’s muffled protest.

  ‘Why would they waste money doing that, on a bunch of nobodies?’ Zig whispered. She felt Cam slump, then his shoulders trembled.

  ‘So that’s what’s going to happen to me, too, is it?’

  ‘No! We’re getting out. You and me. Then we’re getting help to come back for the others. Come on! Once more around the assault course, I’ll explain as we go.’

  Every free moment they had, Zig pushed Cam to complete the assault course with her, always ending on the wall and insisting they timed it.

  Angus, Shana, and Takir watched them through the window.

  ‘Zig seems to have settled in here. She often walks around the gardens in the dark, making use of her new vision. And she spends most of the day on that assault course with that kid,’ Takir observed.

  ‘Pity he won’t be around for much longer,’ Shana said. ‘We have a couple of new ones detoxing. One should be ready by Monday. Have you the olfactory enhancements ready?’

  ‘They will be ready by then,’ Takir told her. ‘Sanjit is preparing them.’

  They all looked up as a loud shout came from the garden. Zig was hugging Cam and dancing around. ‘We did it! Less than one minute!’

  ‘We’re ready!’ Cam shouted.

  ‘Ready to wipe the floor with all of them!’ Zig added quickly.

  Angus shook his head. ‘She doesn’t realise it’s not his speed, it’s Cam’s defect that holds them back. He’s failed too many tests.’

  That evening Zig started on her plan of escape.

  ‘Just let us ladies clean, will you boys!’ she said as she knocked and walked into Tony’s room and grabbed all the sheets. ‘These really need a good wash.’

  ‘But they were new yesterday.’ he protested.

  Jez wrinkled her nose, ‘Zig’s right, you know. Here are some fresh ones.’

  They continued around the apartment until all the rooms had fresh sheets and the kitchen floor was piled high.

  ‘If you insist on washing our stuff you can take my socks, too!’ Otis called.

  Zig gave an exaggerated shudder. ‘We’ll start with the sheets, thanks.’

  Glancing outside at the darkening sky Zig crouched on the floor with her b
ack to the camera. As she heard a low whistle from outside she began to feed some sheets into the washer and others through the ventilation grid that led outside. Finally the floor was cleared and she stood up and started the washing machine.

  Casually she walked out into the garden and glanced at the area outside the kitchen. She was pleased to see that Cam had covered the sheets over with a stack of outdoor chairs. She continued to walk leisurely to the end of the garden and looked up at the set of cameras that scanned the tall hedge. She counted as they switched to another area, then continued their circuit until they were back in the first position – one minute twenty seconds!

  For the next two hours Zig, Jez, and Cam tried to act as normal in the lounge with the others.

  ‘God, Cam, that’s the second time you’ve knocked my coffee over!’ Britney complained.

  ‘Sorry Brit,’ he jumped up and sped to the kitchen, ‘I’ll get you another one!’

  ‘What’s up with him?’ she frowned, ‘he usually makes out it’s my fault.’

  ‘Well, I think I’ll get off to bed. See you,’ Zig stood up and stretched.

  She opened her window as she had been doing for the past few nights and lay on the bed still fully clothed, pulling the blanket up over her. She forced herself to breathe slowly and to lie still. She hoped Cam would be able to do the same. When it seemed she was asleep, the CCTV camera would be turned off and they would only be checked on intermittently during the night. At last she heard a click. She pushed herself off the bed slowly, pulling the pillow down under the blankets to give the impression someone was still in the bed. Then she slid across the floor, her heart thumping in her chest. She waited for a moment when she reached the window before slipping silently outside. Watching each camera carefully, she made her way to the pile of sheets they’d stacked up earlier. As Zig knotted them together she saw a shadow approach her. It was Cam.

  He helped her to knot the final sheets, then, watching the cameras all the time, they made their way to the end of the garden at an agonisingly slow pace.

  Crouching in the corner of the garden Zig and Cam watched as one particular camera turned to focus on each of its allotted places. Zig felt Cam squeeze her hand and could hear the tense wheeze of his breath as the camera clicked to its new position.

  Zig scrambled up the hedge first, dragging the sheet rope in her hand. She stopped and threw the rope as high as she could then began to climb again, hoping it had caught on to something. At the top she made it secure, then lowered the rest over to the other side and let herself down. It seemed like an age before she caught sight of Cam’s head at the top of the hedge, then finally he was beside her.

  She grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her through an open field towards the road.

  ‘Ouch!’ he protested, ‘it’s all right for you, but I can’t see a thing! It’s too dark!’

  ‘Just keep behind me,’ she whispered back, ‘we’re nearly at the road!’

  Zig stopped briefly as they reached the road and glanced around her.

  ‘This way! There are some houses over there.’

  Crouching near the hedge, they ran towards them. There was a terrace of about ten houses, a side road, and a group of three larger detached houses. Lights were on in four of the terraced houses and they could hear a television on in one of the larger homes. Zig stopped and pulled Cam closer to her at the side road and nodded towards a car parked nearby.

  ‘We can take that. No one from the houses can see us here.’

  She ran forward and pulled a hair grip from her hair. Her expression was intent as she forced it into the lock and moved it around. She smiled as she was rewarded with a click.

  ‘Get in!’ she whispered, ‘duck down, and release the bonnet!’

  Cam was into the driver’s seat before she had finished speaking. As soon as she had the engine started he pushed open the passenger door for her.

  ‘Come on!’ he urged, pressing down on the accelerator before she had closed the door. As the car sped along the narrow road Zig grinned at him.

  ‘I didn’t know you could drive!’

  ‘Since I was seven,’ he replied cockily, ‘me and my mates used to pick up a motor most Saturday evenings.’

  As they left the village behind them, Cam flicked the headlights on.

  ‘Where to?’

  ‘Let’s see where we are at the next main road. We need to be heading south. Stop at the next town. We need to ditch this car as soon as possible to be on the safe side.’

  She began to rummage around in the glove compartment and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and a mobile phone.

  ‘Look at this! I’ve struck gold! I can ring Ruby!’ Her face lit up.

  ‘Wait till we know where we are, then try and ring her,’ Cam suggested. ‘Look! A signpost. Islingham, three miles.’

  As soon as they reached the outskirts of the town, Cam pulled into a quiet side street and they left the car. Making their way to the main street, they mingled with other people heading home after a night out. Zig pulled the mobile out of her pocket and punched in Ruby’s number and gave a gasp as she heard her voice.

  ‘Ruby! It’s me, Zig! We’re in a place called Islingham! We need help!’

  ‘What? Zig? Where are you? Abel! It’s Zig!’

  ‘We got out of the place, but they could be after us already!’ Zig continued. ‘And this battery’s nearly flat!’

  ‘Who? Oh, never mind explaining now. Abel says we can be there in about two hours. Where will you be?’

  Zig looked around, ‘There’s a sort of clock tower thing, near a big shop … it’s called Watsons. We’ll be there. See you soon.’

  ‘Ok. Can you stay somewhere safe?’ Ruby sounded anxious. ‘We’ll come as quickly as we can!’

  Cam put his arm around Zig. ‘I can see a place where we can stay. This is like the good old, bad old days!’

  They sat huddled together in a deep shop doorway with their eyes on Watsons opposite.

  ‘Do you think they’ve missed us yet? Do you think your friends will get here soon?’ Cam asked nervously after what seemed like a long time had passed.

  Zig squeezed his hand. ‘We’ll be fine. We’re well out of the way here. And I’ll spot Ruby and Abel easily.’

  She looked at him as he raised his head and sniffed, his nose twitching.

  ‘Can you smell things again, Cam?’

  ‘It comes and goes. Sometimes I can smell everything, then other times I can’t smell anything at all. I tried to hide it, but they always knew when they gave me those tests,’ he replied. ‘What were your eyes like before?’

  Zig grinned and pulled her old patch out of her pocket. ‘I only had my right eye. I lost my sight in the left one in a fight. I wore this to hide the mess. I used to feel a bit of a freak but now I’d give anything to have my one normal eye back!’

  ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll get used to your eyes looking like that,’ Cam shrugged. ‘You were in a fight?’

  ‘Yeah, a girl from school really hated me. I was selling stuff her boyfriend was nicking and she said I was taking too much profit. The truth was she thought I fancied her boyfriend. As if!’ Zig eyes narrowed. ‘She challenged me to a fight, but she didn’t tell me she was carrying a knife. I ended up in hospital and then in a children’s home. I hate that bitch!’

  ‘Children’s homes! I’ve been in a few of those, when my mum would disappear. Some of them were really nice. I’d wish I could stay there; then she’d get chucked out by her latest boyfriend and get me and we’d move somewhere else again.’ Cam sighed.

  ‘Things are going to get better now.’ Zig squeezed his hand. She jumped up. ‘Look, that’s Ruby, getting out of that car over there!’

  She grabbed his hand and pulled him across the road, ignoring the blare of a horn from a taxi.

  ‘Hey! Slow down!’ a young man said as she collided with him, her sunglasses falling to the floor. He reached down to pick them up. ‘Don’t know why you’re wearing shades at this hou
r!’

  Zig looked up as the light from the streetlamp fell across her face and saw his horrified expression. Quickly dropping the sunglasses, he ran. Zig pushed the sunglasses into place as she heard her name called.

  ‘Ruby!’ she flung herself into her arms. ‘I’m so glad to see you!’

  ‘Zig! Zig! I knew you wouldn’t have just left like that!’ Ruby hugged her tightly.

  ‘Hey, into the car quickly, we’d better make a move!’ Abel patted their shoulders. ‘And this young man is …?’

  ‘Cam,’ he said.

  They quickly climbed into the car and sped out of the town.

  On the journey home, Zig and Cam told them about Bramways Abbey and the research taking place there.

  ‘And you say Angus and Takir are involved in running this place?’

  ‘Takir was involved earlier, with Sanjit, his twin, and a couple of other English men and women and an American couple,’ Cam told him. ‘Angus came just before Zig did.’

  ‘Jez heard them say it was run by the Radicals, a group of Labs from America,’ Zig added.

  ‘And how many more of you people were there?’ Abel asked.

  ‘Eight others – no, seven. Simpson went recently,’ Zig told him. ‘That’s why we knew we had to get Cam out quickly!’

  She explained what Jez had overheard their captors saying about the defective ones.

  ‘My God, that’s awful!’ Ruby said. ‘They’re treating human beings as guinea pigs. We have to do something, Abel!’

  He nodded. ‘I’ll get on to Reuben once we get home.’

  A short while later the car swung through the gates of the Compound. Abel pulled up outside their house as Celia and Isaac appeared in the doorway.

  Zig and Cam were soon seated with hot drinks in their hands. Cam sniffed his drink, his nose twitching.

  ‘Your nose is working pretty well tonight,’ Zig observed.

  ‘Yeah, it comes and goes.’ Cam felt his nose.

  ‘Which animal organ did they implant, Cam?’ Abel asked him.

  ‘Bloodhound. Great when it works! Britney had the same as me; hers works really well, doesn’t it?’ He looked across at Zig who was still wearing the sunglasses.