by T. J. Blake
‘I’m her owner,’ he said with a shrug.
‘Yes but even so, she should be raging and killing everything and anything.’
‘Missy wouldn’t do that,’ he said. ‘She’s well trained.’
Lee smiled. ‘Well thank you. For saving us and making us smile.’
‘No problem.’ The man said as he turned back towards the tunnel.
‘Don’t you want to join us?’ Sarah said. ‘We’re going to finish this today; we can then begin to return to normality.’ Sarah said.
‘I would, but I don’t want Missy fighting or getting hurt. But please kill that little bald twat Miller for us will ya?’ The man grunted.
‘We will. We’ll come back for you when it’s done.’ Lee said.
‘Oh don’t worry about us; we’ll be all right. Come on Missy,’ he said as he walked back through the tunnel.
The group were relieved and some giggled at the unpredictability of Missy and her owner.
‘Right everybody, let’s go.’ Sarah said.
‘Danni. Danni.’ Flynn said as he shook her. ‘Lucky you’ve got a vest on.’ Flynn said as he tapped her chest.
‘They’ve got them. They took Mum, Sadie and Jerome.’ Danni said as Flynn pulled her up. ‘Where’s Enzo?’
‘Here,’ he mumbled.
Danni stormed over to Enzo and pushed him into the wall.
‘Was it you? Are you working with them?’ Danni shouted.
‘What?’ Flynn asked.
‘How would they know we’re here? Out of all of London they come here and find us. Someone told them where we were.’
‘It wasn’t me.’ Enzo said.
‘Well who else would it be?’
Enzo stared blankly at her.
‘Flynn let’s go, we need to go and get them.’
‘Us two against all of them? We won’t survive.’
‘I will…’ Enzo started speaking.
‘We don’t need you.’ Danni interrupted Enzo. ‘You’ve done enough. I would kill you right now if I had the time.’ Danni said as she walked out of the room.
As she walked past Carl, he grabbed her leg, tripping her and making her jump.
‘Help,’ Carl whispered.
Danni pushed herself up and looked down on Carl. She pulled out her gun and pointed it at his head. ‘Was it you?’ She asked.
Carl used his bloody hand to reach out to the gun and whispered, ‘Kill me quickly please.’
‘Are you working with Miller?’
Carl shook his head and whispered, ‘No.’
Enzo and Flynn stood in the doorway of the room staring at Danni’s gun. Her finger flicked as it rested on the trigger.
‘Let him die slowly.’ Danni grunted.
‘Danni…’ Flynn said.
‘He’s a wanker. Enzo if you respect me at all you will let him die slowly, after everything I told you.’
Enzo nodded and said, ‘I am not working with Miller.’
Danni screamed out loud, placed her gun back onto her belt and then kicked Carl in the stomach. As she did, Flynn pulled her away, her legs still flying.
‘Calm down Danni.’ Flynn said.
‘Go fucking die you bastard,’ Danni spat at Carl. ‘Let’s go,’ Danni said as she walked down the stairs.
As Flynn and Danni walked outside to survey the destruction, they heard hovercraft approaching, they ran into the opposite building and watched the hovercraft glide in front of the hotel and begin to fire at it again. They fired rockets, which disintegrated the building with ease. A different kind of rocket was fired which didn’t explode.
‘What was that?’ Flynn asked.
After three seconds, the building began to implode and then explode; the hotel was completely blown to smithereens.
‘What the hell was that?’ Flynn asked.
‘I don’t know; some kind of imploding bomb. Never seen a bomb like that before.’
‘It’s their new weapons they’re making; like the hovercraft. Makes you wonder what more they have.’ Flynn said with a sigh.
All that remained were flames and rubble, with no sign of Enzo.
13
‘This is an execution that will be taking place. The child has been removed so that he doesn’t have to see his mother, Sadie Taint and his grandmother, Lynne Taint die. Their charges are…’ Miller stopped speaking as he watched Danni and Flynn enter from the far side of the station.
‘Welcome Danni Taint, have you come to face your charges?’
‘I’ve come to finish you. Let them go now and we’ll leave without any killings.’
‘Well you’ve killed enough people Danni. Cuff her.’
Danni stared ahead at the elites, neither of them moved. All of a sudden, she felt the cuffs placed on her from behind. As she looked around, she realised it was Flynn dragging her towards the stage.
‘You?’ Danni said. ‘You bastard, you absolute fucking arsehole!’ Danni screamed and shouted as Flynn dragged her. He pushed her to the floor and kicked her a few times and then picked her up like a doll. A number of people gasped as they watched from around the station.
‘Leave her there,’ Miller said, pointing to the ground in front of the stage.
Flynn pushed her down onto her knees a couple of feet away from the stage. Flynn walked onto the stage and stood next to Miller.
‘You have no one now Danni; no one to help you, no one to save you. No one.’
‘Know how we found you? Well Flynn, my volunteer here put a perfume on you so that we could keep track of you. The scent was picked up by one of my creations, a little boy called Daniel. He has enhanced senses. He could literally see a trail of where the scent has been and was. The hotel was surrounded with the scent.’
Miller pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Lynne’s head. Lynne whimpered and slumped to the ground.
‘I’m not going to shoot you yet Mrs Taint… Flynn.’
Flynn turned to Miller and as he did, Miller shot him in the head. The back of Flynn’s head exploded. Segments of skin, skull and brain splattered on the floor. Flynn collapsed on stage and blood leaked from his head. Smith kicked the body off the side, as if it was a plate of unwanted food.
‘He’s a grass. No one likes a grass.’ Miller laughed as he pointed the gun back to Lynne. ‘Right, let the execution begin. This is a warning to you who go against me. If you break my laws, you will be punished; it’s as simple as that. I…’ Gunshots interrupted Miller and he stumbled. A number of gunshots were heard as Sarah and her group ran from the underground.
Miller jerked from left to right as his body was riddled with bullets. His macabre dance was only halted when a red circle appeared on his forehead. His head jerked back and Miller collapsed on stage. The elites charged towards Sarah’s army. Danni was knocked to the ground. As she rolled onto her back, she saw a masked elite staring down at her. He lifted his foot and stamped on her head, knocking her unconscious.
14
Silence. Nothing but the sound of Danni’s breathing. No more gunshots, no more screaming.
As she slowly opened her eyes, she was shocked by what she saw. Instead of a Waterloo station decorated with blood splatters, it was draped with weapons. Guns, grenades, rocket launchers; even a bow and arrow and swords, all placed on the ground.
She clutched the side of her head where she was stamped on and balanced on her knees, looking around.
As she looked, she noticed that Waterloo looked completely different to before. To the right, where the trains came in, it didn’t exist. It was in darkness.
Looking to the rest of the dimly lit station, there was no more than ten feet of it in sight, both in front and behind her. She looked to the upper ground of the station; it was only partly complete.
As she stood up, she heard footsteps ahead.
‘Hello?’ Danni shouted, with no reply except for her echo. Danni moved towards a gun on the ground. ‘What’s going on? Why am I here?’ No reply. ‘I know this isn’t real; this isn’t Waterl
oo. Is this one of Miller’s replicas?’
As she stared ahead, she saw the masked elite step into the light.
‘Well, well, this is going to be fantastic.’ Miller’s voice sounded out on the station’s tannoy.
Danni stared straight at the elite, waiting for him to move.
‘Danni I would like you to meet my best creation, Jonny… Jon. He was brought back from the afterlife. He doesn’t remember anything about his life before. Until now, I haven’t told him anything about it but I feel this is the right time. Jon here has replenished flesh, an artificial spine and a new nervous system. He also has a prosthetic leg from his past life and…’
‘What?’ Danni bellowed. She knew Jonny. She knew who Jonny used to be; Tom Williams. Her eyes welled up; her bottom lip trembled. ‘Tom?’ She whispered.
Miller laughed hysterically. ‘I knew that prosthetic leg would give it away. Oh well, he doesn’t remember you, or Anna, or Ken or his flat mates. He knows nothing. The only thing he does know is that you killed him. Only one leaves here alive!’ Miller laughed as he finished his sentence. Jonny picked up a machine gun from the ground and aimed at Danni.
‘I didn’t kill you Tom, I didn’t do it; please believe me.’ Jonny shot at Danni, just missing her, she collapsed to the ground. She stared at Jonny as he removed his black mask. She bolted to her left and slid along the ground, snatching a grenade and stuffing it into her pocket. She grabbed two handguns and clipped them onto her belt. She lay behind a hefty green metal container and opened it up. As she did, Jonny shot at it; none of the bullets penetrated it. Danni looked inside to see bullets for her handgun and shoved some into her pocket.
‘Why did you do it to me?’ Jonny shouted. ‘What did I ever do to you?’
‘I didn’t do it Tom, Miller is lying to you I… I loved you.’
Jonny stopped walking. He tried hard to think of his recent dreams. He kept seeing a bloody brunette woman, a woman he didn’t recognise but had so much love for. ‘I must be seeing… Anna is it?’ Jonny asked Danni.
‘What do you mean “seeing”?’ Danni asked.
‘I… I keep seeing this brunette woman. She stared at me, her eyes so bloody, her body looked completely broken; her bones all facing the wrong way. In my dreams I see her. I see her when I’m awake. I see her… now.’
Jonny looked straight ahead into the eyes of Anna. Her eyes dark, the veins on her face were raised. Her eerie sneer revealed her yellow teeth. Her breath smelled stale.
Blood welled up in her eyes and dribbled down her face like tears. As she opened her mouth, blood oozed from it.
‘Why does she hate me so much?’ Jonny whispered, fighting back tears. ‘Why does she haunt me? Is it my fault she’s dead?’ Jonny clenched his eyes shut for a moment.
‘Tom?’ Danni shouted as she looked over the canister.
Jonny opened his eyes; there was nothing but anger in them. Anna disappeared. He pulled up his gun and aimed at Danni’s peering head.
‘My name is not Tom!’ He shouted as he fired again. The bullets created sparks as they hit the metal. Danni dropped down behind the container, waiting for Jonny to run out of bullets. As his gun clicked, Danni jumped up and shot at the machine gun, knocking it out of Jonny’s hands.
‘If you loved me why can’t I remember you?’
Danni ran up to the upper floor. She reached the top and looked down at Jonny as he picked up another machine gun. ‘We lived together; you were my friend. We became so close. I only knew I loved you after I lost you.’
‘Liar!’ Jonny shouted as he shot again. Danni sprinted towards the escalator. As she rolled down, the elevator detached and fell to the ground. Danni winced in pain as she brushed the broken pieces of glass off her clothes.
Jonny wandered towards her. She stumbled out of the elevator and saw him walking towards her. She looked around at the weapons surrounding her, deciding to pick up a sword.
As she swung it in front of her she shouted, ‘Back off!’ Then she paused. Looking into Jonny’s deep, brown eyes, she saw that it was Tom. The same eyes she fell in love with.
‘You… Your eyes are…’ she stuttered in disbelief.
Jonny slapped the sword out of her hand and knocked her to the ground.
She lay back, dazed. He knelt down beside her and clutched her throat tightly. As he did, he entered another vision; Danni’s.
Jonny watched Danni and her dad, Graham on the underground. They heard running footsteps approach the gaping tunnel. Emerging from the tunnel, they watched a man sprinting away from a scruffy-looking tramp that seemed possessed with violence. As the tramp caught and stamped on the man, Danni approached with her gun and shot the tramp.
Jonny watched. ‘I’m Tom. Thanks for saving my life,’ the man said with a cheeky grin and nervous chuckle. As the vision dispersed into thin air, Jonny then watched Tom and Danni moving into their home together, hugging, laughing and nose to nose losing themselves in each other’s eyes. Jonny’s vision paused, showing them face-to-face as though it was a picture, until it burned within Jonny’s mind and showed Tom’s body hanging from the ceiling in a sitting room. Danni’s piercing scream rang, repeated on a loop effect in his mind as he watched her run towards Tom’s hanging body.
She untied the rope, releasing Tom to the ground. His legs buckled and his head crashed to the carpet.
He watched Danni pressing on Tom’s chest saying, ‘One, two, three, four.’ Then she opened his mouth and blew to try and resuscitate him. She stopped, and rested her head on his chest; then she began to scream. He watched her face against his still chest whilst her tears soaked his shirt. Her cries sounded husky as though she had strained her neck muscles.
He left the vision and released his grip on her neck. Her eyes rolled up in their sockets. He thought about what he saw. She wasn’t lying. He, Tom loved her too. Jonny felt as if he had a connection with her. As Danni squirmed on the ground, trying to crawl away, he touched her cheek and entered another vision.
He saw himself walking along the countryside. As he walked along the muddy path, staring at the blue sky and tree tops, he looked to his left to see Danni smiling at him.
He saw his hand stroke her cheek down to her neck. He pulled her in; they both closed their eyes as they kissed.
The vision blurred and he saw himself wearing a suit. As he turned around, he saw Danni wearing a white dress. Smiling once again, she lifted her hand up, revealing her diamond ring.
Jonny returned to the present. ‘I can see the future?’ Jonny mumbled. He looked up to see Danni on her feet, she was holding a gun. She loaded it and pointed it at Jonny.
‘Danni.’ Jonny said, holding his hand out to her. ‘Danni… I… I know you now. I know we were once close.’ Jonny began to feel an emotion he wasn’t used to. Happiness.
His eyes warmed as a tear dropped from his eye. He stared at Danni’s shaking gun. ‘Put it down, I won’t hurt you.’ Jonny said.
Danni dropped the gun and slumped to the ground, sighing with relief. She let out a small laugh as she pushed herself off the ground. She hesitantly walked over to Jonny who stepped back.
‘Let’s get out.’ Jonny said as he looked across the station.
Danni watched him walk around picking up weapons and explosives.
‘Is this one of Miller’s replicas?’ Danni asked.
‘Yeah, it was going to be used as a group simulation but he wanted me to kill you in here so that he could film it and show it to your family.’
‘And you were happy to do that?’
‘No.’ Jonny said as he set up explosive devices around the building. ‘If we take out these side walls, it should collapse, then we’ll get out.’ Jonny said.
Danni stared into his eyes. ‘What do I call you?’ Danni asked hesitantly. Jonny looked back at her.
‘Nothing yet; right,’ Jonny walked into the middle of the station. ‘Come here.’ Jonny said beckoning Danni over to him.
As she stood a couple of feet from Jonny
, he flicked his arm up suddenly, making Danni jump; it was the trigger to detonate the explosives. The explosions went off together, making Jonny’s ears ring, but only for a moment. For Danni, it lasted much longer; she fell to the ground clutching her head wearily. In slow motion, she pulled herself back up onto her feet. She stood in the same spot as she was previously. Jonny felt a sense of relief until he heard something crunch from above. As he looked up above her, he saw rubble falling towards her. The ceiling was caving in.
‘Danni!’ Jonny bellowed as he ran towards her.
The rubble hit the back of her head, knocking her forward. Her neck jerked back like a spring. She stared into Jonny’s eyes, seemingly unaffected. Jonny ran towards her and cocooned himself around her as more rubble fell. It smacked Jonny’s back, causing no pain to him. Danni looked into his eyes as her eyes fluttered. A trickle of blood dribbled from her hairline and down between her eyes. Jonny reached to the back of her head and dabbed his palm onto her head. He saw blood on his hand.
Danni became a dead weight.
15
London Waterloo was engulfed in flames, blood and battered bodies.
Some people that remained crawled along the ground, pushing chunks of rubble out of their path. They were headed towards the exit, but most died before they reached the outside.
Laura Dupry proudly stood on stage as she held Ed, a grey-bearded man, one of Sarah’s group members up in the air with her power.
Ed hopelessly stared at Laura.
‘You don’t seem to be begging me to not kill you like everyone else has so far.’ Laura said.
‘Because I’m not scared of dying, I would be with my wife if I did die.’
‘How cute,’ Laura said sarcastically. ‘Another member down Sarah, your group is very small now isn’t it?’ Laura said, turning to her right to speak to Sarah where Smith held her head tightly, forcing her to watch.
Laura slowly clenched her fingers together, and Ed began to choke.