The Blemished (Blemished Series)

by Dalton, Sarah

  More gravel crunched. Someone poked at the hedge and I gasped. Matthew leaned across and clamped a hand over my mouth, putting his finger to his lips. The damage was done, footsteps moved again, more urgently this time, and I saw a steel toe cap around the side of the hedge.

  “Come out and place your hands in the air,” the Enforcer said through his helmet.

  The leather of his uniform creaked as he moved. He held a long rifle pointed right at us, his fingers trembling over the trigger. Angela let out a sob and I squeezed her hand once more.

  “I said, get up.”

  Daniel stood first. I kept one eye on him as I forced myself to my feet – worried he would do something impulsive and get himself killed. He was positioned between me and the Enforcer. Matthew moved next to him so that they created a protective wall.

  “Hands up,” said the Enforcer.

  We obeyed. When I let go of Angela she turned to me, her eyes wide and innocent. She hadn’t done anything wrong and the thought of anything happening to her stirred a protective rage that I didn’t know I possessed.

  The Enforcer moved his hand down to his belt towards his Plan-It to inform his team that we were captured. In just a few taps they would be notified and swarm us like flies. This was it, we were over. I glanced at Angela, just fourteen. What would they do to her? I thought of Twitching Sunday. I thought of my dad watching me die. Feet dancing. They would keep me locked up for weeks, dragging it out, making us suffer. My palms tingled. The Enforcer gingerly picked up the Plan-It on his belt, never taking his eyes from us, never taking his finger from the trigger. Red hot anger seared through me. I took it and I focussed it. My mind concentrated into one single thought. The Plan-It flew from his fingers and smashed down onto the pavement. It smashed into its components, tiny pieces of hardware and wires, the plastic casing splitting at the seam.

  “What the…” the Enforcer turned towards the broken Plan-It and Matthew pounced. He tore the gun from the Enforcers fingers but the Enforcer spun around and punched him in the jaw. Daniel lurched forward and kicked him between the legs and Matthew turned the gun and cocked it.

  “Stay where you are or I’ll shoot,” Matthew said. He slid his finger over the trigger, it didn’t tremble. “Put your hands in the air.”

  The Enforcer edged his hands into the air. Daniel pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt and snapped them over the Enforcer’s wrists.

  “How does it feel being on the receiving end, eh?” Matthew shouted angrily. “Ministry scum.”

  “Resistance scum,” the Enforcer retorted.

  “We should get out of here,” I said.

  Matthew pointed to a length of abandoned coiled rope by the roots of the hedge. “Daniel, tie him up.”

  Daniel moved quickly, pushing the Enforcer to the ground and binding his feet. The Enforcer breathed heavily through the air vent in his helmet. I tried to make out his features through the tinted screen to see how old he was or if he was scared. I didn’t have time. More bullets whizzed past us, hitting the ground behind us sending a chalk-like cloud into the air.

  “Get down!” Matthew screamed.

  39

  Matthew fired back as we ran for cover. I ducked down below the line of the hedge but it was no real protection from gunfire. The bullets were relentless. As we ran the hedge exploded around us, clumps of leaves bursting in clouds of green.

  “Over the wall,” Daniel instructed.

  We approached a wall into another garden, tall and stone. I pushed Angela up first, noticing that her muscles shivered. Before my nap I’d dressed in my uniform so as not to attract attention and the tunic snagged on stones and twigs, slowing me down. Daniel gave me a shove and I jumped down from the top.

  “Where’s Matthew?” I shouted as Daniel hopped down from the wall.

  “No time,” he said. He grabbed me firmly by the elbow and we ran across another garden strewn with junk.

  I pulled myself out of Daniel’s grip. “We have to go back for him.”

  “We’ll be killed!” Angela cried. “Matthew has a gun. We’re unarmed.”

  Daniel didn’t say anything. Instead he helped Angela over the fence into yet another garden. I followed.

  Two Enforcers faced us, their guns pointed straight ahead. We stopped and put our palms up.

  “That’s right. Time to surrender,” said an Enforcer, his voice low and menacing.

  My hope faded. We couldn’t take on two of them.

  Then I had an idea, something I hadn’t considered before. I concentrated on the two Enforcers, thinking about everything in the world which made me angry. I focussed my energy on them, conjuring every last bit until my palms tingled and my face was on fire.

  “Mina, what are you doing?” Daniel said in awe.

  The Enforcers’ guns floated in the air. I’d ripped them from their hands and now I floated them gently to us. Daniel took one and I took the other.

  “Now you put your hands above your head,” I said. They obeyed. “That’s right. Now back up.” Their boots moved backwards. “Slowly! No! Slowly. Don’t you dare reach for that Plan-It.”

  I heard a noise behind me but didn’t dare to turn. Angela did it for me. “It’s okay, it’s Matthew,” she said.

  “You’re going to let us go now,” I said evenly. “Because you’re outnumbered and out gunned.”

  We edged slowly away from them, moving sideways like crabs. In the corner of my eye I saw a man stood at the window, his mouth gaping. I nodded at him, hoping he would open the door and let us inside. He moved away from the window. My stomach clenched, waiting to see if this man would help us. The Enforcers remained rigid, but they watched us, waiting for us to make a mistake. The door opened and we ran in.

  “Thank you,” I said hurriedly.

  The man, weathered and old with deep wrinkles, said nothing. His face twitched, revealing just a tiny glimmer of something like guilt. I grabbed hold of Angela and turned to Daniel and Matthew.

  “We’ve got to get out of here now!” I yelled.

  The four of us pushed our way through the halls of the house to get out. I tripped over a dirty tabby cat and fell into a door frame, banging my head. Daniel grabbed hold of my elbow and guided me through the door into the narrow entrance hall of the house. He tried the front door and it opened. Everything turned into a blur. Guns fired and we fired back. Matthew pushed me to the side and ran forward. He screamed something, something which sounded like, “Run!” Someone shoved me through the door and I bent low, avoiding shots. Red hot heat ripped through my arm. Daniel tugged on my other arm and shouted at me.

  We ran hard and fast – faster than I’ve ever run before in my life. My ankle didn’t hurt anymore. Nothing hurt. My brain no longer registered the pain. I turned back, briefly, a glance over my shoulder. They had Matthew in cuffs. He was bleeding from the head. I wanted to scream. I wanted to stop and run to him but Daniel tugged me forward. We had to keep going. No matter what.

  *

  Angela crawled into my side, her head almost in my arm pit, pressing into my fresh wound. I let her, hoping the pain might make me feel less hollow inside. We had run and run until I thought my ankle would burst. We didn’t look back, not for a second, and now we were hiding out in an abandoned shack on a quiet road on the edge of the ghettos. We were near the field where I used to meet Sebastian. They had Matthew, the man I learned to be my uncle for little more than a few hours. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. We waited silently, patiently, for night to fall.

  Daniel noticed me wince as Angela moved my arm. “Are you hurt?”

  I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”

  “Let me see,” he insisted.

  Angela moved to let me up. I sighed and rolled up the sleeve from my tunic for him to examine me.

  “The bullet grazed you,” he said thoughtfully. He touched the skin around my wound delicately. It made the hairs on my arm prickle. “But it’s a deep cut. You could do with stitches.”

  “That�
�s not an option,” I reminded him.

  “It might have to be an option,” he said. “We need food, water, clothes and new dressings. Let me see your ankle.”

  I lifted my leg. Daniel peeled a corner of the dressing and Angela sucked in her breath.

  “Mina, that looks bad,” she said.

  “Thanks,” I muttered. “That makes me feel much better.”

  “You have to get that treated,” she said.

  “We can’t go to a medical centre. The Enforcers will be waiting there,” I reminded her.

  We fell into silence. It suited me. I didn’t feel like talking. The image of Matthew, bleeding and in handcuffs kept running through my mind on a loop that I couldn’t stop or slow down. I put my head in my hands. Angela placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “He did it for you,” she said. “He did it so we can get away.”

  “No.” I didn’t want to think it. “No.”

  “We have to keep going so that it wasn’t all for nothing,” Angela said gently. She rubbed my shoulder with her warm little hand.

  I trembled. I pulled at my headscarf with my fingers, my face still buried in my palms.

  “Mina, it’s okay,” she soothed.

  It wasn’t okay. I didn’t have a family anymore. First Mum left. Then Dad. And now, just as I find out my dad has kept a huge secret from me for all these years, just as I discover I have an uncle, someone else I can get to know and learn how to love, he is taken away from me before I have a chance to do any of those things.

  “It isn’t fair,” I mumbled into my hands.

  The world isn’t fair, I thought to myself. For just a few seconds I let all of the self-pity wash over me. I wallowed in it. Finally the hot tears pricked at my eyes and I let them fall. And then my body convulsed into a huge sob. Angela held me close and I cried into her shoulder as she stroked my shoulders.

  “Everything is going to be okay,” she cooed.

  “I don’t see how it can be,” I said after the sobbing stopped. “Everyone close to me either leaves or is taken away.”

  I wiped away my tears, hoping that the self-pity would wipe away with them. Daniel stared at me, his eyes brooding and intense. He looked away as though ashamed of my tears and I told myself to get a grip. I pulled away my headscarf and used it to dry my face.

  “This is stupid,” I said, half to Angela and half to myself. “It’s just wasting water.”

  Angela laughed but it was half-hearted. We were thirsty.

  I took a deep breath and with it pulled myself together. “We need a plan to get food and water. Angela, look through the bags we brought with us. Did we pack any more gauze?”

  Angela rummaged through the backpacks.

  “There’s one left,” she said triumphantly. She wasted no time in ripping away at my ankle dressing and I winced.

  “Dress the wound on her shoulder too,” Daniel said.

  I looked at him. “What about you? The dog caught you last night too. Your ankle…”

  As I said the words it hit me that only twenty-four hours ago we’d been breaking into Mrs Murgatroyd’s house. Since then I had discovered and lost an uncle, been shot at and chased by the Enforcers. I felt exhausted.

  Daniel grimaced. He shook his head to say no but then clutched at his temples. Angela stopped what she was doing, frozen, staring at him. Daniel lurched forward and groaned in pain.

  “Vision,” he muttered before losing consciousness.

  40

  I peeked out between the wooden slats of the shack. “It’s dark out. We should be leaving soon. Is he waking up yet?”

  Angela shook her head. She knelt by Daniel, her hand on his forehead. Daniel looked relaxed and peaceful. With his intense eyes closed his face lost some of its seriousness. He was a child now, an innocent child. Something inside my chest burned. I swallowed it away.

  “I think I have an idea,” I said.

  “What is it?” Angela asked.

  “Didn’t you tell me that you used to go to birthday parties at Billie’s house?”

  “Yes,” she answered, “a long time ago.”

  “But you know which room is her bedroom, right?”

  Angela nodded. “I think I remember.”

  “Well, we’re going to go there when her parents will be asleep. She’ll help us,” I said.

  Angela’s eyes narrowed. “Why would she help us? She doesn’t even like you.”

  “Because we are going to get out of here. We’re going to break the system against all odds and actually have a chance of a better life and I’m going to offer it to her too.” I paced the shack, trying not to look down at Daniel. He’d been out for several minutes and it made me nervous.

  “Do you think she’ll come?” Angela asked.

  “I don’t know. She’d be stupid not to though.”

  Daniel stirred. He rolled onto his side and moaned. I dropped to my knees next to him.

  “Are you all right?” I asked.

  Angela looked at me, confused for a second. Then she recovered and helped Daniel sit up. “You were out for a long time.”

  He laughed. “I feel like hell.”

  I looked desperately around the shack. “We don’t have any water left.”

  “I’ll be okay,” he said. His voice was hoarse and dry. He moved awkwardly and his fingers trembled.

  “It was a bad one,” Angela said gently. “Wasn’t it?”

  Daniel looked at me and a shadow of pain crossed his features before disappearing in an instance. He stared at his feet. “I don’t remember it.”

  He was lying. It wasn’t even a good attempt at a lie. Angela glanced at me. She knew it too.

  I chose to ignore it. “We’re going to go to Billie’s in a few hours,” I said. “The sun set a short while ago. We need to stay put for a bit. Are you okay with that?”

  He nodded. “Sounds good to me.” He smiled with his mouth all crooked. “Maybe I can shift this headache and Angela can take a nap. We can take turns keeping watch.”

  “I’ll take the first one,” I said. “You rest your head.”

  Daniel’s eyes grew tender. I rocked back on my heels and stood up awkwardly. The burning in my chest came back. I tried to avoid Daniel’s eyes. Angela curled up next to her adoptive brother and I paced the shack, wondering how we were going to get to the farm.

  *

  I woke to Daniel gently shaking me. He pressed his finger to his lips and squeezed in between me and Angela. I’d curled up in the corner of the shack to get some sleep. Angela snored softly.

  “Do you really think Billie will help us?” He asked quietly.

  I could tell that this wasn’t what Daniel really wanted to ask me. I nodded but didn’t say anything else, giving him time.

  “Are you okay,” he said eventually. “You cried.”

  “I’m fine.” I went very still, worried that reliving the memory would kick-start my tears. “It’s just been a really crazy day.”

  “It’s all my fault,” he said. “If I hadn’t let you stay at Murgatroyd’s I’d be the one banged up and everyone else would be free. You would have had time with your uncle. You wouldn’t be in this dirty shack.” He put his head in his hands.

  “Stop it,” I said gently. Feeling bold, I slipped an arm over his shoulders. “I chose to go with you and I wanted to. Stop beating yourself up about this because… well… I don’t want to lose you. Do you really think that you being locked up instead of my uncle would make me any better off?” I fiddled with the necklace, feeling the smooth wood. “I knew him for a few hours. I’ve known you for weeks and…” My cheeks felt hot. I stopped talking before I made a fool of myself.

  “You what?” Daniel said.

  He lifted his head from his hands and looked at me. Even in the dimmest of lights his eyes seemed to shine. They took me, whole-heartedly, all of me. They took every bit of my attention, swallowing me up. Even if at that moment we were hit by a meteor I wouldn’t have noticed. Everything was Daniel. Daniel was everyth
ing.

  “Um….” I faltered. “I don’t know, I erm…”

  He leaned towards me, his face just inches from mine. Tingles ran down my spine and I heard the rushing noise of blood in my ears. I held my breath. He tilted his head, angled so that our mouths would fit together. Our lips touched just for a moment and then I heard Angela stir. I pulled back, my breath rasping out of my body. Panicked I jumped to my feet. Daniel stared up at me, wounded.

  “What’s going on?” Angela said sleepily.

  “It’s time to leave,” I answered.

  *

  We ventured out of the shack. Daniel and I carried the guns, folding them into the vast material of our tunics. We tried not to draw attention to ourselves but it was dark and there was no one around. It seemed that even the excitement of our chase and the town meeting had faded and died into the night.

  “Right at the end of this street,” Angela whispered.

  She navigated us through the ghettos expertly, occasionally whispering to us about people at the school. I had forgotten that these streets were her playground, the place she grew up. Sometimes I spent so much time protecting her that I forgot she was capable too.

  “Third house on the left up here,” she said in the darkness.

  I quickened my pace, ignoring the pain. “Which is her bedroom?”

  Angela squinted up at the house, an end terrace which meant fewer neighbours to wake. “I think it’s the window on the right. Upstairs.”

  I bent and scooped up tiny pebbles. “Okay, here goes.”

  The pebbles tapped against the glass and I cringed, half expecting Billie’s parents to shout out of the window or call the Enforcers. I paused, waiting for movement. Nothing. I collected more pebbles and tried again.

  “Come on, Billie,” Angela whispered.

  She held her body with her arms. It was a cold night and we were all hungry and freezing. I tossed the last pebble, beginning to lose hope.