by Mark Ayre
“I’m sorry,” said his mother. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“Yes, it is,” said Sandra. She spun to Cassandra, gun in hand. “How do you want to do this?”
“In a room,” said Cassandra. “No one should have to see.”
“Fine,” said Sandra. “Lead on.”
Eve marvelled at the strength of her potential half-sister. Casandra may have looked like an elderly lady, but she was eighteen. So young, yet she held herself with a dignity no other teenager could have managed. Though she must have been terrified, she showed little fear as she turned and searched for somewhere quiet and a little out of the way.
Picking the room, she took one step towards it.
Delilah began to cry.
“Stop.”
It took this single word from Adam for everyone to realise they had been praying someone would have the strength to do what was right.
“Oh, Adam,” said Sandra. “Your heart always was your weakness.”
“It’s not a weakness to refuse to sacrifice our souls,” said Adam. “And that’s what we’d be doing. You may be pulling the trigger, but in letting you, we’d all be damned.”
“And if you don’t let me, you doom the world,” said Sandra. “Make your choice.”
“I just did,” said Adam. “Stop.”
“Adam, I’ve accepted this,” said Cassandra. “You’re doing the right thing, all of you.”
“No, you’re doing the right thing, we’re doing the easy thing,” said Adam. “Where you’re showing incredible courage, we’re displaying outstanding cowardice. You won’t die tonight.”
“Will you put your neck in the proverbial noose, then?” asked Sandra. “I’m not sure I could kill my son.”
“I’m sure you’d manage,” said Adam. “But I don’t intend anyone in this corridor to die tonight.”
“It’s not for you to say,” said Sandra. “The decision has been carried. You stand alone. Outvoted.”
“No,” said Eve. “He doesn’t.”
Sandra sighed. “I expect this from him, but you’ve always been a realist. You know what I’m doing is right.”
Ignoring her mother, Eve said, “With Adam and me it’s two votes for no one in this corridor dying tonight. We need seven to overturn the decision. Anyone else want to change their mind?”
“No doubt,” said Doc. “Make it three.”
“Four,” squeaked Delilah.
Graham’s growl signified five.
Hattie: “Make it six.”
Omi: “Seven.”
Tameka: “Eight, and nine for Noah.”
Rachel: “Goes without saying I’m ten, doesn’t it?”
That left three, including Sandra and Cassandra. Ursula considered, twisting her hands. Then she shrugged.
“Sandra, if you’d be so kind as to return my gun.”
Cassandra was crying with gratitude. Delilah and Tameka rushed to comfort her.
Shaking her head, Sandra chucked the weapon to Ursula. She turned to Adam, who, with one word, had changed everything.
“You really think you can reach and kill this Pandora?”
“No,” said Adam. “I think Eve can, but in case she fails, I’ll be pursuing Plan B.”
“Oh, and what’s that?”
He gave a grim smile.
“I’m going to kill Lucy.”
Eve said, “Are you sure about this?”
“It makes sense. Pandora’s the best play because we know where she’ll be. You all hit the red room; I’ll meet you as soon as I can.”
“You will not,” said Sandra. “She’s my daughter.”
Clenching his fists, Adam turned to his mother. She stood as tall as ever, emanating the kind of undefiable power to which he had always bent in his youth.
That was then.
“You can take her,” he said to Eve.
There had been no discussion of the plan. Having agreed to kill no one in the hallway, the group knew what came next, they were ready. Some were nervous, all—except for Noah, who could not be, and Tameka, who would stay with her son—were prepared to fight.
“I’m not going anywhere until you’ve seen sense,” said Sandra. “You cannot believe I’ll allow you to murder your sister. If—”
“She’s no sister of mine.”
To speak, Adam had spun. Though his mother was a foot away, he roared. For the first time in his life, he made Sandra jump, brought a little fear to her face.
As ever, she was fast to find composure.
“Adam, I’ve spent twelve years trying to put myself in a position to help you and Eve. Lucy has been a big part of that.”
“Tell me about this plan, then, mum,” said Adam. “You back-stabbed and murdered your way to the top so you could ensure our capture. You locked us in cells deep beneath the ground because you wanted to make our lives better?”
“That wasn’t the endgame. If you give me a little time, I can explain—”
“You don’t have to. I get the plan. You hoped to encourage us to join this despicable organisation’s private army. We would always be prisoners, but for the cost of our souls, they would afford us certain luxuries. That about right?”
“Typical,” said Eve.
“Oh, don’t,” said Sandra. “Don’t make me the bad guy. I was protecting you. You would have had to kill a few people, but you’ve spent your lives killing. You would still, technically, have been prisoners, but with far more freedom and luxury than you’ve ever known. Tell me that wouldn’t have been worth it?”
“It wouldn’t,” said Adam
“There’s that heart again. Always getting in the way.”
“We don’t have time for this.”
Adam turned away. He wanted a final word with his sister before they split. He was terrified this would be their last chance to talk. Before he could make it a step, Sandra had grabbed his arm.
“You will not kill my daughter.”
Adam yanked his arm from hers and shoved her. In a shock, she went to the floor. Wide, horrified eyes stared at her son.
Rachel laughed. Ursula said, “You go, Adam.”
“My whole childhood, I idolised you,” said Adam. “When you died I mourned you, while you were gone I missed you. Francis told us you were alive, and my heart filled with hope, happiness. I told myself if it was true, I’d find a way to save you. I’d see you again. I couldn’t wait.”
“Exactly,” said Sandra. “Because I’m your mother and—”
“Shut up. I’m not one for talking, but today I’ll have my say.”
Around Adam and Sandra, the group had formed a circle. Somehow, they had forgotten the end of the world.
“When I saw you, I knew something wasn’t right,” Adam continued. “Then, when you so willingly took the gun and prepared to kill Cassandra, the scales fell from my eyes.”
“I was trying to save the world.”
Adam ignored her. “I got to thinking about Lucy. She tortured Bethany, a girl who saved mine and Eve’s lives. She murdered Bethany, and in doing so, took that sweet, innocent girl’s form.”
Behind Adam, Eve gasped. She hadn’t known.
“She also tortured Bethany’s best friend,” he went on. “Addled her mind and sent her after me with a gun. I killed her. Asked no questions, just pulled the trigger, like you always taught us.”
“That was the smart move. The girl would have killed you.”
“Maybe,” he said. “And not the point.”
“What is the point?”
“Whose idea was it to kidnap and kill Bethany and steal her form?”
There was a long pause. Then Sandra smirked and tried to brush it away.
“Adam, come on—”
“Forget it,” he said. “You answered in the pause. Now you’ll go with Eve, either by choice or by force, and I’m going to kill your second daughter.”
He turned away. He couldn’t look at his mum a second longer.
“Just be glad I can’t convince mys
elf ending your life would help save the world—or I’d be killing you too.”
Pandora turned from the screen with a whistle of relief.
“For a second there, I was almost nervous. I didn’t expect that ragtag bunch to murder my baby boy, but that wasn’t what got me. It looked as though they might overcome their pathetic humanity and kill one of their own. Luckily, dearest brother Adam came through.”
The beauty, who had been born earlier that day and appeared to be fast approaching forty, turned to Steadman and Michael, the men with whom she shared the control room.
“Time runs short for them,” she said. “It’s difficult to measure, but I’d say, within minutes, the process will be irreversible. They rush this way; might even reach me in time, but it won’t be enough. They killed my son. Even if they did the same to my lovely daughter, it would be too late.”
Echidna, the daughter, remained still and silent, but unignorable, in one corner of the room. She showed no emotional response to her mother talking of her dead brother, nor of the comment suggesting she might soon join the deceased Typhon. Then again, how does a creature with a plain white sheet for a face express emotion?
“Lucy is a concern,” said Pandora. “But I don’t think they’ll find her and there’s nothing I can do in any case. Have to remain calm.”
Despite this proclamation, she looked nervous as she turned back to the screen. The group had split now; most coming their way, a couple joining Adam on his quest to find Lucy. Pandora watched them go then turned from the screen once more.
“What is it you humans do to relieve stress?”
She looked from Michael to Steadman and back. Steadman didn’t know what Michael was thinking. For his part, he could barely focus on Pandora with the monster in view. He had already seen what she could do. The bodies of her victims littered the open area beyond their door.
“You’re not very chatty, are you?” Pandora said with a fake pout. “Looks like you need to relieve some stress yourselves.” She turned away, then span back. “Oh, I remember how humans do it.”
From birth, it had been apparent there was no point clothing Pandora. Within minutes of being born, she had grown from a baby to a toddler and was a child minutes after that. Michael, their resident midwife, had procured a towel and within it had wrapped the infant.
At first, Pandora had all but disappeared into the towel’s folds. Now, it stopped below her knee and above her chest. She didn’t have to hold it but occasionally fiddled to stop it slipping off.
Stepping towards the men, she did the opposite, loosening the towel and letting it slip to the floor. Steadman had believed nothing could make him look away from Echidna. When Pandora revealed her body in its entirety, he almost forgot the monster existed.
Pandora found Steadman’s eyes and tutted.
“You’re too eager,” she said. “Anxiety has not consumed you as much as it has me, or dearest Michael.”
To dearest Michael, she approached, taking his hand in hers. With her other, she cupped his chin, met his eye.
“Come, darling,” she said. “Be my stress ball.”
Michael said nothing. Despite the glorious body before him, he still looked petrified. Pandora merely smiled and dragged him along behind her.
Steadman was left with the monster.
Eve led the line, her mother at her side. From a couple of steps behind, Omi gave directions at each turn, leading them to Steadman’s base of operations, where the red room lay. Sandra, of course, could have given the same directions. She was in too sullen a mood to be useful.
“You’ve allowed your brother the chance to murder your sister. You understand that?”
“I understand.”
“If he succeeds, will the guilt not eat you alive?”
“I doubt it.”
“Maybe not. You always were a cold, demonic bitch. Just like your mummy.”
Eve kept her hands fixed at her side. If she allowed them to raise, she would either use her power to snap her mother’s neck or perhaps beat the cow to death, no unique gift needed. Her wrists were beginning to ache.
“Adam will be destroyed, though. Can you allow him to destroy his future like that?”
Omi said, Left. They took the turn and carried on. Since rising from the lowest floor, they had seen no one. All around them they heard the scurry of feet. By now, all knew of the monster, that the organisation was finished. They fled the building like rats abandoning a sinking ship.
To her mother, Eve said, “Lucy knew we were her siblings, yet she tortured and murdered Bethany.”
“Bethany meant nothing.”
“She captured Adam and me.”
“To save you, because she cares.”
“You’re lying to yourself, or me,” said Eve. “Possibly both.”
“It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“It is, and I’ve had enough. Talk again: I’ll gag you.”
Almost unable to stop herself, Sandra opened her mouth then clamped it shut. Omi gave another direction. Eve continued to lead the way.
She hoped they were nearly there.
Dealing with her mother was difficult; she wanted to get to saving the world.
Adam had planned to go after Bethany alone. He had not expected help and would not have asked for it. If Eve had offered to stand at his side, he would have refused her.
When he announced his departure, he had been surprised to see Rachel step forward and offer to come along for the ride.
“You saved my daughter’s life,” said the mother. “Dared to speak up when even I had bowed my head, ready to let her go. I’ll do anything to help. As will Ursula.”
“What? No, I won’t.”
Now the three of them moved through the halls of the lowest level of the facility. Rachel led the way, Ursula stayed a little back, still grumbling that Rachel had forced her along.
“I should be with my son.”
“Your son can do without you,” said Rachel. “We know this place better than Adam. He needs us.”
“Why couldn’t you have done that alone?”
“Adam’s a hot-blooded male. He might have taken advantage.”
Ursula laughed. Despite his still high temper, Adam blushed. Noting this, Rachel laughed too.
In truth, Adam struggled not to pity these women. Ursula had been 19 when she arrived at the facility and fallen pregnant with Graham. Now 25, younger than Adam, she retained looks that befit her youth, helped by her incredible natural beauty, but acted older, wiser, harder. She held a shotgun and Adam had the impression she would use it without hesitation. He supposed six years of imprisonment did that to a person.
Rachel had arrived earlier, in 2002, at 22. Now she was forty and had suffered eighteen years of imprisonment. She acted much the same as Ursula. Though she had suffered thrice as long, it did not seem that way. Perhaps after half a decade or so, everything levelled out.
Of course, Adam’s life had been tough for almost thirty years. He wondered if it was easier for him. A hard life on the run was all he had known. Ursula and Rachel had experienced normality before having everything snatched away.
“This is it,” said Rachel.
Adam was pulled from his reverie to examine the door. It looked no different to the one behind which Saskia had lain.
Noah. Not Saskia. He could not prevent himself from returning to his ex, the only girl he had ever loved. Each time she popped into his mind as a false memory, the tears rose, and his heart cracked. Part of him still wanted to kill Noah for what he’d done.
“She won’t be here,” said Ursula.
“Probably not,” agreed Adam, “but it’s as good a place to start as any, don’t you think?”
He looked at Ursula, who shrugged. Rachel gave no comment before pushing the door and holding it as they walked through.
Adam made it two steps before stopping dead.
“Oh, my God.”
“Isn’t it hideous?” Ursula asked, coming up to stand
beside him.
Behind them, the door slammed, making them jump. Adam twisted to find Rachel’s shotgun raised, pointing at Ursula.
“You’re rude,” Rachel said.
Laughing, Ursula turned. The laugh fast left her face when she saw Rachel’s weapon.
“Put that down.”
Ursula’s gun hung at her side. Sensing no danger from the woman she considered her friend, she rolled her eyes. Rachel was shaking her head.
“Shan’t.”
Furious with himself, Adam carefully reached for the pistol in the back of his trousers. Rachel swung the shotgun his way.
“I don’t think so.”
“I was just thinking,” said Adam, “it didn’t seem like you’d been here twenty years.”
“Very astute.”
“What’s going on?” repeated Ursula. “Rachel, put that effin gun down, will you?”
“Tell her,” said Rachel.
“Tell me what?”
Adam closed his eyes. He considered grabbing for his gun, firing. He was not close to convinced he could get a shot off before the shotgun slug blasted both he and Ursula away.
“I think Rachel’s dead,” said Adam.
He took another step and held his hands wide, so she wouldn’t shoot. He looked at Ursula.
“We came looking for Lucy,” he said. “But there was no need.”
“She was with us already.”
Before long, they reached the mammoth reinforced doors which stood between them and the red room. To their right, a pad offered a select few staff members direct entry into this most restricted zone. Eve spoke to her mother.
“Open it.”
Though still sullen, Sandra was sufficiently frightened by the consequences of inertia that she did not hesitate in doing as asked. Seconds later, the doors began to push back. Within a minute, the heavy steel had parted far enough for Eve to slip through, followed by her unusual team of would-be heroes.
At the end of the corridor into which they entered was another door, smaller though no less imposing than the first. Sandra opened this door also, releasing the team into a large circular area filled with various workstations and a significant number of skeletonised corpses.