THE RED MIST TRILOGY: The Box Set

by R T Green

  Now it was housing girls who were anything but lunatics. And far from being a threat to society, imprisoned there because they were being forced to help make a new one.

  I felt a massive shudder rack my whole body. My own fate in this horrific place would last just an hour or two before the guys came to rescue us all. But some of these poor girls had been in this stinking hell-hole for weeks, abused and defiled, and imprisoned there simply because they were young and healthy.

  I only got a moment to shudder, thankfully. My superhero porters came to a stop, unlocked one of the doors, and showed me my luxury accommodation.

  Don’t think you’re getting a tip, boys.

  I didn’t get time to wander around exploring the delights of the room. I was shoved onto a disgusting bed, iron shackles with long chains attached to my ankles, and my bag dumped into my lap. And without a word or a tip they left, and the old key grated in the black iron lock.

  I looked across to the other bed. A young girl was kneeling on the mattress, one of her chains in her hand. She wore a stained white gown, looked to be in her late teens, pretty, and terrified.

  I smiled to her, said quietly. ‘It’s ok, don’t be scared. I’m Delores. What’s your name?’

  ‘I’m Kayla,’ she whispered back.

  Chapter 170

  The chains allowed me enough movement to reach her bed. I sat next to her, took her hand. She was terrified, understandably, but in her eyes there was something else.

  ‘You ok, Kayla?’

  She allowed the chain in her hand to drop to the dingy mattress. ‘No. How can I be alright here?’

  It was a stupid thing to ask. ‘I’m sorry… I know you’re not ok. But I’m here now, a little bit of company?’

  Her head was lowered, sad eyes fixed onto the hands in her lap that were unable to stop wringing together. ‘I don’t want to be here anymore.’

  ‘Oh Kayla…’ I held her tight, felt her silent tears against my cheek. I wanted so much to tell her help was on its way, but as she looked up to me I saw the look of hopelessness in her eyes. I stopped myself saying anything too specific; if I gave her hope and for some reason things went wrong, it might be her last straw.

  ‘Hey, you never know, we might be rescued soon.’

  She looked at me with vacant eyes. ‘No one is coming. There’s only one way to not be here anymore.’

  Then I knew. Knew what it was I’d seen in her eyes. Knew I’d very likely been slung into this room just in time. ‘No, Kayla… that’s not the way. I have friends. They will rescue us.’

  She shook her head, unable to believe. ‘It won’t happen. Will you help me to… to end it, please?’

  She was begging, the spirit fucked out of her, unable to see anything but one desperate outcome. ‘No! No I won’t. I can’t help you.’

  ‘Then I’ll do it myself.’ Suddenly she was standing on the mattress above me, wrapping the chain around her neck. I struggled onto legs that still wouldn’t work properly, grasped her hands. We lost balance, fell back together onto the bed.

  ‘Stop it…’ I hissed, holding her tight against me to prevent her getting to her feet again.

  I had to tell her. Before things got out of hand.

  ‘Listen to me, Kayla,’ I whispered, unsure if there were microphones hidden somewhere. ‘I’m… not what I seem. I got captured deliberately, so we could find out where they were hiding. My friends know where I am, they will be coming soon. So please stop fighting me, ok?’

  I felt her struggles lessen. Tear-filled eyes looked into mine. ‘Is that the truth?’ she asked cautiously.

  ‘A hundred percent.’

  ‘Oh god…’ Finally she let it all out, sobbing uncontrollably against me, her hands clenching and unclenching into me as realization came to a soul that had lost all hope that maybe hope still existed.

  For five minutes I held her close, no words spoken as we lay tight together, the comfort of compassionate arms helping her build a little strength to go on fighting.

  In the passageway outside, it was anything but quiet. Shadowy figures flashed across the tiny window in the door, first one way then the other, voices talking constantly in the alien language I recognized but couldn’t understand.

  Why didn’t I get Zana to teach me Calanduran?

  I could hear the desperate cries of other girls, the distant clunk of chains moving. It was well past midnight… didn’t these people ever sleep?

  And then my whole body froze. For a moment I literally couldn’t move a muscle. I heard her before I saw her, barking out orders from somewhere further down the passageway. And then, for a fleeting second, like a portrait her face was framed by the tiny window in the door.

  She was gone again. And I could move again. And as I gazed at the heart-wrenching sight of just one of the girls whose dignity and spirit she’d ripped away, I could feel again… every bit of the hatred coursing through my veins with a newfound determination.

  Yes, my evil queen. I’m coming for you.

  So you’d better enjoy your last few hours while you still can.

  I felt Kayla’s head lift away from my shoulder. A frown creased her brow.

  ‘Something’s different,’ she said quietly.

  ‘How?’

  ‘At this time of night it’s always dead quiet.’

  A wave of uneasy dread pulsed through me. ‘Kayla, how long have you been here?

  ‘I’m not sure exactly. Seventeen nights I think.’

  That’s not good. Close to four weeks, and this night is different. The passageway was a hive of activity and noise. Faces were flashing by our little window, many of them idiotic spidermen, but one or two human. And female. The clunking of chains and the desperate cries of the girls came and went, orders barked out in alien and human languages.

  Something was happening.

  The guys must be here. And Tiri and her cronies were panicking. A strange kind of terrified excitement sparked me into action. ‘Kayla, get your stuff together. I think one way or another, we’re out of here.’

  And then we were out of there. Two superheros marched into the room, undid our long chains and replaced them with shorter ones. Just long enough to shuffle one foot in front of the other, nowhere near long enough to make a run for it.

  I just had time to grab my bag before we were shoved unceremoniously into the passageway, and joined some of the other girls being shepherded towards the exit tunnel.

  Whatever was about to happen, my stay in the lunatic asylum had been mercifully short.

  Chapter 171

  Ryland Cooper had never seen Euston so devoid of human life. He shook his head as he drove along the deserted Hampstead Road at little more than running pace, feeling like they were the only people left alive in London.

  This part of the city was hardly the place you’d want to be walking the streets on the best of nights; the van drove slowly past blocks of decade’s-old apartments, and half of the dilapidated and empty shops they passed looked like they’d been empty for ever.

  But somehow this particular night the run-down main street seemed lonelier and spookier than ever. Maybe it had something to do with Shirl’s tales-around-the-campfire description of their final destination.

  The final destination which was then in front of them. His new temporary agent, peering through the windshield with an arm on each seat-back, pointed to a run of blue hoarding on the right side of the road. ‘That’s it, boss. Drive on past, throw a right. The entrance is at the back.’

  He did as he was told, found himself heading down a small side-road. ‘Look,’ said Shirl. ‘Unless I’m a facking idiot they’re fresh tyre tracks.’

  He nodded, followed the lines in the snow past a small block of what looked like offices. Then the tracks took a sharp right just before a line of trees, and their way was blocked by more blue hoarding.

  ‘This is the way in,’ said Shirl in a hushed voice, then pointed to the tree line. ‘That’s Euston rail station just the other side of the
m. But they’ll be gone soon too, make way for HS2.’

  Coop glanced back to the others. ‘Ok folks, maybe best from…’

  Shirl hadn’t finished speaking. ‘The old asylum is only about a hundred yards away. We’d better sneak in on foot now.’

  ‘I was just about to say that,’ Coop raised his hands in protest.

  Miles grinned, unbolting an equipment locker. ‘Listen to the boss, partner!’ He pulled out two automatic rifles.

  ‘Ooh, can I have one of them?’ said Shirl.

  ‘No!’ answered two voices in unison.

  ‘Spoilsports.’

  Coop looked into the eyes of the three people ready for action. ‘Ok, listen up… all of you. There ain’t much doubt, but Miles and me will go see if we can get visual confirmation Maddie and the girls are there. You two ladies stay in the van.’

  ‘Excuse me?’ said Zana.

  ‘Bollocks to that!’ said Shirl.

  ‘Look, girls. It may not be safe out there…’

  ‘You listen to me, Dumb. I’m the only one here got any idea what’s the other side of that fence…. And you’re leaving me… a hooker… shut up in here because it’s not safe?’

  Zana wasn’t looking too pleased about the potential lack of girl-power either. ‘And if you think I’m sitting here waiting after all I’ve been through, and with Madeline out there wondering where I am… think again, Coop.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘Not happening, Dumb.’

  ‘Will you stop calling me that?’

  ‘If you stop being a dumbass, sure.’

  ‘But I’m the senior agent here…’

  Miles, still grinning, put a hand on his partner’s arm. ‘Give it up, Coop. You’re outnumbered.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘Are we going or what?’ said Zana sternly.

  Coop threw his hands in the air. ‘Pull up your hoods, folks. It’s the arctic out there.’

  Miles pushed the rear door open, and one by one they climbed out. Their feet sank into a good four inches of snow. And still the massive flakes blotted out everything outside a fifty-yard radius, swirling around them in a wind that seemed to be getting stronger by the minute.

  Coop glanced into the sky, a grim expression on his face. ‘Aw, come on… give us a break here?’

  Shirl whacked a hand into his chest, hard. ‘Quit winging, Dumb. Follow me.’

  She trudged over to the hoarding, where two of the panels were attached by big steel hinges to make an access gate for the workers and their vehicles. ‘Padlock’s missing,’ she said, pulling the frozen latch plate away from its locking pin. ‘Someone’s here.’

  Miles leant his weight, and they eased the gate open, just enough so they could slip through. And in the frozen expanse of the big open site, it was all too clear how much London was turning into the North Pole.

  A constantly-moving airborne blanket of white whipped across the ground in front of them, blotting out everything they really needed to see.

  Shirl pulled the hood tighter around her face. ‘The asylum’s over there.’ She pointed to the far left corner of the site. ‘Gonna have to get closer to see anything.’

  She set off, the others following in a single line. Miles turned to Coop as they fought their way through the blizzard after their guide. ‘Now I know what Scott of the Antarctic felt like!’

  Shirl stopped, raised a hand. The others caught her up. ‘Not much doubt now, boys,’ she said. Fifty yards away, an even shaped lump in the whiteness had been almost obliterated by the snow, but where the wind had blown the back of it clear, they could see exactly what it was.

  A small patch of blue paintwork contrasted with the pure white of the snow, and right in the middle of it was the Mazda badge.

  And then it wasn’t the only thing they could see. Miles reacted quickly, dragged them behind a pile of bricks so they were out of sight. A short distance to the right of the car, a patch of yellow light had begun to appear from nowhere. Zana cried out, knowing instantly what it was. Coop and Miles had a pretty good idea too, but Shirl had never seen it before.

  ‘What the fack is that?’

  Zana filled her in. ‘That’s the doorway to a spaceship, Shirl. The rest of it is invisible, but when the hatch opens you can see the inside.’

  ‘Fack! But why are they opening it in this weather?’

  Coop shook his head. ‘Good question, agent. But I guess we’ll know in a minute.’

  They didn’t have to wait that long. In the fog of snow, only just visible, dark figures began to appear, coming out of the ground like ghosts.

  Zana cried out, a strangled gasp of realization. ‘Oh no… no…’

  Chapter 172

  It was like a scene from world war two. Stretching along the dingy underground tunnel in front of me, a line of girls in dirty white gowns, their feet shackled by chains, stood waiting to discover their fate. Their desperate cries echoed in the enclosed space, their hopelessness hanging over them in an almost-visible pall of desolation.

  Men in masks stood with them, wary of anyone breaking ranks, occasionally thrusting out a warning hand against anyone who moved the slightest bit out of line. I’d seen pictures like this in history books, read about the horrors inflicted during the Nazi’s reign of terror.

  These girls weren’t heading for the gas chambers. But if anything, the horrors inflicted on them would last far longer.

  Kayla and me were at the back of the line. I tried to count how many girls there were, but it was hard to see far in the dim light. At least twelve, most likely more.

  Kayla was clinging to me, her eyes flicking everywhere. ‘What’s happening? Please tell me what’s happening…’

  I pulled her into me. ‘I don’t know. They’re taking us somewhere, but I’ve no idea where.’

  Something was changing. And a sickening dread was starting to pound my stomach to bits. Where the hell are the guys? The full force of the Met and the army should be here by now, shepherding us all into ambulances like the end of a disaster movie.

  It didn’t exactly look like the bad guys had lost everything.

  Movement. The head of the line was disappearing from my view. Our alien captors were getting vocal. And physical, shoving the girls forward. Kayla clung to me like a limpet. I couldn’t blame her, I was clinging to her too.

  Something had gone wrong.

  Zana, where are you?

  Zana looked at Coop with petrified eyes, her words confirming what he was already thinking.

  ‘They’re shipping out.’

  ‘Shit. Shit. Gotta do something… Miles, take aim.’ He lifted the rifle to his shoulder.

  ‘Are you insane?’ Zana wrenched the weapon out of his hands. ‘All we can see is foggy lumps. How do you know which of them you’re killing?’

  He turned away, raised desperate hands. ‘We’ve got to do something… once they leave we’ll never find them.’

  She could see the tears in his eyes. ‘I can do something.’

  Miles grabbed her arm. ‘Zana, you can’t walk into that. What’s that going to achieve?’

  ‘No, I didn’t mean… I need my shuttle. Now.’

  ‘What?’ Coop looked at her like she was insane. ‘Its three miles away… across the North Pole. And you want it now?’

  Shirl thumped him, again. ‘Just hear her out, boss. I think she knows what to do.’

  He raised his hands again, but said, ‘Ok, tell all.’

  ‘The engines on our craft leave a radiation particle trail. My shuttle can lock onto that, so we can follow her.’

  Miles frowned. ‘But that kind of trail disperses. How long have we got?’

  ‘If we were in space, several days. In Earth’s atmosphere, three to four hours.’

  ‘Geez, I’m not even sure we could make it to Battersea in these conditions.’ Coop looked desperate, turning a full circle like he was searching for divine inspiration that sure as hell wasn’t going to come.

  Shirl stopped him spinning. ‘Y
ou got a better idea, Dumb?’

  ‘Stop calling me that. And no, I haven’t.’

  ‘Better get behind that wheel then… sir.’

  ‘Look!’ Miles shout made Zana glance back to the open hatch of the shuttle. She could just make out the last few shapes making their way up the steps. One of them was slightly easier to see, still wearing her red cape.

  ‘Madeline…’

  She felt Shirl’s hand in hers, turning her away from the sight that had brought the tears. As the hatch closed tight and the yellow light disappeared, she spoke softly.

  ‘Time to do what only you can, Zana.’

  Chapter 173

  Coop shook his head for the thousandth time that night, trying to reassure himself that things couldn’t get any more insane.

  They’d just turned back onto Hampstead Road, and even though the gently-sloping side road was the slightest of uphill drives, the van had only just made it.

  Three miles of this?

  Then he had a thought. There was a civilian on board. ‘Shirl, I’m going to have to drop you somewhere en route. Sorry, but…’

  ‘Are you serious?’

  It wasn’t Shirl who’d cut him short. Zana poked her head between the seats, glaring fire at him. ‘That brave woman has just saved the day, and now you’re going to dump her somewhere to die of hyperthermia? How’s she going to get home?’

  ‘I know, but…’

  ‘But nothing, Mister Cooper. Shirl is a part of the anti-Tiri-ist squad now, so like it or lump it.’

  ‘Guess that told me then.’

  ‘Yes it did. And in case you haven’t realized it yet, it’s the female part of this squad who’ve kept it alive so far. So just drive, and don’t bend the van!’

  ‘Don’t you start,’ he grinned.

  He grimaced to himself, realizing Zana’s words were all too true. If he hadn’t run Shirl over, without her knowledge they would never have found the alien hideout. And now Tiri had fled, it was Zana who held the only key they had left.