Under Loch and Key

by Kathryn Cockrill

  “You grew up too Eli. You look different.” I smiled ruefully at him. We couldn’t change it now, but it would take some getting used to. He patted my hand,

  “I’m still your brother.” There was a sound outside and his head snapped to the side. Holding a finger to his lips, he crept over to the door, cracking it open. As he did, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out, frowning at the unknown number,

  Be careful. He hasn’t told you everything – C

  I’d thrown Caden’s phone away but of course he got another one. I was more annoyed that he had bothered to remember my number. His text puzzled me. What hadn’t Eli told me? Why? Or was this another of Caden’s tricks? I hurriedly put my phone away as Eli came back over.

  “What was that?” I kept my voice light. I’d just got him back; I didn’t want to start doubting him now. He shrugged, holding a finger to his lips again. Going over to Rick’s desk, he disappeared underneath. I heard a click before he reappeared.

  “We need to get out of here. Now you’re here, they can’t hold that over me. Caden isn’t nearby anymore to get to mum and dad. We can escape.” I struggled to respond, my mind whirring. That had been the eventual plan, but I hadn’t expected it to be right this second,

  “What?” He gave me the look he used to give me when I wasn’t using common sense. That hadn’t changed.

  “I just disarmed the bug under Ricks desk so they definitely can’t hear us. We only have a few seconds before he comes back in. He would have been listening. But we can leave, we can get out.” He took a deep breath as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was saying, “We’re going to escape Ari, you and me. We’re going to go home.”

  Chapter 15

  I was still staring at him when Rick burst back into the room, giving both of us suspicious glances. He looked around the rest of the room, but nothing was out of place.

  “I think that’s enough catching up for now.” He flashed us his smile. It still made my skin crawl. Caden hadn’t come back into the room and I was glad. I wouldn’t have been able to avoid looking at him and I didn’t want Eli to read my face. I didn’t care if Eli did kill him. He’d burned that bridge when he threw me into the Loch. I stood up as Eli squared up to Rick.

  “Ari stays with me.” There was no question in his voice, no room for argument. It was this confidence that made me falter, made me think about Caden’s text. Maybe something had changed. Maybe there was something he wasn’t telling me.

  Not the time Ari. Right now, you’ve got to figure out how to get both of you out of here. Then you can find out what he’s hiding. If he’s hiding anything.

  Rick glanced at me, his expression dubious. I could see, now, partly where Eli’s confidence had come from; he was indispensable to Rick. They couldn’t make the creatures without him so he could probably demand whatever he wanted. I took some comfort in that, knowing that he could have asked for anything he needed over the last three years. Rick’s attention went back to Eli and after a few heated seconds, he nodded curtly.

  “Very well. But I will be assigning some security…for your own sakes.” It might have been my imagination, but it looked like his eyes flickered back to me again. Clearly there was something going on; hopefully I would find out before it came back to bite me in the arse. Rick gestured towards the door; Eli grabbed my elbow and pulled me out of his office so fast I had to take jogging steps to keep up. We walked back through the hallways in silence. I was still trying to figure out how we were going to get out of here, especially if Rick assigned us ‘security’. I was mulling it over as Eli stopped, pulling me up short. Looking up I realised we were outside Lab 2. I wasn’t sure what I was going to find in here; it was one thing knowing my brother had created all the creatures I’d seen up until this point. It was another thing entirely to watch him do it. He pushed the door open and walked in with a practised ease. I scurried in behind him. The lab looked pretty much the same as the one I’d hid in next door, just with more Eli in it. He had notebooks scattered on the metal tables and a half-eaten bag of marshmallows propped up by a computer screen. I smiled as I saw them remembering how he'd crammed for his sixth form exams and eaten nothing but marshmallows for days. Apparently, they helped him think. I’d scoffed at the time but looking around at calculations scrawled on whiteboards, maybe they did. I jumped as I realised Eli was watching me, chewing his lip.

  “What?” My voice seemed tiny in the white, polished space of the lab. He stopped chewing his lip and shook his head, smiling,

  “Nothing. I’m just… nervous, I guess. What do you think?”

  Think of what? The experiments? Nothing good.

  I chose to avoid the real subject of the question,

  “I think you need to clean up in here.” I stuck my tongue out at him; there was a flicker of hurt in his eyes but then he grinned at me.

  “I happen to like it this way. It’s messy organisation.” It was strange how easily we fell back into our old routines. I should have been happy, but something was stopping me.

  “Just like you.” I shot back. Before he could say anything else, there was a pitiful howl from the corner of the room. My head instantly snapped round. I’d noticed the cages when I’d come in, but I hadn’t paid much attention to them. Or I hadn’t wanted to. But now my attention was firmly focused on them. I walked over, trying to see into the shadows. As I got closer, the howling stopped. Crouching down, I peered into the cage. Light yellow eyes met mine. Behind me I heard Eli flick on a switch and a lamp above the cage slowly flickered to life. In the lightening gloom I could make out pointed ears and a black nose.

  “Is this…did he come from the wolf in the other room?” I asked in a low voice, not taking my eyes off of the animal in front of me. Eli moved next to me, also crouching down,

  “Yeah. They brought him in earlier this morning and called me in.” He was watching the pup too, but I could see he was calculating something.

  “Do you know…do you know what they did?” I didn’t hide the tremble. I wanted him to know I wasn’t happy; I was dreading his answer. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Eli.” He pushed his hair back from his face, standing up and turning away. I didn’t stand up, but I turned to follow his movements. He leant on a table, head bent down. “Eli, they cut it out of her and left her there. She’s dying. Do you realise that? I can’t even imagine how much pain-” He slammed one hand down on the table, cutting me off. From here I could see that his forearms were shaking, but his face was hidden by his hair.

  “I KNOW ARI. I HAVE LIVED WITH THIS. I KNOW WHAT THEY DO. THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO TO CHANGE IT!” His voice snapped across the room, vicious. I turned back to the cage so he couldn’t see the hurt in my face. Even though I was trying not to shake, I couldn’t resist,

  “You could have tried. You clearly have power over Rick. You could have stopped them from being cruel.” I didn’t keep the judgement from my voice. I never thought Eli was the kind of person to let someone be cruel. Something clattered behind me and I jumped.

  “You weren’t HERE Ari. You don’t understand!” This wasn’t my brother. He had never yelled at me like this. I flinched as his footsteps came towards me, but I didn’t look at him. The wolf pup seemed to feel the tension, starting a low whine in his throat. I could hear Eli pacing. He’d never been this angry. He wasn’t angry or aggressive.

  He hasn’t told you everything.

  I was beginning to believe Caden. As Eli paced the wolf pup struggled forward. I watched it, puzzled until its leg came into full view. I couldn’t stop myself from gasping. Eli stopped. His legs were dragging behind him and, rather than looking in proportion with his body, extended far beyond his back. They hung at an odd angle. As I watched him struggle closer, I realised why. His legs, though covered in fur, were human in formation, with a knee joint that bent inwards halfway down. But it didn’t look like he could use them at all. He reached the bars, pushing his wet nose through to touch my hand. I stroked his nose through the cage, feeling my h
eart break as I watched him. I heard ragged breathing behind me. I spun round, pushing myself up. The pup let out a pitiful bark as I moved away. Eli was back leant against the table, his back heaving up and down, breathing in short bursts.

  “Eli?” I didn’t want to speak any louder than a whisper. I approached cautiously; as I got close to him, I could see that he was sweating, beads rolling down his neck and face. I reached out to put a hand on his back but before I could touch him, he shifted away. I caught a glimpse of his face as he moved. He looked inhuman. Even his eyes were glazed. I moved back a step, waiting until his shoulders stopped heaving. After a couple more moments he looked up at me. His face looked drawn, like he was in pain. “What the hell was that Eli?” I kept most of the tremor out of my voice; hopefully if he heard it, he would think it was anger. He didn’t answer me; instead he walked over to a cupboard at the other side of the lab and pulled out a syringe. Grabbing a vial, he filled it up and plunged it into the crook of his arm. As he pressed the plunger down, a wave of relief passed over his face. I was open-mouthed. My mind was racing as he finished pushing the syringe and tossed the needle into a sharps bin. Instead of saying anything, he simply began tidying up the mess I’d mentioned earlier. Frustration welled up in my chest. I wasn’t used to this Eli. I knew he’d been through a lot, but I couldn’t equate the person in front of me with the brother I used to have. He moved around in silence, the shuffling of papers joining the whining of the pup. I watched him for a few minutes before moving over to a stool and sitting down, crossing my arms. Clearly, I would have to wait until he was ready to talk. My eyes kept drifting back to the pup. I knew they were trying to make a werewolf but a wolf with deformed legs that couldn’t even walk was evidently not the way to go. Maybe Eli couldn’t figure this one out. The clock on the wall ticked by. After fifteen minutes had passed, Eli sighed and came to a halt on the opposite side of the table to me.

  “I’m sorry.” He said the words so softly, I almost didn’t hear them. I didn’t reply, keeping my arms crossed. I was going to need much more than that. “Since being here, I’ve had attacks of anger. I use a dilution of a mild sedative to calm myself down.” At least it wasn’t the kind of drugs I was originally thinking. I couldn’t forgive him, not entirely, but given where we were and what he had been dealing with for the last three years, I could understand being angry. I softened my face and he relaxed. All it meant was that I was more determined than ever to get us out of here. I moved over to him, casting a glance towards the door. Rick had mentioned security and, even though I hadn’t seen them, I was willing to bet they were waiting outside the door, just in case we decided to leave.

  “We aren’t done with this, but right now, we need to focus on getting out of here. Like you said.” Eli nodded and I lowered my voice to the smallest whisper I could manage, “I don’t think we can leave this lab. Which means we need to make them think we’re still in here… do you have any vents?” He cocked his head to the side, thinking, then nodded. Tugging me over to the far side of the room, he pointed behind a desk. I crouched down, the prison bars of the grate gleaming back at me.

  Perfect.

  I didn’t know where it led but hopefully it was somewhere better than here. We probably had another half an hour of silence before someone checked on us. I stood up again and leant into Eli’s ear.

  “Any cameras?” He shook his head, “Grab what you need in a bag. Nothing more than you can carry through that vent. You have literally five minutes.” He flashed me a grin and hurried over to his notebooks, stopping to grab a small backpack on the way. I went over to the cages, bending down to the wolf pup. He licked my fingers and I wished I could take him with me, but there was no way I could when he couldn’t even walk.

  “I’m so sorry. But I’m going to make sure the government shuts this whole place down. I promise. I’ll stop them from doing anything else to you.” He cocked his head to one side and I almost broke down. “I’m so so sorry.” He gave my hand another lick. I forced myself to stand up and pull away. Eli hurriedly went back to what he was doing, but I knew he was watching me. Remorse was written across his face. I couldn’t meet his eyes, so I grabbed my backpack, settling it in between my shoulder blades. A couple of seconds later Eli appeared next to me, his own straps slung over his shoulders. Shuffling under the desk, I pulled out my 5 pence coin again, thankful that they had used the same screws. I could feel Eli jigging about behind me; it made my own hands shake, the screws rattling as I pulled them out of the vent cover. After an agonising few seconds, I had all four screws out and was pulling the cover aside, placing it flat against the wall, hidden behind a large piece of machinery. The vent was completely dark, and I couldn’t feel any breeze. Casting a glance back at the closed lab door, I took a deep breath and clambered inside. Eli was close behind me, pulling the vent cover back over.

  I really hope this works.

  We crawled through the darkness; it was slow progress. I had to stop every few seconds and move the torch I’d pulled out of my backpack from my mouth to my hand to see if there was any change up ahead. We carried on for a while, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. We eventually came to a corner; as soon as we turned it, small beams of light started to filter through. I started to speed up. I could hear Eli shuffling behind me as I moved through the vent. Up ahead I could see an opening and, as we approached, a slight breeze ruffled through. Cautiously, I approached it. Through the grate I could see a large open room.

  “Eli.” I hissed, “Do you recognise this?” He shuffled up beside me and looked through the grate as well.

  “Yeah; it’s the delivery entrance. It leads out into the clearing. They don’t normally have many people here unless there’s a delivery due.” That could work. I thought back to the clearing I’d come in through and the hidden doorway.

  The camera…

  “There’s a camera directly outside the doors; it’s motion activated.” I heard him snort,

  “I’ve got it covered sis, don’t worry.” I made a face that I knew he couldn’t see in the darkness. By this point I had this down to a fine art. The vent cover was off in a matter of seconds. I squeezed out into the room, moving out of the way so that Eli could clamber in behind me. We both stood up, casting quick glances around the room. As far as I could see, it didn’t look like anyone had been in here recently. We got to the doors but before I could open it, Eli put a hand on top of mine.

  “Wait a second.” He pulled a small device from his pocket, almost identical to the one Caden had used to control the collar. I took an instinctive step back; he shot me a strange look and pressed the button. No ear-splitting screeches. Instead there was a click and a low hum. Eli seemed to be waiting for something. After a few seconds, there was another click. He put the device away and grabbed my wrist,

  “We need to move quickly. The remote deactivated the camera for ninety seconds.” He pulled open the door and we slipped outside, also sidestepping a thin film that covered the doorway. Instantly, the cool air enveloped me. I took in a deep breath, loving the pine needle scent that accompanied it. Eli shut the door behind us, and we started moving through the undergrowth. I couldn’t help but cast glances back over my shoulder to the hidden doorway. The film had settled back over the doorway, obscuring it completely from view but I was expecting it to move at any second as GAI chased after us. It didn’t happen. Eli stepped on a twig, the sound of it breaking harsh against the soft silence of the trees. We both froze for a split second, completely on edge but, apart from a soft breeze, nothing stirred. We walked around the edge of the clearing, keeping to the same path I’d used only a few hours before.

  This is too easy.

  I peeked out through the trees, checking across the clearing, but it was empty. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this had been far too easy. Eli was quiet beside me, his eyes flitting across the treeline. I found the start of the trail I’d taken through the forest following Caden and moved ahead, leading Eli around the tree roots. The light
was starting to fall, the sun setting in the distance. I didn’t really want to be in the forest overnight but there was no way we would get back to Freiburg before nightfall. Playing with the toggle on my jumper, I tried to come up with a plan. I’d seen a small shed near the tower earlier. If we could get into it, we could use that to stay in overnight. I wasn’t that comfortable staying so close to the GAI headquarters, but hopefully they wouldn’t have any idea which way we’d gone.

  “Eli.” My voice shattered the silence of the forest and I cringed, hopping over a tree root and turning around so I could face him. “I don’t think we can get all the way back to Freiburg before it gets completely dark and the trail I came on earlier definitely cannot be done in the dark. We need to find somewhere to wait out until morning. I think there’s a small building in the next clearing. Once we get there I’m going to try and get into it and we can stay there for the night, is that okay?” He nodded, his eyes still flitting. I didn’t like the tremors that were running over his skin.

  You don’t have that far to go until you reach the tower. Then you can deal with Eli. One thing at a time.

  I pushed on through the forest. Night was encroaching around us; even the air felt different. What had been a comforting blanket had turned into something a lot more sinister. Gnarled roots stuck out from the ground, primed to trip us up and knotted fingers tangled in my hair as we crept past. I reached back to take Eli’s hand, pulling him faster through the trees. I wanted to get out of the crush of trunks and into the clearing, where hopefully the moonlight would chase away some of the shadows. Every time something moved around us, my mind instantly went into overdrive. After what felt like an age, the trees began thinning again; relieved, I pushed forward, breaking through the treeline. The tower leapt out in front of me, reaching up into the night sky. I could see the building off to the far side of the clearing and I all but ran towards it. The door was locked, but it was pretty flimsy. With a well-placed shove of my shoulder, I had the door open, falling into the room. Eli stepped in after me, shutting the door. I found a light switch on the wall and flicked it on. The room was pretty bare, with just a couple of chairs; it looked like some kind of office. There was only one window at the far side of the building, facing out into the trees. I pushed some boxes in front of the door before turning around. Eli was slumped on the floor, his eyes wide.