Rise

by Victoria Powell

  Alex watched the woman rip open the base of the tenth chair. This woman was not a mollycoddled office worker and she had a lot of authority for a warehouse worker. If it had just been Penny and Tim against the world for the last few years then where had she picked up all these resistance tricks?

  “What did you do for Larton Logistics?” Alex said, gently lifting herself off the chair.

  Penny tossed away a lump of stuffing. “I was a supply chain manager. It was my job to arrange shipments at the supply base and make sure they were tracked to legitimate businesses.”

  “So, you were in charge of fudging the books?” Alex asked.

  Penny shrugged, turning over the chair in her hands. “I wasn’t in charge, but I was good at what I did. A few times I had to meet with government auditors to explain the books. I learnt to be good at twisting the truth.”

  That could explain a lot. Alex turned a sofa back onto its feet and sank down onto it.

  “I’m not finished looking,” Penny complained.

  “You’re finished with this one, Pen,” Alex mumbled, eyes already shut.

  A chair scraped the floor on the other side of the room, then another, then another. “Fine,” Penny relented as she reset the chairs. “Fine, you get an hour’s sleep, then we can go find your contact and get to a proper safe house.”

  “No, we have to wait until Wednesday. We’re two days early,” Alex mumbled.

  “It is Wednesday,” Penny huffed.

  Alex opened her eyes and watched Penny moving the chairs around. “No. I went in to get Nathan on Saturday. I was knocked out by the cops that day, twice. It was still light outside when I escaped. I probably woke up in your place on Sunday. Isn’t it Monday now?” Every pained muscle tightened, her heart raced, her screwed up fists shook.

  Penny stood very still. “We rescued you on Tuesday morning. Yesterday.”

  That’s not right. Something about the look on Penny’s face felt wrong.

  Penny shrugged. “The cops must have kept you out cold for days.”

  “Maybe,” Alex said.

  Penny sat down on a chair and pulled out a mobile radio set. “You sleep for a bit. I’m going to check the news and then fix us some dinner.”

  Alex’s stomach churned at the idea of eating something from that kitchen, but she thought the older woman could do with a bout of diarrhoea. She closed her eyes, allowing her mind to plunge on at a thousand thoughts per second and listened closely as the radio was tuned into the news. It was quiet relief to hear the Ackersons were still on the run.

  Minutes of mindless chatter on the radio lulled Alex into a semi-conscious haze. The happy singsong voices of the presenters normally pierced her skull with venomous hatred mixed with convulsive fear, but today it felt abhorrently calming. The one normal thing about her situation now was the cheerful chatter of her two antihero fans.

  Suddenly, like an alarm clock with an annoying theme tune, a riff playing on the radio brought Alex back to the room. Her eyes shot open and she watched the radio resting in Penny’s loose palms as if the outdated technological wonder would start slashing out at the occupants of the room.

  A deep voiced announcer became gravely serious. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a fire warning on the edge of the city, near Saints’ Gate. All residents in the area will be aware that a government strike has just taken place on the corner of Luton Lane and Main Route. We are awaiting confirmation as to which illegal group this relates to, but we must advise all residents not to approach any fire victims. The group may be armed and d...”

  The radio crackled as Penny snapped it off. “Shit!” She shouted. “Fucking bloody arseholes! Murdering bastards!”

  Alex swivelled upright and watched Penny as she threw herself from chair to chair, smashing them against walls and kicking them. Something had snapped inside her, fiercely crackling and sparking out in strangled cries.

  “They’re all dead.” Penny crouched down on the floor, staring unseeingly at the dust curling around her feet. “They’re all dead, I know it.”

  “That’s where you thought Tim was?” Alex asked tentatively.

  “That was my last chance of getting back to the group,” Penny whispered.

  Alex sat down on the floor next to Penny. “You found some of the Lartons?”

  Slowly Penny turned her iced eyes on Alex. “Yes. They’re gone now.”

  “It’s Ok,” Alex tried.

  Penny shook her head. “No, it’s not. I have nowhere to go. Those people who just died were visionaries. They knew there was only one way to win this war and they were making it happen. That’s more than your Ackersons can say.”

  That hurt. “We do what we can.”

  Penny rolled her eyes, but held her tongue. She wiped a tear from her face. “I need your help.”

  Alex nodded. “What do you need?”

  Penny bit her lip. “Please. Please will you take me to your contact today?”

  Why was Alex hesitating? This woman had helped her and now she was completely alone. Alex had a group to go back to. It was not exactly a closed membership group either. Yet something about this woman made her skin crawl.

  Penny looked disgusted, and rightly so. “Please. I have nowhere else to go.” Her voice cracked.

  Alex nodded gently. “I’ll take you. Doesn’t mean the contact will talk to us if he doesn’t recognise you, though. This isn’t the way we normally introduce new people into the group.”

  A slip of a smile flitted across Penny’s face. “Thank you.” Penny pulled herself to her feet. “Thank you so much.”

  Alex lifted herself up quickly. “No problem.”

  Penny wiped her face with her hands again. “You get some more sleep. I need to freshen up, then I’ll get us something to eat.”

  “Great,” Alex said weakly as Penny stepped out of the room.

  How was Alex going to shake that woman off? She looked down at the discarded radio on the floor. Sneaking a look at the empty doorway, she picked it up. Lying down and snuggling into a lumpy cushion, Alex twisted the radio on slowly, keeping the volume at a whisper.

  The high-pitched woman was being unusually serious. “The police have confirmed that Commander Swanson was within the secure office in his residence during the attack and remains unharmed. Two civilians, including a young boy, were pronounced dead at the scene. Another young child has been taken to hospital for assessment.”

  Alex’s mind was working overtime. She turned the volume up minutely.

  “The police have confirmed that the attempted assassination is believed to have been masterminded by the Erikssen group. All assassins were executed at the scene. The Commander has been relocated to alternative accommodations and has vouched to increase the offensive against the illegals, as we have seen this morning in Gateway.”

  What idiot in the Erikssens thought a strike on the Police Commander would help this situation? If they had been successful the whole city would’ve been neutralised. The Ambassador would be out of town in seconds and his buddies would eradicate the problem (us) in whatever way was easiest (extermination).

  Alex heard the bathroom door click open and turned the radio off. She listened for footsteps coming closer, but heard nothing and got bored. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried not to think of the consequences if she got caught now, after an attempted assassination. The next group in Swanson’s hands would feel his pain for a very long time.

  A banging noise startled her. “Penny?”

  She heard it again. A bang rattle groan. And again. Next it came with a cracking noise. Alex sat upright and stared at the doorway. Crack. Something was getting a strong kicking. Was that the front door? Alex stayed still.

  “Shit!” Penny shouted down the corridor. At least she was alive. Footsteps came back to the living room and Penny burst inside. “You bloody stupid child! Why did I believe you?”

  Alex jumped to her feet to face off Penny. “What are you talking about?”

  Penny grabbed Alex�
�s arm and held her tight. “You said you checked the rooms! You bloody lazy baby.”

  The storeroom. “What’s wrong?”

  “We have to leave.” Penny pulled Alex into the corridor, but Alex pushed her away.

  “It’s too early. Curfew is only just lifting and the contact won’t be ready for a couple of hours,” Alex said.

  “It doesn’t matter. We have to leave now.” Penny pulled Alex out into the corridor. “Look! Look in there.”

  Slowing her pace, Alex crept towards the storeroom door. The door lock was cracked off, but the door itself still held on to its hinges in the doorframe. The room inside was dark and it took time for her eyes to adjust. The first thing she saw was something dark glistening across the wall and boxes in the far corner.

  There was an odd curved shape to the glistening pile. It was too smooth a shape for boxes, even the ones that had been misshapen when they were used as a bed. The shape took form and Alex contracted away from it. Finally, above all the normal smells of rot that filled the flat, the early decay of human flesh singed her nose.

  “Oh shit.” Alex covered her mouth, begging her stomach not to retch.

  Jesse’s body must have been there for a couple of days. Black sticky blood covered the boxes and walls in streaks and splatters with a deep pool forming across the floor. Some of the boxes beneath him had sponged the liquid and were sodden black with crisp flaking corners. Whether death had come quickly or slowly, it undoubtedly was violent and sadistic.

  “Come. Now,” Penny demanded.

  Alex stepped back out of the room. “Jesse,” She whispered.

  “I assume so,” Penny said, thinking this was a question.

  “It is Jesse. He didn’t deserve this. What happened to him?” Alex asked.

  Penny jostled her away. “That’s not our concern right now.”

  “I bet the police did it,” Alex said.

  “The way he died, it’s more likely one of his drug addled customers went psycho on him. It doesn’t matter. We have to go. Do you understand?” Penny shook Alex.

  Alex pulled her eyes away from the door. “Yes.”

  The smell of city air washed over them as they stepped out into the crisp pink morning. They curved around the path to take the bridge, leading back towards the city centre. A couple of autocars were on the move, but mostly the ghost town air of curfew still hung around.

  “Keep alert,” Penny said. “The cops don’t know my face but yours is tattooed to the back of their eyeballs. If we see any cops we need to take a wide berth.”

  Alex led them. Milton Gardens was a good twenty minutes away as the crow flies. They crossed the bridge and cut back into the alleys. They snaked through the streets, doubling back when they heard voices coming the other way.

  A crossroad divided their path. The place was deserted, no cops or cameras. Penny stiffened. Alex followed her line of sight. On the opposite curb a news broadcast screen pulsed with scenes of the fire near Saints’ Gate.

  Alex tugged gently on Penny’s arm. “Come on. Time to go.”

  Guiding Penny across the main route, she heard a couple of autocars approaching from the city. Penny’s cracked facade quickly mended and she switched them into a narrower street. They were getting close now.

  “Right,” Penny said. “We need to be cautious. Your Dad must’ve told the police about the meet up time and location. We could be walking into a trap.”

  “No, this was his last hope. His one chance of coming back.”

  Penny laughed. “For now, assume that he told them. That might save your life.”

  The rising Sun shot shadows across the little street. Buildings hovered above them, thousands of windows glared down. People were leaving, heading to work or school. It could be moments until someone calls the cops.

  Rather than feeling the impending doom, Alex felt a wave of relief when they reached Milton Gardens and sunk down on a bench in a secluded grove. From here Alex could see the Garden entrance through a gap in a hedge and the spire of the church between the branches of a birch tree. She smiled. She was so close to being back home with Martyn, her Dad, Zoe, Debbie, Emma and the others.

  Penny tapped her foot. “We’re exposed here. I don’t like it.”

  “Don’t worry,” Alex tittered.

  Penny scowled at her. “How long do we have to wait?”

  “Be patient.”

  “I’m not waiting past nine o’clock.”

  Alex looked down at her watch. “It’s eight forty-five. I don’t think fifteen minutes is long enough.”

  “It’ll have to be.”

  Alex sighed. “Whatever.”

  A shadow flicked across Alex’s vision. Someone had entered the park. She straightened up and glared at the hedge in front of her. Apart from that one patch looking at the gate, the dense box hedge obscured everything.

  “What is it?” Penny whispered.

  “I didn’t see.”

  Penny got up to get a better view of the approach to the grove. “Was it a cop?”

  “Not sure.”

  “Was it male or female?”

  Alex looked at Penny with irritation. “I didn’t see. Shh.”

  The air was tense. They waited. Alex stretched to pick out alien sights, sounds, smells....

  Penny perched back on the bench. “Maybe he left by the other gate? Just passing through as a shortcut to work?”

  Alex did not answer. She had really hoped it was the contact. Maybe it was and the contact had run off to get help. Or maybe the contact had run off and was leaving Alex to her fate.

  After a few more minutes torturing herself, Alex perched on the arm of the bench, ready to run. “Can we move to another part of the Gardens? I don’t like this bit anymore. We’re too closed in.”

  Penny nodded. “Ok, but be ready. That guy could still be here somewhere.”

  Alex led the way out of the hedged grove and cut through a patch of trees covered in an evergreen undergrowth. She knew this park pretty well. Just beyond these trees was a sunken garden with three different exits.

  Penny grabbed her arm and turned her around. “We need to talk.”

  “Right now?” Alex asked, confused.

  “Yes,” Penny said. “Where are we going?”

  Alex brushed her off and scuffed her feet. “Look. I’ve never used this contact before, so all I know is the contact finds you in Milton Gardens.”

  “You don’t know what the contact looks like?” Penny growled.

  “It’s safer that way.”

  “So why are we walking about?” Penny asked.

  Alex pointed ahead. “There’s a good spot down there. The contact will never see us in these trees. Stop stalling and follow me.”

  Ignoring Penny’s grumbling, Alex walked on, stepping over a cluster of protruding roots. She scraped through a thicket of bramble-ridden rhododendron bushes and felt grasses brushing against her ankles. “Keep up,” she called back.

  Stepping out from the last bush, Alex saw the brickwork on the edge of the walled garden and paused for Penny to catch up. “Come on. Shit!” Something cold and clammy grabbed hold of her ankle.

  She pulled her leg back violently, jumping away from the last bush where a man was lying. The man wriggled forwards, pulling with his right arm and looked up at Alex.

  “Toby?” Alex gasped. “What the hell?”

  Penny pulled herself through the bush and baulked when she saw Toby lying on the floor pulling a gun out from inside his jacket. Penny reached behind her and pulled a pistol from her trousers.

  “Whoa!” Alex commanded, trying to cool them both by stepping between them. “Hold fire.”

  “Drop your weapon,” Toby’s aim was steady, his eyes focused on Penny. She hesitated. “Drop it now or I’ll shoot you in the head.”

  “Toby, stop,” Alex begged.

  “Alex, get back. Get away from her,” Toby warned, cocking the pistol in his hand. “And you, drop that gun now.”

  Venom emanated off T
oby. Penny lowered the pistol.

  “Drop it,” Toby insisted.

  Alex tried again to calm him. “Toby, I know this woman. She’s with me.”

  Toby lifted himself tenderly to his feet. “I know her too. I know you.”

  Penny shook her head. “I don’t know you.” She glanced at Alex. “One of your guys?”

  Alex nodded. “Yes, he is.”

  “Your contact?” Penny asked.

  “You brought her here to meet the contact? Hell Alex, what brainwashing has she done to you?” Toby growled.

  Alex stayed quiet. What had Penny done to her?

  Toby flicked his pistol at Penny again. “Drop it now. I know you’re an Erikssen.”

  Ice shivered through Alex’s veins and she stumbled backwards. Penny let the pistol fall.

  Alex’s breath heaved. “Toby, I thought she was a Larton.”

  Toby ignored her. “Shut up and pick up the gun, Alex. We can talk it all out later.”

  Alex fumbled the pistol and backed away quickly from Penny. “Toby, I’m sorry.”

  Toby shifted on his good knee and beckoned Alex over. “Give me a hand.” He glared a warning to Penny as Alex helped him to stand.

  Alex let him lean his weight across her shoulders. He was too heavy for her, but she bared it. “What happened to you?” She panted, holding him steady.

  Toby kept his eyes focused on Penny. “I know what you did to her, Erikssen. They showed me the photo. I met your partner.”

  Penny shrank backwards. “Please, where is he? Is Tim Ok?”

  Toby winced as Alex shrank sideways.

  “He’s dead,” Toby growled. “The whole load of assassins is dead.”

  “Toby?” Alex begged. “Please.”

  “Hey Erikssen. What were you really supposed to do when your little buddy didn’t come home?” Toby growled, trying to hop forwards towards Penny.

  Penny took a step back. She was shaking.

  “Tell me!”

  “It’s like you said, I’m a scout not a killer,” Penny croaked. “I just had to get her back to Jacobi.”