Crimson (11 page)

I come to, as somebody shakes me a little too vigorously for the massive headache I now have. “Hey, wake up, wake up.” I open my eyes to a worried-looking Caitlin hovering over me. Somebody has moved me to the couch.

“What happened?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” Caitlin says, “You were standing over the table, then you fell suddenly, whacked your head on the table and passed out. You seemed ok, so I moved you to the couch to recover. What happened?”

“I really don’t know. I saw Cara, briefly, for just a second. Then everything started hurting.”

“You saw her?” Caitlin asks excitedly. “Tell me what you saw,”

“Didn’t you?” I ask. Surely she was able to see her when she was viewing herself.

The look she gives me says otherwise. “No, I wasn’t able to. Like I said, it was all blurry. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t focus.”

Allison walks across to me. “Welcome back to the world of the living. You were out for quite a while. I brought help.”

With a firm grip on my arm, she pulls me up. For the second time today I find myself in standing in front of Erik. He looks less than impressed.

“When Allison insisted on my help but wouldn’t tell me for what, I had to know that somehow you were going to be involved.

Allison gives him a friendly push. “And yet you’re still here. Be honest, the more fucked the situation, the more you enjoy it.”

Erik grabs the map while slipping her a sly smile. “If what you say is true, then they must have had some sort of protection around her. Shit, if you’ve tripped something, they’ve probably worked out that we know where they are. We need to move now if we’re to have any chance of catching them. Grab whatever else you think might help. Did you see how many of them there were?”

“No, I didn’t see any actually. It happened so quickly that I’m struggling to remember what I did see. The place wasn’t very big though. There couldn’t have been more than a couple in there.”

“Hmm, it sounds a little too easy. I guess we’ll just have to wing it and hope there isn’t more. Just to make sure, this motel that they’re at, it’s single storey yes?” he asks. “We want to avoid contact with the public if at all possible, obviously.”

“Speaking of contact, has Nem been back?” I ask. “She should have returned by now.”

“She’s able to find you, right? Hopefully she’s able to catch up to us.”

“I’m not sure. I guess so. I’d rather not leave without her though.”

Allison twists her face up, irritated. “We don’t have time to wait for her. What about you Caitlin? I know this kind of stuff isn’t really your thing.”

“Are you kidding? I need to be there for my sister. There’s no way in hell you’re leaving without me.” She says.

Erik cuts in before Allison can argue against it. “Whatever, this is wasting time. We really need to go folks.”

He leads us down more stairs than I remember there being when we came. Geez I really must have been tired when we got here. Waiting for us in the building car park is, what is becoming my usual transport, a dark van. Heavily tinted windows at the front and no windows at the back, it’s impossible to see into the van, which lends it a distinctly sinister look.

Allison opens the back of the van for Caitlin and me. I’m first to jump in the back. Caitlin is barely through the door before Allison slams the sliding door shut and jumps into the front seat. She leans back and passes a black military style sub machine gun to me from a well-worn duffle bag.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” I ask, more frightened by it than anything else.

Erik leans back and points towards the barrel. “You point this end at the bad guys and look serious. Let’s hope that’s all it takes.”

Fantastic, I can’t see this going wrong at all. The gun steel is icy cold and a lot heavier than expected. A metaphor for the mess I’ve gotten myself into. I hold it nervously as Erik pulls the van out of the parking lot.

With no side windows, it’s difficult to get an idea of how long we drive towards this place. Then again, I didn’t think to ask exactly where this place was. This is far too unplanned for my liking. But the thought of losing Cara is terrifying. I won’t lose her; not to those soldiers, not to anyone.

Caitlin looks so unemotional sitting across from me. Yet, under the mask, she struggles to hide her fears. In a way, it makes her seem more fragile. Like the mask will shatter at any moment and she’ll fall apart. I hope she holds.

“So ok, point the guns at the bad guys, save the day, it’s a great plan and all; but seriously, there are only four of us and I’m not exactly the soldier type,” Caitlin says.

“And neither am I,” I kick in.

“Do you even know where we need to go?” she asks.

“I saw the maps before,” Erik says with a nod. “Allison and I have that covered. Don’t worry. All we need you to do is keep watch outside while we deal with what’s inside. We’ll have the element of surprise, and if we keep a bit of speed to what we’re doing we’ll have no issues. If it’s necessary, there are additional people we can call in if we feel like we more firepower. But from experience these kidnappings tend to be by small teams and the best tactic is to hit them hard and fast before they’re able to react or get reinforcements.”

“I guess that makes sense.” I say.

“Well, we’re almost there, so get ready. This is going to happen quickly. Wait for Allison and me to go in. Stand outside until we give the ok to come in,” he says.

The van swerves violently as Erik rips the wheel to the left. Allison reaches over and taps on the seat in front of us.

“Heads up.”

She's already half out her door as the van screeches to a halt.

Caitlin tears the van’s sliding door open, using far too much force. She’s running off before it clicks in my mind that I too need to be running with them.

“Shit.” I jump out of the van trying not to look stupid.

Thankfully they haven’t gone too far ahead. Caitlin points towards the motel door nearest to us. Erik and Allison take up position on either side of the door while Erik points at the number to silently double check with Caitlin that it’s the right one. Caitlin nods to them impatiently.

Erik places his hand over the door handle and, with a thump of telekinetic force, flings the door open. Wood around the lock explodes into splinters. Allison is into the room milliseconds behind the door opening. One hand locks the small machine gun to her shoulder while the other is held out, palm forward, ready to perform any telekinesis. Erik is quickly into the room behind her. I have my arm around Caitlin to try and stop her from running in. So much for keeping watch.

“Shit.” The first noise to come from the room is Erik swearing.

Allison shouts out that it’s clear. Caitlin breaks free from my grip and runs into the room without a second thought. With nothing else to do I find myself tentatively stepping into the room to see what’s going on.

In the middle of the room, Cara lies on a bed face down with a black bag over her head. She struggles against ropes that tie her wrist and ankles together. Caitlin tries to calm her down and get the bag off her head while Erik attempts to use a small pocketknife to cut her free of the ropes without cutting her while she struggles.

A gentle hand on Cara’s shoulder seems to help her quiet a little. Erik is first to take advantage, sawing through the heavy ropes to free her hands. He moves down to free her ankles as Caitlin finally gets the bag off her head. Cara mumbles incoherently into the duct tape across her mouth. Despite the recognition in her eyes, they’re still wide open in panic. Caitlin tries to gently tear the tape from her lips. It stills leaves a red mark across her face.

Between heavy breaths, with eyes still wide open she cries out, “Run, you need to run.”

“Why did you come for me?” Cara says, devastated. She sluggishly gets to her feet, unsteady as she moves away from the bed.

“What’s wrong, Cara?” I ask. Why would she be so upset with our presence?

“They drugged me and left me as bait, you fools. Why else would they leave me here all alone? Please, you’ve got to get out of here. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

To punctuate her point, the sound of multiple vehicles fills the room as they pull up outside. Too late. Boots hit concrete as Allison and Erik rush from the room with guns raised. They stand resolutely outside the room, statues against an inevitable flood. Then I watch their resolve fail them. They lower their guns, letting them fall to the ground and dropping their heads in turn, defeated. They couldn’t have done otherwise.

With an arm under Cara, I hold her steady as we walk out together. Twenty men, guns raised, stand arrayed against us. There’s little chance of avoiding our fate now.

“Well, well. Four little birdies caught with one stone.” Levia taunts.

I barely feel Cara recoil in pain as I squeeze her hand I’m holding tightly. I almost pull her off her feet as I tense in anger when Levia takes another step towards us.

“This is a good day. A number of significant members of the resistance all caught together. I think we might even make a special exception for you lot, because as tempted as I am to execute you all on the spot this could be quite the propaganda scoop. It’ll let us put a face to the terrorists. Show the public the consequences of complacency.

“Well don’t just stand there! Take them all into custody before they decide to do something stupid. Cuff them all,” she says, before pointing towards me, “but make sure you put that one out.”

Two soldiers step forward. One grabs me by the arm and roughly pulls me from Cara. I watch as the other swings the butt of his gun into her stomach. The last I see of her is the soldier grabbing her by the hair as she doubles over. The pain on her face tells a different story to just having her hair pulled. Then I’m pushed to the ground, face scraping against the concrete.

Allison puts up a brief struggle. She elbows one in the head when his hands wander too far. That earns her a punch in the face and a short trip to the pavement beside me.

I can almost feel each grain of dirt on the pavement grinding against my cheek. I definitely feel the prick of the needle as it enters my neck. Then the world is black once more.

The shock of waking up sends a jolt of adrenaline through me. The room is pitch-black. 

Despite the darkness, I can tell I’m in an all-too-familiar setting. Barred window, solid steel door and a soreness in my muscles remind me that the past few days haven’t been just a dream.

Memories of the last time spent in a cell like this come flooding back; even a few I must have shut out. A shudder passes through me as I remember the abuse. It is cold comfort to know those guards can’t hurt me again.

The room freezes over, as unwelcoming as the last cell. Claustrophobia sets in. Naked; copper bracelets dig painfully into my back. My wrists are on fire, hands numb, locked behind me by thick plastic cuffs.

I try to calm my breathing. For a moment I wonder whether I just haven’t left the same nightmare.

No, this isn’t the same room. There’s something different; somebody else in the room. I hear the sound of their breathing across the room. I listen nervously. The darkness makes me hyper-aware. A moment later and I realise that it’s the sound of somebody softly breathing in their sleep. Who are they? Is it safe to try and wake them up? I sit myself up. Feet over the edge of the bed. I manage to stand up, with some difficulty.

Then the door handle rattles. Again? Maybe that’s what woke me? My heartbeat races, I remember what happens next. Where’s the bed gone? The lights flick on just as the door opens. Instant blindness. Light drilling into the back of my eyes, pain I could do without right now.

Slowly my vision returns. A dark shape hovers in front of me. My eyes focus, just in time to see that the dark shape is the butt of a rifle. It smashes into my nose, sending me flying backwards. I hit the concrete hard.  

I find myself lying face first on the concrete floor, my eyes struggling to focus on the blood dripping from my nose. My head spins.

“Get up, please get up. You need to get up,” Cara’s voice begs me, twisted and distorted.

A thought in the back of my mind tells me to listen. Try, at least for her. It’s a battle with the agony spreading beyond my nose. Not fast enough; a boot connects with my ribs, sending me hurtling against the bed.

I lay there, dazed; eyes open, without any recognition of what surrounds me. It’s a quick surrender to the pain. With a certain numb curiosity I watch the trail of blood that follows me as they drag me by my ankles out of the room.

Just as I start to find some semblance of coherency somebody props me up into a sitting position. Tape applied roughly to my lips reignites the pain in my face. A black cotton bag gets shoved roughly over my head; a painful return to the black void. The metallic taste of blood overwhelms the only sense I have left.

Cara whimpers as she’s dragged next to me. And it kills me that I’m powerless to do anything for her. She’s there, only inches beside me and if only I could reach out and touch her, let her know I’m here and she’ll be ok. But she may as well be half the world away. At least I won’t have to lie.

Boot steps echo, moving off down the hallway. I lose track of time, of how long we’re left here. There is a silence that hangs over us, punctuated sporadically by Cara’s soft sobbing. The silence tortures; I’m helpless. Time, dispassionate, drags on.

The boots return. I struggle to draw breath through the grip my heart has around my throat. Somebody lifts me into a standing position. With a rough shove they face me in an unknown direction.

“Walk,” the captor says bluntly.

I blindly shuffle forward. It sounds like there are more of us here than just Cara and me.

‘They need to be cleaned up,” Levia says. “Take the females to the showers at the end of the hall. Take the male to the other wing. There are gowns for them to wear until we can get them processed.”

A hard shove sends me stumbling forward. I manage only a few ungraceful steps before falling face first to the floor. I’m left prone on the ground for a moment. To humiliate me I suppose. Behind me somebody is laughing. Eventually somebody pulls me back to my feet and shoves me onto a hard plastic seat.

“One at a time! That one first!” a new female voice commands.

A chair scraps across the room. A muffled protest. Not me. I guess that means I wait.

A high pressure shower is turned on in another room. A door shuts and the sound is muffled out.

The darkness that envelopes me is fascinating. It’s strange how impossible it is to describe the colours one sees when there is only darkness. Hypnotic.  It feels like each colour flashing by represents the last fleeting glimpse into the reality draped around me. As each colour slips from my mind I feel myself slip further into the abyss of darkness. It’s my only escape.