The Fearless (28 page)

Because this is only the beginning. It’s pointless trying to escape unless I have the keys. Mara’s due to bring our food soon; I tuck the chair leg back up my sleeve to use as a weapon if I need to, my stomach churning. I have one chance at this. One chance to rescue my brother. One chance to get us both out of here. I think briefly about Dad, wondering if I should try to get back to Sheffield and find him. But what good would that do? He’s not my dad any more – he’s Fearless. He’d probably try to kill us both.

When Mara comes in with the water and bread, I wait until she’s opposite me, her back turned. Willing her not to look round, I lift my cage up and wriggle out from underneath it, grabbing a lump of stone. As Mara turns, hearing me, I jump up and smash it down on the top of her head with a strength I wasn’t even aware I possessed. She crumples to the floor. I yank the keys from around her neck, snapping the frayed ribbon, and drag her limp body backwards into the shadows.

She’s still breathing, but her eyes are closed, and blood trickles down from her hairline. A boy in one of the cages nearby, who’s almost Altered, shrieks at me. ‘Shut up,’ I hiss, dropping Mara beside a heap of rubble. I dart across to Jori’s cage.

With a racing heart, I unlock it and help him out. He flings his arms around me, body heaving with silent sobs. I hug him back. ‘Can you walk?’ I whisper.

He tries, and his legs buckle. ‘OK, OK,’ I whisper, my gaze darting everywhere as I look for more Fearless. ‘You’ll have to get on my back.’ I crouch down. He wraps his arms around my neck, and I shake the chair leg out of my sleeve. As we run for the exit, people call after us, begging me to save them too, but there isn’t time. I have to get out of here before their shouts draw the other Fearless, or before the Fearless realize Mara’s been gone too long.

I sprint along the parade of ruined shops the Fearless woman dragged me past who knows how many days ago, trying to remember the route we took. Everywhere looks the same. And soon, I’m too exhausted to run any more. I slow to a fast walk, looking behind me every few seconds. Jori is completely still. I’m scared he’s passed out and that he’ll lose his grip, but I can only hang onto him with one hand; I need the other free to hold the chair leg.

Then the parade branches, and at the end, I see the M&S sign. My heart leaps, and for the first time I allow myself a tiny spark of hope that Jori and I might actually make it out of here.

Then someone grabs my wrist from behind. I whirl and try to yank my arm free, aiming a savage kick at my attacker, my breath catching in my throat in a sob that’s half fear, half rage. I haven’t come this far to get caught again. I
haven’t
.

‘Cass! Don’t! It’s me!’ hisses a voice.

I freeze.

‘It’s me.’ Myo steps in front of me, still holding onto my wrist. He has a shotgun over his shoulder and he isn’t wearing his eyepatch. His right eye is as silver as the sea. ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe it’s you. I was coming to get you.’ Then he sees Jori. ‘You found him! Is he OK?’

I slam my palm into his chest, stopping him from coming any closer. ‘Don’t.’

‘What? Cass, it’s
me
. Myo.’

‘I know who you
are
. Do you think I’m stupid? I’m guessing you do, as I fell for all your lies.’

‘My . . . lies?’

‘Yes. When were you going to tell me you and your sister are Fearless, exactly?’

The colour drains out of his face, and he lets go of my wrist.

‘I’m guessing that would be never,’ I say.

‘Wait, let me explain,’ he croaks as I try to push past him.

‘Explain
what
?’ I try to push past him again.

‘Don’t!’ he says. ‘The Magpies are outside. They’ve found out the Fearless are here – they’ve got the place surrounded!’

I let out a harsh laugh, so furious with him I’m past caring if anyone hears. ‘
Bull
shit. I can’t believe I trusted you. I can’t believe I
kissed
you. If you want your sister, she’s back there.’ I jerk my thumb savagely behind me and barge past him, walking to the M&S store without looking back.

It’s not until I’m inside, weaving my way through the junk and bones, that the tears come, stinging my eyes and blurring my vision. I tuck the chairleg into my waistband and swipe angrily at my cheeks with the back of my hand.
Christ’s sake, Cass, get a grip
, I tell myself.
You and Jori could have died or been Altered because of him
.

But it feels as if there’s a huge, empty space inside my chest where my heart used to be. And it’s Myo who’s taken it from me. He had
no right
.

When I reach the escalators, the first thing I notice is that outside, it’s raining and the snow is almost gone. On my back, Jori whimpers. I wonder where we’ll find shelter and food; how we’ll ever make it back to Hope.

Don’t think about that
, I tell myself.
Don’t think about how far you have to go. Just think about getting out of here. And then getting out of Sheffield. You’ll find a way
. Maybe the packs Myo and I left behind are still at the top of those stairs. Maybe we’ll be able to—

‘Woah woah woah, where d’you think you’re going?’

I jump and look up to see a man in a black coat and a black cap pointing a gun at me – not a shotgun but a slim-barrelled rifle with a metal canister fixed underneath. Instinctively I pull the chair leg out from my waistband.

A memory surfaces inside my aching head. Jeeps. Hiding with Myo in a wood at the side of a road.

Magpies
.

‘I’m not Fearless!’ I say.

‘Put that down.’ The man nods at the chair leg, which I’m still gripping like a club.

I drop it. It hits the ground with a clang. Keeping the gun trained on me, the man turns his head and shouts, ‘Mikael!’

Another man with a gun, also in a black coat and cap, comes running up the walkway.

‘She appeared outta nowhere,’ the first man says. ‘You got your light? She says she’s not Fearless, but we need to check her.’

The second man, Mikael, reaches inside his jacket and brings out a narrow torch no longer than my finger. The first man shoves the end of his gun into the soft space under my jaw and grabs my hair, pulling my head back. Mikael snaps the torch on and shines it into my eyes. The beam is so bright, I wince.

‘She’s clean, boss,’ he says. He has a slight accent, which I can’t place – almost American, but not quite.

The first man lets go of my hair and lowers the gun. I scowl at him. ‘Check the kid,’ he says. With the gun pointed at me I can’t do anything except set Jori down and help him stand while Mikael shines the light into his eyes too. He moans, trying to twist away.

‘Not sure, boss. Some cloudiness at the back of the right eye, maybe.’

‘What were you doing in there?’ the first man asks me as Jori presses his face against my stomach and I stroke his filthy, matted hair, trying to comfort him.

‘The Fearless caught us. We escaped,’ I say.

The man gives a low whistle. ‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously. So why don’t you let us go, and get on with rounding them up?’

‘How much of the serum did you get?’

‘Two – no, three injections,’ I say, the ever-present throb in my head intensifying just at the thought of it.

‘And what about the kid?’ The man pushes Jori’s hair aside to look at the wounds on the back of his neck.

‘I – I don’t know.’

‘Then you’re coming with us. You need to be tested.’

‘For what?’

‘To see how close you are to Altering.’

A chill snakes through my veins.

‘Put restraints on ’em and take ’em back to the jeep,’ the first man tells Mikael.

‘
Ja
, boss.’ Mikael pulls what look like lengths of plastic strapping from another pocket in his oversize coat. ‘Please hold out your wrists.’

I think about doing as he says. I have Jori. The other man has a gun. And I’m tired. So tired. I don’t want to fight any more.

But I don’t want Jori to be taken away by these people, either.

I hold out my wrists, and, just as Mikael’s about to bind them, I grab Jori and make a dash for the stairs. If I can just get down them – get outside—

I hear a
crack
, and something thuds into my hip. Jori screams as I stagger and grab the rail at the top of the stairs, trying to stop both of us from tumbling headlong down them.

I look down. The metal canister from the first man’s gun is sticking out of me. As I reach to pull it out, my vision swims and doubles, and I fumble and miss it.

‘What have you done?’ I ask the men as I slump against the railing, hooking an arm over it to keep myself upright. My words come out as
whaave yoo dun
.

Then I realize. It’s a tranquillizer. He shot me with a tranquillizer.

‘Get the boy,’ the first man tells Mikael. ‘We’ll take them back to the truck while we round the rest up.’

Mikael pulls Jori away from me. The first man grips my arm. ‘Can you walk?’ he says. I try to pull away from him and next thing I know I’m sitting on the floor with no clear idea of how I came to be there. Shaking his head, the first man swings me over his shoulder as if I weigh almost nothing. He carries me through the smashed double doors opposite M&S, down some steps and across the car park to a group of jeeps and a tarpaulin-covered truck with huge wheels. The rain, fine as mist, soaks my clothes and hair.

‘You’ll have to stay with them,’ the first man tells Mikael as he lays me on the floor of the truck. I can hear Jori crying, and I want to tell him it’s OK, that I won’t let anything bad happen to him, but I can’t speak.

The first man leaves. I can see out of the back of the truck, and watch as a bird, the same washed-out grey as the sky, flaps towards the Torturehouse.

Then, from across the car park, I hear a muffled pop. Guns.

Myo’s still in there
, I think, before remembering I don’t care what happens to him any more. I close my eyes, letting the chemicals surging through my blood stream shut the noises out, and drive any lingering thoughts about him out of my head.

WE PLEDGE to bring the Fearless under control by any means necessary.

WE PROMISE to build a new society that is fair and equal for all of you.

WE BELIEVE that the Fearless, once cured of their tendencies, also have a place in this society and can be put to good use.

WE WILL HELP all of you who have been displaced or dispossessed by the Fearless Invasion, in return for your assistance with our operations.

WE WILL LISTEN to your needs and requirements.

WE WILL FIGHT FOR YOU.

When I open my eyes, it takes me a moment to remember where I am: in a bed in the hospital tent at the Magpies’ camp. It must be daytime, because the tent’s gloomy, but not dark. A little wood-stove, hooked up to a flue angled out of the side of the tent, burns brightly.

‘How are you feeling?’ the Magpie medic, Nadine, says as she crosses over to my bed. Like the rest of the Magpies, she wears a black military-style uniform, and around her neck, a fine silver chain shimmers against her dark skin. ‘I’ve got some good news. All your test results have come back clean.’ She smiles so broadly at me I can’t help grinning back. But almost immediately, my smile fades. ‘What about Jori?’ I say.

Her smile fades a little too. ‘We’re still waiting. Don’t worry about him, OK? We’re looking after him.’

When she’s gone, I sink back against my pillows. It’s been six days since I arrived at the camp, which is deep in the countryside north of what used to be London. We drove through the night and into the morning to get here, long enough for the sedative I’d been shot with to start wearing off. Ever since, I’ve been quarantined with the other adults they got out of the cage room; the children must be in another tent. The Magpies brought plenty of Fearless back too, piled into the jeeps, but I have no idea if Myo, Mara or Cy are here. Not long after my arrival, I came down with a fever, which left me weak and exhausted. It’s gone now, but today is the first time I’ve felt anything close to normal.

I look round the tent. There are six of us in here: a girl and a boy about my age, three older women, and a man in his mid-twenties. The man is hooked up to a drip, and everyone looks pretty sick. I’m the only one who’s awake.

I need to find out how Jori’s doing.

I sit up again. It makes me dizzy, but the light-headedness soon passes. I open the little metal locker next to my bed and find the clothes I was wearing when I got here, washed and neatly folded. My boots are in the bottom of the locker, also clean. I’m already wearing a pair of thermal leggings and a long-sleeved T-shirt, so I pull the clothes on over the top, push my feet into the boots and pull the woollen cap down over my ears, tucking my hair up inside it.