The Fractured: Elena: A Blemished Novella (Blemished Series) Page 7

  “Thank you,” Elena said. She noticed how the nun dressed remarkably similar to Blemished women, in a long black tunic with her hair covered.

  “You’re welcome, dear,” the nun replied before turning slowly and making her way up the steps.

  Elena watched her, wincing as the old woman’s bones creaked their way up the stairs. It was only when she knew she was safe that she gulped down some of the tea, burning her tongue with the haste.

  “What are you looking at?” she said to Jake, who still had the same weird expression on his face.

  “Nothing,” he said, folding his arms and turning away.

  “My name is Susannah,” said the woman with the ponytail. “You don’t need to know anything about me except that what I say goes around here.”

  Elena placed her cake and tea down on the table and pulled out a chair. She sat down and took a huge bite of her cake. “Okay,” she said with food in her mouth. “This cake is amazing. I want the recipe from the nun. Oh my God! Oh, wait, I probably shouldn’t say that here.” She stuffed more cake into her mouth. “Mmm chocolate. I’m sorry you guys, but I’ve been on a no carb diet for like weeks, so I’ve got to savour this moment.”

  Susannah narrowed her eyes at Elena. “I don’t feel like you’re taking this seriously. You are our prisoner.”

  “Sure, sure,” Elena said. “Hey, anyone got any scissors? This dress is annoying the hell… oops, I mean, it’s annoying me. Plus, my legs are my best feature.”

  Susannah rolled her eyes. She turned to Jake. “When she’s finished eating we’ll do the tape. After that lock her up and we’ll get some rest and reconvene in the morning for debriefing.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Elena saluted. Inside, her stomach churned and her she could hear the rush of her blood in her ears. The cake did taste delicious but she couldn’t really enjoy it. She didn’t like this new woman. She had cold eyes. She had that air of authority that Elena had seen before, especially within one very scary teacher she’d been running away from. Susannah was far more frightening than Jake. She didn’t know what would be coming next, but she didn’t like it.

  *

  “Dale, do you have the computer ready? Webcam ready?”

  “Yes, Susannah.”

  Elena felt Jake’s warm breath on her neck as he bound her hands in rope. The dry feeling of his hands on her skin sent a strange spark of electricity up her spine. The group were getting ready for a ransom video to be sent to the GEM and Elena didn’t feel quite so mouthy or confident anymore. The only thing she felt was the chocolate cake wanting to come back up. Jake slipped the gag over her mouth and stepped away.

  Susannah wore a Resistance scarf and hood over her hair and face. Only her eyes showed. She stood next to Elena who was on her knees in a lockable cell hidden at the back of the basement. The guy called Dale was setting up the webcam on a laptop, angled to record the video. Elena wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing or how, but the gist seemed to be that they could hack into the GEM’s media distribution channel and play the video onto the screens and Plan-Its around the country.

  “Still think we’re a bunch of wackjobs in a basement?” Susannah said, staring down at her with hard little marble eyes. Her voice came out muffled from the scarf.

  Jake walked away from the cell with his hands pushed deep into his jean pockets. He’d seemed on edge and tense since arriving back at the Resistance hide-out. Elena felt like there was something he was holding back. Maybe he knew what they were going to do with her and didn’t like it.

  “Okay, I’m in! Live in 3…2…1…”

  “People of Britain. My fellow Blemished. My Resistance comrades. Today the GEM tried to appease you with a gift, a pathetic and fake little gift.” Susannah grabbed Elena’s hair and pulled her head back. “Another silly little pageant girl. When will they learn? When will you learn not to fall for their tricks? These aren’t role models for you to want to become. These are clones, made to be perfect and empty-headed and wrong. They are an abomination against nature, against the great mother Earth who gave us wombs to procreate.”

  She grabbed Elena again and pulled her hair so hard that she cried out in pain through the gag.

  “You have three days to announce the closure of GEM labs. Three days to stop the parading of superficiality. Three days to dispense with the GEM before we kill her. The clock starts now.”

  Susannah let her go and Dale shut the laptop. “We got out just before they could trace us,” he said in a breathy voice. “They won’t know where we are.”

  “Keep a constant screen on. We need to wait for potential announcements.” Susannah pulled away her scarf and strode out of the cell.

  Dale picked up his laptop and followed Susannah, closing the cell door behind him. He turned the key in the lock and Elena was left alone, time ticking away.

  Chapter Twelve

  Elena kept thinking that Jake would be back to at least remove the gag, maybe bring her water, but no one came. The ropes hurt her wrists and refused to loosen. It was cold and her dress provided little warmth. She felt fear wrap around her like an ice cold blanket. She was going to stay like this for three days, and then she was going to die. There was no way that the GEM would shut down their labs for the life of some ditzy pageant winner. She knew what it was like. Someone would win a modelling competition and everyone loved them for five minutes, then the next one came along and you forget all about the first one.

  “This isn’t right. What you’re doing isn’t right. If I knew you were going to kill her I never would have signed up for this.”

  The sound of raised voices distracted Elena. She shuffled forward in her cell so that she could hear more clearly. It was Jake, and he was actually sticking up for her.

  “You knew exactly what we were going to do. Don’t act so naïve, Jake. I told you that we’d use the girl as leverage against the GEM,” Susannah shouted back.

  “But I didn’t think you would seriously kill her. That’s wrong! She’s a human being.”

  “She’s a GEM. A child of the Genetic Enhancement Ministry. She’s a designer baby. A clone. She isn’t human, not like you and me. Her brain isn’t wired like ours – it’s designed to be controlled by them. Don’t get fooled, Jake. Don’t be taken in by her. She’s pretty and has a smart mouth but when it comes down to it, she isn’t natural. She’s a fake.”

  There was a silence before Jake spoke, “I… I don’t know what to think anymore. She seems so normal.”

  “That’s just her tricking you, making you like her,” Susannah replied.

  Elena had had some spiteful thoughts in the past – things she wasn’t proud of now – but she had never really hated anyone before, not until meeting Susannah. She really did hate her. How could she be so stupid? She was spouting lies to Jake. She felt sorry for him then; he was only slightly older than her and had obviously been manipulated and seduced by the Resistance. He seemed so alone. Where were his parents? Who looked after him? What would they do with him now, now that his face had been seen?

  “You’ve got too close to her, Jake,” she continued. “That’s the danger with these undercover missions. You can get too close to the subject. But it’s okay. Everything is going to be fine. You just need to let me handle it. All right? Can you do that Jake? You just need to sit tight and let me handle everything.”

  Elena begged for Jake to shout back. She screamed it in her mind. Don’t believe her, Jake. Don’t trust her. Fight back, Jake.

  “Okay,” he said. “I trust you. And I’ll let you take care of everything.”

  Elena screamed through her gag. She was doomed.

  *

  Later that night she fell to sleep on her side after hours of whimpering into the floor. She was woken by the sound of metal scraping softly against the cold stone. Elena blinked, her head fuzzy and confused. Then she tried to move her hands and realised she was tied up and gagged in the basement of the Resistance group. She sat up, her breath coming out loud, ragged and raspy.<
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  “Shhh,” a voice whispered through the darkness. There were some quick footsteps and then a hand on her shoulder. “I’m getting you out. You need to be quiet. Really quiet, okay?” Jake pulled her gag free.

  “What about Susannah?” Elena asked.

  “I… I… well, I drugged her. I had two doses in case the bus driver didn’t go out the first time. I hid it when I came back in case it came in handy.” He spoke barely louder than a whisper. “The others are asleep – I only had enough sedative for one – so we need to move fast.” He cut through her ropes.

  As he was about to stand Elena stopped him. “Wait, do my dress. It’ll make too much noise walking around with this on.”

  Jake looked at her and Elena saw his eyes in the darkness. He was nervous. He looked down at her dress, and where her finger marked the place for him to cut, mid-thigh. With a gulp he ripped into the dress with the knife, turning it into a mini-dress, and then looked away. Elena slipped off her shoes so she was bare foot. Jake handed her a pair of flip-flops.

  “It was the best I could do,” he said with an apologetic shrug.

  The two of them stayed close as they tip-toed through the basement. Elena could hear the sound of the other Resistance members snoring softly into the night. She froze when she saw the eyes of a little girl staring straight at her, big and blue in the dark room. Elena placed a finger to her lips and the girl copied her. She couldn’t have been more than three years old and was easily the tiniest person Elena had ever seen. Jake hopped onto the stairs and Elena followed close behind.

  The priest was waiting for them in the chapel of the church. He looked straight at Jake. “I had a feeling you would come through.” He handed him a small bag. “Some provisions for your journey. Make it a safe one.”

  Jake looked at him, completely stunned. He surprised Elena by pulling the priest into a hug, before letting him go just as abruptly and striding towards the church door. Elena shook hands with the kind man and hurried after Jake. The two of them stepped into the street and jogged off in a random direction.

  “Do you know where we’re going?” Elena asked.

  “Not a clue,” Jake replied. “I, um, hadn’t got that far with my plan.”

  A bubble of laughter escaped from Elena’s throat.

  “What’s so funny?” said Jake. He shifted the bag on his shoulder and squinted at her through the dark.

  “Nothing,” she said. “I dunno. It’s just… don’t you feel alive? After everything that happened in the last day, we’re finally free.” She laughed and grabbed hold of his hand. “Come on! Let’s wing it.”

  He squeezed her hand and the two of them ran full pelt down the London streets. What was left of Elena’s dressed flapped in the wind. She threw her head back and laughed into the night sky, having never felt so alive or free before. She was free from the pageant, free from Area 14, free from her parents, her school, and now the Resistance. They ran and ran, without tiring. She stretched her hand out wide, brushing against the buildings they passed.

  “Do you feel it?” she shouted across to Jake.

  “What?” he shouted back, out of breath but not slowing down.

  “Freedom. That’s what. We’re free!”

  He laughed and his face changed. It lit up. The furrowed brows were gone. He smiled and Elena saw how beautiful he was. She stopped, her lungs aching from the run, and turned to him.

  “Why did you help me?”

  “You were right,” he said between breaths. He took a moment to recover from the run. “What you said about the bombings and how it makes us just as bad as them. When Susannah told me she was going to kill you – when I realised she was serious – I knew that I had to stop her. I couldn’t let you die.”

  Elena took his other hand in hers. “Why?”

  “Because…” He looked away and then back at her. “Because I couldn’t… I couldn’t imagine the world without you in it. You’re like this force of good. I mean, when I think you’re just some stuck up GEM chick with a fake personality and faked good-looks and all the bad things the GEM do to people, you prove me wrong by helping the Blemished and saving your friend and helping that nun on the stairs. The priest looked at you like you were a bloody angel or something. You’re just… good.” He smiled and it was sheepishly cute.

  She grabbed him by the neck and launched herself at him, their noses bumping before their lips touched. But when the kiss started it was like dynamite exploding. He pulled her close to him, holding her around her waist and then entwining his fingers with her hair. The backpack fell to the floor, but neither of them noticed. His body was hot against hers, his chest still heaving from the run. She felt his heart beating beneath his clothes. It excited her. That feeling of freedom multiplied by a billion until she felt so alive she could burst…

  “Hold it right there,” came a voice in the night. “Identification. Now.”

  A bright light shone in their eyes and Elena pulled away from Jake. She squinted through the torchlight to see an Enforcer standing up ahead, his laser gun trained on them both.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Run!”

  Jake pulled Elena by the hand. They had no choice but to run back the way they came, with the Enforcer chasing them in the dark.

  “Stop!” shouted the Enforcer. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”

  Elena spotted a road to the right and yanked Jake towards it. It was narrow and shadowy. They tried to melt into the dark shadows created by the houses around them, before the Enforcer caught them with his torch. His heavy footsteps were catching them up.

  “In here,” Jake said. He directed Elena into the driveway of one of the houses around them. On the right there was a large garage. It had a tall metal entrance, but also a smaller door tucked around the side. Jake tried the door but it was locked. The handle was old and rusting, the door itself was made out of rain damaged wood with peeling paint. He hit it with his shoulder, causing the wood to creak and the handle to rattle.

  “Quick, he’s coming.” Elena watched the torchlight as it came closer, bobbing up and down of the cobbles on the narrow street.

  Jake rammed his shoulders against the old door and it finally gave way, but with a loud crunching noise. He grabbed Elena and pulled her into the pitch black building, just as the Enforcer’s torch stopped bobbing. He’d slowed to a work and was now swinging his torch from either side of the road, looking for them.

  Elena pressed herself into Jake’s chest. As their eyes adjusted they noticed a large lump in the middle of the garage – a car. Jake directed Elena around the car and helped her to crouch down out of sight. She was shivering and freezing cold, but she hardly noticed. Instead she listened out for the Enforcer, listening as his footsteps thumped slowly against the cobbles. Had he called for back-up? Did they stand a chance? For a moment the footsteps slowed to a halt. And then they started again, in a slow and rhythmic pattern… 1… 2… 1… 2… 1… 2… all the time getting louder as he approached the garage. Elena saw the light of the torch shine through the wooden slats of the garage door and her breath caught in her throat. She looked up at Jake and he put his finger to his lips.

  The door creaked as he opened it. Elena peeked around the corner of the car, careful to keep her head out of sight. She saw him, standing in the doorway, holding his torch down by his waist, with his helmet blocking the doorway. He stepped forward and his heavy boots pounded against the concrete floor. Elena shrank back from the corner of the car, staying close to Jake, whose expression was one of strained concentration. The Enforcer moved forward, swinging his torch from side to side and making his way around the car. Elena and Jake were just moments from being found. Elena’s heart beat so hard that she was sure the Enforcer could hear it. He had to know they were there; he was just prolonging the agony to torture them. Another step closer and Elena could see the toe cap of his boot.

  And then Jake surged forward with a battle cry, knocking the Enforcer to the ground. The laser gun went off, sparks flying agai
nst the garage wall. The torch fell to the floor, plunging the garage into darkness. Jake and the Enforcer fell to the ground and Elena heard the sickening crack as the Enforcer’s helmet hit the ground. She bent down and picked up the torch, trying to see what was going on. Jake was on top of the Enforcer, grappling the gun out of his hands. The Enforcer hit Jake in the face with his helmet and Jake fell back, but still holding the gun. Elena rushed around the Enforcer and grabbed hold of the helmet, trying to pull it away, but it was no use. She grabbed a hammer from one of the work benches and smashed it against the Enforcer’s elbow. He cried out in pain and let go of the gun, causing Jake to fall backwards onto the concrete. Elena grabbed Jake’s hand and helped him up before the two of them ran out of the garage with the Enforcer’s laser gun.

  “Do you think he called for back-up?” Elena asked as they ran down the cobbled street, looking for somewhere to run to.

  “I don’t know,” Jake replied. His voice was like a rasping whisper after the struggle. “We need to find a car to steal. We just need to get as far away from here as possible.”

  And then it hit Elena. They weren’t free and they never would be. They would be forever running away. Nowhere in London was safe. They couldn’t buy anything without Plan-Its and registered hand prints. They couldn’t rely on the Resistance for help. They would be living on the streets. How would they get out of London? She’d seen the border. It was impenetrable. What were they going to do?

  “I should give myself up,” she said, slowing to a walk. “I should give myself up and you should go back to the Resistance.”

  He turned and stared at her, aghast. “What? What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t you see? I can help you. I can make something up, like you got out of London or you died in crossfire, or… or you fell in the bloody Thames… something. If we stay together we’ll never get anywhere. Let me give myself up so you can have a chance of a life.” She moved closer to him and touched his face in the moonlight. There was some blood from where the Enforcer’s helmet had hit his nose.