A Silence Heard (12 page)

The injured Agros, ignoring their obvious wounds, turned on their heels and marched out and through the corridor without a limp or sound to indicate the severity of their hurt. Algernon followed carrying Alfred in his arms. Despite the blood loss from his gashes, the Agro walked briskly and seemed to be unaware of his condition.

My attention was diverted by the sound of pounding on glass. I turned my head and saw the young ‘uns slap their hands against the windows, mouths open and eyes narrowed with hate. I tried to follow their gaze but a heavy thud to my jaw forced my head to the opposite side.

I shook it to clear my vision, but all went black.

My hands were ripped from Wirt’s and Marcellus’s. I felt cloth being pressed against my face. It smelled of someone else’s sweat and blood. I tried to move, but my arms were wrenched behind my back. A tight cord was slipped around my wrists and I could faintly hear muffled shouts of protestations from my friends.

As I was pulled and pushed and shoved to who knows where, the guard kept digging me in the ribs and muttering things under his breath. Nasty things. Things he was going to do to me. Things other Agros were going to do to me. Flesh peeling. Nail splitting. Tongue severing. Things like that. I wished the head covering could have blocked out sound as well as vision, so vile were the words he used to frighten me. When we had walked for a few secs, he yanked my tethers and I stopped.

“When they have finished with you, you will desire only death,” he said and ground his fist into my side. I let out a cry, he gave me a punch in the face and I dropped to my knees coughing as blood from my snout poured into my mouth. I took in rapid breaths, but instead of air, inhaled hood. I thought I would surely choke.

My head was yanked back all ‘bruptly and the sodden material pulled away. I snorted out blood and mucus, and sucked in air. “Can’t have you dying on us before we get there.” I saw said Agro shake the cloth that had been upon my noggin and stuff it into his trouser pocket. “Get up.”

Shakily I stood and tried to look behind me to see how my companions fared. But the guard stood in my way. From his other pocket, he produced a filthy rag and stuffed it into my gob. It tasted of vom and I gagged. He swivelled me round and pushed me forward.

“Move and keep moving until I say stop.”

I stutter-stepped down the dark corridor. It was narrow and low of ceiling and my thoughts went to Marcellus and how if he were also being manhandled down this tunnel, he would have to bend his knees. I thought of his wound and I thought of Wirt, and Eadgard, and Kendra and…

“Stop,” the guard said and grabbed my shoulder.

His fingers dug in deep and I wriggled until he took his hand away. Free of pain I straightened my back and noticed a faint light appear in the distance. It illuminated a small recess in what looked to be a dead end. The guard tugged at my hands and pushed me towards the glow. He yanked again and we came to a halt by the indented wall. He took out a communications pod with a green screen, tapped upon it and a sec later the green glow turned orange and the niche opened.

I heard heavy footsteps approach. I managed to twist my bod around just enough to see Kendra and the others, being shoved down the corridor. They were trussed up like me, their heads bent, and they moved sluggishly as though wading through thick mud. I strained my neck to look behind them and saw Marcellus flanked by two burly guards. They held him under the arms and I choked back a yell at the sight of blood dripping from his soiled bandage. At the rear came Eadgard, all bashed of face, hobbling along like a sickly oldie.

The guard smacked me across the jaw. “In. Move it!”

He thrust me forward and I staggered through the opening into a brightly lit room. I stood to the side of the entrance and stared around at the sterile place before me. It had a look of home, in that it was clean and devoid of ornament. I dare say if I had closed my eyes and sniffed, I would have smelt the same nostril-twitching antiseptic pong that greeted me each time I entered my own apartment. But unlike my hygiene home, this place smelt of menace rather than soap. I gulped in the heavy air, stared at the blank white walls and ceiling, and noticed that there were no cams.

The room intrigued me. At once terrifying and appealing. Lack of clutter was a pet like of mine, but this sparseness was not meant to please.

 
For some reason, my attention was drawn to the floor. It was made up of matt grey slabs that had rivulets of white streaking down each tile like tears. I swear amongst the grain of the well-washed blocks, I saw smudges of dried blood.

A grating noise of metal on stone caused me to lift my gaze to the source of such a teeth-edging sound. A tall, thin, black-haired ‘dult, shifted back a white metal chair from underneath a white metal table and stood. There came the same jarring chair scrape noise and three more Agros rose to their feet. They pushed in their seats and all four stood in front of the table.

They were dressed in black coats and pants, except for the fem. She wore a long-sleeved purple shirt and knee length skirt to match. It fitted her large frame snuggly, pushing out small rolls of excess fat around her waist. I noticed that on the cuffs of each Agro was the same emblem as the one that was torn from Alfred’s sleeve. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I prickled inside and out.

I was nudged in the ribs and turned around. Wirt, Kendra and the others were shoved into the room and led to where I was standing. When we all stood in a line, the guards took the opportunity to give each one of us a parting thwack across the head before departing the same way we came in.

The ‘dults in front of us leant their butts against the table and folded their arms. I felt Wirt press himself against my shoulder and longed to put my hand in his. The fem raised her chin and looked down her thin, long nose. She half closed her eyes and let her lipless mouth widen into a sneer. “So, this is the Adara we have been hearing so much about,” she said and walked towards us.

Her pointy chin jutted forward as she progressed, and I wondered if she were prone to headaches, given how tight her black hair was tied behind her head. The severe hair-do forced her even blacker eyes to slant unnaturally upwards. She had the look of wasp about her that I did not care for.

She stopped and stared hard into my face, then spat into it. I had no choice but to let the spittle slip-slide down my cheek, bound as I was. She grinned and did the same to Wirt and the rest. I marvelled at how much saliva the old’n had in her gob, and vowed at the first opportunity to dry it out with my fist.

“Now, now Edwena, what kind of a welcome is that?” a large nosed male said. His face was flabby and jowl heavy like Alfred and Oswald and I guessed they came from the same batch of kin. He wiped his sweaty brow with bloated bub fingers, and I noticed that his sparse hair was a garish shade of red. Shiny and cropped short, it stuck to his head like the bristles on a spider’s leg. He pulled his bulkiness away from the table and stood beside the fem he called, Edwena. He pointed at the tall, thin Agro that remained lounging against the table. “Best to let Pratt deal with these renegades as only he knows how.”

“You are right, Hacket. But it can’t hurt to warm them up for him,” Edwena said and gave Kendra a backhand slap across her face. My friend scrunched up her eyes but did not wobble.

“I agree. These thugs deserve to be treated no better than a Clonie half-wit, or a Woodsfolk dunce,” a big fire headed bull of a male said. I guessed he too was related closely to Hacket and Alfred. He clipped Wirt around the ear, and my friend winced. I wished with every skin cell on my body that my hands were free so that I could wallop them all.

“Wystan now is not the time for fisty-cuffs. We are here to glean information. Leave them with me,” Pratt said. He sprung away from the table and walked all light of foot to where I stood. He looked me up and down. “Oh, I shall enjoy retrieving info from this freak.”

“Not alone. You know what she can do?” Hacket said and pulled him away.

“Of course I do. I saw the footage. Not all the cams were immobilised, Kendra.”

Pratt leant towards me and stroked my face with his cold big-knuckled fingers. I stepped away from him. He smiled and continued to speak in a high and whiney voice that sounded as if he were in a constant state of stifling back tears. “But she wouldn’t use her talent in here. Not with her friends right next to her,” he said and palm-slapped Wirt on the nose.

He staggered backwards, snorted out blood, stared at Pratt and said, “Do it, Adara. Sing!”

Wirt received another clout, this time from the thuggish Agro, Wystan. The blow was fierce and sent him sprawling head first onto the hard stone floor. He lay crumpled on the ground, gasping for air. Wystan kicked him over and put his foot onto his chest. Wirt coughed and spluttered up spittle.

“Leave him be you coward or…”

“Or what? Adara,’ Pratt said, and put his mouth next to my ear, “you’ll sing? I think not.”

I looked at Wirt and my insides churned. I could not use my voice and these filthy Agros new it. I lowered my head, heard Edwena chuckle and Hacket say, “Do what you must, Pratt. Try not to kill anyone - just yet. Keep the songbird alive. Our medics wish to discover what makes her special. They require an intact body before they dissect.”

“Leave Adara be. We kill if harm come to her.”

Marcellus’s voice to my left. I took a step forward and turned to him. He too had moved out of line and was slowly walking towards Hacket. His face scrunched up in pain and his feet shuffling along the floor. He closed his eyes and for a moment I thought he would faint, but he did not. Hacket backed away and Edwena placed herself in front of Marcellus. He stopped. “Will kill all,” he said and slumped against her shoulder.

“Get this creature off me.” She pushed him away and wiped her hands on her skirt as if to remove something unpleasant.

Marcellus toppled forward.

Pratt and Hacket caught him just before his face hit the ground. They hoisted him upright pushed him back into the line and propped his drooping bod against Eadgard’s arm. They took deep breaths and both males smoothed what little hair they had, flat against their bonces.

“Can I get on? Or is someone else going to threaten us with a futile show of violence?”

We did not answer.

“Good,” Hacket said. “Let the boy up Wystan and come with me. You have until this afternoon, Pratt. If by then you have no luck extracting the truth, I will hand them over to Wystan. He has a flair for skin extraction.” He clicked his fingers at named Agro. He withdrew his foot from Wirt and Joined Hackett in walking to the far wall.

They stopped.

Hacket placed his hand upon the surface and an opening appeared. He stepped through, Wystan followed, and the gap disappeared.

Pratt and Edwena ambled over to the table. They resembled one another in sharpness of features and height. She sat on top of the metal counter, and Pratt pulled out a chair.

“Come, Adara, sit if you please,” he said and patted the cushioned seat.

“I would have my friends do the same. As you can see, some are injured.”

“Indeed, they are. I would even go so far as to say, gravely injured. Well, I’m not a Carnie brute. Edwena if you would be so kind?”

She nodded, bot-wriggled off the tabletop and pulled out four more chairs. Arranging them in a circle in front of Pratt, she walked over to Wirt, knelt beside him, and poked him in the ribs. “Get up you snivelling wimp.”

Wirt let out a low grunt and she dug her fingers in again. “Up, or I’ll stand on your chest.”

He eyed her largeness, managed to squiggle himself into a sitting position, paused, breathed deeply, then stood. Edwena pushed him towards the chairs. He tottered forward. “Sit.” He did.

Then the Agro fem walked over to Kendra. “My, what beautiful, thick hair you have,” she said and grabbed her by it. Then she yanked Kendra over to the chair next to Wirt’s and let go. Kendra thunked onto the seat, leaving more than a clump of her locks in Edwena’s hand. “Do I have to lug the rest of you? Or can you manage to sit by yourselves?” she said and flung Kendra’s tresses onto the floor.

I side shuffled to where Marcellus was, all slumped upon Eadgard, and pressed myself against his free arm. Eadgard applied pressure too and together we managed to move Marcellus to the remaining empty chairs.

Edwena walked over to him and dug her fingers into his wound. He screwed up his eyes, let out a hefty grunt and sank to his knees.

“Leave him be.”

“Or what? Stay closed of mouth Auger. You too, Backpacker, or I will do more than harm to you and your friends.”

I looked to Eadgard and he nodded his head.

Edwena smirked, pulled Marcellus up by his wristcuffs and shoved him over to sit next to Wirt. He fell into the chair with a thud and she, not content with causing him one hurt, thrust her fist into his now open wound. His head fell back and he let out a gasp as a fresh trickle of blood oozed from the hole in his chest.

“You,’ she said to Eadgard, “sit. Or should I tickle your friend again?”

Eadgard, tight of lip, stiffened and sat next to Kendra. I stared at Marcellus, at his colourless face and felt a tear in my guts. Edwena folded her arms, stood behind him and glared at me. “You too freak.” Then without any reason that I could see, she shoved Marcellus in the back of the head. He groaned and the wound poured freely.

I plonked myself down next to Eadgard and took a longly look at Marcellus and Kendra. Their colour was not good and Wirt’s left cheek was swollen and bruised. Eadgard too had patches of red and lumps and bumps that were not there before we entered this space. But the worst of it was the look of hopelessness in their eyes, like that of the kiddles in the labs. I closed mine and clenched my teeth so hard my ears hurt. Then I felt a swipe upon the back of my head.

“You’re not here to sleep. Wolfbitch,” Edwena said and thwacked me across the face. My head swam for a sec and my vision swished and swashed until all I could make out were hazy moving shapes.

“Please refrain from harming the girl until I have done,” Pratt said and stood behind my chair.