The Weapon Within: A Paranormal Dystopian Adventure (The Unexplainables Book 1) (11 page)

‘
What’s the matter, Chantelle? I mean, you’re happy to get three of your friends to beat up one girl in order to pass a message on to me but you don’t have the guts to talk to me yourself?’

As I stepped towards her, she shra
nk back, her eyes wide with fright.

‘
Four against one? You disgust me! Well come on, you’ve got my attention now. What is it you want to say to me?’

I took another step
and she let out a whimper. ‘I’m sorry, ok? I only did it because Connor said . . .’

‘
Ah, Connor. I wondered when he would come into the equation. So what did Connor say exactly? That I’ve been coming on to him? That I’ve been chasing him?’

‘
Yes.’

‘
Did he
tell
you to beat up Beth or did you decide that one for yourself?’

‘
He told me that if I scared you by hurting your friend it might be enough for you to leave him alone.’

‘
Well, let me tell you something,’ I bore down on her, my eyes not leaving hers. ‘I don’t take kindly to men who won’t take no for an answer. Nor am I impressed by pathetic little girls who get kicks out of beating up my friends.’ The power was there, waiting. I only had to reach out and touch her. But then she slid to the ground and curled up, her hands over her head.

‘
I’m sorry,’ she sobbed, ‘I just want him to love me.’

‘
Would you look at yourself? Where’s your self-respect?’

She sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, making her mascara streak. Rolling my eyes I went into one of the stalls and pulled off some toilet paper.

‘Here.’

‘
Thanks.’ She took it and dabbed at her eyes.

‘
Is he really worth all of this? You could do so much better, you know.’

‘
Do you really think so?’

Stepping over her, I pulled the door open and pushed my way through the small crowd of people who had gathered on the other side.
The others had finished their meals and were already outside. Oscar and Skye were deep in conversation and to my surprise Noah was standing with his arms wrapped around Beth, planting kisses on her upturned face.

The door behind me opened and Chantelle walked shakily out. A loud whistle sounded from the other end of the car park and I turned to see Connor resting against the bumper of his car, his friends grouped around him. Even in the shadow of the car
park I could see the tears glistening in Chantelle’s eyes as she hurried away.

‘
Ava?’ Oscar called after me. ‘What are you doing?’

Ignoring him, I marched across the car park. Connor stood up, winking at his buddies and smirking all over his face. He nodded in my direction and they all turned to look at me. ‘Have you finally come to your senses, Ava?’ he called.

‘
You are a nasty, childish, disgusting little specimen of a man!’

‘
Piss off, bitch.’ He grabbed the front of my hoodie and, as he pulled me towards him, he licked the side of my face. His friends roared with laughter.

I screamed with
rage as my powers shot out of me like a bullet from a gun. Connor flew backwards through the air, landing heavily on the floor with a yelp of pain. I lifted my hands and his body began to rise up like a grotesque marionette with invisible strings. He yelled out and twisted in mid-air. I let him fall back to the ground then, before he could move, I ran over and grabbed his hand. The powers that had been waiting to respond in the bathroom with Chantelle now leapt into action. He screamed and writhed on the floor as though he’d been electrocuted. His eyes rolled back in his head and his whole body convulsed.

‘
That’s enough!’ Something collided with me, breaking my hold on him. Marcus knelt down on the ground next to Connor. My friends stared at me with expressions of horror etched on their ghostly white faces.

‘
Stay where you are,’ Marcus screamed at me as Connor moaned. My eyes met Oscar’s for just a moment. He shook his head sadly, turned and walked away. The sound of sirens filled the air and a flash of light exploded in front of me. I felt a crippling pain and my knees gave way. People surrounded me and I was lifted on to something hard. No one spoke to me but the presence of the barrel of a weapon just centimetres from my head told me I was in big trouble.

*

I was inside a fast moving vehicle. After what seemed like an eternity it slowed down and came to a stop. Within seconds I was lifted out into the open air again but I only just had time to take a couple of deep, soothing gulps before we were inside again and the air wasn’t so pure.

We enter
ed a lift and I felt myself moving downwards swiftly. The doors pinged open and we came out into a brightly lit corridor. To the sides I could see clear glass walls but I couldn’t move my head enough to see inside them. The wall next to me moved and I was carried through the gap and placed on the floor. A man with very short hair and dark eyes appeared above me.

‘
We’re going to lift you on to the bed. You’re to stay there until we’ve left the room. If you attempt to move before we’ve left the room you’ll be punished. Do you understand?’

I blinked
. Strong hands lifted me on to a thin mattress.

‘
You may move now.’ The man’s voice echoed around me, then the glass wall slid back into place. The room was tiny. Thick white concrete walls surrounded me except for the glass one I’d seen on the way in. Although it had been transparent from the other side, it was dark on the inside, meaning I had no view of the corridor. The bed consisted of a mattress on the floor and next to it was a small table and chair made out of cardboard. A thin partition wall separated the bed from the bathroom area which consisted of a toilet, a sink and an open shower. There was a door in the back wall next to the bathroom but it had no handle and was locked.

Dropping down
on to the mattress, I curled up into a tight ball and wondered what on earth I was going to do now. Just as I began to drift off to sleep, an alarm sounded somewhere above me.

A crackly voice barked into the room.

‘Stand at the back of the room. Face the wall and put your hands on your head.’

Groggily, I complied
. Someone entered the room behind me.

‘
There are some items of clothing on your chair,’ a woman said harshly. ‘When I leave the room you are to change out of your own clothes, fold them neatly, and leave them in a pile next to the doorway. Dress in your uniform and make sure you’re wearing it at all times. Do you understand?’

‘
Yes.’

‘
Yes,
ma’am
,’ she snapped.

‘
Yes, ma’am.’

‘
That’s better. You may change now.’

The sliding door closed and I turned towards the table. A small pile of fabric had been placed next to a tray. The clothing con
sisted of a white t-shirt, a pair of baggy blue overalls and a pair of soft, slip-on shoes. Once I’d changed, I left my own clothes by the door as instructed then went to inspect the tray.

It was made of thick plastic with small areas moulded into it for food
; not dissimilar to a tray I’d seen Brogan using. There was a slice of white bread spread with margarine, a wedge of plastic-looking cheese, a small tub of what looked like tinned peaches, and a paper cup of water. Feeling suddenly hungry I ate the lot then placed the tray next to the pile of clothes and went back to my mattress.

At lunchtime the same thing happened. An announcement sounded and I was made to stand at the back of the cell whil
e a guard brought in an identical tray of food.

After lunch, I was instructed to push open the door at the back of the cell. I did so and found myself in a tunnel which led to a square of land that stretched along the entire length of the build
ing. There were similar tunnels dotted around the inside length, but no sign of any other prisoners. The entire space was enclosed with thick mesh walls and guards stood around the edges on the outside, their weapons at the ready. I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and jogged around in a large circle three times, but then a buzzer sounded and I was told to re-enter the tunnel. The minute I got back into my cell, the door closed and locked behind me.

Several hours later another
tray was delivered. This time the food consisted of a lump of meat covered in some sort of red sauce with a small pile of stewed vegetables beside it and a yogurt. The plastic fork I’d been given to eat it with broke the first time I put any pressure on it so I used my fingers for my main course and drank the plain, watery yogurt straight from the pot. This routine went on for ten full days without changing. I was starting to doubt whether my sanity would survive for much longer, when everything changed.

*

On the eleventh day, I was startled when an announcement came asking me to stand at the back of my cell. It was neither food time nor exercise time, and the change to my routine made me panic in case I’d done something wrong.

‘
Follow me, please,’ a guard instructed as the door slid open. I did as he told me. As we walked I glanced in at the other prisoners. Most of them lay on their mattresses, staring up at the ceiling with blank eyes.

We took the lift up several floors then followed a long corridor to the reception area. A woman dressed in beige was standing in front of a large desk, smiling at me. The guard behind the desk was wearing a black uniform and was not smiling. I looked from one to the other, unsure what was expected of me.

‘Come.’ The woman in beige beckoned to me and called out over her shoulder, ‘We’ll arrange for the uniform to be returned as soon as possible.’

None of the guards moved to stop me so I followed her outside. The daylight was blinding. Someone put an arm around me and gently manoeuvred me into the back seat of a wa
iting car, which set off as soon as the doors were shut.

The woman in beige turned around in her seat and beamed at me.
‘Hi, Ava. I’m really sorry, sweetie, I had to be careful not to say too much in there. They’re not happy about us taking you out.’

‘
Who are you?’

‘
My name’s Linda and this is Joe.’ She gestured at the driver who waved at me and winked into his mirror.

‘
But . . . who are you?’

‘
We’re from the Paradise Community.’

‘
The commune?’

‘
Yes, that’s right.’

I frowned.
‘What do you want with me?’

‘
Well, our leader heard what happened to you and was absolutely horrified. He’s arranged for you to come and live with us for a while.’

‘
Why?’

‘
Because children don’t belong in prison,’ she replied angrily, ‘and especially not you.’

‘
Why not me?’

‘
Because you’re special, sweetie, and you deserve to be treated as such.’

‘
I thought the commune people hated Nexes.’

She laughed and rolled her eyes.
‘Paradise Community is an alternative community built upon an ethos of respect for each other and respect for the world around us. We insist on ensuring that our community members feel absolutely secure in their homes and we like to keep ourselves to ourselves. Unfortunately, that means that people have got the wrong impression about us and rumours spread that there’s something sinister going on. But I can assure you our members wish nothing more than to live in peace alongside the Nexes.’

‘
So it’s just a housing area with extra security?’

‘
No, we’re much more than that. We’re a community who care about each other. We grow a lot of our own food and share our meals together. And we have a lot of group activities running throughout the week. We strive to be happy, healthy and to protect our world, but most of all we aim to have fun and enjoy each other’s company. You’re going to love it!’

‘
What about the boy? The one who got hurt?’

A shadow fell across Linda
’s face. ‘I see the rumour-mongers have got to you already. I can assure you that it was a terrible accident. The boy broke into our grounds and somehow got into an old quarry. There are signs everywhere warning people not to go in there. It took us hours to find him and when we did we thought he was dead.’ She sighed deeply. ‘As soon as we found him we arranged for him to go to hospital and we were overjoyed to find out that he’d survived.’

Joe sho
ok his head. ‘We did everything we could and yet we still get blamed, just because we’re different.’

‘
I know that feeling,’ I muttered.

‘
I’m sure you do,’ Linda smiled sadly. ‘I think you’ve been treated very badly. But I hope you’ll give us a chance. We really want you to be happy here.’

‘
I won’t be going back to the village?’

‘
No, sweetie, you won’t.’

‘
But my guardians . . .’

‘
They didn’t come for you, did they?’

My lip quivered and I looked out of the window at the passing scenery.

‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but you know what? Once you become a Paradise Community member, you don’t need guardians. You can come and go as you please within our boundaries and no one will tell you what to do. We’re all so excited to have you come and stay with us. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re happy. Does that sound ok?’

‘
It sounds an awful lot better than being in prison, that’s for sure.’ I replied.

*

After about thirty minutes of driving, we turned off the main road and on to a long, winding lane. At the bottom of it was a security gate with a high wire fence running from either side of it as far as I could see. The guard on the gate tipped his hat when he saw who was in the car and let us straight through.

We followed the driveway up to a long, low building. The very second the car stopped, Joe jumped out and opened the door for me. I climbed out and followed them through a revolving door into a wide, open reception area.

Unlike the prison reception, this one was bright and cheerful and I could feel the cool breeze of air conditioning on my skin. There was a large marble desk and a young woman stood behind it smiling broadly at me.

‘
Good afternoon,’ she chirped. ‘I’m so happy to meet you. How was your journey here?’

‘
Um . . . interesting,’ I mumbled, tripping over the bottom of my jumpsuit. Linda put her hand on my elbow to steady me.

‘
I think we should go to your pod first and let you get changed into something a little more comfortable. Then I’ll give you a tour.’

The young girl immediately produced a small rectangular plastic card which had a tiny number
one etched into one of the corners.

‘
Here’s your pod key. It’s not a key exactly as all of our pods remain open throughout the day and night but once you get inside, if you put this into the slot by the door, the electricity will come on and everything will work. If you lose it, just let me know and I’ll get another one made for you.’ Linda took the key and beckoned for me to follow her.

We walked through the building to a door at the far end. Outside, a huge area of countryside had been transformed into what looked like an enormous housing estate although it was quite unlike anything I
’d seen so far.