Blemished, The (20 page)

W
e fled the kitchen. Enforcers continued to bang on the door. Blood thudded in my ears. In our rush Angela tripped on an upturned chair and fell heavily to the floor.

“Who’s in there?” shouted an Enforcer. “Open the door or we will break it down.”

I grabbed Angela’s hand and pulled her up. My ankle still throbbed from the dog bite but I ignored it and ran through to the lounge, with Matthew and Daniel just ahead.

“Hurry,” Matthew shouted.

Angela picked up the pace and we clambered down the stairs into the basement. There was one narrow window we could escape from but there was still a chance that the Enforcers had the building covered. Wood smashed in the kitchen upstairs. We didn’t have much time. I ran to the window and forced it open, the rusted hinges complaining.

“Angela first,” I said, pulling her over to the window.

I bent to help when Matthew came over to me.

“This is very important, Mina.” He put a folded piece of paper into my hand. “You must follow the directions on that map at the exact time and place for your pick up to get to the Clans. No matter what happens, you go there and you get out.”

“You’ll be with us,” I said, confused.

Matthew ignored me and turned to Daniel. “If anything happens to me you
make sure
that Mina gets to the place on the map.”

Daniel nodded earnestly. “I’d die before anything happens to her.”

“No one is going to die,” I said shakily.

We were in real danger and it hit me full on for the first time. I gave myself a second to get over it and then hoisted Angela up to the window. Daniel helped lift me next. I scrambled through the narrow space. The Enforcers were not around the back as I’d worried, but I heard approaching footsteps. Daniel and Matthew climbed out and we ran.

“I see them,” I heard one of the Enforcers shout behind me. “They are getting away. Stop! Enforcer!”

I jumped over the loose stones and weeds on the pavements of the ghettos. Around us people crowded, on their way to the town meeting. They stared as the Enforcers chased us down the street.

An Enforcer shouted, “Fire!” and a crack split the air.

Something whizzed past my ear. People screamed and scattered. Matthew ducked to the left, behind a hedge and into the backyard of a house. Daniel grabbed me and I turned to follow. Behind me Angela yelped as she tripped on the curb and I bent low to grab her wrist, just stopping her from falling. She regained her balance and we carried on, just as another bullet pelted into the hedge.

We jumped the fence into the next garden. It was an end terrace. We slipped through the neighbouring alleyway. My ankle throbbed. The footsteps were close behind. I kept my head down and followed Daniel, running hard. Matthew ducked down another street. He added in as many twists and turns as he could to throw the Enforcers off course. But they anticipated our route and up ahead another group of Enforcers made their way on foot towards us. One of them crouched to line up their gun.

“This way,” Matthew shouted urgently.

He ran through the gate of another house where an elderly woman stood. We followed Matthew as he barged through the open door of the house with the woman staring at us, completely flabbergasted. I whispered an apology as we passed her and ran through the narrow corridor through the back of the house and out into the streets. Matthew took us into another alley way and then through three more turnings before we finally hid in a quiet street behind a hedge. We huddled close to each other, Angela on my left and Daniel and Matthew on my right. Next to me I could hear Angela’s raspy breath as she tried to catch her breath.

Matthew looked at his watch. “It’s nearly time for the town meeting,” he said. “They will need as many Enforcers as possible for the crowds. It might be our only chance to get away. Is anyone hurt?” He looked at us in turn and laughed. “They must be a crappy shot.”

I peeked under the edge of the dressing for my ankle. Heat radiated from the bite and I saw fresh blood.

“You’re hurt,” Matthew said. “What happened?”

“Murgatroyd’s guard dog bit me,” I said between gritted teeth.

He took hold of my leg. “Why didn’t you say anything? Can you run okay?”

“I didn’t get a chance,” I replied. “And I can but it hurts. How long can we stay here?”

Matthew shook his head. “Not long. We can carry you.” He looked sideways at Daniel.

“You’re not carrying me,” I said firmly. “I will be fine. Don’t worry about me, just set the pace and I’ll––”

“Shhh!” Matthew cut me off. He cocked his head to the right listening out for something.

Angela huddled closer to me and I took her hand, trying to squeeze some reassurance into it. The loose gravel on the pavements crunched underfoot as heavy boots approached. I held my breath. Angela squeezed harder and I was glad for it. Daniel swallowed. His body trembled next to me. The boots moved again, closer to us. His feet shuffled and I imagined him facing us on the other side of the hedge. Daniel manoeuvred himself silently to cover me and Angela.

More gravel crunched. Someone poked at the hedge and I gasped. Matthew leaned across and clamped a hand over my mouth, putting his finger to his lips. The damage was done, footsteps moved again, more urgently this time, and I saw a steel toe cap around the side of the hedge.

“Come out and place your hands in the air,” the Enforcer said through his helmet.

The leather of his uniform creaked as he moved. He held a long rifle pointed right at us, his fingers trembling over the trigger. Angela let out a sob and I squeezed her hand once more.

“I said, get up.”

Daniel stood first. I kept one eye on him as I forced myself to my feet – worried he would do something impulsive and get himself killed. He was positioned between me and the Enforcer. Matthew moved next to him so that they created a protective wall.

“Hands up,” said the Enforcer.

We obeyed. When I let go of Angela she turned to me, her eyes wide and innocent. She hadn’t done anything wrong and the thought of anything happening to her stirred a protective rage that I didn’t know I possessed.

The Enforcer moved his hand down to his belt towards his Plan-It to inform his team that we were captured. In just a few taps they would be notified and swarm us like flies. This was it, we were over. I glanced at Angela, just fourteen. What would they do to her? I thought of Twitching Sunday. I thought of my dad watching me die. Feet dancing. They would keep me locked up for weeks, dragging it out, making us suffer. My palms tingled. The Enforcer gingerly picked up the Plan-It on his belt, never taking his eyes from us, never taking his finger from the trigger. Red hot anger seared through me. I took it and I focussed it. My mind concentrated into one single thought. The Plan-It flew from his fingers and smashed down onto the pavement. It smashed into its components, tiny pieces of hardware and wires, the plastic casing splitting at the seam.

“What the…” the Enforcer turned towards the broken Plan-It and Matthew pounced. He tore the gun from the Enforcers fingers but the Enforcer spun around and punched him in the jaw. Daniel lurched forward and kicked him between the legs and Matthew turned the gun and cocked it.

“Stay where you are or I’ll shoot,” Matthew said. He slid his finger over the trigger, it didn’t tremble. “Put your hands in the air.”

The Enforcer edged his hands into the air. Daniel pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt and snapped them over the Enforcer’s wrists.

“How does it feel being on the receiving end, eh?” Matthew shouted angrily. “Ministry scum.”

“Resistance scum,” the Enforcer retorted.

“We should get out of here,” I said.

Matthew pointed to a length of abandoned coiled rope by the roots of the hedge. “Daniel, tie him up.”

Daniel moved quickly, pushing the Enforcer to the ground and binding his feet. The Enforcer breathed heavily through the air vent in his helmet. I tried to make out his features through the tinted screen to see how old he was or if he was scared. I didn’t have time. More bullets whizzed past us, hitting the ground behind us sending a chalk-like cloud into the air.

“Get down!” Matthew screamed.

M
atthew fired back as we ran for cover. I ducked down below the line of the hedge but it was no real protection from gunfire. The bullets were relentless. As we ran the hedge exploded around us, clumps of leaves bursting in clouds of green.

“Over the wall,” Daniel instructed.

We approached a wall into another garden, tall and stone. I pushed Angela up first, noticing that her muscles shivered. Before my nap I’d dressed in my uniform so as not to attract attention and the tunic snagged on stones and twigs, slowing me down. Daniel gave me a shove and I jumped down from the top.

“Where’s Matthew?” I shouted as Daniel hopped down from the wall.

“No time,” he said. He grabbed me firmly by the elbow and we ran across another garden strewn with junk.

I pulled myself out of Daniel’s grip. “We have to go back for him.”

“We’ll be killed!” Angela cried. “Matthew has a gun. We’re unarmed.”

Daniel didn’t say anything. Instead he helped Angela over the fence into yet another garden. I followed.

Two Enforcers faced us, their guns pointed straight ahead. We stopped and put our palms up.

“That’s right. Time to surrender,” said an Enforcer, his voice low and menacing.

My hope faded. We couldn’t take on two of them.

Then I had an idea, something I hadn’t considered before. I concentrated on the two Enforcers, thinking about everything in the world which made me angry. I focussed my energy on them, conjuring every last bit until my palms tingled and my face was on fire.

“Mina, what are you doing?” Daniel said in awe.

The Enforcers’ guns floated in the air. I’d ripped them from their hands and now I floated them gently to us. Daniel took one and I took the other.

“Now you put your hands above your head,” I said. They obeyed. “That’s right. Now back up.” Their boots moved backwards. “Slowly! No! Slowly. Don’t you dare reach for that Plan-It.”

I heard a noise behind me but didn’t dare to turn. Angela did it for me. “It’s okay, it’s Matthew,” she said.

“You’re going to let us go now,” I said evenly. “Because you’re outnumbered and out gunned.”

We edged slowly away from them, moving sideways like crabs. In the corner of my eye I saw a man stood at the window, his mouth gaping. I nodded at him, hoping he would open the door and let us inside. He moved away from the window. My stomach clenched, waiting to see if this man would help us. The Enforcers remained rigid, but they watched us, waiting for us to make a mistake. The door opened and we ran in.

“Thank you,” I said hurriedly.

The man, weathered and old with deep wrinkles, said nothing. His face twitched, revealing just a tiny glimmer of something like guilt. I grabbed hold of Angela and turned to Daniel and Matthew.

“We’ve got to get out of here now!” I yelled.

The four of us pushed our way through the halls of the house to get out. I tripped over a dirty tabby cat and fell into a door frame, banging my head. Daniel grabbed hold of my elbow and guided me through the door into the narrow entrance hall of the house. He tried the front door and it opened.

Everything turned into a blur. Guns fired and we fired back. Matthew pushed me to the side and ran forward. He screamed something, something which sounded like, “Run!” Someone shoved me through the door and I bent low, avoiding shots. Red hot heat ripped through my arm. Daniel tugged on my other arm and shouted at me.

We ran hard and fast – faster than I’ve ever run before in my life. My ankle didn’t hurt anymore. Nothing hurt. My brain no longer registered the pain. I turned back, briefly, a glance over my shoulder. They had Matthew in cuffs. He was bleeding from the head. I wanted to scream. I wanted to stop and run to him but Daniel tugged me forward. We had to keep going. No matter what.

*

Angela crawled into my side, her head almost in my arm pit, pressing into my fresh wound. I let her, hoping the pain might make me feel less hollow inside. We had run and run until I thought my ankle would burst. We didn’t look back, not for a second, and now we were hiding out in an abandoned shack on a quiet road on the edge of the ghettos. We were near the field where I used to meet Sebastian. They had Matthew, the man I learned to be my uncle for little more than a few hours. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. We waited silently, patiently, for night to fall.

Daniel noticed me wince as Angela moved my arm. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”

“Let me see,” he insisted.

Angela moved to let me up. I sighed and rolled up the sleeve from my tunic for him to examine me.

“The bullet grazed you,” he said thoughtfully. He touched the skin around my wound delicately. It made the hairs on my arm prickle. “But it’s a deep cut. You could do with stitches.”

“That’s not an option,” I reminded him.

“It might have to be an option,” he said. “We need food, water, clothes and new dressings. Let me see your ankle.”

I lifted my leg. Daniel peeled a corner of the dressing and Angela sucked in her breath.

“Mina, that looks bad,” she said.

“Thanks,” I muttered. “That makes me feel much better.”

“You have to get that treated,” she said.

“We can’t go to a medical centre. The Enforcers will be waiting there,” I reminded her.

We fell into silence. It suited me. I didn’t feel like talking. The image of Matthew, bleeding and in handcuffs kept running through my mind on a loop that I couldn’t stop or slow down. I put my head in my hands. Angela placed a hand on my shoulder.

“He did it for you,” she said. “He did it so we can get away.”

“No.” I didn’t want to think it. “No.”

“We have to keep going so that it wasn’t all for nothing,” Angela said gently. She rubbed my shoulder with her warm little hand.

I trembled. I pulled at my headscarf with my fingers, my face still buried in my palms.

“Mina, it’s okay,” she soothed.

It wasn’t okay. I didn’t have a family anymore. First Mum left. Then Dad. And now, just as I find out my dad has kept a huge secret from me for all these years, just as I discover I have an uncle, someone else I can get to know and learn how to love, he is taken away from me before I have a chance to do any of those things.

“It isn’t fair,” I mumbled into my hands.

The world isn’t fair, I thought to myself. For just a few seconds I let all of the self-pity wash over me. I wallowed in it. Finally the hot tears pricked at my eyes and I let them fall. And then my body convulsed into a huge sob. Angela held me close and I cried into her shoulder as she stroked my back.

“Everything is going to be okay,” she cooed.

“I don’t see how it can be,” I said after the sobbing stopped. “Everyone close to me either leaves or is taken away.”

I wiped away my tears, hoping that the self-pity would wipe away with them. Daniel stared at me, his eyes brooding and intense. He looked away as though ashamed of my tears and I told myself to get a grip. I pulled away my headscarf and used it to dry my face.

“This is stupid,” I said, half to Angela and half to myself. “It’s just wasting water.”

Angela laughed but it was half-hearted. We were thirsty.

I took a deep breath and with it pulled myself together. “We need a plan to get food and water. Angela, look through the bags we brought with us. Did we pack any more gauze?”

Angela rummaged through the backpacks.

“There’s one left,” she said triumphantly. She wasted no time in ripping away at my ankle dressing and I winced.

“Dress the wound on her shoulder too,” Daniel said.

I looked at him. “What about you? The dog caught you last night too. Your ankle…”

As I said the words it hit me that only twenty-four hours ago we’d been breaking into Mrs Murgatroyd’s house. Since then I had discovered and lost an uncle, been shot at and chased by the Enforcers. I felt exhausted.

Daniel grimaced. He shook his head to say no but then clutched at his temples. Angela stopped what she was doing, frozen, staring at him. Daniel lurched forward and groaned in pain.

“Vision,” he muttered before losing consciousness.