Rowan scanned the cave. He needed to find Kayleb, Indigo and Cornwall. He had to tell them first, tell them what had happened. Kayleb and Cornwall were talking quietly in the far corner. Indigo was nearer and was looking in his rucksack for something to put on. The tower felt eerily cold inside. Rowan ran up to Indigo and grabbed his rucksack from him. ‘You’ve got to come back with me! You’ve all got to come out of here, all of you!’ Rowan shouted. Everyone looked at Rowan. ‘Staan’s got David. He’s going to kill us all ... Eat us all!’
David appeared with Staan, who held a gun stuck in the small of David’s back.
‘Yes,’ growled Staan. ‘Everyone out! It’s party time! Move, you lot, or this toad gets it,’ he shouted, shoving his gun hard into David’s back. David winced in pain. Max whined and hid behind Kayleb.
Dismayed, Kayleb looked at Cornwall and Indigo. ‘I don’t believe it! What’s happened? David can defend himself. Why is he letting this man hold him hostage? Why isn’t he using his shield?’
Rowan could hear Kayleb. ‘He can’t defend himself,’ called Rowan. ‘He’s like David; they’re from the same place. There’s no hope for us now.’
Kayleb, Rowan and Cornwall were last to leave the cave; Max skulked behind Kayleb and tried to remain invisible, he was obviously disturbed by Staan’s presence. As they walked onto the beach, they were alarmed to find a whole army of lifers waiting for them. They were surprisingly well dressed and wore uniforms. They carried various sophisticated-looking guns and looked like they had been military-trained. As the lifers disarmed those that had knives, Kayleb looked at the lifers’ faces. They were expressionless. Only their eyes revealed their wickedness – they were cold and bloodthirsty.
Dread and fear spread like an infection to everyone as they marched along to their unknown destination. Rowan cursed himself for not trying to escape in France when he had the chance to. He hoped that he might get a chance to escape as they walked along and he waited for an opportunity to flee. He could run very fast; he could run for his life. He knew that wherever the lifers were taking them it would be the end for him. He was sure to be killed, so he might as well take a chance and run. His heart pounded as he waited for the right moment.
Kayleb looked ahead and squinted to see properly. They were approaching a city dominated by crystalline buildings with triangular turrets protruding from their summits.
Max refused to enter the city and sat down on the ground. The lifers marched by unconcerned. Kayleb looked back anxiously; he couldn’t go back to get him. He could see Max looking at him with a worried expression. Kayleb knew that he would have difficulty asking him to come with him. He wondered what was so terrible that Max would not enter the city and he wondered what would become of him. Kayleb marched sadly on into the city without him.
Kayleb looked up at the buildings. They looked like rows of prisms standing on end, with rainbow rays of light that escaped from within them. The splendour of this spectacle was spoiled by a sea of rubbish at the foot of the buildings. Everyone coughed and complained as they waded through the filth. Seemingly undisturbed by the stinking refuse, the lifers pushed any stragglers on.
Finally, they stopped by one of the gleaming buildings, next to a pair of huge fortified metal doors. A lifer with stripes on his sleeve placed his hand on a digi-plate on the wall and the doors swung open. Staan’s men quickly ushered everybody into a brightly lit hall. Just as the doors closed a bomb exploded outside. It shook the building but no damage was done. The vibration of the blast sent shock waves through everyone’s bones and the sound of the explosion rang in their ears.
Unfazed by the bomb blast, more lifers now appeared in the vast atrium in which they now stood. Staan ordered the lifers to take up their positions by the open gun slots within the walls and return fire. His whole head was red with fury.
‘How dare they defy my orders and break the ceasefire! They’ll pay! When I catch that filth, I’ll decapitate them personally and strip their flesh off myself. Get on with it, you imbeciles,’ Staan bellowed at his men.
Staan’s men sprang into action. Only the troops surrounding the prisoners stood their ground. Staan’s attention turned to these guards.
‘Take them up to the storeroom,’ Staan ordered. The fury had gone from his voice. ‘We’ll be fine for supplies for a while now. Save David for me to do ... Yes, I’ll enjoy that. Things are a bit different here on Earth. The boot’s on the other foot now, isn’t it, David? Not so important now, are we? Get him out of my sight!’ Staan snapped.
Rowan was behind Cornwall as they climbed the stairs to the store. He could see from her face that she had been crying and he didn’t know what to do. Rowan didn’t like to see her distressed. He wanted to promise to get her out of this madness but he knew that was impossible.
They were led to a storeroom in a turret. There were many stairs to climb and little chance to escape. Staan’s men shoved them into a small room and shut the door firmly behind them. The room wasn’t empty: two men lay on the far side and stared at the newcomers. One of the men had a leg missing and the other man had no limbs at all. Both seemed to be in great pain.
Kayleb looked at these men in horror. Staan had not been lying. He obviously did torture his prisoners but Kayleb couldn’t believe that he would actually eat human beings.
David tried to soothe everyone; he had seen the horror on their faces. ‘I can help these men not to feel any more pain. Lifers are not provided with food and are expected to fend for themselves. They have become cannibals in order to survive. It is disgusting but inevitable. We will find some way of escaping, I promise!’
Kayleb and Rowan looked at each other for ideas but it was difficult to concentrate. Indigo was hyperventilating by a window. He had tried to open one of the windows to get some fresh air and had looked down at the street far below. He clearly had a fear of heights and was now having a panic attack. Cornwall was trying to get him to look into her eyes so she could hypnotise him but Indigo would not cooperate and continued to cry and shake violently.
Kayleb spoke first. ‘What on are earth are we going to do?’ he asked Rowan, who was looking at the two men lying in the corner.
‘I’m not going to end up like that, that’s for sure,’ Rowan said, nodding at the poor limbless men.
Kayleb looked over, too. The men were rocking gently back and forth. Their wounds had been sealed so they would not bleed to death, but clearly their minds were spent. They were resisting David’s attempts to stop the pain they were in.
Rowan looked desperately around the room. The door had a handprint pass pad. He thought that if everyone tried placing their hand on the pad then someone might have a near enough match to fool the sensors and open the door. Rowan looked away. His idea was useless; there was no point trying.
‘I don’t get it,’ Rowan said to Kayleb. ‘How do they have such advanced technology here? We have something similar in London but how have they built all this city without any materials? This is an island – where did they get everything?’
Kayleb shook his head. ‘You said that Staan was similar to David. Technology wise, they’re more advanced, or so David said. But obviously they’re lost when it comes to waste disposal. Did you see all that rotting rubbish? You’d think they’d have their own waste processors in the buildings.’
Rowan sighed. ‘You’d think David would have some sort of plan. He seems to be looking at everyone else for ideas. I feel as if he was almost expecting to be captured. He’s got to think of some way to get out of here. There’s not much left of those miserable wretches over there. Who do you think Staan will eat first from our group?’
Both Rowan and Kayleb’s eyes fell on David who had joined Cornwall in trying to calm Indigo down.
‘I think we’d better try and get ourselves out of here,’ suggested Kayleb, looking at everyone’s distressed faces. ‘I’ve still got the rope. When they took all our knives off us on the beach they left the rope in my bag. It might be long enough to get us most of the way down. I’m sure we could climb down the rest of the building.’
Rowan smiled. ‘I knew that rope would come in useful. The only trouble is I keep hearing bullets ricocheting off of the walls. We could get shot. Maybe David could protect us as we climb down. We would all be touching the same rope. Let’s go and ask him.’
Kayleb and Rowan found David with Indigo. They were both sitting on the floor on the opposite side to the windows. Indigo was calm again and was breathing in and out slowly.
‘He’ll be fine,’ continued David. ‘We all have our Achilles heel.’
‘We’ve had an idea,’ said Rowan. Rowan looked at Kayleb, who was now frowning. ‘We’ve got a rope. If you could protect us, we could all go out of the window and climb down the rope.’
Indigo’s eyes widened and he began to hyperventilate again. David turned to him. ‘Don’t worry, Indigo, everything will be fine. I know what you are thinking. I don’t think all of us will be able to escape that way. Some of us are not brave enough, some are limbless and some are a little too round to be dangling off a rope. We will wait for the right time and use the stairs. It will be a lot easier that way.’
Rowan looked at Kayleb aghast. ‘You do realise that they want to eat us, don’t you, David? We’re like sitting ducks, waiting to be picked off one by one. We need to do something now before it’s too late.’
David nodded. ‘The right time will come. Be patient, Rowan.’
Rowan huffed. ‘You are driving me mad! When they come in to drag off that thing in the corner, then I am going to make a run for it!’
‘Then you will be killed and put on a spit,’ said David calmly. ‘I know this is a hard thing for you to do, but you must trust me.’
‘Trust you!’ screamed Rowan. ‘Like I trusted my mentors! What do you know about trust?’ Rowan breathed in and looked defiantly at David.
Kayleb looked awkwardly at David and Rowan. Why was Rowan so angry? Rowan had always praised his mentors and now here he was blaming them for the situation he was in.
‘Rowan, calm down!’ said David sternly. ‘Do not blame others for the trouble you are in. Every challenge is an opportunity. Your future is in your hands alone. I am aware that you had no choice to become a tasker but every problem you overcome will make you stronger. Rowan, go and think things through and you will see that I am right.’
Rowan scowled and turned away. Tears were stinging his eyes but he would not cry and let everyone laugh at him. He could feel himself screaming inside. He turned back to David. ‘I’m going to get out of here alive, if it is the last thing I do and I don’t need some freakish alien telling me what to do.’
Kayleb watched as Rowan stomped off away from everyone and went to sulk by one of the windows. Kayleb felt embarrassed for him. He was acting like an idiot.
‘Gather your strength, Kayleb, and rest,’ said David. ‘We will leave this place in one piece, I promise.’
Dusk stretched into darkness and outside the window the night filled with thousands of bright jewels. Rowan sat silently by the window with his arms around his knees and looked defiantly out at the sky. Kayleb joined him and looked around at everyone. They all seemed calmer now. Word had got around that David had foreseen an end to their plight that same night and all that everyone needed to do was to wait patiently.
‘Shouldn’t be long now,’ whispered Kayleb to Rowan. He didn’t like to see him alone like this, even if it was self-inflicted.
‘So he’s sucked you in, too?’ snapped Rowan. ‘Why do you think we’re all going to leave this place alive? David is hardly going to tell everyone that this is the end and we are all going to die! When are you all going to wake up?’ raved Rowan.
‘A massive explosion shook the building. It was much bigger than the earlier one. Cornwall ran over to Kayleb and Rowan.
‘What is it? What has happened?’ she cried.
‘I don’t know, Cornwall,’ said Kayleb. ‘It’s probably another bomb, like the one you heard earlier.’
‘What are these bombs?’ asked Cornwall.
‘You have to split an atom and ignite the reaction and then you have an explosion,’ Kayleb explained. ‘It is quite easy to do at home but the chemicals needed to do it are fortunately rare. That explosion must have done some damage to the building. I can’t believe it’s still standing. Oh, I hope Max is OK! I wonder what the building is made of? It’s a material I’ve never seen ... What was that? Did you hear somebody yelling,’ said Kayleb, appealing to everyone to listen. ‘I don’t like the sound of things. Maybe we should barricade the door or something. I think we are going to be attacked. We should sit near David. We might have to link up to protect ourselves.’
‘That would be no good,’ said Rowan. ‘Let’s face it: we are all going to die.’
‘I don’t know what’s got into you,’ said Kayleb. ‘While I’m still living and breathing, I’m going to do everything I can to stay alive.’
Everyone’s attention turned towards the door. Behind it they could hear laser guns and automatic guns being fired. They heard shouting, screaming and thuds as people fell. A battle was clearly raging. Sometimes the battle sounded as if it was close by and sometimes it seemed to be far away. Nobody’s eyes left the door and everyone expected it to burst open at any moment. There was no cover. They would all be shot down.