CHAPTER THREE - THE PRISONERS
He could smell the dust that clotted the air and there was a pungent stench of damp mould that clung to the rotting, black walls about him.
Sammy froze as the darkness of the tunnel began to swallow him until he could see nothing but the thick blackness. He stopped, waiting for further instructions from his captors. In the darkness he heard Kevin breathing beside him and he wondered if the older man was screwing is face up at the smell as well.
The Gerai had marched them for hours across the landscapes and Sammy’s feet were aching after walking up so many hills without a single break. They had been forced to move quickly as the Gerai commander (who he’d learnt was called Heather Murray) did not wish to be attacked before she had reached the Gerai base with her two prisoners. There was another resistance base close by as well as Darren’s and it was apparently common for them to patrol the ground and pick off any rogue Gerai.
Sammy and Kevin’s arms were tied firmly behind their backs. For the first few hours they had been trusted to walk without being tied up, but just as Sammy was beginning to think that he might be able to fight his way to freedom, Heather had cast him a suspicious glance, as if she could read his mind almost, before ordering that both his and Kevin’s arms were tied behind them in case they tried to escape.
The next few hours had been long and full of aches for both men. Their feet constantly tripped on stones or lumps of grass, or they would slip in the mud before being hauled back to their feet by the Gerai soldiers. Finally the ordeal had ended by Heather pulling open a concealed trapdoor in the earth which led into a dark tunnel.
Sammy had raised an eyebrow at the well hidden entrance. With tunnels hidden near to invisibility wasn’t surprising that the teams that had been sent to this area to investigate had been unable to find an entrance.
He had glanced about for a moment, knowing that there were several spy teams posted nearby and wondering if they would see them before he had been harshly shoved forward into the damp and dreary tunnel.
The floor had sloped downwards for several metres before turning flat and now Sammy stopped, unsure of where to go.
A flashlight suddenly pierced the darkness in front of him and he squinted painfully, his hands unable to shielded his eyes from the burning glare.
“We need to keep going forward,” she ordered coldly. “It will be light soon.” She eyes his hands to make sure that they were still safely bonded before beginning to move swiftly through the darkness.
The tunnel here was narrow and Sammy could feel the walls pressing against him almost. The slight claustrophobic feeling brought a dusty lump to his throat as he thought of Brian lying near death in the medical centre back at the base. His thoughts drifted over to B. He had practically lost them both now. He still did not know where B was. Was he here at this Gerai base? Maybe he could still bring B back to Brian.
He slowly dragged his feet forward, watching the flickering beacon of light before him to avoid bumping into the walls. Finally he noticed that Heather had stopped and he did the same, turning his head briefly to catch Kevin’s dull eyes. The older man’s face was set with grimness. He could see the thoughts running through those eyes and Sammy shuddered slightly as he remembered Heather’s triumphant smirk as it crawled across her pretty face. She had something lined up for both of them it seemed…
Sammy peered into the darkness before him and saw that Heather was shining the flashlight upon a small panel set in the filthy wall. Before her was a metal, rusted door. After a few moments there was a blip from the glowing panel and then there was a whirring noise that sounded like an elevator. Finally the rusted doors gave a long, slow creak before opening to reveal a grim and blackened elevator.
Heather turned around again, the flashlight strapped to her arm and a laser in her arms. “In,” she ordered, nodding to Kevin and Sammy.
Slowly the two of them complied and following them came the soldiers before Heather entered the cramped elevator and pressed a slim hand upon the panel set in the floor. There was another creak before the doors groaned shut and the elevator lurched slightly before beginning to creak downwards.
Sammy’s gut was tightening inside of him and his stomach was moving unnaturally as they waited. Why had Heather been so pleased to capture him? She had known who he was and it seemed as if the Gerai had been after him for a long time. Did they think he could lead them to B or that they could use him to capture his brother somehow? His fingers dug into the palms of his hands. He would never help them. He knew that the Gerai wanted his brother alive, although he still did not know why, but the one thing he was certain of was that they would probably torture B if they ever caught him. He just prayed that somehow B had eluded them…
The floor rocked slightly beneath his feet and he was beginning to wonder how safe the place was before they halted abruptly, almost sending Kevin to the ground as he stumbled slightly. The soldiers grabbed their tied up arms firmly as the doors began to slide open to reveal the Gerai base.
Sammy could not contain his surprise at the sight that met him. The corridor now stretching before them was nothing like the dark, grimy tunnel they had entered. It was sleek and the walls were while with silver panels set in them like mirrors to give the corridor a more airy feel to it. There was a cleanness in the air and a faint clinical smell that reminded Sammy of a hospital.
He caught the smug smile upon Heather’s face as she noticed his wide eyes and he quickly bowed his head, determined to make out that he was not as surprised and impressed as he actually was. With this though, came a new worry. None of the resistance had thought the Gerai had anything like this. They were much more powerful than they had first realised. Glumly Sammy wondered what Darren was up to. If the place was as well organised as it looked, it might not be as easy as they had originally thought to defeat the Gerai.
Heather began to stride along the corridor and Sammy took in his surroundings as much as he could without making it obvious what he was doing. If he and Kevin were going to escape, they would need to remember as much as they could about the layout of the base.
As they were led down the corridor, Sammy caught sight of no guards at all. Hope began to fill him again. Maybe they weren’t many Gerai left after all.
Either side of the corridor at intervals were sleek, black doors but there were no windows so that Sammy could see what lie beyond. What kind of facilities did the Gera have here? They had been informed that it was a science and research base, but this place could be used for anything. Like Darren’s base it had been well dug in and concealed, but this was a lot more sophisticated.
He tried to glance across at Kevin to read the older man’s face, but all he saw was a set, stony expression that gave nothing away.
Eventually they reached the end of the corridor where there was another silver elevator. Heather pressed the panel and cast a suspicious glance at Sammy again. She kept looking at him. He noticed they way she would stare at him from the corners of her eyes when they were walking down the corridors. She obviously did not trust him.
They were herded into the elevator and Sammy felt the lurch of the floor again, but this time there was no ominous creak to accompany their descent. He stared at heather and then at the guards, but like Kevin they were unreadable. Sammy eventually gave up his attempts to read anything from them and took to staring at the floor instead.
There was a creak as the elevator rumbled to a halt. Heather turned and smiled at Kevin and Sammy. “This is where you two will be spending most of your time now,” she said.
A weight had sunk to the bottom of Sammy’s stomach at the sight of that sarcastic smile. His eyes bored into the doors until they slid open.
The next room was huge and had once been a cavern of some description judging from the size of it and the rocky walls along the edges. He slowly found himself walking forwards. There was a huge hole in the centre of the room that looked down onto the floor below. Sammy and Kevin were led to the safety rail at the side so that they could look down below.
About twenty metres below them was another floor that was lined with computer consoles and work stations. Hunched figures were crouched over various panels and for each worker there were two guards either side with guns aimed at their heads. These weren’t Gerai workers, they were prisoners.
“These are the people you’ve been capturing from other bases,” Sammy said softly, remembering Darren’s report that people from local bases had gone missing lately.
“We needed more workers,” Heather said with another snake-like smile.
Sammy turned his head and saw a section to the left that had been cornered off with glass. Inside he could see several guards with guns and workers. All of them were in white, protective suits with masks over their heads. Curiously he strained his head to get a better look but a Gerai soldier seized his shoulders and hauled him back.
“You’ll get a better look soon,” Heather said.
“We won’t ever help you!” Kevin snarled. “You’ve been kidnapping people we know to help you do your dirty work, well it won’t work for us two!”
Heather tilted her head. “We’ll see.” She looked across at Sammy an odd glint dazzling in her eye. “What about you? Are you going to help us willingly?”
Sammy’s eyes narrowed. “Over my dead body!” he spat.
“How about your brother’s?”
Something cold began to soak into Sammy’s stomach and something tore at his chest. “W-what?” His mouth was dry.
Heather nodded to the guards. “Take them to the cells.”
“No, wait!” Sammy screamed as the guards seized his shoulders while another two grabbed Kevin. “Where’s my brother? What have you done to him!” He began to struggle frantically. B was here at the base! He would be so scared though…
Heather said nothing and only continued to smile.
“Sammy, she’s lying! They don’t have him!” Kevin said. “She’s trying to upset you!”
But Sammy wasn’t listening anymore. He was screaming against the guards until his elbow caught one in the face. “Where is he!” The Gerai had tortured him once and they would do it again and Heather had said they might kill him if Sammy didn’t do what they told him to…
“You’ll soon see,” Heather whispered.
Sammy felt the rage burning into him but he was helpless with his arms tied behind his back. He desperately tried to break free, even though he knew it would be useless when surrounded by Gerai.
Heather began to laugh and Sammy tried to run forward so that he could wipe that smile from her face, but the second he tried to do so, something hard smacked the back of his head. He heard Kevin calling his name and then everything went black.