CHAPTER FORTY ONE - RESOLUTION AND RE-ENCOUNTER
Sammy could feel B trembling as he held him, but he did not resist or try to escape even once as Sammy carried him down the long corridors. His face was set in a defiant expression as his eyes darted about the base, wary in case any Gerai appeared. He knew they would not stop him though, not with the mood he was in. he would kill with his bare hands. He had B back at last and he was not giving him up yet.
He paused as he came to a junction. He wasn’t sure he remembered the way out anymore. He had zigzagged down so many corridors searching for B. He bit his lip as he stared at the paths before him. He wanted to kick himself for not taking more notice of directions before. None of these corridors looked familiar. Each turn he kept hoping to see Bri lying there waiting for them but each corridor was always empty. Thoughts unpleasantly rose in his mind like monsters out of a swamp. What if the Gerai had found him and taken him away? What if Sammy never found him again? What if…?
He shook his head. He wanted to return to Bri more than anything, but he was nervous about B. The boy was still and silent on his shoulder and he couldn’t help but worry in case he became frightened and angry again. Sammy didn’t want to hurt him anymore than he already had.
He picked a corridor at random and strode forwards. He didn’t want to loiter in the base for long, especially with B. he would have to get B out of here and then return later to search for his father, whether he was alive or…
He clutched B tighter. At least he had brought B home, just as Bri had asked. At least his son was safe.
“Are we home yet?” M murmured faintly. Despite the quietness of his voice, it still shocked Sammy slightly to hear from him.
He rubbed B’s back soothingly. “We’re getting there. Don’t worry,” he replied.
B fell silent again. “I think someone is following us,” he ventured after a few moments.
Sammy froze and listened intently. The base was silent. Even the ventilation systems were noiseless at the moment. He strained, trying to detect any sign of footsteps. There was nothing.
“What makes you think that?” Sammy asked nervously.
“Because there’s someone standing behind us.”
Sammy spun around, cursing himself for not looking around sooner. B was right, there was somebody standing behind them.
“There are words for men like you,” she said icily.
Sammy’s stomach contorted at the reminder of what he had done. He had almost forgotten all about it. There were words for men like him, most of them meaning something along the lines of ‘bastard’. “Heather,” he said calmly. He held B tighter, determined not to let him go or allow Heather to stop them from escaping. He didn’t relish the thought of hurting her, but if she made him choose then he would. His eyes were drawn to the laser she held in her hand. At the moment it was pointing at the ground beside her, but she could raise it in a second and fire.
“You used me,” she said. She didn’t move or move towards them.
Despite keeping a calm façade, Sammy could feel sweat beginning to drip. He couldn’t get at his weapon while he was holding B over his shoulder. The only thing he could do was hang onto him. He felt B clutching at him tighter. “Don’t let them take me,” he begged in Sammy’s ear.
Sammy rubbed a hand against him to reassure him and then placed his eyes back on heather. “All right I did,” he confessed. “I saw an opportunity and I took it. It was nothing personal. My brother has and always will come first.”
“I should have known you would try something,” Heather replied. “You’d do anything for him.”
Sammy nodded. “I would,” he whispered. “And I’d do anything to stop anybody who got in my way when I was trying to save him.” He stared at her, making sure that she understood his meaning. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he continued. “I never did. I - ” He froze, aware that he was about to say more than what he should. He hadn’t wanted to use her, but he’d had no choice. He couldn’t ever regret it either because it had given him the chance to escape. He didn’t regret it either because… because he couldn’t help liking something about her.
“It was my fault,” she said. “I chose to ignore what I knew all along, that you would take any opportunity to help your friends. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
She seemed nervous and her eyes had looked away from him. Sammy watched her hands carefully, cautious in case she aimed her gun. “Why are you following us?” Sammy asked bluntly. He had to know her intentions before he became too confused by this conversation and the emotions it evoked.
She tried to step closer but Sammy held a hand up. “Don’t come any closer,” he said warningly.
She paused and then stood still, her hands caressing the handle of the laser. Sammy gently placed B down. “I need to put you down for a moment,” he said. “I won’t let go of you.” B was clutching at him frantically, frightened in case he was left alone again. Sammy seized hold of his hand firmly and then pulled his laser from his belt. “Now we’re in a stale mate,” he said to Heather, but somehow he knew he wouldn’t shoot and neither would she. She could easily have fired while he was reaching for his laser.
She shrugged. “Why do you think I’d attack?”
‘What is it with women and mind games?’ Sammy thought irritably. He couldn’t decide what to make of this situation. She was making him feel uneasy. He had never planned to confront her again after their brief liaison and he had been caught off guard with this one. “You were following us,” he said. “And, you said yourself, I used you.”
He could she was a little unsettled by his forwardness, but her face remained as calm and as collected as always. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet,” she replied.
Sammy sighed. “What did you think was going to happen Heather after we’d slept together? What did you want? Was it just a one-time thing? You got what you wanted.” She had been attracted to him and he’d let her have him. He hadn’t held anything back. She looked away from him and Sammy sighed. He had seen this before but chosen to ignore it. “Even if I was still a prisoner, it couldn’t have worked. You’re a Gerai and I’m a resistor. We’re at war.”
Her eyes flashed with something and then she laughed slightly, but it sounded rather hollow and feigned. “Don’t flatter yourself,” she snapped. “You’re right, I took what I wanted from you.”
“Then why are you so bothered about it? We were both using each other then!” Sammy shot back. B was grasping his hand tightly and watching the exchange of words silently. He stared at Heather and then back at his brother, innocent of the actions Sammy had taken to escape and find him.
“Because of you, because of me, our base has fallen,” she said. “You ruined everything.”
Sammy’s eyes narrowed. She couldn’t blame him for this. “The Gerai were finished anyway, heather. This base was one last desperate attempt. The resistance outnumber you and they would have taken this place soon whether I was here or not. This could never last. It’s over. The war is finished.”
Heather’s eyes rolled downwards and he saw the look on her face. She was saddened, confused. She didn’t know anything anymore. Sammy could sympathise, because he knew what she was feeling. He no longer saw the Gerai as something apart from humans. They were all people with their own lives. Meeting Heather had allowed him to see how few differences there was between them, especially those that had been born to Gerai families.
“Heather, I am sorry,” Sammy said softly. “I know you’re angry. I feel the same as well. I didn’t want to use you, but what else could I do?” he pulled B close to hi,. “They were torturing him. Look what they’ve done to him. He looks ill and frightened. I couldn’t just wait. I had to rescue him, at any cost. I’d die for him. I’d do anything.” He wrapped his arms about B and smiled as B did the same. He was still detached and confused by the world but at least he had begun to recognise Sammy as someone who loved him and wanted to help him.
Heather stared at them and then she swung her laser up, but she didn’t aim it at them. She shouldered it out of the way. “You surprised me,” she said. “I didn’t know what to make of you from the beginning. You’re right though. How could anything more have ever happened? We’re from two worlds.” She sighed and shook her head. “If you’re looking for the way out, you’re going the wrong way. If you go back to the last turn and go left you’ll come to a door. Go through it into another corridor and go right. An elevator will take you to a back door. You can escape.”
Sammy smiled at her, a genuine smile. “Thank you,” he whispered. He kissed B on the forehead. “This means everything to me.”
She nodded sadly. “I know. He always comes first.”
Sammy took B’s hand and began to led him towards Heather. “You could come,” he suggested.
She laughed. “I’m a Gerai, I’d never fit into your world anymore than you’d fit into mine.”
“You could try.” If she stayed here then she would be found by the resistance members when they arrived to take the base and she would probably be executed. He didn’t want that to happen. There could never be a relationship between them, but he couldn’t let her die.
“I’ll escape, she said, “but not with you. Here we go our separate ways. I know other backdoors out of this place. Your people are already here but they won’t catch me. You can meet them outside.”
Sammy smiled weakly. “Then this is goodbye.” Gently he leant forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “Good luck.”
“Same to you,” she replied.
Sammy held her gaze for one more moment before he was turning away and heading back in the direction she had told him. B’s fingers held his tightly. “Who was she?” B asked curiously.
“A friend. Without her I never could have escaped and come looking for you. She gave me the opportunity I needed.” He would probably still be in the prison cell with Paul and the others without her.
B nodded and then turned back. “Thank you,” he said softly to Heather before they turned the corner.
Sammy looked down at him and smiled. He drew B closer to him. “Feeling better now?” he asked.
B shook his head. “Not really.” But his fingers dug deeper into Sammy’s. “But…” He left the phrase unfinished. It was enough for Sammy. He was fighting him anymore and he was willing to try and reclaim his life.
“You’ll be all right,” Sammy promised. “You’ll see.”
“I’m tired,” B answered, his eyes drooping closed.
He didn’t just look tired either, he looked exhausted both physically and mentally. His eyes were ringed with red and his skin was pale and clammy. He would need rest and Sammy had a feeling that it would be a slow recovery. He’d make sure he got there though. “You can rest soon. As soon as we get out, you can sleep and when you wake up you’ll be home with your friends.”
“And dad?” B asked faintly.
Sammy thinned his lips. He couldn’t find Bri now. He had no idea how to, but if Heather was right and his friends were in this base, then they might be able to find Bri fro him and bring him to safety. Sammy couldn’t imagine what B would be like if Bri died, especially because of him. He remembered those terrible tears in the corridor as the boy had broken down. “Hopefully,” he answered. “When he wakes up.”
It seemed to satisfy B, or at least he asked no more questions. He just seemed willing to trust Sammy and see what happened. It couldn’t be any worse than with Gerai.
Sammy took the left turning as Heather had instructed. The corridor here seemed to become narrower and Sammy held his laser tightly. He didn’t think heather would lead him into a trap, but he still had to be cautious. There would be a lot of Gerai who would be angry at him for hacking their computer and even more furious for taking B with him. B had been their last chance. They’d lost everything now though. Sammy had destroyed the lab with the virus information. He had no doubt that the information had been copied somewhere else as well, but hopefully his friends would take care of that and annihilate the entire project.
He glanced at B walking sleepily beside him. He just hoped that nobody else ever came after him. If he could have done without killing him then Sammy would have ripped that computer chip from his arm and buried it a long time ago. B had never deserved to have it placed in him at the beginning.
They came to the door, just as Heather had told them they would. Sammy aimed his laser at it as he opened it, not wanting to be jumped or ambushed. The corridor beyond though was empty. He gently ushered B through it and then continued.
‘We’re almost out,’ he told himself. They were so close to being safe now. Sammy’s eyes closed. His chest ached because of what he had done to Bri. Bri had been dying and yet Sammy had left him here. He couldn’t drag B around though searching for him again. There was no telling what B would do if they ran into trouble. He was unpredictable and unstable. Sammy could end up losing them both if he went back.
B glanced about them awkwardly and his hand seized Sammy’s so tightly that it hurt. Sammy glanced down at him in concern. B had paused and was turning his head frantically as if searching to see a monster that he believed was hiding nearby.
“What’s up?” he asked.
B whimpered slightly and then wrapped his arms about Sammy, burying his head against his jersey. “He’s coming. I can feel him. Don’t let him come. Stop him!” B shrieked.
Sammy froze and swung his laser out. There was nobody following them this time. The corridor was empty. B shivered and pressed himself closer. Sammy’s blue eyes scrutinised every shadow, but there was nowhere for anybody to hide in the corridor. He squeezed B’s hand.
“We’ll continue carefully,” he assured him. He knew B had some kind of special mental ability now so he was disinclined to simply ignore B’s suspicion so readily, but he also knew that he was very frightened and very paranoid. He could just be hearing terrors in his mind.
He tried to lead B forward, but he wouldn’t move. He was staring in the direction Sammy was trying to take him in with round, terrified eyes. He gripped the floor hard with his feet and Sammy thought that he was going to have to drag him forwards. “Come on,” he said, not wanting to raise his voice in case it scared B even more. “Come on, it’s all right.”
“No,” B whimpered. “No, no.” B was beginning to struggle, as if he were having some kind of fit. Sammy dropped the laser in order to grab hold of B with both hands. He was frightened in case B should try to run off or attack him again.
“B, please!” he said, trying to quieten him. “What’s wrong?”
B was crying and whimpering, struggling against Sammy’s arms. “We have to get away, let me go, let me go!”
Sammy grabbed B and pulled him close to keep a better hold on him. Then suddenly he heard footsteps from behind them. He turned and saw that someone had appeared in the corridor while he had been trying to calm B down. This person was now bending down to retrieve Sammy’s laser from the floor.
“Well, well,” Marlowe hissed. “Look what I found.”