Terranovus

The first thing I felt was pain radiating in waves from the side of my head. I groaned and pulled myself up from the cold damp floor, only to gasp and clutch my shoulder. I gingerly glanced down and saw my clothes torn and drenched in blood. I gently lifted up my torn pieces of clothing near my shoulder and saw white bandages underneath. I grimaced, and pulled away at the bandage to inspect the damage but was surprised to see the wound stitched closed. How long had I been unconscious for?

I looked around and analysed the filthy small room I was in. It was perhaps only three metres by two, and the only thing to keep me company was a small bucket. There was a door directly in front of me so I crawled forward and tried the handle, but found it was locked - unsurprisingly. There was no chance of escaping.

Groaning, I slowly sat up and hugged my arm pathetically. First the shoulder was dislocated, and now it was shot at - I didn’t have the best of luck.

I sighed and rested my head back on the dirty wall behind me. So many thoughts ran through my mind and I found I couldn’t focus. I wondered what time it was, if my parents had discovered I was missing, then I thought of Hyun and hoped he had escaped. I wondered about Tommy, and was glad he and everyone back home was safe now that the missiles’ programmes had been destroyed. And I thought of Philon, and wondered how well he was taking my capture.

I glanced at my wrist and was impressed to find the Army had confiscated my Ingo. Of course they would have. They wouldn’t have wanted a sixteen year old to tell Terranovus’s elite and precious citizens the truth. I ran a hand over my wrist, surprised by how naked it felt, I hadn’t taken off my Ingo in years.

Resigning to the fact I was probably going to be locked up in here for a good while, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to dream of a make believe world that was beautiful and full of nature and hadn’t been tainted by death and despair.

I must have dozed off as the sound a loud buzz and a door bolt unlocking woke me.

The door opened, and the same man who I had attacked with a wrench and had knocked me unconscious stood at the doorway not looking impressed.

“Get up you slob, the Commander wants to see you,” he spat. I gulped.

“Who?” I said. He didn’t just say the Commander of the Army, did he? The man grinned, clearly enjoying the look of fear spreading across my face.

“Scared now, are ya?” he said and yanked me to my feet. I swayed for a moment and the man steadied me and handcuffed my hands together. His grip on my forearm tightened and he shoved me forward out of the cell. I managed to catch a glance down the hallway and saw several other cell-like doors similar to mine. The walls were made of concrete and were leaking and covered in slime. I wondered if Hyun had escaped or was sitting in one of these cells.

“Move,” the man grunted and he shoved me forward. My shoulder started to throb. He led me to an elevator and as we stepped inside and watched the doors close, I reminded myself I wasn’t in the wrong. I wasn’t a prisoner, I was a victim. A victim who was a witness to the horrors the Army was capable of.

“How can you work for him?” I said. “How can you work for him and know what he was planning to do to your friends and families from the Sectors?” The man laughed and jabbed a finger at the elevator’s buttons. It started to rise.

“I ain’t from the Sectors,” he said, “and as long as I keep receiving my pay cheques I couldn’t care any less.”

“Where are you from?” I asked, immediately intrigued.

“That is not for you to know,” he replied and suddenly the elevator stopped. The doors opened to reveal a new hallway with luxuriously soft plush red carpets and nicely decorated walls. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and I gulped nervously. The floor had to be reserved for executive Army officials only to look this fancy.

“Sergeant Gomez!” immediately called out a voice. We stepped outside the elevator and my captor snapped to attention.

“Master Sergeant Philon, Sir!” he said and he gripped me tighter. I stared at Philon gobsmacked. He was dressed in an Army uniform and there was no sight of his usual friendly demeanour.

“Sergeant Gomez, you have been relieved from your duties. I will escort Miss McKinley to my father and the Commander myself,” said Philon.

“But, Sir-”

“Are you questioning my orders?” demanded Philon.

“No, Sir-”

“Then pass Miss Tabitha to me and resume your duties in the weaponry,” said Philon. He appeared impatient and did not look happy. Sergeant Gomez grudgingly stepped forward and passed me over to Philon who gripped my forearm so tight I winced. He was definitely pissed at me.

Philon aggressively spun me around and marched me away from Sergeant Gomez, his grip on my forearm not wavering. It was only once we turned a corner and we were out of earshot, did Philon’s grip lessen and he leaned in close to my ear.

“In the count of five, I want you to spin around and hit me in the groin with your knee, as hard as you can. Use my security pass to unlock your handcuffs and see that fire exit door ahead? Use it and run as fast as you can. Hyun is waiting for you outside this building,” he whispered. I felt my excitement levels rising and my legs stopped moving. Philon crashed into the back of me and I turned around to face him.

“Are you serious?” I asked surprised. Philon twisted me around and shoved me forward frustrated.

“Don’t look at me! There are cameras watching us,” he warned in a low voice. My eyes flickered to the cameras dotted down the hallway.

“But why?” I said in a quiet voice. “You hate me, you hate the Sectors-”

“I don’t hate you, don’t ever think that.”

“But Philon-”

“Don’t call me that. My friends call me Flynt.”

I looked at the fire exit door, it was perhaps only a few metres away now.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You have one chance. Good luck.”

I bit down on my lip nervously and took a deep breath. One chance. That was all I had.

And so without further thought, I spun around and dug my knee as hard as I could into Flynt’s groin. I grimaced as my knee made contact with soft flesh. Flynt’s eye’s bulged in pain and he crumpled to the floor in a heap.

“Not that hard,” he wheezed. With no time to spare, I bent down and swiped my handcuffs against the card reader hanging from his belt. The handcuffs softly beeped and unlocked. I shook the handcuffs off and heard them clatter on the floor. Without further ado, I bolted to the fire exit door and read the plaque on the door - Level Nine. I pushed open the door and jumped down the stairs as fast as I could, grinning from ear to ear as I did so.

I was free!

As I reached the third floor, sirens rang and I guessed the cameras had picked up on my escape. I raced down the stairs faster and broke out of the building and into open air seconds later. I did it. I was out.

A car tooted its horn and I turned to find Hyun sitting in the driver’s seat of the 4x4 he had stolen yesterday. I rushed towards him and climbed into the vehicle. Hyun immediately slammed down the accelerator and the vehicle sped off.

“Yass!” cheered Hyun and he hi-fived me. I laughed and looked behind us. We were at the back of the Army Base, where the official headquarters were located. On the side of the building sirens flashed red but fortunately there was no sign of soldiers chasing us - yet. The vehicle rocked back and forth as it made its way down the driveway and out of sight. I turned back round on my seat and let out a sigh of relief.

“So Flynt let you go?” asked Hyun. “He’s such a legend.”

“Yeah he did,” I replied.

“I couldn’t believe it when he called me last night. When you told me what Philon did to those communication towers I hated him as much as you did. But then he explained he wasn’t actually going to cut the communication towers, he was only going to make it look as though it did, and had a plan to disable the missiles all along. He was the one who thought of your escape plan, it was an awesome idea, wasn’t it?” rambled Hyun. I turned to him confused.

“He had a plan to disable the missiles?”

“Yeah, it was going to be epic but then we kinda ruined it,” explained Hyun. He turned the vehicle around a corner and our vehicle started to climb down the hill. “Of course, it wasn’t until Philon told me to call him Flynt, did I realise who he was. I heard rumours Philon and Flynt were the same person but it wasn’t until he said that I knew for sure.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You know Flynt,” laughed Hyun, “he’s such a hero in the resistance. Everyone looks up to him, at first I was afraid of him but now I’ve realised he’s a good guy.

Suddenly it clicked where I had heard the name Flynt before.

“Wait! Flynt is the same Flynt who kidnapped me in the Sectors?” I yelled, suddenly furious.

“It appears so,” said Hyun.

“That bastard!” I yelled and slammed my fist on the dashboard. Now I no longer felt bad for kneeing him in the balls as hard as I did.

That lying, deceiving, backstabbing traitor didn’t ask me to dance with him at the ball as an apology for knocking his drink! I must have been his target from the beginning that night, probably after he tried Ava and realised she was useless. Had he been the one messaging me this entire time? Maybe, but it didn’t make sense if he was against me blowing up the missiles. Hyun pulled me out of my thoughts as he turned into an airfield.

“Where are we going?” I asked Hyun concerned. Hyun hesitated and turned the steering wheel slightly. I saw we were driving towards a small fighter jet. “Hyun?” I demanded.

We reached the fighter jet and Hyun stopped the vehicle and turned it off.

“I’ve got some bad news,” he said quietly, “the resistance was wrong. The server we destroyed did have the coding for the missiles on it but the Army had a back up, and this morning it downloaded the commands.”

My heart dropped. No, no, no.... Tommy, the Sectors....

“The missiles will be released from a launch pad situated on the edge of the atmosphere above the Sectors at 1500hrs. That’s three hours away. I know how to fly. I trained myself and was going to become a pilot for the Army once I became of age. That’s why my family were drawn from the lottery. This jet has weapons.” I looked from Hyun to the fighter jet and back at him, already knowing where this conversation was heading. Was this for real? “I’m going to fly, and you’re going to shoot the missiles down.”