Tethered Twins

Grace Wilkerson

Gabe and Grace walked back to the central area of the Houses of Parliament unsure what they would find and how many of their team would have been injured.

What they saw surprised them.

There were no more orange eyed people. The Deck team had secured the area and everyone seemed to have returned to normal.

The have-nots were tending to their injured and Chris thought about how although these people had very little it was clear they understood the importance of family and friendship.

“Chris. What happened?” asked Grace.

“We don’t know,” he replied. “Suddenly everyone just stopped fighting and their eyes turned back to normal colours. Whatever was controlling them it’s gone now.”

“It’s not gone forever,” she showed Chris her phone. “We met someone downstairs who told us where we could find the source of the signal. It’s at this location.”

“But that’s the old Olympic park. Why would anyone go there?”

“Exactly. It’s out of the way and has a lot of land. You could build anything out there now that London is a lawless city.”

The Deck regrouped. Only nine of them remained, including Gabe, Grace, Chris and March. They walked outside and were instantly ambushed by a crowd of orange eyed people.

“Where do they keep coming from?” asked Gabe as he pushed off his attacker. “Use the lights.”

The Deck formed two circles one with five of them and the other with four and shone the light around them which helped stop any of their attackers temporarily.

“We can’t do this the entire way,” said Grace. “Look over there,” she pointed to an underground station with steps descending downwards.

“We’ll be trapped,” said Chris.

Grace pulled out her phone and dialled a number, being careful to keep the other hand held down on her weapon. “Jill?” she asked.

“No. It’s Kenan. Jill isn’t here.”

“Well where the heck is she?”

“We have no idea. Can I help?”

“The London Underground. Does it still run?” asked Grace.

“It was never fully deactivated if that’s what you mean,” he replied. “Jill trained me so I should be able to help.”

Grace could see the orange eyed men starting to work their way through the gaps in their defence. “We have to run,” she shouted.

The Deck turned and ran towards the underground station. “I’ll stop them,” said one of the team who stayed at the entrance and pointed his blue light outwards. “Run!”

The eight remaining team mates didn’t look back, there was no time to argue about what was the right action. They ran down the stairs into the main entrance. Grace looked at her phone and saw it dip down to one bar of signal. “Kenan, are you still there? If you are then I need you to activate the train from Westminster to Stratford on the Jubilee line. Can you hear me?”

There was no reply.

“Kenan?” shouted Grace. She looked at her phone and saw that her phone signal was gone. In the background she heard the scream as the team mate she had left behind was attacked.

There was nowhere else to run. The only way was down.

She ran towards Gabe. He asked if the train would be waiting for them on the platform and she said she wished she knew.

The eight remaining members of The Deck worked their way down to platform 5. The Jubilee line. As they reached the platform edge Grace had to stop herself from almost running off the edge in the darkness.

“Where is the train?” asked Gabe.

“I couldn’t get through,” replied Grace, with no idea what they could do next.

“We can’t go back up. How far is it if we walk through the tunnels?”

“It would take hours. Time Emmie doesn’t have.”

Behind them they could hear the footsteps coming. The platform had six separate entrances. There was no way they could cover them all. “We have to defend ourselves.”

They positioned a person at each entrance with two of the team ready to run to cover any problem areas. The entrances were bathed in blue light but the light was not wide enough to cover each entrance.

Although they managed to stop six separate attacks, it was futile. An orange eyed woman jumped through one of the gaps and punched March to the floor. Chris was the only person who wasn’t holding back an attacker so he dashed towards March and pushed the woman back into blue light shone by Grace.

“We can’t hold this line forever,” shouted Chris.

“Come on Kenan,” Grace hoped he had received the message.

They could hear more footsteps coming. A second wave of attackers and it sounded like more than they could handle.

“Retreat into the tunnels!” shouted Gabe.

“No, wait,” said Grace. She could hear a faint rumble coming towards them. It was different to the sound of the incoming wave of orange eyed people.

The team held the position and the rumble grew louder. Lights started to flicker in the tunnel.

Grace turned around and saw the train whizz into the station. It was fast. Worryingly fast and wasn’t slowing down.

It was only when the train had nearly passed the platform that the brake engaged. The train gave off sparks on the track as the wheels responded to the instant application of pressure at such high speeds.

The train began to slow down but overshot the platform. It roared past The Deck, leaving them stranded.

“We have to move,” shouted Gabe and this time Grace agreed. They lowered their weapons instantly freeing the first wave of orange eyed people, just as the second wave appeared.

The team jumped off the platform and ran towards the train as it finally reached a stop. Their pursuers did the same and chased after them.

Grace reached the doors first and tried to pry them open. She wasn’t strong enough and they stayed shut. Gabe grabbed hold as well and the two of them tried to open them but even their combined strength was not enough.

As the orange eyed people ran down the tracks March dropped his backpack to the floor. “Everyone focus on the train doors. I’ve got this,” he said. The rest of the team struggled with the door.

March pulled a large light from his backpack and held it in front of him. An orange eyed person stood in front of him and spoke. “I trusted you March.”

March flicked a switch and a huge blue beam of light filled the tunnel. It covered every crack and allowed The Deck enough time to open the door. They worked their way inside and Gabe found a control panel.

“Come on March,” shouted Grace.

He started to walk backwards, being sure to keep the light steady and not break the coverage the light had made.

Grace held out her hand ready to help March onto the train. “You can do it,” she said.

March made the last few steps without error and then turned around to grab Grace’s hand. As he was pulled upwards on the train the light flickered and it gave the orange eyed people the chance to attack.

They instantly went for the light, grabbing it from March and throwing it to the floor. The glass lens shattered as it hit the hard concrete. “No!” shouted March in shock.

They kicked the lens until it broke completely and then tossed the light backwards down the tunnel. It was now surrounded by fifteen orange eyed people.

“We have to get it back,” said March but Grace held him back. She gave a thumbs up to Gabe who pushed forward on the train’s control panel and moved them down the tunnel.

“Without that there’s no way we can stop the signal,” said March.

“It’s gone. It’s not worth your life,” replied Grace, hoping that March was wrong.

March looked at the light as it was left in the distance. He had a plan B but it didn’t bear thinking about.