The 45th Parallel, page 9
“Fuck,” I muttered, squatting on the floor to slowly and carefully pull the t-shirt back. The key slid a few millimeters closer to the edge of the t-shirt, and I paused. We had not come this far to watch the key to our prison lie on the floor in plain sight but not be able to reach it.
“Let me have a go.” Sera lay on the floor and positioned herself in front of the key. Painstakingly slowly, and with the utmost care, she finessed it under the bottom rail of the door. Holding my breath, I was fearful that it would get stuck. The space under the door was tiny, and the t-shirt was now bunched up, but slowly we watched it slip under the door toward us.
“Thank fuck,” I breathed.
“You’re a genius, you know.” Sera grinned at me as she picked it up, and the key to our freedom lay glistening in her hand.
“Takes one to know one. How do we stop them working out we have gone and coming after us?” I asked.
We looked around the spartan room. A toilet, a basin, and a single bed.
“Bit low tech, but let’s find something to stuff the bed,” she suggested. “If they can’t open the door because the key is missing, and it looks like we are asleep, they may not bother us for a while. Who knows? They might not have a spare key and could waste hours looking for one, especially if we take this one. If the portal opens in two days, I can’t see that they will rush in to see us before that. The only genuine risk is that they drop off food and see we haven’t eaten it. But knowing they fed us once every second day, I can’t see them feeding us again.”
Terrified that the grinding metal on concrete would alert a guard, we edged it open as slowly as possible, keeping up a spirited conversation and laughing hysterically. After what felt like an eternity, the opening was wide enough to slip through. We crept down the hallway, fearful of running into a guard, hunting through each room as we passed. Most were locked, and it took me a moment to realize that we were on the same floor we had hidden on, the one at the bottom of the community, but immediately above the lake. At least we knew where we were and how to get back down to the portal.
“Let’s stay close by,” I whispered, fearful of going elsewhere in case we were spotted. Using the wire I had collected and picking the locks of the closed doors, we finally found a storeroom with sleeves containing stacks of dusty ancient uniforms. We stuffed the bed to look like two bodies, and I reluctantly cut a few inches off the end of my hip-length hair to tuck out of the pillow, sacrificing the single hair tie I had. Being dark, my hair was visible from the hallway. It was a reasonable effort. Even from the doorway, the hair collected into a ponytail and fanned across the pillow, it looked like a head under the sheet. Dragging the door closed once more, locking it, and taking a last look at our prison, we slipped down the dark hall, seeking our possessions.
“Thank goodness you know how to pick a lock,” Sera breathed.
After several hours of frustration, systematically picking locks and checking each of the many rooms, we finally located our backpacks in a locked office near the moving space within the central pillar. The door had a small glass panel, and I could see them taunting me. Mine was red, winking cheekily at me, Sera’s camo green pack beside mine. But thank goodness they hadn’t stored them upstairs. Evidently, women’s clothing and toiletries were not valuable here.
“Alright, my criminal mastermind,” Sera teased quietly. “What now?”
“Breaking the glass is the easiest.”
“Yes, but it is potentially loud and leaves a trace. We don’t want them to know, remember? Can you pick the lock?”
“I can try, but that will take a while, and we are out in the open. Besides, I looked at the lock. This is a complicated one. See the u-shaped key?”
Glancing around, I noticed the ventilation ducts. “You are tiny,” I told Sera. “If I lift you, you can crawl across and come down the vent in the office. Open the door, and voila.”
“Voila, my ass,” she muttered. “Come on. Hoist me.”
Squatting so Sera could sit on my shoulders, I lifted her to access the hatch. She pushed it in, and a shower of dust hit me full in the face, making me cough.
“Shh!” she hissed.
“I’m trying not to choke to death,” I hissed back.
“Well, do it quietly! Choking is better than death by firing squad,” she hissed back. She slithered up into the dark space, replacing the hatch. Wiping the dust from my eyes, I watched the ventilation duct move in the office, and Sera slipped down onto the desk. She opened her pack and grinned madly. So everything was there. My heart lurched. This was good. She stood back on the desk and replaced the hatch, sweeping the telltale pile of dust off the desk before putting hers on and carrying mine to the door.
“Can we lock it?” I whispered.
She nodded. Despite the complicated key, it was a simple latch mechanism and locked behind us.
“Let’s find your laptop.”
This didn’t take long, and to our enormous relief, the office was still unlocked and not being monitored. Sera slipped the laptop out from the side of the bookcase, and I grabbed the power cables from the top of the dusty bookcase, pulling down decades of fluff bunnies onto my upturned face, making me cough once again.
“Your turn,” she said, watching me blow it out of my hair and eyes. “It was like a dust storm up in that ventilation shaft.”
Adjusting the packs, I asked, “I assume you need a power supply to use the radio?”
“Probably not. The satellite radio works from anywhere as long as I can get a signal…”
“Closer to the edge?”
“Better choice, but we run the greater risk of being seen.”
“Let’s find somewhere where we can hide.”
We crept down the hallway, looking for the darkest space we could find. Like before, it was steamy and dank. But no one appeared to be patrolling.
“In here,” I urged, dropping into the machinery room. It was roaring. Water was pumped from the lake below and run through various filtration systems before being transferred to the higher levels.
Sera looked at me pointedly. “It is bloody loud,” she bellowed in my ear.
“I know, but they won’t hear us.”
“But we won’t be able to hear them coming either.”
“I know, but I can keep watch while you try to get a message off to Summer. They won’t expect us in here. I told them this is where we hid. They won’t think we are stupid enough to hide here a second time. Besides, this ring is enormous. I can stand guard.”
“Are you sure?”
“We have limited options. We return to the cell and keep the key.” I dangled it from my fingers. “The risk there is that they have another key, haul us out, and we can’t escape again. Especially if they separate us.”
“Likely they won’t separate us. We haven’t seen any other cells. But agreed, it is too risky. Other suggestions?”
“I can only think of one. We stay on the run. We know they will search for us, so at least we have the upper hand.”
“True. Let’s just hope they take a while to actually enter the cell.”
Sera settled into a corner behind a large filtration unit and set to work firing up her laptop while I stood guard.
“Bloody hell, the battery is nearly flat,” she seethed. “It went into sleep mode but didn’t switch off entirely.” She moved toward the far wall. “I can’t get a signal,” she called over the roar of water. “Maybe it is being underwater, or the walls are too thick. I can’t find a satellite.”
“Fuck.” Okay, Caitlin, think. What now?
“Cait!” Sera called and beckoned me over.
“She pointed to the clock in the lower right corner. Surely that can’t be right?”
I glanced and looked again.
“Tonight?”
“In about four hours.”
We both knew what this meant. They had lied to us, or we had taken much longer than we had thought to escape and retrieve our bags. We just needed to find our way back to the portal opening and keep them from getting to us. The downside was that they would most definitely be looking for us by now. Fuck. We were screwed.
Chapter 16
“Are you sure you can do this?” I called as quietly as I could to Sera as we hung from the ladder and tried not to calculate the distance into the murky lake far beneath us. There were guards stationed evenly around the perimeter of the lake, watching for people to come through or for us to try to leave. None looked like they intended to travel. They were heavily armed and agitated. So we had been missed. Each carried a weapon, straps slung over their bodies but held alert, lots of barking orders at each other. I could see the metal glinting in the floodlights they had set up, shining across the still black water. They weren’t messing around.
Using the pod schematic Sera had previously downloaded, we discovered a small maintenance shaft running down the center of the pod alongside the central pillar. Barely thirty centimeters wide, I struggled to squeeze my broader shoulders and ample breasts down the ladder inside the tube. Sera, above me, was finding it easier going with the physique of a beanpole. There was a significant drop, maybe fifty meters from where we hung above, still hidden from the guards below. My stomach clenched. I waited for one of them to look up and notice the shaft.
“I’m fine.” Despite being smaller than me, Sera was tough. Although it was I who had countless broken bones throughout my childhood and had always been unable to walk away from a challenge, Sera was no coward.
“How do you know where we will end up?” she called down, her voice echoing softly around me in the metallic tube.
“Well, if we ended up here, odds are we will end up back home? When I read the files about the antipodean portals, they were set up to go both ways between two points. It wasn’t until much later that the Nexus was formed, and people could travel between points. If we just jolted it back into alignment, surely we will just return to our point of origin?”
“I guess.” She didn’t sound convinced. “But it can’t be worse than this.”
My mind conjured all the things that could be worse than this, but my whirlpool of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of voices below shouting as the water started swirling. The familiar roaring began, and the churning intensified.
“Ten seconds apart?” I called up to Sera as the black hole beneath me raged. There was no way they could hear us now with the whirlpool between them and us. Not waiting for Sera’s response, I kicked out the vent and dropped, praying as I plummeted that we wouldn’t get shot.
Chapter 17
Is this what death feels like? As my woolly, addled brain struggled to focus on any sound, smell, or sight around me, that single question floated to the top of the cesspool of random thoughts. I pondered the question for a moment before Sera’s foot, squarely lodged in my shoulder blade, registered. No. I am most certainly alive.
“Sairs?” I groaned as sensation returned, and my body throbbed. Every bone in my body had been shattered upon impact. After a moment, I tried again. “Sera? No time for games,” I moaned, summoning up all the strength I had to dislodge her foot, roll over and look at her.
Straining to see through the darkness, my eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light. I was fortunate to have inherited Mum’s exceptional night vision, and after a few moments, I could make out her face in the gloom. Something was wrong. Even in the dim green light, she was pale, and her skin had an odd, sickening pallor.
“Sera!” I yelled as loudly as I could muster, fear taking over, no longer afraid of the guards hearing me. Better to be held captive than to let my sister die. The pain seared through my skull, and I cried out as it jarred, but I was more concerned for her. Did I kill her? Forcing my weakened muscles to move, I forced my body to slide over to her and placed a hand on her face, panting with the pain caused by the movement. My muscles felt like they had been torn from my bones, and the shooting pain pierced my eye socket, making me need to wipe away the tears every few seconds. She was cold and clammy but with a faint pulse. Alive. I slapped her cheek, but my heart surged when she didn’t react, her skin squishing unpleasantly under my hand. Please, don’t let her be seriously hurt.
Groaning, I knew I needed to take charge. Pushing myself to sit up and lean over her still form, I shook her shoulders feebly in my weakened state. The piercing pain was blinding me, and I could feel the blood dripping down my face, comingling with the tears from my eye.
“Sera,” I screamed, as much in panic as in an attempt to wake her. I needed her. As the pain in my head threatened to overwhelm me, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could remain conscious. The world began to spin, then fade in and out of focus. I clutched at her, fighting to stay upright. Darkness crept in at the edge of my limited vision as I fought to remain seated.
Voices. I can hear voices. Fuck. We aren’t on Lewis. I could tell that instantly. We were nowhere near Callanish. Instead, we were lying on a sandy bank beside a body of water. Dim green lights barely lit the space. Shit. We were still in Yellowstone. The thick, curved concrete walls swayed in and out of my vision as I clutched at my pounding head. It didn’t matter. We would die without help. Sera would die. They might miss us in the feeble light if I was lying down. We needed help. Mustering all my strength, I called out to them.
“Here!”
Nothing. Darkness flickered at the edge of my pulsing vision, threatening to consume me, and I knew I had one last chance.
“Help. Please.” I forced the words out of my chest with as much strength as I could generate but feared they weren’t audible. My head dropped as the darkness flooded my vision.
They aren’t speaking English. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Not only are we not home, but I don’t understand what they are saying. Two voices. Men. Shit!
Barely able to focus my eyes through the surging pain in my head, I forced my eyes open and made out the shapes of two dark-haired men standing over us with a torch.
“Help her,” I breathed as I fell back on the sand, unable to hold myself up any longer. “Help.” They must have understood my intentions, if not my words, as I saw them check Seraphine, far more gently than I would have expected from the Yellowstone soldiers. I lay beside her, forcing myself to push through the pain and the fog in my brain, watching her face as they checked her legs, arms, and head. The torchlight glinted off a rock beside my face. Perhaps she hit her head? As he kneeled over my sister, I could see one of the men’s faces clearly in the yellow torchlight. He didn’t look dangerous. In fact, he looked quite delicious. I wouldn’t mind a piece of that on toast, I thought as pain blurred my vision, and I felt myself being dragged under. Through my foggy vision, I watched as one of the men scooped her up like a rag doll and caught sight of the blood staining her blonde hair, sticky even in the dim light.
“Help. Her,” I breathed as my head rolled back, and the world went black.
Chapter 18
The blue-tinged light woke me, a brilliant unnatural glare that made me scrunch my eyes and roll into my pillow. That sense that I was not at home made me crack open an eye, then the other, struggling to focus beyond the fog to take in my surroundings. White, clean, sterile. Lots of stainless steel. My heart sank. A medical facility, of sorts. Fuck, so we are still on Yellowstone. Did the portal just suck us in and spit us back out? I strained to remember. The roaring in my ears, the swirling sensation, and the feeling of being ripped inside out. I tried to focus my eyes as I assessed my surroundings. As I fought to focus, I made out the shape of another gleaming silver bed frame with crisp white sheets lying to my right, with two small steel bedside tables between. A white curtain hung limply from a stainless ring suspended from the ceiling.
Ugh. Another wave of nausea hit me, forcing me to close my eyes.
A warm, reassuring hand rested on my forearm, and I squinted again to see the face of one of my rescuers. The one I had seen down at the lake. Toast man. God, I hoped I hadn’t vomited on him. But I could feel my arms. I wasn’t restrained. That was odd. Would I be able to make it to the door in time if I rolled my legs off the bed and fled?
“Stai bene?” he asked cautiously and watched for a reaction. “Are you okay?”
“You speak English?” I croaked, and he handed me a glass of water. All my muscles tensed as I gulped.
“Some. It has been a long time.” His hand touched mine, holding the glass. “Slowly,” he instructed.
I finished the glass and handed it to him, seeking more. He looked at me, confused. Pouring from the jug beside my bed, he gave me another glass, which I polished off equally quickly.
“Slowly,” he drawled like I hadn’t understood the instruction.
As I drank thirstily, I took in his appearance. No uniform, longish hair. Nothing like the residents of Yellowstone. He wore tight-fitting jeans and a basic black tee that hugged his flat stomach and muscular arms. Definitely not military issue. I moistened my lips, watching his arms flex as he held the jug, pouring once more.
“Drink slowly,” he repeated.
“This is slowly. You should see me with wine,” I replied as I rolled back onto the pillow, making him smile.
“Wine?” he asked, perplexed, like I was requesting a drink.
I laughed, trying not to grimace as the pain shot through my head.
“Maybe later. Head wounds and alcohol are not a good combination.”
“Why not?” I asked. “Both make me dizzy. At least I enjoy one.”
