The Intruders - Book One

Chapter 2 - Past Betrayals

Allie didn't remember the walk back down the corridor, she barely registered the annoyed pressure of the Enforcer's palm as he hustled her back into the reception room, and she didn't spare another glance at the receptionist as she walked towards the exit. Even the nauseating waves of the force field didn't detach her from her stupor as she moved on numb, poorly functioning feet. Her brother's sobs rang agonisingly in her ear, dulling her senses to anything else. He'd held onto his courage for as long as he could (that was just like him) before completely falling apart and for the first time revealing how scared he truly was. It horrified her. It had been difficult enough to bear under the reality of what awaited him, when she thought he was strong enough to face it, but knowing he was scared shredded her emotions. Her conscience was once again wracked with guilt. It should have been her awaiting transportation, not him.

It should have been her! 

Her senses, however, were jolted by the abrupt darkness of the night after the glare of the lights in the Reformatory. The disorientation it caused snapped her out of the walking comatose but made her feel as though she was stepping further into a tenuous future and she had to pause for a moment to gather her bearings.

She took a single shuddering breath, feeling utterly guilty at being free. 

When her eyes adjusted to the darkness she walked along the path that was marked out by the Reformatory walls.

She felt the eyes which continued to follow her piercing through the gloom of the night. They would continue to watch her and have access to her chip until she was beyond its periphery.
She faltered and slumped against the abrasive brick of the wall, inundated with shudders that she could no longer restrain, but the knowledge that she was still being observed didn't allow her the extended luxury of weakness. She pushed away from the wall and brushed away the dampness from her eyes in frustration.
If there was one thing she had learnt in the last eighteen months, it was that tears were of no use to anyone. It was time she was done with them.

She had taken a few more steps only partially having recovered when once again she came to a sudden halt. She couldn't be sure but she thought she had noticed movement up ahead and any encounter with another person at nightfall was cause for concern. The moon was absent tonight like every other night, obstructed by the permanent smog that persisted in the air. The street lights leaked a muted glow, running on solar power they were barely able to extract from the sun, and although her eyes had adjusted somewhat to the darkness, she still couldn't see all that well. Her steps were wary now and she wished she had a knife or a taser, something that could be used in defence. She'd become quite adept at using both, she hadn't really had a choice considering the people she associated with, but she wouldn't have been able to pass through the force field with them.

Her eyes did not waver from where she thought she had seen the movement until she was certain she'd been mistaken. She relaxed further when she remembered that much wasn't likely to happen within the Reformatory detectors, an attack was only likely to occur when out of view.

She'd learned a lot about life on the streets, life in the real world since she had been forced to live in it. She had embraced it more readily than her brother -  Bane had stubbornly clung to his honour. She on the other hand, having lost all hope of ever returning to their past life, had willingly taken great risks and abandoned any respect for the law. It was what most who lived below the economic margin - where the law did not favour them - had to do if they were to survive. It had kept her and her brother from starving. There were only so many credits that could be made with honest factory work.
It was hard to remember how life had been before when she and her brother were counted among the privileged few, when reality had an entirely different perspective. When she and her brother had lived on Torack Road, in their family penthouse and had gone to an exclusive private school; her uniform alone costing more than she made at the factory in a year. She'd had numerous friends who had admired her, wanted to be her. Her friends didn't want to be her now, they didn't want to be near her. Not even Veron, who'd been her best friend and who before had never been influenced by pesky things like a person's reputation. But the plummet in hers was clearly too deep even for her to overlook.