Dungeon of Torment

3. Breaking News

The flat shook as Ramon collapsed to the ground. Groaning, Nailah dragged herself toward him. She rolled him over and cradled his face. His head flopped at an unnatural angle and blood sprayed up over her and the wall behind. Nailah let him go and clasped her aching chest - stemming the blood flow with the palm of her hand.

Brontes had remade her. She'd been sickly and dying - plagued by health problems since she was a little girl due to her weak heart. So he'd made her a heart of steel - protected by a ribcage of titanium. The bullet had hit her chest, breaking through the skin and striking this shiny shield. It had rebounded - shooting off at an angle - and struck Ramon's throat. Nailah howled brokenly.

Ramon had been her friend - no more than that. Brontes, Ramon, Taqor, and Mouldface were her family. Tears blurred her vision as she wept over Ramon's body. He'd come to kill her... If even Ramon thought she'd betrayed them...they all would. She had no way to prove her innocence. She clenched her metal arm into a bone-crushing fist.

That could be why Hyperion had made her attend the ceremony as his companion... Her eyes bulged as suspicions formed in her mind. Yes -that made sense, she groaned as she struggled to her feet. A traitor had already informed the Titans, but Hyperion had used her - made it look like she was the traitor. That meant that whoever had really betrayed the gang - they could still be undercover.

Nailah made her way to a drawer, gritting her teeth - she flung its contents onto the floor and fished out a roll of duct tape. She couldn't seek medical help and she was still bleeding from the hole in her chest. Moaning - she taped up her gunshot wound. She was shaking, sweat glistening on her back as she got dressed.

She stuffed some notes into the back pocket of her jeans and wrapped a thick scarf around her neck to shield her face. Before leaving - she pulled a towel off the radiator and draped it over Ramon.

"I'm sorry," she murmured gently - staring down at him, "but I need to warn the others - even if they won't believe me. I have to try." Sniffing, she turned the lights out and shut the front door behind her. A fresh wave of tears broke over her when she was faced with the dimly lit corridor.

Keeping her head down, Nailah headed for the underground. Taqor sometimes worked from the back office of a barber's - it was the first place she could think of heading to.

She was the only person on the platform waiting for the train. Tentatively she touched her chest and immediately doubled over. She should have taken something for the pain. The sound of the train clattering against the rails was a welcome greeting. Breathing heavily, she straightened up - readjusting the scarf so that it covered the lower half of her face.

The carriage only had one other occupant. A lad in trackies with his cap pulled down low - he looked like he was fast asleep. Nailah winced as she took a seat. Seven stops, not far - she reassured herself wearily. The advertisements rolling by on the overhead screens were suddenly interrupted.

Breaking news...

Nailah stared up in horror at the screens.

Cyclopes rebellion has been uncovered... The hunt is on to capture humans programmed with deadly prosthetics...

The footage showed people like her - machine guns blasting out of their hands. They were fighting for their lives, but divided, unorganised - they were being cut down. The footage showed scenes across the world, civilians running away in a panic - getting caught up in the crossfire between Titans and rebellion. Nailah felt sick.