Panopticon

Compromised

Nathan could feel himself changing.

His defences were tougher than Henry’s, but eventually even he’d relented. At first, he’d thought the woman’s act was a charade, a trick. There were beautiful blue butterflies, he knew, whose caterpillars deceived ants into caring for them, feeding them, and taking them back to their nests. This woman, Sarah, could be playing a similar game.

He remembered Kate’s explanation; the killer had fooled a prison into thinking she was safe for release, and could not be trusted. She could be pretending to be vulnerable to lower their guard, or manipulating them into protecting her from the other inmates. Nathan saw the desperation in her wide, cobalt eyes, but he knew it could all too easily be an act.

Eventually, however, he began to believe that her fear was real. Sarah, as Henry had explained, was in the same situation as the rest of them. Trapped on an island with mass-murderers was hell, even for some mass-murderers. With her slight frame, she had every reason to be frightened for her life. Her hands had every reason to tremble, and her wavering voice might well be genuine.

“She may be a convicted murderer, but that doesn’t stop her being a human being, with human feelings,” Henry had said.

They’d heard movement to the North, and had to take a long detour, even crossing the train rails in an effort to avoid a potentially fatal clash. They were now on the West side of the island, the side the tour had set off on. It was probably overkill, but it always paid to err on the side of caution, and Sarah seemed much happier to know they were playing it safe.

It went against all of Nathan’s instincts, but he was almost feeling some empathy for the killer by his side. Despite spending the majority of his career in and around prisoners, he’d never spent so much time with a convict, and it was changing his worldview. He’d come to dehumanise the prisoners, viewing them as an abstract enemy, and forgotten that they had hopes and fears of their own. Seeing Sarah, he felt guilty that he’d always considered their safety the lowest priority. Sentenced or not, they were people too.

He had no reason to suspect she was lying. If he was concerned about anyone, in fact, it was Henry. Whilst the technician’s impassioned defence of the killer had helped to remove her from Nathan’s suspicion, he had moved that spotlight onto himself. He’d had Sarah’s video feed in pride of place in the Hub, and had even seemed to recognise her voice. From the way they behaved together, both clinging to the other for support, Henry seemed like a man in love. He sounded almost happy, despite the chaos around them.

Could he have brought this all about, just to meet the object of his obsession? Nathan wasn’t sure. He’d seemed disgruntled working for Charon, and the security man had noted that as a risk, but his real weakness had been something else entirely. If passion could destroy people’s sanity, Nathan knew, it could certainly defeat their fear and undermine their common sense. The average human might well sacrifice themselves, with no hope of any sort of happy ending, for a chance to meet their loved one. Henry’s obsession might well have led to this destructive end.

Still, culprit or not, the technician was his ticket out of here. Nathan knew that he could get them through the outer security gate, much tougher than the defences inside the park, and therefore to safety. He’d even seen a security bunker on the plans, presumably for situations just like this, to remotely control the park’s systems. Not only could they save themselves, but they might be able to do something for the others. They could at least get communications back online. This was not the time to judge professionalism, then, or even morality. He had to be pragmatic.

The more Nathan thought about it, the more he suspected Henry of manipulating the situation, and the less he suspected Sarah. If anything, she seemed to be one of the most innocent residents of this island, including not just the convicts but the staff taking advantage of them. For a man who worked with staff in a war against their captives, that was a hard thing to admit. As Henry had said, she couldn’t help her condition. She did no evil intentionally. That practically made her unique.

Almost as soon as he’d built this new impression, however, it was shattered.

“Hello?”

The trio stopped, and Nathan looked around for the voice’s source. He wasn’t sure he recognised it, and so he immediately assumed the worst. Another killer, asking for their help? Or another potential trap?

“Who is it?” Henry asked.

“I can’t see them.” The voice had sounded young, almost childlike. How old were these killers?

Then a boy dropped from the tree in front of them, and the forest exploded.

“Noel, we’ve found them,” he called upwards, and was looking over his shoulder when Sarah lunged forward. The doctor climbed down to see Henry pull her back, and pushed the boy behind him protectively. He glared at Henry.

“Her? Why am I not surprised?”

“It’s good to see you too,” the technician replied, with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Sarah was now standing still without his help, wrestling to control her own instincts. Henry offered her his hand, and she took it. Nathan wasn’t sure what to think. It had been horrible to see her transform, she’d reverted just as quickly back into this unassuming young woman. Noel, though, knew exactly what he thought of her.

“Leave her here, Henry. You can’t take her with you.”

“She’ll die if we leave her, you know that.”

“Just as you know that, if she comes with us, she’ll try to kill Aiden again. You know she can’t control it. Don’t be a fool.”

“That’s not true. I’ve read through all her files, and I know her better than anyone. She can work through it, she just needs the right treatment.”

“Your love will save her, is that it?” Noel put his arm around the boy, one of the guests from earlier.

Nathan wondered where his parents were, along with the other members of the tour. It was possible that these two had simply been separated, but he couldn’t help thinking that they might be the only survivors, along with him and Henry. He’d been planning to call for help at the helipad, but it might already be too late.

“Any love at all. Nobody has ever actually tried to help her, you know. They’ve either assumed she was a lost cause and locked her up, or assumed she was fine and set her free. There has to be a middle way.”

The doctor turned to Nathan. “You aren’t going along with this, are you?”

“I can’t leave him,” the security man replied. With Noel’s arrival, he was no longer dependent on Henry to pass security, but he felt an obligation to stick with the damaged couple. “He saved my life, and lost his sight in the process. He’ll die if we leave him here, and so will she. If we can either take both of them or neither, I’d rather save two lives than none.”

“If you say so. But if she even touches Aiden, it’ll be a choice between her and us.” Noel eyed his new ally warily, not trusting this solution. It was clear he was unhappy with the compromise, but the doctor was obviously unprepared to continue hiding alone. He, too, was a pragmatist. Whatever his feelings, he accepted that reason came first.

“She won’t.” Henry’s eyeless stare was as firm as any Nathan had seen.

“I’ll keep an eye on her, too, to ensure it,” he added. “You can watch Aiden. Please, fighting amongst ourselves is the last thing we need. We’re not far from the main gate, and our one hope of escaping here alive. Focus on that. We have our differences, as I’d be the first to admit, but in this context we do all want the same thing.”

They carried on in a hostile silence, but Nathan savoured the peaceful quiet. He’d had enough surprises for a lifetime.