THE FEARLESS

HOPE:CHAPTER 8

                                                            MYO

I don't know why I did it. Maybe it's 'cos she said, Don't hurt him. Or because she's the only one who looks back at me when everyone else is walking away.

'What were you staring at?' the tall lad with the blond hair says.

'Nothing,' I mutter.

'You were staring at her.' He's holding the top of my arm so tight it's cutting off the blood supply.

'I wasn't looking at anything,' I say, thinking of my bag, back in those ruins. I wish I'd not left my knife in there.

'Get moving,' snaps the other lad, the one with a face like a bulldog. They march me across the island. It looks just like everywhere else in this God-forsaken, Fearless-blasted country: run-down buildings, weeds growing everywhere. I think about fighting the two lads off, then remember Lochie waiting for me back at the docks. If I want to make it back to him in one piece, I can't get into any fights.

We reach a concrete building that has four stalls with gates across the fronts. Blondie unlocks one and gives me a shove. 'Get in there.'

'What happens now?' I say as I half step, half-fall into the cell.

'They'll have a meeting. Decide what they're going to do with you.'

'And what about after that?'

Blondie smiles. 'Dunno. Perhaps they'll tie you up and throw you in the sea.' His smile widens. 'If you're lucky, they might shoot you first.'

Shit. Does he mean that? Maybe panic's what makes me open my big mouth again instead of keeping it shut like I know I should. 'You think your girlfriend'll be happy about that?'

'You what?'

'You heard.'

He lets go of me, and for a moment I think he's just gonna storm out of the cell and lock the gate.

You'd think I'd know better, right?

'She's not my girlfriend,' he hisses, and his tone tells me everything I need to know about how he feels about that girl.

'Here,' he tells Bulldog-face, handing him the gun. He lunges at me and I twist, expecting a punch. Instead, he tries to grab my eyepatch. Shit, no. I give him a push, sending him flying back into Bulldog-face, who staggers and almost drops the gun.

I see the surprise in Blondie's eyes. He's thinking, I'm twice his size. He shouldn't be able to do that.

'What the hell are you?' he snarls and launches himself at me again. This time, I'm ready. I throw my arm out, blocking his blow, and then we're grappling, shoving each other across the cell.

'Are you going to answer me, or what?' Blondie tries to slam me against the wall and I jerk my body around just in time. I drive him back a few steps and swing my fist into his jaw, rocking his head back with a satisfying crunch.

Meanwhile, Bulldog-face is staring at us like he can't quite believe what he's seeing, his mouth hanging open, the gun forgotten.

Your pal here might be twice my size, but looks can be deceiving, I want to tell him, and I would if I had any breath in my lungs to do it with.

Blondie tries to head-butt me. I bring my knee up, aiming for his balls. Then Bulldog-face, who's been staring at us, open-mouthed, runs into the cell and slams the butt of the gun against my head. My legs tangle; I go down, seeing stars, and they start raining blows down on me, kicking me in the stomach and the ribs, and all I can do is curl into a ball to protect myself.

'Should I shoot him?' Bulldog-face says when they've finished and I'm lying there, trying to remember how to breathe.

'No.' Blondie's panting, like he's just run a race. 'We'll tell Captain Denning he attacked us. He can deal with him.'

'D'you think he's—' says Bulldog-face, and my heart, which is already pounding, starts to beat even faster.

'I don't know what he is,' Blondie says. 'Come on.'

He spits in my face.

After the cell gate clangs shut behind them, I roll over, groaning. When I lift my arm to wipe my cheek, my side hurts something awful. Feels like Blondie and his pal have busted a rib or two. You idiot, I curse myself.

But what was I supposed to do? Let him tear off the eyepatch?

I sink back against the floor, thinking of Lochie, alone over at the docks. Of Ben and Gina, back at the bunker, wondering where I am right now, and probably still furious with me for leaving in the first place. And of Mara. I can't believe I managed to keep up with her all the way to this island, and then lost her in those ruins. With those guards or whoever they are searching the place, she and the Fearless she was with will be long gone.

I was so close to getting my sister back – there is no sick baby; I just told the soldier guy that 'cos it was the first thing that came into my head – and now it looks like I followed her all the way down here for nothing.

What am I gonna do?