Out Of Time (Book 0): Super Unknown
Read Out Of Time (Book 0): Super Unknown Online
Authors: Donna Marie Oldfield
Tags: #Dystopian/Sci-Fi
Super Unknown
A prequel to Out Of Time
By Donna Marie Oldfield
Text copyright © 2014 Donna Marie
Oldfield
All Rights Reserved
Cover artwork copyright © 2014
Nicola Malena
No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the
written permission of the author.
This novella is a work of fiction
and any resemblances to actual events and people – either living or dead – are
completely coincidental.
British edition: This is a British
novella, which uses British spelling and grammar
December
6, 2010
Andrew
Harper pretended not to notice his French teacher, Mrs Rowbotham, as she dashed
past him in the school car park. He and his friend Luke had made her life a
nightmare for the last two hours of the day, so he was too embarrassed to look
her in the eye as she skulked past looking downtrodden and generally fed up
with her life.
“Well,
at least that’s over for another day,” the 16-year-old said to Luke as they
walked out of the school gates.
The
two friends were in their final year at St Cuthbert’s School in Carby,
Yorkshire, where they’d spent the afternoon driving Mrs Rowbotham to despair
with their inability to grasp the basics of French verbs. With just six months
to go until their GCSEs, the teenagers still didn’t have a clue, but that was
mainly because they spent much of their time mucking about. Wasn’t that what
most normal teenagers did though?
“Tell
me about it,” Luke said. “I hate French, I don’t know how I’m going to remember
anything come exams time.”
“Hey,
don’t worry about it, mate. Who needs French, or any of the other subjects for
that matter?”
“Yeah,
yeah, that’s easy for you to say with your try-out for the Carby Rhinos rugby
squad.”
Andrew
blushed. As proud as he was of his upcoming trial, he felt uneasy about the way
everyone was bigging him up like he’d landed a place on the team already. It
was an incredible amount of pressure.
“Let’s
see how it goes, yeah?”
“You’re
so modest,” Luke said as the pair turned the corner at the end of the road.
“Ah, it’s hard to think that I used to be better at rugby than you.”
“You
never were.” Andrew laughed.
“I
so was, remember that time my team thrashed yours in year nine? I won player of
the year.”
“Ha!
You so didn’t deserve that. You only beat us because you floored me with a
dirty tackle.”
“It
was a fair and square manoeuvre.”
“It
was not!”
“Yes
it was, you’re just a sore loser.” Luke pushed Andrew onto the grass verge
between the pavement and the road in jest as he protested.
“Yeah,
yeah, you keep telling yourself that,” Andrew said as he grabbed his friend’s
leg and pulled him to the ground.
“Don’t
make me repeat it,” Luke squeaked as Andrew slapped his back and stood up
again.
“I’d
like to see you try.”
And
with that, Luke jumped up and charged at Andrew, sending him sprawling back to
the floor before grabbing him in a headlock.
“My
bag!” Andrew shouted. “It’s gone flying into the road, you muppet. Let me go.”
“Nah…”
Luke laughed.
“Let
me go. Now!” Andrew said as he flung his arm back and shrugged his friend off.
He darted out into the road to rescue his black and purple backpack before it
got squashed by the oncoming traffic. But as he went to run back to the safety
of the pavement, a silver Audi came speeding round the corner and right towards
him.
“Andy!”
Luke shouted. “Run!”
It
was too late. The car hit him head on, sending him flying into the air before
he came crashing down onto the bonnet and rolled to the ground with a thud.
“Oh
my goodness, oh my word, oh what have I done,” said the female driver, who had
come to a stop 10 metres down the road. “I didn’t see him,” she sobbed as she
stepped out of the car. “My kids were arguing in the back and I just didn’t see
him.”
She
walked over to where Luke was kneeling over Andrew’s body in the road. A crowd
of at least 10 bystanders had already started to gather round.
“Is
he OK?” she asked.
“What
do you reckon?” Luke said. “You just hit him with your car – of course he’s not
OK. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I
told you, my children…”
“Ah
save it, lady. Tell it to the police.”
“Please
don’t…” she started to say, but then her face went white with shock.
Luke
turned round to see what she was staring at and he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Andrew was now sitting up and glancing around the street. He looked completely
unscathed.
“Dude,”
Luke said. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,”
Andrew replied. “I think so.” He patted his arms, chest and shoulders as if
looking for bruises or broken bones. “I feel absolutely fine.”
“But
that car hit you.”
“I
know, but I honestly feel OK.” Andrew climbed onto his knees and pushed himself
up to a standing position. “Look – I’m alright.”
The
crowd, which had now grown to 20 or so people, gasped.
“I’m
just lucky, I guess,” Andrew said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I’m
not so sure,” the women driver who had hit him said. “I think I should take you
to the hospital to make sure you don’t have internal injuries.”
“Why?
I’m alright.”
The
crowd were whispering and chattering furiously now as they began to speculate
how Andrew could possibly be walking away from such a lethal, head-on
collision.
“Please,
for my peace of mind,” she begged. “I couldn’t live with myself if I let you go
now and you took a turn for the worse.”
Andrew
sighed as he realised the woman was right. “OK,” he said as he strode over to
her car. “I’d better ring my parents on the way and let them know what’s
happened.”
“It’s
certainly baffling,” the doctor said as he checked Andrew over in the hospital
two hours later. He turned to the driver, who Andrew now knew was called Jemma.
“Are you sure you hit him?”
“Yes,”
she said as she nodded enthusiastically. “He flew up about 10 feet in the air.
I thought I’d hurt him for sure. Or worse.”
“Hmmm,”
the doctor said. He eyed Andrew up and down sceptically. “Wait here a moment, I
need to talk to a colleague.”
Dr
Henry Riddings confidently strolled out into the hall and down to an office at
the other end of the ward. He picked up his phone and dialled a well-used
number.
“Hello?”
said a voice at the other end of the line.
“Daniella.
It’s Dr Riddings up at the Royal Carby Hospital. Is the Prime Minister around?”
“He’s
incredibly busy, doctor.”
“This
is very important. I think he’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t hear my news
right away.”
“OK,
I’ll fetch him. I won’t be a moment.”
The
doctor waited impatiently for Prime Minister Adam Goulden to come to the phone.
“Henry,”
Adam Goulden said less than a minute later. “How can I help you?”
“There’s
been a development, sir. One that I think you will be very interested in.”
“Go
on…”
“A
teenage boy was hit by a car in a town near Carby today.”
“And?”
“And
he survived completely unscathed. There isn’t a scratch on him. It’s a medical
miracle.”
Adam
Goulden took a sharp intake of breath to show he was intrigued. “Really. Not a
scratch you say?”
“No.
I’ve run several tests on the boy and he doesn’t even have minor bruising. It’s
like he’s Superman or something.” Adam Goulden fell silent and the doctor could
hear him drumming his fingers on the table. “Last month, you asked me to find a
way to make your soldiers indestructible and I thought it was impossible. Well,
if this boy is as special as he seems, he could be the key.”
Adam
Goulden paused for a minute before authoritatively announcing his response.
“I’ll send Charlie Walker, my chief of staff, over to collect him. He’s in
Carby for a conference, so he should be there within the half hour. Do as he
says and tell anyone who asks questions that the boy is being transferred to
another hospital for special attention. Can I trust you to help me with this Henry?”
“Of
course, Prime Minister.”
And
with that Goulden hung up the phone. Dr Riddings walked back to Andrew’s room,
where he found he had been joined by an adult couple and two young girls.
“Hello,
doctor,” said the man, who appeared to be in his forties. “I’m Andrew’s father,
Phillip, this is my wife, Dorothy, and these are our daughters, Louise and
Rhianna.”
“It’s
good to meet you,” Dr Riddings said as he quickly thought on his feet. He had
to get rid of the parents and fast.
“It
looks like you have done an incredible job of caring for Andrew – he seems in
perfect health,” Dorothy said. “We can’t thank you enough.”
“Yes,
yes, he’s doing incredibly well. I am concerned that he hasn’t eaten though. I
wonder if the two of you could pop to the shop and grab him a sandwich or
something.”
“We’ve
just got here,” Phillip said.
“He
needs to eat dear,” Dorothy pointed out. “Could you keep an eye on my
daughters, doctor?”
“Of
course,” Dr Riddings said with a nod. “No problem at all.” He took a seat in
the corner of the room and allowed the girls, who appeared to be twins of
around 11 or 12, to chat with their brother while the parents went off in
search of food.
Ten
minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Dr Riddings stood up to answer
it, but the visitor let himself in before he had a chance.
“Hello,
Dr Riddings. My name is Charlie Walker – I’m here to take Andrew to the Hayden
Hill Hospital, where he can receive more targeted care.” Charlie gave the
doctor a knowing wink.
“What?”
Andrew said from across the room. “I’m fine, I don’t need special care.”
“I’m
afraid that the test results show internal damage, Andrew. We need to move you
right away.”
“He’s
right,” Dr Riddings said. “Come along now.” He strode over to the bed, took the
brake off and started pulling it towards the door.
“No!”
Andrew shouted.
“Quickly,”
Charlie said. “Take him out the side exit next to this room. There’s a car
waiting outside. I’ll bring the sisters.”
Dr
Riddings did as he was told and pushed the bed quickly into the corridor, ignoring
Andrew’s shouts and screams as he did so.
“Where
are we going?” Louise asked.
“I
want to wait for my mum,” Rhianna protested.
“Shut
up and do as you’re told,” Charlie said. He grabbed them both forcefully by the
arms and dragged them outside and to his car, where two burly security men and
another doctor were bundling Andrew into the backseat.
“Get
the girls in next,” he ordered, before jumping in the front. “Then follow us in
the car behind.” He turned towards the driver as Louise and Rhianna were fastened
in. “Step on it, John. We don’t want to keep the Prime Minister waiting.”