Out Of Time (Book 0): Super Unknown (7 page)

Just
after 10am the following morning, the 10 teenagers walked up the pathway to a
large mansion in Highgate, north London. Dylan glanced up at the grand
building, which had an Edwardian-period design and was positioned on a quaint,
tree-lined street.

“No
one will think to look for us here,” Lucy said as she put a key in the door.

“Are
you sure Goulden won’t be able to link this house to you?” Dylan asked.

“Nah.
It belonged to my godmother and there is absolutely no information in existence
linking this house to me. She wasn’t even my official godmother – my parents
just called her that because they were such great friends.” She walked into the
house.

“Well,
if you’re certain,” Dylan said. He looked around cautiously as he followed her
inside. It was clear he still had reservations about the idea.

“Don’t
worry. Just to make you feel better, I’ll track down all the records and if any
computer files do lead back to me, I’ll zap them,” Lucy said to reassure him.

“You
can do that?”

She
nodded. “I’ve always been good with computers and now I can short circuit most
machines too.”

“Chill
out, Dylan,” Sasha said. “Where else are we going to go? This place is as good
as any and, as Lucy said, Goulden will never expect to find us living in a
millionaire’s mansion.” She stared around the entrance hall. “This place is
amazing.”

Jay
whistled as he stepped inside. “Nice, very nice.”

“Let’s
go and have a seat in the front room,” Lucy said. “I’m shattered.”

Dylan,
Sasha, Jay, Toshiko, Andrew, Alex, Ethan, Neelam and Scarlett followed her
through to a large living room with matching green sofas and curtains. There
was a Chinese rug covering the wood floor and an oak TV stand and bookshelves
at one side of the room.

Lucy
collapsed onto one of the sofas. “I never want to have to go through a day like
that again,” she said.

Scarlett
and Dylan sat down next to her, while Neelam, Sasha and Toshiko made themselves
comfy on the other sofa. Jay and Ethan grabbed two stools from the corner and
perched on those, while Andrew and Alex crashed on the floor.

“Me
too,” Scarlett said. She turned to Dylan and gave his hand a reassuring
squeeze. “How are you holding up?”

“OK.”
He put on a brave face and nodded, but he felt like breaking down inside. “I’m
glad we’ve managed to get all your parents and siblings to safety. That makes
me feel better.”

The
10 teens had spent the past 16 hours or so staging the supposed deaths of all
of their families and helping them to start their lives afresh.

In
recent weeks, there had been riots and violent outbursts across the country in
retaliation to Goulden’s government cuts. Neelam came up with the idea of
pretending their homes had been burned down by rioting arsonists with their
loved ones still inside and the group knew it was the perfect cover story.

They
put the plan into action, then helped their parents and siblings sneak away and
sent them on their way to new lives with reinvented identities.

“I
can’t believe we’ll never see them again,” Neelam said sadly.

“We
will one day,” Scarlett said. “Once we beat Goulden and he is no longer a
threat. For now, it’s best that they’re somewhere he can’t find them.”

“Hopefully,
he’ll believe that they no longer exist,” Jay said.

“I
wish we could just contact them, so we know they’re OK,” Alex sighed. “That’s
the bit that makes it so hard for me.”

“If
we do that, we risk Goulden finding out they’re still alive,” Scarlett said.
“We can’t see them, talk to them, write to them or even
know
where they
are. It’s the only way we can be sure of keeping them safe.”

“I
know,” Alex sighed. “But I still don’t like it.”

“Look,”
Lucy said as she flicked on the TV. She pointed at the screen, where a
newsreader was reporting from Scarlett’s house in Dulwich.

“This
is Diana Donald reporting from the scene of one of the many fires that have
shocked the UK tonight. This detached, new-build house in south east London was
burned to the ground with the family inside. Many other homes have been
destroyed, including several across the capital, one in Yorkshire, one in Manchester
and another in Coventry.

“Meanwhile,
there have also been incidents of arson at several shopping centres while rioting
has occurred again in many cities, including, London, Nottingham, Birmingham
and Liverpool. It is believed that all of these events are linked to the riots
that have been ongoing for the last two weeks.”

“Thank
you Diana,” a presenter back in the studio said. “And we’ll have more on this
story after the news along with a report on the bus bombing in Enfield, north
London, where it has been confirmed that 118 people lost their lives.”

Lucy
quickly switched the TV off. “Sorry,” she said to Dylan.

“It’s
OK,” he said. “It’s certainly been quite a day. We’re all over the news. Well,
not us exactly because no one knows about us and our powers…”

“I
think we should keep it that way,” Andrew mused. “Look what happened when
Goulden found out. He started plotting to use us as his own personal weapons
and he’s more than willing to kill people whenever he feels like it. It makes
me afraid to ever use my abilities again.”

“Don’t
be,” Scarlett said. “We have to use our powers to bring Goulden down. We need
to overthrow him to make our families safe again and for the sake of the
country too.”

Andrew
looked at her quizzically.

“He’s
destroying the UK,” she said. “It seems subtle – cuts here, closures there,
riots and unrest, but look how much the country has already changed since his
New Way party came to power last summer. Think about it. If things continue
like this, I dread to think what kind of a state this country will be in in a
few years’ time.”

“Aren’t
you being a bit dramatic?” Andrew asked.

Dylan
shook his head. “She’s right. Goulden is a risk to us all. He’s a power-crazed
maniac who will do the most unthinkable things to get his own way – who knows
what kind of vision he has for the country and the world. We have to stop him.”

“I
guess so…” Andrew said. “Can’t we just kill him in his sleep?”

“No.
While we have to do what we can to stop him, we can’t stoop to his level – that
would make us no better than him. We
will
bring him down though, I
swear. We’ll make it safe for your families to come back and we’ll avenge the
death of my parents and Sophia.”

Scarlett
gave his hand another squeeze. “Well said Dylan. From now on, it’s us versus
Goulden.”

He
nodded. “It’s us versus the world and the world is not going to know what’s hit
it.”

The end, for now

Out Of Time by Donna Marie Oldfield

Super
Unknown is a 20,000-word novella and is written as a prequel to Out Of Time, a
65,000-word, full-length novel.

There’s
a brief description of the book below and over the following pages, you can
read the first four chapters of Out Of Time for free.

Out
Of Time begins with the Super Unknown character Scarlett Shortt living in a
very normal London three years after the events of the prequel. She’s never had
super powers, she’s never heard of Goulden and she’s never met Dylan, Lucy,
Neelam and their friends. But that is all about to change…

One
minute she is just an average 18-year-old girl, but then her life takes an
extraordinary turn following a road accident. She wakes up to find that the
world has twisted beyond recognition – everything is very dark and different
now and a bunch of teenagers she’s never met before claim to be her best
friends. The group can do amazing things, such as fly, read minds and control
electricity, and Scarlett is shocked to learn that she has special powers too.

The
reluctant superhero soon finds herself caught up in their mission to make the
world a better place and overthrow the evil prime minister, Adam Goulden. Will
she learn how to use her powers in time to face their dangerous adversaries and
will she ever discover exactly where she is and how she got there?

Out
Of Time is the first book in a continuing series.

October 19, 2013

“Fluffy,
no!” Scarlett Shortt heard her mum yell as their excitable puppy galloped
through the door and bounced onto the bed.

The
teenager groaned grumpily and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She blearily
looked around her purple bedroom before focussing on the little white poodle
that was bouncing up and down on her polka-dot bedspread.

“Sorry,
Scarlett, I tried to stop her. I guess she just wanted to wish you happy
birthday,” said her mum, who was looking as chic as usual with her grey shift dress
and neat black bob.

“My
birthday!” Scarlett said. Being so damply awakened had made her completely
forget.

She
smiled at her mother and patted the eager pooch on the head, then noticed that
there was an amazing digital watch where the dog’s collar should be. It was a
silver, 1980s-style timepiece with a light-up face. She instantly realised it
was the same one she’d been eyeing up for weeks.

“Happy
birthday!” her mum said.

“Is
this mine?” she squealed.

Her
mum nodded and smiled.

“It’s
so beautiful. Wow, thanks, it’s amazing!”

Scarlett
removed the watch from Fluffy, who seemed a bit disgruntled to lose her funky
accessory. The pup stomped off, probably in search of excitement, or food,
elsewhere.

“I’m
going to make a special breakfast. See you downstairs soon?” Mum said.

“Sure,
and thanks again.”

Scarlett
quickly showered, then dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a fitted grey T-shirt.
Finally, she put on her new digital watch, then headed downstairs.

“Happy
birthday!” said her little brother, Dan, who was sitting at the breakfast bar
in their parents’ stylish, glossy white kitchen.

“Thanks,”
she said as she noticed he was munching his way through a piled-high bowl of
cereal. “I thought Mum was making a cooked breakfast.”

“She
is, but I’m starving, so I’m having this first.”

Scarlett
rolled her eyes. She wished she had the metabolism of a 14-year-old boy.

“So
how does it feel to be 18?” he asked, while handing her a card and present.

“The
same,” she shrugged, tearing open the first gift.

“Brilliant!
A Super Hero City 2 game for the Wii. Thanks, Dan.”

“Well,
I know you like your geeky stuff and I was hoping you’d let me play it.”

“Of
course,” Scarlett said as she wandered over to her mum, who was preparing food
at the other end of the galley kitchen.

“Do
you need a hand?” she asked, while stealing a bit of tomato off the chopping
board.

Her
mum prodded her thieving hands with a fork.

“Hey!”

“No,
Scarlett, it’s your special day. You go and sit down in the lounge.”

Scarlett
didn’t need to be told twice. She walked through to the other room, where her
dad was sat engrossed in the newspaper. He was probably analysing all the
sports fixtures like he did every Saturday.

“Hi
Scarlett! Happy birthday,” he said, glancing up and putting his paper aside.

“Thanks,
Dad.”

“Did
you like your watch?”

“It’s
just what I wanted, thank you.”

“That’s
OK. We’ve got another surprise for you, too, but you’ll have to wait until
we’ve been to the Tate Modern to find out what it is.”

“Ohhhh,”
she said, pretending to sulk.

“Speaking
of which,” her dad said. “We’re leaving in an hour or so. Alex will be here
before then, won’t he?”

“Oh
no!” she said.

She’d
completely forgotten her friend Alex was arriving this morning. She raced up
the stairs to switch her mobile phone on.

“Come
on, come on,” she muttered impatiently as the contraption flickered into life.
She didn’t have time for this ‘searching for a signal’ nonsense, she was desperate
to see if Alex had called or he’d be wandering around East Dulwich lost and
most probably cross with her.

Alex
had been Scarlett’s best friend growing up in south Manchester, but she’d
hardly seen him since her family moved to London 18 months ago. She loved her
new life down south, but she still missed home and she missed her friends even
more. She couldn’t wait to see him.

“Ding!
Ding! Ding!” sang Scarlett’s phone as it powered on. Eleven messages from Alex.
Whoops. She quickly dialled his number and he answered straight away.

“Scarlett,
where the hell have you been?”

“Sorry!
My phone was off. Where are you? Are you at Euston yet?”

“I
got there ages ago. In fact, I just got on the bus at East Dulwich station, so
I’m minutes away from your house. The driver says I need to get off at the next
stop.”

“OK!
I’ll come to meet you. I’ll see you there in a few minutes.”

“Cool,
bye.”

She
quickly dashed back down the stairs, which led straight to the front hallway.

“I’m
going to meet Alex,” Scarlett said to her parents as she grabbed her keys from
a white rack that spelled out the word ‘home’. “I won’t be long.”

She
slipped on her Converse and grabbed her grey, leather bomber jacket, then darted
out of the door.

Scarlett
felt lucky to live in such a beautiful neighbourhood as she walked up the
tree-lined street, which was a mix of contemporary detached, semi and terraced
houses. At the end, she turned the corner and came to the main road where the
bus stop was. She squinted through her jet-black fringe at the sunshine to
check for traffic, then noticed Alex was already there.

“Alex!”

He
waved.

He’d
certainly grown up a lot since she last saw him. His floppy brown hair was
longer and he was a couple of inches taller – he must be 6ft now. The road was
clear, so Scarlett darted out, but at that second, her new watch fell off.

“Typical!”
she said as she glanced around, then spotted it on the floor behind her. She
rushed back to retrieve it, only to see a lorry speeding far too quickly around
the bend.

Scarlett’s
eyes met with Alex’s – he was running towards her, but she didn’t even have
time to scream before everything went black.