The Fearless (7 page)

I never found out the full details of what happened that night, or how the Fearless managed to get on to the island, but after that, the Patrol doubled their numbers and traded for more guns.

Outside, we hear shouts.

Rob chucks the pencil down. ‘Screw this. I wanna know what’s going on.’

He stomps over to the door. ‘Anyone else coming?’ he says over his shoulder.

Sol shrugs. ‘Yeah, why not?’

‘I’m staying here,’ Shelley says. ‘Captain Denning’ll go ballistic if he sees us.’

Andrej nods in agreement, hanging back. Marissa looks round at me, eyebrows raised.

We follow Sol and Rob to the door.

A crowd has gathered outside the Meeting Hall. No kids, I’m relieved to see – the Patrol must have told the teachers to keep them indoors – but plenty of adults. In the middle of them all, Captain Denning and Patroller Cary are struggling with someone.

The someone doing the shouting.

Sol, Marissa, Rob and I go closer. I see, with a shock, that it’s a boy about our own age, dressed in faded combats, a patched blue hoodie that looks damp at the cuffs, and battered black boots. He has thick black hair with a long fringe falling over his face like a curtain, and an eyepatch over his right eye.

‘Let me go!’ he yells, still struggling. ‘I’m not here to steal anything, I swear!’

He has a Scottish accent, a broader version of James Craig’s, our head Maintenance Engineer.

‘Shut up,’ Captain Denning says. The boy bucks and twists, and despite the fact that Captain Denning is almost twice his size, nearly gets free. Patroller Yuen steps forward and points her gun at the boy, who goes still, his face twisted in a scowl and his eyes – or rather his eye, because only his left is visible – glinting with anger.

Captain Denning turns to Patroller Fleet. ‘Where did you find him?’

‘In the Shudders. We heard shouts. A wall had collapsed, and he was trapped.’

I remember the noise we heard a short while ago, and for the first time, I notice that the boy isn’t putting his full weight on his right leg.

‘Why are you here?’ Captain Denning asks him.

‘It’s my – my friend’s bairn,’ he says. ‘She’s sick – she needs medicine. I heard from one of the barterers that you have a doctor here – I thought they might be able to help.’

‘So you sneak on to the island and hide out in the Shudders. Why not send a message with this barterer if you were so desperate, eh?’

‘He wouldn’t do it. He said no one here would agree to it.’

‘He was right,’ Captain Denning says, and I’m reminded of the time, four years ago, when a small group of Invasion survivors turned up at the docks from who-knows-where and tried to bargain their way onto the island, the first new people to come here in as long as I could remember. Mayor Brightman ordered them to be put in the cells immediately, and there were meetings long into the night about them. Then all Islanders over the age of seventeen had to vote. Only one person wanted to let them on; the rest decided against it, and the group was taken back to the mainland without us even finding out who they were.

‘We have limited resources here,’ Captain Denning says. ‘We don’t just go handing them out to strangers,
especially
not strangers who sneak on to the island and try to—’ He frowns. ‘How
did
you get here, anyway?’

The boy doesn’t answer him.

‘How. Did. You. Get. On. To. The. Island?’ Captain Denning’s jaw is clenched.

‘I swam across from the mainland and climbed over the wall,’ the boy says, quite matter-of-factly, as if this is something anyone could do.

‘When?’

‘Last night.’

‘Impossible. The sea wall is guarded twenty-four hours a day. If anyone came over it, we’d know.’

‘There wasn’t anyone watching the bit
I
came over,’ the boy says.

‘And where was that?’

‘Back there.’ He points over his shoulder. ‘There’s a load of boats moored at the bottom.’

‘Patroller Fleet, I believe you were on duty at the jetty last night, weren’t you?’ Captain Denning says loudly, looking round at Olly.

The crowd falls silent. Even the sound of the sea seems to fade. I see Olly swallow, and colour steals into his face. ‘I – I had to go back to my apartment for something,’ he says, after a long moment of silence.

‘
WHAT?
’ Captain Denning roars, so loudly I almost jump out of my boots. ‘You did
WHAT
?’

The colour drains out of Olly’s face, leaving him ghost-pale. ‘Clara’s been ill again,’ he says. ‘And Ella’s exhausted. I wanted to check they were OK.’

I feel a pang of sympathy for him. His daughter, Clara, was born four weeks ago. It was a difficult birth, leaving Ella weakened and sickly. On top of his Patrol duties, Olly’s having to take care of both of them.

‘I – I’m sorry,’ he stammers.

‘I don’t want to hear it,’ Captain Denning says. ‘Take off your armband, give me your gun, and go and wait for me in my office.’

Olly does as he’s told, slinking away with everyone scowling at the back of his head. Rule number one of being in the Patrol:
never leave your post without permission
.

‘Please,’ the boy says when Olly has gone. ‘Let me go. I’ll find someone else to help my friend’s kid.’

‘You’re going nowhere,’ Captain Denning says. ‘Why are you wearing that eyepatch?’

‘Lost my eye. It was gouged out by a Fearless.’ He says out to rhyme with
boot
.

Captain Denning looks at him for a moment longer. Then he says, ‘Right, you’re coming with me.’

‘No!’ The boy leaps forward, startling Captain Denning, who steps back and loses his balance, sitting down hard on the ground. The crowd scatters in alarm.

‘Oh, no you don’t,’ Sol snarls, and he and Rob grab the boy as he tries to shove past them. Sol twists his arm up behind his back and forces him to the ground.

‘Sol, Rob, take him to the cells,’ Captain Denning says, getting to his feet and brushing grit off the back of his trousers. He’s unhurt, but his face is pink. ‘I’ll deal with him later.’

‘Give me your gun,’ Sol says to Patroller Yuen, who glances at Captain Denning. He nods, and she hands Sol the gun. Sol drags the boy to his feet and presses it into his back.

‘Don’t hurt him!’ The words are out of my mouth before I’ve even had time to think. Rob and Sol look round at me, Sol’s expression puzzled, Rob’s sardonic.

‘Who asked
you
?’ Rob sneers, and I feel my face heat up. What did I say that for?

‘What’s going on?’ Everyone turns. Simon Brightman is limping towards us, leaning heavily on a cane. The crowd parts to let him through, and Captain Denning’s shoulders stiffen. Before the Invasion, he and Mr Brightman were friends – they’d gone to university together, Sol’s told me – but not any more. Sol’s dad has held the position of Hope’s Mayor ever since he came here. Two years ago, at the first Mayoral election, Captain Denning stood against him, and didn’t even get a quarter of the vote.

Patroller Cary explains about the boy, and Olly Fleet not being at his post when he should have been. Mr Brightman’s face is grave. ‘Where is Patroller Fleet?’ he asks Captain Denning.

‘In my office,’ Captain Denning says.

‘We’ll go and talk to him. And we’d better send a team into the Shudders to make sure there’s no one else there.’

Captain Denning nods. Then he spots Marissa and me. ‘What are you two doing out here? I thought I told you to wait at the Meeting Hall.’

He doesn’t say anything to Sol or Rob. Most of the Patrol treat Sol as an equal because he’s the Mayor’s son, and Rob benefits by association.

‘C’mon,’ Marissa mutters, and we turn to go back to the Meeting Hall.

I can’t resist one last look over my shoulder, though, and as Rob and Sol start leading the boy away I realize he’s looking back at me. Our gazes connect for a second and I see despair.
Help me
, he mouths.

How?
I mouth back.

Then I see Captain Denning glaring at me again.

I look away, and keep walking.

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 round 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?

Marissa and I return to the Meeting Hall, where Shelley and Andrej demand to know what happened. When Marissa explains, they stare at us with shocked expressions.

‘Patroller Fleet
left his post
?’ Andrej says. ‘Is he crazy? Anyone could have got onto the island – there could be a Fearless hiding out in the Shudders, waiting for a chance to—’

‘Ugh, don’t.’ Shelley makes a face, wrapping her arms around her middle. She only joined the Junior Patrol because her parents pressured her into it. ‘There
can’t
be anyone else here. The Patrol will search the Shudders, right?’

‘D’you think that boy was Fearless?’ Andrej asks me.

I shake my head. ‘No. His eyes were brown. His eye, I mean. I saw it.’

‘What’re you talking about that freak for?’ Rob says loudly behind us as he comes in with Sol. We all gasp. Sol’s clothes are scuffed and dirty and his knuckles are grazed; a huge bruise is blossoming on his jaw.

‘What
happened
?’ Shelley says.

‘He attacked me,’ Sol says. He touches his jaw gingerly, and winces.

Then we hear Captain Denning’s voice in the corridor outside. We quickly form a row in front of the table again as he and the other Patrollers come back in. Rob hands Patroller Yuen her gun, and I listen in disbelief as Sol explains how the boy had a knife up his sleeve and tried to stab him with it, and how it was only Sol’s years of training that meant he was able to disarm him without getting cut.