Awaken - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It wasn’t the dripping that woke her, the dripping was normal. It wasn’t the rats gnawing in the corner, that too was normal. It wasn’t even the arguing in the adjacent flat, which rose again in yet another pointless drunken rage.

It was The Ripple that woke her.

It broke through her exhaustion, snapping her into stark consciousness. She knew immediately what it meant; her life was over.

Fear gripped Alecia and she froze in utter panic. She was dead, it was already over, everyone knew what it meant if you felt The Ripple. She had to try, had to move; they would be coming for her.

She pushed against the rough stone behind her, throwing down the ragged blankets she’d been using to trap a modicum of body heat, and darted her eyes around the gloomy room she’d called home for the last few months.

Grabbing her worn satchel, she stuffed her single change of clothes, two ration packs and water skin before clipping her knife to her belt. She reached the door and cracked it, searching the darkness beyond for any sign of life. The Unifiers moved quickly, especially during the Awakening, so her only hope was to move quickly and find somewhere to hide. Heart pounding in her ears, she slipped out the door, moving in a low crouch down the hallway before pausing to listen at the top of the stairs. Nothing. Good. Now move. She scurried down to the 1st floor, carefully making her way down the dim hallway, dodging the squeaky floorboards as she went. Again, she paused as she reached the top of the next set of stairs. Straining to listen she heard them, quiet footsteps entering the lobby below, shit. Multiple people were in the lobby in moments, moving quickly towards the stairs. Fear gripped her, they’re already here, she was going to get caught and get taken to the Unifiers base; no one who entered there ever left.

A confident voice entered her mind, “looks like someone’s in a lot of trouble.”

“What?!” she whispered, as the boots reached the bottom of the stairs.

“I wouldn’t talk if I were you.” the voice said again, laced with smug satisfaction, “listen and do exactly what I say or you’ll be having an extremely uncomfortable conversation with those guys coming up the stairs… Down the hall, third door on the right, it’s empty and unlocked. Enter and wait 34 seconds, then hustle downstairs. Move. Now!”

Alecia didn’t know what was going on or how someone was talking in her head, but she did as she was told. She slipped down the hallway as quickly and quietly as she could, the door was unlocked, closing the door just as she heard the first quiet footstep reach the top of the stairs.

Back to the door, heart pounding, she counted in her head, three, two, one, “Move now!” the voice said, re-entering her mind.

Alecia was down the hallway a second later, shot down the stairs, reached the door and burst into the street. Who the hell is that voice?

“Right little one, and I mean that literally… Turn right, down the second alley on the left, you’ll see a ladder half-way down, get to the top. You only have 46 seconds so MOVE!”

She ran. Blood pounding in her ears, she sprinted down the street, turned into the second alley and found a rusty old fire escape leading up and onto a roof. She scurried up the ladder, a distant thought wondering if it was still sturdy enough or if it would collapse when she was halfway up, but, miraculously, she reached the top safely. She vaulted onto the roof into a low crouch, landing just as she heard a booming voice behind her.

“Do you think you’ll escape us? Come out now or you will have the full power of the Unifiers crashing down on you.” Despite knowing there was no hope, no one ever escaped the Unifiers, she started towards the door leading down into the building. Maybe there’s somewhere in there I can hide. It was a desperate hope, but she was desperate. She reached the door and pulled it open, freezing as she realized the entrance to the stairs was not empty.

A well-dressed, dark-skinned man, with intelligent eyes and an arrogant smile stood a few feet away. She stepped backwards, reaching for her knife but stopped as the man spoke with the same voice from her head, “Well done little one. Now, time to get out of here… unfortunately, you might not like this next part, sorry.”

His hand flicked out and she felt a sharp sting. She looked down and saw a small black dart sticking out of her chest. Glancing up the last thing she saw his half smile, as her vision faded to black….