Dawnrunner

Part 4 - Chapter 19

It’s dark inside my cell, darker than I’ve ever known. I was born in darkness, but nothing like this. It’s complete, total, and crushingly permanent. I think it will consume me… I know it will.
How long has it been? Hours? Days? They feed me, but I lose count of how many times the window opens. If I waste time yelling then the window closes and I have to eat in the dark. They don’t listen to me anyway.
Sometimes they ask me questions. They take me from the room and someone I’ve never met asks me what I know about the resistance. At first I try to lie. Eventually I just stop answering.
I’m alone in the dark. The loneliness makes me remember, but it also makes me forget. If I stay here forever I think I’ll forget my name. People are supposed to hear their name sometimes.
There are other names I want to remember. Rachel, my friend, and Christy too. They must be in dark rooms as well. It’s my fault.
There are people I’ll never see again. My family, my mother, and Vincent. Do they think I’m dead?
The soldiers from Sofia, Tanya, Mattielli. I couldn’t send the message. I’ve failed my mission.
In the dark I try to remember their faces, and their names. I want to see them. I want to remember.
Someone else, a man with two names. I don’t love one of them.
Lazarus. I hate that name. If the darkness wants to make me forget, it can make me forget that name.
Michael. I want to remember. I want to remember how it felt when he held me, when he whispered. He told me I would be safe. He told me he would keep me safe. He didn’t.
The window opens and light enters my black prison. It hurts to look at but I can’t look anywhere else. There’s the silhouette of a hand and a tray of food, and for about five minutes the window stays open. Then it closes, and the darkness returns.
I was born in darkness, so I’m not scared of the dark.
I’m scared now.

The brilliant sunlight that streamed through the wall-length window of Rudolph Stein’s office is gone. Black clouds seem poised to consume the rooftops at any moment, rain falls in sheets and the wind rattles the glass. Somewhere in the distance I hear thunder breaking. With or without the Commander-General, the machine has been activated. The last sky-clear location on Earth has been closed. The whole of Europe is covered in cloud.
Stein is sitting at the desk, not looking at me, reading some unimportant-looking page in the file with my name on it. No one has said a word since they dragged me from my cell and put me down on the chair. I don’t try to talk. I’m not sure I could even if I had something to say. I’ve been caught, and that’s all that matters. Nothing I can say will change anything.
“I know you lied to me, Carliah.” The sound of Stein’s voice makes me shudder. He still hasn’t looked up from the file, as though he is refusing to look at me. All I notice is that he’s stopped calling me ‘Miss Webb’.
“You lied about not knowing the rebel leader, the man called Lazarus.” He looks up as he says the last word, spitting it out like an insult. “It was his group that attacked the Dawnrunner in Istanbul. Your entire party, including Commander Rayne and his team, were captured and taken as hostages by this man and his band of marauders.” His eyes glare at me from behind his glasses, filled with a hate that reeks of wounded pride.
“Tell me what happened to the Commander, Carliah. What did Lazarus do to him?”
He killed him! I want to scream it. It’s true, I watched Lazarus kill Rayne in cold blood. Part of me wants to give up, to let Stein win and catch his murderer. But the memory of that night doesn’t hurt anymore. Commander Rayne got what he deserved; at least, that’s how I’ve come to feel since arriving in Amsterdam.
“It is no use hiding the truth from me any longer, Carliah! I have already learned much from your companions. The May-Lee girl was very forthcoming…” He’s lying! I tell myself over and over, refusing to let him play us against each other.
“I know where these rebels are hiding themselves, their little colony in Sofia.” He pauses, waiting for a reaction. A downward twist on his thin lips are the only indication I’ve disappointed him.
“It is my belief that while you were their prisoners, those people feed you lies about the Global Effort, lies which inspired your recent traitorous behaviour. I’m sure you’re a smart girl. Surely you can appreciate how damaging it would be to accept the mad ravings of a man who actually believes we are responsible for blocking out the sun!”
Another pause, anther twisted smile. I stand in my spot, and say nothing. Stein pounds his fist into the desk before continuing.
“During your time as his prisoner, you were apparently treated very well, better even than your faithful friend! It is my belief that you got close to this ‘Lazarus’. What secrets did he entrust you with? Tell me, and you will be freed.”
I turn my eyes away from the cruel face, looking instead at the terrible clouds outside the window. No one knows Michael’s real name, not even Rachel, or Tanya. It is my secret to betray, but it will take more than the false promise of freedom to break me.
A heavy crash follows Stein’s computer as it is hurled from the desk onto the floor. In an instant two guards are by my side again. They pull me like a lifeless doll to me feet and drag me back to the sub-levels of the building.

Days pass in a blur of timeless dark. Stein doesn’t send for me again after the meeting in his office. The interviews in the cells have stopped too. Either they have decided I’m not worth questioning anymore or they’ve forgotten me.
The door to the cell creaks heavily with age and rust and then swings open, filling the space with light. I’m forced to cover my face as my eyes burn and try to listen to the voice that’s speaking to me. It’s a woman, but I don’t recognise her.
“It’s time to go Carliah. You’re being traded.”
I blink and try to see her face, but she’s hidden in the silhouette. I want to speak but my throat is dry, so I say nothing as the guards take their usual places at my sides and pull me from the cell.
Before long I’m standing in an underground complex lined with vehicles. In addition to my guards there are at least a dozen soldiers in full military gear. Some of the people from the Dawnrunner are there too, and more are arriving. A flash of something red makes a grab for my attention as a door slides open at the far side of the room.
A kind of joy I didn’t even know I could feel fills me as I see Rachel for the first time. She looks worse than I could have imagined, and I realise that I must look just as bad. He skin is pale and she’s lost a lot of weight. The features in her face are drawn in, and her eyes look unnaturally wide. At least she doesn’t look like she’s been hurt. Like me, her hands are locked in place at the wrists.
“Rachel!” My throat burns as I call out to her.
“Carli? Are you ok?!”
Heavy hands grab my arms before I can respond and move me towards one of the trucks. I can hear Rachel calling my name but a sharp push forces me inside.
No more canvas walls. The new truck is solid with heavy double-doors that bolt from the outside. The small windows are glazed and do little to discourage the feeling of being back in my cell. Inside with me are four other passengers from the train, all men. They have the same pale, starved look about them that Rachel had. All of our hands are still bound.

Rain pours into the compartment as the doors open. It is dark outside, the fresh clouds forming an almost impenetrable barrier against the sun. I try to imagine that this is what it must look like above the Sanctuary all the time.
As we climb out of the truck I see Rachel and gratefully I throw my arms around my friend.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” I half-cry half-yell into her ear. The voice of one of the guards cuts through the reunion like a blade.
“Alright now, let’s not waste any more time here! All of you start walking.” For the first time I notice what look like lights in the distance, and in front of them, three people walking towards us. The guards give us a shove forward and the group begins moving forward as one, fulfilling our end of the mass-trade.
It takes about five minutes to get close enough to identify the three people approaching us. To one side is a tall man with a square face who I don’t know. The other two I recognise immediately, causing my heart to stop.
Lazarus is walking in the middle of the three, with the unmistakable Tanya Romanova on his left. The leaders of the resistance are trading themselves for us!
I want to yell and tell them to run away, to get as far as they can! Before I get the chance the air is filled with a loud bang, and a scream from beside me freezes every drop of blood in my body.