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The front room of the flat was in its usual state. My desk was cluttered with case notes and half written drafts. Sarah’s saxophone stood proudly on its stand, next to a coffee-stained pile of music sheets. The only light came my laptop screen from the vintage TV; a portrait of a teenage girl with straight brown hair and a plain face was on the screen.

“Breaking news: A fifth victim has been kidnapped. Sophie White went missing in the early hours of this morning. The incident is believed to be linked to four other recent disappearances of adolescents. Police are doing all they can to locate the victims”

“Oh, I’m sure they are.” Sarah said angrily as she got up to open the curtains. “They might actually solve this case, after all a stopped clock is right twice a day, isn’t that right James?”.

I looked up from my writing and gave her a nod. She looked stunning as she stood by the window with the evening sun making her skin glow.

***

Unconsciousness slowly faded from Sophie. She opened her eyes, only to be blinded by an overwhelming natural light. As she tried to lift herself into a sitting position, her thin arms failed her and she fell back, landing on Matthew, a tall boy who seemed to have all his body parts out of proportion with the rest of him.

“New girls awake” He said, but he isn’t heard over the commotion of the other three people in the room having a heated debate:

“I wish I knew why we were ‘ere, puts me on edge, not knowing. What do you think Scarlett?” said Jake, a tall, muscular lad with a midlands accent.

“I swear I told you to call me ‘Scar’.” replied Scarlett, the only other girl in the shack. “I reckon the government put us here and are doing tests on us… or maybe, they took and are going to blame it on ISIS and use it as an excuse to bomb somewhere else.” Her hair fell about her tanned face in dark lazy ringlets, but didn’t hide the fact her chin was a little wide for her.

“Oh really now, and what guided you to that conclusion? Pray tell?” said Earnest sounding rather impudent. He had a rather arrogant upper class attitude and although he dressed like a 40-year-old businessman, his acne gave away his real age.

Scar scowled at him. “Well it’s obvious. Before I was gassed. I smashed out the back light and stuck my hand out when they put me in a car boot.”

“I did that!”” Jake exclaimed with the same excitement as a 6-year-old playing snap.

Scar smiled and continued, “I could hear trucks and we were going pretty fast so we were probably on a motorway, someone must have seen. If they did they would have called the police but if it was the government the police aren’t gonna interfere.”

Earnest began to chuckle mockingly, “What a barbaric method! I simply freed the wires and used Morse code to signal for assistance.”

Scat rolled her eyes, “Doesn’t matter how clever you were about it, we all still ended up stuck here.” The room stayed silent for a moment; tension holding everything in place. Then Earnest decided to break it;

“In case you’re interested, the gas you referred to earlier was vaporized chloral hydrate. It’s a narcotic with anesthetic effects, known commonly as chloroform.” The others all listened. Curiosity seemed to be the only trait that linked them all together.

“but why wait till we were already in the car to knock us out?”, Jake asked.

“yeah.” Added Scar. “It would have saved the guy who grabbed me getting bitten and I don’t think he’ll be able to have kids anymore, if you get what I mean.” She said with a hint of pride as she glanced at Jake. Earnest only shrugged.

Hey look, new girls awake.” Scar said with a smile.

“I just said that”, muttered Matthew, but once again no one heard him. Sophie pulled her knees close to her chest.

“Where am I?” she said in a voice so quiet it was almost inaudible, as tears of terror started to soak her white top. Matt tried to hug her but she flinched away from his touch.

“We dunno.” said Jake. The others had all asked the same question when they had arrived and woken up. Well, except Scar. She was the first there had no one else to speak to until Jake had shown up a day later.

 

***

“Get your goggles, James, we’re going for a drive.” Sarah said, the moment I got in the door. Moments later I was wedged into the sidecar with my knees almost sticking out the top. I tried to ask where we were going but she couldn’t hear me over the wind. When we finally stopped, we were at large green in the suburbs, surrounded by police-tape.

“Sarah, why are we…”

“Crime scene. Don’t talk. The stupid will put me off.”, she interrupted. Hurt, I sat back against the motorcycle and watched her investigate. It was hard, knowing she’d never feel for me, as I did for her, but at the end of the day, I have a job to do.”

 

As she strode back towards me, I knew she’d found something the police had missed.

“Well?” I said impatiently.

“Well, the kidnapper was obvious paid by a higher power, the girl has been taken very far away from here. It was planned and not a spontaneous attack.”

I was stunned, she never failed to amaze me. Such wisdom lurked in those all-seeing tree trunk brown eyes.

“How can you know that from looking at a field?” I asked, instantly regretting it feeling stupid. She rolled her eyes and huffed.

“Because James, I wasn’t looking at the field, I was seeing it. The fact the attack happened in such an open space shows the kidnapper wasn’t worried about being seen in the act, however they were smart enough to find one of the only CCTV blind spots this side of London. Clearly, they have a lot to lose if they do get caught and think they can find ways to silence a witness easier than they can destroy security footage. My hypothesis is, the person behind it person with has a high media presence and doesn’t trust his employee not to blab under pressure. After all his IQ isn’t overly high as he drove onto the gravel, leaving tire marks of the identifiable car, which is not his but has to go back to its owner after the job. I’ve deduced that from the simple fact that as he was waiting for the girl to arrive he got out to smoke a cigarette rather than stay in the car. The fact he had time to smoke also shows he arrived early, proving it was planned.”

“How do you know it’s a man?” I asked in amazement, before feeling like an infidel.

“Again the open space is a giveaway. Women tend to be more cunning and secretive whereas men are all about brute force”

***

The only shelter they had from the scorching sun was rotten and damp. Shafts of sunlight shone through the holes in the walls and vacant doorway. Matthew was sat on a nautical chest with his legs crossed reading a mangled book. Earnest was examining a map on the wall. Meanwhile, Scar and Jake examined every nook and cranny.

“Somethings not right with this place…” Scar said.

“Another brilliant deduction from Detective Scarlett?” Earnest said sarcastically.

Scar scowled at him, “It just feels… fake. Like this hut thing looks all old and rotten but I think it might have been built recently. There’s no debris on the roof, even though its right under the trees, the hinges on the door are rusty, but the rust hasn’t spread to anything. It just seems like it’s been put together from rotten wood, like a set piece in a film.” The others all began to look around and saw she was right.

“Matt, can you move please? I want to know what’s in there.” Scar said, He, He hopped off the chest, looking a little sulky. Jake tried to lift the heavy lid. It wouldn’t budge, not even with all the boys and Scar trying together.

“That’s really weird. It’s been sealed, but there are little holes in the sides…” Jake grumbled. Scar stood with her hands on her hips, pouting slightly at the defeat.

“Maybe we are in a film and we are being recorded!” She joked. “Anyway, I’m going in the sea, anyone coming?”

 

“I would but I’m kinda hungry.” Jake responded.

“Me too. Matt mumbled. Fortunately, whilst Jake and Scar had been exploring they had found a huge cooler under the floor with sandwiches in. Matthew found great amusement from watching the two girls do the exact opposite to each other as they ate theirs. Scar angrily removed all the lettuce as if it had no right to be there and ate the rest but Sophie carefully plucked out the leaves, and left the rest.

“Matt can you stop staring at me, please? “Sophie said.

“But you eat weird.”

“How? How do I eat weird?” she demanded.

Scar raised her eyebrows, and whispered “bit sensitive” to Jake, who chortled in agreement.

“You only eat the greenery, can I have what’s left?” he said with an aggravating smile.

“How can you still be hungry? How many have you had?”
“Only six”

“Matthew!” What the rest of us meant to eat now? You’re so gluttonous. We are going to starve now!”.” She yelled. Everyone else sat dead still. Matt opened his mouth to argue.

“I wouldn’t bother, Matt.” Scar warned, “Here, have the vegetation out of mine.” but instead he grabbed his book and left the cabin.

***

Sarah was somehow levitating above the window sill. She had managed to wedge herself in between the walls either side with her back against one side and her feet against the other, with her knees bent. I was beyond asking how she got up there. Her strange behaviors were seizing to phase me.

“James, I need you to check out the families of the missing persons. See if you can find any link between them.”

Fifteen cups of coffee later I had information on all of them. Most of them seemed like regular youths from all different kinds of family. The only exception was Earnest Greay, one of the boys, was the son of Nicholas Greay, a wealthy psychologist with a popular television show.

“Well this is interesting…” she said thoughtfully when I showed her my findings. “ One who would be worth a hefty ransom and four who wouldn’t? The police will obviously assume it’s about money. James, goggles. We are going to tell the chief inspector that he is wrong.” I groaned and rolled my eyes.

“Do we have to take the bike?”

“It’s too far to walk and you know I don’t trust taxies.”

***

Shadows of a thousand colours waltz over the clouds as the sun sank into the ocean. The only sounds are the cicadas chirping cheerfully and the crashing of the waves as they roll onto the shore, almost catching Scar’s toes.

Suddenly, a voice beside her make her jump.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” says Jake in his cheeky accent. She smiles in complete agreement as she looked into his dazzling green and orange eyes as he sat down next her and kicked off his shoes. As his soft skin touched her, she instantly broke out with goose bumps… Suddenly the moment was ruined by an ear-exploding screechy noise as a bug zips by. It was soon followed by another then another. One landed Jake’s shoe.

“Eugh, that’s nasty looking.” She said, fascinated by the strange insect. It had a wasp like body with ten legs but its head was more like a rhino beetle, and much too large for its body. Before she could stop him, Jake hits the creature with a plank of driftwood and the tiny grotesque creature splatter over his shoe, oozing out a foul-smelling black liquid. After a moment, the shoe began to dissolve. Jake picked it up, careful not to touch the charcoal coloured gunge, and hurled it into the sea.

Unknown to them, Matthew was also having an experience with the critters. Despite his anger towards Sophie and how she had spoken to him, he had gotten lost in his book. One of the creatures had settled on the bare flesh of his hand and stung him, injecting the black toxin. Slowly his veins and arteries began to blacken and stand out from his skin, even in his eyes. His muscled bulged and swelled, deforming his regular lanky frame. Then a savageness took over. He stood up and tore his book in two. He set off, running on all fours like some mutated ape, straight towards the cabin.

 

***

The Police station was a pathetic modern building, made mostly of glass. Sarah strutted down a corridor, black coffee in hand.

“No, not this way.” She muttered as she spun on her heels. She took on sip of her drink.

“Eugh. James drink this, it’s revolting.” She said plainly and handed me the cup. I knew her well enough to know that I’d better take it or have it thrown over me. She then turns and slips through a door.

“Ah Miss Hewitt, so good of you to finally join us.” The inspector grumbled as we entered.

“It’s not about ransom.” Sarah said stubbornly.

“How did you know that was our conclusion? The inspector replied, sounding surprised.

“It’s always your conclusion, and you’re wrong. Only one of the missing children has a particularly wealthy family, one of them lives in a council house and another in a hostel. It’s not about money.”

“Then what is it about?”

“ I“I haven’t figured that part out yet. We need means, motive and opportunity… considering it’s not about money, the kidnapper must have a fair amount already. We know that others are carrying out the kidnappings so it’s someone with a lot to lose and possibly a media presence.”

I am unsure on what happened next as I had to pay a visit to the men’s room to rid my body of the vile coffee.

***

From the beach Jake and Scar heard Sophie’s scream.

“Eugh, it’s probably just a spider or something. Earnest is with her, he can deal with it.” Scar said, sleepily with her head rested on Jake’s shoulder.

Earnest was in fact with her, and he was doing his very best at dealing with ‘it’. ‘It’ being Matthew on a toxin induced rampage. Sophie cowered in the dusty corner, coughing and sobbing hysterically as Earnest attempted to scare him away with a thin sword he’d removed from the that had been hanging on the wall. He was a fine swordsman, however the drug had made Matthew freakishly strong and he simply snatched it away and plunged into Sophie’s tiny body. He stabbed her several times before driving the blade with such force that it became stuck in the floor beneath her. Earnest’s eyes were wider than dinner plates. He stood, frozen for a moment, staring at Sophie’s dead eyes and the blood gushing from her carcass. Then his senses came back to him and he fled. Matt tore away Sophie’s left arm and bit into it with a horrific savageness. Crimson rivers cascaded down his chin and forearms as he tore into the rest of her corpse. Unfortunately, there was insufficient meat on her so satisfy his unnatural hunger, and he went in search of more.

***

Sarah was pacing atop the edge of a roof of an abandoned psychiatric hospital in West London. I was a fair few meters away by the exit, but I could still her grinding her teeth. Suddenly, she through her head band and let out a frustrated growl.

“Sarah, what’s the matter? Come away from the edge.” I pleaded. She only paced faster. Sometimes I wondered if she put herself in danger just to worry me, she likes to do that. She went AWOL for a 3 days once. Turns out she was in The Savoy Hotel with some woman, whilst I was panicking. Why do women have to be so infuriating?

She began to mutter:

“It still doesn’t add up yet, James. Why would anyone want these 5five kids in particular? They’re were all chosen and their abductions carefully planned… No pattern, different locations, genders, extracurricular activities, studies, backgrounds…Nothing links them but age. Why would you want five completely different strangers the same age? Unless…?”

Without a warning, she leapt down from the ledge and ran towards me, pushed passed and was down the stairs before I could even move. By the time I caught up, she was already on the bike, holding out my helmet and goggles.

“Sarah, where are we…?” I was cut off by the engine as we zipped down the street towards Scotland Yard. She marched into the station, like a queen in her castle. She barged into the main office, despite their being an ongoing meeting.

“Inspector, what’s the latest research programme Nicholas Greay is involved in?” She demanded, standing with her hands on her hips like the world owed her a favour. The inspector looked, glanced over and nodded at his assistant, who began typing frantically on his computer.
“Dr Greay is currently overseeing a worldwide set of experiments known as the Human Genome Project. Permission has been denied for several of his experiments and it is rumoured he has offered millions of pounds in bribes to the governing agencies…” Sarah’s face lit up with an eerie and satisfied smile.

“Does he own any land that’s quite remote and segregated or have any private research facilities?” She said, with her palms together and close to her face. The assistant scrolled his mouse loudly and frowned.

“Yes Mam, he own a private island in the British Channel called Sark and has four research centres in Russia, Nevada, China and Nigeria.”

***

Darkness was settling over the isle, and with it the hellish wasps were dying, finally leaving Jake and Scar in peace. The moon shone faintly through the clouds, allowing them just enough light to see by. They we sat so close; almost touching. Out of the blue, Earnest sprinted out onto the beach, spraying sand out behind him. He had barely made it half way towards them when Matthew came into sight. His shoulders grotesquely swollen, his black veins bulging from his arms and Sophie’s innocent blood crusted over his skin. Scar jumped up and grabbed Jake by the hand, yanking him to his feet and toward the tree line. He soon started running and took the lead. I found a tree and started to climb, Scar followed his example but by being shorter she had more difficulty getting onto the first branch, by the time she was up Earnest had caught up with them.

“What… Are you… doing?” he exclaimed between breaths.

“Climb up Earnest, he won’t reach us up here!” Scar cried out, offering him her hand.

“How improper! I will never…” he yelled as he glanced over his shoulder and saw how close Matthew had come.

“Dammit Earnest! Don’t be so bloody uptight and get up here!” Scar yelled. Suddenly he started climbing frantically, ignoring the help he had been offered. Scar scampered up the branches until she was level with Jake. Suddenly the tree shook violently, Scar fell against him. The creature that had once been Matthew had grabbed Earnest’s leg. He clung to the trunk for dear life itself whilst he was shaken and tugged. Only the strength in his arms kept him alive. Matthew let out a horrendous roar and yanked on the limb. An inexplicably awful noise erupted across the island as it tore free. Earnest screamed inhumanly, Jake and Scar could only watch as the beast unhinged his jaw and swallowed the leg whole. Earnest managed to haul himself up a couple more branches, powered only by adrenalin, blood gushing down the trunk. Matt began to lick the flowing blood from the bark, then scrabbled at the tree, trying to reach his prey, but only succeeding in tearing the lower branches away. The tree shook. Scar trembled and clung to Jake. She could feel his heart pounding through his chest. His eyes were squeezed tight shut.

A thunderous noise of whirling helicopter blades filled the air. Matt stopped and looked the sea with his enlarged black eyes. The sky lit up, blinding them all. Matthew released an atrocious scream and covered his bloodshot eyes. As he did, black bile surged up out of his mouth, smoke arose wherever it touched his skin. His flesh began to dissolve away, more bile spewed out as the lights got brighter. Eventually nothing remained but a large patch of black glass, in the sand where he had stood.

As their eyes adjusted to the brightness, the remaining three hostages realised could see the helicopter had landed on the beach.

“London metropolitan police” boomed a voice through a mega phone.

Relief surged over them and Scar turned to Jake and kissed him, as she’d been longing to do since she had first laid eyes on him. Earnest was rushed to hospital and the other two were returned to their normal lives, much to Scar’s disgust. The following day, they saw themselves on the news…

BREAKING NEWS: The case of the missing teenagers has been solved. Two are dead and one severely injured. A warrant is out for the arrest of Dr Nicholas Greay for kidnapping and conducting unethical experiments. If anyone has any information regarding his whereabouts please come forward.

“Fascinating.” Sarah whispered to herself as she examined the sample she had taken.

“How so?”” I ask, looking up from my writing and admiring the sight of her in her lab coat.

“It seems he was exposed to an artificial neurotoxin containing Astamyne, which is highly photochemical and reacted inside him with the light from the chopper producing concentrated Astamyc Acid which dissolved his flesh and bonded with oxygen in the air to form Astamone and Astamal. The formation of the double bond between the carbon and the oxygen atoms produced so much energy the sand melted.

She removed her coat and sat on the windowsill with the orange glow from the streetlamps shining through her hair.

“Where could he be hiding, James?” She said pensively and determined. Despite knowing the answer, I presumed it to be a rhetorical question. I had learnt much and more in assisting Dr Greay and observing the subjects but the project wasn’t over yet. The next phase was already in motion.