Chapter 10: 10: Somewhere in England

It was past midnight when we arrived at Section 13’s base. The soldiers got out of the van as the squad leader unlocked my cage. He waved at me to follow, his rifle casually trained on me.

We were in a parking lot in the middle of what looked like a cross between a run-down industrial estate and a military base. It was half deserted.

The night was cold, my breath clouded in front of me as I took in my surroundings. I was unimpressed. I’m not sure what I’d been expecting – maybe a James Bond style high tech super-secret underground lair – but this definitely wasn’t it. The buildings were shoddy, like they’d been built in the seventies and left to deteriorate since. The whole area was the size and shape of six unkempt football fields. An ugly square nine-storey office block dominated the centre of the grounds. Scattered around were some warehouses, the barracks and several Nissen huts – the buildings which look like a Pringle box cut in half and dropped on the ground. Their corrugated cylindrical roofs were rusted. I saw a shooting range in the distance.

Everything just looked worn down and used.

A handful of soldiers marched here and there. The central office block was the only building which had lights on. The base was surrounded by a three-metre high fence with intermittent signs attached, which no doubt said: “Warning, Keep Out”.

Massive floodlights stood at the edges of the grounds, but they were currently switched off.

I noticed a large, reinforced steel cage standing alone off to one edge of the drill yard. It was around three metres by three metres. A thick chain and padlock kept the door closed, although why was a mystery. The cage was empty.

I stared at it for a second, not sure what to make of the brutal-looking structure. I presumed the cage was used to hold captured monsters like the one that had attacked me, but that didn’t make any sense. Section 13 operated, as far as I understood, a shoot-to-kill policy.

So what was the cage for?

I had other, more pressing questions.

“Where are we?” I asked.

I had no idea at all. Without a compass or even a window to look out of, we could have been pretty much anywhere after the three-hour dive.

“Somewhere in England,” the squad leader replied, “This way. Major Wilson wants to see you.”

I tried to keep my cool, but it wasn’t easy. I couldn’t think of a worse place for me to be. A military base with a bunch of armed soldiers all trained for one thing: killing things like me, whatever I was. This situation could turn lethal for me at any second. As soon as the doctor examined me again, it would be over. For the second time that evening, I’d managed to stumble into a potentially deadly situation.

Queen’s Guard it, I told myself, full on poker face like everyone else here.

I set my face to as neutral an expression as possible and forced myself to walk normally.

Give nothing away. Look for an escape route.

And then what? Even if I can escape, what then? Go on the run? Never see my family and friends again?

The thought almost caused me to throw up as we approached the squat office block building.

Come on, Ethan, keep it together. There has to be some way out of this.

The squad leader escorted me through a small reception area where he nodded to a bored soldier manning the desk, then he took me into a conference room. Large television screens lined the walls. Major Wilson was flicking through a pad, sending images from it to the screens. He nodded at the squad leader, who left. Two unarmed soldiers stood to attention.

A woman’s face appeared on one of the screens. I recognised her immediately.

“Was this the woman leading the other unit?” Wilson asked.

“Yes.”

“Did she give you her name?” he asked.

His tone was neutral, in the same way a predator ready to pounce might appear neutral. There was no point lying anymore.

“She said she was called Victoria Pryce.”

“And?”

“She said she’d be in touch with me. And she told me to, um, to send my regards to you.”

“She named me specifically?” Major Wilson asked.

“No, she, well, she said ‘give my regards to the moustache.’”

One of the soldiers standing to attention went a shade of red as he tried to prevent a sudden laugh.

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Major Wilson noticed and shot the private a look. The private swallowed, the reddening of his face giving way to a sudden paler shade.

“Why did she say she’d be in touch with you?”

I shrugged, “Search me.”

Another sharp glance from those pale grey bullet eyes. This time, I was ready for it. My Queen’s Guard face held.

“But she took an interest in you.”

“I guess so. Yes. I don’t know why.”

Major Wilson studied me. It wasn’t one of his hard-man stares this time. It was another assessment. Memorising details.

“Hungry?” he asked.

I was caught out by his sudden switch to concern for my well-being.

“Yes,” I nodded.

I still hadn’t eaten anything since my power rush while fighting the creature at the party several hours earlier.

“Private, get the kid a sandwich and a bottle of water.”

One of the two soldiers left the room. Major Wilson considered, then he dropped his interrogation tone. His voice wasn’t exactly friendly, but it was less threatening.

“Let me make something clear to you, Ethan. What has happened tonight is so confidential, even the Prime Minister doesn’t know about it. Section 13 is so secret that only a handful of civil servants know of its existence. If you breathe a word of what you’ve seen today, you’ll be in breach of the Official Secrets Act.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Do you know what happens to someone when they breach the Act?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Precisely,” Major Wilson replied with a satisfied snap of his teeth.

The soldier returned with two sandwich slices wrapped in a plastic carton. Egg and cheese. Not what I’d have ordered for my last meal, but I was famished and munched my way through the two brown bread triangles in a minute.

“Come on,” Major Wilson said once I’d finished, “I might as well give you the guided tour now you’re here.”

“Yeah, right,” I scoffed. I wasn’t falling for his deadpan sarcasm twice.

The Major walked to the door and indicated I should follow him. “Do you have something better to do?”

“Why would you show me around?” I asked warily.

Major Wilson’s attitude had subtly shifted and I couldn’t work out why. Something had changed. I just didn’t know what. Ever since I’d mentioned Victoria, his attitude had altered.

“Why show you around? Well, maybe underneath this terrifying exterior I’m a lovely chap with a heart of gold. Or maybe I just want you to be burned up for the rest of your life carrying secrets around that you’ll never be able to tell anyone. Nice chap or sadist. Your pick.”

“Sadist.”

“Good choice,” Major Wilson replied. His moustache twitched.

For a second I felt relieved despite the obvious nutter that I was dealing with. The Major seemed to have forgotten all about the health check that would be my undoing. Whatever stupid games he wanted to play were fine by me, as long as the doctor didn’t see me again.

My relief was short lived.

“We’ll get you back to the doctor after the tour,” Major Wilson continued, “In all likelihood you’ll be dead soon from some infection that thing gave you anyway.”

Great, I thought miserably, and even if an infection doesn’t kill me, you probably will.

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