I WAKE THE next morning to the sun beaming through the bedroom window. Wherever I go, it's always the same; a window for me to stare out of and a haunted city staring back.
I yawn, rolling onto my back, and look to my hands, starting to peel away the bandages. As I see my palm, I notice the glass cuts that were once burning red have faded away, and my palms look like normal to me.
I push myself out of bed, and start getting dressed. I walk out of R's bedroom, and towards the bathroom, where Veronica is stood at the door, dressed pampered, hair swirling above her head. She's talking to someone in the bathroom and as I get closer, I see the man installing a new glass door.
"Morning," I say.
She turns, her smile never faulting.
"How long before I can pee?" I ask, Veronica shrugs her shoulders. Saying goodbye to John (handyman guy as I have now found out) and walking towards the dining room. "Dude, I'm not gonna lie, I really have to pee."
"Hold it," she says over her shoulder. "And don't call me dude, I'm not your buddy." She clarifies.
"Look,buddy, I will piss all over your pretty glass floor unless you find me an alternative toilet to pee in." I tell her. She groans, coming to a stop, and turning around, her heels clacking against the floor.
"Wait here." She says, and she disappears into a room, one I haven't been in. She comes out with a piece of material. "Turn around." She says.
"Kinky." I reply.
"Will you just do as I ask please?" She begs, and I turn around. She places the material over my eyes, and ties it tightly behind my head. The material is really scratchy making my eyes itch.
She holds onto my shoulder, leading me back down the corridor.
"There's thirteen steps to climb." She instructs, grabbing my hand and placing it onto the bannister.
She really doesn't want me to know who is up here.
I start climbing, feeling Veronica slightly in front of me. I almost trip at step five, when the staircase turns and Veronica does not tell me. She catches me before I slam my head into I guess is her wall. When I thank her, she comments on the paint work. I roll my eyes but she doesn't see.
We get to the top, and it's like we are in a completely different place.
It's so warm up here, not uncomfortably warm, but definitely a slight change in temperature. The air feels different too, smoother, it glides in and out of my lungs easily, and doesn't tickle the back of my throat. The room smells differently too, like saltwater, like R in a way, but stronger. Even through my blindfold, I can see how much brighter this room is, but not in a harsh way, like the whole room just glows brighter.
This is what stands at the tippy top of the Resistance building, and I had no idea. How do I not know what this room looks like? I've stared at this building for years and years and have never seen anything inside.
"Veronica?" the same male voice from yesterday calls out. "It's early!"
"Go back to sleep," Veronica hushes.
"Who is that?" He asks.
"It doesn't matter, go back to sleep." She repeats. I don't hear his voice again, I can hear his breathing. I hear something squeak, maybe his bed as he rolls in it, ready to sleep again. He for one takes Veronica's threats seriously.
She continues guiding me, before opening a door, and pushing me in.
"You have three minutes." She says, and rip the blindfold off.
The entire room is mirrored, a shower, sink, and toilet. I don't ask questions as I use the toilet. I put the blindfold back on, and knock at the door. I hear the door open and Veronica's hand against my arm, as she leads me away from the warmth, and back down the stairs. Once at the bottom I take the blindfold off, looking back up the staircase.
"Who is up there?" I ask her.
"That is none of your concern." She replies, heading towards her office. I look to the portrait of Dorian hanging on the wall. Is it you?
***
Veronica has left me a different set of clothing today. Grey jogging pants and a grey shirt. I change into them, meeting her in her office.
"What's with the lounge wear?" I ask her.
"You're going to be training with José and possibly Natalie today." She replies quickly, not looking up from her desk, from her mountain of paperwork. I nod, sliding onto the white sofas. "Now Sterling." I hear her voice, and I groan, pushing myself up but heading towards the elevator.
"Level lower 3?" I ask her.
"Yep." She says, and I climb in, pressing the level. The doors slide shut, and the elevator moves down. Veronica's eyes never leaving her desk.
As the elevator reaches the floor, and I will myself to manage to make it through that corridor without my heart pounding. I see reception slide past, I see the first underground floor, the second and finally it comes to a slow stop. The doors open, and I step out into the corridor, where the only sounds are my heart pounding and the drops of water hitting the stone floor.
I have two options, find the light, walk slowly trying not to disturb any capturer invention things, or, I can use what I was born with. It's a straight corridor, the door right at the end. It would be pitch black, but I reckon I could run it fast enough.
The elevator doors close, and I lean against them, taking a deep breath in and counting myself down.
One. Two. Three.
I burst off down the corridor, not looking to the side, not faulting. Not nearly as fast as Cassie would complete it.
I am plunged into darkness and find my eyes struggling to adjust, finding it difficult to keep my balance as my world blurs into one. My feet slowly start coming to a stop, as I pivot around the hallway unsure of which way to walk, unsure of which was the corridor leads.
There is no light from either end of the corridor, and I don't want to start walking in case I wake up the creatures.
I think to falling to my knees and slowly crawling across the floor, one hand reaching out feeling for the wall. But I give up on that dream as the blinding white lights, flick on, one by one.
I squint, finding myself firmly in the middle of the corridor, facing where I came from. I see a figure at the end. One who starts walking towards me, dressed in all black. With a balaclava over their face.
"Why didn't you just the light on?" Natalie asks me, and I shrug my shoulders. She groans, grabbing my shoulder, turning me around and walking me to the door.
She feels icy. Like Veronica is the snow queen and Natalie is some snowman minion she made.
She opens the door, and I am purely expecting for her to leave frost behind, but she follows me towards the fire that is José.
"Ah, Miss Sterling," he says, nodding towards myself and Natalie. He doesn't greet Natalie. Probably in some agreement not to reveal Natalie's surname, so I don't have her greatest power, although I do believe shooting lightening from your hands or being able to survive a knife to the heart is a better power, so I may have her beat there.
He hands both Natalie and I and skipping rope, and I frown holding it in my hand.
"We skip with it." Natalie says, taking her jacket off and tossing it against the floor. She already begins and José is already causing a whirlwind with his. I know what to use them for, it used to be a source of entertainment on the playground. I see the little children doing it now, I just don't know if I can remember how to.
"Why now though?" I ask José and start bringing the rope over my head, following Natalie's way of doing it.
"Warm up, get that blood moving, heart pumping." José says to me. I've never done a warm-up in my life, now thinking about it. In the Old City we just move straight onto the fight, straight to the jog, straight onto the knife throwing.
We skip for a moment, and then José takes off his shoes, and steps onto the platform. Natalie joins, and I go to follow, but José holds a hand-out. Palm against my face, stopping me from joining them. I think its about the fact I'm still wearing my heavy boots while they are both barefooted.
I go to take them off, but José raises a different concern.
"You will watch Natalie and I fight first." He explains.
"Excuse me?" I reply. It feels wrong, like he's trying to belittle me. "I can fight."
"You can shoot a gun and throw a knife." He says. "But you cannot fight."
I feel my teeth clench and my fist tighten. I go to my boots, pulling them off my feet. I stand up, pushing Natalie out the way who replies with a hefty 'huff'. I crack my knuckles and then my neck.
I get into the defence like I've done with R, Luka, Mikko one-thousand times over, and I hold my fists up.
José gives Natalie a look, and she shrugs her shoulders, walking off the platform. I move my eyes back to José and tighten my fists more.
I wait for José to get himself ready and I go to throw the first punch. He blocks it, I groan, going to throw a second with my second fist. He grabs a hold of my wrist and twists, I scream, moving my body so he doesn't snap my wrist. I look to José, grabbing hold, wanting for him to let me go.
He does let go, but instead, brings his knee up, hitting my stomach. I feel my feet give way as my lungs expel all the air and I struggle to find it once again. He's behind me quickly, grabbing both my wrists and twisting hard.
I fall to my knees as his foot slams into the centre of my spine.
I fall against the floor, and I turn over, just in time to see his fist heading towards my face.
I roll out the way, and he groans as he hits the platform. I quickly climb to my feet.
One thing he says is true, I wish I had my knives with me.
He comes charging towards me, and I side step him.
I grab a hold of his shoulder from behind and pull him down to the floor. But just like he's on a trampoline, he flies back up, landing in front of me, his eyes glaring into mine as he towers over me.
"Oh dear." I say.
I feel his hands slap into my neck, and I grab a hold, trying to catch my breath between the coughing.
He kicks my stomach, and I fall backwards.
He grabs hold of my ankles, together, in one hand! And slams me harder into the floor, and twists me onto my front.
My palms lay against the floor trying to push myself back up, but he just grabs my hair, lifting my head up, and slamming my face into the floor.
My nose throbs as I feel him leave my space, and I roll myself back onto my front.
I run a hand underneath my nose and it burns red.
"You cannot fight." He repeats himself. He walks away, heading over to the punching bag in the corner of the room.
I sit myself up, everything I learned over the past two years is gone. The amount of fighting I did with everyone has simmered away. I know I lost a lot of muscle, but I didn't think I would lose my fighting skills too. Maybe I need to do what José does and spend my time on that punching bag. Maybe I can request one, trick Veronica into it being the only way I'm going to kill this Intruder.
"Come on, let's get you looked at." Natalie says, handing me my boots. I wipe my nose again, trying to get the blood off my face.
"I don't need to go to the hospital." I say, snatching my boots away, and walking towards the exit door.
"Same again tomorrow Sterling?" I hear José say, "but this time we do it my way."
I slam the door on my way out, which coincidentally wakes up the capturers from their lulled sleep.
They scream and pound at the windows as I walk down the corridor, turning the light off at the bottom, and pressing the elevator button, climbing in.
The glass doors slide shut and I see my reflection in the glass. I don't look like the girl who is going to kill an Intruder, quite the opposite actually.
When I reach Veronica's office, I drop my boots, walking towards the bathroom. Veronica is sprawled out on the sofa, and her head raises from the book she's reading when I enter.
"You missed lunch." She comments, I try and rush past her. "and breakfast."
I hear her move off the sofa and her feet, the slide of her dress against the floor.
I turn around as soon as I feel her close enough to me.
"But you just got served." She laughs.
I feel something, some pure anger, some anger about my lost body, or still pent up anger over R's death, or her stupid comment. But it rages through me like a fire, through my veins, burning every cell. I can't believe what I'm about to do, but I do it anyway, because it feels good.
I spit on her face.
She stops laughing. Using her thumb to wipe the spit from her cheek.
She opens her eyes, and I feel her hand slap against my face.
"I don't want to see your face until morning." She states through gritted teeth.
"Gladly." I reply, turning around and slamming the door loudly.