The Hourglass (20 page)

A Boat Journey

She couldn’t
believe it. There had been no search, no cries of “stop, you can’t leave until
we find all the prisoners.” The boat had just left. A rising feeling of relief
flooded through Sarah but she tried to marshal it. To feel so free when the
boat might get called back at any moment would be soul destroying. To her
frustration she realised that she couldn’t hear what the others were saying
anymore. The rumbling of the ship’s engines were just too loud. Not that she
was able to spend much time lamenting this though. It was taking all of her
effort and concentration to keep herself from sliding out of her hiding spot on
the wet floor as the ship heaved and rolled around her.  The boat trip seemed
to last forever. At one point one of the prisoners vomited and the smell made
her gag. She felt the rising urge to get escape from her hole but she worked
past it again with the breathing exercises. She had to keep calm. If she
didn’t, it would be the end of her. Finally the engine’s rumble quietened.
There was a bump as the side of the boat knocked up against a dock, and then
the rumble and vibrations ceased altogether as the engine was turned off. A few
minutes passed. The prisoners were uncharacteristically quiet as they waited
for the door to open. She heard the door creak open, something she hadn’t heard
when she had opened it earlier in the wind and rain, and the voice of the man
from before ordered everyone off the boat.

“Does the public
know about this place you’re taking us to? This… facility?” demanded a wavering
voice loudly. Sarah’s heart sank. It was Marland. She hadn’t escaped after all.
The man mumbled something in reply and the sounds of people standing up and
shuffling out of the cabin filled the air. Someone with heavy footsteps came in
after most of the people had left. There was a grunt and then the sound of
something being dragged out of the room. After the last footstep died away
Sarah heard the thud of the door close again. She didn’t move. As far as she
knew, there could still be someone in there with them. There were definitely
still people on the boat. All it would take to capture her was for someone to
happen to glance through the cabin’s portholes as they walked past. She stayed
there, lying in the wet puddle of water. Twenty minutes passed.

“Sarah,”
whispered Finn. Sarah blinked. He sounded close, like he was at her feet. She
tried to peer down the tube but she couldn’t make out any details. “Sarah, are
you ok? We gotta go before they come clean this place out.”

Sarah wriggled
out of the bench as fast as she possibly could. Finn’s anxious face was waiting
for her at the end. He looked pale and cold. It hadn’t been a good trip.

“Are you ok?” he
asked, his face creased in worry. “You’re shaking.”

“I’ll be fine
once we get moving,” she said. She collapsed almost as soon as she tried to
stand up. The muscles in her legs had cramped up and Sarah bit her hand so that
she wouldn’t cry out at the pain. Sitting down, she started massaging one of
her legs, glancing around at the portholes at the same time. Finn leant over
and helped with the other leg. Sarah raised an eyebrow but didn’t object. She
needed all the help she could get. After a moment she felt good enough to try
and get back up again. It hurt like hell but she managed it. Finn made sure
that she could stand unassisted and then loped over to a porthole that
overlooked the dock.

“They’re all at
the far end of the dock,” he reported. “It looks like they’re sorting the
others into groups.” Sarah, limping slightly, joined him at the window. She bit
her lip thoughtfully and glanced at Finn.

“If we got in
the water we could make our way to land by hiding underneath the dock. I doubt
anybody would be down there. And as long as we moved quietly the lapping of the
water would cover our noise.”

“I can’t swim,
remember?”

“I remember,”
replied Sarah, “but I can’t see another way. Once we’re under the dock you
should be able to use the wooden supports to help yourself along. We’ll move slowly,
yeah?”

Finn gazed out
of the window again. He couldn’t think of an alternative. “How will I get to
the dock though? We won’t be able to jump off this side of the boat, too many
people will see us. We’re going to have to jump off the far side and then make
our way around.” He sounded nervous.

“I’ll help you.
You just have to stay calm and not panic. And if you find yourself in trouble,
just do this.” Sarah mimed dog-paddling. Finn gave her a funny look. “Finn,”
she said seriously, “I won’t let you drown.” He studied her eyes for a moment
and then gave a small nod. He drew in a nervous breath.

“Then let’s do
this.”

They used the
cabin’s portholes to make sure that nobody was loitering on deck and then
listened at the door as well. All she could hear was the water lapping gently
against the boat. Sarah opened the door a crack and peered out. Nothing. She
opened it slightly more and then slipped outside and around the corner so that
the people on the land couldn’t see her. Finn followed her shortly. The deck
only surrounded the cabin on either side by about two feet. Finn was looking at
the lapping water apprehensively. Sarah sat down on the edge of the boat and positioned
herself underneath the rails. Without glancing at Finn she slid off the edge of
the boat and quietly into the water. The water was surprisingly warm and
pleasant. Unfortunately the boat wall was smooth and had nothing which she
could grip onto, so she treaded water. Finn had moved so that he was also
sitting on the edge of the boat.

“Ok,” whispered
Sarah up at him, “just slide down. I’ll grab your chest from behind once you’re
in the water. I want you to try and float on your back, ok? You just have to
keep calm, and whatever you do, don’t fight me.”

Finn gave her a
curt nod and then fell, rather than slid, into the water. He made a loud splash
which Sarah hoped nobody had heard. She swam over to where he had fallen in and
helped fish him out. He was gasping for breath, his limbs thrashing violently.

“Finn,” she
hissed angrily in his ear. “Calm down. Float on your god damn back. I’ve got
you.” It seemed to work. Finn stopped thrashing but he still took big, gulping
breaths. He leaned back into Sarah’s chest. “Ok,” she whispered, struggling to
keep her head above the water under his weight. “We’re going to move together.
Use your arms to propel us towards the back of the boat and kick your legs
under the water.” Finn made some jerky arm movements that nevertheless seemed
to help and started kicking. The kicking aided him in leaning back further so
that he was now floating more and Sarah was carrying less. She kept one arm
wrapped around his chest and used the other one to guide them along the side of
the boat. To Finn’s surprise they made it to the end of the boat without
drowning. Sarah peered around the edge. They had to travel about two metres along
the width of the boat, and then a further metre in open water, in the full view
of everyone on the land, before they would reach the dock. All without being
seen. If she had been by herself, she would have swum the distance with her
head under the water. As it was, that wasn’t an option. She wished Finn could
swim.

“This isn’t
going to work,” said Finn.

“It has to
work.”

“No, Sarah, you
don’t understand. You guiding me like this, it won’t work. We’re too big of an
object for people not to notice.”

“I don’t see
that we have any other options.”

“We do,” said
Finn. He took a nervous breath. “We could swim under the boat to get to the
dock.”

“Finn, you-”
began Sarah, but she was cut off.

“I can use the
bottom of the boat to push myself along. And it’ll stop me floating to the
surface in full sight of everyone like a corkscrew.”

Sarah hesitated.
Now that they were stationary his weight was starting to drag her under again.
“Are you sure? Are you sure you can do this?”

“Yes.”

There was a
pause. “Ok,” said Sarah eventually, not feeling good about this at all. “Just
take a big breath, and remember to kick. Whatever you do don’t open your mouth
underwater.”

“No shit,” he
grinned.

“Shut up. Just
promise me I’ll see you on the other side.”

“Yeah, of
course. Where else would I go?”

“Alright. You go
first, I’ll follow shortly after.” She didn’t need to say the rest. She was
going after so that she could rescue him if he got stuck.

“Right.” He took
a large, nervous breath, then clumsily submerged himself and kicked out.

She waited for a
few seconds that felt like an eternity before taking her own deep breath and
dived under the water. As soon as she opened her eyes underwater she realised
her plan to rescue him was foolish. The water was dark and grimy, making it
hard to see anything except what was right in front of her. She used
breaststroke to swim under the boat instead of using the boat’s bottom to pull
herself along like Finn planned to do. The boat was V-shaped underneath the
water and Sarah had to dive down further before she could swim up the other
side. She could dimly make out the two large pylons that supported the end of
the dock through the murkiness and she emerged gratefully, gasping for air. She
scanned her surroundings. Finn was nowhere to be seen. She turned desperately
around but there was no sign of him. Taking a deep breath she dove under the
water, her eyes wide and straining as she tried to find him. Nothing. She came
up for a hurried gulp of air and went back under, this time her arms spread
wide as she tried to search for him by touch. Just as she was about to run out
of air again her fingers brushed against a bit of cloth. She grasped it tightly
and emerged, pulling the cloth with her. She inhaled deeply and turned to see
Finn gasping and spluttering next to her. Relief and a desire to hit him swept
through her. Instead Sarah helped him over to the pylon, which he held onto
tightly.  He vomited up a cupful of water, his chest heaving.

“Holy shit,”
whispered Sarah.

“I opened my
mouth underwater,” he wheezed. “I opened my damn mouth. Underwater.” He vomited
up some more water and then relaxed a bit, breathing more steadily. Sarah gave
him a moment.

“Are you good to
move?” she asked after he looked like he had recovered enough.

Finn nodded.

“Ok, so just
push off from the pylon with your legs. That should carry you far enough to
reach the next one.”

Finn positioned
himself awkwardly and then pushed off. He floundered a little but made it
easily to the next pylon. Sarah did the same just behind him. Slowly, and making
as little noise as possible, they made their way down the dock. Four pylons
before the dock ended they were able to touch the ground with their feet. Sarah
had never seen Finn looked so relieved. They paused before advancing any
further, listening for voices above them. It was quiet.

“Do you think
they’ve moved on?” whispered Finn, still clutching the pylon next to her.

“Hopefully.”

The sound of the
small waves lapping the shore covered the noise that they made emerging from
the water. They sat down gratefully on the dirt beneath the base of the dock,
panting.

“Now what?”
whispered Finn.

“We wait until
its dark I suppose,” replied Sarah, thinking it through. “It looks too
populated for us to go unnoticed if we left now.”

“Good,” said
Finn quietly, throwing himself backwards so that he was now lying on his back.
“Because I don’t think I can move.”

The ‘beach’ they
were lying on was actually a thin strip of dirt that existed mostly underneath
the dock. Sarah felt that their chances of being spotted were slim, and so she
finally surrendered herself to her exhaustion by collapsing next to Finn. For
the next ten minutes she was comfortable, and then her body relaxed enough to
notice that the rocky dirt they were lying on was uncomfortable, and that her
wet clothes and the shade were making her cold. She rubbed her hands up and
down her arms and tried to stop her teeth from chattering. Finn turned his head
towards her. He looked blue around the lips. Without saying anything he
shuffled over so that he was lying against her. Sarah automatically moved so
that her back was against his chest, absorbing his warmth. He wrapped his arm
around her. After a minute their shared body heat was enough to stop her from
shaking and she felt her muscles relax.

“I’m not going
to be able to go home, am I?” whispered Sarah.

“No,” replied
Finn, gently.

She pushed
thoughts of her mum and uncle out of her head before she could start crying.
“Do you have anyone? I mean, I know about your parents and sister, but anyone
else?”

She felt Finn
shrug behind her. “An older cousin that I hate.”

“Oh. Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t leave
Marland.”

There was a
pause. “No, me neither.”

Sarah smiled. “I
knew you’d say that.”

They laid like
that in companionable silence until the sun went down.

Marland Bower

Sarah was the
first to get up.

“Time to go,”
she said. Finn stood up slowly and they both stretched. Sarah felt like she had
run a marathon. Her clothes had only partly dried in the shade and they felt
heavy and uncomfortable.
“I don’t think they were taken very far,” said Finn.

Sarah nodded in
agreement. “No trucks.” They hadn’t heard a single engine the whole time that they
had been there. There had been no sounds of movement near them for the past
hour and Sarah felt confident enough to step out from beneath the cover of the
dock. Standing up straight, her head just reached the level of the boardwalk
that led to the dock. She peered around. There was no one in sight. A building
near them had a number of lights on, but their brightness didn’t reach them on
the beach. Finn appeared next to her. He formed a saddle with his hands and
boosted her up onto the boardwalk. Sarah scrambled onto it and then turned
around and helped Finn up. Trying to walk as silently as possible they headed
towards the buildings, avoiding the pools of light that flooded from the
windows. They peered inside as they passed. A few people were sitting at
tables, eating or drinking from mugs. They all had the Hourglass insignia
stitched into their clothes. It looked like a cafeteria. Sarah’s stomach
grumbled. It had been lunchtime yesterday since she had last eaten anything.

“Let’s split
up,” whispered Sarah. “We’ll be able to cover more buildings that way.”  

“Hell no,”
replied Finn incredulously, “don’t you listen to stories? That’s how people
die. Besides, what if we get lost and can’t find each other again?”

Sarah shook her
head in bemusement but didn’t argue and they continued on together. The next
three buildings all looked like normal office blocks, each containing cubicles
in which a few sad looking employees still worked.

“It doesn’t look
much like an evil secret lab,” said Sarah.

“I think that’s
the point. I bet the whole thing is underground.”

The fourth
building’s windows were blacked out.

“Looks
promising,” muttered Finn.

“Let’s get a
better look,” said Sarah. They circled the building slowly, looking for a
window that wasn’t covered. Whereas the previous buildings had been exactly the
same in layout, this one differed slightly in that there was an additional
walled in area attached to the far side. It consisted of three high, brick
walls cordoning off a space about five metres by five metres in size. The area
was covered in from above by metal meshwork. They spotted a metal bin
positioned against the outside of one of the brick walls and climbed on top of
it to get a view of the inside. The holes in the mesh were just large enough to
stick a hand through. The only thing inside was some trodden-down grass.

“Well, this is
the saddest garden I’ve ever seen,” she said.

“It’s an exercise
yard,” said Finn. He pointed towards a sign that was posted on the wall next to
the door that led into the yard.

TWENTY LAPS TO BE COMPLETED. 6AM &
3PM

It had the
Hourglass Group’s logo on it.

“We definitely
have to get her out,” whispered Sarah. “She would be driven mad by a place like
this.”

Finn raised an
eyebrow. “You mean she’s not already?”

Sarah punched
him lightly on the arm.

“Full circuit?”
asked Finn, eyebrows raised.

“Let’s,” agreed
Sarah.

They jumped down
from the bin. The rest of the building was equally uninteresting. The sum total
of their search being two doors leading into the building and a number of
blacked-out windows.

“Well,” said
Finn, once they had completed a full circuit and found out nothing more, “I
suppose we should try to get in.”

“We don’t even
know if this is the right place.”
“We don’t know it’s the wrong one either. And none of the others have blacked
out windows.”
Sarah glanced around. While they hadn’t properly investigated all of the
buildings, she could see that all of the others around her had at least one
light on.

“Alright, let’s
get in.”

They crept up to
the main door, keeping an eye out for any wanderers. Finn picked up a rock and
aimed it at a window. Sarah quickly grabbed his arm and restrained him.

“What?” he
asked.

Sarah took a few
steps towards the door and tried the handle. It opened.

“Oh.” Finn
followed her through the doorway, rock in hand. Sarah raised an eyebrow at it.
He shrugged. “You never know when you’ll need it.”

To their right
the building was divided up into work cubicles, similar to the other buildings
they had spotted. To their left was what looked like a number of storerooms.

“Can you see
anyone?” whispered Sarah, gesturing towards the cubicles. Finn was taller than
her and had a better advantage in seeing over the cubicle walls.

Finn shook his
head. “I can’t be sure though.”

Sarah nodded and
they headed silently to their right, passing through the corridor down the
centre of the cubicles, checking each one as they went. They reached the end
without coming across a single person. The cubicles all looked extremely ordinary.
There were computers on each desk, and more than a few of them held stained
mugs smelling of old coffee. An occasional family photo was on display.

“They’re not
here,” said Sarah sadly and desperately.

“C’mon,” said
Finn, “let’s go check out the storerooms and then come back and see if we can
find anything on the computers. There might be food.”

Sarah agreed and
they headed back down the corridor and past the main entrance. The first room
contained a bunch of linen and medical scrubs. Sarah held them up to Finn with
a large grin plastered on her face.

“Clothes!” she
said excitedly.

Finn gave a
theatrical sigh of relief and grabbed some for himself, holding them up against
his body to measure for size.

“Look,” said
Sarah, who was rifling through them, trying to find an appropriate size for
herself. “They come in different colours. We should mix it up.”

“And risk the
chance of clashing?” asked Finn in a scandalised voice jokingly.

Sarah rolled her
eyes. “We might look less like mental health patients on the run and more like
normal, badly dressed people if we do.”

Finn grinned and
grabbed a blue set of pants and a green shirt. He started to strip in front of
her and then stopped, awkwardly.

“Um,” he murmured.

“Oh, right,”
said Sarah, turning bright red. “We’ll both turn.” She held up the pair of
green pants and a black top that she was clutching.

Finn nodded.
“Yeah, sure.”

They turned their
backs on each other. Sarah took her shirt off and quickly changed into the dry
scrubs top. It felt wonderfully clean and crisp. She wished she could shower.
She snuck a peek over her shoulder at Finn before she took her pants off. He
had his new pants on and was in the process of taking off his shirt. She felt
herself blush again and turned back around, quickly discarding her old wet
trousers and slipping the new ones on. When she turned back around Finn was
standing awkwardly with his back half-turned away from her.

“Are you done?”
he asked.

“Yup.”

“Great. I mean,
wait…” he trailed off awkwardly.

“Let’s go,” said
Sarah, suddenly wanting to get back outside.

“Yeah, of
course,” replied Finn eagerly.

Finn opened the
door and ushered her out.

“Thanks,” she
said awkwardly.

“No problem.”

They smiled at
each other, unsure of what to do next.

“Hey losers,”
said a voice. They turned, startled. The door next to the linen closet had a
small window set into it at about head height. Staring out at them through the
glass was Boulder.

“Boulder?”
gasped Sarah. She stepped over to him. His face looked terrible. Both eyes were
black, his nose looked broken and his bottom lip was split. “What did they do
to you? Are you ok?”

“Of course I’m
not ok, idiot. I’m trapped by a group of crazed, unethical scientists who want
to use me as a guinea-pig.”

“Right.”

Boulder rolled
his eyes. “Go find the keys and let me out. I’m pretty sure the guy who locked
me in here keeps them in his desk.”

Sarah nodded and
they set off back down the corridor. They started opening desk drawers one by
one. They had a collection of five sets of keys at the end. Finn started
methodically trying them all on the lock. Eventually one clicked and he opened
the door.

“About time,”
said Boulder.

“What happened?”
asked Sarah. She had tried the rest of the doors while Finn was fiddling with
the lock. They had all turned out to be store-rooms, except for one, which was
locked. “Where are the others? Did they do that to all of you?”

Boulder snorted.
“No. I fought back when they tried to take us, which is why I look like this.
If the others had fought too we wouldn’t be in this bloody mess.” He sounded
bitter. Sarah remembered the sound of a body being dumped into the cabin on the
boat and then being dragged out again at the end. She knew now that it was
Boulder. “I was locked in there,” he gestured back at the room he had been in
with a thumb, “because I spat blood at everyone who came near me and told them
I was infected.” Sarah blinked in surprise. “They only want healthy people, you
see,” explained Boulder. “Fat lot of good it did me though. They took my blood
to run some tests. They would have got the results tomorrow and put me back
with the rest of them.”

“Do you know
where Marland is?”

“Probably with
the rest of them. They’re down there,” he nodded at the locked door Sarah had
found before. “Those keys should get you through. Thanks for getting me out.”
He walked away from them.

“You don’t want
to come with us?” asked Sarah.

“Do you have
somewhere to go?” replied Boulder.

“Not really.”

“Then I’ll be
better off on my own.” He turned away from them before halting and turning
back. “Oh, and one more thing. Don’t let that mad bitch of a Queen out. Only
get out Marland. The others were on that boat for a reason.”

“You were on
that boat too,” pointed out Finn.

“Yeah,” agreed
Boulder, “you probably shouldn’t have let me out either.” He walked away again.

“How are we
meant to just get out Marland?” asked Sarah to Finn.

“You look like
bloody nurses,” interjected Boulder. He had opened the door leading outside a
crack and was peering through it.

 “They took all
our blood, not just mine.” He stepped out of the doorway and quietly closed it
behind him. They watched him go before Finn stepped into the room they were
keeping Boulder in. It looked like a first aid room. He grabbed something out
of a box and threw it at Sarah.

“For you,
nurse,” he said, tying his own medical mask around his face.

“Why thank you,”
replied Sarah, donning a pair of disposable latex gloves. They also found some
surgical hats and safety glasses. Sarah picked up a clipboard. “Can you
recognise me?”

“Not really.
Definitely not if I wasn’t expecting you.” He grinned and twirled the keys
around his fingers. “It’s time be tell Marland the bad news.”

The door unlocked
with the third key. To their immediate right was another door that led out into
the exercise pen. Straight in front of them was a staircase that led downwards.
Sarah glanced at Finn before heading down first. There was another door at the
bottom. It had a small glass window set into it, supported by a wire mesh. They
peered through. The room was set up in cells. There were two bunk beds to each
cell. All the walls were clear.

“Reminds me of
home,” joked Finn. Sarah elbowed him gently in the ribs. All the girls were on
the left side of the room, the boys were on the right. They appeared to mostly
be asleep. There was a list of names against each cell door.

“Ready?” asked
Sarah.

“Ready is my
middle name,” replied Finn.

“What were your
parents thinking?” muttered Sarah. She turned the key in the lock before he
could reply and stepped through the door. Not looking at the prisoners, Sarah
and Finn walked up to each list and pretended to compare it to an imaginary one
that she had on her clipboard. She found Marland’s name on only the second
list.

“Marland Bower,”
drawled Finn in a voice that sounded nothing like his own. Marland, who had not
been asleep, but rather staring at them suspiciously, jumped visibly at her
name. “You’re results were positive. We need you to come with us.”

“Result for
what?” spluttered Marland, alarmed. “Wait, you know what, I don’t believe you. This
whole thing,” she swept a dramatic arm around the room, “is complete and utter
bullshit. You can’t keep on operating like this without the public’s knowledge.
They’ll find out. They always find out.”