The Hourglass (8 page)

“Or really? And
are you and your elephant going to stop me?” The stocky girl flushed a deep red
but didn’t move.

“We won’t need
to. This was agreed between the Queen and King, remember? The girls deal with
the girls, and the boys with the boys. We don’t need to stop you. The King will
do that himself.”

Ferrit paused
for half-a-second, his eyes flickering over to the bench where the King sat.
The King wasn’t looking at their table. Instead he was looking at the Queen,
who was staring right back at him. The King turned back and spoke to two of the
other boys at his table irritably. They got up immediately and headed over.
Ferrit gulped audibly.

“It was just a
bit of fun, that’s all,” he whined.

The boy with the
glasses released April and backed away, putting as much distance between
himself and Ferrit as possible. The boy holding Finn’s shoulder was a bit
slower on the uptake. The two other boys had arrived.

“Move your
bloody hand,” snapped one of them. He had pale blue eyes that were cold as
diamonds. The large boy moved his hand away from Finn’s shoulder, blinking in
surprise. Sarah guessed that he didn’t cope well with sudden changes.

“Oh c’mon,”
whined Ferrit. He pointed desperately at Finn. “He’s not one of the girls.”

“It’s up to the King
to decide how the new people are dealt with, not you. Especially when it comes
to the girls. When the King and Queen made that agreement, they expected
everyone to follow it. By breaking that agreement, you’re making the King look
bad. He doesn’t like to look bad. He wants to see you before cell closure
tonight. Bring your idiot friends.”

By this point
the boy with the glasses who had been forcing April’s head down had all but
disappeared. Ferrit’s expression was a mixture of misery, anger and fear. He
sat moodily at the bench, not moving. “It was just a bit of fun,” he repeated
sulkily.

“Well piss off!”
demanded one of the King’s boys. Ferrit pushed himself up from the bench and
strode away, the large boy trailing behind him. The King’s boys nodded at the two
Queen’s girls and walked away. The girls smirked at the retreating back of
Ferrit and likewise left.

Finn let out a
big breath of air. Sarah knew how he felt. That was a narrowly avoided
disaster.

“April?” asked
Finn. Sarah followed his gaze. April looked murderous. She pushed her plate of
half-eaten potato and protein mush away from her.

“I’m fine,” she
muttered furiously. She stood up suddenly. “I’m going back to the factory floor.
See you when lunch is over.” April deposited her dirty tray in the correct
trolley and then left the room so fast that she was nearly running.

“They really
seem to just go for her, don’t they?” said Sarah, watching April’s retreating
back.

“She has the
worst luck,” agreed Marland, who’s hands were still shaking.

Finn was
drumming his fingers speculatively on the table top. “Do you think they were
implying that I was one of the girls?” he asked, distracted.

“Maybe you
should get some guy friends,” suggested Marland.

“What? I have
guy friends. There’s Justin, and Boulder and I are mates,” replied Finn. They
all glanced over to where Boulder was eating lunch alone at the end of a table.
As if he had heard them from across the crowded room he looked straight up in
their direction, meeting their eyes. His glare was so unfriendly that Finn
winced. “It’s a friendship in progress,” he said, “but we’re totally solid.”

Justin returned
from the bathroom and sat down at the table. He frowned at April’s empty seat
and paused as he took in everyone’s faces. “Did I miss something?”

Marland giggled.
The bell rang, signalling lunch was over. They all stood and collected their
plates, depositing them in the designated area before marching back to the
floor, Finn filling Justin in on what had happened as they walked. The moment
after they sat down at their usual place along the conveyer belt a hush
descended over the room. Every single prisoner was looking expectantly at two guards
that had just walked in. It was Mr Wall and Mr Painter.

Wall and Painter

“Well, Mr Wall,”
said Mr Painter, loud enough for everyone to hear, but not shouting. “Who
should we pick this week?”

“The new
prisoners, I think, Mr Painter,” replied Mr Wall.

Mr Painter
raised his eyebrows. “That’s very generous of you, Mr Wall.”

“They should
appreciate that this ship functions on teamwork,” replied Mr Wall equitably.

Mr Painter gave
a sardonic smile but didn’t comment. Instead he scanned the room, his eyes
resting briefly on the new prisoners.

“Newbies!” he
yelled, using the word that Ferrit had used earlier, “line up here, now.”

A disappointed
groan swept throughout the factory floor. Finn raised an eyebrow at Sarah as
they got up and jogged lightly over to where Mr Painter was waiting
impatiently. She felt cautiously thrilled.
Was it actually possible that
they were getting chosen for something good?
Sarah, Finn, Marland and April
joined Heather, Toddy and Colt, who were already waiting in front of the two
guards.

“Follow-us,”
ordered Mr Painter. The guards turned around and left the room. The “newbies” exchanged
quizzical glances and followed. No one seemed willing to ask where they were
going. They just weren’t brave enough to draw the attention and possible ire of
Mr Painter. Toddy, who had only yesterday made the joke about Mr Painter’s name
and had subsequently had his head bashed against the wall, was standing next to
Sarah, his head bowed and his eyes on his shoes. Sarah didn’t blame him. He
looked terrible. It was a very silent group that followed the two senior guards
and no one lagged behind. After traversing a few corridors and climbing two sets
of stairs, Sarah felt a breeze of fresh air waft across her face. She walked
with the others out onto the open deck and inhaled deeply. It smelt wonderful.
She had only been inside the ship for a day and yet she felt a new appreciation
for the outdoors, despite having to adjust her eyes to the glare of the sun.
They had arrived via a far more direct route than what they had traversed
originally when they were being shown to their cells for the first time. Sarah
figured that they had to make it simple and direct in order to efficiently
transfer the boxes of parts continuously from the factory floor to the outside
deck for retrieval. Except for one or two people wearing long overalls, the
deck was empty. They all stayed close together. Mr Wall turned around.

“Supplies are
delivered to the ship weekly. Foodstuffs, medicines and factory supplies are
delivered by air or boat. The schedule is kept varied in case of raids. Your
job is to unload the carriers quickly and efficiently. All boxes are to be
stacked neatly over there.” He pointed to an area in the shade of the upper
deck. Tape had been laid on the ground, delineating the area from that around
it. “It’s hard work, but you’ll find that others would happily give their
grandmothers for a chance to work out here in the breeze instead of below in
the factory, so I don’t expect to hear any complaints. Remain in yelling sight
until the supplies come and then I expect you to return to this spot ASAP.” Mr
Wall and Mr Painter walked away to a couple of seats positioned in the shade. Toddy
and Colt also found shady spots in which to sit down. From the way they glanced
continuously at Mr Painter, they had chosen their spots more for the fact that
they were as far away from Mr Painter as they could construe without him taking
offence, rather than because they were comfortable or getting the breeze. Justin
laid down in a sunny spot with good breeze, his hands behind his head as he
gazed at the blue sky. Heather leaned against the wall behind her, her arms
crossed. Sarah headed towards the edge of the boat.

“Hey, where are
you going?” asked Finn, a step or two behind her.

“Just to look
over the edge.”

Finn went pale.
“Oh. Um, I’ll be back here.” He pointed to where Justin was basking in the sun.

“You aren’t
going to fall over the edge and drown,” replied Sarah.

“Oh, you’re an
expert on boats now, are you? How many times have you been on a boat? Once?
When they brought us here? I thought so,” said Finn with a mock-serious
expression. He turned jauntily around and headed towards Justin. Sarah shrugged
and continued to the edge of the ship with Marland and April trailing her for
lack of anything better to do. They all lent against the railings and looked
down.

Marland
shivered. “I get why Finn doesn’t like it,” she said. “It’s so cold and
unforgiving. It could just swallow you whole and there would be no evidence
that you even existed.”

“If your boots
came off they’d probably float to the surface,” reflected April. “That would be
some evidence.”

Marland pushed
her playfully and rolled her eyes. “Smart mouth.”

“I can’t believe
you lot are still hanging out together,” said a voice from behind them. They
turned around. To Sarah’s surprise it was Heather. She must have followed them
over. “It’s pathetic. And you,” she said, pointing at Sarah, “are an idiot for
staying with that freak.” Heather hooked a thumb over her shoulder in the
direction of where Finn was now lying on the deck next to Justin.

“What’s it to
you, anyway?” asked Sarah angrily. She was having her first relaxing moment on
this ship and Heather had just ruined it.

Heather looked
at her as if she was an idiot. “Why would any of you matter to me? I’m just
saying, on this ship, you need to be one of the strong people. The freaks and
the weirdos should be dumped first chance you can get, because they’re just
going to drag you down.”

“He’s not a
freak.”

“Um, have you
seen his hair?” Heather laughed as if she had said something hilarious. None of
the others joined in.

“Is that why you
were talking to the Queen earlier?” asked April. “To be with the strong?” her
voice was heavy with sarcasm that flew right over Heather’s head.

“Exactly. They
recognise that I’m one of them. I told you from day one to align yourself with
the right people. Here I am, now besties with the Queen, while you lot are
still on the bottom of the dung heap. I saw that you had to get saved earlier
today from Ferrit. It’s pathetic. If you guys don’t align yourself with someone
like the Queen soon, you’re going to get destroyed.”

When they didn’t
agree with her Heather rolled her eyes and strode away, throwing her hands up
in the air. “Idiots,” they heard her mutter.

“Besties my
ass,” muttered April. “The Queen is just using her as a… as a minion,” said
April, grasping for the right word.

Sarah wasn’t
paying attention. She was looking over at where Finn was lying, enjoying the
sun. “Do you think that others think the same way?” she asked. “I mean, do you
think that Finn’s going to get into trouble just because of his hair?”

“It does make
him stand out,” replied Marland, biting at her nails.

“But he’s
friendly and stuff,” added in April. “That’s got to help, right?”

“Which might
work if we were back in town, but we’re on a ship that consists pretty much of
thugs,” said Sarah, answering her own question. Nobody said anything, they all
just looked at Finn, lost in their individual thoughts. Sensing their stares
Finn turned his head to look at them. He waved cheerfully. Sarah sighed. “He’s
going to die.”

April snorted
and playfully smacked Sarah on the shoulder, and even Marland twittered at the
joke. The two girls turned back to lean against the railing but Sarah found it
difficult to turn away from Finn. She had been joking. Of course she had.

Hadn’t she?

Branded

The sound of
blades whipping through the air reached their ears and they turned around to
see a helicopter descending towards them. It was a large, solid aircraft that
despite being clearly designed for transport, still sported two large,
conspicuous cannons on each side. There was shrill whistle and they turned to
see Mr Painter standing and pointing at the floor in front of him. The others were
hurrying over to stand near him and the girls followed suit. By the time they
reached Mr Painter the helicopter had touched ground. One of the pilots
disappeared into the back of the aircraft and a door opened up from inside,
revealing tightly stacked boxes.

“Keep your heads
down,” roared Mr Painter over the noise of the helicopter blades, “and be
quick!”

They all ran
out, crouched low despite the blades being high above them. Justin was the
first to reach the helicopter. He jumped up into the storage space inside and
started to pass boxes out to the rest of them. Sarah sagged under hers. It was
heavy, but she jogged out as best she could and stacked it neatly with the
others against the wall before returning for another box. Each and every box
was marked with the hourglass symbol. By the time she had returned with her
fourth box Mr Painter was near the helicopter, chatting with the pilot. This
left Mr Wall alone near the growing pile of stacked boxes. She set down the box
down and rolled her shoulders in an attempt to stretch the muscles and release
some of the tension. None of the other prisoners were near them. He took a step
towards her as she positioned her box so that it sat squarely on the one below
it.

“Ms Hutchen told
me that you have the Hourglass Group symbol on your body,” said Mr Wall
quietly.

Sarah looked up
in surprise. He was staring at her intently, gauging her response. She didn’t
know what to say and after a moment she realised that her mouth was hanging
open. She shut it with a snap.

“Why do you have
that?” he asked after it was clear that she wasn’t going to reply.

“I don’t know,”
said Sarah. She was saved from further comment by Justin nudging her aside so
that he could place his box on hers.

“C’mon lazy
bones,” he said, clearly unaware of the conversation Sarah and Mr Wall were
having, “we still have more boxes.” Sarah jogged back to the helicopter
willingly. When she returned with the next box Mr Wall actually reached out a
hand and held her by the arm.

“Nobody else
knows,” he said earnestly. “Ms Hutchen will keep it to herself. I won’t share
your secret.”

Sarah just
stared back at him, nonplussed. What secret? What was he talking about?

“I don’t…” began
Sarah, but Mr Wall had pushed her away and was looking instead at Mr Painter in
the distance, who had just finished chatting to the pilot and was now
returning. Sarah didn’t need another cue. She took off once again and helped
retrieve the last lot of boxes. Once the helicopter had been cleared they all
grouped around the stacked boxes and watched as the helicopter took off and
disappeared into the distance. Mr Painter turned to face them.

“The boxes need
to be sorted and grouped into foodstuff, medicines and factory parts. You will
then load each group onto a trolley.” He glanced at his watch. “You have half
an hour.” He left them to it, ambling off to a more comfortable position in the
shade.

“How are we
meant to know what’s in each box?” grumbled Toddy, who was happy to complain
out of earshot of Mr Painter.

“It’s stencilled
on the corner of the box,” pointed out Justin. He picked up a box labelled
‘foodstuffs’ and moved it a couple of metres before putting it down again.
“This is the foodstuffs pile,” he announced. The group started sorting through
the boxes and piling them into their appropriate groups. Sarah went to pick up
a particularly large box but had to stop after she found herself struggling to
lift it.

“Hey can someone
come give me a hand with this one?” she called out to the group. Finn started
to head over but was cut off by Colt. He took one end of the box and they
lifted it together.

“Thanks,” said
Sarah. “This is factory parts.” They shuffled over to the factory parts pile.

Colt grinned at
her. “Just call me your knight in shining armour.”

“What?” asked
Sarah, completely confused.

“You’re the
damsel in distress.” He winked at her.

Sarah blinked.
“Right.” They put the box down in its pile.

“If you need
some muscle for anything else,” said Colt, “let me know.” He was stretching
with his arms behind his head. Sarah was sure that he knew that this showed off
his arm muscles perfectly. She didn’t know whether to laugh or blush. He was
gorgeous, but ridiculous.

“Um, thanks.”
She walked away quickly. Marland and April were smirking at her. She tried to
ignore them but ended up blushing an embarrassingly deep red. She moved another
box and then risked a look back at Colt. The muscles in his back were showing
through his shirt as he lifted a particularly large box. She sighed. He was so
pretty. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. The next box she picked up
was particularly small. It was labelled ‘medicine’. A thought occurred to her. “Hey
April,” what do you know about the Hourglass Group?”

“Weird
question,” replied April.

Sarah pulled a
face. “We build secret weapon parts for them and they supply all of our food
and medicines. I am currently lugging their boxes around. It would be weird not
to ask.”

April shrugged.
“Fair enough then. Um, I know pretty much what everybody else knows, I think.
They were started early on when the first of the worst zoonoses infections
broke out. They were a research group, focusing on cures and vaccines. Now
they’ve branched out into war weapons, especially biological weapons as well as
their original research.”

“That isn’t what
everybody else knows,” said Finn, eavesdropping shamelessly. “Most people just
know that they created the beserkers.”

Sarah shivered
involuntarily. She had heard about the beserkers, of course. Everybody had.
They were chemicals used by the zealots in the army to improved their strength,
speed and increase their aggression. They didn’t feel pain. You could stab or
shoot a beserker multiple times and it wouldn’t even break their stride unless
they bled out. Of course, this came with a downside; not everyone who took it
would survive. In one in fifty people the body was incapable of keeping up with
the demands of the chemical, causing the user’s heart to burst in their chest
as they sped towards the enemy. Even those lucky enough to survive were never
really the same again. There were reports of people going mad with grief when
the chemical wore off and they saw the carnage that they had caused. A rumour
went around Sarah’s city a couple of years ago that the beserker chemical was
now available on the streets. For two months people would only travel in
groups, and no one went outside at night. Everyone was petrified that they
would turn a corner to find themselves face-to-face with someone high on the
chemical. You wouldn’t survive an encounter with a beserker. Everybody knew
that. Yet no reports emerged of even a single attack and so slowly people
returned to their normal routines and activities. Sarah remembered the fear
though and she still felt a sliver of it every time someone mentioned the
chemical. She didn’t want the symbol of the group that made that sort of weapon
on her body. She had a sudden urge to scrub at the scar as if she could wipe it
off.

“What does the
symbol mean?” she asked instead.

“Something about
time running out, obviously,” said Justin.

“I was hoping
for the real meaning,” replied Sarah.

“Cure the
disease before they die?” offered Colt.

“Study the
diseased before they die,” corrected Toddy.

“Kill them
before they kill you,” supplied Heather.

“I can’t believe
we’re practically working for them,” said Finn, disgusted. He dumped the box he
was carrying as if it had offended him personally.

“What do you
mean, practically?” asked Marland, her face despondent. “They pretty much own
us.”

There was a dull
silence as everybody pondered that one over.

“April,” said
Marland, “what does your uncle do for the government, exactly? You never told
us the other day.”

April blushed
and shrugged in a vague, non-committal way. “I don’t really have much to do
with him.”

“For not having
much to do with him you hear an awful lot,” replied Finn.

“He talks to my
parents, not me.” 

Marland grinned.
“You eavesdrop! You sneaky little cheek! I hope you tell everyone what you find
out. People need to know what’s happening.”

“It’s usually
not that interesting.”

“Not to you,
maybe, but I bet there are other people out there who would love to hear some
of the things you know.”

“Wait,” said Finn,
holding out his hands as if to physically stop everyone. No one stopped moving,
but they stopped talking. “Didn’t you say that you used to sell contraband
fruit?”

“It was my
friend, really. She sold the stuff. Her usual partner was sick so she asked me
to step in. I did and that was the day we were caught. Terrible timing on my
part,” she gave a weak smile.

“I bet your
uncle was pissed,” said Marland, impressed.

“Oh yes,” said
April, nodding. “He was.”

“What happened
to your friend?”

“She managed to get
away before they could tag her. I wouldn’t tell them who she was so they
upgraded my crime. My uncle nearly killed me.”

The others
laughed but Sarah was still thinking about the Hourglass Group’s symbol.

“Have you ever
heard about people marking themselves with the Hourglass Group’s symbol?” she
asked April, her voice low so that none of the others could hear.

April frowned.
“Do you mean like a tattoo?”

“Something like
that.”

“I don’t think
so,” said April, considering the question. “Although there was something…” she
trailed off. “Nope, sorry, it’s gone. It’ll come to me later when I’m not thinking
about it.”

“No worries,”
said Sarah, trying to hide her disappointment. “Just… just let me know if you
remember.”

“Yeah, sure
thing,” said April, giving Sarah a funny look. Sarah understood why. It was a
weird question if you didn’t know about her mark, and she wasn’t going to tell
anyone about that. Not even Marland or Finn. The symbol of a group of people
who make drugs such as the beserker chemical is not something that you want to
be associated with. She had wondered about it before, of course. How could
something like that just appear on her body without her knowing how or why? But
she had never linked it to anything. The Hourglass Group’s symbol wasn’t as
well known in her city as the name was, but now that she was surrounded by it
she couldn’t ignore the link.

But what,
thought Sarah desperately, does it mean?

“Change the
topic,” said a voice near her ear. She looked up to see Mr Wall. Damn, she
thought, he could move quietly for a portly guy. To her surprise she realised
that he wasn’t looking at her. She followed his line of sight felt her stomach
drop as she spotted the Warden standing on the deck above them. Silence
descended amongst the other prisoners as they too caught sight of her. There
was the briefest of pauses before they returned back to the task at hand,
moving quietly and efficiently as they stacked the very last of the boxes into
their correct piles. As Sarah moved her last box she glanced back up at the
Warden. A gold broach pinned to the Warden’s chest glinted in the sunlight,
catching Sarah’s attention. When she realised what it was Sarah almost dropped
her box. The Warden was wearing a small, gold, stylised version of the
Hourglass Group’s symbol. The Warden’s eyes shifted to her and she lowered her
head, concentrating on the task at hand and trying to look as inconspicuous as
possible. Once the boxes had been categorised the group stood there awkwardly,
no one brave enough to start a conversation in hearing range of the Warden.
Without a word or change in expression the warden turned away and returned
indoors. The group relaxed visibly and conversation started up amongst them.
They stood there for ten more minutes before some men in overalls brought some
trolley carts from somewhere for them to load the boxes onto. The prisoners did
it at a comfortable pace, each understanding the unspoken agreement that they
should try to stretch out their time outside as much as they possibly could. Justin
had pointed out that they didn’t know the next time they would see sunlight
again, and the thought of this was beginning to even overshadow thoughts about
the Hourglass Group.