The Remarkables (The Remarkable Owen Johnson, part 1) (22 page)

The creature
by now appeared livid, and turned its full attention back to Owen and the others. It leant back as if it was going to attack once more, but then a light appeared behind it.

Unseen,
Trilby had crawled away from beneath the door, and was holding the creature around the waist trying to pull it towards the opening from which it had entered our world. The creature screamed as the light started to spread about its body and thrashed its arms and legs at Trilby. Several met their target, the sharp barbs ripping at his coat as Trilby staggered but continued to pull the creature back.

Mrs Argyle got to her feet, and Owen and Katie ru
shed forward to help her stand. They watched as the creature was slowly pulled backwards. Trilby slipped and Owen saw that there was a barb sticking out of his right leg.

“W
e need to help him!” Owen said. The light from Trilby was now spreading around in a wide radius. Owen let go of Mrs Argyle and ran forward, but Trilby shouted a strained “no!” directing a beam of light at Owen. 

The light burned at h
is skin and he retreated back. His arms were blistered on the sides, and his t-shirt was scorched. Katie came to Owen’s side and held him back, just as Owen was about to begin another attempt at helping the very man that had just attacked him.

Still Trilby tried to pull the creature into the darkness, but the venom appeared to be taking hold and he w
as starting to lose the fight. The creature managed to wrench itself free of one of Trilby’s hands and started to lash out with its barbs which were only narrowly avoiding their target.

Owen tried another
effort, but this time the creature stopped him, launching another barb in his direction. Owen swung in the air, narrowly missing it.

“Get me airborne,”
Katie said.

“What?” Owen replied.

“Get me in the air and I can hit the ground with enough power to knock them over,” she explained, “then the others can try and push them back into wherever that goes.” She pointed at the darkness.

“Do it,” Mrs Argyle
agreed, Ken and Fafnir staggering to her side.

“It’s too dangerous, Katie,” Owen said, visions of her being burned
alive or slashed apart.

“Maybe,” Katie replied, “but no more so than just standing here
and waiting for our turn to dance with whatever that thing is, so come on!” She glared back at Owen with a look that he knew was not to be trifled with.

“Okay,” he said, and bent slightly
so she could climb on his back. As soon as she had done so he launched them into the air and reaching out he climbed up towards the ceiling.

“That’s high enough,”
said Katie looking down below. Trilby and the creature were just in front of where they were suspended in mid-air, standing less than a metre from the entrance to the darkness. “Now drop!”

Owen let go and they fell.
Katie pushed herself off Owen’s back and turned her body so that her right fist was pointing downwards. Owen swung down after her as she plummeted.

Just before she hit the grou
nd she pulled her fist back, and it radiated with light as she did so. She then thrust it into the ground as she landed in a kneeling position.

The floor buckled underneath it, a wave of destruction emanating from the spot she had hit.
Tiles were thrown up in the air as the shockwave passed beneath. As it travelled under the feat of Trilby and the creature they fell back as if hit by a car.

Trilby
landed the furthest away and was consumed by the blackness, aside from his arm which still hooked onto the creature which had grabbed hold of one of the ropes, fighting against the strength that was pulling it back. It wriggled and Trilby’s other hand let go, disappearing back into the darkness. 

It looked like it was going to be able to pull
itself free, but then a jet of water hit it in the chest, followed by Mrs Argyle subjecting it to another force of wind.

The creature howled as it was pushed back slightly, but it
managed to hold its ground. The two forces fought against the creature for a few moments but then stopped, the two siblings collapsing exhausted.

The creature grabbed the other rope and roared at its att
ackers. Before it could do anything else, Trilby reappeared from the darkness and grabbed the creature again. Surprised, the creature let go of the ropes and was pulled back by Trilby.

They both vanished into the darkness.

Owen looked over at the tripod and was about to knock it into the void, when Clive reappeared and landed a hefty kick into the centre of it, knocking it over. Mrs Argyle sent one last blast of wind forward and it disappeared into the portal.

The darkness endured however.

“Damn,” Clive said, “I thought that thing was keeping it open.”

“No,” said Owen
in realisation. “I opened it, so I have to close it.”

He staggered towards the opening, his scorched skin add
ing to the pain from his fall. He stood in front of the darkness and stared into it. Briefly the shimmering darkness gave way to a clear view through the portal. Owen staggered back in despair at what he saw and turned at his friends; a look of terror on his face.

But the sight of them gazing back at him with
such hope and respect caused a fire to be ignited within Owen Johnson. He reached out and pulled at the perimeter of the opening and drew the edges closer. As the edges became closer, they snapped together silently and the darkness and all that lay beyond it vanished, replaced by the white wall behind.

27

“What were those things?” Katie asked, after making sure that Owen and the others were okay.

“Very good question,” Mrs Argyle
commented, striding over to Robert. He was seated upon the door that had briefly trapped Trilby underneath, nursing his arm. Matt had given him a shot of the antidote just moments before. “Well, Robert? You brought them here: why?”

He looke
d up at Mrs Argyle and smirked. “This is but a minor setback I assure you, Celia. Things have been set in motion that cannot be stopped, my old friend.” He struggled to his feet.

“What ha
ve you done?” asked Mrs Argyle, an air of trepidation on her voice. Robert didn’t answer.

“He’s got an army,” Owen said. “I saw them.
There were hundreds of those creatures; all waiting to come through. And other things, only much larger”. Owen had looked upon a sea of the creatures, amassed beyond the darkness, in what appeared to be a large cave. Amongst them were large shapes that he could not properly discern in the darkness, but whatever they were they seemed to be moving and could well have been alive, even though some of them towered as high as tall buildings over the other creatures.

“Magnificent, aren’t they?” Robert said.

“Not the word I’d use,” said Fafnir, rubbing his head. “To what evil end is having an army swarm into this world, leaving us trampled underfoot?”

Before Robert had the chance to answer, the door that
he and Owen had entered earlier opened, and through it entered Fiona and a dozen guards. “There they are!” she shouted.

“Stay where you are!” one of the guards
ordered.

“Time to go, I think
,” announced Fafnir as he grabbed Katie’s arm, pulling her towards the hole in the wall that she had created. The rest of them followed.

“Run by all means!” Robert cried after them, “but
remember to keep one eye over your shoulder! We know where you live, and we have means to find you! You are marked men now, you hear me!”

Katie turned just as she
exited through the hole in the wall, the others running past. “I’m a girl,” she corrected him, and punched the ground. She leapt back as the walls around the opening trembled and then gave way to collapsing masonry, blocking the way for her sister and the guards.

Fafnir gave her an
approving nod and they carried on. Owen just gazed at her in awe. They ran up a steep sloping road towards daylight, Owen only now realising how long he had been unconscious for. The opening was sheltered by a shallow roof and beyond that was a yard surrounded with a high metal fence. There was a closed gate just ahead of them.

Owen looked back and saw that they had emerged from the inside of the hill he had seen
from above. As they ran into the centre of the yard a truck came bursting through the gates. The group huddled back together, Mrs Argyle and Ken adopting a defensive posture and Clive vanishing. Fafnir stared at the approaching truck with one eyebrow cocked, and then chuckled, walking towards it.

The truck cam
e to a stop just ahead of them, and out of the cab leapt Ellie. “It’s an automatic!” she announced, before giving Fafnir a hug.

Ken gave a sigh of relief.
“All the same, do you mind if I drive? I’m exhausted enough without your reckless road sense.”

Ellie laughed again and stood aside so
that Ken could climb on board.

“Fafnir?”
Ken said. “I could probably use your help finding the best way out.”

“Right oh,” Fafnir s
aid, “come on Ellie, you too!” They climbed into the cab via the passenger door. The others headed to the back of the truck. Matt opened the doors and revealed an empty compartment with a row of benches against each of the side walls. Empty that is, apart from the cow that stood at the far end staring at the driver through the glass.

They climbed in, one by one.
Owen was last so he closed the doors behind him. “We’re in!” he shouted out, and the truck pulled away with a squeal of tyres.

Myrtle
let out an alarmed
moo
and decided to lie on the floor, whilst the others belted themselves in. Owen was seated at the back opposite Katie; his father chose the seat next to him.

“Where are we going to go?”
Owen asked.

“Fafnir will know somewh
ere safe,” his father replied. “His old mill is good for hiding out in.”

“My sister knows about it
so it’s no longer safe, no matter what safety measures Granddad has up his sleeve,” Katie pointed out. Her voice trembled as she spoke, tears welling up in her eyes. Clive was seated next to her and put his arm around her. Owen fought against his jealousy which was telling him to leap over and prise them apart.

“Fafnir has been around long enough to know
plenty of hidey-holes that we can use,” Mrs Argyle said, her eyes closed. “It’s what we decide to do afterwards that is the tricky part.”

Owen looked over at Katie.
“Why did your sister try and turn us in?”

Katie opened her
mouth but no answer came out.

“Now’s not the time for that,” said Clive, “we need to
stay alert until we’re clear of the compound.” He turned to Matt. “How many guards have they got?”

“
Quite a lot,” Matt explained, “but I doubt there’s enough to follow us. The Ministry would only let them have so many men at a time”.

“The
Ministry?!” Owen exclaimed.

“Of Defence,”
Matt continued.

“So t
his is a government initiative? They know about what The Remnant are trying to do?”

“I’m not ce
rtain how much they were told. The official purpose of the Manor was for developing new weapons. It took them so long to build the warehouse in the hill that very little R&D actually occurred there.

“The involvement of the
Remnant was to create some form of arsenal that could combine conventional weapons with the powers that you guys have. They’ve been trying to create them for years; way before they moved here, and that’s what led your parents-” Matt gestured at Katie “-to recruit me.”

“You knew my parents?” Katie asked.

“Not very well,” Matt admitted, shaking his head, “they died not long after they got me the job here, after your dad and I bumped into one another when I held a much more junior position in the police. The Remnant found it useful to have a man on their side in the police force to help them with surveillance and such. Not that I was ever on their side of course, your dad showed me the extremes that they would go to achieve their goals, but as far as they’re concerned I’m a detective chief inspector by day; a praetorian by night.”

“What were you doing at my place?” Clive asked suspiciously.

“I’d been tracking Trilby through London after a tip off from a member of the public, who described a man in a hat who was making light appear from his hands. It was dismissed by my colleagues as a prank call, but I thought it wise to investigate. I knew that the Remnant had managed to locate the area that Clive here was residing, so I ventured out that way to see if I could quiz him about our friend in the hat.

“Just as I arrived I saw the two of you enter,” Matt pointed at Owen and Mrs
Argyle, his finger resting on the latter, “and then you blew me off.”

“Very funny,”
commented Mrs Argyle.

“Were you in the compound all along?” asked Christopher.

“I arrived this afternoon, summoned by the powers that be. They wanted me on surveillance duty, but I abandoned my post in the confusion caused by Ken deciding to turn the old house into Iguaçu Falls.

“I’d heard a rumour about a prisoner that had been captured in the Midlands and
was curious as to who it was. I was lurking in the room next to yours, Christopher, which just happened to be where they kept those wretched poisoned darts and their antidotes. I heard Sir Robert leave your room, so I risked coming in to try and rescue you, after I’d dealt with the technician of course. I was lucky Sir Robert didn’t see me when you walked past. Once you were out of sight I went to look for Christopher and found him sleeping on the job. A quick jab from that antidote soon had him wide awake though.”

“For which I am very grateful,” Christopher said, “even though your injection technique is a little brutal.”

“Who is this Robert character?” Owen asked.

“
He used to be head of our division,” Mrs Argyle explained, “he’s the one who recruited me and Ken, and Clive too.”

“But I thought he recruited you to help win the War?”

“He did, and his ambitions in the early days were to keep evil at bay. But power does odd things to a person, as does seeing those around you slip away whilst others endure with seemingly eternal life. Robert clearly managed to extend his life and by doing so has formed an allegiance with those wretched black things.”

“You spoke of them
back there as if you knew what they were?” commented Matt. “How did you know that they wouldn’t work with him?”

Mrs Argyle adjusted her coat and glanced at Clive, both of them obviously finding the subject uncomfortable
. “There were efforts made, during the darkest times in the War, to form alliances with beings similar to those. Not by our side, I must add, but by our enemies.”

“There were Nazi Remarkables?” Owen asked, surprised.

“Of course there were,” Fafnir explained. “Hitler was obsessed with that sort of thing. He started recruiting way before the Allies did. I turned the F
ü
hrer down personally, although not especially politely.”

Mrs Argyle smi
led. “When they couldn’t amass an army capable of fighting us, they tried to access the other worlds using the abilities of those over whom they held power.” Clive shifted in his seat awkwardly. “They managed to locate suitable armies, but couldn’t maintain the portals for long enough for them to transfer to our world.”

“That’s why he needed me,” Owen said, “so that I could pull those rope things through, whatever they were.”

“A bridge,” his father explained. “They were a bridge between the worlds. The Remnant has been working on one for years but never managed to get the phasing right.” He smiled to himself. “Well actually they did, I just happened to throw spanners in the works each time they made progress.”

“But now they’ve found another source,” Mrs Argyle said thoughtfully, “I just don’t understand who helped them communicate with those that built it.”

“There’s only one person with that power,” Clive said.

“That’s impossible and you know it,” Christopher snapped at him.

Clive held his hands up in defence. “I’m just saying, is all.”

“That’s not helpful,” stated Mrs Argyle, “and as
Christopher said, impossible. There must be someone else.”

A gloomy silence prevailed
, Christopher glaring at Clive. Owen wanted to ask his father who they were referring to, but decided against it. He had never seen him look so angry.

After about an hour or so the truck came to a stop. Clive unbuckled his belt and peered through the window to the cab. “Where are we guys?” he asked.

A loud engine roar
was followed by the sight of an aeroplane flying low overhead, making Clive jump back in surprise.

“An airport,” Ken said drolly.

The others unbuckled their belts and Owen opened the back of the truck. He jumped down and helped the others descend. Myrtle stayed where she was.

“Are we going on a trip?” Clive
asked.

“You’re not,” Fafnir said and pointed at Owen and Katie, “they are.”

“Granddad?” Katie said questioningly.

“It’s not safe here,” Fafnir said, taking Katie’s hands in hers.

“It’ll be safe if I’m with you!” she said tearfully. “Mum and Dad left me, Fi hates me. I can’t lose you as well!”

“My dear Katie,” Fafnir said
gently, “you’ll never lose me. But if you stay here I can’t guarantee your safety, and I won’t be responsible for you being hurt.”

“But you won’t be! 
I’m strong, I’ve-” Fafnir cut her off by putting his finger to her lips.

“
Alone I can easily hide. But I couldn’t shelter you as well, and if they take you it would be nobody’s fault but mine.” Katie collapsed into his arms sobbing.

“Dad?”
Owen turned to his father.

“You’ll be safe there, and don’t
worry; I’ll come and join you. I need to be here for Jack to begin with.” Owen nodded, feeling guilty for forgetting about his younger brother who would be away for the next few weeks. “Plus there’s some stuff at the house I need to sort out, and I’d like to collect the car, it’s been very loyal over the years.” Mrs Argyle looked sheepish but remained silent. “Plus I need to square things up with those at work who aren’t connected to this lot. And besides, Celia will keep you safe.”