Chapter 10

Trudy stood in front of the full length mirror in her hotel room. This was it. Today was the day. Today, she would finally get her freedom back: Martin would go to prison; divorce proceedings could get underway; Brady could start going to a normal nursery, without being followed everywhere by a bodyguard.

There was a knock at the door. Trudy turned to look over at Cloe, who was playing with Brady.

"That'll be Lex," she said, nervously, "How do I look?"

"You look great," Cloe smiled, "you're gonna knock 'em dead!"

Trudy pulled a face at the latter comment and Cloe was quick to pick up her meaning.

"Figuratively speaking, of course," the younger girl added.

Trudy laughed a little and turned to the door.

"Well," she said, to the room in general, "Here we go!"

She strode over to the door and flung it open. Immediately her happy, smiling face turned to a mask of horror.

"Martin!"

xxxx

Jack woke up and blinked in the bright daylight. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand then stopped and frowned: there was no weight on his other arm. Looking over at the other side of the bed, he saw that it was empty; Ebony wasn't there. He frowned again, then looked around, sitting up as he did so. He froze, realising for the first time that he had woken up expecting Ebony to be there, lying next to him; that he was getting used to her being there. Shaking his head, he got up and pulled on a dressing gown, his dressing gown, and wandered over to the bathroom. He looked down at the array of toiletries: half his, half Ebony's. Again, he froze. Jack tried to think back to the last time he'd actually spent a night in his own flat, not just stopped by to pick up some stuff, most of which had now found its own little space in Ebony's flat. As far as he could remember, that was the night he and Ellie had broken up. He hadn't spent a night there since. He hadn't spent a night without Ebony since. Jack's eyebrows moved an inch up his forehead as he watched his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

"Am I..." He began, frowning at his reflection as if it held all the answers to the questions rolling through his mind, "Am I slowly moving in here?"

Half an hour, one shower and too many unanswered questions later, Jack wandered into the small, oblong kitchen. At the far end, Ebony sat nursing a mug of coffee and staring out of the window.

"Hey," Jack muttered, pouring himself a mug of coffee.

"Hey," Ebony replied, automatically.

"Something wrong?"

"Huh?"

"You were awake before me."

"Couldn't sleep."

"Oh."

Jack sat down on the other kitchen stool and sipped his coffee.

"Anything you want to talk about, Ebs?"

"No," Ebony shook her head, but continued to stare dazedly out of the window.

Jack's brow wrinkled in concern. This wasn't like her. He wanted to gather her up in his arms and tell her it was okay, whatever it was, and that she could talk to him, that he was there. He wanted to put his arms around her and shelter her, protect her. He reached out a hand to brush away a stray braid that had fallen across her flawless cheek, then froze. What was he doing? What was he thinking? He shook his head and turned back to his coffee.

"What time is it?" Ebony asked, eventually.

"Almost nine," Jack replied, squinting at his watch.

"You should go: you've got a lecture."

"So have you."

"I'm not going."

"Why not?"

Ebony paused, briefly, and continued to stare out of the window before looking down into her mug.

"Headache," she muttered.

"Right," Jack murmured, finishing his coffee and getting to his feet.

Again, Jack's hand stretched out towards Ebony. Again he froze. Again, his hand dropped to his side and in silence, he left the room. A few minutes later, as the nearby clock tower of the college struck nine o'clock, Ebony heard the door of her apartment close, then watched Jack cross the road and small section of park to the nearest of the buildings, where his lectures were held. Later there was a computing lab that they shared, then some more lectures. Ebony looked down at her mug of now cold coffee and contemplated going back to bed. Perhaps, if she had looked up, she would have seen the blonde-haired figure following Jack into the nearby building.

xxxx

Amber woke up with a stiff neck. Now she remembered why she always hated sleeping on sofas. She checked her mobile. There was a message from Dal, saying that he had got her message and would see her that evening, if and when she finally got back to their flat, and one from her parents, reminding her of her sister's birthday next week. Amber rolled her eyes and sat up.

"What time is it?"

"Just after nine," came the reply from another room.

Amber got up and walked round into the open plan kitchen/dining area. Jewel was sitting at the table, eating cereal and drinking coffee. The small television in the corner was tuned to the morning news.

"So far, scientists have no idea what is causing the recent spate of hallucinations," the news reader read, "They say that, as there is no visible pattern to the attacks, and as there are few links between any of the victims, it may take them some time to isolate the cause of this strange occurrence. Some religious groups are claiming that the victims are being possessed by demons and rumours of an imminent apocalypse abound. The only thing known for certain is that these hallucinations are not caused by any of the known legal or illegal drugs. It appears that most of the victims are students at the city's polytechnical college; however, scientists warn that this may be misleading as a large section of the city's youth attend this college and we have no information regarding the source of the attacks. We would advise everyone, regardless of age or status, to monitor their food and drink intake and to boil any tap water before drinking."

"What's that all about?" Amber asked her friend.

"Loads of people have been suddenly going crazy," Jewel replied, "It's odd, there are variations in the 'hallucinations' as they're called, but there seem to be a set number of 'types' of hallucination. Some, most of them, it seems, seem to think that they are taking part in some game where everyone is an enemy and it is kill or be killed. Others believe they are deep underwater or high in the sky, not that they feel in danger at all: they all seem fairly happy with what's going on. There are even some who seem to think that they are stuck in some diseased, post-apocalyptic world, where only they children have survived and now it's everyone for themselves: no order, only chaos; no families, only 'tribes' - gangs of kids banding together to fight each other for food, shelter, power, even water. That's where the religious groups come in: they say that those ones are seeing the future if we don't mend our ways and the reason only children survived is because they are innocent. It's weird. Imagine living in a world like that!"

"I don't think I'd survive it!" Amber cried, sitting down, "And they have no idea what's causing it?"

"None. Lots of theories: demonic possession; radiation; some new hallucinogenic drug on the market; a virus in the water supply."

"Weird!"

"So, are you ready for the test?"

"I'll never be ready for the test! Why bother, I'm going to fail anyway!"

"Oh, I'm certain of it!" Jewel remarked calmly.

"Gee, thanks!" Amber looked up at her friend in surprise.

"Well, Amber, I have no doubt that you can do anything you put your mind to; therefore, if you put your mind to failing, I've no doubt you'll manage that!"

xxxx

Lex woke up with a pounding headache. He pushed himself up off the floor and looked around, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Someone, or something, had hit him and knocked him out. That much was certain. He looked round to Trudy's door. It was shut. He tried it. It was locked.

"Trudy!" Lex yelled, "Trudy, are you in there!"

"Le..." Trudy began, her voice disappearing into a shriek.

Lex heard a thud and then heard Brady start crying. He stepped back from the door and took a run at it. The first blow seemed to do nothing but bruise his shoulder. He stepped further back and tried again. This time the door flew open and Lex thundered into the room. Immediately in front of him he saw Martin. Cowering in one corner were Cloe and Brady, the maid's arms wrapped around the crying child. Slumped against the wall was an unconscious Trudy, blood seeping from a burst lip and one eye swelling already. Her right arm also looked broken.

Before Lex had time to utter one word of comfort to the younger girls, Martin flew at him. The two men grappled, locked in equal combat, until Martin pulled back a fist and aimed it for Lex's face. The shorter man ducked and turned, his raven hair flying out behind him as he spun around and hit Martin full in the chest with a powerful kick. The blonde tyrant staggered backwards and, as Lex caught up with him, they began exchanging blows and blocks. What Lex lacked in height, he made up for in skill and gradually he forced Martin backwards onto the long balcony. Backed into a corner, Trudy's husband began to grow desperate and became almost wild with anger. Again, he threw a punch at Lex and again the bodyguard retaliated with a kick. This time, however, he was too close to the edge and, as the railing of the balcony snapped behind him, Lex saw Martin's hands flail and grasp vainly at the air, before disappearing down into the abyss of the hotel gardens. Moments later there was a scream and a sickening thud. The briefest glance over the edge told Lex that Martin... was dead.