Man Hunt

Chapter Twenty Nine - The Execution

The faces of the dead swirl throughout my damaged mind, none of them deserved to die in the way in which they did – not even the traitors, despite the horrific things they both did. Not even Niamh – presuming that she is dead. I see the faces of my fallen companions and foes; Robbie, Eve, Jack, Kate, Niamh...soon I will be joining them. As will Aaron. Soon we will both be dead.

I cannot forget the way each of them looked as they left this world and passed on into the next – covered in blood, bruises, cuts and sweat and permeated with dirt. I have always feared death, but to even imagine being murdered sends a chill down my spine. They did not deserve to die in the way in which they did. Nobody deserves a fate like that.

I feel as I am neither alive nor dead. I feel as though I am asleep, yet I am awake at the same time. I feel exhausted, yet bursting to the brim with energy. I have never experienced this feeling before.

Am I dying? Is that what this is? Am I unconscious?

I have never experienced anything like this, I am aware that I am in a trance-like state, however I have control over my thoughts. It is as though I am dreaming, yet I am in command of what happens in it. I am the ruler of my own mind.

Alice...you murdered me, taunts the voice of Niamh, sounding in my head – it seems to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, you murdered me...

‘’I had no choice,’’

My own voice is like hers. Although I scream my response, I somehow know my lips remain shut. It is as though my voice is echoing from every corner of my mind, coming from everywhere all at once, yet at the same time, nowhere at all.

You killed me, your friend...your only friend... she continues.

‘’I showed mercy to you, certainly a lot more than you deserved.’’

You’re a murderer.

Her voice seems to ebb away like a tide retreating from the shores of a beach and moving back out to sea. Her abuse fades until it is nothing and I am left in the silence of my own mind.

Aaron’s face flashes across my mind. I see him lying face down in the water and then again in the sand. I failed him. After I resuscitated him, I should not have made him return. We were so close to being free. Our – relatively – happy ever after was in sight, practically within reaching distance and I blew it.

Now we are both going to die. All because of me. All because I wanted to be a hero.

No Alice, begins my inner voice in protest, you did what was right.

I curse myself silently. I returned to prevent anything like this happening again. I returned to ensure that no other teenagers would be abducted and forced to do what we – and what so many others – were forced to do. Yet it was all in vein. The people that run this had got what they were looking for. If I had not returned, it would have made no difference.

We would be alive.

‘’Alice,’’ says a voice I immediately relate to my flashback. 

This voice is different to Niamh’s however; it is not coming from everywhere at once. In fact, I hear it quite clearly – as though the person is standing directly beside me. It is a voice I recognise. It is the voice of whoever saved me from being turned into a mute before this all started.

I open my eyes.

As my eyelids flutter open, I am blinded by light. On a stand directly above me, a large and powerful light bulb shines down on me – illuminating my face. I try to lift my hands up to my eyes to shield them from the beams; however I find they are strapped to my sides. Again, I am confined to a bed of some sort. No, not a bed. What I am lying on seems to resemble a dentist chair.