Chapter 24: A Fight For Survival
Elliot and his travel companions had been walking for five hours with very little rest. Every now and again a helicopter would hover overhead and they would have to hide from sight in the hope of not being detected. This happened three times before nightfall. On all occasions they were confident that they had not been discovered. Elliot found this nerve-wracking. He was afraid, far more afraid than he wanted to be. The adolescent was also tired and hungry. Night was coming and he dreaded the cold that came with it. The terrain was also rocky which would make it difficult to sleep at night. He always hated it when he felt tired yet somehow struggled for sleep.
“We’d better rest here,” Calum declared. “There’s no point in going further. One of us might twist an ankle in the dark. We’ll rest here until daylight”
Before retiring to their sleeping bags, Calum handed everyone a tin of sardines. Elliot was starving and devoured it in less than a minute. Anything would probably taste good at this time.
“Jeff, have you got any of your stories to put us to sleep?” Diego asked.
“Sod off Diego and keep that Teddy bear out of my sight,” the moody changeling replied.
“What? Did you have a bad experience with a Teddy bear when you were little?” Diego replied in a manner that suggested he enjoyed the banter. “Did it make you smile or something?”
“Almost.”
“We better conserve as much energy as we can by getting some rest,” Calum responded. “We’ve a long way to go.”
Elliot didn’t sleep that night. The combination of the sleeping conditions and the worries that played on his mind kept him awake. The teenager always found it hard to sleep anywhere but in his own bed so he was always going to struggle with Jeff snoring, ants crawling all over him and the rock hard ground making him uncomfortable. The following morning he felt drained and weak. He was sneezing and coughing shortly after he got up.
“You look like you’ve done ten rounds with Rocky Balboa,” Sylvia said to him when daylight broke. She looked as immaculate as ever. She slept like a log and didn’t even snore.
For breakfast they were fed sardines once more. Elliot hoped he didn’t develop a dislike of them by the journey’s end.
It was shortly before Seven O Clock in the morning when the group of nine started moving once again.
The morning was largely uneventful. The skies were clear. They encountered no people and they made good progress. It didn’t prevent Elliot from turning his head around every fifteen seconds to see if they were being pursued. Even when he couldn’t see anything of significance it didn’t give him any great level of assurance. At noon however, Elliot could hear a humming noise. It didn’t sound loud enough to be a helicopter.
“What’s that?” he asked aloud
“I don’t know,” Calum responded. “Everybody better take cover. Hide!” he urged them in a low voice.
Everyone concealed themselves deep within the trees so that they could not be seen. The humming noise became louder and louder.
Part of Elliot was afraid to look but another part of him was incredibly curious. He was lying flat underneath an evergreen tree. He was about four trees away from a clearing. It was from the clearing that Elliot now believed this humming noise was coming. He lifted his head, wondering if he could see anything through the trees.
Eventually he saw it. It was a spherical object that appeared to float in the air like a sophisticated drone. It appeared to have a camera. Once Elliot was satisfied that he knew what it looked like he lay his head face down once more. The longer the object stayed in the vicinity, the more nervous Elliot became. He was afraid that he might uncontrollably sneeze or cough particularly after a sleepless cold night. The object was probably an advanced technological device used to spy on their whereabouts. It could even be an alien created drone developed by Kylons, Elliot thought to himself.
After what seemed like an age, the object moved away. Calum waited before signalling that it was ok to get up.
“Do you think it saw us?” Diego asked aloud.
“I don’t know, but there could be more of them so we’d better stay undercover as much as possible.”
An hour later they stopped for lunch. They hid among the trees once more, while Calum and Erica prepared the meal. It consisted of half a can each of baked beans served cold. Elliot was growing frustrated with the choice of delicacy but it was better than nothing, he thought to himself. Even Jeff had reigned in his number of complaints over time. If Jeff wasn’t going to complain then why should Elliot protest?
Later that night, Elliot could not sleep once more. He decided to get up and go for a walk. They weren’t far from a river, so he sat on a large rock overlooking it under the moonlight. He wondered to himself whether he should break away from the group. Part of him thought that he was a liability to them. He might in fact serve a purpose by sacrificing himself and distracting the Reapers from the main group.
He was sitting there for twenty minutes, feeling sorry for himself when Sylvia approached.
“Can’t sleep eh?” she asked
Although Elliot was in a despondent mood, his heart always felt lighter when Sylvia was around.
“No.” he said aloud, still worried about his value within the group.
“How did you know I was awake,” he asked her curiously after a brief pause.
“I have an inbuilt radar for things like this,” she replied with a smile on her face. “It comes in really handy.”
“Sylvia, I think you and everyone else are better off without me.”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” she responded abruptly. “These are good people. If you leave now, they would only waste time trying to find you. Calum and everyone else are here to help you. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“I thought you didn’t like them. You’ve been so quiet.”
“Well, no matter what I’ve thought or said, I wouldn’t want to lose you on account of some stupid ideas you have in your head.”
“I just feel like such a hinderance,” Elliot replied as he lowered his gaze down to the ground. “It’s like I’m dragging everyone else down with me.”
“Well you’re not. Neither of us can change shape but that might not be a bad thing. They have to catch us first.”
Elliot didn’t say anything. He was deep in thought. There was another question inside him that he wanted to ask. He wanted to know what Sylvia thought of him. He knew she liked him but didn’t know how much. Part of him was afraid to ask and part of him desperately wanted to ask the question. To him, she seemed perfect in every way. She was beautiful, intelligent, funny, good company and a number of other things that Elliot valued in women. He found it hard to find fault with her. Perhaps she would do a Derren and turn into a seven foot one eyed monster. Elliot doubted it somehow. What he did fear was rejection. If he asked her if she liked him and she said no, he was afraid that it might damage their relationship interminably. This was something he was deeply afraid of.
“Elliot, I have something to tell you.” Sylvia declared in a low voice.
Suddenly Elliot’s heart leapt. Surely this could mean only one thing, he thought to himself. He couldn’t think of anything else it could be. He braced himself impatiently waiting for her to speak once more. “Go on,” he said, trying to mask his enthusiasm.
“Do you hear that,” Sylvia said aloud.
Elliot listened carefully. There was a low humming noise that could be heard above the flow of the river. It sounded familiar, frighteningly familiar.
“It has to be another drone,” he said aloud in fear. “We must warn the others.”
They both moved quickly and quietly back to where the others were located. Elliot shook Calum and whispered to him that drones were nearby. He sat up and listened intently.
“There’s two of them,” he said aloud. It was the first time that Elliot had witnessed the Kylot leader looking agitated. “They must have infra-red sensors because they are heading this way fast. Wake everyone up. We have to move quickly.”
Sylvia and Elliot helped to inform the others but the noise from the drones was becoming steadily louder.
Within a minute the group had packed up all their vital belongings but the drones were now overhead. There were in fact, three of them. They were so close that Calum could make out their shape. He removed a gun and silencer from his belongings and shot down the three of them. He then lead the way. “Come on, quick,” he said, gesturing with his hands, “the Reapers can’t be too far behind.”
Elliot was feeling stressed. He wondered whether he would ever be rid of the Reapers. It seemed to be a constant battle to evade them. He was concerned that he would spend the rest of his life running from them, however long his life might be.
Calum, unlike everyone else seemed to know where he was going. He directed them along the river’s edge. Far ahead, judging by the sound of the water, there appeared to be a waterfall. The night was ever so slowly turning into day and the extra light could only tilt the odds more heavily in favour of the Reapers.
It was clearly a waterfall that they were only feet away from. By its edge was a steep and rocky decline. The rocks also looked to be quite slippy. All nine of them were careful not to slip. Jeff wondered if Calum really knew what he was doing but even he decided that it was best to keep his mouth shut.
Calum descended twelve feet from the peak of the waterfall, down wet and rocky terraine before turning towards it and walking into the water. He seemed to be completely submerged. “He’s crazy,” Diego whispered aloud. Erica followed him however, and one by one the others followed.
As Elliot soon discovered, there was a cave concealed underneath the waterfall.
“A while ago I came camping here, and a friend of mine showed me this cave. I don’t think they’ll find us here,” Calum declared. “We’ll have to wait it out.”
As Elliot expected, the cave was quite cold. Without sleep for two consecutive nights he felt very much under the weather. He needed to be tucked up in a warm bed and fed with warm drinks, not stuck in a freezing cave with little or no food. Just get through this, he thought to himself, and then things might get better.
For the most part the Kylots and their comrades remained quiet. It didn’t seem to matter whether they listened or not. All they could hear would be the sound of falling water. Elliot felt weak and wanted to sit down, but there was nowhere to sit, except the damp cold and rocky floor of the small cave. He also wanted food but Calum decided that their supplies were so low that they would be better off rationing them for later on. In the end he tried to rest by bending his knees but after a short while even this was uncomfortable.
Every now and then, Jeff would moan aloud and his companions would discourage him from talking. If it wasn’t the inadequate facilities, the lack of cable tv, the lack of a comfortable bed or the lack of alcoholic beverages it was something else.
After what appeared to be an excruciating period of time, Calum glanced at his watch. Three hours and twenty minutes had passed.
“We can’t stay here forever,” Jeff declared. “I’m going out there.”
“You’re right,” Calum replied
That’s a first,” Erica replied sharply.
“One of us will have to go and check. It might as well be you,” Calum continued turning to Jeff. “Come back within five minutes. If you’re not back in five we will assume that there is something wrong.”
Jeff didn’t need to be asked twice. He made his way out of the cave and disappeared through the water.
If the cold air was a significant problem, now Elliot’s nerves started to deteriorate. He hoped that Jeff would come back with good news. He prayed to God that some good fortune would happen to them and that the Reapers would disappear.
As Calum’s watch neared five minutes, he started to look a little worried. Their fate seemed to be in the lap of the gods with the odds stacked against them. If Jeff was discovered by the Reapers then there was no hope for them. If they were indeed surrounded, they, Calum and his comrades could not hope to out muscle them or out manoeuvre them.
“What do we do now?” Erica asked, looking to Calum for inspiration.
Elliot braced himself for the probability that half a dozen Reapers would emerge through the water and either capture them or kill them. If it was going to happen, Elliot would have preferred a quick death to a slow torture.
Much to Elliot’s relief the welcome image of Jeff emerged once more. “Come on,” he said. “it seems safe to me.” Everyone was delighted to see him, even Diego.
Slowly and cautiously, the individuals made their way out from behind the waterfall. At one point Elliot almost slipped, before regaining his balance.
It seemed strange but any sign of the Reapers appeared to be gone. Few among the group felt entirely safe. It seemed too quiet. Elliot wondered if the place was crawling with Reapers but that they just hadn’t spotted the fugitives yet. An alternative possibility was rather more frightening. Elliot wondered if the Reapers were about to set a trap and if they were monitoring the fugitives from a distance. Perhaps they thought Calum would lead them somewhere significant and the Reapers were waiting to strike.
The nine individuals led by Calum walked down the incline alongside the waterfall and continued walking along the riverside for thirty minutes. There was still no sign of any Reapers. The birds and other small animals along the waters edge appeared to be behaving normally. They would move away when they saw the group of fugitives approach. There was no indication that further away birds or other small creatures were being startled by Reapers. It all seemed to be perfectly safe.
At one point, Debbie asked a question that was preying on her mind. “What can we eat?” she asked aloud. Even Calum, who had been quite regimental up to this point where food was concerned, appeared to be sympathetic to the groups pangs of hunger.
“Myself, Diego and Yoshida will look for food,” Calum replied. “The rest of you can take cover in those woods over there,” he said pointing to a small forest forty yards away.
“Don’t we need training, to catch animals in the wild with our bare hands,” Diego argued. “I know Jeff can use his death stare, but I’m a bit short on skills myself.” Inwardly he hoped he would be relieved of his duties.
“Come on, I’ll give you all the training you need,” Calum responded in a fatherly manner.
Once more Elliot hoped to get Sylvia on her own, to find out how much she really liked him. There were simply too many people around. “Would you like to go for a walk Sylvia,” he eventually asked aloud.
Before Sylvia could respond, Erica answered, “Don’t you think that’s a little risky given the circumstances? I think everyone should do exactly as Calum says. He has gotten us this far. Besides, we’re not the worst company in the world now are we?”
“No,” Elliot replied sheepishly. Perhaps it was a bad time. He might not even survive the night, never mind commence a lasting relationship with a young woman he admired.
An hour later, the three hunters returned with some dead animals and fish. They prepared a campfire and cooked the food on a spit. They consisted of four trout and three rabbits.
Even Debbie was upset that Calum and his colleagues had murdered three rabbits. To her, they were cute and adorable. She refused to eat them. Nobody else objected. In each case their stomachs overruled their conscience.
“I thought, we weren’t supposed to have camp fires?” Elliot addressed Calum aloud.
“Circumstances have changed,” he responded.
“So where are we headed anyway?” Jeff asked.
Jeff had been so quiet all day, that Elliot wondered, if something had happened that he hadn’t told them about.
“That’s for me to know,” Calum responded with a hint of a smile. “You will find out eventually.”
“What happens if you get killed? What will we do then?”
“If that happens,” Calum said before pausing for a moment, “You’re fucked.”
As soon as the group finished their food they gathered up what little belongings they had left and continued on their journey
“I have to say, that fried rabbit tasted delicious,” Diego said aloud, “what did you think Jeff?”
Jeff didn’t respond.
“To be honest, I thought you would be moaning a lot more, what with sleeping on the hard ground, eating food that you wouldn’t give to a dog, wearing the same clothes for days. It’s Jeff heaven.”
“Look here Diego,” Jeff said pointing his finger at his comrade’s throat, “Things are bad enough without you reminding me about them.”
That night Elliot found it difficult to sleep on the hard ground once more. He drifted from light sleep to being fully awake. Desperately he wished for at least five hours sleep. He didn’t want to have a constant cold and feel drained for the rest of what was left of his life.
At one point he saw Calum striding towards him. He realised their leader had a gun in his hand. Instantly Elliot wondered if he was dreaming. Was it a nightmare that Calum was coming towards him with a gun? Then Calum fired three shots into the head of the person lying behind him. Something was terribly wrong, Elliot thought as he realised he wasn’t dreaming. Had Calum lost his marbles?
The person lying dead next to the teenager was Jeff. At least that is who Elliot thought it was initially. Once dead, the man most believed to be Jeff transformed into the body of a man no one had ever seen before. He was broad and strong with a full head of dark hair. His eyes were brown and his head seemed larger than normal. He was not Jeff.
“Come on,” Calum whispered, “we have to move quickly. They could come for us at any moment.”
Quietly and quickly, the group climbed to their feet. They gathered their belongings and followed Calum’s lead.
Without asking any questions Elliot came to realise that Jeff had been replaced at the waterfall by a changeling and the role of the changeling was to find out Calum’s plans and then betray them to the Reapers.
After the group had been travelling for thirty minutes Yoshida spoke quietly.
“I miss the old Jeff,” he said.
No one else said anything.
“I wonder what happened to him?” he asked.
“I’d rather not talk about it?” Diego replied. “There isn’t anything we can do for him in our current situation.”
“He’s one of those guys that you can’t relate to when he’s here but you miss him when he’s gone,” Yoshida responded. “I think he’s a good egg deep down.”
“Let’s not get too carried away,” was Diego’s half serious reply.
The group continued to walk for six hours. Everyone was tired and hungry but nobody spoke up. Eventually they came to a lake. There was a small village there with about seven houses, a pier and some boats. The scenery was quite beautiful if they had the time to admire it. The sun was shining down on the water, giving it an attractive glow and the mountains in the background added to its splendour.
It was now nine o clock in the morning. Some of the villagers were readying their boats to embark on a trip on the lake. A group of five tourists had gathered there.
As the exhausted group neared the village, an old man with a weathered complexion and a sea captain’s hat approached them.
“Master Calum,” he greeted the group leader. “It’s great to see you. I wasn’t sure that you’d make it. You look like you could do with some food.”
On hearing this, Elliot’s heart and stomach leapt.
“No Ferdinand, we haven’t got the time.” Calum responded.
“The wife, always gives me too much food anyway. What I have, you can eat on the boat.”
The group made their way down to the pier. One of the boats had already taken off with several tourists on board. Another man stood there in front of his boat. He looked to be in his late forties, with dark hair and a beard. He stood over six foot tall and was quite broad. His demeanour was unfriendly.
“Are these paying tourists of yours, Ferdinand?” the mysterious boat man asked aloud
“They booked this trip some time ago, Columba.” the boat captain said, attempting to alleviate his competitor’s curiosity. “Sightseers they are.”
“I didn’t know you advertised,” the younger man quipped as he scrutinised the group of weary travellers with narrowing eyes.
“They are friends of friends,” the sea captain said with a smile on his face.
“And who might this friend be?” Columba asked as if he was a wily interrogator.
“No wonder you complain about a lack of fish on this lake,” Ferdinand replied. “You spend most of your time asking questions Columba.”
Elliot felt as if Columba was looking through them. His blood ran cold as he hoped to God that the boat worker did not recognise him.
Within minutes the group of eight and their sea captain set sail. Elliot felt a lot more relief when he seated himself on the boat. His legs and his feet ached badly.
Ferdinand then passed around the cheese sandwiches his wife had prepared. Ordinarily cheese sandwiches weren’t Elliot’s favourite but they tasted a lot better than the fried rabbit from the night before. The young man guessed that the sandwiches had been intended for the Captain of the ship and the long day that he had ahead of him. For this he was grateful.
“What is this Columba like?” Calum asked.
“He’s softer than he looks,” the boat Captain responded dismissively.
“Will he talk to the Reapers?”
“If they pay him enough he will. Everyone knows by now though that the Reapers don’t pay. They rule by fear. There is no reward from helping them unless your life is in danger. I don’t think Columba will talk to them unless he is paid well.”
Calum respected the fact that Ferdinand was risking his own neck to help Calum and his companions. The group leader knew all too well that men like Ferdinand were hard to find.
The boat was big enough to hold four times as many passengers. It looked to be twenty years old but it was quite comfortable. Like many vessels the boat moved all too slowly for Elliot’s liking. A helicopter or speedboat would catch up with them in no time. Elliot assumed that the Reapers would have long known that the creature posing as Jeff had been eliminated. He expected that the Reapers would be scouring every inch of the area with all the resources they could muster. The fact that there was no evidence of them being followed, scared Elliot almost as much as if he saw the Reapers in plain sight.
“Calum helped pay for this boat,” the sea captain said fondly to his passengers. “It’s quite fast isn’t it? And smooth too for a boat of this size. We should reach the other side in twenty minutes.”
“What’s on the other side?” Elliot asked.
You’ll find out in twenty minutes,” Ferdinand replied.
As the boat neared the other side, Elliot could see a small pier. Beyond that was a small bus. It looked reasonably new and in good condition from what Elliot could tell. It probably had comfortable seats and air conditioning.
“Yes!” Yoshida exclaimed, “a minibus. No more walking. My feet have so many blisters that I will barely be able to make it to that minibus but I’m going to make it.”
“Yoshida, we can’t drive the minibus,” Calum responded.
“Why not?” Yoshida responded in a frustrated manner.
“Because most likely there are roadblocks all around this region,” the group leader responded in a pragmatic manner.
“Well, we’re not going to get very far on foot now are we?” It was unusual for a normally calm, collected and optimistic Yoshida to show such signs of exasperation.
Calum didn’t respond.
“Great, another day of wild rat for dinner,” Yoshida said under his breath.
“It’s nice to know that the spirit of Jeff hasn’t left us after all,” Debbie responded.
“Jeff wouldn’t have made it this far,” Yoshida responded half in jest and half with a hint of affection.
Once they left the boat and bade farewell to the Captain, the group of eight followed a trail along the side of a mountain, to the right. They were still exhausted but the boat trip had given them a brief respite. The terrain was rocky and the ledge, narrow. Elliot was very much afraid of losing his footing or falling over the edge, particularly in his weakened state. He hated heights, even if it wasn’t the most difficult of mountains to conquer. At least now, they had all run out of belongings to bring with them.
After two hours of trekking along the mountainside, they reached a cave. Elliot believed that they were probably two thousand feet above sea level. It was terrifying, thinking about it.
“Well, we may as well rest here for a moment or two,” Calum declared
The cool air from the cave was soothing compared to the warmth of the sun.
“I don’t think we can take much more of this, Calum,” an exhausted Diego declared. “How much farther do we have to go.”
“Not very far now,” their leader responded.
The rest of the group were too exhausted to talk. They just sat there, relaxing as much as they could. The rocks they were resting on were uncomfortable, but in the last few days they had grown accustomed to such inconveniences.
Elliot could not help but think that if their pursuers discovered them now, the fugitives would be caught in a trap with nowhere to go. He hated the fact that for the last few days he spent every second on a knife edge with a strong likelihood of being caught. He wanted a different life where he could relax and enjoy every second of his existence.
More than ten minutes later Debbie stood up and started to walk out of the cave.
“Come on, let’s get this over with,” she declared. Elliot had never come across anyone as unflustered or even tempered as Debbie. Although she was clearly hurting and almost as demoralised as everyone else she remained as upbeat as she possibly could be.
“Debbie,” Calum whispered to her.
“Yes?” she said turning around in response.
“You’re going the wrong way. It’s this way,” the navigator declared with his arm outstretched.
Suddenly Elliot’s spirits were raised. Perhaps they were nearer to their final destination than he first thought. From the depths of despair, he was now optimistic and intrigued. As a kid he always liked exploring caves and this one piqued his interest like no other.
They continued further into the cave, for about fifty yards, before it took a sharp descent. At the end of this descent that lasted for some fifteen yards, the cave became much wider and taller. The pathway continued straight ahead, but Calum chose not to take that route. Along the side of the cave were several stalagtites and stallagmites. Worse still, at one point there were dozens of bats gathered, sleeping in the roof of the cave. Instead of keeping clear of these sleeping bats, Calum chose to walk towards them. To everyone’s surprise, the bats were only an illusion and Calum disappeared from view. The others followed one by one.
In front of them was a large elevator, which they all managed to fit into. Once they were all onboard, the elevator moved downwards. The sides of the elevator were made of glass. Elliot could see an enormous hanger, with one large spaceship being worked on. There also appeared to be a sizeable command centre, full of several important people wearing uniforms. Most important of all, there appeared to be a canteen where a few people were eating and drinking.
The spaceship was cream in colour, with yellow trimmings. It looked like it could hold more than fifty people. It was similar to a plane in that it had wings, a head and a tail but it was far more curvaceous than any plane he had ever seen. There were virtually no edges on it.
“This is what we call the Viper 3000,” Calum declared, “It hasn’t flown in more than 300 years but is capable of getting us to our destination in three days. A human ship would take 300 years to travel the same distance.”
“And where is there?” Sylvia asked out of curiosity.
“You will find out in good time,” the leader responded. “We will depart in four hours, so make good use of the canteen.”
“We don’t even have time for a snooze?” Elliot moaned.
“You will do plenty of that on board.”
The group of eight left the elevator. Calum went to the command centre while everyone else went in search of food.
In the canteen, all the food looked delicious. There was a broad range of options and all appeared to be as good as the other. Elliot settled on a helping of Lasagne, Spaghetti Bolonaise, a three litre bottle of cola, a banana, an apple and a blueberry muffin.
He moved towards the seats where the rest of his group were seated. However, Sylvia pulled him by the arm.
“Let’s sit over here,” she said as she guided him to a more remote part of the café.
Elliot considered asking Sylvia why she would snub the others but he was too concerned about what was on his food tray to really care.
“I don’t want to go,” she said to him.
“Why not?” Elliot said in a surprised manner. To him there didn’t appear to be a viable alternative. He would feel safer, billions of miles away than here anywhere here on earth.
“I don’t trust them,” she said apprehensively.
“What’s not to trust?”
“I’m afraid they’ll do all sorts of experiments, cut us up into all sorts of tiny pieces and all that,” she said in a manner that surprised Elliot.
“They’re aliens. What do you think they’re going to do with us?” Elliot asked in jest.
“It’s not funny,” Sylvia responded with no semblance of a smile. “They aren’t human. They’re different and it scares me.”
“Come on. They can’t be any worse than the Reapers. I’d rather go on this ship than take my chances here. I’m guaranteed to be tortured here. I like these people. I like this canteen and this food is delicious you should try it.”
Sylvia just grunted in disapproval. She hardly ate anything in the next few minutes. Elliot was upset to see her food go to waste and picked at some of her food.
An hour later when Elliot was finished devouring his meal, a woman approached. She had brown skin, blue eyes and was wearing a blue and cream uniform.
“Would you like to get changed and have a shower?” she asked.
At that moment Elliot couldn’t think of what he’d like better. He had been wearing the same clothes for a number of days and smelled of stale sweat. “Why of course,” he replied.
“Follow me and I can lead you to the shower area,” she replied politely.
Elliot was led down the steps of the canteen. They walked beyond the spaceship, past the engineers and mechanics and down a tunnel. The tunnel was made of rock and was only six and a half foot tall and five foot wide. The tunnel was fifteen metres long and opened out into an area that was circular in shape and had seven other doorways around it. Elliot presumed that each of these led to a shower and a sleeping area. Above this level there appeared to be four other levels. The woman led him to a specific doorway on the lowest level. “This is your shower room,” she said. “Inside are towels, soap, shampoo and a change of clothes.” The woman appeared to be quite business like in her manner and said little else.
Elliot wondered how she would know his clothes size. The woman departed and the adolescent opened the door. It was a small room with a chair, a sink, a shower and a clothes rack with nice clean clothes hanging from it. Elliot wanted to get rid of his old clothes as soon as possible. To his surprise the new clothes were similar to his own taste. He had expected to be wearing a uniform like most other people in this place. Instead he was provided with blue jeans, casual shoes and a blue and purple t-shirt with a gold coloured logo on it which read “Casablanca”. He failed to understand its significance. The shower itself was at a perfect temperature. Part of Elliot wished he could stay there forever.