The Sinister Shadows by Sian Webster (readnow txt) 📖

sitting in the seat closest to the front of the room. The man had dark brown hair with a few grey strands interrupting the dark mass every now and then. His face was serious, his green eyes staring out into space.  “That’s Andrew Scott.” He said. “Majors in biology. He was found in the ruins of a laboratory in West Virginia. The laboratory had been attacked three months before they found him. They don’t even know how he survived. He says he can’t remember.”

“Who bombed it?” I asked.

“China.” He said, before pointing to the next one, who was dark haired and Asian in appearance. “That one’s Li Yun. The last remaining Japanese scientist. I’m surprised they needed the rest of you with him.”

“Well that’s a total confidence booster.” I muttered. “What happened to him?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

Eli shook his head. “Incredibly conceited. Likes being alone. He hid in a reinforced steel bunker six feet under his house for the entire duration of the War.”

“What, with his family there?”

He shook his head again. “Nope. Left them on the surface. Like I said, incredibly conceited. Literally only cares about himself.” He went along the line on the other side of the room. “That’s Kato Singh. Was based here in New York, with the next three – Edward North, Sam Barberry and Harley Greggory. They escaped their laboratory’s explosion.”

My eyes travelled to the last man in the room. Well – he was younger than the rest of them. Around my age. Early twenties. He had mousy brown hair that stood up at the front, the dreamiest brown eyes I had ever seen, high cheek bones and a light sprinkle of freckles over his cheeks. His broad shoulders flowed into slightly muscled arms that ended in hands with long, delicate fingers. Piano hands. That was all I could see of him over the table, yet he seemed as if he would be around six feet tall standing at full height. He was staring at his hands placed on the table in front of him, looking incredibly bored.

“What about that one?” I asked Eli, nodding in the boy’s direction. “Who’s he?”

Eli laughed. “Don’t even think about it.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t even think about what?”

My brother rolled his eyes. “His name’s William Harper. Physicist. Biologist. Geneticist.” He bumped my shoulder. I knew what the gesture meant; William Harper could do my job. They wouldn’t really mind if I pulled out. “Any other “ist” you can think of. Complete and utter prat. I wouldn’t even talk to him if I were you.”

“Why? What did he do?”

Eli’s eyes flickered to William Harper and back to me before he leant close, whispering. “He was responsible for the bombing of his lab. Killed everyone inside. He was a spy for France. Not sure how he got involved with them, but he’s the reason the lab in Florida was destroyed. Apparently he doesn’t even feel bad about killing them all. Like I said, stay out of his way.”

I nodded. “Note to self; stay away from Li Yun and William Harper.”

Eli sat back in his chair. “He’s incredibly manipulative, Codi. Just because you think he’s cute doesn’t mean he won’t stab you in the back.”

“You’re too hard on people sometimes, Eli. Maybe you don’t have the full story.” I said softly.

“Even if that’s true, just stay away from him until we know he can be trusted.”

“Fine,” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll stay away from him.”

“In fact,” my brother went on, “stay away from all of them. Just because you’re the only girl doesn’t mean they can treat you like shit. If any one of them touches you, I swear to god—”

“Hello, my scientists!” A voice boomed from the doorway of the room, cutting Eli off. “My name is Steven Short. Now—”

The nine of us turned to face the man who had just entered, our eyes wide. The man was short and rather round, with a shiny bold head. He wore round glasses on the tip of his nose, half hiding his eyes, one of which was blue while the other was brown. Heterochromia. I thought to myself. The mutation of an iris causing the organism to have two different coloured eyes. Can be passed through genes or be acquired through accident or illness. Can appear as partial heterochromia where only part of an iris is discoloured, or total heterochromia— STOP. I took a deep breath. Maybe I wasn’t ready to be out in society. My brain was working through things far too quickly. Who cared about this man’s case of heterochromia? I forced myself to pay attention to what this man was saying.

“You all know why we have called you here. The War eradicated a third of Earth’s human population. This depression has now eradicated a quarter of what remained. That means the population has halved. And the population is now dwindling even further.” The man made his way to the front of the room, and stood in front of the projector screen. Beside him, my father flickered to life, the flames that had once been spreading up his legs were now at his torso. He clutched at his chest, unintentionally tearing skin away with his scorched hands. Blood gurgled in his throat as he tried to speak. He reached his hand towards me, taking a step forward.

“…Co…di.” He managed to splutter, blood spilling down his chin. “Codi… help.” He was almost at my chair. He reached his hand out further, and his blackened skin came into contact with my knee.

I screamed. The image of my father vanished, and I was instead met with concerned looks from the men in the room. William Harper was still staring at his hands. He didn’t even react.

“Codi,” Eli was saying, “Codi, it’s okay. You’re alright. Nothing’s happening.”

The man at the front of the room plodded over and pulled up a chair next to me. “What on Earth is wrong with the girl?” He asked my brother.

“PTSD.” A voice said confidently from the back of the room. Everyone turned to face William Harper. “PTSD, a severe case of anxiety, insomnia, hallucinations, black-outs, maybe a few other things. This girl’s had a shit last couple of years if you ask me. Maybe someone should send her home.”

“Yes!” Eli cried. “Yes. She should be back in Nottingham, under observation. Just like her Doctor said.”

“I’m fine, Eli.” I snapped. “I have no home to go to.”

“Codi—”

“She can’t go home,” Steven Short said gravely. “She’s the best geneticist we have. You English did a good job hiding her.”

“The best geneticist?” William Harper asked in exasperation. “I’m a geneticist. I’m just as good as her. Send the girl home. She’ll just drag us all down.”

“A geneticist who’s not a dick could be useful.” Li Yun snapped, his eyes gleaming.

The four scientists from New York nodded and mumbled agreements. Andrew Scott was off in his own world again.

“So could a Japanese scientist with feelings.” William retorted.

Li sat forward on his chair, his eyes glaring daggers. “Yeah? Well explain to us just what happened to your laboratory in Florida, Harper.”

Beside me, Steven Short dropped his head into his hands. “I’m going to start the Fourth World War at this rate.” He muttered under his breath.

I stood up, my chair making a loud, grating noise on the linoleum floor. This still didn’t stop them from arguing. “Everybody shut. UP!”

Everyone turned to face me, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, or both. William Harper on the other hand looked impressed, a half-smirk playing around his lips, one of his eyebrows raised expectantly.

“Yes, I have PTSD.” I told them all. “Yes, I have everything else Mr Harper kindly pointed out—” I narrowed my eyes in his direction, “—but that shouldn’t change anything. Yes, maybe some of us hid the entire War.” I couldn’t help but flash a disgusted look at Li. “And all of us – to some degree – were responsible for a lot of deaths. Some of us had traumatic experience during the War,” I looked at Andrew Scott sympathetically, gaining a small smile from him in return, “and some of us didn’t. But that shouldn’t count for anything.”

The room was completely silent aside from my breathing, and the tapping of William Harper’s fingers on the table. He was still waiting. Still expectant. So I kept going.

“The point is, the War is over. What happened, happened. Who cares? Bringing it up and throwing it in other peoples’ faces won’t eliminate what you did either. All eight of us, from different perspectives, were villains in the War. Now it’s our chance to be the saviours.” I looked around the room. William Harper was giving me a strange look. “That’s why I’m here, and why I’m not going home. I have the chance to save someone. Maybe even a lot of people. I couldn’t do that for my parents. But, as I told my brother earlier, I’m going to have a part in saving us whether they’re one of us or not. You guys can go ahead and start a Fourth War to destroy what remains of the world, but I promise you, until my terminal breath I will be striving to save it.”

A stunned silence was still draped over the room like a blanket for what felt like hours, until finally someone had the audacity to break it.

“The girl stays.” Was all William Harper said before winking at me and walking from the room.

2. Hallucinations

 

I didn’t see William Harper again for two days.

When he finally reappeared, it was in the cafeteria. And, much to my dismay, he headed straight towards me. I slid my tray along the counter and picked up an apple, pondering whether I would actually eat it or not. Before I could make my mind up, the apple was snatched from my fingers.

“Eating would help, you know,” William Harper muttered around a mouthful of apple. “It would settle your stomach. Maybe, if you’re lucky, it would raise your blood sugar to a somewhat normal level. Get that into your system? Brilliant. Might even stop the hallucinations.”

“I didn’t come her to be doctored, William, I came to save the human race.” I glared daggers at him.

“Yeah, I got that. Told us in that massive speech you did the other day. As if we can actually be saved. We ruin everything we touch – we might as well just die.” He stopped, thinking about the words that just flew from his mouth. “Oh, and do me a favour. Call me Will. Not ever my mother calls me William.”

I paused. “You don’t think we should be saved?”

He shrugged. “Come on, I can’t be the first scientist to think so. We destroy everything.”

“I’m a geneticist, remember? Not an ecologist.” I muttered.

“It doesn’t matter what you specialise in.” He took another bite of my apple.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the food. I will save the human race. I thought to myself. I will.

“You really think that’s possible?” The voice was weak and gurgling.

I looked up in shock, and met the eyes of a soldier across the top of the counter filled with food. His American army uniform was shredded, burnt and bloody. One side of his face was burnt, a bizarre mix of sickening blacks and reds. The other side of the soldier’s body had