VEE

I hesitate as I climb from Heath’s car and pull my jacket tighter around my neck. The clearer November weather finally broke, and the dark clouds and wind freezing my ears signal a storm moving in.

The amount of surveillance that exists in Britain stuns me. I’m aware CCTV cameras leave few gaps between coverage, but more than I realised exist. Ewan spent this morning engrossed in CCTV from yesterday, which he hacked into. He managed to locate Seth’s car leaving his home yesterday and Joss’s at the time Seth led us in circles. Picking up which direction Seth went next proved tricky until we discovered his car parked on a small industrial estate in a suburb close by. He entered a building, stayed inside for an hour, then drove off.

Following his movements, we found him again at a building in a small village on the London outskirts. The place looked like an old village hall, perhaps a council building. Again he spent an hour before leaving again.

Xander makes notes, and his mood lifts at the news he has specific places to investigate. With his military precision, Xander plans where we’ll visit and in what order. Seth’s two locations and then his work or house. Seth apparently returned to his home last night and hasn’t left since.

I found Seth’s vibe odd, but not sinister. He suspected there was something wrong about the “detectives”, but if I were him and my friend had been murdered, followed by strangers arriving on my doorstep, I’d watch my back too.

The first location we visit is a building on an industrial estate. The sign outside, Fresh Fare, indicates this was a fruit packing warehouse. Operations must’ve ceased as the ground outside is overgrown with weeds, and all that remains are old pallets and graffitied loading doors. A small set of metal stairs leads up to a grey door on the building’s side, and beside that a cracked, dirty window.

We travelled in two cars, Heath’s and Joss’s, and parked at the opposite end of the estate, unsure what or who could be around. This time, there’s no argument over whether we all go or not. Following the last fun excursion, who knows what waits inside. No other cars are around; the majority of the buildings appear unused too. Secluded. My mouth dries.

Breaking through the door at the top of the stairs doesn’t cause any problems; the door lock was vandalised before we arrived. Long wooden benches once used for staff to pack goods still stand in the large centre, as we pause where the supervisor once looked down on them. Heath hops down the metal steps inside several at a time, and the others stride after him. I hesitate, taking in more of my surroundings, and listen.

Nothing.

More pallets are stacked in corners, some with the company name printed in black. Piled clothes and old mattresses in one corner arouse interest in the guys, and fear in me. Is this another convenient murder location for a “homeless person” victim?

“Where do we look?” asks Joss, his voice echoing.

The warehouse floor covers a large area, and there are two open doors opposite where we stand.

“Room. Over there.” Joss points at a small green door, again with a dirty window to the right. “I bet that’s the warehouse manager’s.”

I chew a nail and watch as they head across the concrete slab floor. What if the guys are right and Seth’s involved in the murders? Or worse, knows the people responsible for the creatures.

But I sense nothing.

“I don’t think I want to look in any rooms,” I say. “If that’s okay by you.” I can’t bear to witness anything else; I’ve seen enough bodies in the last few days.

Heath looks up. “Do you want to wait in the car?”

“I think so. Is that okay?”

Xander scrunches his face up. “Maybe we should stick together.”

“I’ll wait here then, at the top of the steps?” I suggest. “Just while you check the room. I won’t leave the building.”

Satisfied with the situation, Xander and the guys head to the room, and Heath hangs in the doorway watching me. Imagining what could greet them summons images I don’t want in my head, and I prop open the door for fresh air. When the wind smarts my face, I almost change my mind and huddle against the doorway.

“Verity!” A female voice hisses below me, and I look beneath my feet to peer through the gaps in the steps.

A girl with long brown hair gazes up, eyes darting behind me, then back to my face when she sees I’m alone.

I know her. This is the girl I saw outside the bathroom yesterday, same clothes, but no rucksack.

“What are you doing here?” I use my vantage point to look around and can’t see anything on this side of the estate. Where did she come from?

“Verity, it’s safe. You can come with us,” she whispers. “Quickly!”

“Why would I go with you?” Do I call for Heath? If she touches me, I’ll yell for all four.

“We’re here to help you escape them.”

“What?” We? I take another look around. Nobody.

The girl glances at the open door. “One of those guys will be here in a moment. You don’t have much time.”

She climbs the stairs, and I back into the doorway. She’s slim and petite; even without my power, I’d easily beat this girl. “What are you doing?”

“Those men. They abducted you, didn’t they? We can take you to the police or help you. Have they hurt you?”

“No.” I shake my head. “No. Not at all. I want to be with them.”

She chews her lips. “Or you think you do. They never let you out of their sight, or we would’ve found you sooner. They’ve brainwashed you into thinking you need to stay with them. What have they given you?”

“Given me?”

Terror strikes her face as she catches sight of someone behind me. I glance around too. Heath. “Who are you talking—” He stops. “Who’s she?”

I gesture in the girl’s direction, but she’s left the steps. Breaking into a run, she heads around the building’s corner out of sight. “She said she’d come to help me get away from you.”

“What the fuck?” he growls. “Wait there.”

Heath jumps down the steps two at a time and pauses at the bottom of the steps, listening, tensed and ready. He pulls a knife from his pocket. “Heath! No! I’m positive she’s human.”

“She might be,” he growls. “But we don’t know who she's with. Get back inside to the others.”

Water from earlier rain splashes beneath Heath’s feet as he rushes along to the left behind the building, too. Should I call the others or pursue him? What if he hurts the girl?

I charge down the stairs after them and catch sight of Heath running along the road, and he disappears into another building a few hundred metres away. I prepare to follow him, but as I step into the road, tyres screech and a white car pulls up next to me. Before I can comprehend what’s happening a passenger door flies open and hits me. The impact winds me, and I drop onto my backside, dazed by the sudden pain.

“Fuck!” shouts a female voice from the driver’s seat. “Grab her!”

I scramble backwards, the gravel from the road sticking into my palms as a guy climbs out of the car. His face is hidden by a black hoodie, and the slender man’s stronger than he looks as he seizes hold of me.

I yell for the others and struggle as he drags me into the car. I slam my head backwards and kick out as he attempts to close the door. Swearing, he grips my torso and hauls me backward, somehow managing to bundle my legs in to slam the door closed. The girl I saw a minute ago pushes the accelerator pedal to the floor, and the car skids away from the warehouse.

“What the fuck?” I yell as the car’s central locking clicks.

I never expected I’d need to use my powers on humans, but they’re abducting me. I close my eyes and focus on building strength as fear for my life does what Xander promised: my powers charge.

“Verity. Thank fuck we found you.” The man pulls down his hood and the building energy inside ebbs in surprise. He’s less composed, his hair dishevelled; his cheek red and glasses crooked from my retaliation, but I know him too. “Seth?”

“Hello again.” He removes and examines his glasses then places them back on his face.

“What the fuck is happening? Take me back to my friends!” The energy builds again. How long until I have the strength to smash my way out? And if I do will hitting tarmac at 60 miles an hour hurt me?

“They’re not your friends, Vee,” he replies in a soft voice.

“Well you’re certainly not. I’ve only met you once, and we think you’re involved in murder! Stop the car and let me go now!”

Seth smooths his hair and shirt where they crumpled in the fight. “They’re dangerous men, Verity. We’ve been watching them for some time, and they’re involved in some really weird shit.”

“No. They’re not. They’re good people.”

“I didn’t think Stockholm syndrome came on this fast,” calls out the girl.

I snap my head between the two. “Stockholm syndrome… You think they abducted me?”

“Yes. We’ve watched you for days. They wouldn’t allow you to go to work on your own, or go home. Now you don’t do either. If there weren’t four of them, we would’ve intervened before, but they’re out of control, and we have to be careful. Once they killed John, and then you disappeared, we needed to find you before you ended up like… the bodies you saw.”

“Seth. You really need to take me back to the warehouse. The guys are very uh protective, and I don’t think they’ll be very friendly if they have to come and find me.”

Seth rubs his head. “How did you fall for their bullshit? I don’t understand. We spend months tracking these sorts of people and looking into their activities. Then you walk straight into this!”

“What do you mean ‘we’?”

“TruthorDare, Verity?”

The resurging powers drop away at his words, and I grip the seat back and pull myself upright. “Are you DoomMan?”

“Oh yeah.” He indicates the girl. “Casey is LonelyGhost. And your new friends are fucking psychopaths.”