Luce stepped in front of him and placed her hands on his chest. "Whoa, you're not going anywhere. You could have concussion."

"I'm fine," he said, side-stepping around her. "I have these visions all the time."

"She's right," said Des. "You should probably rest up."

"Listen, there is no way I'm letting a bunch of beheaders deal with this."

Des grabbed hold of Daniel's arm. "And what are you? Huh? Some guy who sees the future. What is that? Did you get a gift from God? Are you the chosen one? Or have you been altered in some lab like a rat? Don't think you and your friends can fool me. I knew all about you the moment I saw you."

Daniel glanced at Ali, who shrugged as though he didn't know what was going on.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your little Freak clan is all the Resistance can talk about. There's a bounty on your head, boy, and if I'd wanted to, I could have put your head on a platter or given you over to the GEM. But I haven't, have I, Vision?" He turned to Hiro. "Hearing." Next, Kitty. "Taste." Then Mike. "Smell." And we all know who touch is."

Daniel wrenched his arm out of Des' grip. "I don't like you one little bit and I trust you even less but I have to help those people." He stormed towards the steps of the basement.

"Aye, well I'm no' sittin' back either. We can take the guns from the Compound. We'd just need a vehicle, Des."

"We'll take the van," Dale said. "I'll drive us."

"You're not going," Matthew said to Ali. "You're not ready yet. I will though."

"And me," Luce said. "They'll need medical help."

Daniel stopped and faced the volunteers, his heart twinged to see them all supporting him. Jonathon met his eyes and nodded slowly.

"I'll come too," he said.

"Well, in that case," Des added. "I think we'll make it a team mission."

The Resistance owned garage space in a block a few streets away from the church. The priest unlocked the door to a black van inside. He saw the priest carried a number of similar keys and wondered if the Resistance owned a few garages, or even some storage units. What did they keep locked away?

Dale knew his way around London, and he knew the quickest routes through the smaller roads. The GEM research facility lay in the boroughs around the city, meaning that they kept out of the main roads. Daniel piled out of the car before Dale applied the brakes. Smoke billowed from between buildings, and the screams could be heard from streets away. He ran towards the injured as another part of a building exploded a showering him in dust and debris. It was as though it was happening in slow motion. Bricks flew through the air narrowly missing him, leaving just centimetres between him and severe injury.

Dale caught him up as Daniel found the first injured person: a young man bleeding severely from the leg. Luce hurried over with a medical kit as she lifted her arm to shield herself from the dust still raining down on them. She opened it and pulled out a bandage.

"Help me," said the injured man, tears streaming from his eyes. He was just a passer-by with nothing to do with the Resistance or the GEM.

Luce wrapped the bandage around his leg, helping to stop the bleeding. She soothed him with a low voice.

"We need to get him out of here," Daniel said. He stepped back to see the chaos around him. It was like being back in the Compound, and he felt a huge surge of anger build up inside.

He hurried over to another casualty: a Resistance member with a large chunk of glass stuck in his belly.

"Don't pull it out," Daniel warned. "I'll get you to safety, just don't pull it out."

The man cried out in pain, as Daniel tried to drag him away from the explosions. Matthew hurried over and helped him. Together, they lifted him to a safe part of the street before rushing back into the rubble. Luce and Dale followed. Luce had blood smeared over her hands, but she gritted her teeth, and ran through the rubble without even flinching. Daniel was impressed with how she handled the sights. It was a lot to take in, yet she worked on a helping and bandaging.

They all recoiled when he found the girl.

Daniel lifted her out of the rubble, a girl not much older than Hiro. He knew she was dead before he even examined her. Her body was broken, laid like a smashed doll, with arms and legs at awkward angles. Dale watched him pick up the girl with his eyes watering. Daniel stared at him, a member of the Resistance, who worked with people willing to kill an innocent child and he lost it.

"Is this what you wanted?" he shouted to Dale. "The death of a girl? Is this the kind of world you want to live in? You want a world started from pain? From the pain of innocent people? That's what you want when you bomb and kill and maim. Fighting isn't about hiding behind weapons. It's about standing up for what's right, and this is wrong. This is so wrong."

He shook his head, carrying the limp body of the girl. When he'd set her down on the pavement and covered her up with a blanket, Dale walked over to him.

"You were right," he said. "You're so right. Listen, there's something you should know. I had a timer set up to record a message for the Resistance today. It was set up on my Plan-It and designed to go live on the screens."

"So," Daniel said, checking on the man with the injured leg.

"Well, I forgot to shut it down. I just filmed the bombing and your message at the end. It all went live across the country."

26 * Mina *

"Tell her," Mum said. "Go on, tell her what they did to you."

I sat opposite Elena in Mum's apartment, trying to pretend I didn't know her at all. It was the morning after she'd showed me the beheading tape, and I still had the horrible sound of the blade cutting through flesh and bone in my mind. Last night I only slept after Mum's medicine. It soothed away my nightmares. Yet now I felt the slight shake in my fingertips, and I knew I needed more.

Elena sighed. "The Resistance kidnapped me. You see, I won a beauty competition and came to London." Her eyes flashed. I felt like Elena was trying to tell me something. I just didn't know what. "And on my victory tour the Resistance hijacked the bus and kidnapped me. They kept me in this dungeon; locked in a cage." She rolled her eyes, typical of Elena. "And this total bitch filmed me for some blackmail video. It was proper creepy. I think they were going to kill me on camera."

"Is this true?" I asked. I searched Elena's face for a sign. I didn't know what I was looking for, yet I carried on searching.

"Yes," she said, staring at me with level eyes.

"Elena decided to join the GEM after the attack," Mum said. "In order to give back to the organisation that saved her life. Luckily they killed the kidnapper on the spot, meaning that Elena can live the rest of her life without worrying about him attempting anything like that again."

This time I did see the message in Elena's eyes a anger. They flashed icy blue, and her jaw set her mouth into a tight line. The rage faded as quickly as it appeared, leaving her eyes watery and hurt. If only Hiro or Mike were here to tell me what she knew. My heart panged. Hiro.

"Thank goodness for the GEM," I said, raising my eyebrows at Elena.

"Yes." She smirked. "Thank goodness for the GEM."

"Mum," I said. "Could you make us some of your tea?"

"Of course." She beamed down at us before hopping off the sofa and heading to the kitchen.

Elena took my hand. "I don't have much time," she whispered. "Do not trust your mother. And don't drink the tea." She pressed a small square of folded paper into my hand.

"What happened to you?" I asked "What's the real story?"

"I did get kidnapped, that's true. They'll tell you how the kidnapper was executed. That's not true. The boy they killed helped me escape," she said. "Listen; there are good people in the Resistance as well as bad. I can get you to the good ones so they can help you. I can't tell you much else." She squeezed my hand and a small tear escaped from her eye. "They killed my soul mate, Mina."

As soon as she said it, I thought of Daniel, and my chest constricted. I'd give anything to see him a to know that he was okay.

"Right girls, choccy biccies?"

We broke contact and sat rigidly in our seats. Elena blinked away the tears. I'd never have imagined her crying. Elena was the strongest person I know, except maybe Mary or Ali.

"Sounds nice," I said to Mum.

She passed me a cup of tea already poured, with the milk and sugar just how I like it. How many times had she made me tea at the GEM? Had I ever made my own? Or even made my own food? She was just always there, and because I wanted to know her, I never questioned it.

It was medicine and it made me better. I'd been ill, that's all. The tea stopped the shakes from my flu. Mum just wanted to help me. Didn't she? I searched my mind for the answers, but I felt like I'd forgotten something important. A scar itched on my arm, and I remembered a snake...

"Elena, perhaps you'd best get back to your duties now," Mum said. "I need some quality time with my daughter."

"Of course, Mrs Hart." Elena stood and straightened out her lab coat. Only I could tell how fake the smile was on her face. I'd forgotten how good Elena was at acting.

"Really, call me Anna."

I glanced at Mum, who smiled just like Elena. A little too much like Elena. Was she acting too?

"Okay, Anna." Elena rose from the sofa, and placed her untouched tea back onto the tray in the centre of the coffee table. "It was nice to meet you, Mina. I'd like to get to know you more while I'm working here."

"I'd like that," I said.

Elena left me alone with Mum. A week ago I would have relished the time alone with her. Now, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what she wanted. It seemed like she had an agenda. I just didn't want to believe it.

"We need to talk," Mum said.

"Is it about me joining the army?" I asked.

"No, not really," she said. "It's more about us recruiting even further. You see, if we have any hope in defeating the horrible decapitators, we need to make sure that we're strong enough."

"Where do I come into that?" I asked. I sipped my tea, trying to work out if it tasted funny.

"You know four very powerful people, and I want you to bring them here."

"The Freaks?" I said. "You want me to bring them to the GEM?"

"Yes," she said. "But it's going to take time. I don't think they'll trust me at first, and I know they have ties with the Resistance. You'll have to be really persuasive to get them to join us."

"Hiro knows when someone is lying. He hears the bad inside them." I paused, meeting my mother's eyes. For just a moment I thought I saw a flicker of fear. "You'll have nothing to worry about. Hiro will be able to show the others how you want peace and how corrupt the Resistance is."

Mum's smile froze on her face. "That's true, Mina."

I glanced up at the large screen on the wall of the apartment. I'd been avoiding it because it just reminded me of the beheading scene.

"Turn it up," I said. "Something's happened."

A shaky camera moved through a blur of rubble, rocks and smoke. It followed a blonde haired girl as she bandaged up a wounded man. I moved closer to the screen, seeing that the images portrayed the wreckage of an explosion, and my mind flashed back to Hamish's battle.

"What's happened?" I said.

"Resistance," Mum replied. "They bomb London all the time."

I watched as injured men and women were pulled from the rubble, sick to my stomach of pain and suffering. Just as I was about to tell Mum to switch it off, I noticed something that made my heart leap into my mouth. Daniel. He ran through the wreckage, helping the blonde girl as she deftly bandaged and soothed the ill.

"He's here," I said. I leapt up from my seat and moved to the screen, touching it with the palm of my hand. "He's okay and he's in London!"

"And yet he's not come for you, Mina," Mum said.

I withdrew from the screen. Daniel knelt amongst the rubble helping the injured, and the blonde girl with him stared at him in a way that seemed too personal. Who gave her the right to gaze at him like that?

"And who is that girl he's with? She's very beautiful."

More than once their eyes met or their fingers touched. "Stop it."

"What's the matter?" Mum said. She brought me my tea and held it out for me. "You don't think something's going on between the two of them, do you?"

Daniel lifted a girl from the rubble. Dirt coated his face and I saw his sea-blue eyes darken like thunderstorms. My heart quickened.

"Turn it off," I said. "I don't want to watch anymore."

"He's working with the beheaders now," Mum said. "You need to get him here before it's too late." She switched the screen to another channel. "Unless it already is. Drink your tea, sweetheart."

I clenched my fists, the same hatred seeping into my veins as when I trained. Not again. I'd been hurt and lied to by my dad. I wouldn't let it happen again.

I took the teacup from her and drank it all down.

27 * Angela *

Angela woke from a deep sleep, and found Cam's warm body next to her. It was like being in the Compound again.

The others snored softly, purring against the concrete floor. Like every morning in the cells, the prisoners clanged against the metal bars and cried out in their sleep. A thin strip of light reflected through the prison cell and into Angela's eyes, the only peek of sunlight through the filthy window high up above their heads.

Her back straightened as the sound of heavy boot-steps drifted around the corner of the jail, and keys jangled. Cam woke and climbed to his feet to put himself between Angela and the cell bars. He appeared immediately alert and on guard. Sebastian and Ginge both stirred in time to see the guards approaching; Sebastian's eyes ringed with dark circles, and his arms hung loosely at his sides. He seemed like a broken man. Ginge stood tall with her shoulders back. Her breath came quickly through her lungs a her chest moving up and down at a rapid rate.

Vincent Cole followed the guards, and Angela searched his face for any trace of remorse or some modicum of humanity. It was a mask. Edward arrived at his side, with a smirk for the four hostages.

The noise of metal against metal sang out through the cell as the guard thrust the key into the prison lock. Despite trying to remain calm, Angela's stomach clenched with fear. Whatever happened next she wanted to be attentive and ready for anything, but adrenaline pumped through her body a impeding her ability to think straight. There was something about the mask-like expression and the red rings around Vincent's eyes that worried her.

Cam's back squared as the cell opened to let the guards flood in. They raised their batons and approached. Angela knew what he was going to do and she didn't stop him, even though it was pointless. Why not let him fight? What if he won?

A good punch clipped one of the guards on the chin, and he fell backwards, almost knocking another two to the ground. In return, a guard raised his baton and brought it down on Cam's arm. He cried out in pain. Angela rushed forwards and felt the short, sharp slap of a guard's rough hand against her cheek. As she fell hard against the jail railings, Ginge lunged at the guard, but despite some quick dodges a and a punch to the kidneys a they were brought under the control of cuffs.

The guard pushed Angela firmly against the bars; metal pressed to her skin. He slipped the cuffs over her wrists. All the time she maintained eye contact with Vincent Cole. She dared him to watch. She wanted him to see exactly what he'd done to four teenagers. Because it wasn't like any other morning at all. It was the morning they were going to die.

A warm breeze tickled at her neck and the sun hurt her eyes. It was a beautiful day, with the cyan sky and cumulous clouds overhead.

The guard pressed his gun into her back and shoved her along the cobbled courtyard. She tripped over the loose stones and blinked sweat from her eyes. The courtyard stretched the length of the Border Security Headquarters, which was positioned high up and over facing Area 14. When Angela surveyed her old home spread beneath them, the tears finally came. She would never see her mother again. Not unless she convinced Vincent to stop the execution.

After being forced to their knees overlooking the town below, Angela glared at Vincent. He'd hung back with Edward, but the fact he was there at all gave her hope. She had Cam next to her. He turned and nodded his head. He had faith in her. She could do this.