The wooden door slams open and a woman with raven hair bursts into the dining hall. “I’m here to liberate you!”

I drop my broom. I must have misheard her.

She grabs my arm and drags me out. “We don’t have much time before the police catch up.”

I frantically reach for the alarm. She pulls me away.

“The name’s Veera by the way. You get to help me liberate Dedlem.”

I must stop her with all my power. “Please stop.” It comes out like a whimper. “I’m working.” That wasn’t much better.

She sighs. “I’m trying to help you here, whatever your name is.”

“582. Please let go of me so I can alert the police.”

“Well Mr 582, you’re a slave and I’m helping you. So quit your whining and start running.”

“But-.”

Veera doesn’t listen. She has an iron grip and drags me out of my boss’ manor and into the nearby woods.

“Help! Police! Please! Someone call the police!”

Veera whips around and slams me against a tree, knocking me breathless. “Would you shut the hell up already.” Her voice is an angry whisper. She’s crazy. I nod. “Thank you. Now be a good liberated slave and start running. Or else the police might find us and think you were helping me. You wouldn’t want that, would you?” I shake my head. “Good.”

“Why are you doing this?” I ask, after three seconds of silence.

“You mean it isn’t obvious?” Her tone makes me feel stupid. The look she gives me when I shake my head is worse. “You people literally have no freedom to do what you want.”

“Why would we be any different?”

Veera groans. “It’s like talking to a child.”

I want to go home.

Veera starts talking about her supposed mission, but I don’t pay attention. I drag my feet as much as possible, wincing as the sticks and rocks cut them open. At least my blood will leave a trail. I’m doing my duty to Dedlem with honour. But I think Veera’s noticed my not so silent crying. She gives me a look of disbelief and pulls out a cloth from her leather satchel. I cry out when she shoves me to the ground and grabs my foot. What did I do to deserve such punishment? I always follow the rules, always.

“Get up already.”

I look to my now covered feet and back to Veera. Was she trying to help me? That can’t be right. No girl that vicious could have sympathy. Surely she realised my masterful plan to be tracked and is stopping me from leaving a trail. She looks to the bloodied leaves now and sighs.

“You’ll get an infection if you keep this up.”

“A what?”

Veera gives me another exasperated look and explains what she means. She pushes me in front of her so I don’t leave another trail. I see through her façade. She’s trying to distract me so I can’t escape. I don’t believe a word about this ‘infection’ she speaks of. I’ve just got to wait for the opportune moment...

Are those handcuffs? She’s putting me in handcuffs? I change my mind. This most certainly is a nightmare from the darkest parts of my mind. Or it’s a test from the council to show my loyalty to Dedlem. I heard they were rigorous, but this is something else. Yes, it must be a test. That’s why no alarms have been raised after my capture. And why the police are yet to find us. It’s up to me to beat this insurgent and escape. I will live up to my great duty!

Wait a moment. “Is that a councillor’s mansion?”

“No, it’s clearly another mansion at the edge of the woods in Dedlem. Because you’re all offered wages and opportunities to improve your lifestyle.”

“You’re not very nice.”

Veera grabs one of her pistols. “That’s because I was expecting a little more cooperation from someone who’s been a slave all his life. Instead I have you and not a whole lot of time to complete my mission. So you can imagine that I’m not particularly in the best of moods.”

“Are you going to shoot me?”

She sighs. “No. I’m here to help, remember?” Her voice drops to a mumble. “Just want to help.”

“Then why do you have a gun?” She doesn’t make much sense.

“Because I need leverage.”

With a grin, she drags me out of the trees, past a mossy stone fence, through an iron gate, and covers my mouth while pulling me behind a wall. Guards walk past. I yell. It comes out as a muffled whisper. Veera somehow fits a silencer on while keeping me frozen. Using both hands probably helps. She has a scary glare, okay. Anyone in their right mind would follow her silent commands while she handles a gun. It’s common sense. Not my fault at all that my eyes are blurry from tears. Veera’s scary. That’s reason enough.

She sighs when she notices, gesturing for me to climb through a window. I stumble and fall inside. Veera lands gracefully. An hour ago the most acrobatic thing I had to do was clean a ceiling fan. If Veera keeps this running up, I’m going to pass out from exhaustion. Of course, she doesn’t care. She only wants to complete her mission, which apparently involves kidnapping a councilman. At least I can’t think of another reason why she’s holding her gun to E’s head.

“She kidnapped me too.”

E gives me a dark look and focuses on Veera. “You underestimate the situation here child.”

“She’s crazy.”

Another dark look silences me.

“The council will relinquish control to us.”

E stands, pressing his head against the barrel. “Like I said, you underestimate the situation here.”

“You’ve got the populace brainwashed. That much is obvious with 582 here.”

I edge towards the wooden door.

E smiles slowly. “Brainwash is reversible.”

My foot steps outside.

A bullet pierces the door next to my face. Veera points her second gun at me, her eyes still fixed on E. “We will save these people.”

“Shoot me and learn how wrong you are.” He grabs her wrist and keeps the gun steady. “Shoot me. I dare you.”

“LOCKDOWN INITIATED. ALL PERSONELL TO THEIR EMERGENCY POSITIONS.”

Veera swears loudly. E catches her off guard and grabs her gun. They stand apart, pointing a pistol at the other’s head. I wipe my eyes. Finally she’ll be dealt with. I can go home. Three guards run in. Veera winks at me. No. She shoots the light. I back up, bumping into someone. They shove me to the ground. I cry out. Flashlights swarm into the room. The police! Veera freezes under the light, dropping her pistol.

“I take it war prisoners aren’t your style.”

My ears ring from the explosion of sound. Tiny holes appear in her stomach, hundreds of them, each of them seeping red as she falls to the ground. Bile rises in my throat. I can’t stop crying and shaking. Everyone in the room looks at me. They watch as I vomit, as if watching a strange animal that they’re not sure what to do with.

“C-can I go home now?”

They all share a look. E speaks. “We need to know for sure that you won’t talk about this.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I won’t.”

“I believe you.” E looks to the others. “Kill him.”

“Yes sir.”

I must have misheard him.