13

I keep chasing him, but he drifts further away. Through the streets of Blackpool, out onto the pier and into the distance. My father floats just above the water, and I dive in to swim after him. I know it's impossible, but after a while we end up washed ashore on the plains, somehow bypassing the cliffs that separate this place from the real world. Just beside the beach... and yet so far away from anything close to reality. He stops, so I stop as well. Do I even want to know what he has to say? He turns around, and I see his face for the first time... He looks normal, same as always. At least, before he started drinking, before he became the man who destroyed our family. He's opening his mouth, but no words are coming out. He's getting really angry... Is it because I'm not listening? It's not my fault, I... He's seriously screaming now. He's worried... What? What is he saying!? "-sh. -ush." Dad... Help me... "PUSH."

I opened my eyes as I heard dozens of voices yelling the same word, over and over, and my mind woke up to a giant crash and then the wave hit me. Cold water splashed me in the face, and I tried to get away from it - but I ended up hitting the edge. The edge of what? I thought. It was just bright enough to make out the iron bars, all along the side. It took me a while to notice that the water was coming from above as well... or below? Swimming in all directions I finally found my way upwards, and surfacing I gasped for air and I looked out to see The Base. Above me was also iron bars - I was in a cage, barely floating in the lake with the waterfall running above my head. All along the side at the edge of the water, people stared at me, but didn't do anything. I didn't see Buny anywhere. "HELP!! HELP ME!! SOMEONE... WHY IS NO ONE-" I stopped as another person rose from below the water and caught some breath. I didn't recognise him. "YOU'RE ALL SICK, YA HEAR ME? SICK!!" He screamed. My attention was drawn to the black band running across his shoulder, a symbol - I had barely noticed before, but most of the Freedom Fighters wore the same thing while inside the safety of the Base. Well, not as safe anymore it would seem. There appeared to be more than just us two inside the cage... The other shapes below didn't look like they were breathing. I dove down and swam directly into a large motionless body - his face slowly floated upwards and... It was Spine.

Taking his giant arm and throwing it over my shoulder, it was some work but I managed to lift him above the water just before we started to sink. I heard him breathe, so that was a relief - a temporary one, anyway. We were going to drown, and I couldn't see any way out of it. The Freedom Fighter boy who was with us started kicking the side of the cage, then ramming his shoulder into it - both proved to be futile, and he must have broken something as he winced in pain and stopped trying. We were completely submerged now. Swimming all around, there wasn't much to it - the cage could barely contain the three of us, and from what I could tell there was four - one body which hadn't moved, and must have been already dead before I had even woken up.  Is this really my fate? I thought. Teddy is being held hostage by a nutcase, and she also has custody of the most important person in Ruz's life, whom he entrusted to me to look after. Katie is trying to murder everyone because I let the only person keeping her sane in this place kill himself. The only reason I'm experiencing any of this is because my deadbeat of a father put me in this position in the first damn place. There really isn't anything special about me after all... All I do is hurt and get hurt, never mind even trying to make the world a better place. I can't even GET to the real world, not from this hellhole. Everyone I've met... They would be much better if I was never...

I wasn't sure if this was my mind conjuring up my worst nightmare, but at that exact moment, the fourth body floated on top of me, somehow pressing me down against the bottom bars of the cage. I looked into his eyes, and screamed - nothing but air came out though. I pushed and pushed, but it wouldn't move. Stiff. Henry, with his twisted limbs and disfigured face, was squeezing the life out of me.

We bumped against each other for a good half-minute, each second i was losing more oxygen while I simply stared at him - paralyzed. Almost as if I was waiting for him to forgive me before I died. He looked like he was in so much pain, even though he was lifeless - all I could picture was him lying in that ditch in this condition, amongst the others in the mass grave which lined the bottom of the plains. "But you... you're really something else, Brad." I was startled, almost imagining in my dizzy state that the corpse actually spoke for a second, but I was remembering. My last encounter with Henry... "Tear this place down. Burn it to the fucking ground." With that, Henry was ripped away from me and Spine grabbed my arms as I heard an almighty roar accompanied with a rush of air and suddenly...

CRRRAAAAANK! The cage groaned as one of the bars popped out of its socket, and I was thrust through it almost immediately. I spun around as Spine threw the other boy at me, while the cage fell below us. We were outside... We were out!! The boy swam up desperately, but as I was about to do the same I nearly forgot about Spine. I knew I hadn't enough air for it, but I swam downwards in an attempt to save him. Finding the spot with the missing bar, I waved Spine to come through - although it was clear after a second that Spine was much too large to fit through. I shook the next bar I could grasp, kicking and pulling on it - I could feel my body start to have a reflex though, going through convulsions as I tried not to breathe underwater. It wouldn't budge - as I was about to give it another try, my chest was suddenly pulled into the bars as Spine grasped my shirt and reeled me in, clashing my ribs right into them. We stared at each other for a moment, until I got what he was trying to say... He wasn't getting out. He could barely keep his eyes open, and was shaking violently. He threw me upwards and he drifted downwards, and with one last look I read his mind. "Save Teddy."

Leaving him to die with Henry, my mind was numb as I emerged from the lake to a sea of angry spectators. Standing among them was Doc, his careful eyes scanning my brain for whatever chemical reaction was going on in my mind at that moment. I looked back into his and then I just knew he was the one who planted Henry's corpse in what was supposed to be my ceremonial grave.My mind no longer numb, but burning with the fury and hatred this place celebrates, I never gave the army surrounding him a second thought. Before anyone could stop me, my hands were around his throat.