The faces of the dead swirl throughout my damaged mind, none of them deserved to die in the way in which they did – not even the traitors, despite the horrific things they both did. Not even Niamh – presuming that she is dead. I see the faces of my fallen companions and foes; Robbie, Eve, Jack, Kate, Niamh...soon I will be joining them. As will Aaron. Soon we will both be dead.

I cannot forget the way each of them looked as they left this world and passed on into the next – covered in blood, bruises, cuts and sweat and permeated with dirt. I have always feared death, but to even imagine being murdered sends a chill down my spine. They did not deserve to die in the way in which they did. Nobody deserves a fate like that.

I feel as I am neither alive nor dead. I feel as though I am asleep, yet I am awake at the same time. I feel exhausted, yet bursting to the brim with energy. I have never experienced this feeling before.

Am I dying? Is that what this is? Am I unconscious?

I have never experienced anything like this, I am aware that I am in a trance-like state, however I have control over my thoughts. It is as though I am dreaming, yet I am in command of what happens in it. I am the ruler of my own mind.

Alice...you murdered me, taunts the voice of Niamh, sounding in my head – it seems to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, you murdered me...

‘’I had no choice,’’

My own voice is like hers. Although I scream my response, I somehow know my lips remain shut. It is as though my voice is echoing from every corner of my mind, coming from everywhere all at once, yet at the same time, nowhere at all.

You killed me, your friend...your only friend... she continues.

‘’I showed mercy to you, certainly a lot more than you deserved.’’

You’re a murderer.

Her voice seems to ebb away like a tide retreating from the shores of a beach and moving back out to sea. Her abuse fades until it is nothing and I am left in the silence of my own mind.

Aaron’s face flashes across my mind. I see him lying face down in the water and then again in the sand. I failed him. After I resuscitated him, I should not have made him return. We were so close to being free. Our – relatively – happy ever after was in sight, practically within reaching distance and I blew it.

Now we are both going to die. All because of me. All because I wanted to be a hero.

No Alice, begins my inner voice in protest, you did what was right.

I curse myself silently. I returned to prevent anything like this happening again. I returned to ensure that no other teenagers would be abducted and forced to do what we – and what so many others – were forced to do. Yet it was all in vein. The people that run this had got what they were looking for. If I had not returned, it would have made no difference.

We would be alive.

‘’Alice,’’ says a voice I immediately relate to my flashback. 

This voice is different to Niamh’s however; it is not coming from everywhere at once. In fact, I hear it quite clearly – as though the person is standing directly beside me. It is a voice I recognise. It is the voice of whoever saved me from being turned into a mute before this all started.

I open my eyes.

As my eyelids flutter open, I am blinded by light. On a stand directly above me, a large and powerful light bulb shines down on me – illuminating my face. I try to lift my hands up to my eyes to shield them from the beams; however I find they are strapped to my sides. Again, I am confined to a bed of some sort. No, not a bed. What I am lying on seems to resemble a dentist chair.

I shut my eyes once more; the light is far too bright. I let out a slight sigh and the light switches off. Cautiously, I open my eyes and once my eyes have adjusted to the lighting, I observe what I can of the room around me – which is not a lot considering I am confined to the chair I am thrown across.

Beyond the light above me – that is thankfully now turned off – is a plain yet dirty white ceiling. Along the ceiling are long fluorescent lights that light the room I am in. From where I sit, I cannot turn my head far enough in any direction to find out anything else about it.

‘’Alice,’’ whispers the voice again.

‘’Yes?’’ I reply cautiously.

As I do, a man comes into view above me for a few seconds. He is standing directly over me, glancing down. He wears a long white lab coat; his hair is confined by a small hair net and on top of that is a doctor’s hat. Covering his mouth is a mask I associate with what a doctor would wear in an operating room.

Beneath his lab-coat, the muscles on his arms bulge beneath the fabric – evidence of an active lifestyle and that he should really be wearing a bigger coat! He has kind eyes, a shade somewhere between blue and green that I know I have seen before although I cannot place it. The skin on his face – what I can actually see – is an olive colour, a slight suntan.

Although his skull is covered, I can see the short brown hair on either side of his head, a tight and tidy cut. I also notice that his ears are curved unusually into small cup shapes and his jaw bones protrude out beneath the mask he wears to protect his mouth.

Despite the fact that his mouth is covered, I can tell that the man is smiling to some extent, because I notice the appearance of a small dimple on the left side of his face. I should feel scared, but there is something comforting about the look in his eyes. This man isn’t going to hurt me.

‘’Close your eyes,’’ he orders, ‘’I’ll talk, you listen.’’

I nod my head ever so slightly.

‘’We are probably being watched on cameras, so don’t make it obvious you are awake,’’ he begins, ‘’you don’t know who I am, but I know who you are. I am friends with your parents, I know you father well.’’

At the mere mention of my parents, I feel as though I have just been punched in the gut and winded, however I retain my blank expression – obeying his warning. However at the same time, as he says this, his voice clicks in my head. My mind takes me back in time, I remember this man visiting my father on numerous occasions – of course I had paid little attention because I had assumed it had been regarding his line of work.

Considering what this man is involved with, I now wonder what it was to do with. Is my father involved in this in any way? Does he know I’m here?

‘’I’ve been working on this project for almost a decade now. It wasn’t always like it is now, but you’d be surprised what people are willing to do ‘in the name of science’. When a billionaire came on board, and we learned more about Exo-C, most of the others were blinded by the money promised to them if we found a cure.’’

I listen carefully as he explains what Nathan did not. The missing pieces of the puzzle are beginning to click in my head now. It is making more sense to me.

‘’They developed the cruel game you were put through, and I had no choice to go along with it. I was swimming against a relentless tide. As you can probably tell by now, they are very willing to make sacrifices,’’ he explains.

Nathan’s words flash across my mind as he speaks of the sacrificed teenage lives, ‘a drop of water in the ocean’.

‘’Why are you helping me?’’ I question through gritted teeth, ensuring my lips are pressed firmly together in case we are in fact being watched on cameras.

‘’I have always been against murdering the innocent, and although I have been overpowered in the past, I cannot stand for this. It’s one thing to murder in the name of science, as they so often remind me, but to kill you both when we have no need for you anymore is just barbaric. Also, you may or may not know this, but I am a friend of your fathers...I had to do something,’’ he answers.

‘’Does he know I am here?’’ I ask.

‘’No, I can’t bring myself to tell him. But I won’t have to. You will. I’m going to get you both out of here,’’ he explains, ‘’if it’s the last thing I do.’’

You both.

‘’Where’s Aaron?’’ I question as he pops into my head.

‘’He’s fine Alice, he’s just meters away, now you have to stop talking. Act like you’re unconscious,’’ he warns, ‘’and listen very, very carefully.’’

I shut my eyes and ensure my body remains limp. If it is true that he is about to help us, we have been given one last chance to survive. I cannot screw this up. We have to survive. We have to get out of this.

‘’On the table beside me, I have two syringes containing a poison that will kill you both when I inject it within ten minutes,’’ he begins and I feel my heart clog up my throat with utter fear.

WHAT!?

‘’I‘m not going to do it however, I’m going to try help you escape.’’

I listen carefully to his next words.

‘’I am going to pretend to inject you with the serum and then I am going to do the same to Aaron. I will then leave the room and I will go to the control room and shut off the power. You will have about five minutes at the very most to find your way out before they get the place back up and running.’’

Is he being serious? Is he going to risk his life to help us escape?

As he says this, he picks up the syringe and holds it far too close to my throat for comfort. He stands beside me for a moment, pretending to inject the serum that contains the poisonous fluid that could end my life. He then places it back on the table and begins inspecting the second.

‘’I have left a torch just inside the doorway; use it to find your way out. I have also placed a tazer under your chair which you’ll have to use if you come across anyone. They may have been humane about your execution the first time ‘round, but they’ll be instructed to shoot on site.’’

‘’Are you be serious right now?’’ I whisper, my lips barely moving.

‘’I am, you don’t deserve to die,’’ he responds, ‘’I have also placed a USB stick inside your left pocket. On it, you will find information on all the teenagers that have been abducted and murdered thus far here because the folders you took were brought back inside. Use the information to bring solace to the affected families.’’

‘’What will happen to you? What will they do to you if they find out?’’

‘’When they find out,’’ he corrects, ‘’I don’t know to be honest. They’ll probably kill me.’’

‘’Are you sure you want to do this?’’ I ask.

‘’Your father has done plenty for me in the past; it’s the least I can do considering I didn’t manage to prevent you being sent to this awful island once I realised it was you in the first place.’’

‘’Who are you?’’ I ask, ‘’what’s your name?’’

‘’Martin, that’s all you need you to know about me,’’ he begins as he approaches Aaron and presumably does the same. He speaks in a half whisper, half shout from across the room, ‘’finally I have placed a small dagger in your right pocket, when the power cuts, use it to cut yourself free and to cut Aaron free.’’

This cannot be happening. Surely this is some sort of sick joke. However as he points this out, I notice the pressure of something in my pocket – which now that I am aware of, can tell it is in fact a dagger. This is real. We are going to have one last chance at freedom.

Martin returns to the table beside me and places the syringe down on it. I can sense his eyes fall on me somehow.

‘’Finally, to find your way back down to the boat, exit this room and keep your hand against the wall on the right. It will take you to a stairwell. Go down three flights and exit the door on the right. You will then recognise where you are,’’ I mentally try to picture his instructions.

‘’Thank you,’’ I mutter almost silently through my lips – pressed firmly shut.

‘’Good luck,’’ he says and exits the room without another word.