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Itch.

           Itch.

                    Itch.

Where am I?

Itch.
           Itch.
                     Itch.

Who turned out the lights?

Itch.
         Itch.
                  Itch.

Oh no. No. No. This itching. I can't be. I can't be turning again.

Kate scratched at her neck. She felt that her eyes were open. But she could still only see the black cat monotony, that stretched out it's limbs around her. 

Body shaking, she waited for a feral growl to arise from her own chest.

.

.

.

Time passed. The growl did not come. 

I'm not turning.

Not this time. 

And then she realised- it was the space around her that had made her itch- not her transformation. Its fibers irritated her nose, forcing her to spit out a sneeze.

"Shut it," the itchy space spat back.

"What?"

"I said, shut it. Means no noise. Comprendo?"

"Why should I?" Kate spoke through the stuffy air.

"Because it's swing time, baby." 

What does that even mean... thought Kate. But before she could ponder any longer the world spun into view- in all its sun parched yellows and dried out blues. She squinted; the brightness of day stinging her eyes. She had no idea where she was. It was just a dry wasteland.

Then there was her neck- all bruised and battered. She rubbed it in an attempt to encourage blood to the area.

Wait a minute... Kate had caught her hand on something in the process. The thing was tightly taught and composed of twisted fibers.

Alarmed, she looked down and from the very bottom of her vision she saw the fibred snake. Which had no end to it, circling all the way round her neck. 

"Swing time," she said, in horror. She yanked and pulled at it but the rope only drew in tighter.

This isn't happening. This isn't happening, she hummed to herself.

"I wouldn't do that, lass."

Kate located the person who spoke to her- a Guard. They were standing a few steps away, swinging the canvas bag brown bag that had once been over Kate's head. Back and forth. Back and forth, it swung.

"You bruise good. That's a cracker on your neck. Was expecting you to look like that though. Especially when your body slammed against the floor."

Their words stirred Kate's own recollection. She had been in the Purifier Compound and then... and then? There were burn holes in her memories after that.  

"You'll regret this," she growled, masking her fear. "All of your lot! You'll regret this!" But it dawned on Kate that the game of hide and seek she had been playing was over. The government had found her.  

"Aren't you a talker? Your accomplice is quieter- safer option, really."

Tom?

Head down, the boy next to her did not flinch. Could not even utter a word. His shoulders were slumped and his neck encircled by rope of his own. Kate didn't dare speak to him. Though his eyes were open he looked devoid of life. Skin sunken and eyes swollen. After everything, Tom seemed to have given up.

"Though this one... not so much, we had to silence him for now," the Guard went on. 

To the other side of Kate, Flynn was on his knees- unconscious and swinging slightly, levered up into straight-backed submission by his own fibre collar. She ground her teeth, hurt to see Flynn in such a helpless position. The three of them had only just found each other again and now...

She turned away from Flynn and chose not to glance at Tom again. She felt that she might lose all hope if she did. 

The Guard who spoke to Kate now looked the same as all the others- a shining gas mask face and a slender suit and tie. Black and white. Smart. Unemotional. Exactly the kind of people that the government required. Exactly the kind of people who had tortured the four of them when they were younger. 

And whilst the recollection stung the very fibre of her being, the sight of another two bagged beings on the podium opposite her left her hung, mid- air, in suspicion. Seeing her interest, the Guard on the opposite podium ripped off their bags and revealed the two figures. 

The first- a boy verging on man, Kate didn't recognise at first. But after a moment she identified Tom's own dark features in this older boy. Though this boy stood much taller than Tom and looked both of the Guards in the eye when they spoke. 

The second figure was much older; her hands clutching at her body as if to stop herself collapsing.

"Mum!" 

Kate tried to jump towards her in horror but was pulled back by the rope.  It was like looking in a mirror and seeing herself- back at the facility, scared, weak and desperate. Kate's mother was just a kid again; the broken reflection of Kate's childhood with cracks so deep that the weight of the universe could fall through them and spill out into the world. 

"What exactly are our crimes?" Kate asked, desperately baiting a distraction.

"You know exactly what they are," snapped the more responsive Guard. 

Damn it. 

Charlotte gazed at her daughter, liquid pooling across her face. She was searching for something in the space between Kate's mouth.  I'm sorry. Charlotte seemed to say. Forgive me for handing you in when you were little.

Despite everything, despite the anger, despite the hatred, despite the years of her life that Kate had lost, she smiled. It was a small smile. One that faltered after a second when Kate realised what she was doing. But nevertheless it was enough for Charlotte, who turned away from her daughter with the forgiveness she needed for death.

"But seeing as you asked so nicely and you're lucked out," the Guard continued condescendingly "I'll provide you this mercy,"

Okay. I've got a bit of time.  Kate's mind turned this way and that- splashing against her skull in rapidly flowing tributaries. 

"Your crimes, Kate Monroe-" Marsh. It's Kate Marsh. "- are as follows- you entered an off limits zone, broke out of a government controlled area, harmed a Purifier Colonel with mutinous intent, were reported questioning the governmental values of our society-"

"Rubbish! Who told you that?" she argued.

Blue. It must've been Blue. Brat! 

"Let me finish! You failed to properly carry out your required job as a Purifier and you communicated in prohibited terms with one Tom Darshana- who I might add- has crimes going back way before yours even begun!"

Huh...

Noticing the furrowing of her brow, the Guard scoffed. "You didn't know? Looks like one of your accomplices has been hiding things from you as well."

Tom blinked- showing the first sign of movement. He was listening. Kate thought back to the apocalypse of green that night in the boathouse. It was true, he had his secrets.

"Now you have to pay for it and you're not the only ones..." 

Kate saw the way her mum seemed to tremble where she stood. She wanted to scratch out her own eyes just to get rid of the image. Her own Mother was going to die- because of her. 

"What a waste of government technology," tutted the Guard next to Kate, brandishing their spear. "But then, experiments go wrong." 

The Guard on the opposite podium began to tighten the rope around Tom's brother. Kate tried to shove Flynn awake but his head lolled about limply.

"Tom.." she whispered. "We've got to get us all out of this."

He shook his head. 

"Why aren't you fighting? Flynn's going to die! Your brother's going to die! Don't you even care?" 

The Guard had moved on to Kate's mother now. "Please," Kate whispered, seeing her Mum threatened. "Just, please, I know I haven't been a good friend but do it for your brother. For my Mum and Flynn! They don't deserve this."

"Trust me."

"Why---"

Kate gasped at the spectral sight. For Tom had finally looked up at Kate, his eyes emanating green silk. 

His side- effects... He's going to use them..

The Guard next to Kate yanked her rope so tight that, had she been able to breath, she would've already choked to death. 

Then he moved onto Tom- who squeezed his eyes shut to conceal them.

The Guard signaled to the other with a downwards motion. 

Tom opened his eyes once again and Kate noticed the sea green silk in his eyes dissipate into the air around them. 

"Hurry," she pleaded. The Guard moved towards the trapdoor lever on the podium. 

He shook his head. "Wait." 

But the Guard was getting closer to the lever every second and Tom just remained still.

She looked away from everything she knew, closing her eyes and trying to force herself into her fox form. Then maybe she could escape her fate. She squeezed her eyes closed and scratched her skin. 

Why won't it work! 

She trembled, taking in the dusty world for one last time. 

"This is my favourite part," the Guard whispered, hand tapping the trapdoor lever. Kate bit her lip hard- drawing specs of blood that bloomed in her mouth. There was nothing she could do now. No plan of Kate's could save them from death. 

BANG

A scream. 

The sound of something hitting the floor. 

Open eyes.

Look around.

The Guard beside Kate lay hunched over, his leg punctured and oozing pomegranate red. 

Kate saw that between the two podiums stood another person. They wore a black veil over their head and pointed the gun firmly at the Guard on the floor. 

The second Guard behind this new figure ran towards them, spear at the ready. Though the veiled figure was too quick. They spun around and shot the ground in front of the Guard.

"Drop the spear," the Guard resisted. "In the name of Mother Nature drop the spear or I'll break the law again." 

The Guard paused briefly, but then threw their spear at the veiled figure. Who caught it from the side and deftly shot the Guard in the pelvis. They fell to the ground in convulsion. 

Tom caught Kate's eye and smiled knowingly but Kate didn't understand. 

"I said drop the spear, not fire it," spoke the veiled figure.

The Guard beside Kate with the bloodied leg shuffled himself towards the trapdoor lever. She tried desperately to kick them away. 

"Get off me you bitch," the Guard spat. "You're going to die if it kills me," 

But he didn't get far, for when his hand touched the lever a bullet touched his brain and he stopped moving completely. 

Kate was shocked- questions flashing like lightning across her mind. The violence of it all. The blood. The two lifeless bodies scarring the world. It made her want to recoil into herself. She still felt like only a child. 

For a moment the gun wielding figure stood looking in Kate's direction, faceless and deadly like the grim reaper against the flat desert wasteland.

Slowly, the figure raised their free hand to their face. Grasping the black veil, they pulled it from their head, letting it flit away in the desert wind. 

Turns out the grim reaper was a woman.

"Jasmine."

Author's Note- Hey everyone! So here it is :) this has been emblazoned in my mind for so long now and it feels great to get it down on paper. To those of you still reading or if anyone has just discovered the story: thanks! Thanks for reading and getting this far, forest walkers.  -hippywitch