Free Aftershock by Mark Walden Page A

wasn’t asleep,’ Raven replied, trying to shake off the feeling of lingering despair that always accompanied the memories of her childhood. ‘Are we nearly home?’
    ‘Yes, ma’am,’ the co-pilot replied with a nod. ‘Five minutes.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Raven replied, standing up and heading over to the stretchers on the opposite side of the passenger compartment. She checked the unconscious boy’s pulse – still strong.
    ‘I know you’re awake,’ Raven said to the girl in the other stretcher, smiling to herself. ‘So feigning unconsciousness will not catch me off guard.’ The girl’s head turned so that she could see Raven.
    ‘Where are you taking me?’ the girl asked, straining against the straps that secured her to the stretcher.
    ‘You’ll find out very soon,’ Raven replied. ‘If you stop struggling, I’ll undo those straps.’
    The girl stared at Raven for a moment and then lay still. Raven moved over to her stretcher and released the straps one by one. The girl sat up and looked at Raven, as if sizing her up.
    ‘Who are you?’ the girl asked, frowning slightly.
    ‘You may call me Raven.’
    ‘Why have you kidnapped us? Who do you work for?’ the girl demanded. Raven could not help but admire her apparent lack of fear.
    ‘Let’s just say that I work in . . . recruitment,’ Raven replied with a slight smile.
    ‘Recruitment for what?’ the girl asked, looking round the dimly lit interior of the Shroud.
    The boy in the other stretcher let out a low moan and his eyes fluttered open. Raven moved over to his stretcher, undid the restraining straps and helped him to sit up. He was tall and handsome with a thick mop of brown hair that hung down over his forehead and his dark brown eyes. He seemed totally disorientated for a moment or two and then his eyes widened and he pushed himself back against the bulkhead away from Raven.
    ‘What’s going on?’ he said, sounding bewildered.
    ‘I’ve already asked her that,’ the girl said as she sat down next to the confused-looking boy. ‘I’m afraid straight answers don’t seem to be her speciality.’
    There was a sudden soft thud as the Shroud touched down and Raven moved over to the boarding ramp release switch.
    ‘You’re about to get all the answers you could possibly want,’ Raven said as she hit the button and the ramp began to descend. ‘Please, after you,’ she said, gesturing for them to proceed.
    The girl helped the boy get unsteadily to his feet and they walked down the slope. At the bottom were several security guards armed with Sleepers.
    ‘This way please,’ one of the guards said, gesturing for them to follow. They followed him without question, eyes wide and mouths hanging open in amazement as they tried to take in the scene that greeted them. Dozens of sleek, black insectile dropships like the one they had just disembarked from were spread out around the floor of the huge hangar that surrounded them. There was a rumble from high overhead and they looked up to see two massive reinforced shutters sliding together far above them, sealing them inside the enormous floodlit cavern. Several other children were climbing down from the strange aircraft and following security guards across the hangar floor towards a massive opening in the rocky wall. They shared the same look of dumbstruck awe.
    ‘All retrieval teams report for debriefing,’ a soft, vaguely synthetic voice said over speakers hidden somewhere in the walls. ‘All flight crews to perform post-flight checks.’
    Raven watched as the pair of new students who she had recruited joined the group of twenty or so other children who were being herded towards the main meeting hall by their security team escorts. She followed along behind, quietly taking up a position at the back of the enormous cavern that was used for all full school assemblies. There was a low-level buzz of nervous chatter now as the new intake of students was arranged in lines in front of the lectern at