Page 2 of Scarred Sunrise

Chapter 1

Sweat drippeddown the middle of his back, the oppressive heat inside the bunker making life uncomfortable. Smithy watched from his position on the gantry as the men beneath him sparred. His hands clenched at his sides as he watched the weaker man go to his knees.

He knew what was coming next; it was the same thing he’d been forced to endure since his arrival over ten days ago now. Hair tickled on the back of his neck as he felt someone come to stand beside him. That he’d gotten away with being here undetected for this long was a minor miracle. The man who’d been his second when he was here previously had automatically stepped aside and now deferred to him.

Smithy had avoided talking to anyone more senior, making others do it, but now he was sure that he was raising suspicions and needed to figure out an exit strategy with Zack.

“Commander, a call came through from headquarters. The Divine One will be visiting the facility the day after tomorrow at sixteen hundred hours.”

Smithy could hear no excitement or inflexion in the man’s voice, and it saddened him that men he’d had beers with were now nothing more than robots with no emotion.

Turning away from the spectacle below, he observed the man he’d called a friend with a critical eye, trying to ascertain if there was any inkling that he was fighting the drug that made him a puppet and saw nothing. Anger surged through him as he thought of the good they’d done, the lives saved, and all of it gone with the push of one syringe.

“Alert the troops. I want the facility to be in top shape so she knows we’re ready for the next stage.”

Bowing his head slightly, the man saluted him and strode away, having no clue of the monster he’d become. In some ways Smithy envied him, to know nothing of the innocent lives he’d taken must be a blessing. Yet, as he turned back and watched the guards observing the fight drag the dead man from the ring, he knew that despite all of the nightmares, the panic attacks, the self-hatred, he wouldn’t swap places with any of these dead-eyed men.

He had more regrets than he could count and more sins on his head than he could ever atone for, his place in hell reserved with a bow. His only mission before that hell took him was to stop Rhea Winslow from achieving her goal and freeing these men to whatever peace they could get. For most of them, he knew that would be death, the honour with which they’d fought for their Queen and Country destroyed to a point where nothing was left.

He would see vengeance done if it killed him. That wouldn’t be his choice, knowing that the one person who should hate him above all others would mourn him the most. He wouldn’t seek out death, but if death came for him while he put this cult and the woman who drove it down, then he’d walk willingly into the bowels of hell to achieve it. Lizzie, the love of his life, the woman who’d broken him and saved him, a woman who’d forgiven him for the crimes he’d perpetrated against her, would live her life free and without fear. It was the only thing he had left to give her. His soul was so dark it didn’t leave a shadow, his heart black as night; the single flicker of light was the love he’d always hold for her.

Turning away as the next two men got into the ring and began to spar, he saw two soldiers he didn’t know approaching him. Smithy’s shoulders tensed with unease as they stopped a few feet away.

“Commander, we have been sent from the Divine One’s personal guard to ensure a safe trip. Could we have a tour of the facility?” The men were both tall and muscular, but whereas the other men had dead eyes, these two had something behind their eyes, a spark of life that made Smithy cautious.

“Why was I not informed about this before?” He glared at the men, needing to get the upper hand and knowing weakness wouldn’t be tolerated.

“We do not question The Divine One.”

“Very well, follow me.”

Smithy didn’t like having these men at his back, his hindbrain telling him that something wasn’t quite right about this encounter. He showed the men the barracks and the lab, before leading them to the training facility.

“This is our training camp.” Smithy held his hands behind his back, his stance rigid as he nodded towards the ring where two more soldiers fought.

“You have an impressive outfit. The leader will be pleased.”

“Did she say why she was coming?”

The head guard, or at least the one who was taking the lead cocked his head. “She never says.”

Smithy knew that wasn’t true. When he’d been by her side, she’d told him things, trusted him. He’d never understood why she treated him differently. At the time hadn’t cared or really noticed, but after his escape, it had plagued him in the wee hours of the morning.

Had he somehow courted what happened to him? Had she seen something inside him that told her he’d carry out her orders without question? It was one of the many unanswered mysteries that kept him awake at night.

Turning back to the scene in front of him, he cloaked his feelings from the other two. A whisper of foreboding walked up his spine and he knew his time was almost up. He’d get word to Zack for an extract.

“Commander, would you care to show us the skills we’ve heard so much about?”

Smithy closed his eyes, slowly taking a deep breath. The skills they spoke of weren’t his own; they were those of the man he was pretending to be and who would never know to question a superior officer again. “Surely there’s no time?” If he got in the ring, he’d have to kill whoever he faced, a fight to the death, a brutal show of power and strength his only option unless he wanted to leave in a body bag.

“There is always time for this.”

Smithy saw the sneer and flexed his fingers to keep from hitting him when an idea formed. “Would you care to join me?”

The sneer fell, and he almost smirked at the man’s fear, another sign he wasn’t as drugged as the others. To refuse him would be to show weakness, and while Smithy had no desire to kill anyone in this ring without free will ever again, he’d happily dispatch this man who knew exactly what he was doing.

With a short nod, the two stepped inside, and a hush went around the room as men moved closer to watch. The bloodthirsty base nature inside them screaming for the gore they knew would come next.