Tales of the First

Wendy nodded. “Of course I do. I know he’s Keith’s son but he’s a much better person than his father. He may only be my step-brother but I love him like a real one.”

“He has done a good a job of avoiding being like his father,” Sienna agreed. “So if we’re not going to talk about this what shall we do to take our minds off it?”

Wendy looked back at the laptop. “I guess you don’t want to watch more music videos?” she asked.

“Not really,” Sienna said. “I'm not in a music mood.”

“What about a movie then? Something with a lot of comedy and no violence? A romcom maybe?” She didn't sound very enthusiastic about that last bit.

“Meh,” Sienna said. “I can understand the lack of violence but I detest romcoms.”

“Yes, me too,” Wendy admitted after a moment. “I so much want to shake the main characters and yell 'talk to each other' in most cases.”

“Ooh I know” Sienna ran to her dvd shelf and pulled her My Neighbour Totoro DVD off it. “What about this? No romance, no violence, precious little conflict but somehow it still works as a great movie.”

Wendy took it off her and read the back. “Sure,” she said. “That looks cute. Cute is good right now.”

“Okay, just let me fire up my DVD player,” Sienna said.

They spent the rest of the evening sitting on Sienna’s bed, eating cheesecake, drinking pop and watching dvds until it was time to go to bed.

“I can see that,” Sienna said. “But there is one more things that I need to tell you after mum brings the cheesecake. If I’m right it’s important.”

“Okay,” Wendy gave her a curious look.

A few minutes later Sienna’s mother returned with two plates of cheesecake and then left them on there own again. Wendy picked hers up and began playing with it with her spoon.

“So what did you want to tell me.”

Sienna took a breath and then told her about her sense that the police officer had known about her and what he had said to make her think that.

Wendy frowned deeply and began absently eating her cheesecake. “Yes,” she said after a long pause in which half the dessert disappeared. “That does sound like he knows – or at least suspects – something. I wonder ho… oh shit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Were there any CCTV cameras near where it happened?”

Sienna swallowed anxiously as she saw where Wendy’s train of thought was going. “I didn’t notice. I mean those things are everywhere. You think we were seen?”

“I think it’s possible but I’d have expected more reaction than this if you had.” Wendy frowned. “But it might be how the killers know where to look.” She frowned. “I’ll get Martin to look into it – he knows where all the cameras are that’s how we made sure no one could find our den that way."

“You trust him a lot, don’t you?” Sienna asked.

“After I gave my statement the police officer told me that the range rover disappeared into thin air. Not just evaded but literally vanished.”

Wendy narrowed her eyes. “What… that would suggest…” she trailed off.

“What is it?”

“That would suggest that they have some sort of powers of their own,” she said. “Which could mean this 'she' has some sort of detection powers.”

“In which case I’m screwed,” Sienna said.

“Not necessarily,” Wendy said. “Not if they are looking for people in the state that man was in. They wouldn’t look twice at you unless you did–” She broke off at the sound of someone coming up the stairs.

A moment later there was a rap on the door and Sienna’s mother popped her head in. “Would you two like some strawberry cheesecake? I made it earlier and thought it might cheer you up…” she hesitated. “This is well beyond the power of dessert to fix, isn't it?”

Truth be told Sienna didn’t feel very hungry because her stomach was still churning but she didn’t want to upset her mother either. She was obviously trying but had no idea how to help. Sienna didn’t blame her. She didn’t think anyone would. So she smiled at her and nodded.

“Cheesecake sounds lovely, mum.”

“Oh good!” Her mother smiled at her and shut the door.

“She’s doing her best,” Sienna said when she saw Wendy’s look.

“I know,” Wendy said. “It can’t be easy on her.” she looked thoughtful for a moment. “I don’t think we should talk about what we were discussing any more, not here anyway,” she said after a long moment. “We should wait until we get to the den. Less chance of being overheard.”

“I wish I knew,” Sienna’s father said. “But we aren’t going figure it out standing in the street. Let’s get home before anything else happens.”



“How did they know?” Sienna and Wendy were sitting in Sienna’s room later that evening. Wendy looked around from where she was watching music videos on Youtube as if she could use them to wash the memory of what happened out of her mind.

“I don’t want to think about it let alone talk about it,” she said. “Not yet.”

“I understand,” Sienna said softly. “I don’t either. But it’s kind of important. If they knew about him will they find out about me.”

“I–” Wendy stopped and looked at her again. “I still don’t want to talk about it but I think you’re right we have to don’t we? The trouble is I’m not sure it will help because I have no idea.” She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at the laptop.

“Except we need to think about security. I don’t know how they found out but I can hazard some guesses about things we should avoid.”

“Like what?” Sienna asked.

“Well simplest of all we need to tell as few people as possible. The more people in a secret the more chance it will leak. After that I’d say no talking on the phone or internet unless it’s thoroughly encrypted. No internet searches for information unless the same caution is taken.” Wendy narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Searching for information might be how they found them except I imagine a lot of people were simply because of what they’d witnessed so it couldn’t just be that.”

“She,” Sienna said. "They said 'she was never wrong'. Someone told them."

“Yes,” Wendy said. “But how did this person know. I feel like I’m missing something.”

Sienna got the feeling he was fishing and decided she wasn’t going to tell him about Wendy’s family problems. Instead she finished her tea and stood up. “Let’s go and wait for Wendy then.”

The police officer nodded and led them out to the front desk. “Goodbye, Miss Munroe,” he said. “Be careful out there.”

“Oh, I don’t think I’m these psycho’s type.” Sienna's mouth went dry again.

“Well you don’t seem to be,” he said. There was a subtle emphasis on the seem that made Sienna stare at him. Did he suspect she had powers? How could he?

“What?” she said but he was already gone.

A few minutes later Wendy and her cousin, a tall black man in his early twenties, joined them near the front desk. He had a rather harried expression on his face. As they walked towards the carpark he paused.

“I hate to ask this but after what happened with Keith earlier Mum and I are trying to persuade Helen not to take him back. We both think that it would be better if Wendy was out of the way. Could you…” he trailed off.

“Of course Wendy can stay with us for the night,” Sienna’s father said. “I imagine both girls would be happier with comforting company after earlier anyway.”

Wendy’s cousin nodded. “Honestly I think what Wendy described seeing earlier was worse than yesterday even if only one person was killed.”

“It was,” Wendy said. “It was awful. Those poor poor people.” She looked close to tears as she hugged herself. “Who were those men? Why did they do that?”

“Did you catch the people who did this?” Sienna asked.

He hesitated visibly, glanced at the inactive tape recorder then shook his head. “No. There was a brief road chase then their vehicle turned a corner and just disappeared into thin air. I mean literally – they were just gone.”

Sienna’s father narrowed his eyes at the man. “That sounds a bit unlikely. Are you sure they aren’t actually with the military and you’re helping cover it up.”

“No more unlikely than people throwing fireballs and that happened apparently.” The police officer shook his head. “If they are military then no one told us and we’re certainly not covering anything up.” He hesitated, “Of course I’d say that anyway, wouldn’t I?”

“Probably,” Sienna’s father said. “But I suspect you’re being truthful because I’m pretty sure you’d come up with a better story than a disappearing Range Rover if you were. Who do you think they are?”

The police officer sighed heavily and double checked the recorder was switched off. “Well whoever they are they’re well organized and seem to have been expecting this. I really shouldn’t tell you this but I think that we have some sort of messed up paramilitary group on our hands, though I don’t know how they knew this would happen.”

“I don’t either,” Sienna’s father said. “But I have a horrible feeling that this is far from over and we may yet find out. I hope I’m wrong.”

“I do as well,” the police officer said before turning back to Sienna. “Your friend has nearly finished her statement. Once you’ve finished tea you can both go.” He shook his head. “You know it was her cousin who came and sat with her not her mother?”

“I do indeed,” the man raised his gun again and shot the male captive in the head. Then when the woman wailed he turned around and cracked her with the rifle butt. She fell to the ground and he hit her again. “And you disgust me, traitor. Trying to protect him.” He turned and addressed the crowd. “If any of you are sheltering invaders you’d best destroy them before we find you or we'll kill you too.”

He pointed his rifle at the woman and Sienna was certain he would have fired but one of the others grabbed his arm and said something Sienna couldn't quite hear. A quiet but obvious argument followed until sirens in the distance made all four flee. The car sped off just as the police arrived but by then Sienna was too busy retching up her lunch on the grass to care and she wasn’t the only one. It was only when her phone rang that she realised her house would have been in earshot. She grabbed it from her bag and answered it.

“Mum, I’m okay!” She spotted a policeman heading towards her and Wendy. “But I’m likely to be late. I think the police are going to need a statement.”

Sienna’s father came to the police station to sit with her while she gave her statement. She was still shaking as they sat in the interview room after her statement. Eventually the police officer who had taken her statement came back and put a mug of sweet tea on the table in front of Sienna.

“There you go, Miss. Drink that before you go out to face the world again,” he said. “You’ve definitely had a rough couple of days.”

They hadn’t got far when the sound of squealing brakes made them stop. A black range rover with tinted windows screeched to a halt outside a house at the end of the road.

“That’s odd,” Wendy said. “That car has no number plate–” She broke off as four armed men in a military style clothes jumped out. All of them were carrying assault rifles. “Shit!”

Sienna didn’t say anything. Her mouth was too dry. She looked around for somewhere to hide certain the men were looking for her.

Instead they smashed down the door of the house they had stopped outside and rushed in, emerging moments later dragging a middle aged woman and a young man who looked enough like her that he was probably her son. She kept trying to escape her captors and go to him.

He seemed somewhat out of it and Sienna suspected he had a milder version of whatever had afflicted their attacker yesterday. That or he'd had longer to recover.

By this point a small crowd had gathered from neighboring houses and one of them rushed at the man who was holding the woman but there was the crack of a gunshot and he collapsed to the ground, his knee a smashed and bloody pulp by a well-aimed shot.

“The next person to interfere gets it in the head.” The man who had shot him had an accent that Sienna thought was American. He glared at the crowd before turning his attention back to the male captive. “Are you sure about this one? He hasn't done anything yet.”

“I’m sure,” the one holding him said. "Look at him."

"Even if he wasn't she gave us this address and she's never wrong." The fourth gunman whacked the captive with the butt of his rifle. The victim roared and a blast of fire flew at his attacker who side-stepped it calmly. “See?”

“Hmm… I can see that,” Wendy said. “But I think we’re okay here where nothing happened. You can but ask. You can’t practice here.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Sienna said, “Let’s go and ask.”

“That’s the spirit,” Wendy said.

“Mum, Dad do you think it’s safe for me and Wendy to go for a walk?” Sienna asked once they got downstairs. “I need to clear my head.”

Her parents didn’t answer immediately but instead looked at each other.

“Well whoever shot those poor people is still at large,” her mother said hesitantly. “Though there hasn’t been any more since the gas cleared.” She looked at Sienna’s father. “What do you think?”

“It should be okay,” he said. “There was no trouble when I went to the shop so the local major incident plan seems to have coped. The police have said it’s safe to go out as long as people avoid the town centre. Just be careful though. It is worrying that they don’t know who murdered those people yet. I don’t think you’re at risk though. From what the news said all the victims were men.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Sienna said. “We’ll be careful.”

“Take your phone in case something happens, sweetpea,” he said. “And don’t be gone too long.”

“Okay, dad,” Sienna grabbed it from where it was sitting on the sideboard and put it in her bag as she and Wendy headed out the door. When they reached the end of the path Sienna turned to Wendy. “So where’s this factory.”

“Not far,” Wendy said. “Follow me.” She set off down the road towards the edge of town.

“You have a secret base?” Sienna said. “Why don't you just rent a warehouse like most robot fighting geeks?”

“Well, you know how Keith is about me being involved in ‘Martin’s hobby’. It’s not suitable for a girl.” She scowled at the wall. “Like Martin could build a robot – he’s a programmer not an engineer. I’m only allowed to study science because Keith thinks I want to be a nurse. Is he in for a shock. He’s obviously forgot I don’t need his money to go to university – I have dad’s trust fund – which Keith and mum can’t touch – for that. But anyway, it’s out of the way so you can practice safely.”

“It’s also trespassing by the sounds of it,” Sienna said mildly.

Wendy waved that concern away lightly. “Nope. It's technically mine. It was one of Dad’s that he bough to redevelop into student flats. That fell through due to planning issues but it’s still on the portfolio. If the company sells it or actually moves to redevelop it we’ll move but it’s derelict for now and no one else goes there.” She paused then added. “But I had to tell Martin what was happening since it’s his base as well.”

“That’s okay,” Sienna said. “Martin is cool.”

“He is,” Wendy said. “But I don’t think he believed me about you.”

“Can you blame him?” Sienna asked.

Wendy snorted. “No, not really. He’s coming to see for himself. Shall we go?”

“I’m not sure mum and dad will let me out today and I don’t blame them, not with a mass shooter still on the loose in town.”

“Are your mum and Keith arguing again?” Sienna asked as she sat back down at her computer and continued scanning through the Twitter hashtags about Castleham to see what people were saying. Keith was Wendy’s stepfather and something of a bully in Sienna’s opinion.

Wendy sighed and nodded. “For a certain value of argue where you mean verbally abusing mum until she gives in. It got really bad this time.” She looked down before grinning viciously. “Martin physically kicked him out of the house this time. I think that really shocked the bastard – that his own son would side against him.”

“Go, Martin!” Sienna said.

“Yeah,” Wendy said then sobered. “But I’m worried it will make things worse because you know she’s not ready to admit there’s a problem yet. So she’ll probably let him back in. Martin says he’s going to talk to her.”

“Ah!”

“Yeah. Mum’s still fixated on the fact he’s a genius. I really don’t understand how someone so intelligent can be so mean and stupid when it comes to women. But we should get down to business.” Wendy peered over her shoulder at Twitter. “Anyone said anything useful?”

“Not really,” Sienna said. “Lots of wild theories all of which seem unlikely but any of which could be true given that there aren't actually any likely theories.” She lowered her voice to make sure her parents wouldn’t hear. “So where’s this place you think I can practice?”

Wendy gave a half-grin. “Mine and Martin’s secret base.”

“A bit, though the town centre is a wreck and will likely be a mess for weeks if not months.” He sat of the edge of her bed. “And they still can’t explain the gas or the shootings. I think they’d assume the gas was some sort of volatile from the meteor but all the witnesses and the mobile phone camera footage indicate it came from the ground.”

“It did.” Sienna nodded as started eating her breakfast. “And it was magenta too which is even more weird. Whoever heard of a magenta gas?”

“The colour is odd,” her father agreed. He reached over and ruffled her hair. “But I’m more worried by the fact that there is a murderer loose in the area. The police are certain it’s safe to go out but still I’d be happier if they had someone in custody.”

“Yeah,” Sienna agreed though she remained silent on the fact that she thought she might be a special target for the killer. It would just worry her parents if they believed her and more likely they wouldn’t when she explained why.

“Oh, Wendy called as well,” he said. “She’s okay as well and says that she’s coming over later.” He rose to his feet. “Anyway we need some milk so I’m going to the shop and hoping there hasn’t been a run on them.” He gave her a hug. “I’ll see you later, sweetpea.”

Wendy arrived late morning and had a slightly harried look on her face when Sienna’s mother let her in. It was a look Sienna knew all too well.

When she woke the next morning she was in her own bed. She lay there staring at the plain white ceiling as the events of the previous day came to back her. She still couldn’t make sense of what had happened and who had carried her her to bed? Mum was probably too small.

That last question at least got an answer when there was a quiet rap on the bedroom door before her father came in with a breakfast tray.

“Morning, Sweetpea,” he said. “You were fast asleep on the sofa when I got in about 3am, so I put you to bed.” He put the tray on the bedside table and smiled at her. “I thought you deserved breakfast in bed after what you went through yesterday.”

Sienna was about to say she wasn’t hungry when her stomach rumbled and she realised that she was. “Thanks, dad,” she said as she sat up and pulled it towards her.

“Anne rang,” he said. Sienna straightened up quickly and looked at him. Anne was Lucy’s mother.

“Oh! Is Lucy okay? She seemed to be getting better last night.” Sienna asked.

“She’s fine,” he reassured her quickly. “She’s off oxygen and feels much better but the Doctors are going to keep her in hospital for observation for another couple of days because they still don’t know what happened. Anne wants to thank you for getting Lucy to the hospital. She’d probably be dead if you hadn’t.”

“Thank goodness,” she said. “Have things settled down in the town?”

“Ugh!” Sienna said. “I’m glad Wendy realised that we needed to get to inside… do they know what caused it yet?”

“The first thing was a meteor that exploded in the air,” her mother said. “The fog is still a mystery as are the shootings. They don’t think they are related.”

Sienna snorted sceptically and sipped her milk. “It seems a bit too coincidental.”

“Coincidences do happen, Sienna.”

“So someone happened to release a mysterious gas at the same time a meteor explodes overhead while someone else goes on a shooting spree?”

“Well when you put it like that… but how would they have known about the meteor?”

Sienna threw her arms in air. “I don’t know, that’s part of why I can’t sleep. This whole situation is way too scary.”

Her mother didn’t reply but just pulled her into a hug. Sienna hugged back before pulling away to finish her milk.

“Let’s watch the documentary instead,” Sienna said. “I’m sure the experts will figure it out in the end.”

“I hope so,” her mother said.

The documentary did provide a nice distraction and between it and the warm milk Sienna felt comfortably sleepy by the time it finished. She was just considering getting up and going upstairs when her mother popped a granny blanket over her and offered her a cushion.

“Stay down here,” her mother suggested, “You’ll probably be less anxious if you know you’re not alone.”

“Okay.” Sienna took the pillow and curled up on the sofa.

It seemed there was something to that because Sienna soon drifted off into a surprisingly dream-free sleep.

She only managed to eat one slice but she felt a bit better afterwards but it did seem to satisfy her mother who simply put the rest the pizza in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

“I think I’ll go to bed now,” Sienna said even though it was only early evening. “I’m really tired.”

“I’m not surprised.” Her mother hugged her and kissed her forehead. “Sleep well, sweetie.”

After an hour of tossing and turning while the events of the afternoon replayed on a loop in her head Sienna realised that she was not going to fall asleep easily so got up and padded downstairs.

“Mum.” Sienna poked her head into the lounge where her mother was sitting watching the news.

“I’m going to make myself some warm milk.”

“Okay, sweetie,” her mother looked around. “Trouble settling down.”

“Yeah,” Sienna said. “Every time I close my eyes I see what happened.”

“Not surprising,” her mother said. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not yet.” Sienna slipped into the kitchen and heated herself a mug of milk before returning to the lounge.

“Anything changed?” she asked, nodding towards the television.

“Not really,” her mother said. “I don’t know why I’m watching it.” She picked up the remote and flicked through the channels until she found a documentary about the middle ages. “I’ve seen the same report several times and it just makes me think about how you could have been one of the hurt or dead people.”

“Did a lot of people die?”

“Quite a few,” her mother said sadly. “Not just the ones that some nutter shot, but quite a few people who had the same symptoms as Lucy but didn’t get help in time and a couple who were unlucky and got lacerations bad enough they bled to death.”

“I’m fine, dad,” she said. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“No, sweetpea,” he said. “I really did. I would just have worried myself sick about you if I tried to stay.”

Sienna couldn’t help smiling at that. “Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “Now I know you’re probably wound up after such an exciting day but do try and get some sleep.”

“I will, dad,” she agreed. “At least I think I will. I’m actually pretty tired.”

“I’m sure,” he said. “But things like this tend to stick in the head.”

“Sienna!” he mother called from the kitchen. “Say good night to your father. Dinner’s ready.”

“Gotta go, Dad,” Sienna said obediently. “Mum says dinner is ready.”

“I heard,” he said. “Goodnight, sweetpea.”

“Night, Dad.” Sienna ended the call reluctantly and headed to the kitchen. It was testament to how worried her mother was about her that she’d cooked Sienna’s favourite pepperoni pizza rather than something healthier but less tasty. Of course it had a wholemeal base and she’d made the whole thing from scratch but that just made it better. Sienna just wished she was hungry enough to do her mother’s efforts justice but her stomach was still churning over what had happened and instead she found herself picking at it unenthusiastically.

“Not hungry, huh?” her mother asked softly. “I’m not surprised after what you’ve been through, but you do need to eat something.”

“I know,” Sienna said. “But my stomach is churning.” She stared at the pizza for a moment then forced herself to pick up a slice and take a bite. “Thanks, mum.”

Sienna’s mother Margaret fussed over her when she picked her up. Her father Robert was out of town at a conference but he called as soon as the phone network was back up and was obviously just as frantic.

“Are you sure you’re okay, sweetpea?” he asked after she’d told him about Lucy’s collapse.
“I think so, Dad,” Sienna said. “It was scary but whatever that gas was it didn’t have the same effect on me it did on Luce and she’s going to be fine even though they’re keeping her in for observation.”

“She’s lucky to have such cool-headed friends as you, Charlotte and Wendy,” he said. “If you hadn’t borrowed that wheelchair–”

“Oh, Lord, the wheelchair!” Sienna said. “The police took it. I hope they’re returning it.”

“I’m sure they will, sweetpea,” he said soothingly. “They’re probably just testing it for residue first.”

“I hope so,” Sienna said. “I don’t think my allowance would stretch to paying for a wheelchair.”

“We’ll sort something out if it’s gone missing,” her father said. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“But the convention–”

“Screw the convention,” he said. “You’re more important than that. I’d be home already but the trains aren’t running into Castleham because the station was damaged so I’m on the coach and won’t be in until the small hours.”

Sienna stared at the phone, uncertain what shocked her more. The fact her father had just sworn, however mildly, or the fact he’d left an important conference to hurry back. The last time he’d done that was when she’d come down with appendicitis when she was twelve.