A Fork of Paths

Mark removed one of his gloves and brushed his fingers gently over my right hand, like he was gauging my temperature.

“Cold enough?” I asked bitterly, mimicking one of his short, fake smiles.

“And you have felt the cold like this since the day you were… half-turned?” he asked, ignoring my snide remark. He studied my face intensely.

I nodded vigorously. I could barely even talk now between my chattering teeth.

Still, he remained eyeing me until finally, he raised his gaze to the female hunter. “Beatrice, go fetch some spare clothes from the sub before Charlie locks it. You should find something suitable in the galley, by the coat hangers.”

Beatrice obeyed Mark’s command and returned to the submarine. She returned quickly with a puffer jacket—similar to her own—and a pair of invitingly fluffy boots. She removed my handcuffs so that I could pull on both items. Although my bones would take a while to warm again, I heaved a sigh of relief.

“And is that better?” Mark asked, clearly out of biological curiosity rather than actual care for my comfort.

I nodded.

“Let’s continue,” Mark said.

Beatrice replaced the handcuffs and the three of us moved forward swiftly to catch up with the others. They all stopped and gathered in a spot about twenty feet ahead of us. As Beatrice, Mark and I neared, I caught sight of grey concrete and realized that we’d arrived at a helipad.

My ears soon picked up on the sound of a helicopter slicing through the air above us. A large black chopper was approaching. Touching down on the strip, it caused a mini-snowstorm. The door to the aircraft opened, and a ramp descended. Hunters began hurrying into the chopper. Beatrice, Mark and I were the last to enter. The aircraft looked even bigger from the inside, almost the size of a commercial airplane. One of the rows nearest to the front was empty, containing five seats in total.

Beatrice pushed me down in the window seat while she sat next to me. Gazing out at the frosty landscape, I wondered where in the world we were. Somewhere in the United States? Canada? I wasn’t sure if we had been traveling long enough to have ventured to somewhere in Europe.

Beatrice removed restraints from her puffy coat and bent down to my ankles. She was about to bind me again when Mark stopped her.

“I don’t think there’s a need for that,” he said, as he settled in his own seat next to Beatrice. I couldn’t miss the bulge in the pocket of his coat—no doubt a gun. “I suspect she won’t try anything foolish.”

She. It occurred to me that not one of them had even asked what my name was yet.

I gazed around at the other hunters in the packed aircraft. It certainly would be insane to try anything now. I slumped back in my chair, resuming my focus out of the window. I was glad that I’d gotten the window seat. Though, as the chopper launched into the air, I wasn’t exactly able to gain any better idea as to where we were. All I got was confirmation that I was in the middle of an icy nowhere.

I kept hoping that I would spy a small village, or maybe even a town tucked away somewhere in the mountains. But there was no sign of human settlement… until, hours into the flight, the helicopter tilted in a change of direction, and I caught sight of a scattering of buildings perched among the peaks. They were all identical in size and design. Rectangular buildings, their exteriors appeared to be constructed out of tinted glass—glass that glaringly reflected the harsh sunshine. They were perhaps ten stories in height. Then I spotted a helipad—much larger than the one near the jetty. Dozens of helicopters were parked around it, all of them large and black like the one we were traveling in. A little further along from the strip was a parking lot, jam-packed with shiny SUVs.

“Would you tell me where we are?” I asked Beatrice, irritably.

To my annoyance, she acted as though she hadn’t heard me. I looked along to the next seat where Mark sat. He’d donned a pair of headphones.

Beyond frustrated, I twisted in my seat to face the rest of the aircraft behind me. I cleared my throat and asked loudly, “Would someone be so kind as to tell me where we are?”

I had irritated Beatrice enough for her to stop ignoring me. “It doesn’t matter where we are,” she answered gruffly. “It doesn’t make any difference to you. You’ll be kept with us as long as you’re needed.” She grabbed my arm and tugged on me to face forward again.

“How long will that be?” I asked, my hopes lifting a little. Beatrice’s phrasing indicated that perhaps there would come a time when they were actually finished with me. Hopefully they would let me go and not kill me.

Mark replied this time, having removed his headphones at the commotion I was causing. His eyes dug into me. “As I told you before, the more you cooperate with us, the better it will be for you.”

He and Beatrice fell silent after that, and so did I. I didn’t think it wise to annoy these hunters too much, considering that any one of them could pull out a gun and shoot me at any moment.

I pursed my lips and glanced out of the window again, watching the buildings as the helicopter positioned itself above the landing strip and began descending. It landed on the concrete with a shudder and the hunters immediately rose to their feet. The door opened, and everyone began piling out, keeping their heads low beneath the rotors. I didn’t wait for Beatrice to grab my arm. I stood up and followed the crowd obediently, she and Mark close behind me.

Climbing down the ramp, I was once again assaulted by the cold. Though, thankfully not for long. Mark and Beatrice led me straight into one of the glass buildings. I gazed around as we stepped into what appeared to be a reception area. Aside from a long desk in one corner where four women sat—I wasn’t surprised to see them also dressed in black—the furnishings were minimal. The floors were made of a kind of white granite that resembled the blanket of snow outside. It was like the reception area of an exceptionally swanky business center, although the starkness of the place gave it a clinical feel, more like an exclusive private hospital.