Broken Arrow

to the legal system of old. It was the only way they could build the tentative beginnings of a new civilisation.

When Tate had calmed down, Robert looked at him, perhaps expecting some kind of apology or explanation. Tate gave him neither.

He might represent a higher power, but he's still a man — with a man's emotions, Robert reminded himself. And in spite of everything he's said, Tate's still a fighter.

They were taken up to the next floor — to conference rooms that had once hosted presentations and lectures, but were now being used as holding bays for the more dangerous prisoners. In one of the smaller ones, they found a table with a woman and another guard standing next to it. There was a mirror to their left as they walked in. Strapped down with what looked like belts, buckled across the chest, stomach and legs — and ropes tied around the wrists — was the member of the Morningstar cult Geoff had referred to. It took Robert a second or so, but he placed the Ranger as a man called Lewis, the woman with features that looked too small for her face as a 'nurse' Mary had trained called Lucy Hill. Lucy had her scrubs on, her hair tied back in a pony tail. She was flitting about around the prisoner, around the patient.

'How's it going?' asked Geoff.

'He's stable. Still pretty out of it, mind,' Lucy replied. 'I gave him some Chlorpromazine to calm him down.'

'Is he up to us asking some questions?' Robert inquired.

'You can ask them but I can't vouch for any of the answers you'll get.'

Robert approached the table. Tate hesitated, and only when Robert looked back over his shoulder did the Reverend join him. Robert could see the cultist much more clearly now. It was the one who'd snapped at Adele, attempting to bite her like the animal he surely was. The white paint he'd used to mask his identity had rubbed off in places, run in others, giving him — if anything — a more nightmarish appearance than before. The only thing that remained was the tattoo on his forehead. The man's eyes — a steely blue — stared up at Robert, and he had no idea whether his presence had registered. He looked completely stoned, like so many of the druggies Robert had come across in his former life, but he had the feeling this guy's eyes had looked like that even before Lucy had come near him with a needle.

'Can you hear me?' asked Robert.

'Mmmnnnfff,' was the reply he got.

Robert looked up at Lucy. 'At least he's not trying to top himself,' she offered.

'Let me try,' said Tate, tapping Robert on the shoulder for him to move aside.

Robert watched as the bald man studied the cult member's features. 'I know you're in there,' said Tate. The words seemed normal, but Robert had seen the Reverend do this before, draw things out of a person, force them to answer, force them to think. He'd done it with him once, persuaded Robert to communicate. 'Speak, my son.'

The cult member's eyes locked on Tate's. Robert found himself holding his breath as the man spoke again. 'I… I hear you,' mumbled the prisoner, the words barely audible.

'What is your name?'

He continued to stare, as if he didn't understand the question — either that or didn't know how to answer. Tate repeated it and the man simply whispered: 'Servitor. I serve.'

'No, not your purpose. Your name. Your Christian name.' The man shook his head slowly. 'Who were you before?'

'No before,' the man breathed. 'We have always been here.'

'Since before the virus, you mean?'

There was the slightest hint of a nod.

'All right then, tell me why your fellow… Servitors all killed themselves.'

'S-S-Sacrifice.'

So it wasn't just other people they were out to kill, Robert mused; when they were taken captive they were happy enough to kill themselves.

'A sacrifice? To whom?'

'Our master. The one true Lord.'

'I beg to differ. You worship a false deity, can't you see that?' From the man's blank expression it was pretty obvious he didn't.

'He will come. It is written.'

'Through your sacrifices?' Tate asked, and the man nodded.

'Looks like you were right,' Robert chipped in, but Tate took no notice.

'You believe you will find Him here, in this world?'

'He will… He will rise again…'

Geoff whistled. 'See? What a loon.'

Tate whirled around and shot the warder a look that would have given Medusa a run for her money. Geoff kept quiet.

'You will see Him,' the Servitor promised. 'Feel… feel His power…' Tate's face was almost as white at the make-up the cult member wore. The holy man was clearly terrified. 'You know, don't you? You feel it.'

This was going horribly wrong. Instead of Tate's words having an impact on the Servitor, the reverse was happening. And his voice was growing stronger by the second.

'He's coming… He who is… who is… blood red… from head to…. to toe…' The man's mouth was foaming, and he was straining against his bonds.

Robert went over to hold him down. 'Lucy,' he called out. She already had the needle prepared, and was attempting to stick it into a bottle to draw more Chlorpromazine. Her hands were shaking though, and she almost dropped the bottle twice.

Then everything happened so suddenly. Robert looked down to see that the Servitor had snatched the knife he always kept at his hip. With another wrench, the man broke free of the ropes holding that wrist, and was in the process of cutting through the leather strap across his chest. Robert made a grab for the forearm, but the man tugged it free. His strength was incredible, as if he was channelling something.

'Lucy, stick him — right now!' shouted Robert.

The nurse brought the syringe across, but when she bent to administer the drug, the Servitor brought the knife up and sideways, slashing her across the arm. She stepped back, mouth wide, dropping the needle and clutching at the gash.

'Tate, I could use some help,' Robert growled over his shoulder, struggling with the man. The Reverend was standing there, gaping.

Geoff and Lewis were racing to assist, but somehow the Servitor had managed to worm one leg free and he brought that up and kicked the Ranger in the face, sending Lewis crashing backwards into the wall.

Robert took one hand off the prisoner to punch him, but the man took the blow without even flinching. Absently, he wondered what Eric Meadows would have done in this situation: would even he have been able to secure this charge? The next thing Robert knew, the strap across the Servitor's chest was in two halves and he was rising, yanking free to attack the other bonds with the knife. When Geoff tried to stop him, he broke off to plant the knife in him up to the hilt, then pull it out again. Geoff looked down to see a bloom of crimson stain his top, then his feet buckled and he fell.

Robert was on his own.

This shouldn't be so difficult. I took a handful of them down back in York. But something was different. Whether it was the confines of the room, or the fact the Servitor appeared to be drawing on reserves of energy that could power this entire city for a week, he couldn't decide. One thing was for sure, if the cultist got free of the table-

And then it was done. The Servitor was standing. He was still staring at Tate, however, still had him in that hypnotic trance. Lewis was spark out, Lucy had retreated to the corner of the room — what Robert wouldn't have given for it to be Mary here instead now, or even Gwen! — and he didn't even know if Geoff was still alive

Robert kept the table between them. It was too small a space to use the bow and arrow, and the same went for his sword — one swing and he might end up hurting one of his own. No, this fight was going to be a nasty one: scrappy, clumsy. He hated that.