Mutation by Chris Morphew

the first time.
    â€˜What is this place?’ he asked ‘What are you doing out here?’
    It would’ve been worth a shot if Tank hadn’t already been about to rip Luke’s arm off. And if I hadn’t just seen them using the cavern as a Twilight Zone tattoo parlour.
    â€˜Show me your arm,’ I said, sidestepping in front of Mike.
    â€˜What?’ His face went red. ‘No. Screw you. Why would I –?’
    I slammed him up against the wall, sending candles toppling down. ‘Seriously, Mike, you want me to knock you down again? Just show me.’
    â€˜Whoa, Jordan, relax,’ said Peter. ‘He’s had that band-aid on his arm for ages. It’s nothing –’
    Tank jumped up from his seat and strode over to break it up. Luke, who seemed to have guessed that this had something to do with my vision, ran across and grabbed Tank from behind.
    â€˜Oi!’ Tank swung a fist back over his shoulder, catching Luke in the side of the head. Luke staggered back against the stone table.
    I ripped off the band-aid.
    Mike scrambled to cover his arm. Too late.
    â€˜Mate …’ said Peter, moving in for a closer look. ‘Where did you get that?’
    â€˜Yeah, Mike,’ I said, leaning on him. ‘Where’d you get it? Couldn’t have been here, could it?’
    â€˜How the crap did you know that?’ asked Tank.
    Mike gritted his teeth. ‘ Tank!’
    â€˜Who gave them to you?’ I asked. ‘Those guys in white?’
    â€˜No-one.’
    â€˜Same no-one who keeps posting love notes to you in that locker?’ said Peter.
    â€˜Pete, come on,’ said Tank, rounding on him. ‘Whose side are you on?’
    â€˜Here’s the deal,’ I said, turning my attention back to Mike. ‘You either tell us what we want to know, or this secret hideout of yours stops being secret.’
    â€˜And what about your secret?’ said Cathryn, speaking for the first time, strolling across from the other end of the cavern.
    â€˜Cathryn,’ Mike warned.
    But Cathryn wasn’t hearing it. ‘That video,’ she said, turning to Peter. ‘Those people you killed. How would it be if the whole town found out about that ?’
    I let go of Mike.
    Cathryn might have come to a completely idiotic conclusion about that DVD, but if she and the others went back and started talking about Tabitha, Shackleton would know exactly where they’d got it from.
    â€˜No,’ said Luke, still holding his jaw. ‘Cathryn, you can’t.’
    â€˜Yeah, seriously, Cat,’ said Peter. ‘You don’t want to do that.’
    â€˜Then you probably don’t want to go threatening us either,’ said Mike, stepping away from the wall and brushing himself off.
    I got out of his way, and he went over to Tank.
    We stood there, all six of us, just eyeing each other across the cavern.
    Now what?
    The silence stretched out.
    Mike’s brow furrowed, like he was concentrating on something.
    â€˜Well,’ said Peter finally, clasping his hands together. ‘I think we’ve all made some excellent progress today. Why don’t we –?’
    â€˜Shh!’ said Mike.
    Peter took one step towards him, then froze. ‘Crap.’
    Voices out at the lake.
    Mike turned and ran. I bolted after him.
    We reached the mouth of the cave at the same time, and the two of us almost went crashing over into the water. I grabbed hold of the rock wall, getting my footing again.
    The sun was starting to set, casting an orange glow over the surface of the lake. Mike leant out, scanning the area, then hauled his body back into the cavern. ‘Uh-oh.’
    I crouched and peered across the water.
    Officer Calvin and two of his security team. I had to crane my neck to see them around the rock face. They were thirty or forty metres away, back where we’d started, staring down at the fake picnic we’d left on shore.
    â€˜You