Crater Lake

by Jennifer Killick

  Kat lets out a little squeak of giggle and I squeeze my lips shut tight so I don’t laugh.

  ‘Next to the big table,’ Ade says, ‘is another small table, with two chairs…’ She pauses.

  ‘Go on,’ Mak says.

  Another breath. ‘And a … rose. And a candle.’

  Katja is shaking with giggles she’s trying not to let out. I put a twig in my mouth and bite down hard. Anything to keep from laughing. Mak makes a noise that is half laugh, half cough.

  ‘The whole family is saying how sweet it is and taking photos of us. “Hold hands!” they say, and I’m dying inside and I wish I had drowned in the swimming pool.’

  There’s no holding it in now, we’re laughing so hard we nearly fall out of the tree.

  ‘It was harrowing,’ Ade says.

  ‘What did you do?’ Mak asks.

  ‘I got up and ran to the reception of the hotel and started crying.’ Even Adrianne is laughing now. ‘Trent’s mum called my mum to pick me up and I sobbed all the way home.’

  We laugh so much that the whole tree shakes and bits of leaf and twig drop through the branches like confetti.

  ‘We’d better wake Trent up,’ I say. ‘We don’t know how long we’ll have here before the bug-eyes come, and we all need to get some sleep.’

  ‘Maybe he’s been eaten by bears,’ Ade says, hopefully.

  ‘Dale said something about bears, remember?’ I say. ‘Right after he asked for water. I wonder what that was about.’

  Kat gasps and starts flicking through Dale’s notes. ‘I saw something – a picture,’ she says. ‘Here it is!’

  She leans over and shows me a pencil sketch of a creature that looks like a cross between a woodlouse and a hippo. Underneath is written WATER BEAR, and it’s underlined about eight times.

  ‘What the hell’s a water bear?’ I say.

  ‘It’s another name for a tardigrade,’ Mak calls down. ‘Let me see the pic.’ A hand is thrust down through the leaves. I pass him the bit of paper.

  ‘Yeah, this is a tardigrade,’ he says.

  ‘It looks terrifying,’ says Adrianne. ‘I hope there aren’t any lurking around here.’

  ‘First of all, they’re tiny,’ says Mak. ‘You can only see them through a microscope, kind of like the alien spores. And, second, they’re actually awesome. They can survive the most extreme conditions and they live off stuff that would kill other species. They eat the bad bits of things, the rotten parts, and leave the healthy parts behind – like they can purify water, for example.’

  ‘OK, this is interesting.’ My brain is fighting through its sleepy fog, but I’m sure there’s something here we can use.

  ‘Guys,’ Adrianne says, and a branch above me creaks. I think she’s climbing higher up the tree. ‘I see movement. Can you get any higher, Kat?’

  Katja leaps up the trunk and out of my view like some kind of tree-climbing ballerina. ‘It’s them,’ she says. ‘Hoche, Digger and Chets. They’re spread out through the trees and heading this way.’

  ‘Damn, they’re sweeping the woods,’ I say. ‘Everyone climb down as quickly and quietly as possible. We’ll grab our stuff and move on.’

  ‘We’d better wake Trent,’ Kat says.

  ‘Or we could leave him?’ Adrianne climbs down to my branch and then drops to the ground. ‘Ew, bird poo,’ she says, and wipes her hands on Trent’s backpack.

  16

  Back in the Hive

  Two minutes later, we’re trekking through the trees again.

  ‘Where are we going now?’ Trent says. He wasn’t happy about being woken up and I genuinely think he would have refused to take off the oxygen mask if we hadn’t told him the hunters were on their way.

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ I say. ‘Everyone except us has been alienated now, right? And they think we’re hiding in the woods.’

  ‘So we go back into the building?’ says Ade.

  ‘The centre is clear as far as they’re concerned. The security cameras are off, thanks to Chets. I don’t think they’ll look for us there.’

  ‘Are you mental?’ Trent says, far too loudly considering we’re being hunted by hostile aliens. ‘I’m not going back to that place.’

  ‘You don’t have to,’ Adrianne says. ‘You can stay outside on your own.’

  ‘It’s a good idea, Lance. We can hole up, get a bit more rest.’ Mak really seems to be struggling – he can hardly keep his eyes open.

  ‘And we can get a closer look at what they’re up to down there,’ says Ade.

  ‘Who cares what they’re up to?’ Trent says. ‘All we have to do is keep out of their way for one more night. The coach will be back tomorrow morning and we can get the hell out of here.’

  ‘It can’t hurt to do some more recon.’ I don’t have the energy to argue about this with Trent. Why does he have to make everything so hard? ‘Our friends have turned into alien bugs. Don’t you want to be able to help them once we get out of here?’

  He just shrugs.

  ‘Nice,’ Kat says.

  ‘You’re willing to sacrifice yourself to save the rest of the class?’ Trent says. ‘Then you’re idiots.’

  ‘We’re not idiots, Trent. We just want to do what’s right,’ I say.

  ‘Yeah, you’re so perfect, aren’t you, Fangs? Wouldn’t ever do anything horrible to anyone, like shut them in the toilets so they miss their Bing entrance exam?’

  ‘Shut up, Trent,’ I say.

  ‘Still haven’t told them?’ He smirks in his infuriating way. ‘I thought you were all such good friends.’

  I’m scared to tell them because of the way Chets reacted, but I’m so sick of this hanging over my head. It’s been nine months of lying. Nine months of being afraid that the truth will come out. And I’m done with it.

  ‘Fine,’ I say. ‘I did trap you in the toilets, Trent. And if I was in that situation again, I’d do the same thing.’

  ‘Finally! I’m telling Miss Hoche, if she ever stops being an alien.’

  ‘I told her this morning,’ I say. ‘And I’ll take whatever punishment she gives me.’

  ‘Is that what you and Chets argued about?’ Kat says.

  I nod. We’ve stopped walking and are standing in a circle in a small clearing in the trees.

  ‘Why did you shut him in?’ Kat says, and I’m surprised because nobody’s ever seemed to care about why someone trapped Trent in the toilets, only that someone (aka me) did and that it was a despicable thing to do.

  ‘Because I didn’t want him to get into Bing,’ I say. ‘I was in the toilets and I heard him talking to his mates.’

  Trent looks down and starts scuffing his feet in the dry dirt.

  ‘He said that Bing is going to be ultra-competitive. That he’ll have to go in hard and prove himself if he wants to be top dog. He’s planning to use Chets to make his point – he’s going to make Chets’ life miserable so that everyone knows he’s not weak.’

  I realise I’m breathing fast and my heart is thumping in my chest. I feel like I might faint.

  ‘He said that with me out of the way, he’ll be able to do whatever he wants to Chets. Because I won’t be there to protect him.’

  ‘Did you tell Chets that?’ Mak says.

  ‘No, not that part. He’s super-excited about going there, and he should be – he’s so smart. I didn’t want to ruin it for him – to make him scared before he’s even started.’

  ‘Why didn’t you admit it was you straight away, though?’ Mak says. ‘You don’t normally lie about stuff.’

  ‘Because Hoche already had it in for me. If she knew I did it, she would have excluded me. Then I wouldn’t be with any of you guys and I wouldn’t be able to keep Chets safe.’

  ‘When Chets stops being an alien, you need to explain this to him,’ Kat says. ‘He’ll forgive you, I know he will.’

  ‘And what about you guys?’ I say. ‘Do you hate me?’

  ‘I do,’ Trent says.

  ‘Well, that’s no loss,’
Adrianne says. ‘I don’t hate you, Lance. I don’t think you went about things in the best way, but I can understand anyone wanting to shut Trent away in a room.’

  ‘I’d probably have done the same thing if I’d have been there,’ Mak says. ‘Or possibly something worse.’

  ‘You did it for the right reasons, Lance.’ Katja puts her arm around me. She smells of coconut cupcakes and warm milk. ‘You’re a good friend.’

  And just like that, the secret that’s been burning a hole in me for months is out. And my friends are still my friends. Well, except Chets, but I’m going to make that right.

  ‘Thanks, guys,’ I say, and I take a stupidly long time rooting around in my bag for my water, even though I know it’s in the back pocket, cos I don’t want them to see how close I am to crying.

  ‘Unbelievable,’ says Trent, and he storms off ahead.

  It isn’t long before we can see the roof of the centre through the trees. Trent crashes towards it like a hungry T-Rex chasing its prey.

  ‘I’d say our chances of surviving are significantly lower with him around,’ Adrianne says.

  As we get closer, I realise something big is going down at the lake. There’s a lot of noise – like at the dam site but times a hundred. We’re at the back of the building, so we can’t see what’s going on, but whatever it is, it’s keeping the bug-eyes busy, so we can sneak in without being seen.

  Our priority right now is getting Mak set up with the CPAP. He looks like hell – his eyes are red, the skin around them a worrying grey colour. We make our way to my room, which is exactly as I left it, fit the mask to his face and switch on the machine. He lies on the bed, and is asleep in literally three seconds. It’s weird seeing him like this. He’s the biggest of all of us, and with his shaved hair and muscles, he usually seems so tough. Now he looks like any other kid, all tuckered out after a long day.

  ‘So what now?’ Kat says.

  ‘We need to find out what’s happening by the lake,’ I say.

  ‘Trent and I should go as we’ve both had some sleep. You and Adrianne can wait here and chill.’

  ‘I’m not going out there.’ Trent is sitting on the floor and has got out a pack of cards. He doesn’t even look up.

  Adrianne opens her mouth to argue with him, but I stop her. ‘To be honest,’ I say, ‘I’d rather do something. Keep moving. If I sit down, I might pass out.’

  ‘Same,’ Ade says.

  ‘OK.’ Kat sits down and leans back against the bed. ‘I’ll stay and watch Mak. Be careful, guys.’

  ‘You too,’ I say. ‘And if anything goes wrong, feel free to sacrifice Trent.’

  17

  Stuff Gets Bad

  Ade and I decide to leave the building by the back entrance and make our way round to the lake from the outside. It’s late afternoon and there’s no breeze to relieve the scorching heat. The air smells stale, like last week’s PE kit, and my skin itches.

  We edge around the red brick wall, past the security office and the fire exit, until we have a good view of the lake, or what’s left of it.

  ‘They are draining it,’ Adrianne says. ‘Look, they’ve dug a channel that leads out of the crater for the water to run down.’

  ‘I think that’s a pump they have running, too.’

  ‘So what do you think happens when the lake is empty?’ she asks.

  ‘We know they hate the water,’ I say. ‘It’s too cold for them. But it’s a lot of trouble to go to when they could easily just avoid going in there.’

  ‘So you think there’s another reason.’

  ‘It’s the only thing that makes sense. They’re trying to accomplish something, and emptying the lake is part of it.’

  ‘But what, though?’

  ‘The end of the world?’ I say.

  Ade looks at me. ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’

  ‘We need more information.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘Are you up for getting a bit closer?’ I say.

  She’s running for the treeline without bothering to answer. You have to respect her conviction – she’s a girl who gets things done. I guess there are pros and cons to this alien-invasion business, but one major bonus has been spending time with Adrianne. All those years at school together, and I never really knew her at all. Life or death dramas are great for bonding, apparently. Who knew?

  We use the trees as cover and make our way around the main clearing to a place where the lake comes closest to the trees, separated only by a path just wide enough for cars to drive down. To our right is a biggish building, kind of like an upgraded garden shed, or one of those creepy barns in movies where the murderer keeps his victims tied up. The grass surrounding it is long, dead-looking and full of buzzing insects. There are tyre tracks leading from the road, through the yellow grass, to the giant front door which is open a crack, so I reckon the staff keep their cars parked in there.

  We drop to our bellies and slither through the grass like snakes, only less stealthy and with more under-breath swears as we get scratched and bitten by insects. We stop at the side of the serial-killer shed, and watch and listen.

  ‘See how low the water level is already?’ I say. It’s at least a metre lower than it was when we swam it earlier. That lake saved us, and now it’s disappearing scarily fast.

  Ade doesn’t answer, so I look over and I see that she’s dozing off.

  ‘Ade,’ I whisper, scared to give away our position.

  Her head starts to droop forward.

  I nudge her hard in the side with my elbow.

  She jumps awake with a yelp that sounds like the noise my cat makes when you stand on her tail. A group of bug-eyes standing by the road all turn to look in our direction. We flatten ourselves down into the crispy grass and I hold my breath, not that that’s going to make a difference.

  Two of the bug-eyes start walking our way.

  ‘The shed,’ I say. I don’t want to go in there, but there’s no time to hide anywhere else. The bug-eyes are a little way off and the front of the shed is angled away from them, so there’s a chance we might make it.

  We belly wriggle towards the door, open it just wide enough to squeeze through, and then pull it almost shut behind us.

  ‘Can you see anything, owl-eyes?’ I ask Adrianne. It’s so dark in here, visibility is pretty much zero.

  ‘Not much, but there’s something big over there. I think it’s a van or something – we should hide underneath it in case they come in.’

  She’s right. I know she’s right. But there’s something about this shed that gives me the proper creeps. Going deeper in is like swimming inside a shark’s jaws. It can only end badly.

  She grabs my arm and leads me through the darkness. I can just about make out the van she was talking about, though it’s covered in a cloth or a tarp or something. We feel our way around and crawl underneath. Just in time.

  The shed door is pulled open about a metre, and through the weave of the tarp I see sunlight flood in. I edge forwards to take a peek. If they find us under here, we have nowhere to run, so it’s pretty risky. But we can’t waste an opportunity to find out more about what’s going on.

  A bug-eye walks through the open door. It’s not one of the hunters. I think it might be Krish. There’s another bug-eye behind, but he’s looking the other way so I can only see the back of him. It looks like the same guy that Hoche had tied to the chair in the office.

  ‘There doesn’t appear to be anything out of place out here,’ chair guy says.

  ‘It’s possible the noise was an animal, but we must be cautious.’ The other bug-eye is definitely Krish. He’s gazing around the shed. I don’t think I’ve ever held my body so still – it’s almost painful. ‘This stage of the incursion is vital. The lake must be emptied. We cannot be delayed.’

  ‘But we are on course,’ says chair guy. ‘The lake will be drained by sunrise, the sun’s heat will reach our brothers and sisters who have been trapped under that repulsive water for so
many years. Then they will be free to fly and find new bodies to take root in.’

  ‘It will be liberating to leave the confines of this crater,’ says Krish.

  ‘Nothing will stop us.’ Chair guy turns around and my heart almost bursts out of my chest.

  ‘I see nothing unusual here,’ says Krish. ‘Let us get back to work.’

  The two bug-eyes leave the shed.

  My heart is pounding and my mouth dry. We wait a minute before moving. Then we inch out from our hiding place.

  ‘Ade,’ I say. ‘Did you recognise that bug-eye? The older guy?’

  ‘There was something familiar about him,’ she says, ‘but I can’t work out where I know him from.’

  I swallow. Take a breath. ‘I think it was the driver.’

  ‘Our driver?’

  ‘Yes, the one who’s supposed to be collecting us tomorrow morning.’

  ‘OK, this is bad.’ She balls her hands into fists and rubs her eyes with her knuckles. ‘Does that mean the coach isn’t coming back?’

  I take hold of the tarp and pull it with all of my strength. Through the light coming in from the open door, we get a good look at what’s underneath. It’s the coach.