Z. Apocalypse

by Steve Cole

‘It’s so sick, all of it. To think we left a whole different you and me back there, under Josephs’ control . . .’ She shook her head, too exhausted to muster real anger. ‘And, my God, Adam, if Geneflow are serious about stirring up World War Three . . .’

  ‘We have to warn people what’s happening, starting with Oldman and Marrs, and our parents. And . . .’ Adam sighed, leaned in against Zoe, huddling for warmth. ‘We also have to dodge the soldiers out looking for you and Keera. They’ve got shock weapons.’

  ‘Soldiers from which army?’

  ‘I don’t know. But we’ve got Zed on our side. He’s not fully healed, but he’s still tough as hell. And I picked up a shock weapon.’

  ‘Don’t mess, huh?’ Zoe coughed weakly. ‘My hero.’

  ‘Get in line, lady!’ Adam teased. ‘I’m here to save the world . . .’

  ‘I forgot that for a moment,’ Zoe admitted. He saw the resilience in her eyes as well as the pain.

  Look at us, thought Adam. No wonder Geneflow want to wipe out the likes of me and you. Weak and hurting and scared.

  And more determined now than ever to stop this madness – whatever it takes.

  Chapter 19: Day of Deliverance

  THE SHADOWS IN the forest grew longer with the passing of the day. Adam and Zoe waited for Zed to return. Finally he arrived with several dead moose and reindeer crammed into his mouth. He spat the bodies on the floor in front of Keera. She gave a low moan and turned her jaws away from the offering. Zed growled a rebuke and kicked one of the carcasses closer. Reluctantly, Keera started to gnaw on its front legs.

  ‘Kind of romantic, huh,’ said Adam, a little queasily.

  ‘They should get a room,’ joked Zoe, through chattering teeth. ‘Do you think we should get some more snow, bathe her wounds again?’

  ‘It looks like some of the cuts are closing up. We don’t want to reopen them.’ Adam looked at Keera worriedly. ‘Then again, what do I know?’

  ‘At least she’s eating something. That’s got to help.’ Zoe shivered and hugged herself more closely. ‘God, I’m freezing. If we’re out here when night falls . . .’

  Adam nodded gloomily. ‘I know. We need to find help from somewhere. I just wish we knew where we were.’

  ‘Latitude, sixty-two-point-four,’ Zed barked, ‘longitude twenty-nine-point—’

  ‘He has GPS in his head,’ Adam explained to a startled Zoe. ‘Um, that’s not much help, Zed . . .’

  The monster crunched up a moose in three gut-churning bites – then straightened to his full, awesome height, his head nudging the treetops. ‘Soldiers come.’ He bared his teeth, started to flex his claws.

  ‘No, Zed. You could get hurt if we fight – and we can’t run and leave Keera defenceless. She needs help. And me and Zoe need shelter.’ Adam got up stiffly. ‘Maybe this time I should try to talk with the soldiers first. Hide out somewhere, yeah? If things go badly, you can come steaming in. If they go OK, wait for me here. Keep out of sight. I’ll come back for you.’ He crossed to Zed and looked up into the animal’s narrowed eyes. ‘Whatever happens, it’ll be all right,’ he murmured, ‘’cause if I get into real trouble, I know you’ve got my back . . . Haven’t you?’

  Zed stared down at him. The tip of his tail curled round and brushed briefly against Adam’s spine. Adam nodded. Then the Z. rex turned and stole away with an almost birdlike gait into the forest.

  As the crack and clatter of his exit faded, Zoe looked nervously at Adam. ‘Wonder how long till they find us—?’

  Then the ragged curtain of the clearing seemed to burst open as men in fatigues pushed through the shattered undergrowth, some with shock weapons, others with assault rifles or grenades. Keera shifted, moaning softly as her eyes slid closed. One of the men started babbling in a high, excited voice, gesturing to Adam and Zoe with his gun.

  ‘English!’ Adam shouted, pushing his arms high in the air. ‘Don’t shoot, please!’

  The men’s leader, pale and blond, spoke in stilted English. ‘Keep slow. Step away from this creature, please.’

  ‘No!’ Zoe clutched Adam’s stolen shock-weapon and huddled closer to Keera’s injured side. ‘Don’t you dare hurt her!’

  ‘We want to help her,’ the leader said calmly. ‘We are soldiers with the Finnish Army.’

  Adam blinked and felt unsteady. ‘Then . . . we’re out of Russia?’

  Zoe looked at him, triumphant. ‘Finland’s part of Western Europe. We’re OK!’

  ‘I’m Adam Adlar,’ he told the soldiers. ‘This is Zoe—’

  ‘Zoe Halsall. Yes, I had worked out as much.’ The man smiled. ‘We didn’t know if you would still be with the ’dactyl. Colonel Oldman will be very pleased.’

  ‘Oldman?’ Zoe echoed, wide-eyed.

  Adam couldn’t believe it. ‘You’ve heard of him?’

  ‘Right now, he is my commanding officer,’ said the man wryly. ‘We’re out here looking for this beast on his orders.’ He pulled out a walkie-talkie and started a conversation in his own language, which made as much sense to Adam as the squawks of static in between. ‘I just radioed for a chopper to airlift this animal.’

  Adam could hardly dare believe it. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes. Now, we will take you back to camp.’

  ‘Can we trust them?’ Zoe whispered. ‘It sounds too good to be true.’

  ‘I want to trust them,’ said Adam. ‘I’m too tired and cold not to trust them.’

  ‘Well, if we’re going somewhere, I need a stretcher.’ Zoe giggled. ‘And a bath. And chocolate. Oh, and an artificial leg.’ She started to laugh. ‘Not necessarily in that order . . .’

  Adam started laughing too, letting out the tension, dizzy and hysterical. ‘We’re all right, big guy,’ he yelled, hoping Zed would understand. ‘Wait for us, OK?’

  The soldier looked puzzled. ‘Who do you speak to?’

  ‘Er . . . just my invisible friend.’ Adam laughed until his ribs hurt, and fell back in the snow, yelling thank-yous up at the sky.

  The sheets were starched and the bed was hard as a plank, but to Adam – after all he’d been through – the field hospital offered five-star luxury. And it was just a tiny part of Deployable Joint Command and Control, a mobile military base set up by Colonel Oldman fifty kilometres from the Russian border.

  The hospital itself was basically a large tent full of medical equipment, warmed by electric radiators. The only other patient was Zoe, sleeping in the next bed to his own, clean now and smelling a whole lot better. When a young Asian medic in khaki came in with a plate of sausage and scrambled eggs, Adam thought his heart might burst.

  ‘Hot food!’ He shoved a whole sausage into his mouth in one go. ‘Mmm. Unbelievable.’

  The medic smiled. ‘Good, huh?’

  ‘The best.’

  ‘I think I’ve got something you’ll like even better.’ She gestured to the tent’s canvas doorway. ‘Mr Adlar, he’s ready to see you . . .’

  ‘Huh?’ Adam spilled egg down his shirt. ‘Dad’s here?’

  ‘Ad!’ Mr Adlar pushed inside and ran full pelt to his son’s bedside for a tight, clumsy hug. ‘Oh, Ad, I’ve been so afraid.’

  ‘Me too,’ breathed Adam, gripping his dad right back.

  ‘I never gave up hope. I prayed and prayed that you’d be all right . . .’ Mr Adlar looked up at the medic. ‘He is all right, isn’t he? And Zoe?’

  ‘They’ll be fine,’ the medic agreed. ‘Gave us quite a scare when they were brought in – exhaustion, dehydration, early stages of hypothermia. But they got here in time. We just need to keep them under observation for a while.’

  ‘Under observation is right.’ Mr Adlar’s broad grin defied the weariness in his face. ‘I’m not letting him out of my sight.’ He gently disentangled himself from Adam, and wiped a little egg from his shirt. ‘You know you’ve been gone for seven days.’

  ‘A whole week?’

  ‘But it’s OK now. We’re together.’

  ‘Together . . .’ For a second, Ad
am’s sight blurred and he glimpsed another face on his father’s body – one that was monstrous, reptilian. He shuddered, fell back on the pillow, blinked the image away. ‘Oh, Dad . . . it is you, isn’t it? Really you?’

  ‘Of course it’s me.’ His dad smiled. ‘Oh, Ad, I must’ve called you a thousand times on your phone but couldn’t get through.’

  ‘That’s ’cause Geneflow hacked it.’ Adam stared at his dad, at the worry in his face, and felt a surge of self-pity for all he’d been through. ‘Dad, it’s been so horrible. Josephs is alive—’

  ‘Josephs?’

  ‘She’s a clone, and she’s got a clone of you, and he tricked me into going to the Geneflow base.’ The words went on spilling from him in a torrent. ‘And they copied me and Zoe too, but they’re changing everyone into reptile things, with tough bodies to survive this nuclear war they’re going to start, and then . . .’

  ‘Easy, easy, slow down.’ Mr Adlar’s frown deepened as he stroked his son’s forehead. ‘Whatever happened out there, you’re safe now.’

  ‘We’re not, though.’ Adam let his head sink back into his pillow. ‘Oh, Dad, I’ve got so much to tell you. We’ve been with Zed! He’s out there in the forest!’

  ‘Zed?’ Mr Adlar’s jaw dropped a little lower. ‘You’re sure?’

  ‘He saved me! See, I didn’t escape from the Geneflow base with Zoe and Keera, I—’

  ‘All right, Ad.’ Mr Adlar placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. ‘Where is Zed now?’

  ‘In the forest. Waiting for me.’

  ‘Well, no one’s searching the woods now Keera’s been found. He ought to be safe there for now.’ Mr Adlar put his head in his hands and sighed. ‘I think you’d better tell me just what’s been happening.’

  So Adam went over his adventures in low hushed tones. It felt so good to get it off his chest.

  But by the time he’d finished, his dad looked pale. ‘I can’t believe what you’ve been through. I’m so sorry, Ad. I wish I could’ve protected you.’

  ‘Well, it happened. At least now we’ve got a chance to do something about it.’ Adam sighed. ‘How’s Keera doing?’

  ‘She’s in a bad way, but she’s right outside. Under the tarpaulin, being treated by Eve and a bunch of zoologists.’

  ‘Zoe’s mum’s here too?’ Adam glanced at Zoe, but she was still asleep. ‘But, how did you know where Keera was?’

  ‘Thanks to the circuits we found inserted in her brain.’ Mr Adlar nodded. ‘The hangar was trashed after the battle to get Keera, but the computers recorded how you, she and Zoe communicated. The strength of her thoughts was off the scale.’

  ‘I know,’ Adam murmured, remembering Zoe’s weird possession.

  ‘And the reason it’s so strong is because she’s been fitted with a kind of neural transmitter.’

  ‘A what?’

  ‘She can send out a powerful mental signal,’ his dad explained. ‘But as for why she needs to do that, we don’t know.’

  ‘Something to do with her “prime directive”, maybe,’ said Adam, remembering Josephs’ words. ‘A core instruction, more important than anything else . . . which needs all the Z. dactyls they’ve made to be fast in the air and at sea . . .’

  ‘All the security software loaded into their minds,’ Mr Adlar mused. ‘Perhaps it’s been placed there to protect this prime directive, in case of capture.’

  Adam slumped back on his pillow. ‘But what is it?’

  Mr Adlar shook his head. ‘Anyway, it was by tracing the signal on what was left of Eve’s equipment that we knew Keera had reached Norway. But it was faint and intermittent. By the time Oldman had arranged aircraft to fly out the mobile base, Keera had moved on to northern Russia – where the signal died.’

  ‘Probably because she nearly died too,’ said Adam quietly.

  ‘We couldn’t very well follow in any case. The way things stand, a military expedition entering Russia’s airspace would start World War Three on the spot.’ Mr Adlar sighed. ‘Those kidnapped scientists let loose from Geneflow have convinced a lot of important people that Russia are behind all this, that they’re ready for war. That’s one reason why the Finnish government let Oldman set up base here, next to the Russian border.’

  ‘It’s all just as Josephs has planned.’ Adam could’ve screamed with frustration. ‘We’ve got to make people see – Geneflow are trying to turn everyone against everyone else so we all wipe ourselves out!’

  ‘Is this a classified conversation or can anyone join in?’

  Adam looked up, startled, to find Colonel Oldman had entered the canvas hospital. ‘Colonel, I’m so glad you’re here . . .’

  ‘You have Keera to thank for that. Her signal has kicked in, on and off – that’s how we knew to search the forests.’ A grim smile played around his handsome features. ‘I’m glad you and Zoe have showed up safe. But did I hear you say Russia is not responsible?’

  ‘I was just telling Dad, Geneflow’s setting them up,’ Adam told him, ‘making Russia seem like the bad guys.’

  Oldman looked unsure. ‘You’ll have a tough time convincing General Winters otherwise. Those escaped experts are very credible witnesses. And after the attack in Mongolia this morning, half the politicians in the world are pointing fingers at the Russians and Chinese, saying they’re in this together. Lots of angry denials and counter accusations, of course. The Central Military Commission has taken control of the Chinese government – that means they’re actively preparing for war.’

  ‘Josephs was planning that attack when I was brought to their base,’ Adam told him impatiently. ‘They were breeding new Z. rexes to make it happen . . .’

  ‘All right.’ Oldman was suddenly brisk and businesslike. ‘Adam, I need everything you’ve learned from Geneflow, every last scrap of information. Your testimony will be circulated to Washington and the G8 powers for discussion moving forward.’

  ‘Adam needs to rest,’ Mr Adlar protested. ‘He and Zoe are children, not soldiers—’

  ‘Then read them a bedtime story when I’m through!’ Oldman boomed. ‘I don’t like this any more than you do, Bill, but the fact remains – we badly need intelligence on Geneflow, and whatever Adam knows he needs to spill it.’ He turned to Adam. ‘You’re looking a whole lot better already, Adam. Are you good for this?’

  Adam looked uneasily up at him. ‘Do I have a choice?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Mr Adlar, steel in his eyes as he met Oldman’s stare. ‘He does.’

  ‘Then . . . I choose yes.’ Adam sat up, his guts full of butterflies. ‘Let’s go.’

  Chapter 20: Shadows in Blue

  HOURS LATER, HUDDLED in warm clothing, Adam left Oldman’s command vehicle escorted by his dad and a bundle of armed soldiers. He’d told a bunch of army types everything he could recall of his time in the Geneflow base, raising several eyebrows and arguments in the process. His throat was sore, and he felt drained. But at least the truth was out there now. He’d done all he could – on that particular front, anyway.

  Now it was time to talk with Keera. For what sounded like it might be the last time.

  ‘Eve reports that no one on her team can get through to Keera, and she’s weakening fast,’ Oldman had said. ‘If Adam’s heard right and that prehistoric freak really does has a prime directive, we need to know what it is. For all we know, Geneflow’s sending more Z. rexes to kill her and to trample all over us.’

  Wish my Z. rex was here. Adam imagined him, alone in the forest. He wasn’t sure if Zed felt fear, or stress or loneliness like the humans who’d made him. Dad had decided to keep quiet about Zed’s presence in front of Oldman for now; they couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t react to the Z. rex as a deadly threat – or try to harness him as a weapon.

  The wind bit at Adam’s body as he crossed the camp – a collection of military vehicles, huge metal containers and canvas tents in the churned up snow. At the far end of the camp, beyond a small frozen lake, were two more canvas tents. A long stretch of tarpaulin bridged th
e two like an extra roof, hiding their purpose from anyone overhead.

  ‘Keera’s in there?’ asked Adam.

  His dad nodded as they trudged on through the snow. ‘I’m so proud of you, doing all this. You must be exhausted. But if you can just get past the last security barriers in Keera’s head to find that prime directive . . .’

  ‘What if I can’t?’ Adam murmured.

  ‘If Zoe’s right and Keera sees you as the one who made her what she is – the one who can set her free – she’ll want to help you. And after what she’s been through with Zoe, that bond will be even stronger.’ He smiled encouragingly. ‘We can only hope she’ll respond to the two of you.’

  No pressure then, thought Adam.

  The soldiers held back at the entrance to Keera’s canvas cave and gestured their charges go through.

  Once inside, Adam’s heart plummeted. Keera lay like a gigantic beached whale under foil blankets, surrounded by men and women in scrubs and surgical masks, banks of machinery and all kinds of scientific equipment. Her form looked bleached of colour, almost translucent, like a giant grub.

  Adam looked away – and saw Zoe was here already in a new wheelchair, her mum connecting a jumble of spaghetti-like leads from the now-familiar bank of controls to her special headset. As he and his dad approached, Eve looked up, smiled and rushed to greet them, spilling coffee down herself as she did so.

  ‘Oh, Adam,’ she said, grabbing him in a bear hug. ‘When I heard you and Zoe were all right it was like a miracle.’

  ‘It sure was,’ Mr Adlar agreed, going to fetch a Think-Send helmet and its various connectors. ‘A double miracle.’

  Adam waved at Zoe. ‘It’s official – we’re miraculous.’

  ‘Tell me something I don’t know.’ Zoe looked sore and bruised, but so much better already. ‘Have you been telling your story to Oldman?’

  ‘Uh-huh. I expect it’ll be your turn after this.’

  ‘Can’t wait.’ She rolled the wheels of her chair closer to Keera, a sad look on her face.

  Adam held still as his dad returned and fitted the Think-Send helmet on his head. He looked at the pterosaur’s pale, sticky skin, the bruised slits of her eyes. ‘Keera’s dying, isn’t she?’