by Steve Cole
‘How about that,’ she muttered, tears drying now on her own face. ‘Boy meets dinosaur, boy falls in love with dinosaur, dinosaur leaves boy . . . The same old story, huh?’
‘Shut up.’ Angrily, Adam tried to pull his hand away. But Zoe’s grip was too tight, and the understanding in her eyes too tender. He took a deep breath and forced a smile. ‘Shut up,’ he said again, more softly this time. ‘It’s a great story.’ He stared on into the wide blue heavens, picturing Keera and Zed as they began their journeys to freedom.
Stay safe, guys, he thought.
The drone of the ’copters grew louder still as they dropped out of the sky, whipping up the snow into a bitter wind. Well-armed black-clad troops started fast-roping down to confront the misfit group invading their country – little dreaming that those misfits had most likely saved it from destruction.
Zoe looked at Adam. ‘The next few days are going to be tough.’
‘I reckon we’ve evolved thick enough skins to take it,’ he replied.
Mr Adlar nodded. ‘The truth – however incredible – will always get out in the end.’
And we’ll get out too, Adam told himself firmly. Ready to start again.
He looked at Zoe. ‘What’s Russian for “extra-large pepperoni pizza, please” . . .?’
Chapter 27: Back to Life
ONE MONTH LATER Adam sat with his dad in Princes Street Gardens, a swathe of peaceful green in the centre of Edinburgh. From his bench he could contemplate the blackened sandstone splendour of the city and the colourful parkland that endured alongside it, each enhancing the other’s appeal. For centuries the gardens had been overlooked by Edinburgh Castle – before Geneflow’s clone of Zed had smashed the old building to rubble.
Happily, the castle was being rebuilt. For now, a cocoon of ugly scaffolding squatted on The Mound – but one day the stonework behind it would break free to stand proud again.
Adam sighed. His own cocoon was harder to spot, but he knew he’d wrapped it tight around himself this past year. To be caught up in something so big and so frightening . . . it had meant he’d shied away from real life. Become a loner.
Ironically, it was the seven days he’d spent under house arrest by the Russian government that had seen the first cracks in the chrysalis appear.
The world’s press and TV had gone crazy for the story of how the world had been saved from disaster by such a small and unlikely band. And the role of the two children – the average boy from Scotland and the lovely, crippled girl from Down Under, and their special bond with monsters – had caught the imagination of practically everyone on the planet. Once Oldman’s story and motives had checked out, and the nations of the world had taken the first steps back to a lasting peace, the Adlars, Eve and Zoe had been released into a media storm.
Of the four of them, Adam had actually welcomed the attention most. He’d relished talking about the stuff he’d imagined no one would ever believe. Magazine interviews, TV and radio shows, live streaming broadcasts, he’d done them all – chiefly to rid himself of all the baggage he’d been heaving around and hiding behind.
Soon he’d be seeing Zoe again, and his fellow survivors from Raptor Island too. Like him, and like most of the kidnapped scientists who’d made it above ground before Josephs’ reactor blew apart, they were down to give evidence against Geneflow in what would surely be one of the biggest criminal trials in history. Josephs might be dead but subordinates like Thierry had pulled through. Powerless now, trapped in their freakish forms and with the world baying for their blood, they had cut a deal with the world’s authorities – providing details of Geneflow’s hidden bases and secret benefactors around the globe, in exchange for a guarantee that death sentences would not be passed.
Finally, when the trial was over and the glaring eye of the world had moved elsewhere, the last scraps of old Adam’s cocoon would fall away, and a new Adam would at last emerge.
Z. Adam, he thought wryly.
That was the plan, anyway.
But what exactly do Z. Adams do?
‘Ahhh.’ His dad, sat beside him on the bench, sighed contentedly. ‘To feel the sun on your skin and know you have nothing to do today – this is officially the life.’
Adam smiled. The publicity had resulted in real corporate interest in developing Ultra-Reality as a major games system at last, and his dad was hot property.
‘I guess you could say, it’s the life,’ Adam agreed. ‘But is it the best life?’
‘My son, the philosopher,’ teased his dad.
‘Seriously,’ Adam protested. ‘I think I need to have the best life ever. After all, how many people can say they sacrificed themselves to save the world and lived to talk about it?’ He felt a stroke of sadness for the different him, trapped in the Geneflow base, waiting for the reactor to run wild. ‘Yeah . . . I’ve got to live enough for two. I’ve got to live—’
‘The Z. life?’
‘Right,’ Adam agreed. ‘A life at its zenith . . .’
Mr Adlar smiled. ‘We’ve reached our highest point through surviving our lowest. I suppose high and low will always chase each other.’
Adam smiled. ‘Now you’re at it. My dad, the philosopher.’
‘Sorry.’ Mr Adlar looked at him and grinned. ‘If you’ve got to live enough for two, what would you say to a couple of ice creams right now followed by a couple of pizzas from Browns?’
‘I’d say, “Yum”,’ Adam decided. ‘That’s my kind of philosophy . . .’
As he and his dad set off towards the ice-cream stand, for a moment the sun seemed to flicker. Adam felt a shadow pass over him. He looked up. But there were no blurred outlines in the sky, and no distant, bestial cries reached his ears.
‘What’s up?’ asked his dad.
‘Oh . . . nothing.’ Imagination, I suppose, Adam thought. It was kind of comforting to think that Zed or Keera might still watch over him in the years to come – but he knew it was incredibly selfish of him too. He had to hope the Z. beasts would find some greater purpose on their journeys; a way to be as happy as two fantastical animals caught out of time could ever be.
We’ve all won our freedom. And I guess in the end we’ll figure out what to do with it.
He looked up at the wide-open blue that stretched high above the park and sandstone, that reached around the world.
The sky’s the limit.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to all who have helped along the way with my Z-trilogy on both sides of the Atlantic. But particularly . . .
In the UK, to Ruth Knowles, Kelly Hurst and Jessica Clarke at Random House for their support and input . . . to my brilliant agent, Philippa Milnes-Smith . . . to Joel Hales Waller, a true inspiration . . . to Jason Loborik for moral support and his help in preparing an early draft of the manuscript . . . and to Jill, Tobey and Amy, my Z. nearest and dearest.
In the USA, to Michael Green and Tamra Tuller at Philomel for their patience and guidance, and to my brother-in-law Major Denis Dallaire, USAF, for his invaluable advice on military matters.
About the Author
Born in 1971, Steve Cole spent a happy childhood in rural Bedfordshire being loud and aspiring to amuse. He liked books, and so went to the University of East Anglia to read more of them. Later on he started writing them too, with titles ranging from pre-school poetry to Young Adult thrillers (with more TV and film tie-ins than he cares to admit to along the way). In other careers he has been the editor of Noddy magazine, and an editor of fiction and nonfiction book titles for various publishers.
Also by Steve Cole
Z.REX
Z.RAPTOR
And for younger readers by the same author, these fantastic series:
www.stevecolebooks.co.uk
Z. APOCALYPSE
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 448 15771 6
Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2012
Copyright © Steve Cole, 2012
First Published in Great Britain
Red Fox 9781862307797 2012
The right of Steve Cole to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Contents
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 0: Seek, Locate, Destroy
Chapter 1: A Virtual Reality
Chapter 2: Caught in Carnage
Chapter 3: In the Aftermath
Chapter 4: Show of Strength
Chapter 5: Early Morning Call
Chapter 6: To Read Minds
Chapter 7: The Dinosaur Whisperer
Chapter 8: The Second Target
Chapter 9: Late-Night Reunion
Chapter 10: ‘Who Controls You?’
Chapter 11: A Sinking Feeling
Chapter 12: Number Not Available
Chapter 13: Far–North Reunion
Chapter 14: Over the Edge
Chapter 15: Taking a Life
Chapter 16: People Can Change
Chapter 17: Looking at You
Chapter 18: In the Forest
Chapter 19: Day of Deliverance
Chapter 20: Shadows in Blue
Chapter 21: Zee No Evil
Chapter 22: Good to Go
Chapter 23: The Careful Invasion
Chapter 24: Meeting of Minds
Chapter 25: Point of Impact
Chapter 26: Instinct to Survive
Chapter 27: Back to Life
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Steve Cole
Copyright
