Every Second Counts

by Sophie McKenzie

  Charlie

  I raced across the landing, glancing at Nat’s old bedroom door as I passed. I had a sudden flashback to the first time I’d gone inside his room and thought, mistakenly, that he was involved in the bomb that killed Mum.

  So much had happened since then. I hoped Nat was on his way here now. I had no way of contacting him but, surely, he and his brother would get back here as quickly as they could. I had been fast because Spider’s money had paid for a taxi. But Nat and Lucas couldn’t be far behind. Whatever the risk, they would both want to see Jas before she died.

  I stopped outside Jas’s bedroom and knocked lightly on the door. There was no reply, so I pushed it open. The room was just as I remembered it, full of the pretty fabrics and soft, feminine design touches that Jas loved. Jas herself lay, eyes closed, on the bed. Always skinny and fragile-looking, I was shocked by how ghostly she looked. Her mother, red-eyed, sat beside her. She looked up as I came in.

  My heart in my mouth, I hurried over, a vial of antidote in my hand.

  As I drew near, Jas opened her eyes. Her expression was glassy, her skin looked clammy. She breathed in – a rasping, shallow breath.

  ‘Who is it?’ She turned her face towards me, her eyes unseeing. ‘Who’s there?’

  She was looking straight at me but she clearly couldn’t see a thing. I gasped and looked at her mum.

  ‘She’s blind,’ her mother said with a sob.

  The words hit me like a punch. Poor Jas. And poor Nat. This would be him soon. And then Jas’s mum stood up and, leaning close so Jas couldn’t hear, she whispered in my ear. ‘I wanted her to be in hospital, but she insisted on staying here. She’s not in any pain, but there’s nothing anyone can do. It will take a miracle to save her.’

  I held out the vial.

  Please, I prayed, please let this be that miracle.

  Nat

  Lucas spoke under his breath: ‘There’s another man with Taylor, we should wait till he goes.’

  I nodded, though I was itching to move. To get this done, once and for all.

  ‘They’re walking away, to the sound area. I can just see the mixing deck from here. Let’s give it a minute.’

  I nodded again. There was a pause, then Lucas cleared his throat.

  ‘So, Parveen says she met you and Charlie when she was recruited to the EFA?’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Par’s a mate.’ I paused. ‘Wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of her, though.’

  ‘Mmm,’ Lucas mused. ‘She’s like, really cool. You know she must have the virus too, she’ll need the antidote just like us.’

  Obviously. Why was he banging on about Par? A few moments later she appeared behind me.

  ‘Riley’s nearly finished,’ she said.

  Lucas turned back to peer through the curtains. ‘Taylor’s coming back now,’ he said. ‘He’s alone. On my mark.’

  Parveen stiffened. I tensed, praying my vision – and my strength – would hold.’

  ‘Go.’ As Lucas rushed through the curtain, the audience beyond broke into a round of applause for Riley.

  Rushing forward, Lucas and I bundled Taylor to the ground. I pressed my knee against the man’s neck, as Taylor himself had shown me. Lucas made a fist and punched his stomach. Taylor let out a muffled groan. Then Lucas leaned forwards. ‘That was for putting me in a coma last year.’ He punched Taylor again. ‘And that was for everything you’ve done to my family.’ Taylor looked up at him, winded. He glanced at me. For a moment I saw remorse in his eyes – a look of defeat. Then Lucas nodded at me and I whipped my knee away, as Lucas landed a third punch smack on Taylor’s chin. Taylor immediately went limp.

  Parveen was already searching his jacket pocket. ‘Here,’ she said, holding up a gun.

  Lucas snatched it off her.

  ‘Phone!’ I urged.

  Parveen and I dived into the rest of his pockets.

  ‘Got it!’ I yanked the mobile out. ‘Come on.’

  The three of us raced to the sound station further back stage. The applause for Riley was still loud in our ears.

  I quickly found the recording I’d made earlier, then thrust the phone at the terrified sound engineer.

  ‘Play this,’ I ordered.

  ‘But – but—’ the man stammered.

  Lucas drew Taylor’s gun and pointed it at the man.

  ‘Cut Riley’s mike and the screen feed and play what’s on this phone,’ Parveen insisted. ‘Or we’ll shoot you.’

  The sound engineer stared for a moment at the gun, then took the phone. He bent over his equipment. Seconds later the sound of white noise filled the air. The applause of the crowd died away. Uchi’s voice could be heard, faint from the film.

  ‘Turn it up!’ I yelled.

  Lucas pressed the gun against the sound guy’s back. The volume levels shot up so that Uchi’s voice was now distorted. The crowd fell silent. The engineer fiddled with the buttons on his desk.

  I rushed to the edge of the stage.

  Riley was still standing in front of the microphone. I followed his gaze to the screen at the side, where he and Uchi stood, as I’d filmed them, on opposite sides of the dining-room table in Riley’s house.

  The on-screen Riley was speaking, his voice a vicious snarl, utterly different from the way he’d just spoken to the crowd who were watching, rapt.

  ‘Listen to me,’ he was saying, ‘Charlie is going to die. Just like her mother died. It’s all set. Two hours from now, she’ll be gone.’

  I glanced at the real Riley. He turned and saw me at the same time. Fury filled his face. He rushed towards me. I blocked his way. He thrust me aside.

  And then Lucas was there, the gun still in his hand. The real Riley stopped just as the film showed the screen version raising his gun. And then the shot that had killed Uchi echoed across the park. The audience gasped, witnessing the murder on film, just as I had witnessed it in real life less than an hour ago.

  Riley had seen it too. He stood at the edge of the stage. Lucas cocked his gun. I could see in Riley’s eyes that he knew he had lost.

  And then he turned to me.

  ‘It’s still too late to save them,’ he said quietly. ‘Too late for Charlie.’

  Charlie

  I stared out of Nat’s bedroom window. The street outside the house was empty and I was starting to feel uneasy. Where were Nat and Lucas? They should, surely, have been here by now.

  Had something happened to Nat? Jas had been bedridden since early this morning. I knew that Nat had been given the virus after his sister, but how long after? What if he was too ill to travel?

  At least Jas seemed slightly better since I’d given her the antidote. Her temperature was lower and she was sleeping peacefully. Her parents and I had no idea if she’d taken the drug in time to save her life, but the signs were promising. Anyway, there was nothing else we could do now. Mr and Mrs Holloway were both in there with her, sitting on either side of her bed, heads bowed. Her mum was praying.

  At least I had enough antidote for them. In a minute I would go and explain that they each needed to take one of the three remaining vials. But I knew that as soon as I did, they would start worrying about their sons all over again, asking questions to which I had no answers. I wandered around Nat’s bedroom. Everything was covered with a fine film of dust. The old computer on the desk in the corner reminded me again of those first few weeks after I’d met Nat. He had seemed to dislike me back then. But now I knew he had just felt awkward because he had thought Lucas was involved in the bombing that had killed Mum.

  I hadn’t thought much about Mum herself in the past few days. Not since I discovered how she had lied to me about my biological father. It hurt that she hadn’t told me the truth about her affair with Uchi – or that I might be his daughter – but maybe she had just wanted to protect me from finding out about him. Was that really wrong? Maybe it wasn’t all that different from me wishing I could protect Nat’s parents right now.

  The house was so stil
l it was hard to imagine a busy, bustling world outside. In the silence, I couldn’t avoid facing my feelings. I missed Mum, but she was already gone. And Uchi was dead, but I’d never really known him. Nat was different. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

  I went back to the window. Where was he? Why didn’t he come?

  Nat

  ‘What do you mean, it’s “too late” for Charlie? Or – or “to save them”? – Who are “them”?’ I demanded.

  Riley narrowed his eyes. ‘Charlie is trying to save your sister. I gave my son access to the antidote to see what he would do. I’m afraid he handed the antidote straight over to Charlie and she has taken it to Jas, but she’ll be too late.’ He held up one hand, slowly so that Lucas could see he wasn’t reaching for a weapon. A thick black watch was around his wrist. ‘Take it,’ Riley said. ‘Then you’ll see.’

  I unfastened the watch and examined it. The face was blank, as if all the power had gone from the device.

  I glanced at Lucas. He shrugged.

  ‘What is this?’ I asked Riley.

  But he shook his head. A moment later, people started pouring in through the curtains. They saw Lucas and the gun and Taylor unconscious on the floor. Soon we were surrounded, everyone talking at once, asking about the film they had just seen of Riley murdering Uchi.

  Riley himself stayed completely silent, his head bowed.

  Parveen was in the middle of the group, explaining how Riley had tricked and manipulated us. Out in the park, the crowd were going wild. Someone needed to talk to them, to explain what was happening.

  Without thinking about what I was going to say, I hurried to the front of the stage.

  ‘Roman Riley is a murderer,’ I shouted. As one, the crowd fell silent. My voice carried on the wind. ‘Riley has lied and killed to gain power. He is a con man. He carries out terrorist attacks, then gets others to take the blame so he can look like a hero. He murdered that man.’ I pointed to the screen, still showing Uchi’s body lying on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood.

  The crowd surged forward, voices raised again. This time I could see they were frightened. Angry. My vision blurred again and a wave of nausea rolled through me. I crept to the side of the stage. It was done. At last, it was done. All these people would never have taken accusations against Riley seriously before. But now they had seen the film of him killing Uchi, everything was different.

  Everything had to be different.

  I leaned against the wall, a metre or so away from where Taylor lay unconscious on the ground. Two men were examining him, both bending over his face. After a few more minutes, the hubbub across the room grew louder. I looked over, straining to see what was going on. As my vision cleared I caught sight of Riley being marched away between two policemen. Then, to my horror, I realised that Lucas, minus his gun, and Parveen were also being taken. Were they being arrested too?

  I raced over, intending to protest, but just before I reached Lucas he glanced over his shoulder. His eyes flared as he saw me.

  Get out of here, he mouthed. Go home.

  I gulped. He was right. I needed to see Jas. Riley seemed to think Charlie was with her and that she had the antidote. If that was true, maybe there was a chance Jas was going to be okay and that I would be able to get my hands on some antidote too. If it wasn’t true, at least I might be able to say goodbye to Jas and our parents before it was too late.

  I was still holding Riley’s watch. I shoved it in my pocket and crept around the stage. I kept hunched over, praying that if I kept my face hidden I would pass unnoticed in all the confusion. It worked. At last I made it off the stage. I sped across the grass to the park exit. I only had enough money for a tube ticket, so I made my way to Hyde Park station and was soon on a train, travelling home. I kept my hood up and my mouth covered, praying I was infecting as few people as possible. Hopefully it wouldn’t matter now. Hopefully, if Riley was at last defeated, stocks of the antidote could be released in plenty of time to save everyone only recently infected.

  Sitting still helped with both my vision and my nausea. Surely there would be time to save Jas now. And Mum and Dad and Lucas.

  And then I felt my pocket vibrate. It was Riley’s watch, whirring into life. I pulled the watch out and glanced down at the screen. It was showing a countdown.

  09:56

  09:55

  09:54

  I stared at the seconds as they passed. Was this countdown somehow connected to Riley’s threat against Charlie? Was it somehow linked to a bomb? That was Riley’s normal method of killing people. I examined the watch. In itself it was clearly no explosive, but perhaps it was a way to keep track of a bomb – a bomb that would detonate in just under ten minutes.

  How did that fit with what Riley had told me before – that Charlie would die and Jas wouldn’t make it either. Except he hadn’t said Charlie and ‘her’ as in, ‘and Jas’. He’d said Charlie and ‘them’. Who were ‘them’?

  I frowned, my mind racing. Two long minutes passed. The countdown ticked away.

  07:58

  07:57

  07:56

  One more stop until I got off. Almost there.

  Riley’s voice flashed into my head again: Too late to save them.

  I sat up straight, the terrible realisation hitting home. This countdown did relate to a bomb, it was the way Riley was going to know when the bomb had exploded.

  And the bomb – I gasped with the full horror of it – was going to go off in my own home.

  07:05

  07:04

  07:03

  Charlie

  I lay down on the bed in Nat’s room. The one remaining vial of antidote was beside me. I had just given a vial each to Jas’s parents. Mrs Holloway had drunk hers, distractedly, but Mr Holloway had asked, with something of Nat’s sharp intelligence, if there was enough left for Nat. I reassured him there was.

  The house was still so silent and there was something soothing about being here, in Nat’s old room. Where was he? Why wasn’t he here? I closed my eyes, exhaustion overcoming me.

  There was no way I could sleep.

  I would just rest my eyes for a moment.

  Nat

  The train stopped. I could almost feel the adrenalin pumping through my veins, pushing back the weakness that threatened to creep through my limbs. My vision was still blurry but I could see the door, then the platform, then the stairs. I raced up to ground level. As I tore out of the tube station I glanced down at the countdown.

  02:16

  02:15

  02:14

  Only two minutes until the bomb went off. I had no phone, no way of warning them. All I could do was run.

  I pounded along the street, fighting the weakness that dragged at my lungs and filled my bones with lead. I saw home in my mind’s eye: Mum and Dad and Jas talking in the kitchen. And Charlie, smiling, her beautiful eyes intent on mine.

  01:33

  01:32

  01:31

  I pushed myself on. On to my own street. My house was just a few doors away. Another few steps and I saw the path. The door.

  I ran up and hammered on the wood, pressing the doorbell at the same time.

  ‘Hey!’ I yelled. ‘Mum! Dad! Charlie!’

  00:59

  00:58

  00:57

  There was less than a minute. I yelled out again. Where were they?

  And then the door opened. Charlie was standing there, dark shadows under her eyes. Her mouth rounded into a shocked ‘oh’ as she saw me.

  ‘Get out of the house!’ I shouted, pushing past her and into the hall. ‘There’s a bomb in here. ‘Out! All of you, out!’

  Charlie

  Nat stumbled along the hall, almost tripping over the shoes stacked by the living-room door. His mother appeared at the top of the stairs.

  ‘Nat? Is that you?’ she said.

  ‘Get out!’ Nat spun around, waving his arms wildly. His eyes squinted up the stairs as if he was straining to see her.
<
br />   ‘Nat, what is it?’ His dad appeared next to his mum.

  Nat held out a piece of black plastic. ‘There’s a bomb. No time. Hurry. Get out!’

  I raced up beside him. Over his shoulder I could see that the black plastic was a watch. It showed a countdown.

  00:40

  00:39

  00:38

  I gasped, the full horror hitting me. Nat sagged against the wall. He looked completely spent. I glanced up the stairs. Nat’s mum was standing, frozen to the spot. His dad wide-eyed beside her.

  ‘Get Jas,’ I ordered. ‘Bring her down. Outside.’

  Nat’s parents stared down at me, shell-shocked.

  ‘Move!’ I yelled. I grabbed the watch from Nat’s hand and raced up the stairs.

  Nat’s mum burst into tears. ‘I don’t—’

  I shoved her towards the stairs. ‘Get out of the house. Get Nat out.’ Without waiting to see if she moved, I gripped Nat’s dad’s arm and forced him towards Jas’s room.

  ‘Come on!’ I ordered.

  00:29

  00:28

  00:27

  Nat’s dad picked his daughter up from the bed and rushed to the stairs. Down in the hall, Nat looked barely conscious. His mum was steering him to the front door. Mr Holloway was halfway down the stairs now. They were going to make it.

  As I took a step towards the stairs, I glanced at the countdown again.

  00:18

  00:17

  00:16

  Then I remembered the last vial of antidote in Nat’s bedroom, lying where I’d left it on the bed.

  Nat needed that antidote. Needed it badly. He might die before we could get any more.

  I turned and raced into his bedroom. Blood thundered in my ears. I grabbed the vial. Tore back to the stairs.

  ‘Charlie!’ Nat’s cry came from outside the house. ‘Hurry!’ I pounded down the stairs.

  00:09

  00:08

  00:07

  I was going to make it.

  00:05

  00:04

  00:03