‘We can’t go up there in the pitch black,’ he said. ‘We need some kind of light.’ He indicated a row of metal lockers behind the reception desk. ‘There have to be torches somewhere.’
‘What makes you think that?’ asked Beth.
‘In films like this there are always torches,’ he yelled. He threw open the nearest cupboard and set about rifling through the contents. Beth was standing there studying the rapidly disintegrating front door. ‘Help me!’ shouted Kip. She seemed to come out of a trance and sprang to the lockers, began throwing them open, one by one, pulling out the contents and scattering them on the floor, wincing at every blow against the entrance door. Now they could actually see moonlight filtering in through the places where the tiger’s claws had shredded the wood.
‘We need to get up those stairs,’ said Beth.
‘We can’t go up in the dark,’ insisted Kip. ‘Anything could jump out at us. Keep looking.’
The sound of a door being smashed open made him look back down the corridor. He saw a shambling figure in a yellow raincoat come staggering through the doorway of the room into which he had been pushed. The Neanderthal stood for a moment as though uncertain of which way to go. Then he turned, spotted his prey and came striding towards them, his brutish face contorted with anger.
‘Here comes laughing boy!’ announced Kip.
Beth had found a metal locker against one wall.
‘I think this could be a strong possibility,’ she yelled.
‘What makes you say that?’ asked Kip.
‘It’s got the word Torches written on it.’
‘Great,’ said Kip.
‘Only it’s padlocked.’
‘Not so great.’ Kip hurried over to her and looked at the padlock, a chunky iron contraption. ‘Why did they lock the bloody thing?’ he asked the room in general. ‘Didn’t they realise people might be in a hurry?’
‘Probably trying to create suspense,’ suggested Beth.
‘It’s working,’ said Kip.
There was another splintering sound and a great big paw tore its way clean through the entrance door.
‘Hurry!’ yelled Beth.
Kip lifted the machete, took aim and brought it down as hard as he could on the padlock. The rusted metal shattered beneath the impact and he was able to fling open the door. They stood staring, hardly believing their luck. There were half a dozen torches in the cupboard, and several packs of batteries.
‘Yes!’ said Kip. He dropped the machete, pulled out one of the torches and flicked the switch. Nothing happened. ‘No,’ he said. Sweat was pouring down his face now and out of the corner of his eye, he was aware that the front door was virtually coming off its hinges. Through the gap he could see a pair of malignant yellow eyes staring in at him.
‘Move it!’ yelled Beth. She was jumping up and down on the spot in her torment. Kip grabbed another torch and threw it to her. Then he tossed her a pack of batteries. From the corner of his eye, he was horribly aware of the yellow-coated Neanderthal lurching towards him along the corridor. Kip struggled to rip open the cellophane wrapping on a pack of batteries, tearing at it with his teeth. It split across the middle, spilling batteries onto the floor. He swore, stooped and grabbed a couple of them. He twisted open the end of the torch and slammed the new batteries into it, his hands shaking. He twisted the cap back on the end of his torch and jumped upright with a yell of triumph.
‘Right, let’s get up those—’
He broke off as a pair of hairy hands clamped around his throat and lifted him clear off the ground. Kip could feel the incredible strength in those hands. They were squeezing the life out of him. He kicked and struggled and even reached up with the torch and slammed it down hard on the Neanderthal’s head but it had no effect. A red heat filled his head and he could barely struggle any more.
Then there was a sharp hiss as something metallic sliced through the air. The Neanderthal’s expression changed to one of surprise, his eyes bulging, his mouth hanging open. He froze in position for a moment, his arms still outstretched. Then his head tilted sideways. It kept tilting, moving past the point where any head should be able to tilt and then it slipped off his neck and fell. It went bouncing along the littered floor like an oddly-shaped football. A few moments later, the hands lost their power and released Kip. The body fell too, completely devoid of any life.
Kip looked down at it in amazement. Then he looked up again. Beth was standing there, a grim expression on her pretty face. She had the bloody machete in one hand.
‘Somebody had to,’ she whispered.
Kip stared at her. He had a sudden impulse to take her in his arms and kiss her, but realised that there probably wasn’t time for that.
‘Thanks,’ he croaked. ‘I owe you one.’
There was an almighty crash as the heavy refrigerator tipped forward and hit the ground. The two friends looked up in absolute terror and saw that the tiger was pushing through the shattered remains of the door.
Without another word, they turned and ran for the stairs, switching on their torches as they went.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CAPTAIN HOLDER LED the way into the large window-less room and the others followed him. They were all aware of noises coming from downstairs – loud thuds and crashes, shrieks and roaring sounds, but none of them were in a big hurry to go and see what was causing them. Captain Holder shone his torch around the interior, revealing rows and rows of oblong Perspex boxes.
‘Fish tanks!’ exclaimed Rose.
‘No, honey,’ said Tamara, gently. ‘They’re incubators. This must have been where they kept premature babies.’
‘Funny-looking babies,’ said Jade and the torchlight showed that one of the tanks was filled with large fleshy grey eggs. ‘What kind of a bird lays eggs like that?’ she muttered.
‘I don’t think they’re bird eggs,’ said Tad. ‘I’d say they came from some kind of large serpent.’ Everybody ignored him.
‘They still look like fish tanks to me,’ said Rose. She let go of Tamara’s hand and moved along a line of transparent boxes, peering into each of them in turn. She saw one had a big hole punched in the side of it and was full of broken eggs, but all the others were empty … no, not all of them. As she peered in to the sixth box along, there was a sudden shimmering light within it and something seemed to materialise, right in front of her eyes. She found herself looking at a funny, glowing contraption on a length of chain. She frowned. She was sure it hadn’t been there a moment ago. She noticed a little door on the front of the box, so she unlatched the cover, and reached in to take hold of the gadget. It was pulsing with a slow red light that seemed to be coming from beneath a metal cover. She was able to lift the cover up, revealing a black button with the word EXIT written on it. She lifted the thing closer and reached out a finger to press the button.
‘Hey, hang on, kid, what have you got there?’ asked Captain Holder, moving closer with the flashlight.
‘I don’t know,’ said Rose. ‘It just appeared in the fish tank. Like magic.’
‘Interesting,’ said Tad. ‘Sounds like some kind of matter transfer.’
Everyone ignored him.
Captain Holder reached out and took the gadget from Rose’s hand. He examined it in the torchlight.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this before,’ he said. ‘I wonder what it does.’
‘Better not mess with it,’ warned Tad. ‘Press that button and you could blow the whole place sky high.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Captain Holder. ‘Why would there be something like that in here?’
‘Anything’s possible in this screwy place,’ said Jade.
‘But the button is marked EXIT,’ said Captain Holder. ‘Maybe it activates some kind of escape equipment – a way out of here.’
‘Sounds reasonable,’ Tamara agreed. ‘It has to be worth a try.’
Captain Holder looked around at the others.
‘What do you think?’ he asked them.
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‘I say go for it,’ said Jade.
‘I’m not so sure,’ said Tad.
‘I’m with Jade on this one,’ said Tamara.
‘Whatever,’ said Rose.
Captain Holder considered for a moment. In the silence there were more violent crashing sounds from downstairs.
‘Well,’ he murmured, ‘here goes.’ He pressed the button. There was a brief flash of light. His entire body seemed to shimmer for an instant and then quite suddenly, he disappeared. Unfortunately, he had taken the only source of light with him. The team found themselves plunged abruptly into almost total darkness.
‘Where the hell did he go?’ asked Jade.
‘I told you it sounded like matter transfer,’ said Tad huffily. ‘How come nobody ever listens to me?’
‘Well, he can’t just have disappeared,’ said Tamara. ‘He must be around here somewhere.’ She peered about in the gloom, trying to find her bearings. ‘I can’t see a thing.’
‘There’s no windows in here,’ complained Jade. ‘We need to get out and find a bit of moonlight.’
‘No, wait, I think I’ve got a box of matches somewhere,’ said Tad. He started searching his pockets.
At that moment, they all heard something. It was a strange rustling sound. It was like the sound of hundreds of dry leaves being stirred by the wind, and it seemed very close.
‘What is that?’ gasped Tamara.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Tad. ‘But whatever it is, I don’t much like it.’ He had got the matches out now and was trying to fumble one of them from the box.
‘Sounds to me like the kind of noise you’d associate with a large invertebrate,’ said Tamara.
‘A what?’ muttered Jade.
‘I mean a big—’Tamara stopped talking. She was staring at Tad. Rose followed her gaze and saw that something big and dark was rising up from the floor behind Tad – a great, long shape that seemed to rise higher and higher until it was towering six feet above him. Jade too had her back turned to the shape and was totally unaware of its presence.
‘What are you all staring at?’ asked Tad irritably.
‘There’s something behind you,’ whispered Rose.
Tad sneered.
‘Yeah, don’t tell me, it’s the Boogie Man. You know, kid, I’m getting a little bit tired of your fantasies.’
‘It’s not a fantasy,’ said Tamara, her voice filled with dread. ‘There really is something behind you.’
Tad grunted and struck a match. In the sudden glow, Rose could see exactly what was behind him. It was the biggest snake she had ever seen; a long glittering body covered in tiny scales and a great oval head from which two cold eyes stared down mercilessly. As she watched, horrified, the beast opened its jaws revealing huge fangs that dripped liquid and a forked tongue that flicked rapidly in and out.
Jade turned and looked at what was behind Tad. ‘Well I think I’ll be off now,’ she said, and without another word, she turned and headed for the door as fast as her legs would carry her.
‘Hey, where do you think you’re going?’ yelled Tad. ‘We need to—’
Suddenly, shockingly, the snake shot downwards and its open jaws engulfed Tad’s head and shoulders cutting off the rest of his sentence. He stood there for an instant, his body shuddering, the match still burning in his outstretched fingers.
‘Tad!’ Tamara opened her mouth and screamed. Then the match went out and there were just the awful sounds of slithering in the darkness.
Rose grabbed Tamara’s hand and pulled her towards the door.
‘Come on,’ she said.
‘Wait!’ yelled Tamara. ‘We can’t just leave him.’
‘We have to,’ said Rose. ‘Don’t you see, it’s his turn. These films are always like this. We have to get out of here or we’ll be next.’
She dragged Tamara from the room and slammed the door behind them. They turned to run along the corridor beyond. Halfway along it, they saw two figures grappling in a patch of moonlight. Jade was struggling with a big muscular figure, a creature that looked more like an ape than a man.
‘What the hell is that?’ shrieked Tamara.
‘It’s a Number Tail,’ said Rose grimly.
As they drew closer, they saw that the creature was in the act of biting a large chunk out of Jade’s neck and judging by the noise she was making, she wasn’t enjoying the experience much.
Tamara looked frantically around for a weapon and spotted a red fire-extinguisher fixed to one wall. She wrenched it from its mounting and brought it down on the ape-like creature’s head. He sprawled on the floor and didn’t get up again. Tamara dropped the extinguisher and kneeled to look at Jade, but it was clear at a glance that she was badly injured. Blood was pumping from the wound on her neck, soaking into her T-shirt.
‘What … was that thing?’ she croaked.
‘It was a …’ Tamara looked at Rose.
‘A Number Tail.’
‘What’s that?’ gasped Jade.
‘Never mind,’ said Tamara. She took hold of one of Jade’s hands and tried to help her to her feet, but she shook her head.
‘No use,’ she croaked. ‘I’m … done for, I’m afraid. Leave me and … save yourselves.’
‘But—’
‘Go,’ she groaned. ‘I think there may be … more of them. They must have … made their home up here … I think this is their … lair.’
Rose turned her head as she heard sounds coming from the corridor behind her. Other Neanderthals were shambling out of dark doorways. Beams of moonlight were spilling in through a line of barred windows and she caught glimpses of long hair, huge foreheads and bared teeth. The creatures turned towards her and started lurching along the corridor.
‘Tamara!’ she squealed.
Tamara glanced up, took one look and then jumped to her feet.
‘Come on,’ she yelled, and she and Rose ran along the corridor, leaving Jade to her fate. Rose glanced back and saw that the creatures were closing in on her. In an instant she was buried beneath an onslaught of hungry cavemen and her screams echoed along the corridor.
‘Look!’ Tamara pointed. At the top of the corridor, another flight of stairs angled upwards. They ran towards them and went up as fast as their legs would carry them.
There was a sudden flash of blinding light and Mr Lazarus had to shield his eyes from the glare. The wooden platform slid smoothly forward and there was Captain Holder, standing on the platform, a look of complete shock on his grizzled features. He was holding a torch in one hand and the Retriever in the other, blinking around at his surroundings.
‘What the hell is going on?’ he demanded. He noticed Mr Lazarus standing there and gave him a challenging look. ‘Who the hell are you?’ he said. ‘And where the hell am I?’
Mr Lazarus sighed wearily. This exercise was turning out to be a whole lot more complicated than he had anticipated. He lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender.
‘Don’t worry, Captain Holder,’ he said. ‘I can assure you, I’m on your side.’
‘Yeah? Well, perhaps you’d like to tell me what’s going on here? And how you know my name.’
Mr Lazarus smiled.
‘I’ll certainly give it my best shot,’ he said.
Kip and Beth raced up the staircase to the first floor, horribly aware that the sabre-toothed tiger was coming after them in hot pursuit and gaining on them by the second. Beth was still holding the machete; it wasn’t much but it was the only weapon they had. Glancing back, Kip saw that the tiger was only a few feet behind Beth’s racing heels, and he realised that they would have to turn back and try to fight the beast.
Just then, a figure appeared on the stairs ahead of him – a big bare-chested Neanderthal. The creature was holding a spear and had a look of absolute rage on his ugly features. He lifted the spear with a bellow of defiance and came racing down the stairs towards Kip, who stopped dead in his tracks. Beth crashed into him and knocked him over. They went down in a sprawl, and the machet
e fell from Beth’s hand and clattered down the stairs. The Neanderthal was almost upon them. Kip gritted his teeth, anticipating the thrust of the spear but inexplicably, the Neanderthal raced straight by him and Beth, as though they were of no interest to him whatsoever. For an instant, Kip was bewildered but a ferocious roar made him snap his gaze round to look back down the stairs. The Neanderthal had plunged the spear into the chest of the tiger and now the animal was roaring and lashing out with its paws as the Neanderthal attempted to push it back down the stairs.
A moment later, two more armed Neanderthals appeared on the landing and ran down to the first one’s assistance. As they raced past Kip, he realised what was happening. This must be the Neanderthal’s lair. They were simply defending it against one of their deadliest enemies. Clearly dinner could wait until they’d managed to drive off the tiger.
‘Come on, let’s keep going,’ he gasped, disentangling himself from Beth. They got to their feet and looked back at the battle that was going on below them. The Neanderthals had formed a barrier and were moving slowly down the stairs, jabbing at the tiger with their spears. The tiger wasn’t at all happy with the situation. It was roaring and thrashing its tail, but it was slowly being driven backwards.
Without another word, Kip grabbed Beth’s hand and pulled her up the staircase. ‘We’ve got to find the room with the incubators,’ he yelled.
‘What?’ asked Beth.
‘It’s where the Retriever is,’ Kip reminded her. They reached the landing and turned into the corridor beyond. Kip ducked his head into one empty room and shone the flashlight inside it. What he saw in there startled him. Crouched in the corners of the room were groups of Neanderthal women and children, who shrieked and held their hands up to their eyes as the torch beam dazzled them.
‘Oops. Sorry!’ he said and moved quickly on. He tried the next room. Empty. He ran on again and came to a closed door. In the light of the torch he saw a couple of words stencilled on the door. Incubation Room.
Night on Terror Island Page 12
