by Michael Ford
Kobi wanted to shout that Krenner could stuff his order. He felt the pillow pulled from under his head.
“That’s all this is,” said the head of security. “We’re just keeping things . . . orderly.”
Everything went black as the pillow pressed over his face. Kobi didn’t even have time to draw a breath, and his heart pounded in panic. His arms moved weakly, reaching up, but Krenner was holding the pillow down tight. His legs kicked and thrashed as the pressure built up in his chest.
His hand hit something hard, and he realized it was the trolley. Scrabbling, his fingers closed on cold metal. Something heavy. Anything would do. With the last of his strength he swung the object at the place Krenner’s head would be. It glanced off, but he heard a grunt of pain. He swung again, this time rewarded with a satisfying thump.
A flash of brightness as the pillow fell away. Kobi rolled off the gurney and landed heavily on the floor. Krenner was lying on his side, clutching his face, with blood pouring between his fingers, and moaning. Kobi realized he was holding some sort of gleaming metal hammer. He had no idea what it was for. He tossed it aside and ripped the Taser off Krenner’s belt.
“You can’t,” groaned the Guardian.
Kobi managed to stand, then staggered toward the door.
I’ve got to tell the others!
Then he stopped and looked back along the corridor. Toward room six. Dad . . .
Kobi walked back quickly. His feet still felt a little strange—almost bouncy.
He reached the end room and saw beyond the glass screen that Dr. Hales was still hooked up, eyes half-open and dimly aware. Kobi entered the room, and Hales grunted. There was a pained look in his eyes, and they were moist with tears. Kobi didn’t know if it would be possible to move him. There was no telling exactly what was in the drip, or what condition Hales would be in when he took it out. There was no time to think about that now though. He went to a set of wall-mounted cupboards, flinging them open. There were several boxes of various medical supplies—bandages, sutures, syringes, gloves, and actual medicines. He took a syringe, then sifted through the bottles and packets until he found what he was looking for—adrenaline.
He placed the supplies on a table, then turned off the drip tap, easing out the cannula from the back of Hales’s hand. Hales grimaced slightly, and Kobi taped a dressing over the punctured skin.
“Just hold on,” he said as he suctioned 0.5 milligrams of adrenaline, then leaned over Hales’s arm.
The patient drew a long breath as the hormone entered his bloodstream, and his eyes focused. “Kobi . . . ,” he croaked.
Kobi helped Hales off the bed like he was cradling a baby. He could feel his bony spine. The old man couldn’t have weighed more than 130 pounds, he guessed. “There’s no time to explain,” he said. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Mischik,” said Hales. “He’s the only one who can help.”
Mischik . . . but . . . how do we get him to come here?”
“There’s a radio transmitter on level twenty-nine,” said Hales through cracked lips, then, “No, they’ll stop us if we do that. We have to get to level one—there’s a parking garage underneath the building. We can escape through there.”
“What about the others?” said Kobi, carrying Hales toward the elevator. “I can’t leave them here.”
Hales shook his head, an expression of despair. “We can’t get them all out,” he said. “Too many.”
“Melanie tried to kill me,” said Kobi. “There’s no telling what she might do.”
Hales’s sickly eyes fixed on him with a look Kobi knew all too well. Pride.
They reached the elevator, and Hales said, “I think I can stand.”
“You sure?” asked Kobi.
Hales nodded, and Kobi placed his feet on the floor.
As the doors opened and they stepped in, Krenner emerged, nose dripping blood, from the room farther down. “Stop!” he shouted, and began to run. Kobi hit the number 42 for the dorm level just as Krenner pulled his dart gun off his shoulder and took aim. The doors began to close. Kobi jerked back as a dart hit the rear of the elevator, and then Krenner was gone, hidden from view.
As the lift rose, Kobi wondered how long it would take for Krenner to raise the alarm. He brandished the Taser, ready.
The doors pinged open again, and Kobi saw an armed Guardian five feet away. Krenner’s voice was coming through her communicator.
“. . . on their way up now! Take them out!”
She turned, her face registered surprise, then she raised her dart gun. Kobi charged, driving the Taser into her side and pulling the trigger. She spasmed and collapsed.
Everything looked normal. Behind the glass walls, four Healhome residents were playing a game of pool. Others were reading books on sofas, including Fionn. They looked up from their activities, staring in astonishment at him.
“Kobi?” said Asha, standing up. “What’s going on?”
“We’re getting out of here,” said Kobi.
“What?” said Niki, coming to Asha’s side. “Are you mad?”
“Who’s that man?” said Leon.
The guard on the ground was stirring, with a grimace.
“You can’t leave the facility,” she said.
Kobi tossed the Taser aside and seized her rifle, pointing it at her. “I’m guessing whatever’s in these darts wouldn’t be good for you either,” he said. “Open the panels.”
The Guardian got to her feet and moved toward the controls on the wall, then tapped the screen a few times. The glass panels retracted smoothly into the ceiling. None of the kids stepped out.
“Kobi,” said Niki. “The Guardians are our friends.”
“They tried to kill me downstairs,” said Kobi.
“That’s not true!” said the injured Guardian.
“Shut up!” said Kobi.
Niki glared at Kobi. “You know nothing,” she sneered. “Hales has brainwashed you. He stole you.”
“I rescued him,” said Hales. Kobi glanced at him. He looked so earnest, it was hard to accept Hales didn’t at least believe what he was saying. Whether that was true or not, Kobi couldn’t tell.
“Who’s Hales?” asked Jo. All the other kids looked just as confused.
“He’s a traitor,” said the Guardian. “All he wanted was to make a name for himself.”
“Dr. Hales is telling the truth,” said Kobi. “It’s Melanie and the Guardians who are lying. I’ve been outside—there’s a city. With thousands of people.”
Niki laughed uncomfortably. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s true,” said Asha, coming to stand beside Kobi. “I’ve seen it too. They lied to us.”
The Guardian began to move toward her. “Kobi, the drugs Hales gave you have seriously compromised your brain. We can look after you, but you’ve got to stop this. Come on, hand over the— Uh!”
The dart from Kobi’s gun hit her in the chest and she stumbled backward into the wall screen, then collapsed to the floor.
“No!” yelled Niki.
“Barricade the doors,” said Hales. “They’ll send more armed guards.”
Kobi and Asha grabbed a sofa from one of the dorms and placed it against a door. Leon single-handedly carried the jukebox and blocked another. Kobi wondered, in the back of his mind, how much the boy could bench-press.
Most of the kids just stayed where they were, looking perplexed or muttering to one another. Fionn seemed to be communicating with Asha in hand gestures.
Niki remained where she was too, her expression caught somewhere between panic and contempt. The Guardian on the ground was lying still.
“I just stunned her,” said Kobi. “She’ll live.”
Dr. Hales was shaken by a coughing fit and supported himself against a table. Kobi ran across to him. “Are you okay . . . ? He almost added Dad, but the word felt odd on the tip of his tongue.
Hales spat a mouthful of bloody sputum on the floor and wiped his lips. “We’ll ne
ver get out through the garage now,” he said. “They’ll cover all the city exits.”
“What about the transports on the roof?” said Kobi. “Could you fly one?”
“Perhaps,” said Hales weakly. “I haven’t in years, and the technology will have moved on a lot.”
“Then we go to the roof,” said Asha. “Come on, everyone!” She went to the elevator. One by one, the others peeled after her in a daze.
“Are you crazy?” said Niki. “Where are you going? There’s nothing out there but Waste.”
“You aren’t safe if you stay,” said Dr. Hales, leaning on Kobi’s arm.
“I don’t trust you,” said Niki.
“You’re asking a lot from us,” said Leon. “The Guardians have cared for us our whole lives.”
“Exactly,” said Niki. “They took us in as orphans. They kept us alive.”
“That isn’t exactly true,” said Hales.
“Is that right?” said Niki. “Care to explain?”
Dr. Hales looked ready to drop, his eyes watery and skin sallow.
“This may be difficult for you to hear,” he said. “But you never had parents. Any of you.”
Niki’s mouth fell open, then she laughed. “Melanie was right. You are insane.”
“You aren’t orphans,” said Hales insistently. “You were raised here from birth, grown from artificially fertilized embryos. Infected with Waste from the start. You’re victims, but only because you were made that way.”
Rohan said, “Is he telling the truth?”
“I don’t know,” said Leon.
“Believe me, I’m not proud of what we did,” said Hales. “We all thought we were doing the right thing. It was the only option open to us to tackle the Waste.”
“Human experimentation,” muttered Jo.
“So we’re guinea pigs,” said Yaeko.
Hales was silent. Kobi looked at the man he’d once thought was his father, trying to reconcile what he was hearing with his previous life.
After a long silence, it was Asha who spoke first. “I don’t care about any of this now. I’ve been lied to so many times I don’t know what to believe anymore. What I do know is that I’m not spending another minute more in this . . . this prison than I have to. Niki, come with us, please!” She went across to the younger girl and reached out to take her hand. Niki, eyes welling with tears, let herself be pulled toward the elevator too.
Yaeko encouraged her. “Come on, Nik. We should get out of here.”
But as Kobi pressed the call button and it didn’t illuminate, he had a sinking feeling.
“They’ve deactivated it again,” he said.
A series of loud bangs came from the barricaded doors across the room.
“We don’t have long,” said Asha. “If we can get into the elevator shaft there’s a ladder.”
“Allow me,” said Jo. She came past them and extended a hand toward the closed elevator doors. Kobi watched, amazed, as her fingers stretched, splitting into vines, and feeding into the crack. The doors buckled, eased apart by her strange, organic power. When they’d opened a fraction, Leon gripped one and tore it off, shearing the steel with brute force. “Easy!” he said. The dark shaft was filled with cables and pipework. To one side, Kobi saw the ladder.
Asha gripped the rungs and began to climb. Leon followed. Rohan did as well, and Jo and Yaeko. But the other kids held back. “Come on!” Kobi shouted, but they shook their heads. Reeta, the red-haired girl, ran back into the kids’ quarters, followed by the others.
“Leave them!” said Kobi.
Leon stared after the others, but Rohan said, “Come on, we gotta go!”
They all began to climb.
“I can’t make it,” said Hales.
“I’ll carry you,” Kobi replied.
He stooped, bracing his legs, and hoisted the weakened doctor over one shoulder in a fireman’s lift. He couldn’t help but recall one of his earliest memories, riding his father’s shoulders through the school hall. Now it was the other way around.
“They’ll be waiting for us up there,” said Hales.
“No one’s going to stop us now,” said Asha grimly from above.
Kobi gripped the rung with one hand and then stepped across with his feet.
They climbed mostly in silence, and the stairs seemed to go on endlessly. When they reached the top floor, breathing heavily, Leon prized the doors apart. One at a time, they climbed out into the hangar. Apart from the ranks of Snatchers, it appeared to be deserted. A single transport sat on the launching pad.
“Come on—quickly!” said Asha.
They made their way in a huddled group. Kobi saw Hales gritting his teeth, as if each jolt as he was carried was causing him discomfort. When they reached the transport, the door was closed.
“Can anyone open it?” asked Asha. Her eyes flicked back and forth. “Wait, where’s Fionn?”
Kobi looked around too, but the boy wasn’t with them.
“He was climbing behind me,” said Yaeko. “I’m sure of it.”
Asha started back toward the elevator shaft. “He can’t have fallen. . . .”
“Maybe he saw sense,” said Melanie Garcia, walking on her own across the hangar from among the Snatchers. Everyone turned toward her.
Asha raised the dart gun. “We’re leaving here,” she said.
“Not like this, you’re not,” said Melanie. She spread her hands. “I don’t know why you’re pointing that at me, Asha, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t. You’re right; we have to evacuate Healhome. But only because Dr. Hales has jeopardized everyone’s safety.”
“Stop lying!” shouted Kobi, shielding Dr. Hales. “Krenner tried to kill me!”
“That’s right,” she said, eyes flashing menacingly. “He did.” The other kids were looking around at each other. “Because you and Dr. Hales have been working together to destroy us. Everyone, be careful. These two outsiders won’t stop until Healhome is overrun with Waste.”
“What Waste?” said Asha. “There are three million people living on the other side of these walls.”
“Asha,” said Melanie softly. “I don’t know what Hales has promised you to play along with his ruse, but it’s not worth it.”
“Then show them the view from your office,” said Asha. “Show them what’s really out there.”
The other kids clearly didn’t know what to do, and most remained where they were.
“She’s not telling us the truth,” said Yaeko.
“That’s ridiculous,” said Niki. “There’s no way you could know that. She’s not infected.”
Rohan shook his head. “Asha wouldn’t lie.”
Kobi pointed at Melanie. “She has cleansers that can wipe Waste from your body. They’re made from my blood. She doesn’t want you to get better. Or anyone else.”
Asha jerked the barrel at Melanie and glowered as if seeing the woman for the first time. “All CLAWS wants is to keep making products and keep raking in money.”
“This is nonsense!” said Melanie. “Asha—I’ve had enough of your ingratitude and Kobi your fantasy stories. I’ve worked my entire life to battle the Waste. The rest of you, move it!”
No one did.
Melanie lifted her chin. “Very well. You’ve forced my hand.”
Guards flooded out from between the Snatchers, where they’d obviously been waiting. There were five of them, dart guns half lifted in the direction of the kids. Krenner led them, his collar bloody, and a look of pure hatred on his face.
“Take Dr. Hales,” said Melanie. “D-Six.”
“No!” muttered Kobi, backing off. Two Guardians strode toward him, raising their guns.
The first one was ten feet away before a green vine curled around his legs and pulled him over. The tendril was snaking from Jo’s arm. Another guard turned his gun on her, shouting, “Let him go!”
Leon lashed out, grabbing the barrel and twisting it back on itself. “Careful where you point that,” he said.
&n
bsp; “Stop it!” cried Niki.
A gun went off, and Leon stumbled sideways, a dart in his neck. The Guardian who’d fired was swinging the gun around when Rohan picked out a baseball from his pocket and threw it, knocking the weapon from the Guardian’s hand. Kobi started to run at another, whose barrel swung to rest right on him. He saw the muzzle flash, but Kobi dodged and Yaeko sprung onto the man’s back, clawing at his face. He heard a shot and turned to see Krenner with one arm around Jonathan Hales’s neck, and a curved knife in the other hand. Hales was grimacing in pain.
“It’s over,” said Krenner. “All of you, lie on the floor, or your so-called savior is going to die.”
Kobi looked at the others. No one was close enough to do anything. Krenner looked mad with rage and easily capable of cutting someone’s throat.
“Listen to Mr. Krenner,” said Melanie. “We didn’t want any of this, but it’s gone far enough.”
Asha lowered her dart gun, defeat painted across her features. “She’s right—we can’t leave without Fionn anyway.”
Melanie seemed to relax. “I’m glad you’ve seen—”
A deep growl echoed across the hangar. “What was that?” said Yaeko.
Silence hung over them all for a few seconds before another rumbling snarl broke it.
Light scuffling footsteps approached, and Fionn came running from behind the transport. Then a huge shape pounced on top, all four paws planted, and a long, wrinkled muzzle looked down. The wolf!
Melanie backed away. “Mr. Krenner!” she wailed.
Krenner pushed Hales off, and lifted his dart gun in a smooth movement. One hand moved over the buttons on the side that controlled the dosage, and from a crouch he fired three quick shots. The wolf jerked back as each hit, then toppled off the back of the transport and out of sight with a yowl.
