by S. M. Wilson
She gave him a tired smile. “I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and glanced at the backpack. “Do you really think this will work?”
His answer was swift. “It’s got to. Or this will all have been a wasted journey.”
The air coming off the ocean was brisk. Storm ran her hands up and down her arms. “We might have got the plants. The leaves, the samples – but I don’t trust Silas Jung.” She shook her head. “I don’t trust him at all. He’s not interested in curing the plague. In fact, I think he might be really against it.” She held up her hands. “The last thing he wants is more people.”
Lincoln shook his head. “Don’t worry. I have plans. I’m not going to tell Silas about the plants. Lorcan Field is going to work on this. We have areas where we grow plants in the labs. No one will notice if we plant something else. We can do this without telling anyone. Silas will be so excited about the viruses that he won’t think about anything else.”
She pressed her lips together for a second. “Do you really think people will come here?”
Lincoln nodded. “What choice is there? And if people are told we can kill the most dangerous dinosaurs, they might actually want to come here.”
Storm stopped walking, guilt washing over her. “So how do we actually know that the viruses worked, and the deaths aren’t just some weird coincidence?”
Lincoln shrugged. “We’re not here long enough to really find out. We saw one dead raptor, one dead pterosaur and one angry one. As for the T-rexes, who knows? Maybe they’ve changed watering hole? Maybe we put the virus in the wrong place – or maybe it just doesn’t work for the T-rexes.”
Storm opened her mouth to reply and then stopped herself. She could already glimpse Blue Bay in the distance. Once they got there, it would be time to board the ship.
“Do you think any of the other team will be at the bay?”
Lincoln sighed. “The dilophosauruses seemed vicious, and organized. A dangerous combination. I hope some of them made it. But I just don’t know.” He turned around and started walking backwards. “Galen? Who’d have thought? I was sure he was dead, I mean, remember? His arm getting torn off by the T-rex?”
Storm nodded. “That sight is permanently seared into my brain. But look at what happened to Blaine, he had a terrible injury too. He survived.” She realized what she’d said and shuddered. Something sparked in her head. “Don’t you remember Blaine muttering a few times about too many people? I thought he just meant us, but now I think he knew about Galen.”
Lincoln raised his eyebrows. “Can’t imagine Blaine rolled out a welcome for him. But surely he would have given Galen some of the ointment?” He wrinkled his nose. “That smell, it was just…the worst.”
Storm shook her head. “It didn’t seem like it, did it? With an infection that bad, I wonder how much longer Galen would have survived.”
Lincoln shrugged. “Maybe he wasn’t infected right at the beginning. Maybe the infection came later. It’s not exactly easy to keep things clean here.” He waved out his arm. “This whole continent. It’s going to go back to having just one person living on it.” He smiled at Storm. “And a whole lot of dinosaurs, but maybe fewer than before.”
Her stomach clenched. Look what had happened to Blaine when he’d been left here alone. Reban said Blaine had always been strange – but how much did being alone contribute to that?
She looked into the distance at the bay. It looked beautiful again. Peaceful. This place could deceive you so much. It was almost as if Lincoln was reading her thoughts. “You know, in a few years – if the viruses work, and once Arta is well again – I might actually think about coming back here.”
“You would?” She was surprised. She hadn’t expected him to say something like that.
He nodded, unaware of the millions of thoughts spiralling around in her head. “That’s what they want anyway, isn’t it? The Stipulators. That’s always been their plan. To start to move people to Piloria.” His face lit up. “Just think. Being one of the first groups to come here. The land. The space. Soil that actually grows things! If Arta was sick again, I could just go into the nearest jungle patch to find the evergreens.”
“You’d really think about it?” She was amazed.
He touched her arm. “Storm, I live in a cave and work in a lab. It’s never been my dream. It’s not what any of us ever wanted.”
“What did you want?”
His bright green eyes met hers. For a second she thought he might not answer. “My dad and I, we used to talk at night – before we had to house share, before we had to live in the caves. When there were still little patches of green around. When there were still a few trees. Dad used to tell me stories about growing up and running through a forest.” Lincoln’s smile was sad but genuine. “He was a dreamer, my dad. He had plans.” Lincoln broke their gaze and stared back towards the bay. “He just didn’t get a chance to see any of them through.” He couldn’t hide the wistfulness in his tone and Storm moved closer to him, bumping shoulders and sliding her hand into his.
They stood for a few minutes, just looking along the coast towards the bay. In the distance the grey hull of the ship could be seen emerging from further down the coastline.
Time was up. They were finally going home.
Last time he’d been on Piloria, he could have whooped with joy when the Invincible had appeared back at the beach.
This time things felt different.
Leif needed some medical attention. They all knew that. And the only place he’d get that was on the ship.
Jesa looked as if she could burst into tears at any second. No wonder. She’d found her father, and lost him all over again.
Reban was pacing again, hands in his pockets. He kept glancing at the ship, and then at Storm.
As the ship grew closer, Storm started to get agitated. She couldn’t stand still; wringing her hands over and over, checking the contents of her backpack, and glancing at the others sitting on the beach.
There was a flash of black on the ship. Silas. His blond hair was easy to pick out. Even from far away it was obvious that he was issuing orders to all those around him.
As they watched, a different kind of boat was lowered from the side of the ship. It was bigger than before, more robust, though lowering it to the ocean was obviously more difficult.
A few crew members and one nervous-looking Stipulator rowed quickly across the bay. As soon as the boat landed at the beach they all jumped out.
The Stipulator glanced around the beach. “Where’s the other team?” he asked loudly.
They all looked around, as if someone might emerge mysteriously from the forest. But the beach remained silent. An uncomfortable prickle went down Lincoln’s spine. It had been like this the last time too. A whole team lost. And this time Froan Jung and Tena Koll hadn’t made it back. Very few people made it home from Piloria.
When no one replied, the Stipulator continued. The loss of the other team was obviously not important. “Have the viruses been planted?”
They all nodded nervously.
“Did you see any evidence of them working?”
Lincoln spoke up, choosing his words carefully and glancing towards Reban. “Since we’ve planted the viruses we’ve seen a dead raptor, and a dead pterosaur.”
“What about the T-rex?”
Lincoln held up his hands. “We planted the virus at the T-rex watering hole. We haven’t seen them since.”
The Stipulator looked over Lincoln’s shoulder towards the jungle behind them. It appeared he was satisfied with their answers. “Move quickly,” he ordered. “Silas wishes to make good time.”
The crew scowled at Leif, who was slouched on the sand and grumbled as they picked him up. Lincoln went to pick up all the backpacks.
“Wait a second,” said Storm.
She fumbled through hers, taking out leaves and plants, putting them in some of the other packs.
“What are you doing?”
She gulped and looked over at Reban.
“I’m not coming.”
“What?”
Lincoln looked shocked. She didn’t blame him.
Reban was by her side in an instant. “What are you talking about? Get on the damn boat.”
She shook her head firmly. Now she’d said the words, they actually didn’t feel so unreal.
“I’m staying.”
“What? Why?” Lincoln grabbed her by the shoulders. “Are you crazy?”
She tilted her chin and met his panicked gaze. “No. I’m not. What is there back on Earthasia for me? A job in parliament where one person wants me to talk about here, and the rest probably want to send me to the mines. How long do you think it will be before they find an excuse to do that?”
“But what about Arta? What about the other kids?”
That was the hard part. It was the only thing that made her feel a duty to go back. “They should be allowed to stay. They should be allowed to keep the rations. Do you remember Kori Tunn? She was a Finalist a few years ago. She brought that weird green fruit back. She got sick and died. But her house isn’t far from mine. Her children are still there. They still get extra rations.”
Lincoln shook his head. “But you’re not sick, Storm. You’re not dead. Refusing to go back – surely that will mean a punishment? Can you risk that?”
She gulped. Could she really risk it? What if they did decide to punish Rune’s and Kronar’s brothers and sisters – or Arta – because of her actions? Silas wasn’t always the most rational man on the planet.
“No, she can’t,” broke in Reban. He pointed to the boat. “Get on board.”
Storm straightened her back. “Stop telling me what to do. Both of you.”
She looked at Lincoln. “Take the samples. Make some ointment on the way back. Hide it. Keep it for Arta. Jesa has more. Leif has plant samples too.” She gave him a hopeful smile. “This is the only thing that might help Arta. You’ve got to try to grow these. It’s not Earthasia’s health care she needs. It’s proper treatment. It’s a cure. This is her chance. You have to go back. You have to try.”
Lincoln looked around. The crew seemed to be arguing with the Stipulator about something. They didn’t even seem to care what was going on. “This is madness. This place is huge. Even if the viruses work, there might be T-rexes or raptors in distant parts it won’t reach.”
Storm nodded. “I know.” She pointed at the ship. “But you said it yourself, the ship will be back. The Stipulators haven’t finished here. They haven’t even started. They need to come back and check how well the viruses have worked. The first thing they’ll do when they go back is ask for more viruses to be made. They’ll want to come back. They’ll want to establish a first habitat here.” She lifted her chin as she grew more confident. “Who better to tell them what they need to know than two people who already live here?” She lifted her hands towards the ship. “The truth is, no one there really cares if I stay or if I go back.”
“I do.” Both voices spoke simultaneously.
Storm turned to Reban. “Then start treating me with respect. Start acknowledging who I am. Listen to me. We’ve wasted sixteen years. Who knows how many we have left?” She put her hand on her chest. “I’ve spent the last five years with no one – even though I apparently had two relatives I didn’t know about. It’s payback time.” She held out her hands. “I want space. I want green. I want colour. I want a chance to live. I want a chance to be.”
“To be what? Dinosaur food?” Lincoln was still shaking his head.
She sucked in a deep breath. “I hope not. But it’s a chance I have to take. Blaine lived here for nine years. He survived. He managed. We already have a head start. We have a house – well, a shack. It’s something. There’s a water supply. We know how to make a basic medicine.” She looked around at the weapons lying on the sand. “We have some weapons. And, maybe, we have a few less dinosaurs to hide from.”
Lincoln shook his head. “Think about this, Storm. Really think about it. If they’re going to come back here in a few years, they’ll want volunteers, you could come back then. We could come back then.”
Storm could hear the desperation in his voice as he turned to Reban. “Can’t you make her come back?”
She smiled. Lincoln couldn’t help himself. He wanted to protect her. But that wasn’t what she needed. She’d spent too long looking after herself.
Reban held her gaze as he spoke carefully. “I learned a long time ago not to argue with the Knux women. You never win. They always do exactly what they want.” He gave a soft smile. “It’s one of their most admirable traits.”
Storm held her breath. A compliment. He’d said a few nice things before, but she’d always thought them offhand remarks. This time it seemed clear.
Reban kept talking. “She’s right.” He glanced at the ship. “If she goes back, I don’t know how much Octavius can protect her. Silas is on a mission right now. I was part of it, and now Storm is too. Once he goes home with stories of dinosaurs dying, he’ll be the hero. Nothing will get in his way.” His voice dropped. “I can’t control any of that.”
She was staying. She was staying on Piloria. With Reban. Her dad.
Storm smiled and stepped forward, lifting her hand to touch Lincoln’s cheek. “Look after Arta,” she whispered. “Do whatever it takes. For Rune’s brother and sister too.”
Lincoln nodded. She could see how conflicted he was. “I could—”
“No.” She cut him off. “You need to go back. You need to make the ointment.”
He sighed, then leaned forward, pressing his head against hers and closing his eyes. She stood like that for a second. Feeling his soft skin under her palm, sensing the tension in his body. His green eyes flickered open, so close, his eyelashes brushed against her. “This isn’t goodbye. I’ll be back.”
She nodded and stepped back, her voice trembling. “I’m counting on it.”
Jesa walked over and smothered her with a hug. “Stay safe,” she whispered. Storm nodded, then crossed to Leif, lying in the boat. “Are you crazy?” he said, with a big smile on his face.
“Of course I am,” she said, as she bent to kiss his cheek. “Look after the kids. Look after yourself, and” – she glanced at Jesa – “look after Jesa too.”
The crew members climbed into the boat. The Stipulator scowled at her as he scanned the bay, before casting a nervous glance in Reban’s direction. “Are you coming?” he asked Storm.
She shook her head and stood back. She pressed her lips together as she watched the boat cross the bay to the ship. The bay stayed calm and bright blue, the tylosauruses nowhere in sight. Once the boat was safely winched aboard, Lincoln stood on the deck staring back at her.
He was safe. He had a job to do. And he was her friend.
Reban nodded at her and gave an ironic kind of smile. “Don’t take all day. We have work to do.” He turned on his heel, swinging his backpack onto his shoulder, and walked off into the jungle. For the first time, he started to whistle.
Storm breathed in. She wanted to hold this moment. She wanted to keep it right here. The richness in the air, the humidity, the scent of the life growing around her.
In a few years, things would change. Other people would come and start to settle on Piloria. Nothing would be the same again.
She swung her own backpack onto her shoulder as the Invincible started to disappear, and followed her dad into the jungle.
Ready to start their new life.
I’m not much of a planner when it comes to books and I think I might have made my lovely editor Sarah Stewart at Usborne a little nervous when she asked me about the plan for the story and I said, “Oh, I’ll find a way to send them back to the dinosaur continent.” So thank you for believing in me, for understanding that planning for me kills a story, and for loving the story when you got it!
Huge thanks to Sarah Manning, my lovely agent, for always being supportive, guiding me in the right direction and dealing with all the complicated stuff. It’s a
real joy and pleasure working with you. Our world takeover is due any day now!
And to the team at Usborne who are so enthusiastic about the Extinction Trials books, shout out about them constantly and get them into the hands of bloggers and readers everywhere: Stevie Hopwood and Jacob Dow, thank you so much. Matilda Johnson, thank you for understanding I am completely irrational about copyedits and treating me kindly. Stephanie King and Rebecca Hill, thanks for supporting The Extinction Trials.
Also thanks to the lovely Zoe at nosaferplace and the equally lovely Steph at A Little But A Lot, Kelly at Kelly’s Rambles, Nicola at Fantastic Book Dragon and Lucas Maxwell at Glenthorne High School all for shouting out about The Extinction Trials and encouraging others to read. I never, ever forget that for some children, young people and adults, reading can be their safe place.
Have you read the first
In Stormchaser and Lincoln’s ruined world, the only way to survive is to risk everything. To face a contest more dangerous than anyone can imagine.
And they will do anything to win.
But in a land full of monsters – human and reptilian – they can’t afford to trust anyone. Perhaps not even each other…
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First published in the UK in 2018 by Usborne Publishing Ltd., Usborne House, 83-85 Saffron Hill, London EC1N 8RT, England. www.usborne.com
Text © Susan Wilson, 2018
Cover images: eye © Waravut Wattanapanich / Shutterstock; palm leaves © Malden / Shutterstock
The right of Susan Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
The name Usborne and the devices are Trade Marks of Usborne Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or used in any way except as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or loaned or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised 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.
