Mutant City

by Steve Feasey

  ‘Why is it taking Yesmin so long to get word to Silas we’re here?’

  ‘You have no idea how difficult it is finding anybody in the slums. If you think Green is built up, you should see the central wards – the ones nearer the dumps and the old city ruins. Those places are like rabbit warrens, with shacks piled one on top of another. She’ll be doing her best.’ He stopped at the sound of a dog barking somewhere up the street. With a yawn he got to his feet. ‘I’m going out back to use the alley. Call of nature.’ He walked off, and Rush heard the door at the rear of the building open and close.

  Leaving the window, Rush wandered over to Brick’s side. He put his hand on the big man’s shoulder, and was immediately rewarded with a broad, lazy smile.

  ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘Better. It was bad this time. But Brick getting better.’

  ‘You didn’t have to help all those people at once.’ He looked down at the veins on the back of his friend’s hand, relieved to see that they were a slightly lighter shade than they’d been earlier. The black stuff that had filled them immediately after he’d cured the Rot sufferers appeared to be gradually disappearing.

  ‘We’ll stay here tonight, but if Yesmin doesn’t bring Silas back here by tomorrow we’ll –’ He stopped as Dotty got to her feet and hurried over to the front of the building, her claws scrabbling on the wooden planks. She stared towards the front door, her body taut. When she made a low rumbling sound, shifting her weight from side to side, he moved towards her.

  ‘What is it, girl?’

  Approaching the window, he peered up the street again. It was still empty. No doubt one of those huge rats had come close enough for Dotty to catch its scent. He was about to turn away when a tiny flash overhead caught his attention. He stopped, frowning. There was a high ceiling of cloud tonight, so he was sure it hadn’t been a star. Anyway, he thought it had been red. Staying perfectly still, he kept his eyes trained on the sky and saw it again, except this time it had moved a little to the right. A moment later, a second wink of crimson flickered against the dark, then a third. Whatever they were, there were at least three of them up there, hovering high over the street and the safe house, which all of a sudden didn’t feel quite so safe. He remembered the small remote-controlled drone the guards in the tower had sent up when he and Brick were on the border of the no-go zone.

  He was about to suggest to Brick that maybe they should leave right now, when there was a loud scraping sound outside the back door, as if something was being dragged away from it. There was a muffled thump, followed by another, after which the door finally opened again.

  ‘Janek!’ Rush hissed. ‘There’s something flying up in the –’

  The person who walked in was not Janek. Instead it was a tall thin young man, dressed from head to toe in black, which made his alabaster skin appear all the more dramatic. To Rush’s great surprise, Dotty didn’t react how he expected she might towards the stranger; instead of challenging him, she merely gave the albino a quick glance, hurghed softly and turned her attention back to whatever was bugging her out in the front alley.

  ‘Who are you?’ Rush said. Fear gripped him and he started over in Brick’s direction, hesitating as he noticed the big guy’s expression turn from anxiety, to confusion, then recognition.

  ‘Jax!’ Brick shouted, clapping his hands together and grinning up at the new arrival.

  The young man gave a snort, looking genuinely pleased at this greeting. ‘You remember me.’

  ‘Jax!’ the big man said again, repeatedly jabbing a fat finger in his direction.

  ‘It’s good to see you too, Brick.’ The albino turned and looked at Rush, who was standing with his mouth open, trying to take everything in. ‘And Rush. You’ve grown an awful lot since I last saw you.’

  Rush shook his head. The young man’s voice . . .

  ‘You’re the one who spoke to me in my dream. You told me to come here to City Four. You told me to go through the wastes and . . .’ He frowned, looking over Jax’s shoulder at the open door behind him. ‘Where’s Janek?’

  The tall albino made a face and glanced back in the same direction. ‘Was that his name? I last saw him running away from here. It would appear that the odious Janek has betrayed you. Before he departed, he lodged two large metal posts across the back door to keep the pair of you from doing likewise.’

  Rush gestured towards the window, his unease growing by the second. ‘There are things in the sky out there. Things with flashing red lights.’

  ‘They’re surveillance drones. We don’t have much time. We have to disappear.’ The albino stopped, his face turning towards the boarded-up window. ‘Damn it!’

  Rush, a sense of panic building in him, heard the noise of booted feet running down the lane in their direction.

  ‘We have to go. Now!’ Moving quickly, Jax hurried over to the pallet Brick was on. Hooking an arm under the sick mutant’s armpit, he proceeded to try to haul him to his feet.

  ‘He’s sick,’ Rush pointed out. ‘He can’t move very well.’

  ‘He’ll have to do the best he can. We don’t have any time. Put that wooden bar across the front of the door and let’s get out of here as quickly as possible.’

  Rush did as he was bid, sliding the long plank down through the vertical brackets to secure the door.

  The heavy footsteps had stopped and there was a moment of quiet outside, as if whoever was there was waiting for something.

  ‘Out the back, quickly, now!’ Jax hissed, pulling Brick’s arm over his shoulder. ‘Lead the way, Rush.’

  The boy did so, Dotty instinctively falling in by his side while Jax and Brick brought up the rear. They went out of the door, hurrying down the small, rickety flight of stairs that led to the rear alleyway. As Rush jumped off the bottom step he heard a loud bang behind him.

  Jax called to him to keep moving. ‘They’re using a hydraulic ram. The door won’t hold for long.’

  Rush went to help him with Brick, but their rescuer shook his head. ‘No. Go ahead with your creature. There is a girl with short dark hair waiting at the entrance to the alley. Her name is Anya. Get her and bring her back here.’

  ‘But –’

  There was another loud crash, this one accompanied by the sound of splitting wood.

  ‘Go!’

  Rush hurried up the narrow alley that curved sharply one way and then the other before straightening out again. Somewhere overhead a window was opened and a bucket of foul-smelling liquid was thrown down into the passageway, narrowly missing the boy and the rogwan. As he flattened himself against the wall Rush heard a new sound up ahead – a loud rumbling noise that he first imagined to be some kind of engine – maybe an armoured vehicle? He quickly dismissed the idea. There was no way the city authorities could get such a thing through the narrow maze of the slums. Nevertheless, his thoughts turned to that fateful day when the ARM turned up looking for him, and the image of Josuf running out of the farmhouse with the bomb . . .

  As if sensing he’d allowed his mind to drift, Dotty banged herself against his leg and hurghed up at him. They hurried on, the noise getting louder and changing in quality with each step until it became clear to him that it wasn’t mechanical at all. As they rounded one last bend, the end of the alleyway came into view along with the source of the noise. It was people – lots of people – all moving in the same direction. The low murmuring he’d taken to be an engine was in fact the sound of hundreds of voices talking and babbling to each other as they walked along a street that ran perpendicular to the opening of the passageway. Standing in the gap watching them was a dark-haired girl.

  ‘Anya?’

  The girl turned. She was attractive. Dark almond eyes took him in, and the hint of a smile touched the sides of her mouth. She had a pair of black studs in one of her ears and the way she wore her dark hair so short gave her an impish, almost boyish look.

  ‘My name is Rush.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Jax se
nt me to get you. He needs help. He’s in danger.’ He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he turned and started back the way he had come, hoping she would follow.

  When he spotted Jax and Brick they were almost at the first bend in the alley, but still in sight of the safe house rear door. The effort of supporting the huge man was clear to see on Jax’s face, and Anya hurried past Rush to offer to help him.

  The albino shook his head. ‘There are three spy drones up there. They look like dark metal balls with a flashing red light underneath. I need them not to be there.’

  The girl nodded. Rush let out a cry of alarm as she screeched, her head and shoulders hunching forward and down as if she was going to drop on to all fours. One minute she was there, the next a hideous black creature – half human, half insect – stood in her place. What little light there was reflected off the armoured shell where skin had been seconds before, and a pair of translucent wings unfolded behind her. The thing made a harsh chittering sound with the mandibles at the front of its face, bent its legs and was about to launch itself into the air when Jax put a hand out to stop it. ‘After you’ve taken care of the drones, fly back to Silas and tell him what’s happened. We’ll be there as soon as we can. Do not come back here, Anya. Do you understand?’

  Rush, unable to speak, stared from the hellish chimera to the albino and back again.

  The girl-insect thing gave another abrasive chitter and took off, its wings making a deep humming noise as it disappeared into the darkness overhead.

  ‘What was that?’ Rush eventually said, unable to believe what he’d just seen.

  ‘That was your sister.’

  ‘Sister? Wh . . . ?’ He would have gone on to ask what Jax was on about had he not seen, over the albino’s shoulder, the figure of a man filling the doorway. One look at the tattoos that covered every bare bit of skin, plus the glint of metal where one of his eyes should have been, told Rush the man was no regular city dweller. Nevertheless, he was wearing some elements of an ill-fitting ARM uniform.

  ‘Stop right there!’ the man bellowed at them, swinging a strange-looking weapon up to his shoulder.

  ‘He’s got a gun!’ Rush shouted.

  Jax didn’t hesitate. Still supporting Brick, he surged forward, dragging the big guy along with him and doing his best to get away from the armed man. Rush looked at the distance between the pair and the bend in the alley, knowing if they could make it that far, they might at least be able to –

  There was a low whump! Rush flinched, turning in time to see an orange ball about the size of a fist shoot from the gun and hurtle in the direction of his fleeing friends. He cried a warning, knowing he was too late: the thing hit Brick in the small of his back, and as soon as it made contact the orange ball began to spread in every direction, a ballooning mass that stuck to everything it touched. From the point of impact it quickly engulfed Brick’s upper legs, bringing the man to his knees, from where he had no hope of getting up.

  ‘Brick!’ Rush shouted.

  The orange stuff continued to expand. Brick, acting on instinct, thrust his hands into it, trying to tear it loose, only to find that he was stuck fast. The big guy, arms now pinioned in the goo, pitched forward, his weight too much for Jax to support. He fell hard, slamming his face into the ground. The foam-glue carried on spreading, and fear gripped Rush at the prospect of it covering Brick’s face and suffocating him.

  The sound of the tattooed mutant jacking the pump-action at the base of his rifle to load another projectile caused Rush to look back again. Jax also turned at the sound. Rush saw the mutant with the gun grin as he caught sight of the albino, his one eye widening in recognition, and it was clear the pair had met before. That grin widened. Quick as a flash, Steeleye lifted the gun, sighting down the barrel at his prey.

  He pulled the trigger.

  There was a click and nothing more.

  Bellowing in rage at the jammed weapon, the mutant smashed at the side of it with his fist, hoping to clear the jam. Without waiting, Rush set off at a run in his direction, dipping low to one side and scooping up a rock from the ground.

  Time seemed to slow down. Rush pulled his arm back as far as he could, and then leaped forward, planting one leg and hurling all his weight and momentum into the throw. He didn’t worry about the aim. As soon as the missile left his hand, there was never any doubt that it would find its target. At the same time, the one-eyed mutant gave a shout of triumph as he managed to clear the jam. As Steeleye swung the gun up again, the rock caught him flush on the forehead with enough force to snap the huge man’s head backwards. Somehow he managed to stay on his feet. A deep, ugly gash opened up over his one good eye, a river of red running down into it and blinding him. The eye rolled back and he burbled something incomprehensible before pitching forward down the stairs.

  There was an almighty crash and Rush looked up to see a black-and-silver orb, about the size of a basketball, smash down into the alleyway from the sky above. A moment of silence was broken by a barked command from somewhere inside the safe house. The rest of Steeleye’s unit had finally caught up. A hand appeared around the doorframe, hurling a canister into the passageway, where it immediately began to spew a thick, choking smoke. Another quickly followed. Commands were shouted: ‘OK, men. Put your masks on and set visor optics to thermal. Let’s bag us some freaks!’

  Rush was just reaching down for another rock when Jax grabbed him by the arm and spun him round.

  ‘Give me your hand,’ he said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Your hand!’

  With no idea why, Rush slipped his hand between Jax’s bone-white fingers, where it was clenched in a vice-like grip. The two turned to face the doorway.

  Rush thought nothing could be stranger than what he’d already witnessed, but what happened next blew his mind. The world seemed to swim in and out of focus for a moment and when his vision cleared he found himself occupying two minds, his own and Jax’s. He looked out through two pairs of eyes and was somehow able to process the information simultaneously. Odder still were the voices. Except they weren’t voices; they were thoughts. He could hear the thoughts of everyone around him. Other voices were beyond these, like another layer, but they were tuned out to a low, nonsensical babble so that only the thoughts of the armed men getting ready to launch their offensive from the safehouse came through clearly.

  Rush heard the ARM squad commander’s thoughts. Concerned not to have his men injured like the Mute recruit had been, he was going to launch an all-out assault; pouring through the door in threes, the first men would lay down covering fire for the next wave behind them. He raised a hand and signalled for them to go. As he did this, his thoughts were dialled down as Jax/Rush concentrated on those of the men.

  They came through the door firing their weapons, and Rush felt his own hand – the one not held by Jax – lift up. Half of the stimulus to perform the action seemed to come from him, half from Jax, whose own thoughts suggested he was helping Rush to do something he’d been suppressing for a long, long time. Palm out as if he was calling a halt to traffic, he shoved at the air in front of him and watched in amazement as the men flew backwards off their feet, slamming into the wall behind them. They were already unconscious before they hit the ground, and Rush noted that he could no longer hear their thoughts.

  What the hell is going on? It was the ARM commander again, and to Jax/Rush it was clear his mind was a whirr of ideas and emotions. This was supposed to be a simple mission! More of his thoughts bombarded them. The commander had no idea what weapons the Mutes had, but he was damned if he was going to risk the lives of his men just because Zander Melk had ordered him not to use lethal force. He spoke into his communicator, requesting immediate reinforcements and asking what was going on out in the alley. When base told him they were ‘almost blind’ and that two of the three spy drones appeared to have been deactivated, he swore. His military training kicked in and he addressed his remaining troops. ‘All right, men. Switch weapon
s to full power. It’s frying time! Let’s give them everything we’ve got. Go, go, GO!’

  Before the men could make it out through the door, Rush/Jax lifted his hand again, this time turning it upward as if he was grasping something invisible. When he pulled the hand down, the entire back section of the house collapsed, falling around the soldiers and blocking their way with rubble and timber from the roof.

  Jax let go Rush’s hand and the dual world disappeared, along with the cacophony of thoughts. At the same time, all of Rush’s strength and energy seemed to evaporate, and he sank to his knees, gasping. Dotty was immediately by his side, nudging him with her snout and looking from him to the collapsed building and back again.

  Jax crawled over to Brick. Careful not to touch the orange substance that enveloped his legs and torso, he tried to get him up off the floor, but it was impossible. There was a crash from behind them as the soldiers began to kick their way through the debris.

  Jax straightened up. If the smoke bothered him, he didn’t show it as he tried to work out what best to do next. ‘We have to go,’ he said.

  ‘We can’t leave!’ Rush coughed. He was still on his knees, his head swimming. ‘Brick is stuck in that stuff!’

  ‘We have to. If we don’t, we’ll all be killed or captured! You, me and Brick.’ He gestured back towards the safe house. ‘You heard him! He’s called for reinforcements. We can’t stay here.’

  ‘I’m not leaving without Brick.’ Rush tried to get to his feet and almost fell. Instead he crawled over to his friend.

  ‘Rush go,’ Brick said.

  ‘Not without you.’

  ‘GO!’ Brick bellowed. ‘RUSH HAVE TO GO!’ With an effort he craned his neck around to see his young friend and gave him an encouraging nod. ‘Go.’

  Rush blinked away the tears. ‘I’ll come for you, Brick. I promised you I’d look after you, remember? We promised each other.’