I caught myself. I’d been silent for too long. ‘Huh,’ I said. ‘Well, now I’m just disappointed.’
‘I know you are, Pete, but I’m sure the rest of the phones will be back on before –’
‘Not about that,’ I said, forcing a smile. ‘I’m disappointed that I was outrun by you.’
‘Whoa, hey, come on,’ said Dad. ‘I came first place in my uni marathon!’
‘Whatever,’ I said. ‘Mum told me you won that thing because it rained and only two other people showed up.’
‘Yeah,’ said Dad, ‘and I beat both of them.’
He was being so normal. For Dad, anyway. And my dad is not what you’d call a complicated man. I couldn’t believe that his side of this conversation was just an act.
Why not? Your side of it is.
‘Pete, listen,’ said Dad, sidestepping around the couch towards me, suddenly serious again, ‘you need to promise me you won’t tell anyone about the phones.’
‘Sure,’ I said, taking an involuntary step back. ‘No worries.’
‘Especially not Luke and Jordan.’
‘Um, okay,’ I said.
Had he even met Luke and Jordan before? Why was he so sure they were the ones I’d want to run out and tell?
‘I’m serious, Pete. Those two are …’
‘What?’ I said.
‘I’m just not sure it’s a smart move for you to keep spending so much time with them.’ He paused again, like he was choosing his words extremely carefully. ‘I don’t want to see you get into any trouble.’
‘Right, because I never got into any trouble before they got here.’
‘I mean real trouble,’ said Dad, a weird darkness creeping into his voice. It was like someone had just dumped ice down my back.
‘Dad, c’mon, they’re not – Jordan and Luke just – They’re just curious, you know?’
No! I thought, regretting the words as soon as they were out of my mouth.
Dad took another step towards me. ‘Curious about what?’ he asked.
‘Like … I don’t know,’ I said, brain screaming at me not to say anything else stupid. ‘It’s just, you know, they both just got here, and neither of their parents work in the Shackleton Building, so …’
Dad folded his arms and turned his head up to the ceiling, like he was deciding on something.
‘Tell you what,’ he said, suddenly normal again. ‘I’ve got to go into the office on Sunday to take care of a couple of things. Why don’t I take the three of you in with me? I’ll give you the grand tour and prove to your mates that they’ve got nothing to be curious about.’
‘All right,’ I said, feeling nauseous. But what else was I meant to say? ‘Sure.’
Dad reached around to clap me on the shoulder. ‘Great! All set, then. Listen mate, I’d better get back to work.’
‘Uh-huh. Yeah, I’ve got some homework I should probably get onto,’ I lied.
‘Good on you,’ said Dad. He held up his phone again. ‘Remember,’ he winked, dropping it into his pocket, ‘you never saw this.’
‘Never saw what?’ I grinned, heading for the door.
Dad sat back on the couch and reached for his laptop.
I climbed up the stairs to my bedroom, head throbbing, and crashed onto my bed.
I just wanted to sleep. I wanted to go to bed and sleep away the next eighty-three days and if the world ended, at least I wouldn’t have to watch my dad help make that happen.
I pulled up the covers and rolled onto my side, staring across the room at the extra bookshelves that Dad put in the week before Mum and I arrived in Phoenix.
Behind the windmill, I thought vaguely.
And suddenly I was kicking the covers off and staggering out of bed and stumbling across to the other side of the room. I stuck both hands into the narrow gap between the bookcase and the wall, and started grabbing at the big wooden frame I’d hidden there.
When Mum and I first got here, I’d come up to my room to find this stupid framed picture of a grassy field hanging on the wall. I wanted to get rid of it, but Mum had said not to throw it out, so I just shoved it down here behind the bookcase.
I clawed the picture back out again and laid it on the carpet.
A grassy field.
A grassy field with a giant freaking windmill standing in the middle of it.
You moron.
How could I have wasted three days on this?
I flipped the frame over and started prying open the little metal tab things holding the picture in place.
Come on, Bill, you bloody maniac, give me something to work with here …
I pulled back the last tab and lifted up the heavy sheet of cardboard at the back of the frame. And there it was.
A print-out of an email, with six pages of photos underneath.
And if I’d believed that decoding Crazy Bill’s clue would make me feel better about our chances of surviving this mess … I was even dumber than I thought.
Chapter 9
SATURDAY, MAY 23
82 DAYS
I woke up to the sound of a fist banging against my bedroom door.
Jordan, I thought. The photos – shouldn’t have yelled at her – Dad – Crazy Bill – so much blood – windmill – he wants to take us to the Shackleton Building – Jordan –
‘Peter?’ Mum called through the door.
I dragged my head up from the pillow to look at the clock.
10.28 a.m.
What kind of time is that to be out of bed on a Saturday?
‘I’m sleeping!’ I called back through the door, closing my eyes again.
I heard the door ease open.
‘You have visitors,’ said Mum.
‘Wha –?’
‘You – have – friends – here – to – see – you,’ said Mum, speaking slowly and clearly like I was one of her ESL kids.
‘Oh,’ I murmured, gathering the strength to sit up. ‘Hang on, just give me a minute to –’
The door swung open and Jordan and Luke walked in.
Jordan. Over at my house for the first time ever. And there I was, half-asleep, hair messed up.
Wearing freaking lightsaber pyjamas.
Awesome. Thanks, Mum.
Fortunately, Jordan looked almost as awkward as I did.
‘Hey,’ I said, sitting up.
‘Hey …’ she said hesitantly, stepping towards me. ‘We came – I came to apologise for yesterday.’
‘Where’s my dad?’ I mumbled.
‘Out, I think,’ said Luke, closing the bedroom door behind him.
‘Okay,’ I said, trying to smooth down my hair. ‘Good.’
‘I was out of line, ripping into you like that,’ Jordan went on. ‘Whatever your dad’s story is, you’re in this as much as we are. I was just – I guess I was still wound up about the phone not working, and –’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said. As if I was ever not going to accept her apology. ‘I – you weren’t the only one who overreacted.’
I got up and moved towards her, pretty sure this was a hug moment.
Jordan turned away and went to pull open my blinds.
Okay, maybe not.
Probably just not a hug person.
I sat back down on the edge of my bed, just watching her for a minute. She was wearing her T-shirt with the green hearts – the same one she’d had on the day she arrived in Phoenix.
‘I found out some more stuff about the phones,’ I said, breaking the silence again.
That got a reaction.
‘Settle down, it’s nothing good,’ I said. ‘Turns out they can’t call any outside numbers. They’re running on a short-range network that Co-operative people set up to call each other inside the town.’
‘How do you know that?’ said Luke, clearly not wanting to believe me.
‘Because …’ I trailed off at the look on Jordan’s face. ‘Okay, first you have to promise not to kill me.’
Jordan’s expression didn’t change.
‘Just hurry up and tell us,’ said Luke.
‘Okay, fine,’ I said. ‘Yesterday afternoon, I used Pryor’s phone to call my dad.’
Fire blazed up behind Jordan’s eyes, and I could tell that she badly wanted to blow up at me again.
‘Yeah, I know, I know, it was stupid,’ I said hurriedly. ‘But it’s all right. I didn’t let him see our phone and I hung up on him as soon as he answered. He doesn’t know it was me that called.’
Jordan’s shoulders relaxed, but only a bit.
‘Here’s the other thing, though: he wants to take us to the Shackleton Building tomorrow.’
The shoulders arched right back up again. ‘What for?’ she asked. ‘Your dad doesn’t even know us.’
I hesitated, really not keen to admit that I’d been the one who brought it up.
‘Calvin or Pryor or someone probably put him up to it,’ said Luke.
‘Right,’ I said, latching onto Luke’s explanation.
‘It’s a trap,’ said Jordan immediately.
My chest heaved.
No. Even if Dad was working with Shackleton, he would never go that far. He wouldn’t turn me over to them.
‘We’re already trapped,’ said Luke. ‘They can grab us anytime they want. This is probably just one more way for them to try and convince us that there’s nothing weird going on.’
‘And it’s great for us, right?’ I said. ‘Perfect chance to have a look around in there.’
‘Definitely,’ said Luke, getting more animated by the second. ‘And the Co-operative must have some way of communicating with the outside world, right? Even if it’s just to make sure no-one else finds out where we are before doomsday.’
‘That’s true,’ said Jordan slowly.
Oh, right, of course. Now that Luke wanted to go, it was suddenly an awesome idea.
Thankfully, that wasn’t all I had up my sleeve.
‘I found something else too,’ I said, dashing over to the bookcase again. I’d put the picture frame back together last night, to make sure Mum or Dad didn’t come in and find it. ‘Check this out.’
I dragged the picture out again and pulled back the tabs around the edge. I flipped the cardboard over, lifting it up for the others to see.
Luke made a noise that was somewhere between shouting and choking.
Jordan just stared at me, horrified, like she thought I’d made this thing.
‘No, Jordan, I –’
‘It’s an email,’ said Luke, pointing at the top of the first page.
It was. An email from Mr Shackleton to Victoria Galton, dated nearly two years ago, with the subject line, Re: Tabitha: Trial 4.05.1 – 4.05.8.
Tori,
Certainly a step in the right direction!
Keep me posted,
Noah
>Sir,
>Here are the results from the latest trial. Obviously,
>there is still much to be done to ensure that we’re left
>with a viable ecosystem at the end of the project, but
>as you can see, we have made some solid progress this
>time around.
>Victoria
>
Then came the photos. There were sixteen of them printed out under the text of the email, all grouped into pairs.
Before and after.
The before shots each showed a different animal. A rat, a rabbit, a sheep, a horse, a pigeon, a cow, a German shepherd, a chimp. Each one was standing in the middle of a small, grey room that I assumed was part of a laboratory or something.
The after shots were barely recognisable. Just bones and blood and hunks of meat.
Whatever was left after Tabitha had finished with them.
‘It’s like –’ Luke said eventually. ‘They look like … Like they were blown up from the inside, or …’ ‘There’s no skin,’ said Jordan.
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It’s all just … insides. Like their skin’s been eaten away or something.’
‘What could do that?’ asked Luke. ‘Insects? Like, a plague of something?’
‘I dunno,’ I said. ‘But I’ve got a feeling we’re going to find out.’
I pointed to the bottom corner of the frame. At the end of the last page, right under the pile of mess that had once been a chimpanzee, Crazy Bill had taped a rusty silver key. Three words were scribbled next to it in his weird, blocky handwriting:
MORE TO COME.
Chapter 10
SUNDAY, MAY 24
81 DAYS
‘So, I was looking at that magazine article again,’ said Jordan as we left the mall and headed out into the main street. Dad had organised to meet us at two, so we’d decided to grab some lunch on the way in. ‘I noticed something in one of the photos. The one of Shackleton shaking hands with Dr Montag in the medical centre.’
‘What about it?’ I asked, jumping at the chance to talk about something other than dismembered animal corpses for a while.
‘Off to the side, you can see the edge of something metal,’ said Jordan. ‘I think it’s a door like Pryor’s.’
‘Montag’s office?’ Luke suggested.
‘Don’t think so,’ I said. ‘Not the one he takes patients into, anyway.’
‘I didn’t see anything like that when I was there,’ said Luke.
‘You were unconscious on the way in,’ Jordan pointed out, dodging as a couple of bikes shot across in front of her. ‘You’re right, though. I haven’t seen it either. Then again, it’s not like we’ve been looking for it.’
I stuck a hand in my pocket, fingers brushing against Crazy Bill’s key. I doubted whether something this old and rusty would open anything in the Shackleton Building, but I’d brought it along just in case.
We started cutting around the fountain, towards the Shackleton Building. I spotted Reeve coming past in the opposite direction. Out on security patrol, despite his injuries.
You’d think having his arm broken and his face smashed in would’ve qualified him for a bit of time off. But I guess when you’re plotting world domination, you want all hands on deck.
‘Hey mate,’ I said as he approached, ‘thanks for getting our bikes –’
Reeve walked straight past us without even making eye contact.
‘Whatever,’ I said, looking ahead to the Shackleton Building.
Dad was already out the front, waiting.
This is a mistake, I thought suddenly. But I didn’t say anything to the others, and we kept on walking, right past our chance to back out.
‘G’day guys.’ Dad reached out to shake hands with Jordan and Luke. He was smiling, but it would’ve been pretty hard to miss the distrust in his eyes. ‘I’m Peter’s dad. Ready to start the tour?’
‘Ready when you are, Mr Weir,’ said Luke, with slightly too much enthusiasm.
‘Right,’ said Dad, ‘let’s get started, then.’
He led us through the black sliding doors, into the welcome centre – a massive gleaming-white, high-ceilinged room that took up half the ground floor.
Jordan’s face flashed with surprise. From the outside, I guess this place looked kind of dark and ominous, but the inside was the total opposite. Light streamed in through the tinted windows and, looking back through the one-way glass, you could see straight out into the main street.
Inside, businesspeople hovered around coffee carts. Wall-mounted computer monitors cycled through ads and schedules and town news. A giant indoor waterfall splashed down across the wall on the right.
So far, none of this was new to me. The ground floor was all public-access, and I’d been here plenty of times when I was meeting Dad after work. But everything past this room was a mystery.
‘All right, so, here we are in the welcome centre,’ said Dad, as we reached the back of the room. He put a hand on one of three big sets of double doors spaced along the back wall. ‘And through here,’ he said, pushing the door open, ‘is our town hall.’
We peered through the doorway, into a huge, dark room that lo
oked like a giant-sized version of the school hall. I couldn’t remember it ever being used before.
‘What’s it for?’ asked Luke as Dad pulled the door shut again.
Dad shrugged. ‘For whenever we need to get the whole town together in the same place.’
Like when Shackleton announces he’s just turned the whole outside world into mounds of guts, I thought.
That was definitely going to make for an interesting town meeting.
‘C’mon,’ said Dad, waving us over to the lifts, ‘I’ll show you the rest.’
The doors slid open and we piled inside. We were the only ones in the lift, so Dad went over and pushed all the buttons. I watched the doors slide shut again, sealing us in.
‘So that’s the ground floor,’ said Dad as the lift jerked upwards. ‘Next stop: cafeteria.’
The doors opened and, sure enough, we found ourselves looking out on a big room lined with tables and chairs, with a long buffet table off to one side.
At the table nearest to us, a few of Dad’s mates were getting stuck into big plates of something dark red and meaty that made my stomach turn in on itself. They called Dad over to join them, but he held up a hand and said, ‘Later.’
Apart from that table, the cafeteria was pretty empty. There were a couple of people waiting to use the lift, including Keith, the guy whose picnic I’d run through when we were chasing the phone. He glanced at the lift buttons, then snorted like he was sure I was the one who’d pressed them all.
The lift started moving again.
I leant back against the wall. Jordan seemed disappointed. So far, this was exactly what a trip to your dad’s work should be: a waste of time.
‘Level two is meeting rooms,’ said Dad, lowering his voice now that there were other people in here with us.
The lift slowed to a stop, opening onto a long, white hallway lined with glass doors.
‘See?’ said Dad, as Keith and his mate squeezed out and headed down the hall. ‘Two dozen of them, all the same. I’ve had meetings in every one, and I can assure you, there’s nothing in there except tables, chairs and – Ah, g’day boys!’
Two more men had walked out through a door to our right. Mr Ketterley and Dr Montag.
And whatever the meat in the cafeteria had done to my stomach, it was nothing compared to seeing these guys coming towards us.
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