by Susan Gates
Then Dad must have found him.
Wait a minute! thought Jay. How did Dad find me? They took him prisoner!
For a few panicky seconds Jay thought he’d just imagined Dad. That it had all been some feverish hallucination. He sat bolt upright.
‘Dad!’ he screamed.
Dad climbed into the van and crouched by Jay in the flickering candle light.
‘Hey,’ he said. ‘You look much better. You look almost human.’
‘You don’t,’ said Jay. Dad looked like a wild man. He had a long, straggly beard like Robinson Crusoe.
‘Want a drink?’ said Dad.
Jay sat up, without feeling too dizzy.
‘I was scared for a while there,’ said Dad. ‘You were really sick. But you’re as tough as me. You shook it off, whatever it was.’
Jay sipped the water. He almost wished he was still out of it, floating somewhere in limbo. Because now he’d recovered, all his fears and worries came crowding back.
‘How did I get here? Am I back in the mine?’
Dad nodded.
‘How did you get here?’ asked Jay.
‘I escaped in the confusion at the rally,’ Dad said. ‘After they dragged me off the balcony I could hear all kinds of mayhem going on in the square.’
‘That was the Immune Hunters,’ said Jay, ‘after me.’
‘Viridian sent his full squad out there, so I was left with this one weedy Cultivar guarding me.’ Dad shrugged, but couldn’t keep the hint of pride out of his voice, as he went on, ‘So I overpowered him. As for you, I found you in the scrubland, passed out. I think you’d tried to walk here. You had a fever. I carried you down to the mine, and I’ve been looking after you ever since. You had me pretty worried, son.’
‘How long have I been here?’ asked Jay.
‘I don’t know,’ said Dad. ‘You lose track of time down here. About ten days?’
‘Ten days!’ said Jay, appalled. ‘We’ve got to go right now. We’ve got to go and find Toni. She could be still at the Research Station. She might be in the Etiolation Cave.’
‘The what cave?’ said Dad. ‘And who’s this Toni?’
‘She’s a girl I met,’ said Jay. ‘She saved my life.’
* * *
Gradually, in between spooning canned peaches into his mouth, Jay told Dad everything. About the Etiolation Cave and the other Immunes and Dr Moran. About the carnivorous plants and Toni getting caught.
Dad gave a low whistle when Jay had finished. But all he said was, ‘You’ve been a busy boy.’
Jay said, ‘I went to the Research Station straight after the rally. I thought they’d bring you back there in the Humvees.’
Dad shook his head. ‘I don’t think they ever meant to take me there. They planned to infect me with the virus. If I was Immune, they were going to finish me off right away. If I turned Verdan they were talking about punishing me for aiding and abetting an Immune. Probably by chaining me up in that Etiolation Cave.’
‘So are you Immune then?’ asked Jay.
‘Don’t know,’ said Dad. ‘They never got the chance to try and infect me. Was your gran all right? Where’d she go, after you got out of the cave?’
Jay said, ‘I don’t know. She just wandered off, you know, doing what Verdans do. I said I’d go back for her. But…’ Jay frowned, shook his head. ‘What’s the point? She’s Verdan now. She doesn’t care about us.’
‘Yeah, that’s Verdans for you. Hey,’ said Dad, ‘that green freak’s freakier than ever, isn’t he? I think he fancies himself as some kind of god. I couldn’t believe it, you coming right up and asking him to let me go.’ Dad shook his head in amazement. ‘You’re a crazy, hot-headed kid,’ he told Jay. ‘You remind me of me when I was your age. Want a can of sardines? That’s all we’ve got left to eat.’
‘I hate sardines,’ said Jay.
But Dad had already leapt out the van. Jay sat there, turning Dad’s words, You remind me of me when I was your age, round and round in his mind, watching them sparkle, like they were a precious diamond.
It seemed ages before Dad came back with the sardines. Jay said, ‘We have to go and get Toni. Her dad won’t. He says the only way to help her now is to find a cure for the virus.’
‘Maybe he’s right,’ said Dad.
‘What? You mean, we should just leave her there?’ Jay put a wobbly hand to his head. Getting mad was a bad idea; it had made him dizzy again.
Dad said, ‘Look, calm down.’ He thrust the can of sardines at Jay. ‘Eat those, get your strength back. They’re good for you.’
Jay pushed them away. ‘I don’t want any.’
‘You think a lot of this girl, Toni, don’t you?’
‘Yeah, I do. I really like her.’
‘Well, she won’t care about you any more,’ said Dad, bluntly. ‘Now she’s Verdan.’
‘We don’t know if they made her go Verdan.’
‘Come on,’ said Dad. ‘Don’t kid yourself. Do you really think she’d have any choice?’
Jay’s brain, still sore from the illness, felt tied up in knots. He stared at Dad helplessly. ‘I don’t know what to do.’
‘OK,’ said Dad. ‘I’m going to say something you won’t like. I agree with that Dr Moran guy. I think the best thing we can do is join those Immunes, find a cure for your girlfriend.’
‘She’s not my girlfriend!’
‘Whatever. Where did you say these Immunes are hiding?’
‘Franklin High,’ said Jay. ‘In the science block.’
‘Right,’ said Dad. ‘We need to get out of this mine anyway. Sooner or later those Immune Hunters will come here.’
‘But – ’ protested Jay.
‘We’ll go to Franklin High first. Maybe this Dr Moran has already found a cure. You said he was close, didn’t you?
‘No,’ said Jay, ‘first we’ll go to the Etiolation Cave, see if they’ve put her in there.’ Jay didn’t even want to think about the horrors of that – Toni, in the same cave where her mum had died. ‘Come on.’
He started struggling out of the sleeping bag, then paused. Even in his frantic impatience, he’d just thought of something. ‘I suppose we’d better wait until night time.’ The dark didn’t seem to affect the Cultivars much. But at least the Verdans would be dormant.
‘It is night time out there,’ said Dad. ‘I just went and checked. So let’s go.’
Dad knew the short cut to the cave entrance, across the scrubland, through those weird conical hills.
The night sky was wonderful, a vast, navy blue bowl upturned over Franklin, fizzing with shooting stars. But Jay didn’t notice the display. With every step, his dread was growing. ‘Dad,’ he said, finally. ‘When we get to the cave, will you go down there? I don’t think…’
‘Yeah, course,’ said Dad, as if it was no big deal. ‘I brought a torch in my backpack.’
‘Thanks,’ said Jay, gratefully.
The trapdoor was wide open, just the way Jay had left it, days before. Jay stared at it in surprise. Surely, if they’d put someone new in, even if they didn’t bother to lock it, the Cultivars would have closed it?
‘Stay here,’ said Dad, getting his torch out his backpack.
‘She’s got brown hair,’ said Jay. ‘It’s short where I cut it off. And brown eyes.’
But Dad was already gone, climbing down the limestone blocks into the dark. Jay told himself, Idiot. She won’t look like that now, will she? Not if she’s Verdan.
He waited at the top, his arms hugging his body, trying to calm himself down.
If Toni was down there, would she be still alive? How long had Teal lasted in that terrible prison? If Toni was still alive, would she come back with them? Or would she just slide away into the greenery like Gran? What would they do then?
Jay stared round at the derelict industrial estate. Some units were collapsing, invaded by strangling ivy and thorny bramble creepers. Jay half-expected to see Gran, crouched in some weeds, conserving energy until dayli
ght came.
‘Hey.’
Jay nearly jumped out of his skin. It was Dad, just behind him. ‘Was she down there?’
‘No-one’s down there. I checked everywhere. The cave is empty. Apart from that Cultivar you told me about.’
‘Is she dead?’ asked Jay.
‘Oh yes,’ said Dad, grim-faced. ‘She’s dead, all right.’ He put his torch away in his backpack. ‘Right. Let’s go and find this Moran guy.’
‘You won’t like him,’ warned Jay.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Dad. ‘If he’s found a cure for this virus, he’s a hero.’
Chapter 18
As they walked through the abandoned housing estate to get to Franklin High, they saw Verdans, hundreds of them, creeping out of the undergrowth.
‘They don’t usually move around at night,’ said Jay. ‘Where are they all going?’
Dad said, ‘They’re not even looking at us.’
He walked right out into the street to prove it. The Verdans’ green eyes didn’t even flicker in his direction. They just flowed around him, staring ahead, all going the same way, trudging slowly.
‘Maybe Viridian’s having another rally in the square,’ Jay suggested.
‘At midnight?’
The Verdans were a sad, sickly bunch, creeping along like refugees in their own town. Their clothes were ragged, their chlorophyll skin scaly and withered brown in places. Some had even caught plant infestations: red spider mites running through their hair, greenfly clinging to their eyebrows and eyelashes, circles of orange rust mould on their skin. One had a slug latched onto his neck. It had crawled up his arm, leaving a silvery trail.
‘Where are the Cultivars?’ said Jay.
Cultivars would be easily spotted. They’d stand out a mile in this shuffling crowd, with their superior strength and extra height, their dark green skin glowing with health and vigour, their eyes blazing with ruthless fanaticism. But there weren’t any.
More and more Verdans swelled the throng. It seemed like the whole population of Franklin was lurching along zombie-like in the moonlight towards the same destination, with Jay and Dad tagging along behind.
‘Look!’ whispered Jay to Dad. Ahead were some Verdans with yellow skin. Some were ghostly pale, almost transparent, like wraiths.
‘Those must be the prisoners, from the cave.’
The prisoners dragged themselves along painfully slowly. The feeblest were crawling like spiders on long, etiolated limbs. Yet they all seemed intent on getting somewhere.
‘I don’t understand it,’ said Jay, baffled. ‘Before, they were so scared of Cultivars, they wouldn’t leave even though the trapdoor was wide open. So how come they’re going now?’
Jay plunged in among the etiolated Verdans. ‘Have you seen a girl called Toni?’ he asked them. He grabbed one jelly-like yellow arm. ‘Was she down in the cave with you?’
But they just gazed at him with their spooky, pale eyes and plodded on.
At the end of the estate, the Verdans turned right, towards Franklin High and the Research Station.
‘They’re going our way,’ said Jay. ‘You don’t reckon they know where Dr Moran and the Immunes are?’
But the Verdans didn’t turn off at Franklin High.
‘Look,’ said Jay, ‘there’s loads more of them, around the Research Station.’
Dad glanced at Jay. ‘Shall we see what’s going on?’
‘Yes,’ said Jay, eagerly. ‘Toni must be in there.’
‘She might be,’ said Dad. ‘Look Jay, don’t get too excited. Even if we find her, she might not be alive.’
But Jay wasn’t listening. He’d already dashed off. Dad raced after him.
The Verdans flowed through the lifted Security Barrier like a surging green tide. They surrounded the domes, pressing up against the glass walls.
Maybe they’ve come to overthrow Viridian, thought Jay, excitedly.
But when he looked at them, he could see how stupid that was. This wasn’t a mass uprising. The Verdans weren’t co-operating with each other, or even communicating. They just milled silently about. Why had they come here? What were they waiting for?
Then Jay realized.
They were waiting for someone to come out of the domes and tell them what to do.
But no-one came. Not Viridian, or an Immune Hunter, or even a Cultivar. The Verdans parted as Jay pushed his way to the front, peered into the dome.
The glass was covered on the inside with black slime.
Suddenly, he heard Dad shouting, ‘Jay, where are you?’
Jay dived through the Verdans again, until he found Dad, who clutched his arm. Jay had never seen him so excited.
‘Dr Moran’s here,’ said Dad. ‘He’s found a cure! He’s giving it to the Verdans now. The Cultivars will be out any second to stop him. We have to help.’
‘Something’s happened inside the dome, Dad,’ said Jay. But Dad was already striding away.
‘Come on,’ he yelled back to Jay. ‘Dr Moran needs all the help he can get.’
On the edge of the crowd, they found Dr Moran and the other Immunes. They were frantically giving the Verdans the vaccine, squirting it into their mouths from little plastic bottles. The Verdans were so used to obeying orders that they simply opened their mouths wide like baby birds.
Dad said, ‘Here, give me some of that stuff, I’ll help.’
‘Six drops each,’ said Dr Moran, his face haggard and grey with fatigue.
Jay sidled up close to Dr Moran – he didn’t want Dad to hear their conversation. ‘Give me one of those bottles.’
‘What do you want it for?’ Dr Moran asked Jay. ‘Are you going to help?’
‘I’m going to take it into the dome,’ said Jay, ‘and if I find Toni, I’m going to give her the vaccine.’
Dr Moran’s haughty face suddenly crumpled. His lip trembled.
‘Thank you,’ was all he said, handing Jay a bottle of vaccine. ‘Make sure she gets six drops.’ Then he carried on with his work, saving the human species.
Jay raced up to Dad, who’d been barging through the crowd, dosing every Verdan that got in his way. Now some of them were clamouring for the vaccine. ‘Stand in line!’ Dad was telling them. ‘You’ll get your turn.’
Jay dodged between Verdans, unzipped Dad’s backpack, got out the torch. Then he raced, with the torch and the precious bottle of vaccine, to the second dome. Like the first dome, he couldn’t see inside; its glass walls were coated, on the inside, with sticky black stuff. He found a door but it was locked. The drain was the one sure way he knew to get in. He hardly noticed that the bright green algae that lined it had turned black. He just wriggled through, to the other side.
Chapter 19
Jay played the torch beam around and gave a sharp intake of breath.
It was like a plant morgue in here. The giant pitcher plants, sundews and Venus fly traps were all dead or dying. Some were covered in black sooty mould, some had already collapsed into black slimy jelly. There was a terrible stink of rotting vegetation. Jay took a step and a cloud of buzzing bluebottles rose up from the decayed remains of some plant.
Jay walked through the slimy graveyard. Great sheets of black slime hung from plants, like funeral flags. Strings of sticky gloop stuck to his soles of his shoes.
‘What’s happened?’ Jay murmured, horrified. Then he saw a pitcher plant leaf, not as putrefied as the others. It was covered in fuzzy black dots that seemed very familiar.
Black spot fungus, thought Jay. The disease Toni’s carnivorous plants had. The most deadly plant fungus there was.
Maybe he and Toni had brought it here, on their hands and clothes. Toni had said it was very contagious. The dome, with its extra light and heat, had provided the perfect conditions for its spores to grow and spread like smallpox in humans.
It felt like a small triumph, destroying Viridian’s collection of killing machines. As if, at last, humans had started to fight back.
Jay headed into the thir
d dome to search for Toni. She’d said the Cultivars’ living quarters were there, and the labs, where the Verdan scientists did their experiments. She’d said that was the most likely place they’d keep a prisoner.
A sliding door between the domes stood open. His torch beam lit up a wide, empty corridor, with doors on either side. He played his torch around some more, looking for signs of life.
But the only thing he saw was the fungus. It had spread even here, creeping like a sinister black tide up the walls.
He stepped into the corridor, crept along it. He switched off his torch, since dim yellow lights were glowing from the corridor’s ceiling. He came to a T-junction. Which way now? He gazed down the left-hand corridor, then the right.
Was there something moving, at the end of the right-hand corridor? His eyes strained through the gloom, trying to see. Then the shadows suddenly took form.
There was a mob of Cultivars at the other end, racing this way, sprinting on long, green springy legs. There was no way he could outrun them. Jay held his hands up in surrender.
At the last second he realized, They aren’t going to stop!
He flung himself against a wall so he didn’t get trampled. Dozens streamed past. The last one grabbed his throat. It was the woman Immune Hunter and Jay thought he was done for. But she didn’t use her strangling tendrils. And Jay saw that her green skin was spotted with black mould.
She thrust her diseased face into his, showing her teeth in a green snarl. ‘I need the vaccine. Have you got it?’
Jay’s hand was clasped round the vaccine for Toni, in his pocket. There was no way he was going to give that up.
Jay stammered, half-choking, ‘Dr Moran’s got it, outside.’
She flung him back against the wall and sprinted away.
Jay staggered away from the wall, coughing. He turned down the right-hand corridor. The fungus was here too, sliming the walls. It had spread right into the heart of the Cultivar HQ.
The corridor opened into a larger space, dimly lit. There were benches, with big, powerful lamps positioned over them. None of the lamps was switched on. Fungus dripped from them, like Gothic Christmas decorations.
