No. Domain was a cannibal.
Welcome to the twenty-first century. Cannibalism is alive and well!
At the back of the enclosure, I spotted a section of wall darker than the rest. I hadn’t seen Domain yet. Possibly this area was so large it contained some smaller enclaves. Maybe he slept in one. Or maybe this darker area was where the tunnel ran away into the rock.
I made my way toward the tunnel. Just before I reached it, I realized it seemed to dip down rather suddenly. Lowering my burning timber slightly, I missed the bone on the floor and stepped right down onto it.
The tunnel moved.
It took me all of a second to realize the tunnel I’d been heading directly toward wasn’t actually a tunnel at all, but the man/creature they called Domain. If he’d ever been human, not much remained now. Domain sat up and looked at me with a single rudimentary eye in the middle of his forehead. He looked like some sort of yeti or Sasquatch but built like a brick wall. His face appeared almost human, but as if a human face had been squashed flat and the jaw lowered. This jaw dropped down now in complete surprise, revealing two rows of glistening teeth. Possibly no-one had ever entered his home without kicking and screaming for help.
Certainly, no-one had come in of their own volition.
His single eye widened in surprise. He blinked twice. Focused on me and his face took on an expression of extreme rage. He wanted to kill me. Then he wanted to eat me. Worst of all, he probably wanted to do it in the opposite order.
That’s when I poked him hard in the eye with the burning stick.
Terror makes you strong. I shoved as hard as I possibly could, and Domain shrieked and swatted at me. I threw up a shield, and it saved me from the worse of the impact, but I still went flying.
Domain was on his feet in a second, and I followed up with a hurricane-force wind that knocked him backward. He hit the ground, rolled once, then threw himself across the room at me. He was fast. And powerful. He aimed a punch at me, and somehow it penetrated my shield and hit me in the chest.
I slid back onto the floor. As he jumped again, I built a flying platform and flew into the air. His hands raked the space under me, but he couldn’t reach. I focused on building up another massive hurricane blast, took a deep breath, and slammed it into him.
Domain was thrown across the chamber, and this time wasn’t so quick to rise. More cautiously, he climbed to his feet and advanced with hate in his single, damaged eye. He wanted to kill me. He wanted to tear me limb from limb. He wanted to make me suffer for the pain I’d caused him.
This was unfortunate for me because, at that moment, my powers failed, and I went crashing into the floor.
Chapter Thirty-One
It had been days since I last had problems with my powers. Maybe in the back of my mind, I’d thought the loss had simply been an aberration—just some kind of hiccup in the day to day life of a superhero.
Well, there are worse hiccups than losing your powers. One of them is losing your powers while in a battle with a monster who wants to tear you limb from limb.
Domain advanced toward me. I tried summoning my powers. I wanted to create another blast of air to hurl at him, but nothing would happen.
When I’d hit the ground, I’d landed on my feet, rolled once, and was almost immediately back in a standing position. Now, as Domain walked toward me, I realized he still wanted to kill me, but was more cautious now. He couldn’t understand why I’d now decided to put myself in range of his aggression.
‘I want a peaceful solution,’ I shouted, holding up a hand. ‘I want to find a way out of here. Maybe we can all escape from here. I want us to be friends.’
The chances of us becoming friends had probably diminished dramatically when I poked him in the eye with a burning stick. Still, all I had were my words, and they would have to make do.
‘Do you understand what I’m saying? I want us to be friends.’
Maybe we could go out for drinks, I thought. Or a game of Monopoly.
The creature cocked his head to one side. He looked almost human for a moment. Maybe he really was considering my offer, or maybe he was wondering what part of me to eat first. It was impossible to tell. I wondered if there was any humanity left in his head. If he ever had been human. Maybe I wasn’t fighting a mod at all. Maybe Domain had always been some kind of Sasquatch creature, and the North Koreans had simply confined him in Yodak Jail for fun.
He growled, not an angry growl, but something that sounded almost human. Then he blinked, and the sudden pain in his eye seemed to settle it. A peaceful resolution and any chance of a game of Monopoly were out of the question. He let out an unearthly roar and charged.
I tried to put up a shield, but nothing happened. The creature hit into me at full pelt, and I literally went flying into the air. It was like being hit by a car. My head hit the floor hard. I was dazed for a few seconds. It was all Domain needed to pick me up again and hurl me across the room.
Crouching into a ball, I rolled across the floor, but at the last instant, hit my elbow. Excruciating pain ran up my arm. It was so bad my entire arm went numb. It felt like my arm was broken. I stood and started to babble something to try to reason with Domain. It was pointless.
He advanced on me, and now I saw a new expression in his face. A look of understanding: whatever powers I had were gone, and he finally had the upper hand. All he now had to do was deliver the death blow. He charged at me again as I tried to bring up my shield.
Nothing happened.
It was time to die.
Except at that instant, a burst of flame poured through the air and engulfed Domain in one mighty explosion. He continued toward me like a rampaging bull, but I threw myself out of the way. He flew past me, fell, and hit the floor. Blinded, engulfed in fire, he rolled around as he tried to extinguish the blaze, but it was all to no avail.
I turned around to see Chad stumbling into the chamber. He fired another blast at Domain, and the creature let out a last scream of rage and terror before its lungs were engulfed in flame. Then it became impossible for it to make another sound as its world was reduced to pain and oblivion and finally death.
Chad took one more single step forward before he collapsed face-first into the floor. I raced to him and tried to bring him around, but he was unconscious. The wound in his shoulder was seeping puss. We had to get out of there. We had to escape Yodak and find the plant to save him, or he’d die.
Footsteps sounded from behind me.
Zachary and the others were carefully entering the enclosure. I felt like making a cutting remark—thanks for nothing—but I held back. I could hardly blame them for waiting. I hadn’t wanted to enter this terrible place either.
‘Is it over?’ Drink asked hesitantly.
‘It’s over,’ I said. ‘Domain’s dead. Now we need to find a way out of here.’
The whole place stunk of burnt flesh. It was sickening. I grabbed Chad in a fireman’s lift, hoisted him across my shoulders, and followed the others toward the back of the chamber. I’d been right about one thing. Where Domain had been lying asleep was a tunnel, and he’d been blocking it.
Recoil had another flaming torch with him. He held it aloft as we rapidly made our way down the passageway. After a moment, I felt something move against my face.
Wind.
This seemed too good to be true.
Which proved to be the case after walking through the tunnel for another minute. The tunnel thinned out more and more until we were walking single file along the rift. Obviously, it was little more than a crack in the earth. Zachary’s story about it being caused by an earthquake seemed correct. Finally, we saw the end—a thin crack in the rock that had been rather inexpertly sealed with concrete.
‘There’s wind on the other side,’ Recoil said.
He lowered the torch, and now I saw light seeping through the tiny gaps in the rock.
‘How can we get through?’ Zachary asked.
‘Leave this to me,’ Drink said. ‘
That’s only sandstone around the concrete, and water is a powerful element. Given time, it can wear mountains away to dust.’
He squeezed past Recoil and pushed his hand into the gap. It turned to water, but it didn’t remain still. In that tiny space, I saw the liquid rotating around as if a mighty whirlpool were pressing against the stone. Within seconds the gap was larger.
‘Think of the Colorado River,’ Drink said. ‘A body of water wearing away the countryside for millions of years until you eventually end up with the Grand Canyon. That’s what I’m doing.’ He continued to swirl the liquid around in the gap faster and faster. ‘Millions of years of landscaping in seconds.’
The gap grew larger. Within a few minutes, it was large enough for someone to crawl through. Drink went first. Then Recoil. I passed Chad out to him and then Zachary with myself in the rear. We were in a thin crack in the earth, the ground rough beneath our feet. Ahead of us lay a thin crevice. We pushed through it until it opened out onto the side of a hill. Ahead of us lay a barren landscape of scrub and rock, and in the distance, I could see the ocean.
We were free.
Chapter Thirty-Two
‘We have a problem,’ Jeremiah said. ‘It’s with your friend Ferdy.’
Ebony and Brodie looked at each other. They had been summonsed into Jeremiah’s office thinking they were about to be questioned about Ethan Craddock. If the Sanctuary compound leader knew about their conversation with the FBI agent, he gave no indication. Instead, he seemed almost conciliatory.
‘What sort of problem?’ Brodie asked.
‘Your friend Ferdy won’t cooperate,’ Jeremiah said carefully. ‘As you are well aware, as much as he’s a genius—and he is one of unparalleled abilities—he also suffers from some defects in communication. He doesn’t understand what’s at stake.’
Maybe he does, Brodie thought. Maybe he understands all too well.
‘So what do you want from us?’ Ebony asked.
‘I want you to speak to him,’ Jeremiah said. ‘I want you to encourage him to break the Barricade code.’
‘Why would we do that?’ Brodie asked. ‘You want to kill everyone on Earth, and you want our help to do that. Why would we help you?’
‘Think of it as buying time for yourselves,’ Jeremiah said smoothly. ‘You may all continue to live for as long as you are prepared to be part of our family.’ He spread his hands. ‘We want you to be part of our glorious future in the New Era. I know Jason has taken quite a liking to you, Brodie.’
Oh yes. Lucky me.
‘So I understand,’ she said.
‘You will be married,’ Jeremiah said. ‘As will you, Ebony. There is another boy who has expressed interest in becoming your husband.’
Brodie glanced at Ebony. Whatever the quiet girl thought of her impending marriage to a complete stranger, she kept to herself.
‘That is the future that lies ahead for you now,’ Jeremiah said.
Brodie was thinking along quite different lines. She was thinking about taking this situation in a brand new direction. It would begin with ripping off one of Jeremiah’s arms and beating him with it until he took her to Ferdy. Then she’d grab the virus and get all of them out of this crazy house.
It all seemed like a plan until Jeremiah turned on the monitor on his desk.
‘We have another means of persuasion,’ he said.
The monitor flickered to life. It took Brodie a moment to understand what she was looking at. It was a room containing a table and on the table was—
‘Dan!’ Ebony cried. ‘What are you doing to him?’
‘Nothing,’ Jeremiah said. ‘Yet.’
Dan lay on the contraption. Jeremiah and his people had been clever in building the contraption out of timber. Dan’s powers could only be used against metal. Brodie and Ebony stared in horror at the device: it was a rack, a medieval torture device used to stretch a person until their body was torn apart.
Ebony felt sick. She swallowed hard and tasted vomit in her mouth. ‘Leave him alone,’ she said, but her voice sounded distant in the small room. ‘You people are monsters. You—’
She wanted to reach across the table and touch Jeremiah and turn him to oxygen or carbon or granite, and then he’d be finished. But the people stationed next to the rack would start to turn the wheels on the rack.
And how quickly could we stop them?
Not quickly enough.
‘I’ll help you,’ Ebony said.
‘Ebony!’ Brodie said. ‘No! You can’t—’
Ebony turned on her. ‘Shut up!’
Brodie had never seen such a look of dismay and rage on the quiet girl’s face. She looked like she wanted to kill someone. Brodie could understand the feeling. Right now, she wanted to put Jeremiah on that rack so he could get a taste of that kind of helplessness.
‘Okay,’ Brodie said. ‘We’ll help you.’
‘I’ll speak to Ferdy,’ Ebony said with tears in her eyes. ‘I can get through to him.’
Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. ‘Wouldn’t it be better if both you girls—’
‘No,’ Brodie interrupted. ‘Ebony is closer to Ferdy than I am. She can get through to him if anyone can.’
Jeremiah seemed to accept the explanation. ‘Then let’s get started.’ He tapped an intercom on his desk, and an assistant whisked Brodie away. Jeremiah took Ebony down a winding corridor deep into the earth away from the main compound. Ebony wanted to cause him some terrible pain, but that had to wait. She had to cooperate—for now—and convince Ferdy to help these maniacs.
Reaching a metal door, Jeremiah entered a code, and the door swung open. They stepped through, and Ebony found herself in a large chamber containing a bed and a table and chair. Paintings decorated the walls, and bunches of wildflowers sat in vases. She was relieved to see it was such a pleasant place.
Amid this sat Ferdy, quietly at the table, his eyes unfocused, but they lit up when Ebony entered.
‘Ebony!’ he said, rising to his feet and running toward her.
Ebony gave him a hug.
‘Not too tight,’ she had to remind Ferdy.
Not only did Ferdy have an incredible brain, but he also had super strength. He could lift a car without raising a sweat. Ferdy could smash the door down that had locked him in here, but he was unable to work that out for himself.
‘Ferdy loves you,’ Ferdy said.
Ebony realized tears were running down her cheeks. ‘I love you too, Ferdy,’ she said, hugging him. ‘And I’ve missed you.’
She looked around and realized for the first time that a pair of handcuffs, broken in two, lay on the floor nearby.
‘Did you try to restrain him?’ she barked at Jeremiah.
He raised a hand. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I really am, but he wouldn’t cooperate. As long as Ferdy helps us now, we can all be friends.’ He peered at Ferdy. ‘You want that, don’t you, Ferdy?’
Ferdy looked like he’d rather be friends with a brick than with Jeremiah. He glanced over at Ebony.
‘My friend is Ebony,’ he said. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou are more lovely and more temperate.’
‘I think that’s Shakespeare,’ Ebony said.
‘The eighteenth sonnet,’ Ferdy said. ‘Shakespeare lived from 1564 and died in 1616.’
‘Thanks, Ferdy.’
‘I’ll get Barricade for us,’ Jeremiah said. ‘In the meantime, I hope you can make Ferdy see reason.’
Jeremiah left. Ebony asked Ferdy if he was okay and if he’d been eating all right. It seemed the Sanctuary people had been feeding him but hadn’t given him chocolate, which was his favorite food.
‘Ebony, friend,’ he said. ‘Do you have chocolate?’
‘I don’t have any,’ she said.
‘Chocolate is made from cocoa.’
‘I know,’ she said, looking around the room. She hated this place, and she hated Jeremiah. He’d locked poor Ferdy in here and treated him like a criminal. How could someone treat a harmless
person like Ferdy with anything less than love and compassion?
She was just wondering this when Jeremiah returned. He had a long, metal tube in his hand about a foot long. A digital display ran along one side of it with a keyboard set into the metal below it. Jeremiah laid it on the table before them.
Ebony looked down at the display. A meaningless row of letters and numbers filled the display.
‘E794GB5…’ her voice trailed off.
‘I’ve shown this to Ferdy before, but he barely looks at it,’ Jeremiah said. ‘This is the Barricade device. The display is the code that I want your friend Ferdy to crack for me. If he doesn’t, then young Dan is going to be sorry.’
‘Dan,’ Ferdy said. ‘Dan is one of Ferdy’s friends.’
‘That’s right,’ Jeremiah said. ‘One of Ferdy’s friends will be hurt—very badly.’
Chapter Thirty-Three
We continued to the sea. I told the group we had a sophisticated aircraft waiting on the shoreline; some friends had arranged to supply it for us in case an escape became available. After about a mile, Recoil bade us farewell and wished us luck. Considering he’d have happily killed us the previous day for a piece of moldy bread, his farewell was surprisingly good-natured.
He disappeared down a ravine away from us.
Zachary pointed to a plant growing on a hillside.
‘That’s the plant your friend needs,’ he said. ‘He needs to eat it as well as applying it directly to the wound.’
I broke off a piece of the plant and used a rock as a mortar and pestle to crush it. After a few minutes, I had a sizeable quantity. I divided it in half and combined some with water seeping through a crack in a rock face. I tried feeding the mixture to Chad, but he could barely swallow.
‘I’ll put some in the wound,’ Zachary offered.
While he smeared it across the cuts on Chad’s shoulder, I wondered if we may have already been too late. Chad was very pale. His fever had broken, and now his breathing was shallow.
Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 28
