Mutation (22 page)

Another cry of pain. But this time it was from Tank. Luke must have got him. I glanced over as Tank reeled away, a hand to his eye, then swung back his arm for another punch.

‘Tank, WAIT!' I yelled, grabbing one of Mike's flailing hands and yanking it up towards me.

Tank turned to look. His fist hung in the air.

‘Hit him one more time and Mike's arm comes out of its socket!'

I gave Mike's arm a tug, trying to convince them both that I meant business.

Mike yelped. ‘Don't just stand there, you idiot!'

Tank rushed over.

Which was lucky, because I didn't have the first clue about how to dislocate a shoulder.

Luke staggered up from the concrete, holding his head. Blood was bubbling down from his nose.

‘Run!' I yelled.

‘No,' said Luke, spitting out what was probably more blood. ‘I'm not –'

‘Trust me!'

Luke shot me a pleading look, then ran off through the rubble, towards our rope.

‘Back off!' I warned, catching a glimpse of Tank's hands coming down.

Tank raised his hands up into the air, completely at a loss. ‘Mike?'

‘GET HER OFF ME, YOU FREAKING MORON!'

‘Back away, Tank!' I said. ‘Right back to the edge of the crater, or I swear I'll –'

Tank snatched Mike's branch up from the ground.

‘Don't,' I said, bending Mike's arm further back. ‘Don't even –'

‘DO IT!'

The branch came down hard across my back. I screamed as a jagged bit of wood drove its way into my shoulder, tearing a hole in my shirt.

Tank drew back the branch and I collapsed down on top of Mike.

There was a sickening crack.

Mike howled in pain.

I'd come down right on top of his arm, snapping it flat across his back, up over the opposite shoulder.

Accidentally following through on my threat.

Mike screamed again as Tank grabbed me roughly by the back of the shirt, dragging me off. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the mangled arm before he shoved me facedown into the dirt.

‘Mike!' he said. ‘Are you okay?'

‘DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M OKAY?'

I jumped up and bolted, grunting at the pain in my shoulder, but knowing it was nothing compared to Mike's. I almost ran straight into Luke, who'd been standing at a distance, watching.

‘What are you waiting for?' I hissed. ‘Move!'

We ran for the rope.

‘You broke his
arm
?'

‘It was an accident!' I said, feeling the blood soaking through the back of my shirt.

‘NO!' yelled Mike behind us. ‘YOU THINK YOU CAN FIX A BROKEN ARM? GO GET THEM!'

‘Crap,' said Luke, reaching the rope first.

Luke pulled the rope tight and started walking up the dirt slope, digging his feet in with every step to keep from slipping. As soon as he was up above my head, I grabbed the rope behind him. My shoulder burned as I pulled with my right arm, and I almost fell back down again. Tank's lumbering form burst out behind me. I shoved the pain aside and kept climbing.

‘Hurry!' I said as Tank made a grab for my foot. I kicked at his fingers, pulling myself out of reach just in time.

Luke was almost halfway up, but the slope got steeper at the top. He was slowing down.

I felt the rope move below me. Tank had just picked it up.

But he wasn't climbing.

He started jerking the rope, yanking it back and forth, trying to knock us down. Every movement sent another blast of pain up my arm.

A grunt from above me. Luke lost his footing, kicking dirt down on top of me. He slid, feet scrabbling against the slope, until one of them finally caught on the bit of pipe that had almost sliced him open earlier. He straightened out and kept climbing.

I heard unsteady footsteps on the ground below, and ragged, heavy breathing. It sounded like Mike had finally gathered the strength to get up and join us.

‘
What – are – you –
doing?'

‘Shaking 'em off,' said Tank.

‘No – get up there!' Mike commanded, unable to get through a sentence without wincing. ‘Grab Jordan! Luke won't leave – without her.'

The rope pulled tight below me. I looked down. Tank was on his way. He wasn't exactly agile, but he was the only one of us who hadn't been injured this morning, and he was getting up the rope surprisingly quickly.

Luke had made it as far as the concrete ledge. He pulled himself up, stretching a foot over to the dirt on the other side.

And then the whole rope shifted backwards.

Luke dropped back, scraping his leg on the concrete.

The fallen tree. Strong enough for one or two of us. Not three. Not when one of them was Tank.

It was moving.

‘Tank, get off!' I shouted down at him. ‘There's a tree up there! You're going to pull it down on top of us!'

The rope shifted again.

The sudden drop made Tank slip, but he righted himself and kept climbing.

I stared at the concrete above me. Luke was still only halfway over. I climbed up as close as I could get behind him and latched onto the narrow ledge with my left hand. I found a foothold on a piece of debris and abandoned the rope, swinging my other hand up to the concrete.

My legs worked furiously against the dirt, pushing my body up far enough for me to get a proper grip with my hands. I straightened my arms, groaning at the fire in my shoulder, and hauled myself up onto the concrete.

Luke was teetering on the ledge, still holding the rope for balance. I stood up next to him, just in time to see the fallen tree lurch closer to the edge again.

‘Crap!' said Tank, right below us, letting go with one hand.

Luke stumbled, jerked back by the rope, his foot slipping off the edge of the concrete. I caught him by the shirt, almost letting go again as my shoulder threatened to tear itself apart.

‘NOW!' said Mike. ‘GRAB ONE OF THEM!'

Tank's fingers were straining for the leg of Luke's pants. One tiny yank and we'd come straight down on top of him.

I clawed at the wall with my other hand, but there was nothing to hold onto. I swayed backwards, coming away with a handful of earth, and the two of us reeled over the edge.

My hand flashed out. Closed on the rope again.

I pulled.

The tree scraped another half-metre closer, then lodged itself in the dirt.

I twisted the rope over my good shoulder and heaved. The tree wobbled but stayed where it was. Slowly, I dragged us back to vertical. Luke got his foot back up on the ledge, and the two of us clambered up over the lip of the crater.

Half a dozen torch beams swarmed down on us.

I got to my feet, squinting, disoriented.

And in those ten seconds of lost concentration, Tank hoisted himself up between Luke and me, grabbing hold of both of us.

‘Hey, Mike!' he said. ‘I got – Huh?'

‘Hold those two right there, young man,' called a cold voice from across the crater, ‘and I will consider overlooking your breach of the curfew.'

Officer Calvin was back on duty.

Chapter 27

T
HURSDAY
, J
UNE
25
49
DAYS

Calvin's men split up. Two of them followed him around one side of the crater, and the other three started circling in the opposite direction. Whatever had happened to him out at the airport, it had well and truly worn off by now.

‘Tank!' hissed Mike from down in the crater. ‘What's going on, man?'

‘Tank, please,' said Luke, ‘you have to let us go.'

But Tank was too focused on the approaching guards to answer either of them.

I tried to pull free, but every time I moved, it was like someone was jabbing a fork into my shoulder. My shirt was wet with blood, and the fabric rubbed against the wound, making the pain even worse.

We get away,
I thought desperately.
We get away.
I saw it in the vision.

But who said things had to play out the way I'd seen them? Maybe it was already too late for that. Maybe we weren't supposed to let ourselves get caught in the first place.

The guards were closing in now. As Calvin got nearer, I noticed a new addition to his security chief's uniform. Tight-fitting gloves, the same bright red as the phoenix logo on his chest.

He saw me looking at them.

‘Yes,' he said, holding up a hand. ‘I don't know what you did to me out there but rest assured, it is not going to happen again.'

Calvin's meltdown in the airport. It had happened when he bit my finger. He thought it was me.

How do you know it wasn't?

But I abandoned the thought as Calvin drew his gun and pointed it at Tank.

Tank's giant fingers clenched around my arm. ‘What? No – I'm helping! I'm helping!'

‘Sir?' said one of the guards.

‘Tell me about Tabitha,' Calvin demanded. ‘Tell me everything you know about Tabitha and I'll spare your life.'

‘Who is she? I don't know anything!'

‘Tell me!'

‘I don't know!' Tank whimpered. ‘Please! Please! I don't know! I swear I don't know!'

He cowered and shook, holding on to Luke and me like we were keeping him alive. Calvin let him grovel for another few seconds. Then he lowered the gun. ‘Good.'

Tank's knees gave out from under him. He let go of us and collapsed to the ground, gasping and weeping.

By now, the five other security guards had formed a tight circle around us and Calvin. Barnett, Miller, and three others I only half-recognised.

‘Get up,' said Calvin, giving Tank a kick. ‘Get up and go home. And if you tell anyone what you've seen here tonight –'

‘I won't!' said Tank, rising shakily to his feet. ‘I promise. I promise.' He pushed his way through the circle and lumbered off into the darkness.

‘Sir,' said one of the guards, perched over the crater with his torch. ‘There's another kid down here.'

‘Help!' called Mike. ‘Help me!'

Calvin stepped closer to the edge.

Close enough for me to push him in.

Luke caught my eye, guessing what I was thinking. He shook his head.

I shrugged at him.
Do you have a better idea?

Luke glanced at Officer Barnett.

Even if we did knock Calvin into the crater, there was no way we were getting past five other guards. All we'd be doing was giving him another reason to hurt us when he got back out again.

Calvin shone his torch down into the crater. ‘What happened to you?'

‘She broke my arm!' Mike groaned.

I shouted back down at him. ‘It was self-defence!'

‘Can you get out?' asked Calvin.

‘No,' said Mike. ‘I don't think so. Please chief – I need –'

‘Turn around and walk to the other side of the crater,' said Calvin.

‘But –'

‘Walk to the other side. Sit facing the wall. And stay there until I tell you otherwise.'

‘Chief, it really hurts.'

‘MOVE!'

Mike fell silent. I heard him shuffling away to the other side of the crater.

He's getting rid of the witnesses,
I realised.
Making
sure no-one sees what happens next.

‘All right,' said Calvin, rejoining us. ‘Back to business.'

‘You want us to take them back for questioning, sir?' asked one of the guards.

Calvin ignored him.

‘Let's see,' he said, counting off our supposed offences on his gloved fingers. ‘Kidnapping a patient from Phoenix Medical. Breaking curfew. Entering a restricted area. Assault on a fellow student. It's a pretty condemning list of charges, isn't it?'

‘Like you need one,' I said.

‘No,' Calvin smiled. ‘Not out here.'

He raised his gun.

‘Chief!'

‘Quiet, Miller!' Calvin barked.

He aimed the weapon at my stomach. Not interested in ending it quickly.

He wanted me to feel it.

‘No Montag to save you this time.'

How fast could I jump down into the crater?

Not fast enough. And even if I somehow got over the edge in time, Luke would be dead before I landed.

‘Sir,' said Miller, ‘Mr Shackleton's orders were to –'

‘Shackleton doesn't know we're out here,' said Calvin. ‘This is just between us.'

‘But they're just
kids
,' said Miller.

‘They are a danger to
everything
we're doing here!' Calvin shouted.

Keeping the gun pointed firmly in my direction, he turned to survey his men.

‘If any of you are not comfortable with this,' he said sharply, ‘now would be a good time to walk away.'

A long silence.

One of the guards I didn't recognise backed out of the circle. He turned, shaking his head, and started back around the crater.

BLAM!

He fell to the ground.

I didn't even have time to flinch before Calvin's gun was trained on my gut again.