The Amphiblets (15 page)

Riley and Ed weren’t the only ones to have heard the news. The story of the miraculous rescue of one of the richest girls in Britain was being told on every radio station in the country. How many brothers were called Riley and Ed? It was too much of a coincidence to ignore. The Professor had already administered an injection into Will’s arm and the boy was now sleeping on the back seat.

Changing his mind, the Professor turned and headed in a different direction, as he knew exactly where the two brothers had gone.

The lodge was rather small and had three bedrooms: Hugo and the Professor had their own, while the boys often shared, unless one had chosen to lie on the sofa, which wasn’t a desirable option. It was a holiday home, a place to relax and swim. There were no neighbours for miles, which made it the perfect location. Sometimes they had seen the odd person in the distance but never close enough to talk to. They had kept a low profile until the person had continued on their hike and disappeared from sight.

The Professor glanced at his watch. It would take him at least six hours to reach the lodge. He had left Peter’s house only a short time ago. But he wasn’t worried. He knew the boys wouldn’t be thinking of going anywhere at this time of the night.

There was hardly any traffic on the road, which meant the Professor could make swift progress. He was rather sleepy after his long journey so he opened the window, increased the volume of the music, and with the cool night air sweeping across his face, hoped to stay awake.

The Professor knew that time was running out and Ali-man would soon find him. The beast was determined. It had plagued the Professor for many years. For this reason, he had intended to go abroad where he had been working for the past few years. He had been involved in a major project, in his opinion just as successful as the Amphiblets. It was strange; after creating the Amphiblets he had intended to give it all up. No more experimenting. But there was something in his blood, driving him to do it – making him want to go one step farther. He knew deep in his heart that he was born to create and experiment with what nature had provided. He saw nothing wrong with his ideas and putting them into practice. Other people sneering at his creations were the problem – not him. They weren’t gifted like he was. They didn’t understand him.

No matter how difficult the decision was to make, the Professor had two choices. The first was to capture his sons and imprison them; the second was to dispose of them as quickly as possible. They were dangerous now. The Professor shivered and opened the glove compartment. His gun was safely tucked away. He would need it if he were ever to encounter Ali-man again.

The Professor thought back to when Ali-man went by the name of Larry Snithering, a businessman who always wore grey suits and black polished shoes. He was a peculiar man, with peculiar mannerisms. He always walked on the left-hand side of the pavement or when ascending stairs, refusing to budge if anyone came down on the same side. He would wear gloves in fear of touching bacteria on door handles. He spoke in a high-pitched tone and was firm in his beliefs and terribly annoying. He always carried a long black umbrella around, even in the sunshine.

The day the Professor met Larry was when he had visited a pet store. The Professor had hurried from the shop and bumped into Peter, who had sneered and waved his umbrella at him in an intimidating manner.

‘Look where you’re going next time!’ Larry had shouted.

‘Indeed I must,’ scoffed the Professor. ‘Though tell me something. How is it that an alligator, such as yourself, has learnt how to talk?’

‘Well, I never!’ sputtered the man, blinking his eyes in disbelief.

‘Then don’t let me stop you,’ jeered the Professor. ‘See you later – alligator!’

With that, the Professor marched down the street. He would have forgotten about the man had he not pursued him to his car, bawling at him. It was perhaps not surprising, since there was no one else about, the Professor had grabbed the man’s umbrella, knocked him over the head with it and bundled him into his car.

Not knowing quite what to do with the captive, the Professor had decided to transform him into the very thing he most resembled at their first meeting – an alligator. The Professor thought Ali-man’s upgrade made him look better now than he ever had in the past.

That project had occupied him for a number of years, until his most recent experiment – the Amphiblets. Who would believe that he was capable of such wonder and greatness? He was truly a genius and one day the whole world would know about his achievements.

The Professor arrived at the lodge at two o’clock in the morning. It was incredibly dark and the moon was obscured behind dense clouds. The Professor parked his car a good distance away from the lodge so the boys wouldn’t be able to hear him approach. He grabbed his gun from the glove compartment before swinging Will’s limp body over his shoulder and slowly making his way through the woods. 

He paused outside the lodge for several minutes, listening for any movement inside but no lights were on and there was nothing to hear. He pulled out a key and placed it in the lock. The door opened quietly. The Professor shuffled towards the sofa and lowered Will on to it. A gentle groan escaped the boy’s lips but he was unconscious and would be for several more hours.

The Professor then entered the bedrooms. He found Ed sleeping soundly in one bed and in another room he discovered Riley.

The Professor had no idea how Hugo had been reunited with Will. Had Will and Peter gone to find them and only found Hugo at the house? He assumed the boys had run off because Ali-man had found them. So where had Hugo been at the time that Ali-man had destroyed the house? He decided it didn’t matter because Hugo was now dead and no further problems would stem from that. That was another chapter in his life that he would have to bring to an end as he had done so many times in his extraordinarily long existence.

As he went back to the car to retrieve his bag, he noticed deep scratches covering the metal frame of the car and the back door had been ripped off its hinges. Inside the bag was missing. The Professor swivelled sharply, removing a gun from his pocket.

‘I know you’re watching me!’ he cried. ‘But I’ve got a gun and I’m not afraid to use it. Do you hear me? If you come any closer, I’ll kill you!’

There was no reply except for the clicking of insects and the leaves gently rustling in the breeze. The Professor hurried to the lodge, with the sounds of something stirring behind him, twigs snapping and leaves shuffling. Once inside, he locked the door, knowing it wasn’t strong enough to keep the beast out for long.

Without his bag he had no injections to give the boys. He had wanted to put them all to sleep but now he had to change his plan.

‘Who’s there?’ came a voice.

The Professor swung round, startled. ‘Riley? It’s me – your father!’

‘You’re not my dad,’ said Riley, coldly, stepping forward and switching on the light.

‘What are you talking about?’

Riley ignored his question. ‘How did you find us?’

‘When the beast attacked the house I assumed you came here,’ said the Professor. ‘Where else would you have gone?’

‘Beast? What beast?’ said Riley.

‘You mean you weren’t there when it attacked the house?’ asked the Professor.

‘No. Was Hugo hurt? Is he okay?’ asked Riley.

‘Hugo wasn’t there,’ said the Professor quickly. ‘I came home and found the place in utter chaos. I don’t know where he is.’

Riley’s gaze suddenly fell upon a foot resting on the arm of the sofa. ‘Is that Ed?’

‘Yes,’ lied the Professor.

‘No, it’s not,’ said Ed, from behind.

‘Then who is it?’ Riley spun round to face the Professor.

‘Some boy I hit with my car. I was thinking of calling an ambulance for him. He’s knocked out at the moment.’

‘You knocked someone over with your car?’ gasped Riley. ‘Why didn’t you turn him to the nearest hospital? How badly hurt is he?’

‘He’s not bleeding,’ said the Professor.

Riley stepped forward, curious of the boy lying on the sofa. ‘He’s not dead, is he?’

‘No, asleep,’ confirmed the Professor.

‘He’s probably lying to us now. Why else did he want you to think I was lying on the sofa?’ said Ed. ‘What are you doing here anyway?’

‘He came looking for us. Apparently a beast destroyed our home,’ Riley told him.

‘A beast?’ quizzed Ed. ‘What sort of beast?’

‘The mysterious one mentioned in the newspapers for the past eight years,’ said Riley coldly. ‘It’s got something to do with you, hasn’t it? I bet it’s hunting you!’

‘Why do you say that?’ asked the Professor.

‘You always took interest in its movements – where it was last seen and who it had hurt.’

‘Everyone is interested in that story,’ said the Professor curtly.

‘But we know something else. We know you created us. We know you’re not our real father and we know you experiment on humans. You experimented on our mother when you didn’t know she was pregnant. That was the real reason we ran away from home – not because of the beast chasing after us. We didn’t know about that.’

The Professor sunk down on the chair, shocked that his secrets were exposed. ‘How did you learn this?’

‘On your website,’ said Ed.

‘So now you know,’ the Professor whispered. ‘What now?’

‘It’s simple. We don’t want anything to do with you any more,’ said Riley.

Ed stepped around Riley and for the first time he caught a glimpse of the boy whom the Professor had claimed to hit. It took him less than a second to recognise the person who appeared to be sleeping on their sofa.

‘That’s Will!’ whispered Ed.

‘What?’ Riley’s voice lowered.

‘The boy on the sofa is Will,’ Ed insisted.

‘Don’t be stupid. Will’s dead,’ said Riley impatiently.

‘No, your brother is right. This is Will. But don’t touch him. He’s incredibly dangerous. He’s been secreting poison from his glands. He killed Hugo earlier.’

‘This is a nightmare,’ gasped Ed. ‘It can’t be real.’

‘Will has been alive all this time – and Hugo is dead? You lied to us about everything.’ ‘Tonight keeps getting better and better,’ muttered Riley. ‘What other surprises do you have in store for us?’

‘Apart from this – none!’ The Professor jumped to his feet, holding his gun, aiming it directly at the two boys who stepped back a couple of feet.

‘So? What’s your next plan? To kill us?’ frowned Riley. ‘We’re no threat to you!’

‘I came here because of Will. He’s grown dangerous and so have you two. I was going to kill you anyway. I might as well get it over and done with.’

‘No, don’t!’ cried Ed.

‘It doesn’t have to be this way!’ panicked Riley.

‘I see no alternative. I created you and so it is only right that I alone can end your lives,’ said the Professor coldly. ‘That’s the way life works.’

‘You’re not God!’ yelled Riley. ‘You’ve no right to make such decisions.’

The Professor chuckled before he pressed the trigger and fired.

Riley and Ed both dived, trying to avoid the bullet. Ed’s leg, just below the knee, caught the impact of it and he tumbled to the ground, behind a chair. As the Professor fired a second time, Riley did something unexpected; he hurdled on to the ceiling and swung as the Professor shot the third bullet, which scraped the surface of Riley’s shoulder. The force of the impact sent the Professor flying, backwards into a cabinet. The gun flew out of his hand and landed on the floor close to Ed, who crawled along the ground to grab hold of it.

‘Riley! Help me!’ cried Ed.

Seeing that the Professor was now unarmed, Riley immediately ran to the aid of his brother, who was now sitting and resting against the wall, breathing hard. Blood had soaked his trouser leg and was dripping on to the floor.

‘Ed’s injured!’ shouted Riley.

Remaining where he was, the Professor was emotionless, winded, humiliated and in no hurry to assist either child. The Professor was mad, concluded Riley, who began to hunt for something to tie around Ed’s leg to stem the bleeding.

The Professor took a deep breath. ‘You should have let me kill you all.’

‘Kill us?’ quizzed Riley. ‘We’ve done nothing wrong. If anyone should die, it should be you!’

‘You’re the freaks, not me,’ said the Professor.

‘That’s a matter of opinion,’ said Riley. ‘You’re more than a freak. You’re mad!’

‘I’m a genius – there’s a difference.’

‘You tried to kill us. Until this morning we still thought you were our father. You were planning to kill us tonight, without ever telling us the truth. It was pure luck that we had discovered who we were and what type of person you have become. All those lies you told us regarding Will’s death. I can’t believe it! Where has he been all this time? Where has he been living? Why did you ever tell us he’d died? It’s not fair. You stole our brother. We missed him so much. We cried ourselves to sleep and all this time you knew he was alive. How could you do such a thing to us? And now that Will has become dangerous, you want to kill him, depriving us of seeing each other again. You’re heartless, mad – seriously deranged. You need to be locked up and someone ought to throw away the key. We’re not the only ones upset. There’s that beast that’s coming after you. What do you call it?’

‘Ali-man,’ said the Professor. ‘One of my favourite creations.’

‘You’ve destroyed so many lives …’

‘You have no idea how many,’ smirked the Professor.

‘You should be punished for what you’ve done.’

‘I’m a scientist and a very clever one at that. Many people envy my talents.’

‘I don’t think its clever creating a beast that will hunt you down,’ croaked Ed.

Suddenly there was an almighty bang and the entire lodge shuddered. Riley shivered. Then they heard a scraping across the floor in the other room. Something had broken in by the back door. Everyone was startled, but it was the Professor whose eyes widened most and whose lips quivered.

‘Give me my gun!’ he urged. ‘Quick. I won’t stand a chance without it.’

‘No,’ said Riley. ‘Things would be different if you hadn’t tried to kill us. Your past has caught up with you and it’s time for you to face it.’

He hoisted Ed to rest on a wooden beam in the ceiling. Then he returned to get Will. The Professor grabbed and hung on to him.

‘Please help me!’ he pleaded.

But Riley shoved him out of the way. He leapt onto the beam holding Will securely just as something shuffled through the hallway, past the bedroom doors. The Professor staggered into the night, slamming the door behind him.

The two boys watched as a beast crawled into the room. They held their breath and remained as quiet as possible. Ali-man was scaly and hideous. He had a snout like an alligator and raised it in the air sniffing frantically. Then he raised his long body on to his hind legs and opened his mouth wide, revealing spacious human-like teeth as he sniffed upwards at the ceiling. He had two stumpy forelegs with the sharpest of claws. The boys held their breath. The monster studied them for a brief moment before lowering itself and, ignoring them, it head butted the same door through which the Professor had exited and scuttled out the lodge. In the distance, they heard the revving of a car engine followed by a long piercing scream. The boys covered their ears.

A short while later Ali-man reappeared, filling the boys with dread. His mouth was covered in blood. The Professor hadn’t stood a chance. The boys were not saddened by his death; he wouldn’t be missed after the cruel games he had played. The boys had been his pawns and he had played them all their lives. If anything the boys were angry at their so-called father – angry at all the lies and deceit. No, he wouldn’t be missed.

But the boys were in trouble: Ali-man was skulking about the room and circled it a couple of times. He didn’t appear angry, just tired. It paused for a moment and then slowly shuffled from the building, snorting loudly. Riley had retrieved the gun and had planned to kill the beast if it tried to hurt them but it hadn’t been necessary.

‘His quest is finally over,’ whispered Ed, raising his eyebrows.

‘What quest?’ asked Riley.

‘To kill the man responsible for mutating him.’

‘Yeah, I see what you mean,’ said Riley. ‘He’d been searching for the Professor for all these years. Now that he has accomplished his mission, I wonder what he’ll do next.’

‘Riley, I hate to have to ask you this but I need help. I’ve lost a lot of blood.’

‘How do you feel?’ asked Riley.

‘Awful. I’m in agony. Do you think you could lift the front door and lay it across these two beams? Then I can rest on it with Will, while you go and get help. My phone is in my bedroom. Call Elisha. She’ll send us help.’

Riley leapt to the ground and, struggling to lift the door that Ali-Man had ripped off, he raised it in the air. Ed grasped hold of it while Riley climbed the wall. Between the two of them they positioned it securely to make a makeshift ledge. Riley then retrieved a couple of cushions to make his brothers more comfortable.

‘You surprised me tonight,’ said Ed.

‘How come?’ asked Riley.

‘The way you jumped on to the ceiling. You’re afraid of heights, but that didn’t stop you. You were amazing.’

‘I did what I had to in order to survive,’ smiled Riley. With that, he scaled the wall towards Ed’s bedroom where he found the phone. Crawling back onto the wooden beams, he passed it to Ed.

‘You call her,’ he said. ‘You know her better than I do.’

So Ed dialled the number and after a few rings she responded. ‘Oh, Ed, something terrible has happened,’ she said.

Ed groaned softly as his pain intensified. ‘What is it?’ he asked, gritting his teeth.

‘Are you okay Ed?’

‘No. I need your help. I’ve been shot. I was hoping you might persuade your dad to send some help.’

‘Oh, Ed,’ cried Elisha. ‘That’s what I wanted to tell you. Remember when you called earlier. Well, Dad traced your call. I didn’t know what he was planning until a few minutes ago. He should be with you in less than a few minutes.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, really,’ she replied. ‘I’ll call him straight away and let him know what happened. But what exactly did happen?’

‘Well, the man who wasn’t really my dad, shot me tonight. He wanted to kill my brother and me. But I’ll explain everything to you later. Riley’s also got an injury but not as bad as mine. Tell your dad to be careful. Has he got a gun?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Elisha. ‘Why would he need a gun?’

‘To protect himself against the wild animal, that’s been in the news. The one responsible for killing all those people. We saw it tonight.’

‘Oh my God. I’ll let Dad know and I’ll call you back,’ said Elisha.

So the boys waited together. They were numb and spent the time unravelling the bizarre events that had unfolded during the night. They had gone to sleep that evening not expecting such dramatic events to occur. They hadn’t known the Professor was in the area. Gradually they became aware of a distant rumble that grew steadily louder as it approached and stopped a short distance away. Despite his pain, Ed smiled at his brother. They’d lost a father but their brother had returned to them. It was anyone’s guess where Will had been for the past eight years. They had no idea what was wrong with him or how he had killed Hugo, if that was the truth. Who could ever believe anything that the Professor had to say? So far, the two brothers were immune to the poison soaking through his clothes.

Soon there were voices, calling outside the lodge.

‘Ed? Riley? Are you both here?’ The voice sounded deep and trustworthy.

Riley went to investigate. ‘We’re here!’ he called towards a group of men. ‘One of my brothers has been shot and the other is covered in poison, so don’t touch him.’

‘What the devil has happened here tonight?’ asked the man. He was tall, balding, with vibrant blue eyes, and wore a silver suit. ‘There’s a car parked near here ripped to shreds! Do you know anything about it? There’s blood all over it. It’s a massacre.’

Riley didn’t want to know the details. Instead he guided the man into the lodge to where his brothers were.

‘Don’t worry, son. We’ll get you to the hospital. By the way, I’m Elisha’s father. You can call me Bob.’

‘I thought that’s who you were,’ said Riley. ‘You and your daughter have the same eyes.’

The man paused to study the boys’ features in the light. Their eyes were strange and their fingers were webbed. ‘Perhaps we shouldn’t go to the hospital,’ he said. ‘They ask an awful lot of questions, which I’m sure you’d rather not answer. I’ll take you back to my house and you can receive treatment there. I have a doctor who I rely on an awful lot. I’d trust him with my life.’

‘Thanks,’ said Riley, climbing the wall to Bob’s amazement and carrying his brothers down one at a time. ‘I’ll carry Will to the helicopter. You shouldn’t touch him.’

‘Thanks,’ said Bob, who switched his attention to Ed.

There were another five men standing guard outside the lodge, all holding guns. With an armed escort, the boys felt safe. All except for Will, who had no awareness of what was happening around him. It would be a few hours more before he woke. They climbed into the helicopter and strapped themselves in for the ride of their lives as they were flown to Elisha’s home.