The Darkest Corners (13 page)

Mumbles sighed. ‘No.'

‘Really?' I.C. gasped. ‘I thought you'd be able to smell
Australia
with that thing!'

Mumbles snapped back at him, but I wasn't paying any attention now. I was thinking about his and Ameena's words. Somewhere that would remind him he'd won. Somewhere he could gloat.

It hit me then. Somewhere that would break my heart.

‘Home,' I said, and my voice cracked with the weight of the word. ‘Take me home.'

B
y the time we were halfway to the village, Billy's mouth was open. Fresh blood seeped from the holes above and below his lips, and the stitches lay scattered across the floor in the back of the car.

Mumbles was sitting back in his seat now. He looked cartoonishly large, squashed in, his head touching the roof.

‘Thanks,' Billy said, wiping the worst of the blood on his sleeve.

‘No problem,' Mumbles shrugged. ‘Stings for a while, but you get over it.'

Billy nodded. ‘Thanks,' he said again. He tried a smile, but it clearly hurt too much for him to quite pull it off.

The car's occupants fell silent after that, save for I.C. singing softly about the scale of Mr Mumbles' facial features.

It was Billy who eventually spoke. His throat was dry, making him hard to hear over the sound of the 4x4's engine.

‘Why's she here?'

He was staring at the back of Ameena's head, looking almost like the bully he used to be.

‘She's OK,' I said. ‘She's on our side. It was all just –' I glanced across at the girl in the driving seat – ‘a misunderstanding.'

Billy didn't seem satisfied with this answer, but he didn't press the issue. ‘So... what happened? To the world, I mean.'

All eyes went to me for the reply.

‘It was my fault,' I said. ‘My dad tricked me into using my abilities. I brought the barrier down, and now everyone's dying.'

‘You can stop it, right?'

I didn't answer.

‘But, your magic power thing. The stuff you can do. You can stop it. I mean, you've
got
to stop it.'

‘I can't do any of that any more,' I said. ‘It doesn't work in the Darkest Corners, and the Darkest Corners is now here.'

Billy leaned back and looked out through the windows. We were approaching the village again and the sounds of madness and chaos were already reaching out to meet us.

‘So, what, everyone dies? That's it?'

‘Pretty much,' Ameena said. ‘And it wasn't your fault, Kyle.'

I looked at her. ‘It was.'

‘No, it really wasn't. He'd been planning this for years. He had all kinds of back-up ideas figured out. He would just have kept coming after you until you eventually broke. He was actually impressed you lasted as long as you did, but he would never have given up. One way or another, he'd have worn you down.'

‘She's right,' Mumbles said. ‘He thought I'd be enough to get you to open the gateway, and look what happened there. You coped with everything he threw at you. In the end, he had to resort to tricking you. He didn't break you. Y
ou
broke
him.
'

I gritted my teeth and stared ahead through the windscreen. ‘Not yet. But I'm going to.'

‘He'll be well protected,' Ameena said. ‘He built up a loyal following over there. You won't just be fighting him, you'll be fighting an army.'

‘If that's what it takes,' I said. ‘But I don't expect any of you to come with me if you don't want to. This is my fight now.'

‘You're kidding, right?' Ameena said. ‘I'm coming with you.'

‘Me too,' Billy added.

‘We could all get killed.'

‘Yeah, well,' Billy shrugged. ‘Whatever. What's left to live for, anyway?'

‘That's the spirit, Bill,' Ameena cheered.

‘Mumbles?' I said.

‘I'm in.'

‘What about I.C.? Won't it be too dangerous?'

‘He can handle himself. I've been training him.'

‘Yeah, but for what? A fortnight?'

‘He's a fast learner.'

‘Super fast. Zoom zoom!' I.C. added, then he reached round the back of my chair and gave me a pat on the head.

‘I dunno. We should probably get him somewhere safe.'

‘Where do you suggest?' Mumbles asked, and there was no real answer to that.

‘I want to come. Want to help,' I.C. insisted.

I realised in that moment that I had something I had never had before. I had friends. Real friends, who were prepared to stand by me, whatever the cost.

Oh, sure, one of them was a borderline teenage psychopath who used to beat me on a daily basis, and the other three didn't technically exist, but I never said they were perfect.

‘Thank you,' I told them. ‘But we're not taking I.C. in there. It's too dangerous.'

Before anyone could reply, a
roar
from overhead made everyone but Mr Mumbles duck.

A fighter jet screamed above us through the darkened sky. ‘Hairyplane!' I.C. cried, and he banged his head off the window while trying to get a better look.

‘The air force,' Billy cried. ‘They're sending in the military. It's going to be OK.'

I almost laughed with relief. Not because I thought the jet would swoop down and save us, but because it meant we weren't alone. With what I'd seen on TV and what I'd seen up close, it had begun to feel like Billy and I were the only real people left. But we weren't. There were others. At least one.

I watched the jet bank sharply to the left. Then I noticed that there was something else flying close beside it, virtually invisible in the dark. It looked to be black or charcoal grey, with dragon-like wings and a long, whip-like tail.

The jet levelled off and the black shape closed in. Its wings were spread out, mirroring those of the jet. It glided above the plane, then dropped down and clung on like a limpet. I could almost hear the pilot's screams of confusion and fear.

‘It's going down,' Ameena said.

‘Pull up,' I whispered. ‘Pull up, pull up, pull up!'

But a moment later the sky was lit up by a ball of orange flame as the plane struck the hillside. Ameena slammed on the brakes, dazzled by the sudden light. We watched the flames licking over the grass and saw the smoke curling lazily into the air.

‘He ejected,' I said, fooling no one. ‘He ejected and got out.'

‘No, he didn't,' Mumbles grunted.

‘We don't know that,' Ameena interjected. ‘Maybe Kyle's right. Maybe…' But she couldn't think of a convincing argument.

‘He could've saved us,' Billy croaked. ‘It might have been OK.'

‘No, it wouldn't,' I said, with more venom than I should have. ‘The whole world's affected, Billy. There are billions of the things flooding every town and city on Earth. How was one plane going to help?'

The car gave a violent shudder. The engine spluttered. Ameena stared at the dashboard as all the little warning icons lit up like a Christmas tree.

‘What now?' I asked.

‘I have no idea.' Ameena turned the key. The engine rumbled for a few moments, then died away completely. When she turned the key again, the car didn't make a sound. ‘Dead. It's completely dead.'

Billy leaned forward. ‘What? How?'

‘I don't know, Billy! It just died.'

‘You've done something, haven't you?' Billy snapped. ‘You've done something. Start it up again. You're doing this on purpose!'

‘Of course I'm not doing it on purpose.'

I looked at her. ‘To be fair, it is the sort of thing you'd think was funny.'

‘Well,' she said thoughtfully. ‘Yes, that's true, but I didn't do anything. The car won't start.'

‘What will we do?' I.C. asked from the back.

‘It's not far from here,' I said. ‘A couple more bends and we're there.'

‘A couple more bends in the dark,' Billy added.

‘Not scared of the dark, are you?' Ameena snapped.

‘No, I'm scared of what might be hiding
in
the dark waiting to kill me. Which at this point is probably everything.'

‘There's no choice,' I told him. I looked around the car. There were trees on one side, a rocky slope leading steeply upwards on the other. Driving, it would've been two minutes maximum until we reached the edge of the village. On foot it would be more like ten. I opened my door. ‘We'll have to make a run for it.'

There was a cackle from down near the ground. I looked in time to see something the size of a small monkey come scrabbling up through my half-open door. Its movements were monkey-like too. It swung up the door, bounced on my lap, then propelled itself directly towards my face. I ducked to the side, then heard Billy cry out in panic.

‘
Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!
'

Ameena and I spun in our seats. The thing was clinging on to Billy's face, its hands and feet holding on to clumps of his hair. It was completely bald, with raw-looking pink skin covering it from head to toe. Its face was squashed up like a bat, and its pointed ears flapped as it sniggered with delight.

‘Hold still,' Mumbles growled. He clamped a hand across the thing's bony back and pulled. There was a sudden tearing sound and the creature let out a short, sharp squeal.

The thing kept holding on to Billy's head, but now there was one in Mumbles' hand too. It blinked rapidly, had a quick check of its bearings, then shot up Mumbles' sleeve. He punched his forearm furiously, trying to flatten the bulge that was now moving up towards his elbow.

Just as the bulge neared his bicep, a fist smashed down on it. Direct hit. There was a squelchy cracking sound and the lump stopped moving.

A second later, two mounds began making their way along the sleeve in opposite directions. From beneath the coat I could hear both creatures snigger. The one on Billy's face was still holding on, giggling hysterically as it ground its raw flesh across his cheeks.

‘There's things in here!' I.C. announced.

‘We seem them, it's OK,' I said.

‘I think they're squirrels. Hello there, Mr Squirrel.' I.C. reached over to pat the thing on Billy's face. It hissed and nipped at his fingers with little sharp teeth. I.C. gave a high-pitched ‘
Eek!
' and jumped back. ‘I don't think they're squirrels,' he decided.

Mr Mumbles was thrashing about on the seat now, punching and slapping four mounds that moved around below his coat. Billy was trying to pull the thing off his face, but whenever his hands got near, it would snap at him, then laugh when he pulled away.

‘What are they?' I asked.

‘Little Nasties,' Ameena replied.

‘I see that, but what are they?'

‘No, they're Little Nasties. That's what we call them. Came across a whole community of them a few years back. Wasn't much fun. This one must've done something to the underside of the car. That's why it died. That's what they're like – not dangerous, just annoying.'

Billy yelped as the Little Nasty on his face took a bite out of the top of his finger.

‘OK, so they're a
bit
dangerous,' Ameena said.

‘Stop discussing it,' Billy yelped. ‘Get rid of it!'

Ameena shrugged. ‘They usually just get bored and wander off.'

Billy tugged on the creature. It gave a soft
pop
and another one came away in his hands.

‘Oh yeah, and they're unstable. Physically, I mean. Although probably emotionally too, if you really wanted to analyse them. They self-replicate when they get injured.' She glanced at Mr Mumbles, who was now thrashing and kicking wildly at a swarm of lumps moving beneath his coat. ‘Probably should've mentioned that sooner, really.'

Mumbles arched his back and tore open his coat. The buttons pinged off the roof and windows, and then the inside of the 4x4 was filled with a dozen or more of the bare-skinned beasts. They leapt across the back of the seats, scrambling through hair and over shoulders and across the controls of the car.

I lashed out, knocking them away, but every time I hit one, it became two. ‘Everybody out,' I barked, rolling through my open door and on to the road. I heard the driver's door open and Ameena jumped down. We both ran towards the front of the car, swiping at the Little Nasties that had clung to us through our escape.