The Twisted Future (Teen Superheroes Book 4) (9 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Brodie screamed.

Chad punched the man as hard as he could in the face. The stranger fell backwards and Chad followed up with a blast of fire. It struck him in the chest and he gave a single inarticulate cry before shuddering once and expiring on the spot. Creating a ring of fire, he illuminated the concourse. Empty. Chad examined Brodie’s wound. The bite had pierced her suit; blood seeped from the injury.

‘We have to get you out of here,’ he said to Brodie. ‘You need a tetanus shot and bandages.’

Sharla was staring at Brodie with a troubled expression. ‘We’re almost in Manhattan,’ she said. ‘Let’s get moving.’

She led them down to a platform, onto the tracks and continued along a tunnel, reaching a blockage where the ceiling had collapsed. Sharla knew the way well. She led them over the rubble to a metal ladder someone had placed there years before. At the top of the hole was an abandoned apartment.

They stripped off their suits. Chad was relieved to be free of the sticky garments. He was a lather of sweat and he stunk of body odor. They all did. He examined Brodie’s shoulder. It had already filled with pus. Exchanging glances with Sharla, he saw she was strangely silent, staring at Brodie without speaking.

‘What?’ Chad demanded. ‘What aren’t you saying?’

Sharla pursed her lips. ‘I’ve seen people bitten before by those things...’

‘And?’

‘And they don’t survive.’

‘What?’

Brodie scrambled to her feet. ‘That’s ridiculous,’ she said, laughing nervously. ‘I feel fine.’

‘Maybe your powers will fight off the infection,’ Sharla said. ‘But every other person has died.’

Chad asked, ‘Is there a doctor around here?’

‘A few blocks away.’

They abandoned the suits and Sharla took them to a brownstone three blocks away. Sharla gave a coded knock at the door and it was eased open by an elderly woman with steel-grey hair.

‘This is Robin,’ Sharla said. ‘She will do what she can for Brodie.’

‘Are you leaving?’ Chad asked.

‘I have to get back to my own life,’ she said, briefly hugging them. ‘Good luck with your mission. I hope it goes well.’

The old woman invited them into a living room on the ground floor, offering them seats, but she was already staring at Brodie’s shoulder.

‘What happened to you?’ she asked. ‘Have you been bitten?’

They explained what had happened and the woman’s face fell. ‘Sharla should have explained to you,’ she said. ‘This is extremely serious.’

‘She said no-one survived this sort of bite,’ Chad said. The words sounded foreign to him even as he said them. It meant Brodie could die, but that was ridiculous. Brodie couldn’t die.
She was Brodie
. He added, ‘Brodie’s been modified,’ he said. ‘She’s got three times normal strength and speed. She’ll be okay. Right?’

‘
Her powers will help,’ Robin said, examining the wound. ‘The people who live in the badlands have mutated. I’m not even sure they’re still human. I’ll clean and dress the wound and give you some antibiotics.’

Robin didn’t say anything after that. She worked on Brodie’s shoulder, wiping away the pus and stitching the bite marks closed. Finally, she gave Brodie some medication and told her to rest.

‘We’ll see how you are in a few hours,’ she said.

‘I feel sleepy,’ Brodie said. ‘Is that the pills?’

‘Your body is fighting the infection,’ Robin said, settling Brodie into a bed in the next room. Within seconds, she was asleep and Robin had returned to Chad. ‘We’ll monitor her condition,’ she said.

‘And if she worsens?’

‘I’ve never seen anyone survive a bite from one of those creatures,’ she said. ‘I think you need to prepare yourself for the worst. Your friend might die.’

Your friend might die.
The words rang in Chad’s head.
Your friend might die.

Exhausted, he settled into a chair as Robin left the room. He had hardly slept the previous night and barely eaten. Now he had to work out what to do about Brodie. If her condition worsened...

The next thing he knew, Robin was shaking his arm. He blinked, looking about in confusion. Somehow, he had fallen asleep, slumped in the chair. ‘Brodie,’ he said. ‘Is she all right?’

‘I’m afraid she’s very unwell,’ Robin said. ‘You’d better come.’

He followed Robin to the surgery where Brodie now lay on a surgical bed with her shoulder bandaged. Her eyes were shut, but they eased open when Chad spoke her name.

‘I’m very tired,’ she said. ‘Let me go back to sleep.’

Robin removed the bandage from her shoulder and Chad drew in his breath. The wound was severely inflamed. It had started to turn black. The cuts in her flesh had reopened and were seeping more pus.

The doctor drew Chad to one side. ‘The antibiotics have not worked,’ she said. ‘She may only have a few hours.’

‘That ridiculous!’ he snapped. ‘There must be something we can do!’

Robin thought. ‘There
is
a Doctor by the name of Steven Bryce in Berkeley Heights,’ she said. ‘He has some powerful medicines, far stronger than anything I have.’

‘What’s the address?’

She gave him the details. The suburb lay several miles west of Manhattan. Robin gripped his arm. ‘But you’ll never get there in time,’ she said. ‘It’s a full day’s walk.’

Chad nodded. An idea was forming in his mind, but he
didn’t like it. He asked Robin about the air defenses over the city, but she just repeated what Old Axel had told them: fighter craft attacked unauthorized vessels.

‘What are you thinking?’ she asked him.

‘I’m thinking about flying,’ Chad said. ‘Except I might end up killing us both.’

Chapter Twenty-Three

‘You can fly?’ Robin’s face brightened immediately. ‘That’s fantastic. You might—’

‘No,’ he said, cutting her short. ‘That’s the problem. I can’t fly. Not really.’

Doctor Michaels, a scientist at the Agency, had told him he could use his powers to fly. By creating a raft of superheated air, he could ride it through the sky like a surfboard. The scientist had offered to work with him, but the idea had terrified Chad.

Not that he would have admitted that fear to anyone. He was
The Chad
which meant he didn’t show fear. They had been living in Las Vegas at the time and he had gone out into the desert to practice, eventually gaining proficiency at flying short distances. He had quickly found the flying to be the easy part—the landings were harder. More than once, he had misjudged the distance between himself and the ground and had crashed hard enough to bruise his body—and his pride.

So he had given up on the idea, driving it completely from his mind.

Until now.

Because now Brodie would die unless he flew her to this doctor.

He went onto the roof of Robin’s house and stared at the sky.
It’s always so easy for Axel
, he thought.
He flies as if he’s got wings.
Chad had always felt like a tightrope walker. One wrong move and he would hurtle to the ground.

The memories were so terrifying he had even suffered nightmares, waking in the dead of night, dripping sweat. The one consolation as he lay in the dark was the knowledge he would never need to fly again. 

He went downstairs to Robin’s surgery. ‘How long has she got?’ he asked. ‘To live, I mean.’

‘A few hours,’ Robin said. ‘Maybe not that long.’ She stared into his face. ‘I can understand your fear.’

‘I’m not afraid—’ He stopped. ‘No, I
am
afraid. I’m terrified. I might fall from the sky. I might drop Brodie by accident. Anything could happen.’

‘You shouldn’t do it then,’ Robin said, gently. ‘It sounds like your chances of succeeding are slim.’

‘Slim?’ He laughed bitterly. ‘They’re almost zero.’

Robin continued to speak, but Chad was staring at Brodie’s face. No-one would ever know if he did nothing. No-one knew about his experiments in the desert. It would be a secret he could keep forever.

Except
he
would know and that was enough.

He had a second secret too, one he had hardly dared to acknowledge himself. He
thought he was in love with Brodie. He wasn’t sure, and it had never been a line of thinking he wanted to pursue. She was Axel’s girlfriend, after all, and they loved each other and that was that.

But sometimes
Chad wondered how life would be if she were not dating Axel. If she had
never
dated Axel, then everything would have been completely different. She might even have been with him from the very beginning.

He swallowed. No matter who she was dating, he would not let her die. Never. Picking her up, she stirred groggily in his arms. Dark rings had formed around her eyes. ‘Are we at the beach?’ she asked. ‘I want to go swimming again.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re not well. I’m taking you to a doctor.’

He carried her to the roof, his hands shaking, as a paralyzing fear gripped his chest.
This was crazy!
They would both get killed! But what sort of man would he be if he didn’t try? 

I’m The Chad!
he thought.
I’m a superhero!

Now he had to act like one.

Robin was at his elbow. ‘Evolution gave us fear as an advantage,’ she said. ‘Run or fight. Changing your view of fear can change your feelings.’

‘Thanks,’ he grunted.

Chad formed a raft of heat with his mind. Robin stepped back as he made it superhot. Then he ran forward with Brodie in his arms and leapt onto it. For one horrifying moment he started to sink into it, but then he remembered the advice of Doctor Michaels.

You need to create a cushion of cold directly above the heated layer to protect yourself.

So he did this and the heat immediately subsided. He focused on projecting the raft forward and he started across the roof. Robin called out
good luck
, but he didn’t reply. The raft headed over the edge of the roof and they started to drop.

For one terrifying second he thought he would plunge to the street below. Then he refocused again on the raft, making it more powerful, and it lifted him again.
Keep moving forward
, he told himself.
Onwards and upwards.
Within seconds he was high above Manhattan.

He was frightened—his whole body shook like a jellyfish—but he was alive. Sweat was dancing a jig down his back. His hair was plastered to his head. This was working.
Somehow. His first goal was to aim for New Jersey. Some of its distinctive landmarks were visible in the distance. If everything went well, he might have Brodie at the doctor’s within the hour.

Then he spotted something from the corner of his eye.

‘Oh no,’ he muttered.

A small, black dot was slicing across the horizon, growing
larger by the second.

‘I want to go to the beach,’ Brodie said. ‘I need to swim...’

Chad increased his speed and was soon speeding over the city buildings. Unfortunately the object in the sky had adjusted direction towards him and had increased velocity. It was a guided missile.

‘Where’s the beach?’ Brodie murmured.

Chad felt his arms shaking worse than ever. He needed to land—and quickly—except he was too high up. Getting to the ground would take over a minute. And what if the missile followed them all the way down?

He had to go faster. He increased speed again, but the missile was still heading straight towards him. It was less than a mile away. Now only a thousand feet. He only had seconds to act so now he diverted his attention, creating a solid sheet of ice in mid air.

As long as the missile stuck it—

The missile slammed into the sheet and exploded. The forward impact from the shrapnel rained towards Chad and Brodie. He threw up a second ice shield
to protect them.

Chad almost laughed out loud.
We’re alive!
Not a single piece of the missile had hit them. He had never felt so elated in his life.

Then his flying raft evaporated and they
began falling earthward.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Night had fallen across the island. Dan sat huddled in the
Liber8tor
galley nursing a cup of hot chocolate. He had returned to the ship after Henry had gone missing. He did not believe the boy was in immediate danger. He had, after all, survived on the island for some time; he must know a hundred hiding places. Dan was more concerned about himself and the ship.

‘Have you picked up any life forms?’ he asked Ferdy.

‘The
Liber8tor
senses have not,’ Ferdy said. ‘It would seem that whatever you heard in the jungle does not show up on our senses.’

Great
, Dan thought.
Just what I needed.

‘Are the weapons systems working?’ he asked.

‘They are operating at normal levels.’

‘So we have missiles...’

‘Missiles and laser systems,’ Ferdy said. ‘However, there is nothing specifically designed for monsters.’

‘Are you saying you don’t believe me?’ 

‘It does seem strange that the
Liber8tor
sensors cannot pick up the creature.’

‘The sensors couldn’t pick up Henry either.’

‘That is true.’

Dan wondered where Henry had gone. Probably back to his cell in the laboratory complex. ‘Were you able to find out anything more about the Japanese during the war?’ he asked.

‘Ferdy has an enormous amount of information about Japan during the war. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December seventh—’

‘No, I mean the Japanese on his island.’

‘Unfortunately not.’

Dan finished his drink and went to his room. The chamber was designed to house four Tagaar warriors, but Dan had converted it into a home away from home. The other bunks had been stripped, now holding televisions and gaming equipment. He considered playing
Zombie Attack Squad
, but decided he didn’t feel like it. The last thing he needed was a reminder about monsters and the living dead.

He read for a while before turning in. Another light remained on in the corridor all night. Chad always teased him by calling it his nightlight, although they all found the crew quarters claustrophobic as there were few windows around the ship. 

Closing his eyes, he doubted he would sleep at all, but found himself opening them again several hours later. He wondered what had awakened him. Usually he slept all night. Maybe the others were back.

‘Axel?’ he called. ‘Hey guys.’

There was silence, but a shadow moved across the hall. He went to the door.

‘Brodie?’ The hall was empty. ‘Who’s there?’

No answer.

‘Ferdy?’

Ferdy’s voice came back immediately. ‘Yes, friend Dan.’

‘Is anyone else aboard
Liber8tor
?’

‘The only ones aboard
Liber8tor
are Ferdy and Dan.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Nothing is certain, Dan. It is possible that an inter-dimensional singularity has opened up, allowing an alien from another dimension to invade the ship.’

‘Uh, how likely is that?’

‘One chance in several hundred billion.’

‘I think we can rule that out.’

A sound came from the galley. Dan asked Ferdy to turn on all the lights both inside and outside
Liber8tor
. A metal pipe lay in his bedroom. Retrieving it, he crept down the hall. An elevator and metal ladder led up. Dan chose the ladder, but used his mind to send the metal pipe up first. Nothing attacked it, so it carefully climbed to the top, peering about. He saw the table, storage compartments, freezer, ovens and benches—but no-one else.

‘Henry?’ he called. ‘Are you here?’

Silence.

Then Ferdy’s voice came from the loud speaker system. ‘There is no-one else on board the ship, friend Dan.’

‘You also said there were no monsters on the island!’

‘The
Liber8tor
sensors—’

‘Screw the
Liber8tor
sensors!’ Dan snapped. The tension was really getting to him. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.’

‘That’s all right, friend Dan. Fear is a difficult emotion.’

‘Do you...I mean, do you still feel fear now that you’re...’

‘Now that Ferdy’s consciousness is contained within the
Liber8tor
computers? Yes. It is an irrational feeling, but it doesn’t make it any less real.’

‘Uh...which means?’

‘Ferdy understands how you’re feeling.’

‘Thanks.’ Dan felt a little better. He poured himself a glass of water and sat it on the bench. From the freezer, he pu
lled out a selection of freeze-dried packets that all looked like they belonged in a lab.

‘We’ve got K’tresh and B’klah and Gar’kah,’ he said, reading the labels. ‘Ferdy, can’t we just order out for pizza?’

‘The nearest pizza shop is several thousand miles away.’

‘Really? There’s not one on the island?’

‘If Dan is making a joke—’

The room went dark: the lights, the computers, even the emergency signs above the doors. Dan found himself in pitch black darkness. It was like being inside a cave, a deep cavern miles beneath the ground, and without a light. Dan dropped the food packets. They made a clattering sound and he almost jumped a mile. He had laid the pipe down when he first entered. Now he tried bringing it to him, but couldn’t do it without seeing it first.

His heart pounding, Dan slowly made his way around the bench. Where had he sat the pipe?
It’s here somewhere
. His hands slid over the cold tabletop.
Where is it?

Clink.

Dan’s heart exploded in his chest. Something was on the other side of the table! Something alive! He could hear it breathing!

Wh
ere was the pipe? Where had he—?

The lights snapped back on and Dan stared in absolute horror—at nothing. He was alone in the galley. No monster. All was exactly as it was before the lights went out.

‘—then it is a funny joke,’ Ferdy finished.

‘Ferdy,’ Dan said in a strangled voice, ‘what made the power fail?’

‘The power has not failed.’

‘Everything went off!
You stopped speaking and I was standing here in the dark!’

‘Ferdy has no recollection of those events. The third king of England was—’

‘I don’t care if he was the third king of Pluto!’ Dan yelled. ‘The power failed!’

‘There is no record of the power failing.’

‘Check the
Libr8tor
sensors! Double-check them. I was here alone, but then something else was in here too!’

‘If you are referencing the Schrodinger’s Cat hypothesis—’

‘Forget Shoddy Ring’s Cat! Just check the sensors!’ Dan tried to calm himself. ‘Has anything entered the ship in the last few minutes?’

‘There is no record of anything entering or leaving the ship,’ Ferdy said.

But Dan had stopped listening to him because now he was staring at his glass of water on the table. Now he understood the sound in the darkness, the
clink
that had set his hair on end. 

The glass had been turned upside down.

And it was still filled with water.