Underground (27 page)

I scrambled back from her. There was noise coming out of my mouth, but none of it was words.

I could hear Jordan moaning on the ground.

Dr Galton stopped, eyeing me curiously. ‘You don't know, do you? You don't know what you're doing here any more than I do.'

And then I was rising slowly off the floor, drifting into the air like a soap bubble. I flailed around, trying to get free, but nothing I did made any difference. Galton lifted me up until we were eye to eye.

‘Think of this as a mercy killing,' she said, closing what was left of the gap between us. ‘It will be far less painful than the death you would have suffered if we'd left you for Tabitha to clean up.'

I shivered as she brought the pistols down against my chest. Something blurred past me.

‘NO!'

BLAMBLAM!

I collapsed to the floor again, crying out, eyes squeezing shut. My hands flew to my chest, feeling the place where the bullets had torn through my skin.

But –

But there was nothing there. No pain. Not pain like there should have been. And then I heard a gluggy coughing noise from somewhere above my head.

I opened my eyes. Dr Galton had turned aside at the last second, weapons pointed away to my right.

Montag stood opposite her. He coughed again, two bright red circles spreading out across the chest of his shirt. And then he threw himself at Dr Galton.

His hands wrapped around her neck and they fell to the ground, almost on top of me, both grunting and shouting. And there was blood everywhere, billowing out between them.

Dr Galton twisted around, fighting to get out from under him, but for some reason she wasn't doing her brain thing on him. She dropped the guns, gasping for air.

Someone was screaming. Mum. Suddenly right there on top of Montag, shaking him, telling him to get up.

‘
Run
,' he spluttered, voice all wet.

Jordan moaned again from across the room.

I ran over to her, shoving the bed away. She'd dragged a sheet down from somewhere, and it was balled up against her side, bright red and sticky.

I bent down, arms hovering over her, helpless. ‘No, no, no, you're not –'

Mrs Burke was kneeling there, horrified, Georgia sobbing into her hair. I scanned the room, desperate. Mum was still at Montag's side, hysterical. Dad was behind her, trying to bring her away.

The guards bent down to help Dr Galton.

‘No!' she croaked, still writhing under Montag. ‘He's dead already! Take your weapons! Stop them!'

Something flew past out of the corner of my eye, and I ducked. But it was nothing Dr Galton had done. It was Amy, the running girl, already over at the door, turning the key.

I reached down, sliding my arms under Jordan.

She groaned. ‘It hurts.'

‘Sorry,' I breathed. ‘I'm sorry. I'm getting you out, okay?'

I looked up again. The door was open. Amy was already outside. ‘Go!' I said to Mrs Burke, who was still kneeling next to me. ‘Get out! I've got her!'

Jordan's mum nodded. She stood, taking Georgia with her. I hefted Jordan into the air, realising I was crying. Her mum and Georgia ran out the door.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. ‘Give her to me.' It was Mr Burke.

‘It's okay,' I said, glancing past him at Crazy Bill, still unconscious on the ground. ‘I've –'

‘
Give her to me!'

‘No – please – You have to take
him
. He's – He's too big. I can't –'

‘Do it,' Jordan murmured to her dad. ‘Take Bill. He's important.'

Mr Burke looked down at Jordan, then back up at me. Then he reached over and hoisted Bill up onto his back again. He glared at me with a look as terrifying as anything else I'd seen tonight. ‘You
get her home.'

I nodded, choking down a sob. ‘Yeah.'

Dad had finally got Mum away from Montag, and was dragging her, screaming, through the door.

One of the guards had picked up his gun. He stepped in front of us. ‘Hey – stop –'

‘MOVE!' boomed Mr Burke.

The guard shrank back, and we kept going, past the mess of arms and legs and blood that was Galton and Montag, out the door and into the darkness.

Chapter 34

W
EDNESDAY
, J
ULY
8
36
DAYS

We were in another corridor. Another dark, steel-walled tunnel under the town. There was a light shining off to my left, streaming down from the ceiling.

Officer Reeve was already up ahead, spotlighted, waiting for us. ‘This way!' he yelled. ‘Hurry!'

I ran toward him, my vision still blurred with tears. Jordan shuddered in my arms.

The light was coming from a room above our heads, at the top of another silver staircase. I passed Officer Reeve and staggered up, trying desperately to keep Jordan steady. Her dad came up after me, lugging Crazy Bill.

The room at the top was an office. Big desk, leather chair, lounges around a coffee table. I bumped into the desk, knocking over a little photo frame. It was a picture of Cathryn.

This must be her mum's office,
I realised dimly. Louisa Hawking, another one of the Shackleton Cooperative heads. We were in the office complex where my mum worked. Where she
used
to work.

Mum was screaming hysterically, fighting against Dad, trying to get back down the stairs. Mrs Burke and Georgia were up here too. And Amy, jittering wildly, looking ready to jump out of her skin. Jeremy stood over in the corner, back on his feet, but holding the wall for support.

‘They're coming!' called a voice from the bottom of the stairs. Mrs Lewis appeared in the tunnel, supporting the old lady who'd been hiding behind the pillow.

Jordan coughed weakly, then moaned, clutching her side. ‘Listen,' I said, holding her against me. ‘
No
dying,
okay?'

Reeve sprinted up the stairs with Jeremy. ‘Is that everyone?'

‘No,' panted Mrs Lewis, white-faced, ‘Simon and Daniel are still –'

BLAM!

Another bullet, somewhere down in the corridor. Georgia screamed.

‘Close it!' shouted Reeve.

‘But –'

‘Quickly!'

And someone must have found the right power outlet, because the trapdoor started sliding shut.

Mr Burke dumped Crazy Bill on one of the lounges. He ran over and upended the big wooden desk, scattering its contents across the floor. Mrs Lewis grabbed on and helped him drag it across the entrance to the tunnel.

‘Won't take them long to get that off,' said Reeve, rushing to one of the unoccupied couches. ‘Here, give me a hand with this.'

He and Mr Burke brought the couch over and dumped it on top of the upturned table.

‘Better,' said Reeve.

I heard a muffled hiss as the trapdoor started rolling back open, underneath the table.

Mum was still fighting, battering Dad with her fists. ‘Emily,
stop
,' Dad said firmly. ‘He's gone. You need to focus.'

Mr Burke hefted Bill back over his shoulder. He shot another distraught look at Jordan in my arms, then reached for the door. ‘This way,' he said, and I remembered that he worked here too.

We followed Mr Burke out into a dark corridor lined with offices. Jordan coughed again. I could feel her blood soaking through my shirt, still warm, and somehow that reminded me of kissing her, and I felt a rush of guilt, sickened that
that
was what I was thinking of at a time like this.

‘The back way,' I said, two steps behind Mr Burke. ‘You're taking us out the back way, right?'

He looked over his shoulder at me. ‘I would be if there was one.'

We bolted up to the end of the corridor, pushing through to a little foyer area at the front of the building. Amy shot over and pressed her nose to the sliding glass doors, staring out at the main street.

‘Ms Pryor!' she gasped, in her weirdly accelerated voice. ‘And there are security people with her!'

Reeve ducked across and tried to force the doors open. No good. ‘She's coming out from the Shackleton Building,' he reported, looking out across the street again. ‘Five guards with her.'

‘Move!' shouted Mr Burke, putting Bill on the ground. ‘Quickly, out of the way!'

Reeve and Amy jumped aside as Mr Burke went charging into the glass.

SMASH!

The doors didn't shatter right away, but they cracked pretty badly. He reared back and tried again.

SMASH!

This time he went straight through, momentum almost carrying him down the steps on the other side. He charged back in and swung Bill onto his shoulders.

‘Come on!' he shouted, reaching a hand to help Mrs Burke and Georgia through. I saw blood glistening where the glass had cut into him.

‘Which way?' asked Reeve.

‘Right,' I said, forcing myself to focus. ‘The airport road. And then out to the north. But – but we can't let the guards see.'

I ducked through the smashed glass, freezing wind hitting me as soon as I got outside. I pulled Jordan closer as I ran down the steps.

The security guards were already closing in from the left, circling around the fountain. Pryor ran along behind them, barely keeping up.

I looked back as I reached the bottom of the steps. Dad was right behind me, dragging Mum along by the wrist. She'd finally given up fighting, and was now just trailing mutely after him.

‘Stop!' Pryor ordered, as the guards formed a wide circle, moving in to cut us off. ‘All of you, stop where you are!'

Mrs Lewis froze at the top of the steps.

Jeremy threw his hands into the air. ‘All right! Don't shoot!'

‘No!' I shouted.
‘Keep going!'

I spun around, looking for a way through. The eyes of a couple of the guards widened as they caught sight of Officer Reeve, but they held their positions in the circle.

‘Down on the ground,' Pryor demanded. ‘Hands on your heads.'

Mr Burke stepped up behind me. ‘Here,' he said, hefting Crazy Bill off his shoulders and dumping him on my dad. ‘Take him.'

‘No!' Jordan choked.

‘Stop!' Pryor shouted again. ‘Do not move!'

Mr Burke stared down at me. ‘Get her home, Luke.'

He ran at Pryor. She had about two seconds to scream before Mr Burke crashed into her, tackling her into a garden bed. Two of the guards broke ranks, rushing in to help.

‘Daddy!'
Georgia cried.

Mr Burke roared, twisting around as the guards leapt on top of him. ‘RUN!'

I took off down the street, jolting Jordan with every step. My shirt stuck to my chest, wet with her blood. Mrs Burke made a horrible, grief-stricken sound and started after us.

Dad caught up, racing along beside me, cradling Bill awkwardly in his arms. Mum was with him, finally getting it together enough to run on her own. Reeve dragged Mrs Lewis along behind them, and –

And that was all.

Jeremy and the nameless old lady were both still back at the steps, cowering, facedown with their hands behind their heads. I couldn't see Amy anywhere.

There were still two guards coming after us. Officer Reeve started shouting something, and then the world ripped apart behind me as one of the guards pulled the trigger on their rifle. Somewhere behind me, Mrs Lewis let out a strangled cry. I kept going. Nothing I could do for her.

I could just make out the airport road up ahead, stretching away into the darkness.

Mum wailed behind me. I looked back, terrified. But she was still there. Still running.

We reached the dirt path that led out to the airport. I kept going, straight along the road. Had to get out of sight of the cameras before we veered back toward the Vattel Complex. The lights of the town faded away behind us until I could barely see where I was going. I glanced back again. The security guards were gone.
Why?

I slowed down, scanning the faces behind me, searching for an explanation.

Mum. Dad and Crazy Bill. Mrs Burke and Georgia. And Amy, somehow back with us.

‘Where's Reeve?' I asked.

There was a shout from back along the path, and then footsteps. People rushing toward us.

‘Into the bush!' I said, veering off to our left. ‘Hurry!'

We crashed down between the trees. Too loud.

‘Wait,
' I hissed. ‘Stop! They'll hear us!'

Everyone stopped running. I crouched at the edge of the road, resting Jordan on my knees. Georgia started whimpering again.

‘Shh,' Mrs Burke urged her, barely controlling her own sobs. ‘It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay.'

Officer Reeve came jogging along the path. He slowed, breath ragged, hospital gown blowing around his knees. His hands were wrapped around one of the security officers' rifles. He looked back up the path. The guards were still coming.

One of them flicked on a torch. ‘Up there!'

‘Reeve!' I hissed.