Boy X (14 page)

‘It's not far to fall,' Isabel said. ‘Three or four metres.'

From higher up, where Ash had first slipped, it had looked like he was sliding towards a cliff, but now he was closer he could see that he wouldn't have fallen far to the pebbled bank below. The bump would have hurt, but it wouldn't have been fatal. And beyond the short stretch of pebbles, Ash could see why he had thought the rain sounded so loud.

‘The river looks dangerous,' Isabel said. ‘The rain is making it fast.'

The water was raging round the bend to their left. It crashed against large black rocks at its edges, spraying white foam into the rain.

‘I still could have got hurt,' Ash sulked. ‘And I've got a thing about heights.'

‘A thing?'

‘You know, I'm . . . I don't like them.' It sounded ridiculous after everything they'd been through.

‘You are scared of heights?'

‘I don't
like
them. It's not the same thing.'

Isabel nodded as if she understood, but they both knew that not liking heights and being scared of them were exactly the same thing.

‘I went to this place one time, for a friend's birthday party, and we had to climb around all these obstacles in the treetops. There were tightropes and cargo nets and it was really high up, and . . . well, I
really
didn't want to do it, but I didn't want to look like a wimp either. There was a zip wire from right at the top of this massive tree, and I just had to close my eyes and jump off the platform. About halfway down, the pulley jammed and . . .' Ash could remember it clearly – the sudden jolt, the bite of the harness cutting into his thighs, the tight fist of terror that crushed his insides. ‘I got stuck. I was just dangling there for ages before they could get me down. All my friends thought it was funny. They were looking up at me and laughing, and all I could think was that the cable was going to snap and I was going to fall and die.' He looked at Isabel, thinking she was so much tougher than him. ‘Pretty lame, huh? I bet you're not scared of anything.'

‘Small dogs.' She wiped a drip of rainwater from the end of her nose.

‘What?'

‘Little dogs. I don't know why. They look scary when they move, I guess, and all that noise they make. I'm sorry, it was bad to laugh.'

Ash put his chin on his knees and watched the river boiling.

‘Why did you run?' Isabel asked. ‘The jungle is dangerous. You should do what I tell you.'

‘Yeah. You said that.'

Isabel shuffled closer, so her shoulder was against his, then she nudged him. ‘It was funny.'

Ash squirmed away and continued to look at the river.

Isabel moved closer and nudged him again. ‘It really was.'

Ash thought about what he must have looked like, running off like an idiot, sliding down the bank. Isabel was right; it must have looked funny. He turned to see her smiling at him through the rain, her hair hanging in wet tendrils, her brown eyes glistening, and he couldn't help smiling back. ‘I guess I must have looked pretty lame.'

‘Lame? What is this word?'

‘You know; stupid. Uncool.'

‘Stupid, no. Funny, yes.'

‘Yeah, well. Whatever.'

‘You should smile more,' Isabel said. ‘You look handsome when you smile.'

That took Ash by surprise. No one had ever called him that before. At least, not that he could remember. ‘Maybe if I had something to smile about.' He turned his eyes to the river again, watching the white water froth around the
edges and surge along the centre of its course. ‘Everything's just so weird,' he said. ‘Ever since I woke up, it's like . . . I dunno. It's like I'm not me any more. Except I
am
me.'

Isabel frowned. ‘I don't understand.'

‘Nor do I. Strange things are happening to me. I feel different.'

‘Like hearing things?'

‘Yeah. And seeing things I didn't notice before. Smelling things. And then, sometimes it's like everything is happening in slow motion and my reactions are quicker. I feel stronger too.'

‘Like a superhero?'

‘No.' He felt embarrassed at the suggestion. ‘Not like that. More like . . .' He tried to think of a way to explain it. ‘More like when you play a video game for the second time and it lets you keep all the upgrades.'

‘You mean New Game Plus?'

‘Yeah, except I'm
Ash
Plus. Like I've been wearing a see-through plastic suit all my life and now I've taken it off.'

‘This is why you knew Thorn was there in the dark. You heard the boar, you smell things, you don't get tired in the jungle.'

‘There's this too.' Ash held up his hand, glad to finally be talking about it. Glad that Isabel believed him. ‘I cut myself with the knife before we left your house.'

‘Right there?' Isabel pointed to the faint red line on his skin.

Ash nodded and unfastened his boot, pulling it off before removing his sock and unwinding the bandage. ‘And these
cuts are gone.' He grabbed his foot to look at the sole, and the rain washed away the dried blood, revealing unbroken skin beneath.

‘That's not normal,' Isabel said.

‘No.' Ash put his sock and boot back on. ‘So what the hell is happening to me? Is it this island?'

Isabel shrugged. ‘I have never seen anything like this before.'

‘And all this stuff in my head. I thought it was going to drive me crazy.'

‘It still feels like that?'

‘I'm getting used to it.' Ash tried to put his feelings into words. ‘It's like . . . like if you go somewhere new, you notice things, but after a while you stop noticing them unless you really look, or unless something changes. Well, when I notice, or really concentrate, I can smell all kinds of things, see things. I can even hear your heartbeat.'

‘So what do I smell like?'

Ash remembered back to the first time he had seen Isabel. ‘Sweet ginger, cinnamon, coconut. And a little sweaty.'

Isabel snorted. ‘Well, it
is
hot here.'

‘And . . .' Ash closed his eyes and focused on Isabel. ‘And—' He opened his eyes and looked at her.

‘What?'

Ash shook his head.

‘
Kronos
,' Isabel said. ‘It's inside me, isn't it? You can smell it. It wasn't just inside the lab, it was everywhere.'

Ash turned away.

‘But you don't have it. It doesn't affect you, does it?'

He shook his head.

‘I can feel it.' Her voice was quiet. ‘I am getting sick.'

‘No. Maybe you're just tired and—'

‘But you can
smell
it.'

She was right. The scent of cooker gas was all around her, but now there was something else too: a sickening sweetness, like overripe fruit just on the turn, with a thread of rancid milk knotted through it. He knew at once that it was the smell of death – the stink of
Kronos
slowly destroying her body.

‘I don't want to die,' she said.

‘You won't.' Ash put a hand to the tag round his neck. What happened to Dad might have been his fault, but nothing like that was ever going to happen again. ‘You're going to be fine. Cain and Pierce are out there and they have the cure. We'll find them. We'll find them and everyone will be fine. You, Mum, your dad.
Everyone.
'

But when Isabel looked at him, he saw the doubt in her eyes.

18 hrs and 43 mins until Shut-Down

O
ne hundred metres wide, the river rushed through the forest, unstoppable and without mercy. Even in the shallows it moved at speed, but in the centre it was a raging monster, smashing against ragged rocks that rose from the spray like twisted teeth. It spewed foam and roared with energy that could snap bones as easily as matchsticks.

Ash's muddy boots ground the wet pebbles underfoot as he ventured closer to the edge. Clothes heavy with grime, he climbed onto a large black boulder to look into the seething water. The wind rushed around him, displaced by the ferocity of the water just a few metres away. He was mesmerized by the awesome power of what he was
seeing. The wounds on his feet and hands might have healed faster than normal, but if he fell into that violent torrent he wouldn't have a chance; it would force him under and send him tumbling to his death. If he didn't drown, he would crack his head on one of those huge rocks and it would split his skull, just like it would split
any
one's.

‘Do we really have to cross this?'

‘Yes.' Isabel climbed up beside him. She looked like an explorer, with dirty streaks on her face, the pack and rifle slung over her back, standing in the softening rain.

Ash watched her, hoping that she could stay tough. Her heart was beating fast, but it sounded strong. She was hot, but not feverish, she smelt no more unwell than before, and—

‘Stop it.'

He felt a flush of embarrassment. He hadn't meant to . . . what could he call it? Was there a word for using all your senses to find out how a person is feeling?

‘It's like you're reading me. Don't.'

Read.
That was it. He had been
reading
her.

‘Yeah. Sorry. Um, is there some kind of bridge?' He glanced both ways along the river. To the left, it coursed round a bend, disappearing into the forest, but on the right there was a long, straight stretch before it vanished among the trees at the base of a large mountain.

‘No bridge,' Isabel said. ‘But there is a way to cross.' She pointed downriver towards the bend.

‘I don't see anything.'

‘Another five to ten minutes walking and you will.' She
climbed from the rock and shucked the rifle from her shoulder. She removed her rucksack and dropped it on the shingle before rotating her neck and stretching her muscles.

‘You think the others got across?' Ash jumped down.

‘I think they crossed much further upriver, before the rain.

When the river was calmer, they could swim it.'

‘What about the crate? How would they get that over?'

‘Maybe it floats.'

Ash thought about the way the soldiers had kept hold of the wooden box when they had backed away from the crashing helicopter. It was important to them. ‘What do you think's inside it? It had air holes. You think it might be some kind of animal?'

‘We can ask them when we find them.' Isabel gave up trying to ease the tension in her aching muscles and shouldered the rucksack. She placed the rifle butt on the shingle and leant on the weapon for a moment. Her eyes were a little more bloodshot than before and every breath was now accompanied by a gentle rasping sound from deep in her chest. ‘I don't feel so good, but I guess you know that. You have to listen to me,' she said. ‘In case I can't go on.'

‘What are you talking about?'

‘I'm tired, Ash. Maybe too tired.'

‘No. You're not getting out of this. You have to—'

‘Just listen. I will try to keep going, but if something happens, you need to know where to go.'

‘I'll carry you if I have to.'

Isabel smiled. ‘We'll go to the crossing, and on the other
side we follow a path through the jungle to a pool. There is a place there to spend the night. Shelter. From there, we can walk along the ridge towards the bay. It's the same direction the others will have to go, but faster, so maybe we catch up with them or get to the boat first. Maybe we are already ahead of them.'

Ash remembered Mum's instructions. She had been clear. She wanted them to stop Pierce from leaving the island at all costs. She wanted
that
to be their priority. But Ash had other ideas. ‘If we see them, we go after the cure,' he said.

‘Of course. What else?'

‘We're not going for the boat, like Mum wanted; we're going for the cure. That's our primary objective. The boat is secondary. It's optional.'

Ash knew about primary and secondary objectives from playing video games. Primary objectives delivered the main reward, secondary objectives delivered a bonus, and right now Ash wasn't interested in the bonus.