Boy X (16 page)

A few metres ahead, a black crag rose from the centre of the course, armed with brutal corners and sharp edges. It didn't matter that Ash was stronger and quicker than before – the rock would smash him to pieces just the same. At first the water clung to him, its frothing fingers refusing to let him go as it steered him towards the rock, but he fought hard to break free. As one part of the river released him, allowing another to take him, he skirted past the deadly rock, missing it by an arm's length, bringing him closer to the cradle that was buffeting just out of reach in the thick of the current.

The depths sucked at his legs, trying to drag him deeper. The surface pummelled him, threatening to push him down or break him against the rocks, but he had to get to that cradle. It was his only hope.

As soon as the wooden platform was within reach, Ash
boosted towards it, fingernails raking along the boards. Splinters needled his skin as the river wrestled to tear it from his grip. The river rushed in his face, sloshing into his mouth, trying to steal his breath, but he finally heaved himself aboard.

Ash clung to the ropes that were now wrapped around it, and pulled himself up, lifting his head to search the river.

‘Isabel!' He could hardly hear his own voice over the sound of the water. ‘Isabel!'

He watched the river, frantically looking for a sign. A flash of colour, a shape in the water.

There. Right in front of him. Something was waggling through one of the slats in the platform. Ash stared, trying to figure out what it was. Then, with a sickening sense of dread, it dawned on him. They were fingers.

‘Isabel!'

She was caught in the ropes tangled around the cradle. She was trapped beneath him, underwater. Unable to breathe.

Letting go with one arm, Ash scrambled closer to the edge and reached under the cradle to feel Isabel lodged there. She reacted to his touch as he grasped whatever he could – shirt or trousers or hair, it didn't matter – and pulled hard.

She didn't budge.

‘Come on!' he screamed as he tugged again. ‘Come on!'

Isabel still didn't budge and Ash knew he couldn't waste time trying again; he had to get her some air. Thinking quickly, he moved back on the cradle and dropped into the
water. He held tight and pushed down with all his strength, trying to tip the platform. Nothing happened, though; he was too small and light. He needed
more
weight,
more
strength, so he tucked his legs underneath the platform and pushed up with his feet while pulling down with his hands.

Finally, the heavy pallet began to tilt, the far end lifting up in the water until it was upright. Ash strained with effort, tipping the platform further and further until it flipped and toppled towards him. He had just enough time to grab hold of the ropes before it slammed down on top of him, forcing him deep into the water. When the rope tightened, he stopped with a jolt and was dragged along, clinging to the underside of the cradle.

Ash forged through the current, dragging himself handover-hand up the rope until he exploded from the surface of the water and grabbed for the slats on the upper side of the platform. Finding a secure purchase, he pulled himself aboard.

Isabel was right there, lashed to the cradle by the tangle of ropes, face down, with her head turned away from him. His first thought was that he was too late. Isabel was dead. She had drowned because he had been too slow to save her.

He clambered towards her and put his hand on her back, terrified that she was dead. He was filled with the sense that he hadn't done enough, that it was his fault, just like what happened to Dad had been his fault, but then Isabel groaned and lifted her head, coughing out muddy river
water. She paused, bedraggled like a drowned rat, then turned to look at him.

‘
Gracias,
' she whispered.

Ash closed his eyes and lowered his head onto the wood beside Isabel as all those horrible feelings washed away down the river. He
had
saved her. He really had.

He had saved Isabel just like he was going to save Mum.

‘
Gracias
,' she said again.

‘
De nada.
'

18 hrs and 08 mins until Shut-Down

T
he platform turned and bobbed as it washed downriver, but they had already survived the worst of it. By the time Ash flipped the pallet and brought Isabel above water, the main course of the river had widened further and the current had spread across its width. This gave it more space to accept the heavy rainwater pouring off the mountain.

‘You all right?' Ash asked. Their faces were just centimetres apart, their eyes locked together.

‘Yes. Cut me loose.'

Unclipping the knife from his belt, Ash touched the razorsharp blade to the ropes. ‘Hold tight.'

It wasn't as easy as simply cutting in one place, so it took
some effort to free her, but Isabel clung to the boards until Ash had sliced through the last piece and the ropes fell away into the water. He jammed the knife back into its sheath, then they took up position side by side on the pallet, with their legs trailing in the river, acting as rudders.

‘Over there.' Isabel pointed to a place on the right where the bank eased into the water. It was flat and covered with pebbles, and if they could reach it, they would be able to escape the river's hold on them. ‘We have to kick hard.'

So they kicked like maniacs, inching towards the edge of the main current and finally breaking free of it. From there it was much easier, and it wasn't long before they saw the pebbles beneath the stiller water.

‘I can touch the bottom,' Ash shouted, and he slipped off the platform so he was standing waist deep.

Isabel did the same and they let go of the pallet, watching it spin in lazy turns as it drifted back towards the place where the river ran white. Eventually the current caught it once more and it whipped away.

Exhausted, they sat on the pebbles and stared at the river that had almost killed them. Isabel's skin was white and there was a trickle of blood from her nose. ‘So I guess we
were
too heavy.'

‘Yeah. I guess so.'

‘But we survived. Maybe it will help with your fear of heights?'

‘I think it's made it worse. And we lost everything.' His satchel was gone, the rifle, and Isabel's backpack too.

‘We still have our knives,' Isabel said. ‘We can survive.
And we were lucky. There is a waterfall that way.' She tipped her bruised chin to indicate downriver. ‘We would have both been killed if you hadn't . . .' Her chin quivered like she was about to cry, and she wiped her hands across her face. ‘You were very brave.'

‘So were you.' Seeing her bloodshot eyes made Ash think about Mum, and for a moment he was back in the lab, reading the message she had typed on the tablet computer.

He glanced at Isabel's watch. ‘Does it still work?'

Isabel turned her wrist and nodded. ‘Shockproof. Waterproof.'

‘How long have we got?'

‘Eighteen hours.'

‘We should get moving.' Ash pushed to his feet and held out a hand to help Isabel up.

‘You're right.' She accepted the offer and pulled herself up beside him. ‘We have only two hours before it gets dark.' She pointed into the forest. ‘This way.'

‘Thorn was there,' Ash said as they trudged deeper among the trees. ‘When the rope snapped and we went into the water, I saw him on the bank. I think he was shouting something at me.'

‘Shouting what?'

‘I don't know.'

‘Well, it doesn't matter now. He must be far behind us. The rope is gone and there's no other way to cross when the river is so fast. Things turned out good for us.'

‘Except we almost died,' Ash said. ‘And now we're soaking wet. Oh,
and
we've lost all our gear. It's my fault – I don't know my own strength any more. A few days ago, I couldn't even do ten push-ups but now . . . I don't know. I need to be more—'

‘Careful.'

‘Exactly.'

‘No, I mean
be careful
.' Isabel stopped and pointed to the ground. ‘Don't stand there.'

Ash glanced down to see a mass of ants marching from left to right across his path. They were big, at least five centimetres long. They had narrow bodies and huge heads with strong mandibles, and there were thousands of them, clambering over one another, moving in a wide, red-and-black column. When Ash focused, he could hear their movement as they passed across the forest floor – the scuttling of a million legs moving against one another, and the snipping of jaws as they tore through the insects in their path. The ants swarmed over everything, leaving nothing untouched, and their sound was like a heavy downpour of rain.

Ash pushed the noise away and watched as a mass of ants broke away from the line and came towards him. ‘What are they doing?'

‘Don't move,' Isabel whispered.

‘They're coming for us.' Ash took a step back.

‘Stay still,' Isabel hissed. ‘They hunt by movement.'

‘They
hunt
?' Ash froze and stared as the mass came towards them. Closer and closer until they were almost
touching. He imagined them crawling up his legs and swarming over him, but he remained still as they moved closer. It was as if the ground was boiling in front of him, but then they stopped. As one, the insects came to a sudden halt, with their antennae feeling the air and their scissor-like mandibles opening and closing.

‘Just stay still,' Isabel said in a near-whisper.

Ash remained frozen to the spot as the ants tasted the air for a few long seconds before turning and continuing back to meet their original path. Now, instead of a line, the ants were marching in a curve that came close to Ash and Isabel, then moved away from them.

‘What's that all about?' Ash let out his breath but still didn't dare move. ‘It's like they were checking us out.'

‘Not us, I think.
You.
They know we are here, but they don't come to us because of you. Just like the boar stopped, and the insects don't bite you . . .' Isabel glanced at Ash.

‘You think I'm some kind of freak?'

‘Ash Plus?' Isabel raised her eyebrows. ‘I don't know.'

‘Great.' His voice was heavy with sarcasm.

‘It doesn't matter what you are. You are my friend and you saved my life many times. In the BioSphere, Thorn would have killed us. The boar. The river. And now the giant soldier ants.' Isabel pointed to a mass of black writhing bodies at the base of a nearby tree. The ants were piling around each other, forming an enormous, seething ball. ‘They make a nest out of themselves at night, then move on when the sun comes up.'

‘Gross.'

‘They're very dangerous,' she said. ‘They eat everything in their way. Walking into an army of them would be like walking into a pool full of piranhas. I have heard of people leaving their villages because they have seen soldier ants coming, but here on
Isla Negra
they are the biggest I have ever seen.'

It didn't surprise Ash.
Everything
on Black Island was bigger, stronger and more dangerous than anywhere else.

‘If you stand on them, they would cover you in seconds.'

‘Would they eat a person?'

‘If there are enough, they would eat anything.' Isabel tore her eyes from the mass of insects. ‘Come. We must keep going.'

They took quiet, careful steps as they moved into the jungle, leaving the ants behind. Ash scanned up and down, afraid of what he was going to stand on as well as what might fall on him from above. He would have been happy if he never saw another insect in his life. Looking around like that, though, rather than just staring at Isabel's back, he realized something he hadn't noticed before. ‘Are we on a path?'

‘Yes. Papa and I have come this way, but we didn't make the path. I think it was here many years ago.'

‘Made by who?'

‘Papa said soldiers were here.'

‘Soldiers? From where?'

‘You will see.'