Boy X (4 page)

The untidy man from the funeral stood back against the glass lobby as the aircraft rose and slipped sideways like an animal trying to escape the irritating prattle of the bullets. When it was way above the trees, the nose dipped and it looked for a second as if it might actually escape. But
then the machine twisted and the tail dropped, lifting the nose so it was pointing at the sky.

Cain and Hulk continued to fire as the helicopter tipped further back, then jerked to the left and began to drop.

It came down hard and fast.

Cain and the others stopped shooting and ran towards the building to escape the crashing aircraft. As they came, the door opened, letting in the sound of the struggling engine. Whatever was in the crate must have been important because the two men didn't put it down. Despite the extra weight, they ran with it back to the BioSphere, followed by their orange-haired colleague.

At the far edge of the clearing, the helicopter's rotors clipped the forest canopy, jolting the aircraft into a lazy spin that twisted it first one way, then the other, as it whirled towards the ground, hitting the grass with a sickening crunch.

Even then, the helicopter continued to spin, flicking round as if it were nothing more than a toy. The tail boom smashed into the electric fence, sending up a shower of sparks. It tore through the mesh and hit the base of a large tree. There was a sharp scream of metal as the tail tore off, then what was left of the aircraft flipped over onto its side, the rotors ripping away and breaking into pieces that shot across the clearing like missiles.

Plumes of dust and smoke rose from the crash site, billowing across the ground, rising to form a huge cloud that washed over the clearing. It rolled towards Ash and Isabel like a tidal wave, forcing its way through the open
doors. It smashed into the lobby, spraying everything with soil and broken twigs, turning the space inside the glass into a raging storm, smothering Cain and the others.

‘
A
re you all right?' Isabel was shaking his arm. ‘Are you hurt?'

Ash lay in a ball, arms wrapped round his head. His eyes were stinging from the dirt blasted there by the cloud that had barrelled into the lobby. Tears welled and spilt over, running down his cheeks. His mouth was full of grit.

‘Say something.'

‘I'm . . . OK.' He blinked and sat up. ‘I think.' He rubbed his eyes and squinted at Isabel. She was covered in so much dust that her hair was now a greyish colour. Her face was streaked where tears had run through the grime. She looked as if she had just survived a hurricane – which was exactly how Ash felt.

All around them, the air was hazy. Dirt floated in a heavy fog, specks of it sparkling in the sunshine.

‘Damn it.' Cain's voice in the lobby, boots crunching. ‘How the hell do we get off this island now?'

Ash and Isabel dropped flat and slipped as far as they could under the counter.

‘Don't you have someone you can call?' It was the older man who had spoken. The one in the dishevelled suit.

‘Disable all communications.' Ash could tell Cain was trying to control her temper. ‘Contain all personnel, and seal this place. By the time anyone comes to investigate, we'll have
Kronos
and be long gone. That's what we agreed, Pierce. All you wanted was what you've got in that bag, and that thing in the crate.'

Pierce. The name brought another flash of memory.

‘
Pierce sent you.
' That's what Mum had said when Cain and the slender man came to the house. It was all coming back to Ash now.

The man in the dishevelled suit was Pierce.

‘There's a boat,' Pierce said. ‘On the other side of the island.'

‘I knew there was a reason we brought you along.' Cain's voice was thick with sarcasm.

‘Look, I'm in
charge
of—'

‘There'll be a radio on the boat.' Cain cut him off. ‘I can get a chopper here in well under an hour.'

‘That means crossing the island on foot,' Pierce said. ‘And this isn't just any island; there's a reason it's a black site. Devil's Island.' He grunted. ‘There are things out there
you can't even imagine.'

‘There's no other choice. We'll lock this place down, get what we need from the residence, and bug out.'

‘But Thorn is still in there. We can't just leave him. If he thinks we left him behind and then gets out, he'll gut us both.' Pierce sounded scared. ‘My God, didn't you see what he did to those guards? And that man in the corridor? Thorn almost split him in half . . .'

Thorn.
The name wrapped itself around Ash's heart and squeezed.

Ah. So now you remember how it started
, said the voice.
Thorn came to the house with Cain. Pierce sent them for you. Thorn is the one who put the needle in your neck. The one without any expression, and a smooth, deep voice.

Ash had seen into Thorn's expressionless eyes, and now shivered at the thought of what he might have done to the guard.

‘Thorn knows the stakes,' Cain said. ‘He can look after himself. We need to move.'

Boots crunched dirt against the tiled floor, then there was a tremendous clattering and Ash looked up at the ceiling to see thick steel shutters rolling out across the top of the dome.

Clatter-clunk, clatter-clunk.

By the time Ash gathered the courage to peer over the top of the wooden counter, the shutters were almost halfway down. Outside, the clearing was a foggy blur of smoke and dust, with six figures disappearing into it.

The shutters continued to lower until they finally reached
the ground, shutting out all the light, and coming to a terrible, shuddering stop. The steel encased the building like it was a giant metal tomb. Only a few glimmers of sunlight leaked through the links in the metal slats, dust hanging in the miniature rays.

After that, there was no sound in the lobby except for the beating of their hearts.

Behind the counter, Ash stared up at the shutters. ‘Where's the lab? Mum and the others must still be there.'

Isabel nodded. ‘This way.' She stood and turned without looking at Ash. She didn't want him to see her face, but Ash could tell she was trying to make herself calm, just like he was.

There was enough light for them to make out the bottom of the stairwell, but the floor was just a grey sea, so they couldn't tell what they were going to stand on next. The cloud of debris had scattered a shower of broken twigs and stones all over the floor. To Ash it felt like a carpet of crushed glass and rusty nails on the naked soles of his feet, so while Isabel moved ahead he was left to pick his way through.

‘Slow down,' he called. ‘This is killing my feet.'

Isabel stopped at the bottom of the stairs and waited for him to catch up. ‘What happened to your clothes and shoes?'

‘I wish I knew. That woman – Cain – she came to our house with a
really
scary guy called Thorn. Something to do with that older man, Pierce, and they were talking about “
Kronos
”, whatever that is. Thorn hit me, smacked me down
and stuck a needle in me and that's the last thing I remember. Drugged me, I think. Mum too.'

Isabel shook her head. ‘I saw them take you off the helicopter. I thought you were sleeping.'

Ash swept the debris off the bottom step and sat down. He lifted his feet one after the other and dusted away the grit and splinters that were stuck to the soles. ‘Was that really two days ago? I mean, how is that possible? How can I have slept for two days without waking up?' He turned to the stairwell, where the light was weaker and the landing was in darkness. ‘I need to find my mum. We have to keep moving.'

Before they could take another step, though, a voice floated down. ‘Pierce? Cain? What's going on?'

Ash would have recognized that soft, deep voice anywhere. It was the last thing he had heard before waking in the white room.

Thorn.

He imagined Thorn at the top of the stairs, staring down into the patchy light, his eyes like the dead, his face without expression. (
He'll gut us both.
) Ash remembered the fear in Pierce's voice.

‘Hide.' He hardly even spoke the word. It came out more like a gentle breath.

‘What?' Isabel lowered her voice to match his.

‘You didn't hear that?'

‘Hear what?'

‘Thorn's coming. We have to hide.'

They crept back to the reception and slipped under the
counter again. Isabel was only a little taller than Ash so there was enough room for them to squash into the places that were flooded with shadow. Ash could hear gentle footsteps descending the stairs.

When Thorn reached the bottom, he stopped.

Ash imagined the man sniffing the air like an animal, listening for any sound. If this place had done something to his own senses, then perhaps it had done the same for Thorn's.

When Thorn moved again, Ash could hear only the slightest rustle. Despite the debris on the floor, he crossed the lobby in near silence, moving like a ghost.

Ash closed his eyes and listened to the whisper of footsteps heading towards the far wall and then around the curve of the lobby before they came to a stop. Again, there was a long moment of silence, then Thorn came in their direction.

All they could do was lie there and wait as Thorn came closer and closer until eventually he stepped behind the counter, bringing with him the smell of new leather and peppermint.

In a sudden moment of strange understanding, Ash realized he could hear the man's strong and steady heartbeat. His hearing focused in on it as if it were the only sound, and it gave Ash such a surprise that his eyes opened and he found himself looking at the toes of Thorn's boots, just a few centimetres from his nose.

Ash held his breath as the man ran his hands along the counter, then underneath until he touched a switch, no
more than a metre above Ash's head.

He flicked it.

On. Off. On. Off.

Thorn sighed. ‘Damn it; lockdown. Cain used the remote to close the shutters. But there must be another way out. There's
always
a way out.'

O
nce Thorn had found the shutter switch and confirmed it didn't work, he left, moving as quietly as he had arrived.

Ash and Isabel waited for what felt like at least another half an hour, until their legs had gone to sleep and their backs were stiff, before they moved. Thorn's smell lingered in Ash's nostrils, but Ash was sure about one thing; Thorn hadn't known they were there, and that meant his senses weren't working the way Ash's were. Whatever was happening to him, it wasn't happening to anyone else.

‘We have to get to this lab you mentioned,' he said to Isabel. ‘Someone there will know what to do.' But his mind was already starting to work against him. Dark thoughts
reminded him what Pierce and Cain had been talking about before they left – their plan was to disable all communications and all personnel.

They're dead
, the voice whispered in his head.
Everybody's dead.

They emerged from behind the counter and made their way through the gloom towards the stairwell. As they climbed to the first landing, the faint light from the lobby faded to nothing, and when they turned to the next flight of stairs they saw only a never-ending blackness.

‘There's no power anywhere?' Ash whispered. ‘No . . . like, emergency lights or something?'

Isabel's dry throat clicked. ‘
No sé.
I don't know.'

‘Maybe they switched it all off.' Ash felt the dread of knowing they had to go into the dark. ‘Don't suppose you've got a torch or something?'

‘Not here. At my house, yes, but—'

‘Do you know the way to the lab, then? Can you get to it in the dark?'

‘I don't know. Yes. Maybe. Papa showed me the way . . . once.'

‘
Maybe?
'

‘I mean, I think I can.'

‘I suppose that'll have to do.' Ash climbed the first step, then stopped. ‘We better hold onto each other.'