Paradigm (9781909490406) (25 page)

Lily still looked doubtful. ‘When would they do this—during work time? Instead of working? When they should be sleeping? I don't think the Industry would go for this idea. It seems like…' she struggled for the words, ‘…I don't know, a waste.'

Carter shook his head. ‘Maybe if the Industry isn't interested, the rebels would be?'

‘You are joking, right?'

‘Maybe. But right now I am undecided.' He pulled out some books from a bag he'd taken from one of the bedrooms and flicked through the pages. ‘Look; it's just the same as reading on a slate—you just move from one page to the next. And look at the pictures. We wouldn't allow people to draw all over the city but we'd provide them with something.' His voice drifted off, lost in a chord of chirping from the roof of the house.

‘I like this one,' said Lily, lightly fingering the picture of a girl in a blue-and-white dress looking at her own reflection.

Carter smiled broadly at her. ‘I'll let you keep hold of that one if you like.' He watched as she folded it and placed it carefully inside her bag.

‘Thank you.'

‘I've chosen five books, an instrument of some kind and these pictures, too.' He unrolled a bright orange picture of sunflowers and another of an elephant and Lily gasped, poring over their beauty. She carefully traced the outline of each flower while Carter picked out a tune on the tin whistle he'd found on the shelf.

‘This is amazing,' he said. ‘I'm bringing the past back to the future. A
new
future.'

A
s grey clouds
began to pepper the early afternoon sky, they made their preparations to leave, gathering some water from a deep pond sunk into the grass.

‘What do you think we should do?' said Carter. ‘I mean, how do you think we're going to get back into the Community? Do you think we can dig our way back through the tunnel?'

‘Not without the risk of the whole thing collapsing on us. It would take us days to dig our way back through there.' Lily looked upwards at the sky as a group of white doves skimmed in front of a ribbon of cloud.

‘There's only one way through the Barricades, to the north-east of here, just outside the north-west corner of the Community. It's the tunnel where the Transporters used to come under the river and out to let the Scouts out. But the Industry still uses it for the auto-Transporters to take waste out into the Deadlands. It's sealed—but there's a holding area we can go to that opens at sunset each night. We can walk through the tunnel to the communication area and call for the guards. We can explain, tell them who you are and that we were trying to capture a fugitive—your daughter—and they'll have to let us through.' Carter screwed up his eyes.

‘How do you know about all this?' he said, his eyes firmly fixed on Lily.

She breathed deeply and put one hand over his.

‘I've been out here before,' she said.

F
or a while there
was silence while Carter let the reality sink in. She was on her forth tenure; technically, it was possible. But it would have been so long ago.

‘When?' he managed.

‘Years ago, before I went to the Catacombs. Way before the Food Plant, I used to work as a Scout. I did a mission out to the north-east, near Drakewater, but we had to abandon due to radiation levels. I've done all the training so I'm probably just about the best person you could wish to be stuck out here with. It's much better not to be alone in a place like this. The dogs—they're less likely to attack if we move in pairs. Two bodies confuse them. It's what we learned.'

Carter cut his way down the path of the garden towards the end of the small wall that encircled the garden, barely visible under the pleated weave of creepers that held it tightly in place.

‘Why didn't you tell me?'

‘I didn't think you needed to know.'

Carter paused for a second. ‘There hasn't been an expedition in years,' he said. ‘Twenty years to be exact. My parents were on the last one.' Lily cast her eyes to the floor.

‘That's why I didn't tell you,' she said.

‘You were there—you were there when they were killed? How could you have been?' The realisation came to him in waves. ‘You've been underground,' he said slowly. ‘You've been here before.' The only sound came from the circling of birds above them.

‘You need to tell me what happened,' he said.

Lily turned away from him and said quietly, ‘You don't want to know. It was horrible.'

Carter felt a knot tighten in his stomach and his heart start to beat fast. ‘I do. Tell me,' he said. ‘Tell me everything.'

‘I will, but later—when we're back on the other side. Not now. We need to focus on what you need to do out here and get back before we're missed. You need to keep focused, Carter. You still want to get out of here and be Controller General, right? You haven't worked your whole life so far to fail now.'

He felt his legs tremble and then strengthen, harder than before. He would make them proud. He couldn't fail now. He wouldn't fail his parents.

‘So you'll know where we're going and you can get us back in?'

‘I don't know this area at all, but if we stay close to the river we can follow it around to the north and we should make the entrance by nightfall. It'll take something special to get us in but as long as you're with me, I'm sure I can charm the guards.' She pulled some fauclate from her pocket and handed it to Carter as he nodded with a grunt.

‘But we need to move quickly and take what water we can with us—I doubt we'll find another fresh source anywhere near here. Anything we find from the old times is unlikely to be any good either.'

I
n the dust
on the ground she drew out the shape of the river with a gnarled stick in a big S-curve that looped around a small sprig of lavender with its small purple flowers bending to the light.

‘We must be near here.' She drew a cross in the south west of the dirt map, outside the ring of the river. ‘And we need to be here.' She pointed to a spot in the north marked by the bud of a nettle breaking through the soil. ‘We don't have enough time to take the slopes to the far west so we'll need to cut through the valley, here, alongside the river.'

‘Seems like the most direct route,' said Carter. ‘What's the problem?'

‘Dogs,' said Lily. ‘A pack of mutations that came over from Drakewater when they ran out of food settled here not long after the land cleared. They bred with the few domestics that had made it through the Storms on this side and set up home here. They're not the most dangerous creatures but they're the most aggressive. They hunt in packs and they're pretty fond of people. Not in the way they apparently used to be. You know they used to live in houses—with people? Are you going to bring that strange old custom back from the past too, Carter Warren?'

Carter couldn't imagine it. Not for one minute.

‘So we go around, skip the valley?'

‘We won't make the tunnel before it closes. It's only open for two or three seconds on work days to let the Transporters from the Catacombs back above ground to drop off waste. Tomorrow and the day after are rest days, and two days of waiting out in the Deadlands without food and under attack we'll be dead—plus there's no shelter if there was a storm.'

‘And we need to be back in the Community tonight.'

Lily pursed her lips, ‘Yes we do. '

‘So teach me how to fight the dogs. Consider it part of my training.'

Lily smiled and pulled the scissors from the pocket of her trousers. They glinted dangerously where the edges still held any sharpness. ‘We have this to start with. We'll use sticks and whatever else we can find in the house. Nothing will stop us reaching that tunnel before sunset.'

P
ast the ivy
-rich outer wall of the garden, a path crept around to the east towards the curve of the river. The mashed-up woodlands were much different to what Carter had experienced in the Community; they were wilder and there was an abundance of variety. Bright red berries pinpricked the bushes and strange, maggot-heavy fruits bowed down the branches of trees. The birds were bolder, less skittish, and there were other creatures that lurked wide-eyed and big-eared in the undergrowth.

‘Whatever you're thinking, don't try to eat them,' said Lily as Carter smelled the rotting flesh of a bunch of purple globes that hung from a tree in front of him. He scrunched up his nose. They were similar to those Isabella had eaten earlier.

‘Why not?'

‘Because they would kill you.'

‘Have you ever done something the Industry told you not to?'

Lily laughed. ‘I wouldn't eat anything that hasn't been synthesised. Who knows what it's made of? It doesn't smell like anything I'd want to eat.'

Carter smiled. ‘And yet people did. They depended on the weather to produce crops to eat. It was a precarious business. Though I'm not sure I'd even be able to process this stuff anymore.' He picked one of the fruit and squashed it between his fingers, staining them with a dark mauve juice that he rubbed across his lips, leaving dark lined stains. It tasted sweet.

Lily shrugged. ‘Well, I hope you stay alive long enough to make Controller General.'

‘I will,' said Carter. ‘I have a plan.''

C
rumbling
buildings clustered around littered streets paved the journey north-east. Stunted houses with trees pushing eager branches through the roofs, and pavements split open by small, strong shoots left the way uneven and difficult. The paths, crawling with insects and the odd, darting rat-like creature, gave way to wide stretches of land peppered with piles of brick and stone. Birds took to their wings and fluttered out of sight while other creatures watched bug-eyed as they passed, hopping and diving into the undergrowth as they got closer. It wasn't until they reached a wide space filled with rotting cars that the mournful howling started. A faded sign with crippled blue paint read:

‘
D
id you hear that
?' said Lily, standing still and turning her ear to the wind. She grabbed Carter's arm tightly as a deep, throaty, growly sound came from the vehicles. ‘It's the dogs. The wolves.' Her eyes narrowed towards the desolate metal structures.

He watched as, out of several of the cars, straggle-furred animals with hair the colour of raked leaves crawled, teeth sharp and angry, towards them.

‘Move,' said Carter. ‘Quietly—I'll hold them back.'

They toe-picked their way around the edge of the field, knee-deep in the damp, dew-sodden grass that swayed heavily in the breeze. The dogs eased themselves into a group, snapping in an irritated fashion as matted tails flapped into wet noses.

‘You need to distract them,' said Lily. ‘Cause a scene—throw something at them. One bite and they'll infect us.' One wolf at the back howled and bit at the leg of one of the dogs alongside it as the rest of the pack watched Carter and Lily with menace. Through the terror, Lily seemed calm, composed almost.

Carter looked around, picking up some loose stone from the ground. He lobbed the chippings towards the closest two animals and watched as they flinched in annoyance. Then the snarling started, dripping white froth from their eager mouths into the swaying grass. As the dogs took a reluctant step back, waiting in anticipation, Carter scanned the horizon. On the other side of the car park he could make out a building with the outline of a ladder leaned against it. He grabbed his bag with the books tightly and pointed to the building with his other hand.

‘Run,' he said under his breath. ‘Make for the roof and I'll distract them.' Before he could pick up another handful of stones, Lily was gone, pelting long strides through the grass towards the ladder. There was some confusion amongst the pack as Carter aimed his next set of shots. The first few scattering of pebbles hit the foremost of the wolves and it let out a screech that chilled his bones raw. He picked another handful, stepped backwards and threw hard, catching some at the back.

For a moment they looked puzzled, unsure how to retaliate, and he left them with that as he raced after Lily, kicking through the undergrowth while they chased, teeth bared, across the gravelled car park. His heart was pounding and his shoes felt heavy, the bag bouncing against his legs. Ahead of him Lily was already on the flat roof, watching.

As his hands hit the ladder he could hear the animals snarling beneath him and he threw up the bag, hauling his torso to safety, arms arching and body breathless. A group of about twenty dogs, furious at being woken, circled the building, howling and screeching. Carter lay on his back on the roof watching the sky melt in and out, his eyes fuzzy with a sickening mix of terror and exhaustion. Above him, grey clouds wrapped themselves into ugly balls, threatening a downpour.

‘You're safe,' said Lily quietly, her voice still shaking and breathless. ‘We just need to wait for them to go away and the rain to start.'

L
ess than an hour later
, the heavy pellets bombed down onto the roof and into the fur of the wolves. They waited until the slapping of the rain became too much and then retreated miserably back across the car park to the relative safety of the vehicles. Carter watched as Lily lapped up the rain as it pooled on the roof, dipping her tongue into the water and licking up the crystals, swallowing them whole. He copied her, grateful in some ways for the pain of the hail that left him pink-skinned and battered his arms and head.

‘This is horrific,' he yelled through the timpani of hail. Lily held out her hand and looked up at the clouds.