Shift (12 page)

‘Pump those pins.’ GG is now half pushing me while Johnson pushes the Moth. We don’t stop running until we reach the station at the edge of the town. It’s half a mile
from the town square and I can’t fathom how we got here without the Lucas-thing hunting us down.

The others are waiting beside a four-carriage train on platform one and I don’t really get why GG is so excited. But he babbles at ten to the dozen, breathlessly explaining.

‘My dad’s a train driver. He used to sneak me on sometimes, late at night. Totally illegal, but if you’d seen how excited I was.’

‘You can drive a train?’ Carrie is almost impressed. ‘
You?
’

GG is in his element. ‘I wasn’t there just to look good. Though obviously I did.’

‘Can you drive this one?’ Johnson yells at him and GG grins.

‘Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.’

GG darts towards the driver’s cab at the front of the train. The station is a small suburban two-platform affair that doesn’t afford much in the way of a hiding
place and Johnson scans the small car park outside, expecting to see Lucas any second. Billie is breathing hard.

‘What the hell was that? I mean what the hell!’ she says to me.

Johnson bangs on the side of the train. ‘Get these doors open, GG!’

Carrie must have discarded her impractical shoes on the way to the station and the soles of her feet are bleeding. ‘You’re kidding me!’ Carrie is staring back towards the car
park. I spin around and spot the Moth heading straight towards us.

Except of course it can’t be the Moth because he’s sitting in his wheelchair right beside me.

‘That’s me,’ says the Moth, as Moth Two heads our way. Strong and sinewy and upright. ‘That’s me with proper legs.’

‘The doors, GG!’ Johnson bellows.

‘Oh my God!’ Carrie starts jabbing hard at the buttons to try and open the train doors but they remain stubbornly closed.

‘GG!’ Johnson bellows again and Carrie and Billie join him, yelling as loud as they can.

Moth Two is getting closer and we don’t have a single weapon between us. Not that it would do much good after seeing the Ape fall to the Lucas-thing.

The others look terrified so I step forward, bracing myself. ‘I’ve got this,’ I say, echoing the Ape.

‘Rev, no,’ Billie says.

‘I can talk to him, explain.’

‘Not if he’s like the other one you can’t,’ she says.

‘The Ape’s not around to ruin everything this time.’ The words catch in my throat as I think of the Ape and his desperate, hopeless fight.

‘What if he doesn’t want to talk?’ asks Carrie.

‘Then he’s going to have to come through me.’

‘Rev!’ Billie is tugging on my arm now, but I shake her free.

‘Soon as the doors open, get on the train.’ I take up what I hope looks like a come-and-get-me stance. I don’t know where this strength – or is it madness? – is
coming from. I’m thinking about the Ape, about the sacrifice he made, and it’s somehow filling me with a newfound sense of determination.

Moth Two arrives at the entrance to the station. He stops and then smiles at me and I can see he has the same pointed teeth as the non-Lucas.

‘Rev.’ He looks relieved. ‘Been looking all over for a sign of life.’

Moth Two stops as his eyes settle on the Moth sitting beside me. I can almost see his brain working overtime to process what he is seeing.

‘I know this looks a bit awkward,’ I say, trying to keep as calm as I possibly can.

‘GG, c’mon!’ Billie is still urging him to get the carriage doors open.

‘There’s two of me?’

‘Trust me, we’re as confused as you are,’ I tell him.

The train doors open behind me with a shrill beep. GG’s panicky voice echoes over the train tannoy. ‘Sorry, the stupid thing wouldn’t start.’

‘Rev, come on,’ Johnson says, helping Billie drag the Moth and his wheelchair onto the train.

‘You should try the high street,’ I tell Moth Two. ‘Lucas is there.’

‘He is?’ Moth Two brightens.

‘Shut the doors! Shut the doors!’ Carrie urges behind me.

‘Rev!’ Johnson calls.

There’s something in their panicked tones that stirs Moth Two on a deeper level. Chances are he’s probably going to be smart like our Moth is, and his brain is making connections and
calculations, taking in all he knows and measuring it against whatever he has just learned. He rapidly comes to pretty much the same damning conclusion that the Lucas-thing came to.

‘You’re not you, are you?’

‘It’s you that’s not you,’ I tell him.

‘What are you running from?’

‘We’re not running,’ I lie.

‘Have you done something to Lucas?’

Even though we haven’t done anything I avert my eyes from Moth Two’s gaze. I look away and it’s the one thing I really shouldn’t have done.

‘That’ll be a yes then.’

‘He sort of started it,’ I say weakly.

‘I don’t know what’s going on, or even who you all are, but I will tell you this. No one touches my best friend.’ Moth Two coils and then springs forward. He has the same
talons, the same deadly stare as the Lucas-thing.

‘No one!’ He comes straight for me, his mouth opening incredibly wide. He’s within inches of landing on me when I feel a tug on the back of my collar and I tumble backwards
into the train carriage. Moth Two hits the closing carriage doors face first. His features go flat, billowing out in a wide spreading mess of rubbery skin. For a split second his eyes turn black
and lock on to mine through the toughened glass but GG floors the accelerator and leaves Moth Two behind.

The real Moth is lying on the floor, his glasses having been knocked several feet away. ‘Did you see that? You did see that? Yes?’ He keeps repeating it over and
over until I hand his glasses back to him. He puts them on and blinks his eyes, only they aren’t like eyes – they are swollen and bulging and look ready to explode from his face. He is
beyond bewilderment.

‘Yes? That actually happened? Rev, talk to me!’

‘It happened, is happening, whatever.’ I nod.

‘Everyone OK?’ Johnson is standing over us as he sways in time with the accelerating train.

‘OK? What’s OK?’ the Moth all but screams. ‘How can you even ask that?’

‘I guess you’re not then,’ says Johnson wryly.

He turns to Carrie and Billie who have taken a seat in the first-class carriage. Billie has her face in her hands and Carrie is staring blankly into space.

‘How’s your face, Billie?’ Johnson asks.

She looks up and the bleeding has stopped, but I know from the deep ugly wounds that she’s going to have scars for the rest of her life.

‘Where we going?’ I ask Johnson as he helps me to my feet.

‘Away from here,’ is all he can offer.

GG’s voice comes over the intercom. ‘Uh, guys, sorry to have to tell you this. But it’s chasing us.’

My stomach lurches. Johnson tries to get a look, but even pressed up against the window he can’t see anything.

‘It’s OK though, we’re pulling away.’ GG’s words ring throughout the carriage and I feel myself finally start to relax.

‘What were they?’ Billie asks. She winces as she talks and it’s clear that she’s in pain from the deep gashes on the side of her face. ‘Has anyone ever seen
anything like that before?’

‘Oh, yeah, I see weird super-versions of us all the time,’ Carrie sneers.

‘I was just saying.’

‘Uh-oh.’ GG’s voice breaks through again. Carrie instinctively grips the edges of her seat. ‘Wow, look at it go,’ he says. Johnson bangs hard on the locked
driver’s door – we need more information than GG is giving us.

‘Moth Two is gaining.’ GG is trying to sound calm for our sakes as he pours on the speed. ‘But he’s not going to catch this little locomotive.’

The train starts to shudder and vibrate with the increasing speed. The countryside flashes by, but somehow I know that we’re going to be caught. The tingling in my shoulders is telling me
as much. It’s like I’ve developed a spider sense.

‘That is one fast Moth.’ GG’s voice has again gone high-pitched with fear.

I get to my feet and start towards the end of the train.

‘Rev?’ Billie looks worried.

‘I’ve got an idea,’ I tell her. I’m still thinking about the Ape. A little of me even wants to head back and find him, even if I know it is futile and stupid. I hurry as
fast as I can from swaying carriage to swaying carriage with GG’s commentary accompanying me.

‘No one moves that fast.’

I plough onwards.

‘It’s got to get tired soon.’

The train picks up even more speed.

‘Oh my, it’s still closing on us.’

I reach the third carriage. The automatic doors hiss open and then shut behind me. The train is rocking dangerously now as it hits full speed.

‘Oh my giddy God!’

The train hurtles onwards and I have to hold on tight as I manoeuvre all the way to the back of the train. There’s a security door that blocks the entrance to the driver’s cubicle at
the far end of the train. But when I try it, it opens. It’s as if someone wants me to see Moth Two again.

I peer out of the reinforced window and can see Moth Two catching us. He has turned into some sort of animal – it has the Moth’s face but the body is now hunched over and running.
Its strides are bewilderingly fast, a blur of limbs, and there’s something beautiful about its movement as its body adapts and then readapts itself for speed. It’s a mesmerising mixture
of grace and power. No wonder the Ape couldn’t stop the non-Lucas. I doubt anything could stop creatures this powerful.

‘Rev, where are you?’ GG’s voice comes over the tannoy.

I stab at buttons until a whine erupts around me and then make contact with GG over the tannoy system. ‘I’m at the other end of the train – I can see it,’ I say.

‘You got a plan, right?’

‘Uh . . .’

‘Better do what you got to, girl – it’s going to catch us any second.’

The beast’s flattened face at the window springs into my mind. I see its black eyes staring at me – into me.

‘Stop the train,’ I say to GG.

‘What?’

‘Do it, GG.’

‘I’m not stopping for that thing.’

‘Please, GG, trust me.’

‘It hasn’t bought a ticket.’ GG is trying to joke but his voice is still high-pitched and strained.

‘Do it!’ I repeat. I’ve never felt so in command. ‘NOW!’ I scream at him.

GG announces to everyone to hold tight and brace themselves, then slams on the brakes. A train doesn’t stop immediately. But it does lock up and it does shudder and it does squeal and the
smell of train brakes is overpowering – but more than all of those things, this train is well built and made to withstand severe physical forces. It’s made of metal, it’s heavy,
it’s solid and if you’re running at over seventy miles an hour and you slam into it, you are not going to be a happy beast. The thing chasing us is in mid-bound and can’t stop or
veer away as it sees the train suddenly loom up in its vision. At first I think that it’s going to come through the window at me and I instinctively duck, but its arc takes it full pelt into
the undercarriage. The impact nearly rocks me off my feet.

‘Reverse, reverse!’ I scream at GG.

I’d clung on for dear life during the teeth-wrenching stop and I can only hope that GG has done the same. But I don’t hear anything from him.

‘GG!’

Nothing.

‘Back up! Reverse! GG, are you there? GG!’

‘
Ding ding
– this is your captain speaking.’

The train shunts backwards and crunches the life out of the stricken concussed monster. I feel the jolt and hear the crunch and it is a moment of unparalleled joy. I’ve never hurt anything
in my life but this – this is for the Ape.

I make my way back through the carriages as GG reverses the train far enough until he can see the remains of Moth Two out of the front window.

‘Ooh. Shouldn’t have done that. My tummy feels funny now,’ he announces weakly and I get the impression that whatever happened to Moth Two is not a pretty sight.

Billie thinks she has sprained her right wrist when she lost her grip during the monumental braking manoeuvre and slammed into a table. It’s really not her day because the deep gouges in
her cheek have started bleeding again and Johnson is now applying some of the bandages he was probably going to use on my burns.