The Doomsday Device (Teen Superheroes Book 2) (15 page)

“He’s in love,” she said, letting out a long breath.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

Brodie could see this conversation going on for a really long time and not getting anywhere so she quickly explained what they had found out about the Doomsday virus and the reason for their internment.

“Are you sure?” Dan asked. “A lot of the people here seem pretty nice.”

“They’re brainwashed,” Ebony said flatly. “And it sounds like you are too.”

Dan looked like he was about to get really angry so Brodie laid a gentle hand on his arm.

“Hey Dan,” she kept her voice level. “I’m sure a lot of these people are nice, but there’s some bad stuff going down. We’ll need to work together when the time arrives. Just be careful.”

“Sure,” he agreed. “Of course.”

She leant close to him. “This is a dangerous place. There’s an FBI guy named Ethan Craddock who’s working undercover here. He might identify himself to you. Make certain you keep his identity quiet.”

“Okay,” Dan said. “Anyway, I’ve got to go back now.” The girl was giving him a glance and waving him over. “I’ll talk to you later.”

He headed back over to the others.

“Love,” Brodie moaned and Ebony gave her a friendly dig in the side.

Susan, the woman who had showed them around, came over and started talking to them about the evening meal. They continued to set out tables and chairs for dinner. After the meal was completed, Susan told them Jeremiah would be delivering one of his weekly lectures. Apparently he was going to be making some sort of announcement.

“Great,” Brodie said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

The seats were rearranged again to face a small stage at the end so everyone could sit around to listen to Jeremiah. At first the stage was empty and then some music started to be piped through the sound system.

“That’s the theme music from the Superman films,” Ebony whispered to Brodie.

Oh God
, Brodie thought.
That’s really lame.

When Jeremiah appeared the crowd went wild and leapt to its feet. Everyone clapped enthusiastically until he waved them back down into their seats.

“Thank you people of Sanctuary,” he said. “But the applause should be for you. The members of this community are the courageous ones. You have stood up against the New World Order and you have triumphed.”

There was another round of applause.

Jeremiah spent the next half an hour talking about the New World Order and how the United Nations had been plotting for years against the democratic rights of the individual. It all sounded rather farfetched to Brodie. She found it hard to believe people were not more questioning about it, but the whole audience seemed enthralled.

Just before he finished speaking, Jeremiah went through a few housekeeping duties with the group. Then his face became grave.

“I also have some rather sad news,” he said. “One of our members has unexpectedly passed away.”

A ripple of small cries went through the crowd.

“Ethan Craddock died this afternoon from natural causes,” Jeremiah continued. “We believe it was a heart attack.”

Brodie felt her own heart give an unpleasant leap while her stomach produced enough acid to melt a spoon.

“That’s -.” Ebony started.

Brodie nudged her hard. She fell silent.

That’s the FBI agent
, Ebony had been about to say. But now he was dead. Unexpectedly. From natural causes.

My foot
, Brodie thought savagely. They realized Ethan Craddock was with the FBI and decided to kill him.

She looked across the crowd and saw that Dan was looking back at her. His face had gone pale. He looked like the world had just landed on his head. Good. He needed a reality check. These people were maniacs and had to be treated as such.

They had to find Ferdy and get out of there.

Their lives depended on it.

Chapter Thirty

I woke up at some ungodly hour. Probably early morning.  I had endured the worst night’s sleep of my life. I had tried getting to bed early, but my mind had continued to turn over as I thought about the coming day.

Now I’ve got to face Domain
, I thought.
Surely he can’t be as bad as they say.

Okay, so he eats people. Maybe he’s really a nice guy.

Sure. And maybe he was actually one of the kids in The Sound of Music.

Probably not.

I nudged Chad into wakefulness. That turned out to be a feat in itself. I eventually had to drag him into an upright sitting position. Even then he looked at me blearily. His face was a lather of sweat; his hair was plastered to one side.

I explained the plan to him. He listened in silence until I finished. Then he looked away and I was shocked to see tears in his eyes.

“Axel,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

“You’re going to make it,” I said. “We both are. We’re getting out of here together.”

“I’m afraid.”

“You’re going to be okay.”

“I can barely walk,” he said. “I’m gonna die down here.”

“He’s a dead weight,” a voice hissed from the darkness. “Leave him.”

Recoil.

“When I want your opinion, I’ll ask you for it,” I whispered loudly back to him.

I heard movement in the gloom. One of the fires was still burning and Recoil’s face hovered only inches from my own.

“You’ve got to leave him if you want to stand any chance of getting out of here,” he said. “You’ve got powers. You might stand a chance. But you can’t have a dead weight -.”

I tried to grab his shirt, but my hand simply bounced off him. I’d forgotten about his ability to repel any attack.

“He’s not a dead weight,” I said. “He’s my friend. We’re all getting out of here. Together.”

Recoil stepped back a few feet. I heard him saying something to Drink. Probably complaining about me. So be it.

Chad slowly stood. He hovered uncertainly on his feet before clasping my shoulder. Once again he looked like he was about to burst into tears.

“I’ll help you however I can,” he promised.

“I know you will.”

“Before we do this, I gotta say something.”

“What?”

“Thanks,” he said. “I just want to say thanks. You should be leaving me here, but you’re taking me with you. And after the hard time I’ve given you -.”

“In a few hours time we’ll be out of here,” I told him. “And we’ll laugh about all this.”

I actually couldn’t think of anything less likely. I thought it more likely I’d eat off my own foot than look back on any of this experience and laugh. Still, I had to keep up Chad’s spirits.

“Laugh,” he said. “Sure.”

Okay, I hadn’t fooled him either.

Drink and Recoil came over.

“You guys ready?” Drink asked.

“We’re ready,” I said. “You need to point out Domain’s alcove. I’m going to go in alone and take him down. I’ll give you a yell when it’s safe to follow.”

They didn’t say anything for a moment. Then Drink said, “You think that’s a good idea?”

I didn’t bother answering that question. Instead, I said, “I’ll get the guys from the other side.”

We left the enclave. A single fire was still burning, but now it was down to embers. Someone cried out softly in the night. On the other side of the enclosure I saw someone standing in the doorway of their recess watching us. It was the guy who was able to change from human form to a gas.

He watched me without moving.

I went to the bars. Immediately Zachary came over and I focused on forming a field to bend the bars apart. I did it as quietly as possible, but it still sounded like a god damn awful racket at that time of the morning.

***“Where’s Frank Seth?” I asked.

“He didn’t make it through the night.”

My God
, I thought.
What a place.

“What’s your plan?” Zachary asked.

I explained what I intended to do.

“That Domain is some kind of monster,” he said. “Are you sure -.”

“I’m sure,” I interrupted. “We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

Returning to the others, I noticed Chad was still on his feet, but leaning badly to one side.

“Which one is Domain’s alcove?” I whispered.

Both Drink and Recoil pointed to one in the middle. I had not seen anyone come or go from the enclosure during our entire time here. Now I knew why.

“I’ll go in,” I said. “When Domain is finished, I’ll give you the signal.”

“What’s the signal?” Chad asked.

“You’ll know it when you hear it,” I said.

I went over to the fire and grabbed out a stick with one end fully alight. At least I would be able to see. I started towards the alcove. Even before I reached the doorway I could smell something from the interior. It smelt bad. A rotten meat smell.  I didn’t want to think too much about what that would be.

I allowed my eyes to grow accustomed to the gloomy darkness. It was a large area. Bigger than I expected. It really seemed to be some sort of tunnel unlike the little I’d seen of the other enclosures. My light illuminated the floor. Sticks seemed to be strewn across the ground like the floor of a forest.

As I navigated my way around them I glanced down at one of them and saw the timber looked remarkably pale.

Oh Hell
, I thought.
They’re not sticks. They’re bones.

They were everywhere. As my eyes became accustomed to the dark, I realized I was actually standing in the middle of hundreds of bones. My heart had already been pumping a thousand beats a minute. Now it leapt into some sort of high gear. In the back of my mind I had been thinking that the stories about Domain were actually an exaggeration. After all, no-one was really a cannibal. That’s just plain stupid.

No. Domain was a cannibal.

Welcome to the Twenty-First century. Cannibalism is alive and well.

Towards the back of the enclosure I spotted a section of wall darker than the rest. I hadn’t seen Domain yet. Possibly this area was so large it may have contained some smaller enclaves. Maybe he was asleep in one of them. At least this darker area may have been where the tunnel ran away into the rock.

I made my way towards the tunnel. Just before I reached it I realized it seemed to dip down rather suddenly. Lowering my burning timber slightly, I missed the bone on the floor and stepped right down onto it.

The tunnel moved.

It took me all of a second to realize the tunnel I had been heading directly towards was not actually a tunnel at all, but the man/creature they called Domain. The resemblance between a human being and whatever he was remained rudimentary. He sat up and looked at me with some sort of rudimentary single eye in the middle of his forehead. He looked like some sort of yeti or Sasquatch, but built like a brick wall.

His face appeared almost human, but as if a human face had been squashed flat and the jaw lowered. This jaw dropped down now in complete surprise, revealing two rows of glistening teeth. Possibly no-one had ever entered his home without kicking and screaming for help.

Certainly no-one had come in of their own volition.

His single eye widened in surprise. He blinked twice. Focused on me and his face took on an expression of extreme rage. He wanted to kill me. Then he wanted to eat me. Worst of all, maybe he wanted to do it in the opposite order.

That’s when I poked him hard in the eye with the burning stick.

Terror makes you strong. I shoved as hard as I possibly could and Domain shrieked and swatted at me. I threw up a shield and it saved me from the worse of the impact, but I still went flying.

He was on his feet in a second, and I followed up with a hurricane force wind that knocked him backwards. He hit the ground, rolled once then threw himself across the room at me. He was fast. And powerful. He aimed a punch at me, but somehow it penetrated my shield and hit me in the chest.

I slammed into the floor. As he jumped again I built a flying platform and rose up into the air. His hands raked the space under me, but he could not reach me. I focused on building up another massive hurricane blast, took a deep breath and slammed it into him.

He flew across the chamber. This time he was not so quick to rise. More wary, he slowly climbed to his feet and advanced with hate in his single, damaged eye. He wanted to kill me. He wanted to tear me limb from limb. He wanted to make me suffer for the pain I had caused him.

Which was unfortunate for me, because at that moment my powers failed and I went crashing into the floor.

Chapter Thirty-One

It had been days since I last had problems with my powers. Maybe in the back of my mind I thought the loss had simply been an aberration, a momentary failure in the neurons of my brain, a hiccup in the day to day life of a superhero.

Well, there are worse hiccups than losing your powers. One of them is losing your powers whilst in the middle of a battle with a monster who wants to tear you limb from limb.

Domain advanced towards me. I tried summoning my powers. I wanted to create another blast of air to hurl at him, but nothing would happen.

When I had hit the ground, I had landed on my feet, rolled once and was almost immediately back in a standing position. Now as he walked towards me I realized he still wanted to kill me, but he was more wary. He was confused as to why I had now decided to put myself in range of his aggression.

“I want a peaceful solution,” I said loudly, holding up a hand. “I simply want to find a way out of here. Maybe we can all escape from here. I want us to be friends.”

The chances of us becoming friends had probably diminished dramatically when I poked him in the eye with a burning stick. Still, all I had were my words and they would have to make do.

“Do you understand what I’m saying? I want us to be friends.”

Maybe we could go out for drinks
, I thought.
Possibly a game of Monopoly.

The creature cocked his head to one side. He looked almost human for a moment. Maybe he really was considering my offer or maybe he was wondering what part of me to eat first. It was impossible to tell. I actually wondered if there was any humanity left in his head. If he ever had been human. Maybe I wasn’t fighting a mod at all. Maybe Domain had always been some sort of Sasquatch creature and the North Koreans had simply confined him in Yodak Prison for fun.