Z. Apocalypse (10 page)

Oldman’s new guns aren’t enough
. Crouched beside Zoe, Adam felt sick with terror.
There’s no way out
.

He watched as the three nearest Z. rexes gripped the bars of Keera’s cage with enormous clawed hands and bent them apart.
Keera writhed on the ground before them, straining her mutilated wings to be free.

‘Don’t!’ cried Zoe suddenly, and Adam shushed her frantically. ‘Don’t let them take me!’

‘Keep quiet,’ hissed Adam, ‘or they will for sure.’

But Zoe wouldn’t be calmed. ‘Want the sky,’ she shouted. ‘Adam! Free in the sky!’

Adam clamped a hand over her mouth. Zoe was raving, rolling her eyes, getting louder.
‘Shh.’ Panic-stricken, Adam looked over to where the creatures were tearing the wire netting from Keera’s wings, smashing the equipment ranged around her.

Then one of the giant monsters stamped down on the pterosaur’s head.

Adam gasped, but Zoe shrieked as though she’d felt the blow herself.
She must still be linked to Keera
, Adam realized, his guts cartwheeling.
That mad stuff she was spouting . . . were they Keera’s words?
Another of the monsters smashed its tail down on Keera’s back and Zoe cried out again. Her back arched – then she fell limp and silent.

‘Zoe!’ Adam could see she was still breathing, apparently asleep. He looked over to the exit – the surviving soldiers were in retreat and the Z. rex was smashing its way out into the corridor in pursuit. The other three Godzillas
were still bearing down on Keera, kicking and stamping and slicing at her bloodied body. Somehow she managed to wrench herself clear of her attackers and launch awkwardly into the air. But huge claws lunged for her, one catching her by the tail.

Adam could hardly bring himself to watch as Keera twisted in mid-air and rammed the point of her jaws into her attacker’s eye. A howl of pain filled
the hangar space as the claws unclenched and Keera pulled free, turning tightly with powerful sweeps of her wings. But while one of the Z. rexes was distracted, swiping blood and fluid from its ruined eye, the other two were still murderously active. One stretched its neck to bite into Keera’s body, but she turned again – and rammed her beak into the toothy cavern of its mouth, forcing her jaws down
its
throat while slashing at its neck with her sickle-like talons. The dinosaur toppled backwards, smashing into the bars and trampling its one-eyed partner as Keera yanked her head away, sending thick strings of blood splattering in a wide arc. Her victim fell and slammed into one of the loosened bars, which broke away from the ceiling and fell with a mind-jarring clang, quickly followed by a
large chunk of the roof.

‘Zoe, come on, wake up,’ Adam begged her. ‘We’ve
got
to get out of here!’

He watched as Keera flew up and scraped her vast beak against the girders in the roof, clawing at the steel bands that held her jaws shut. But the third Z. rex was ready to avenge its fallen friends. Its back broke open with a wet crunching sound and two stubby wings unfolded. Like some prehistoric
dragon it propelled itself upwards in short, speedy bursts – as the metal restraints finally fell from Keera’s beak and struck the ground only metres from where Adam stood.

Snarling and shrieking, the two flying monsters locked together in deadly combat.

Got to take a chance – or die
. With fierce determination, Adam managed to lift Zoe over his shoulder, ready to make a dash for the exit. Straining
under her weight, Adam staggered across the hangar. Halfway to the doors, he chanced a look behind. Keera was
trying to tear herself away from her attacker, biting at its wings.

Then he realized with a lurch that the one-eyed Z. rex had seen them. It rose up, brows locked together in a hateful glare, teeth as big as stalactites gleaming. With a blood-blistering roar it snaked out its neck, jaws
opening wide to devour them. Adam didn’t even have time to scream . . .

Before a rush of air almost knocked him off his feet and he and Zoe were snatched away by Keera’s butcher’s-hook claws. He gasped with pain as the pterosaur’s grip crushed Zoe hard against him, choked on dust in the dizzying rush of flight. He saw the hole in the roof zoom closer – and then in a gale of noise and debris Keera
tore straight through into her treasured sky.

Dangling with Zoe, helpless in Keera’s claws, Adam let loose a howl of terror as the pterosaur banked to the right. The fourth of the monsters had smashed its way outside and was taking on a big-time military retaliation. Its skin was scorched and blackened and blood ran from huge wounds in its side – but from the scattered corpses and tanks stamped
into the ground, Adam could tell the Z. rex was giving as good as it got.
Dad, where are you?
Adam saw no sign of him, or Eve or Colonel Oldman. But the laboratory looked to be on fire.

‘Dad!’ he bellowed.

And somehow, the embattled Z. rex seemed to hear. It twisted its long neck to look straight up at him. Instantly it flicked out its gruesome, sticky wings and threw itself through the air
towards them. As Keera sped away over the grounds of the wildlife refuge, Adam swore as the other three monsters, two of them wounded, rose up from the shattered hangar, their eerie stealth shields shimmering.

Keera descended sharply. Adam was almost sick, clutching onto Zoe, his stomach jammed in his throat.
She’s going to crash and kill us
—

But at the last moment she levelled out barely a
metre from the long grass and let Adam and Zoe drop. They both fell like dead weights and Adam gasped, winded, as Zoe landed on top of him. He saw Keera fly on.
She’s leaving us
. Hope torched in his chest for a moment.
She knows it’s her that those things are after, not us, so she’s
 . . .

She’s coming back
.

Adam struggled up with Zoe in his arms. Keera circled and landed beside them, with incredible
lightness for a beast so big. Her mauled jaws cranked open, her eyes wide and bright. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, impatient or uneasy, and made deep chittering sounds in the back of her throat, her gaze meeting his. Adam had the unmistakable feeling she was trying to communicate something.

Adam looked behind him. A blood-soaked shine low over the landscape told that the four Godzillas
were coming for them.
And there’s nowhere we can go, there’s
 . . .

Keera opened her jaws still wider, her wings at full-stretch, corded muscles there twitching. Was she trying to show him something? Adam remembered Zed had stored stuff for a mission, like explosives, in a fleshy compartment inside his mouth; did Keera have something similar? With Zoe still in his arms, he took a step closer .
 . .

And Keera curled one wing around them both, sweeping them into her giant jaws. ‘No!’ Adam shouted as he stumbled into the dark, slippery space.
She’s gonna eat us, gonna swallow us
. He landed on top of Zoe in a sticky hollow beneath Keera’s rasping tongue. It felt like wet rubber and smelled like . . .

Adam was almost sick with the stench of putrefying flesh. Keera’s mouth was a narrow,
glistening cave, its undulating walls dripping with gobs of blood and saliva. Gooey strands of half-chewed meat clogged the gaps between her reddened teeth. Adam covered his mouth with his hand, tried to get back out.

But then the huge jaws slammed shut and Keera’s scythe-like teeth knitted tightly together, plunging the damp cave into darkness. An eerie rushing,
pounding sound filled the darkness;
Adam realized it must be the pterosaur’s heartbeat.

‘Zoe?’ he reached out and his hand brushed against her arm. Then he heard the muffled beating of vast wings and felt a sickening lurch as Keera took to the air.
Oh my God, we’re gonna die
 . . .

The massive, fleshy slab of Keera’s tongue flopped down on top of him and Zoe, wedging them inside the cavity. He was both repulsed and relieved – at
least it might keep them from disappearing down her throat and ending up as another meal. But the stink of it . . . He clung on to Zoe, not knowing if he wanted her to wake up or stay blissfully oblivious to what was happening.

Keera’s body spasmed wildly, a rumble building somewhere in her guts. Her tongue flicked upwards, as she opened her jaws wide to release a terrifying roar of anger.

She’s getting her voice back
. Jamming his hands over his ears, Adam let Zoe go and peered over the side of the compartment. A rush of air billowed into the cavity, like they were in a rollercoaster bursting from out of a tunnel – and a bloodied, battered Z. rex filled Adam’s vision. He yelled as he saw it swooping down towards them at incredible speed, claws outstretched, mouth open, its yellow
eyes burning with fury. At the last moment, Keera rolled sharply to the left to avoid the attack and
Adam was flung backwards into the cavity.

Rubbing his bruised back, Adam crouched low next to Zoe, hanging on to her again as Keera’s tongue flapped down and scraped over them once more. It felt disgusting, rasping and rubbery, soaking his skin with a sharp, stinking fluid. He sensed a rapid succession
of body blows jolting the creature from side to side.
Those things are never going to give up
, he thought desperately.
They’re going to knock her out of the sky
.

But it seemed Keera wasn’t about to give up either. She swooped and dived, answering each vicious assault with a choking screech of defiance.

Adam’s stomach lurched.
It’s like we’re living a videogame and God-knows-who has got the controls
.

Every few seconds he was afforded a fleeting view of Keera’s attackers through her half-open mouth. From what he could make out, at least three of the Z. rexes were circling her in some kind of formation, taking it in turns to attack.

Another jolt, harder this time. Adam’s internal organs swapped places as Keera suddenly plummeted downwards. Dizziness overwhelmed him.
Going to crash
 . . . He
hung on to Zoe, crushed up against her in the darkness.
We hardly even know each other, and now
 . . . Keera’s tongue flapped wildly overhead. Adam gasped as an ice-cold gale from outside whipped about his face, before the great mouth
slammed shut once more and he waited for the inevitable collision . . .

But it didn’t come. At least, not in the way he expected. Keera hit something – but the impact
was almost cushioned. Adam sensed Keera’s body rolling gently from side to side. The steady pumping of her heartbeat signalled she was still alive and in one piece.

As the seconds passed, Adam allowed himself to believe the attack was over. But how? Why had the creatures given up like that? His ears popped, as if the pressure was changing around him, and he swallowed hard to clear it. What next?
With a sinking feeling, Adam realized he was entirely out of options, literally along for the ride. The dark, cramped space was making him feel claustrophobic and the stench from Keera’s mouth threatened to overwhelm him.
What is that goo plastered all over her tongue?
he wondered.
Please, don’t let it be something that makes us easier to digest
 . . .

Then Adam felt a sharp elbow jab him in his
chest. Zoe was stirring at last.

‘What the . . .?’ Zoe’s voice rose as she started to come round. ‘Adam, is that you? Where are we?’ She went rigid. ‘Ugh, that stink!’

Adam held her by the shoulders and shushed her, trying to calm her down. ‘It’s all right, we’re . . . we’re inside Keera.’

‘She’s
eaten
us?’

‘No!’ Adam said quickly. ‘In her jaws. I think she’s taking us away somewhere.’

‘But
what
happened
?’ Zoe sounded distraught. ‘It’s all so hazy. I was seeing something in Keera’s mind . . . a place with snow . . . and then – it was like I was actually inside there.’

‘The place with snow?’

‘No.’ Zoe sounded husky, hesitant. ‘I mean . . . inside Keera’s mind. It’s like . . . we touched.’

‘Well, now you’ve been swallowed.’ Adam frowned. ‘Do you remember the Z. rexes, those dinosaur
monsters that attacked us?’

‘Kind of . . .’

‘I don’t understand why they tried to kill her.’ He paused, feeling dizzy and disorientated in the absolute dark. ‘I mean, if they wanted to stop her talking to us, why not just set her free so she could escape with them?’

‘Because Keera’s not on their side any more.’ Zoe sounded fervent. ‘I’m
sure
she’s not. She . . . she doesn’t want to be owned
by anyone.’

‘So why did she shove us in her mouth and fly off with us?’

‘To save us,’ said Zoe. ‘Why else?’

‘I can think of one reason.’ Adam sighed. ‘Keera snatched me out of nowhere back in DC, then had her fit. Maybe her programming is making her
pick up where she left off. This compartment under her tongue could’ve been made for carrying people—’

‘Shhh. Wait.’

Adam heard her shiver in
the clammy darkness. ‘What?’

‘It’s getting colder. And listen . . .’

Adam heard a quiet gurgling noise. Keera’s guts or . . .?
No
.
Oh, no way
.

‘Adam,’ Zoe breathed, ‘I think we’re underwater.
That’s
how she got away from those things.’

In the dark, disturbing near-silence Adam remembered Dr Marrs’ words back at the Pentagon: ‘Z. rexes can fly huge distances – so why bother to create Z. “dactyls”
 . . .?’

Perhaps because Z. dactyls aren’t just creatures of the air – they can swim too
.

‘This is crazy.’ Zoe grabbed Adam’s arm, making him jump. ‘Totally crazy. I mean, she’s a flying reptile, not a swimming one! How can she do this?’

‘Because Geneflow must have some reason to make her that way. What I don’t get is, why aren’t we drowning right now?’

‘Keera’s jaws must be airtight. Which
means . . .’ Zoe groaned quietly. ‘Which means the oxygen in here will be running out.’

‘We’ll suffocate.’ Fear prickled through his body.
‘Hey!’ he shouted. ‘Keera, we need air in here! Surface! Come on!’