Mutant City (10 page)

‘Breathe, Anya, breathe and concentrate,’ the woman urged.

The creature hissed back at her. Racked with spasms, it contorted wildly again and threw itself to the ground.

And then, quite suddenly, the girl appeared in the cat-snake’s place, her hair stuck to her sweat-drenched face as she gasped for air.

Kerin, not wishing to have another row, had just shaken her head, turned her back on the girl and returned to their cabin.

Tink was still thinking about all this when he was suddenly struck with a vision. A gasp escaped him and he pulled the harg to a halt. Sitting perfectly still with his head angled slightly to one side, he kept his eyes shut as if he was listening for something only he could hear. Finally, with a sigh, he opened his eyes again.

‘What is it?’ Anya asked.

‘The road up ahead. The one we have to take? I think we could be in danger if we go that way.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know what that danger might be though. If it’s the ARM, we need to change our plans again.’

‘And if it’s not?’

‘I’m not sure we have too many choices. We might have to face off whoever – or whatever – it is.’

‘Is this one of your famous hunches?’

‘Something like that, yes.’

‘So why don’t I go and check it out?’

‘What?’

‘You know, shift into something else and take a look.’

‘I don’t want you to put yourself in danger, and I don’t –’

‘Wait here so I can find you again,’ the teenager said. With that, she stood up on the jockey-box.

‘No, Anya, wait –’

But he was too late. She jumped up into the air. Mid-leap, the pale, dark-haired girl transformed into a truly hideous creature that beat its wings and launched into the sky.

Part-human, part-bat, but
all
ugly, the hideous pink-skinned beast had a humanoid torso with short frog-like legs curled up behind it. Its vast wings, also pale pink in colour, were translucent, so not only were the long thin bones stretching the membrane visible, but also the veins and arteries therein. The head was the pug-faced shape of a bat, but the large, blue, almond-shaped eyes that stared out from the face were decidedly human. When it turned to look down at him, the long, sharp teeth that lined its wide grin chittering, Tink couldn’t help but shudder. He watched the diabolical-looking creature as it rose up over the trees and disappeared from sight.

The bat-beast soared back into view and stayed itself over the wagon with two massive downstrokes of its wings before dropping down on to the flatbed, its clawed hind legs scrabbling on the wooden surface for purchase.

Turning in his seat, Tink could see how ungainly and awkward the thing was now it was grounded. Twisting and writhing, it let out a screech that he was sure meant it was in pain.

‘Is there anything I can do?’ he asked. Although it was difficult to read the expression on the creature’s face, the way its eyes rolled wildly in its head suggested it was in agony.

It may only have been a few minutes – it seemed much longer – but eventually, accompanied by one last terrible scream, Anya transformed back into her human self. She lay on her side, panting, finally looking over in Tink’s direction and giving him a shaky grin.

Wrapping a blanket around herself, she sat up. ‘You can see City Four from up there. It’s enormous. Bigger than I’d ever have guessed. It’s all towers and tall buildings and glass and metal.’

Despite his fears for her, Tink couldn’t help but smile back.

‘You were right,’ she went on, standing up and coming to join him again. ‘But it’s worse than you first thought. About eight or nine miles behind us – not far from the point where we forded the river – there’s an ARM vehicle. I think the water has done something to their engine; a couple of the men were looking inside it. I’m guessing they have the means to fix it, and once they have, they’ll be headed this way.’

Tink sighed.

‘Up ahead, about two miles, maybe a little more, along this track there’s a group of armed men. They’re up to no good. I think they’ve already ambushed some travellers – they’ve got them in a cart like this one, tied up in the back.’

‘Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, eh?’ Tink said. He glanced behind them, the look on his face making it clear what he thought posed the greatest danger to them. ‘How many men did you see up ahead?’

‘Three, but I guess there could be more.’

‘It looks as if we have little choice but to push on and hope we can get past these ambushers without too much trouble.’

He gave the reins a resigned flick, setting the harg off. ‘I’m sorry, Anya. I shouldn’t have let you do that. Kerin told me that you had been having trouble returning to your human form.’

She frowned and gave a little shrug.

‘When we get to where we’re going, I think there’s somebody who can help you, someone who might help you control your gift.’

‘The person who spoke to me in my dream and told me you were coming?’

‘Yup. His name is Jax. Like you, he’s . . . different.’

‘What are we going to do about the men up ahead?’

‘I’m not sure just yet. It depends on how many of them there are. I hate to say it, but there’s a chance you might have to call upon your powers again before this trip is over.’

‘That’s OK. But if I
do
get stuck in the body of something like that bat-thing, I’m relying on you to tell everyone I wasn’t always that ugly.’

Rush

The promise that it wasn’t too far, coupled with another one that he could stop and hold the torch to his face whenever he wanted to, was just about enough to coax Brick inside the bowels of the mountain. He came along behind Rush, who pointed the dim beam of light almost straight down at his own feet, giving the big man something to fix his eyes upon. Even so, Brick was a gibbering wreck as they made their way along the claustrophobic fissure.

Rush kept up a running commentary, talking about anything and everything to try to distract the big guy from thinking too much about their situation. When they passed the point where the little rockslide had occurred, he knew they were almost at their destination.

‘Smell that?’ he said.

‘Bad eggs!’ Brick shouted, his voice unnaturally loud in the confined space. ‘Or Dotty’s farts!’

Despite everything, Rush couldn’t help but smile. ‘More like
your
farts after eating that norgworm soup the other day!’

‘Ha! Brick!’

Rush took a big sniff and screwed his face up. ‘Yep, definitely one of yours. We’re here,’ he concluded as they reached the entrance to the cave. He pointed out the gap in the roof. The light coming in was not as bright as it had been before, and they could just make out purple beard-like trails of lichen hanging down from the edges of the hole. ‘That’s where we’re going to try to get through.’

They moved deeper into the cavern, Rush letting the light play over the far wall beneath the opening.

‘Look,’ Brick said, pointing to a ledge about halfway up. Thankfully it was suspended over solid ground, not hanging out over the lake.

Rush said a silent prayer of gratitude. Maybe their luck
was
holding out after all. As he swung the beam back down again, the light fell across an elongated skull lying on the shore among the multitude of yellow and grey pebbles. He shone the torch around some more, casting the light over the other skulls and bones littering the place. Among them were smaller, rounder ones – skulls that looked decidedly human.

‘Brick,’ he said in a small voice, ‘turn around. We need to turn and go back the way –’

He didn’t finish the sentence because the ground in front of him erupted.

The monstrous thing that sprang from the sulphurous soil on the lake shore resembled a giant salamander. Wet earth and stones rained from its leathery skin as it rose up on two legs, towering over Rush and Brick. A huge orange frill – a fan of leathery stretched skin – opened out behind the monster’s head, and four prominent eyes blinked all at once as they took in their prey. The creature opened its mouth – a mouth lined with transparent, needle-like teeth – impossibly wide and issued a long shriek in Rush’s direction before spitting a greenish liquid into his face that burned his skin and instantly blinded him. He staggered backwards, and would have fallen had a snake-like tongue not shot out from the creature’s mouth and wrapped itself around his neck. He let out a strangled gasp as the living lasso yanked him forward, forcing him to stumble over the uneven ground. All he could think of was that vast, gaping maw and those glassy teeth sinking into his flesh. He could see nothing.

And that would have been that, had it not been for Brick.

The hulk of a man – whom Rush had expected to be of no use when danger finally reared its ugly head – moved with incredible speed, bellowing his own name like a battle cry. He dashed forward and grabbed hold of the long prehensile tongue about halfway between the creature and its intended prey. Using both hands and all his weight, he heaved downwards. There was a screech followed by a stifled gagging sound as the monster’s head was jerked down. The creature dropped on to all fours, causing Rush to lose his balance and his footing. He hit the stony ground hard, the air knocked out of his lungs by the impact.

The little torch had dropped from Rush’s hand as he’d been attacked, and he prayed it had not broken, leaving his defender as blind as he now was. There was another terrifying shriek from the monster, and he felt the living noose around his neck first loosen, then fall away altogether. Still blind, he scrambled backwards, scraping his hands and elbows on the harsh, skittering stones. Somewhere off to his left he heard another strange sound, like rock being torn apart, swiftly followed by the noise of the creature moving quickly in the same direction. There was a meaty
whump!
like something hard and heavy being slammed into flesh, and a screech that told him the salamander-thing had been hurt.

More scuffling sounds followed, rocks and stones scraping and rubbing against each other as if the two combatants were slowly circling each other, waiting for the right moment to attack. Then a sudden flurry of noise, during which Rush’s heart almost stopped when he heard Brick shout out in pain.

‘Brick? Brick, are you all right?’

There was a grunt, followed by two more loud thumping sounds, like someone hitting a side of beef with a large hammer.

‘Brick!’ Rush called out. Helpless, he heard more grunts and groans. Something large, or perhaps two large things, crashed to the ground, and he imagined he felt the earth shake with the force of it. He held his breath, listening to the two combatants, who were clearly locked together in a deadly wrestling match only one of them would survive.

He was about to call out again when, quite suddenly, the struggle stopped. The silence that followed, broken only by the
plink!
of water droplets hitting the surface of the lake, was terrifying.

‘Brick?’ Rush cried out into the darkness again. In his mind he imagined the huge black-and-orange creature making its way slowly towards him, toying with its sightless prey before it dealt the last, lethal blow.

A noise close by made him whirl around, lashing out into the darkness.

‘Rush OK?’ a voice asked. It was Brick.

Rush’s heart thumped at the sound of his friend’s voice. Brick’s breathing was ragged and laboured, and although he’d uttered only two words, it was clear to Rush the big guy was in serious pain. ‘I’m not sure,’ he replied. ‘Are you?’

‘The bad thing tried to hurt Rush.’

‘Where is it now?’

‘Dead.’ A sob escaped the big man. ‘Brick didn’t want to kill it, but it tried to hurt you.’

Rush held out a hand. There were more scraping sounds as Brick crawled over to him. He felt Brick’s hand fold around his own. It was covered in a slightly tacky fluid that could only be blood. He wondered whose it was.

Trying not to let his panic show, Rush did his best to control his voice. ‘I can’t see, Brick. That thing blinded me. Now listen carefully. Can you get the water from my bag for me? I need to wash this muck out of my eyes.’ Brick grunted, but instead of moving away and trying to locate Rush’s bag, he sidled up closer to the boy.

‘Brick? I need –’

‘Shhh, hold still.’

‘The water, Brick!’ he shouted. ‘Please. I have to get this stuff out of my eyes as soon as I can! It might be my only chance to see again!’

Brick stayed, leaning in close enough for Rush to feel the man’s warm breath on his face. ‘Poison,’ he said. ‘Hold still.’

‘Brick?’ Rush felt his companion’s hands reach out and take him by the head, the fleshy part of his palms beneath his thumbs pressing into Rush’s eyes. ‘What are you doing? Stop that, you dummy! I need the w–’

When he later thought about what happened next, the only way he could describe it to himself was like a flash of light so intense it took his breath away. A searing heat exploded in and around his eyes, filling him with an excruciating mixture of pain and exultation. He cried out – a harsh bark that was half laugh, half scream. Just when he thought he couldn’t possibly take any more, he flew backwards away from the big mutant as if he’d been shoved by an invisible force.