Strangelets (27 page)

“We’ve already taken care of that,” Yosh said impatiently. “The solar panels will provide all the power you need.”

“And you know this because you’re a trained physicist?” Bruder’s voice was filled with disdain. Declan suppressed a grin. He was liking Nico’s dad more by the minute.

“So we’ll kill you and your son,” Yosh said in a hard voice. “Is that what you want?”

A pause, then Bruder replied, “Even if we could precisely recreate the circumstances of the cataclysm, there’s no guarantee that will send you back to your point of origin. We could all be swept into an entirely different dimension. You might die if I do this.”

“We’re willing to take that chance.”

Their footsteps receded down the hall, the voices fading with them.

“They’re trying to do it again,” Sophie said after the last echo had disappeared. She sounded just as scared as he felt.

“Grand idea,” Declan said stonily. “Wonder what exciting place we’ll land in this time.”

“What if it works?” Anat asked quietly.

The room was too dark for him to see, but he discerned a note of something unexpected in her voice: hope.

“Bruder doesn’t seem to think so, and he’d know, yeah?” Declan didn’t add what he thought:
if Bruder was so reluctant even when his son’s life was being threatened, the chances of
something truly awful happening must be extreme
. But at the moment, he was having a hard time mustering the strength to care whether or not they restarted the Collider. His head was pounding, and his throat ached from thirst. “I say we focus on getting out.”

“Agreed. See if you can find the lights,” Anat said. “We need weapons.”

“So no luck with the gun store, then?”

“I found a Glock there,” Anat said, her voice more forlorn than he’d ever heard it. “But that
bat zona
took it from me.”

“Shame, that,” he muttered. “A gun would’ve come in handy.”

Sophie’s hands brushed lightly across his chest as she fumbled across the wall. “Sorry,” she apologized.

“No problem,” Declan said, but her touch had sent a small electric current through him. He swallowed again.

Suddenly, the lights flicked on; the glare made him wince. After his eyes adjusted, he could see that they were in another storage closet. This one had an industrial bucket in the corner with a mop jutting out of it and a metal shelving unit stacked with cleaning supplies. Everything was coated with a thick layer of dust.

“What’s that?” Sophie asked.

He followed her pointing finger. Bits of cloth were piled in the corner.

“Looks like a stack of rags,” he said. “Probably for cleaning.”

Anat stepped closer and peered down at them. She nudged them with her toe, then recoiled as they shifted sideways before sliding to the ground. “Not rags,” she said in a low voice.

“But what …”

Sophie sucked in air sharply at the same instant that Declan made the connection in his mind.

A faded T-shirt and a pair of filthy shorts … and stacked beneath them was a small pile of mottled bones.

“Oh, Christ,” he breathed out. “Zain.”

We’re all going to
die
, Nico thought, looking up as his father and Yosh reappeared. He was back in the enormous room they’d first encountered when they left the infirmary; was that just two days ago? It felt like forever. Four of those thrinax creatures surrounded him. His guards, he was assuming. They’d carried him here, then dumped him on the floor before taking up these positions. The perimeter was filled with a couple dozen more thrinaxes. Scattered among them were men and women of all ages. No kids, though. They looked surprisingly normal: dressed mainly in polyester, their hair universally cut in the same no-nonsense bob as Yosh. Some were scratching the thrinaxes on the heads or backs. There was an odd, low murmur everywhere, kind of a buzzing noise. It was hard to tell if he was really hearing it. Oddly, it seemed to emanate from
inside
his head, as if he was wearing invisible headphones. The thrinaxes made occasional clicking noises, like giant crickets.

Ten minutes after he’d arrived, Sophie had been carried in kicking and screaming. Minutes later Declan showed up draped over the shoulder of another thrinax; he hadn’t been moving at all and was either unconscious or dead. Nico’s dad had been last, but they hadn’t gotten a chance to talk. The minute he was dropped to the floor, Yosh came out of nowhere and led him away.

She hadn’t even glanced at him. When he saw her, his heart sank because it meant they’d been attacked, too; Anat would
never have left the slight girl out there on her own, defenseless.
And Anat wouldn’t have been taken easily
, he thought grimly.
She must have fought hard, and the outcome had probably not been good
.

Nico squeezed his eyes shut at the thought. He’d really liked her. Anat was beautiful and strong, the only member of the group he’d cared much about, to be honest. He’d been an idiot. They should have stuck together. At least then they might have made it to the mainland.

Yosh and his father stopped fifty yards away from him, whispering furiously at each other. Six thrinaxes encircled them, but they maintained a slight distance. It made no sense. The same bloodthirsty creatures that had chased him through the woods were now calm, controlled. He wished his father had explained more about them, or that he’d thought to ask.
My own fault
, Nico thought,
for not having what his dad termed an “inquisitive mind.”

Why had Yosh and his dad been singled out? Who were the rest of these people? And where were Sophie and Declan? Had they already been eaten? He shuddered at the thought. Maybe they were going to ration the group out slowly, keeping a few of them alive for a couple days. He had no idea how much food these things ate. He wondered how many thrinaxes would be sharing bits and pieces of
him
.

His father’s voice suddenly rose to a shout, “Threaten all you want, I won’t do it!”

Yosh crossed her arms. “Get the son,” she commanded.

Nico furrowed his brow.
What was she doing?
Light dawned as two thrinaxes swiveled their heads toward him.
Yosh is in charge
, he realized. She’d betrayed them all. He struggled as the creatures grabbed his arms and began
dragging him toward Yosh. His father’s whole body went rigid, but he didn’t say anything.

Claws dug into his biceps. “Stop! I’ll walk!” he sputtered. But they lifted him up, dragging him forward until he was toe-to-toe with Yosh.

“Hello, Nico,” she said.

“Tell them to let me go.” He fought to keep the quaver from his voice.

Yosh cocked her head to the side, then glanced at the thrinaxes. They simultaneously released him; he stumbled and nearly fell before righting himself. Nico shook his arms to get some feeling back. Then he drew up to his full height and demanded, “What do you want?”

Yosh glanced at the creature on his left.

Without warning, a claw lashed out. Nico felt a sharp stabbing sensation along his right side. Startled, he looked down. Blood was streaming through a new hole in his shirt.

“No!” his father yelled.

“Again,” Yosh said in a low voice.

The animal on the other side of him struck so swiftly that Nico registered the movement at the same time something sliced into the back of his right leg. His knees buckled, and he dropped to the floor. A spreading pool of red encircled him.
That’s my blood
, he tried to say, but his tongue seemed to have stopped working.

“Stop!” his father begged. He reached for Nico, but two of the creatures restrained him. “I’ll do anything you want. Just stop hurting him!”

Yosh gazed down at him coldly.

“You’re killing me,” he managed to say.

“You can still be saved,” she said. “If your father helps us.”

“
Vater
,” he said faintly.

“Nico, son, just hang in there. It’ll be okay, I promise.” His dad’s face was twisted with anguish; Nico wondered if this was how he’d looked while he lay in a coma.
Shame that I’m only seeing it now
, he thought in a small, faraway part of his brain. Maybe things could have been different between them, if his father hadn’t always come across as so cold and unfeeling.

The room was starting to waver. He closed his eyes against the pain, and Anat’s face flashed across his mind. What would she do? She’d be brave. She wouldn’t let them win.

“Don’t do it,” Nico managed to say. “Whatever they’re trying to make you do …” He choked on something coppery and swiped a hand across his mouth—it came away bloody. He struggled to get the words out, gasping, “Don’t help them.”

“Nico …” His father spun toward Yosh. “Fix this and I’ll do whatever you want.”

“There’s only one way to fix it.”

They sounded distant now, like they were drifting away from him. Nico tried to focus, but his eyes refused to listen to the orders his brain was sending. They flickered like bulbs going dim.

“Nico!” his dad called out. But the voice was faint and rapidly receding.

Darkness came swimming up to meet him, and he smiled.

So this is what they were all talking about
, Nico thought as he let it guide him away.

Sophie crouched down on
the floor beside Declan, with Anat hunched over her shoulder. The three of them were hidden behind one of the large computer towers on the catwalk above the main floor. She could see a circle of thrinaxes in the center of the room but couldn’t tell what they were doing.

“Well, this isn’t good,” Declan murmured.

“We have to find another way out,” Anat said in a low voice.

“We already tried that. All the hallways led here,” Sophie whispered. They’d spent the past quarter hour investigating every corner of the building. Luckily, they hadn’t run into any more of those thrinaxes, or cynogs, or whatever the hell they were. Not so luckily, there appeared to be no way out except through the huge room below. There were a couple dozen people ensconced in the shadows along the walls, with even more of the creatures with them. Sophie had stopped counting at thirty. And the only weapon they’d managed to come up with was the mop from the closet where they’d found Zain.

She shuddered.
Poor Zain
. He’d never had a chance. The worst part was that there was so little left of him. The bones had been picked clean, as scoured of flesh as the ones they’d seen hanging from trees yesterday. At the thought, a wave of bile rose in her throat.

“Maybe they’ll leave in a bit,” Declan said. “We can just wait them out.”

His face was still pale, speech slightly slurred from the concussion. A faint sheen of sweat covered his forehead. She brushed the hair back from his eyes and forced a smile as she said, “Maybe. How do you feel?”

“Oh, just grand,” he said. “Aside from the worst feckin’ headache of my life. How about you?”

“Terrified,” she confessed.

“Have a bit of faith. Got you this far, didn’t I?”

“Pretty sure this is where we started,” she said wryly. “More or less.”

“But look at all the lovely new people you’ve had a chance to meet.” Declan nodded toward the dark shapes that lurked
in the shadows. “How many girls get up close and personal with real live dinosaurs, eh?”

“We need to create a distraction,” Anat interjected, scanning the room. “Something to draw them away from the door.”

“Brilliant,” Declan said. “What’re you thinking? Pipe bomb? Or perhaps we announce that there’s free cake in the infirmary, first come, first serve?”

“This is not the time for jokes,” Anat scowled.

“I doubt we’ll be able to draw them all away,” Sophie said doubtfully. “Don’t you think they’ll leave a few to guard the door?” She eyed the thrinaxes. The thought of confronting just one of them was terrifying enough. They’d never have a shot against this many.

“You prefer to stay here and die?”

“No,” Sophie retorted. “But I’d rather come up with a plan where dying wasn’t guaranteed.”

“What’s that they’re standing around?” Declan asked.

Sophie chanced another glance around the machine. The thrinaxes had moved back; now she could see that they’d been encircling Yosh and Bruder. The two of them were standing over something lying in a puddle.

Anat leaned farther over her shoulder to see. Suddenly she stiffened and swore under her breath.

“What?” Sophie asked.

“It’s Nico,” Anat said bluntly. “They’ve killed him.”

Sophie stared in horror at the figure on the floor. He wasn’t moving. The liquid surrounding him was dark, and still spreading. She sucked in a breath. “Oh my God.”

“Well, that settles it.” Declan’s voice hardened. “I’m not waiting around to be next.”

Anat yanked him down as he started to shift back the way they came. “They’re coming!”

Sophie risked another glance; Anat was right. Yosh was walking purposefully in their direction. Bruder followed her, his shoulders slumped. He looked utterly defeated. They all ducked behind the computer tower.

“… your only chance to save him,” Yosh said, her voice carrying clearly to where they were huddled.

Bruder’s response was muted. The group started to ascend the catwalk.

“Quickly!” Declan whispered urgently in her ear. “This way!”

Anat was already racing down the hallway to the utility closet. Sophie followed, keeping her eyes averted from what was left of Zain as they settled inside, breathing heavily.

“Bollocks,” Declan spat. “Those bloody bastards.”

Sophie blinked back tears. Poor Nico; poor Zain. They were all going to die here. At the thought, she felt a familiar wave of hopelessness. It was the same emotion she’d experienced as they’d wheeled her into the hospice. When the doors swung shut behind her, blocking out the trees surrounding the parking lot, she’d been hit by the realization that she’d never be outside again.

Only this was worse. At least then, she didn’t have to worry about getting eaten.

“We have to do something,” Anat growled, pacing the room like a caged cat.

“Let’s offer to help them.”

“What?” Sophie turned to Declan, startled.