Underground (26 page)

I gaped up at the pale, scarred form, mounted there like some hideous giant butterfly, limbs stretched out in all directions, cuffed to the platform with what looked like magnets or something.

‘You know this guy?' asked Dad.

‘Yeah,' I said, distractedly. ‘Kind of.'

Between him and Reeve, I felt like I'd stumbled into Phoenix's freak-show version of
This Is Your Life.

‘You ready, Luke?' asked Jordan, walking over with Georgia on her hip. ‘I think we're … Oh.'

‘Gross!' said Georgia. ‘Why doesn't he have any clothes?'

I knelt down at the little round door, trying to figure out how to open it. I couldn't see a handle anywhere, but there was a little keypad on the right-hand side.

My hand hovered over the buttons. ‘We
do
want to let him out, right?'

‘Of course we do,' said Jordan, turning. ‘Dad! Over here!'

Mr Burke came over, pickaxe still clutched in one hand. He looked up at Bill and shook his head, like this place was just being ridiculous on purpose.

‘Can you get it open?' Jordan asked.

Mr Burke swung the pickaxe out wide behind him and brought it down into the glass with all his strength.

Shink.

The pickaxe just glanced back off again. Not even a scratch. Mr Burke rolled his shoulders, wincing a bit. ‘Sorry. No good.'

And now I was really regretting letting Peter's parents disappear. If this bubble thing was what I thought it was, it had been designed by Mr Weir, back before he'd known what the Co-operative was really up to.

Jordan came over for a closer look at the door. She crouched, studying the keypad. And then suddenly, she was putting Georgia down on the floor and rummaging through her backpack. She dragged a battered bit of paper up from the bottom of the bag. It was covered in scribbled pen drawings, fragments of whatever she'd been able to remember from the bizarre overseer journal Mike had been keeping, back when we were still at school. She ran her eyes over the page for half a second, then reached down and punched four numbers into the keypad.

1 – 3 – 0 – 8

The humming sound inside the dome whirred to a stop. The cuffs around Bill's hands and feet fell away and clattered to the floor. Bill slid down from the platform and crumpled on top of them.

There was a hiss and the door popped open.

It took me a minute to recover. ‘
That
was in Mike's notebook?'

‘Nope,' said Jordan, stuffing the paper back into her bag. ‘It was on Montag's wrist, the night we broke into the Shackleton Building. I saw it when I flashed back there.'

‘When you
what?'
said Mr Burke.

‘Can you get him out?' Jordan asked him. ‘We'll go round up everyone else.'

Mr Burke's eyes narrowed as he clambered through the door. ‘When we get out of here, you and I are going to have a talk,' he said, lifting Bill onto his shoulders.

‘Still don't believe I'm seeing this stuff for a reason?' whispered Jordan, picking Georgia up again.

Everyone else seemed to be out in the hall by now, some looking more awake than others.

Reeve strode out from the end room. ‘Right. That's all of us.'

‘Just a sec,' I said. ‘We've got one more coming.'

‘All right, listen,' said Jordan, raising her voice to talk to the whole room. ‘I know you've all heard a bunch of stuff about how Luke and me are evil and dangerous and whatever, but hopefully your stay down here has convinced you who the
real
bad guys are in this place. So everybody just get ready to run, okay? We're getting you guys out of here.'

Mumbles of agreement from around the room.

Finally,
I thought. It was nice to have someone taking us at our word for a change.

I did a quick head count. Ten of them, counting Bill. I had a feeling Kara wasn't going to be too happy with us.

‘Hey, Luke!' said Georgia, swinging out from Jordan's side. ‘That man looks like you!'

‘Yeah, that's my dad,' I said.

‘Oh.' She grinned up at Dad. ‘Hey, guess what! Your boy and my sister are in love.'

Dad leant in closer to her, speaking in a stage whisper.
‘I know!'

Georgia collapsed into Jordan's shoulder, giggling hysterically. Then she straightened up and started hammering Jordan with her fists. ‘
See?
I
told
you!'

‘Gentle, sweetheart,' said Mrs Burke, grinning.

‘Have they
kissed
yet?' Georgia asked Dad. But before he could answer, her fingers tightened on Jordan's arms. Georgia squinted, head tilting sideways. Then her eyes went wide, and she gasped. ‘You
have!'

I didn't know whether to be embarrassed or freaked out. That had been more than just a lucky guess.

‘Got him,' said Mr Burke, lumbering out with Crazy Bill slumped across his shoulders.

‘All right,' I said. ‘Time to go.' I remembered Jeremy, still half-asleep on the floor. ‘Can someone–?'

‘
Let go of me!'
screamed a voice from back out at the entrance. ‘Rob – Tell me where we're going!'

Mum?

The door smashed open.

Dr Montag came tearing out of the darkness, dragging Mum along with one hand, clutching a security officer's pistol in the other.

I backed up, smacking into Mr Burke. Behind me, the huddle of people in hospital gowns started to panic and break apart.

Officer Reeve burst forward, fists raised.

‘Stop!' said Montag, levelling his weapon. ‘There isn't time!' His chest heaved. He was
scared.

Montag's eyes darted from Officer Reeve to me. ‘We need to run,' he panted. ‘All of us.
Now.
'

Chapter 33

W
EDNESDAY
, J
ULY
8
36
DAYS

Suddenly, everyone was looking at Jordan and me.

I glanced at Jordan. At Mum. At the gun in Montag's hand, still trained on Officer Reeve.

‘Please
,'
Montag said. ‘You've got to –' ‘All right,' said Jordan, raising her voice again.

‘All right, yes, do what he says.' She started running, leading the way back toward the entrance.

‘No!' said Montag, waving his gun at the room with all the beds. ‘That way! Out the back!'

He ran at us, yanking Mum along behind him. People started to turn, either following the order or just trying to get away from Montag. Through the double doors at the end of the hall.

I saw Reeve over by the wall, bending to get Jeremy. ‘C'mon!' I said.

‘Yeah,' he grunted, hoisting Jeremy up onto his back. ‘Right behind you.'

‘She's half a minute back down the tunnel,' said Montag, hauling Mum past me. ‘Maybe less.'

‘Who? Pryor?' I said, running again.

‘Victoria.' Montag shot me a dark look. ‘Dr Galton. Onto me as soon as I cut the power.'

‘I thought you and Victoria
worked
together!' said Mum, completely lost.

‘You
cut the power?' I asked.

We charged into the room, and Montag started pushing through the crowd to a heavy-looking door off to our right.

‘Out of the way!
Move!
' He dropped Mum's hand and pulled out his keys. ‘Who else would it have been?' he muttered. ‘I saw the cameras go down again, and –' He broke off, scrambling for the right key.

And you knew it was us
, I thought.
You knew where
we were going.
And now he was dragging security straight down on top of us.

Reeve raced into the room, carrying Jeremy on his back, just as Montag shoved the key into the lock.

‘Hurry, doc!' said Reeve, pushing the doors closed behind us. ‘We've got –'

BANG!

The doors blasted apart again. Reeve went flying backwards through the air. He sailed clear across the room, crashing down onto one of the beds along the back wall, Jeremy still clinging to his back. The smash as they landed was almost drowned out by gasps and screams and the scuffling of people ducking for cover.

A woman strode into the doorway. Before tonight, I'd only ever seen her on video, shutting the door on those two terrified construction workers, moments before Tabitha ate them alive.

Tall. Slim. Flawless features. Long, brown hair. She
should
have been beautiful. But there was something cruel and cold behind her eyes that cancelled out the rest of it.

Dr Galton looked disapprovingly at Montag. ‘Away from the door, Rob.' As she spoke, a bed came rocketing across the room. It slammed into Montag like a speeding car, pounding him against the wall. I leapt back just in time to avoid going with him.

Mum ran over.
‘Rob!'

I whirled around. ‘No, don't –!'

Mum screamed, lifting off the ground mid-step. She shot sideways into the wall, colliding with the plaster at head height and dropping to the ground. Like a pigeon hitting a window.

‘Emily, please,' said Dr Galton impatiently. ‘You're the reason he's in this mess in the first place.'

She was like Peter, I realised. She could make things move without touching them. But this was different. It wasn't just random, accidental outbursts. Dr Galton could
control
it.

‘Please, don't hurt us!' called an older woman, cowering behind a pillow.

Georgia started whimpering. Jordan had her down behind a bed, one hand over her eyes, trying to shield her from what was happening.

Dr Galton stepped into the room. There was something strange about the way she moved, everything just a bit too fluid, a bit too precise. It made me think of mercury sliding around in a Petri dish.

Her gaze flitted back out to the hall. ‘What are you waiting for?'

Two security guards appeared behind her, looking almost as nervous as the rest of us.

It finally dawned on me that I was still standing up, and I dropped to the ground, edging toward the closest bed.

Galton pointed out to her left, where two more beds rested against the wall. ‘Line them up along there,' she told the guards, and the beds immediately tumbled out of the way to create space. ‘Everyone except for Luke and his mother. They're to be disposed of.'

My blood ran cold. This was it.

‘No!' groaned Montag, still pinned to the wall by the end of the bed. ‘Stand down. Do not –'

The bed reared back and smashed into the wall again, knocking the wind out of him.

The security guards stared at each other, apparently unsure whose orders they were meant to be following.

I peered out from my hiding place, searching for an escape route, eyes landing on the little side door that Montag had been trying to open. His key was still sitting in the lock.

Mr Burke stood up at the back of the room. He lowered Crazy Bill onto the nearest bed and started toward Dr Galton. ‘Please. There are children here.'

‘Abraham,' said Dr Galton, ‘you're going to want to put that down.'

Mr Burke's hand shot to the side, pickaxe flying out of his grip. It spun through the air, narrowly missing Mrs Burke's head, and clanked to the ground next to the skinny bald guy I'd seen Officer Reeve helping before.

‘Please,' Mr Burke repeated, shaken but determined, taking another step forward. ‘We don't want any trouble.'

Dr Galton looked like she might have laughed if she knew how. ‘Deal with him,' she told the guards.

I glanced at the door again, weighing up my chances. Two seconds to jump up. A few more to get it open. Too long.

‘I have given you an instruction, officers,' Dr Galton hissed at the guards, who still hadn't moved.

‘But – Dr Galton, the doc said –' She clenched her teeth. ‘Oh, honestly …' The guards' hands jerked forward, pistols flying out from between their fingers. Without even looking back, Dr Galton threw out her arms and snatched the weapons out of the air.

A crazed shout from the back wall jolted my attention away. The skinny bald guy was up on his feet, hands wrapped around Mr Burke's pickaxe, charging at Dr Galton.

He got about three steps, then shot straight back the way he'd come, like he'd been hit in the stomach with a wrecking ball. The pickaxe spun out of his hands and
whumped
into something.

A sickening cry ripped through the room. I turned my head, everything suddenly in slow motion.

Jordan was lying on the floor. Hands pressed to her side. Blood dribbling between her fingers, way beyond anything her body could fix.

There was a roar from across the room. Jordan's dad, charging at Dr Galton, face like a wild animal.

Galton shot him a disdainful look and the bed I was hiding under flipped into the air, wiping him out of her path.

Dr Galton was walking toward me before Mr Burke had even landed. She stretched out her arms again, levelling both the guards' weapons down in my direction. ‘I'd love to know how you did it,' she said. ‘How you and your mother managed to bypass our genetic screening and get yourselves onto the candidate register.'