Underground (8 page)

She was right. I didn't like it, but she was right.

‘I'm going,' she said again. ‘You should too. Make sure your mum's okay.'

I leant against the doorframe, wishing we had a better option. ‘All right,' I said. ‘But we should meet back here. Either way, we should meet back here in a couple of hours. Figure out what to do next. We need to make sure we've still got time in case –'

‘Perfect,' said Jordan. ‘Let's go.'

I followed her down the stairs. She darted into the lounge room and opened the window. She glanced up and down the side of the house, then sprung out onto the grass. I climbed out after her, sliding the window shut behind me.

I crouched down as we reached the front fence. There was a guard patrolling the next block, but he was facing the other way.

‘All right,' said Jordan, swinging a leg over the fence. ‘See you.'

‘Just don't –'

‘Yeah,' she said. ‘No dying. I promise.'

She jogged off into the darkness.

I waited a few more seconds, glancing nervously at the security camera even though I knew it wasn't meant to turn on until midnight, then jumped over into our yard.

No point trying any of the windows. Not with Mum's obsession with keeping everything locked. I ducked across the lawn and up the steps to the front door. I peered into the frosted glass, watching for any sign of movement on the other side. Nothing. I tried the handle.

The door clicked open and I edged through, still half-expecting to find a gun barrel waiting for me.

Inside, everything was quiet. The light was on in the lounge room, further up the hall. I crept forward, trying to figure out how on earth I could explain to Mum where I'd been for the last six days.

‘Mum …?' I whispered, walking in.

But the room was empty.

A couple of half-full mugs and a bunch of paperwork were spread out across the coffee table. Weird for Mum to leave work lying around like that. She didn't really do mess.

I glanced across the hall at the bathroom door, but it was wide open.

Was she even home? We'd seen her come in this afternoon, but maybe she'd left something behind at work. Maybe she'd gone back to the office to –

My gut lurched. Maybe it was a whole lot worse than that.

What if Shackleton had found out the truth about Mum not really being a candidate? What if security weren't guarding the house anymore because there was no-one left to guard?

I bolted into the hallway, through the rest of the house, checking every room for a sign of life, panic erasing the impulse to worry about keeping quiet.

No-one home.

We would've seen them,
I thought desperately, sprinting upstairs.
Surely we would've seen them take
her.

Onto the landing. Still nothing. Lights all off up here. I shot past my bedroom, up to the end of the hall. And stopped.

A murmur of noise from behind my bedroom door. I threw open the door without even thinking.

Oh, brilliant.

There was Mum, sitting on the edge of my bed, head down, crying into the arms of Dr Montag.

Chapter 10

T
UESDAY
, J
UNE
30
44
DAYS

Mum's eyes shot to the doorway. But if I was expecting her to jump up and hug me or something, I was out of luck. She just stared across the room at me, eyes filled with – What was that? Disappointment?

‘Luke,' said Montag, eyebrows raised. ‘Where have you –?'

And suddenly, the rage I'd been carrying around ever since he barged into our lives spewed up to the surface and I stormed over, ready to rip him to pieces.

‘Get out,' I spat. ‘Let
go
of my mum and get
out
of my house.'

‘
Luke,
' snapped Mum. It had been a long time since I'd blown up like this in front of her.

‘No, Mum, listen –' I said. ‘You can't trust him. He's dangerous.'

Mum turned to stare at Montag.

She stood up, slipping out of his arms, eye makeup running down her cheeks.

‘
He's
dangerous?' she choked. ‘After everything you've done, you're telling me
Rob
is the one I should be worried about?'

She might as well have punched me.

‘Mum – none of that stuff is true! How could you even think …?' I trailed off. Mum was looking at me like she didn't know who I was.

‘You've been in hiding for almost a week, Luke,' said Montag, infuriatingly calm. ‘What are we supposed to think?'

‘
Shut up,
' I hissed. ‘You shut up, okay? There's no
we
here! This is between me and –'

Montag held up a hand. ‘Luke, please.'

I turned back to Mum. ‘
He's
the murderer!' I said, stabbing a finger at Montag. ‘He's the one who –'

‘Luke!' Mum shouted. ‘Enough! I will not have you making such ridiculous accusations!'

‘Yeah,' I shot back, ‘because it would
suck
to have those flying around.'

‘Do you think I want this? Do you think I
want
to believe my son is capable of – of all
this?'

‘Both of you, please,' said Montag, standing up and shooting me a significant look. ‘I think it would be wise if we all just
lowered the volume
a bit.'

And for the first time since I'd walked in, he looked kind of unsettled.

Mum took a breath, gathering herself. She smoothed down the front of her jacket, brushed a tear from her cheek, and fixed me with her professional-diplomacy face, like I was just another difficult client. ‘All right, Luke. Tell me. What's
really
going on? Why is security after you if you've done nothing wrong?'

‘Because they're –' I hesitated, the reality of it sinking in. Because this was it. After all these weeks. After everything. I was actually going to tell her.

I glanced at Montag, but his face was blank again.

‘Okay, look,' I said, my guts contorting. ‘I know this is going to sound insane, but you
have
to believe me. You have to.'

Mum crossed her arms. ‘I'm listening.'

Tell her the truth,
I told myself.
She's still your mum.
Just tell her the truth.

‘All right,' I began. ‘Phoenix is – It's not what you think it is. The Co-operative didn't bring you here to
work
for them. They brought you here because they want to, like, restart society or something. They've got a weapon, this virus thing, and in a few weeks, they're going release it and then everyone outside of Phoenix is going to die.'

Silence.

Mum stared back, and the tears started rolling down her face again. ‘Luke …'

Please. Please …

She took another unsteady breath, and I felt my hopes rise just the tiniest bit, because if she was with me, if she was on my side, then at least …

At least …

‘Oh, Luke,' she said, head shaking. ‘Is that really the best you can do?'

It was like someone had carved a hole in my chest.

‘You want proof?' I said, anger rising again. ‘You want to see the scar where
he
–?'

‘Luke, that's enough,' Montag cut in. ‘Why don't you go and have a shower?'

It was such a ridiculous request that I lost track of what I was saying.

‘What?'

‘I think we all need a minute to calm down,' he said, walking over and taking the towel from the hook on my door. ‘And by the look of things, you could use one. Why don't you go and clean yourself up while we head downstairs and get some dinner sorted out? Then we'll all sit down and figure this out together.'

And it was so close to the kind of calm, rational suggestion my dad would have made that I almost punched him.

But Mum was already over at my wardrobe, pulling out a change of clothes.

Montag leant in, handing me the towel. The unsettled look was back. ‘If you care
at all
about your mother,' he breathed, ‘you will do what I tell you.'

He straightened up as Mum came back.

I was torn between screaming at her and trying to explain again and running for the door.

But in the end I just took the clothes and the towel and headed for the bathroom.

The water had still been on in the house next door, but neither of us had wanted to risk having a shower. Six days without a wash or a change of clothes.

I closed the door behind me and had to remind myself it was okay to switch the lights on. I spun the taps, stepped in, and watched the dirty water swirling around my feet.

I felt sick. Mum and I had never exactly seen eye to eye about Phoenix, but I guess I'd always figured there was a limit to it. That when it came down to it, when it really mattered, she'd believe me and not the lies the Co-operative was feeding her.

But why trust your own son when you can blindly follow a guy you've just met?

I stood there, dazed, hot water running over me and down the drain and never reaching the numbness in my chest.

She thinks you're a killer.

I wanted to stay there forever, to just disappear down that drain and forget about all of it. But eventually, the water ran cold and I dragged myself out. I dried off, pulled on the clean clothes, and stepped into the hall.

Montag was waiting just outside the door. He held up my school backpack. ‘You need to go now, Luke.'

‘Where's my mum?' I asked, pushing past him.

‘She's gone. I sent her into town to pick up some dinner. Security will be back in half an hour. You need to –'

‘Screw you! You think you can just come in here and –?'

‘Do you want her to die?'

Montag took me by the shoulder, fingers digging into my skin. ‘Mr Shackleton has already asked me for your blood test results. He wants to hand them over to Dr Galton so she can conduct a threat assessment. Apparently, he feels that my relationship with your mother may be impeding my objectivity. I've tried to stall him, switched your mother's sample and told him yours was contaminated during that debacle with Peter in the school gym, but if you get caught …'

Then Shackleton will have all the blood he wants.

And if Shackleton and Galton got their hands on another sample of my blood, they'd have no trouble figuring out that Mum and I weren't supposed to be here. We'd be as good as dead.

Montag relaxed his grip on me, shoving the backpack into my chest. ‘Go.'

I stood, frozen, hating him for poisoning Mum against me, for
taking
her from me. For sending me out of my own house while he stayed behind and played wounded stepdad.

But I knew he was right, that this was my only chance at keeping her safe.

I walked away from him, leaving the backpack dangling in his hands, and crossed to my bedroom. A couple of photos of Dad and me were stuck up on the wall. The only ones I had. I pulled them off and put them in my pocket, wishing it had been him and not Mum out here all this time.

‘You'll lose her,' I said, coming back and yanking the bag away from him. ‘Doesn't matter what happens to me. It's all going to come out eventually.'

Montag nodded grimly. ‘I'm beginning to think you're right.'

‘Yeah, well, I just hope I get to see it happen.'

I took off down the stairs. I was halfway across the front yard when something snapped inside my head.

Jordan.

The security officers had only left my house because Montag wanted some alone time with Mum. They'd still be all over Jordan's place.

I sped up, jumping the fence into the next yard and racing around to the far side of the empty house, making sure Montag wouldn't see me going in.

She' ll be fine,
I told myself.
She won't go running in
there without looking.

But if there was one sure-fire way to make Jordan do something reckless, it was putting her family in danger.

I threw open the dining room window and dived inside, trying to think. If anything happened to her … I'd already lost Mum tonight. I couldn't lose Jordan too.

I ran to the stairs and almost shouted as my foot collided with something solid. I bounced on one leg, looking back to see what I'd just kicked, and saw a dark shape rolling away across the floor.

One of the big fruit tins that Lauren had packed for us.

How –?

Jordan's vision. Food scattered everywhere.

What if security had seen her? What if they'd followed her back here?

I grabbed the banister and limped to the top of the stairs, pain still shooting through my foot.

More cans and boxes strewn across the floor. Everything quiet. ‘Jordan?'

I picked up another one of the big tins. Not much of a weapon, but better than nothing, if I was about to walk in on someone. I started toward the nearest bedroom. ‘Jordan?'