Viridian (11 page)

‘Where are we going?' he asked.

‘Not far,' she said. ‘The science block, at Franklin High. That's where we Immunes are hiding.'

‘Franklin High? You're kidding! It's right near the Research Station, the Cultivars' HQ. Viridian lives there.'

‘Well, it's a good place to hide then, isn't it?' said Toni, plodding on. ‘He's such an arrogant creep he'd never believe we were hiding right under his nose. And, anyway, the Research Station is where you need to be isn't it? To rescue your dad?'

Jay crept through the waist-high grass on Franklin High's playing fields. He saw Toni's head pop up to check where they were. Patches of her pink scalp showed between clumps of hacked hair.

Down the road, the three glass domes of the Research Station flashed pink in the late afternoon sun.

So close. Yet so impossible to reach. The place would be swarming with Cultivars and Immune Hunters. And Viridian himself, freakish and monstrous, was somewhere in there, controlling it all.

The science block at Franklin High looked just as neglected and forgotten as the other buildings, with vines sprouting through broken windows and doors left wide open.

Jay caught up with Toni.

‘I can't see anyone inside,' he whispered, wondering for a heart-stopping moment if Toni could be leading him into a trap. ‘Where is everyone?'

Toni said, ‘They're downstairs, in the basement.'

‘How many of you are there?'

‘Seven,' said Toni, ‘including me and Dad. There used to be nine, but Ellie and Jake got killed by the Immune Hunters.'

‘Killed?' said Jay, shocked. At the same time he was thinking,
Only seven?
He'd hoped there'd be loads of them, that they'd storm the Research Station in a heroic rescue.

‘That's why we hide down there,' Toni was saying. ‘Being underground all the time was driving me nuts. I had to get out, see some daylight.'

‘Tell me about it.' Jay sympathised, remembering hiding out in the mine with Dad, like moles in the dark. ‘Have you got any light down there?'

Toni's peaky face broke into a mischievous grin. ‘We've got electricity,' she said.

‘
Electricity?
How?'

‘The Cultivars have a generator at the Research Station. We've diverted a bit of their supply.'

‘Cool!' Jay said.

‘We're trying to hack into their computer network, too.'

‘The Cultivars have computers?'

‘Oh yeah,' said Toni. ‘Cultivars aren't just in Franklin, they're everywhere. Cultivars rule the world. Dad says their Commanders, like Viridian, are the new dictators.'

It was spooky, sneaking along silent corridors that, only a few months before, Jay had charged down with his mates. They felt full of ghosts. Old posters, torn and streaked white with pigeon droppings, flapped on notice boards.

‘Did you go to school here?' asked Jay. He'd never noticed her if she had.

‘Yes, did you?'

Jay said, ‘I did once. Dad took me out.'

‘Did he teach you at home?'

Jay laughed out loud. It was so long since he'd done that, the sound startled him. But it was just the idea of Dad, teaching lessons.

‘No way,' he said. ‘My dad's no teacher.'

Toni led him down a flight of steps. At the bottom was a door with a key pad beside it.

Toni keyed in some numbers.

‘9955,' she told Jay. ‘Remember that. It's OK, everyone, it's me,' she called out, pushing the door open. ‘I've got food. And I've found another Immune.'

Toni tramped down some more stone steps, dumped her pack on the ground and rubbed her sore shoulders. Jay followed her, pushing his hood off. He made out a long, low room lit by a string of dimly glowing bulbs before a tall, stooped man came hurrying up. His gaunt face looked weary and harassed.

‘Hello, Dad,' said Toni.

‘What have you done to your hair? Where have you been?' Dr Moran fired questions at his daughter. ‘You know the rules. No-one goes out without my permission.'

‘I've got food,' said Toni. ‘I went out to collect it. Someone's got to.'

Dr Moran ignored the food. ‘Are you all right? You haven't been cut or scratched, have you?'

‘No,' said Toni, surprised. ‘Dad, I'm Immune!'

‘You could still get tetanus,' said Dr Moran. ‘We need to stay healthy.'

‘Look, I'm all right,' said Toni. ‘I just got sick of sitting around.'

‘Well, that was stupid and selfish of you. What if you'd been caught? You know what they do to Immunes.'

‘I wasn't caught!' said Toni.

Dr Moran glared at her. ‘I've got more important things to do than worry about you.'

Toni scowled. Jay thought she was going to argue, but she didn't. ‘I won't do it again,' she muttered.

Dr Moran's piercing blue eyes swung to Jay. ‘So you're an Immune too?'

‘Yes, he is,' said Toni. ‘The Immune Hunters were after him. Go on, Jay, tell him.'

But Jay had other things to say. ‘My dad's been taken prisoner – '

Dr Moran interrupted. ‘Roll up your sleeve.'

‘What?' said Jay.

‘Roll up your sleeve. I want to see if you're what you say you are. And for that, I need some of your blood.'

Dr Moran produced a syringe. Jay winced as the needle was stabbed into his arm, just below his elbow. He watched the syringe fill with his dark red blood.

Dr Moran swabbed the skin puncture, then he was gone, hurrying into another room. He called back to Toni, ‘Keep him there, until I've found out who he is.'

Jay looked at the small, stinging mark on his skin. ‘What was that for?'

‘The Cultivars have spies all over the place,' Toni explained. ‘They could even recruit a human to infiltrate our group, pretending he's an Immune.'

Jay couldn't argue with that.

‘Your blood group will show if you really are an Immune,' said Toni. ‘Dad's checking it now. It won't take him long.'

‘But what's my blood group got to do with it?' asked Jay, baffled.

‘All of us Immunes are AB Rhesus negative. It's a really rare blood group. It makes us immune to the virus. My dad's been trying to find out why.'

She sat down, on the lowest stone step. ‘We'd better wait here. You can't meet the others 'til you're cleared.'

Jay practically exploded. ‘More waiting!' he shouted. ‘You said we were going to rescue Dad! You said the others would help.'

He was horrified to see that Toni's face was full of doubt. ‘You promised me they'd help,' he said again.

‘I never actually promised,' said Toni quietly.

Jay howled out in frustration. ‘I don't know what's going on! But if you won't help me, I'm going!'

He jumped up, but Toni grabbed his arm.

‘You wouldn't stand a chance out there. Not alone.'

Jay hated to admit it, but he knew she was speaking the truth. He sat on the steps again, clenching his fists with tension until the knuckles were white as bone.

Dr Moran came back at last from the other room. ‘It's OK,' he told Toni. ‘He's Immune.'

Jay's mind was spinning with questions. But the most important one concerned Dad.

‘Will my dad be Immune too?' he asked.

‘Not necessarily,' said Dr Moran in that brisk, chilly way of his. ‘Blood groups are very complicated. You could have inherited AB Rhesus negative blood from either parent, or neither. I've no time to explain and, frankly, you wouldn't understand if I did.'

Dr Moran strode away. Jay decided,
I don't like him.

‘My dad's got a lot on his mind,' Toni said apologetically. ‘Come on. You can meet the others now.'

They followed Dr Moran to a room kitted out like a laboratory, with computers, microscopes, test tubes, centrifuges and all sorts of other equipment. The five other Immunes were sitting on lab benches, some looking through microscopes or staring at computer screens.

Jay's spirits rose. One was a child and one an old man. But the other three, two men and one woman, looked fit enough. That would make six of them along with Toni, Dr Moran and himself.

‘The Cultivars have got my dad,' said Jay. ‘They've taken him to the Research Station. Toni said you'd help me rescue him.'

Dr Moran shot a look at Toni. ‘Well, I'm afraid she had no right to say that.'

‘Will you help me?' pleaded Jay.

‘No,' said Dr Moran.

Jay couldn't believe what he was hearing. He appealed to the others. ‘I thought you were some kind of resistance group, freedom fighters!'

‘We are,' said one.

‘But you're all just sitting around!' screamed Jay. ‘What happened to fighting back?'

‘We are fighting back,' said Dr Moran. ‘We're fighting the plant virus. We're very, very close to a vaccine.'

‘But my dad needs help
now
!' said Jay. ‘Toni, please!'

Toni said, ‘Dad, can't we help?'

‘You know that's not possible.' Dr Moran turned to Jay again. ‘I'm sorry about your father. But if he's an Immune, they'll have already killed him. And if he's not, they'll infect him with the virus. And even if he was still alive and still human, we're in a race to save the whole human species. One man's life is of no account.'

Jay felt rage boiling inside him at the idea that his dad was of ‘no account'.

‘You sick, evil, cold-hearted creep!' he yelled at Dr Moran. He whirled round to Toni. ‘You tricked me!'

‘I didn't,' protested Toni. She seemed almost as anguished as Jay. ‘I really thought we'd be able to help.'

‘You're all pathetic cowards!' Jay yelled at the Immunes.

The woman gave him a sad, kind smile. ‘We understand your distress,' she said, ‘you poor child.'

Jay turned on her furiously. ‘I don't give a toss if you
understand
. It's help I need! Go to hell. I'm going to rescue Dad on my own.'

‘No, you're not,' said Dr Moran. ‘You've no idea what a powerful enemy we're up against. Cultivars are a global power, not just in this little town.'

The two Immune men got up from their benches, moving towards Jay.

‘You have to join us,' said Dr Moran. ‘Give your blood to help our research into a vaccine.'

‘Get off me!' yelled Jay as the two Immunes took his arms. ‘You can't keep me here!'

‘Dad,' begged Toni. ‘Just let him go. Please.'

‘I can't do that,' said Dr Moran. ‘He knows where we're hiding. He could tell the Cultivars.'

‘What?' Jay shouted. ‘I hate them! I'm not going to tell them anything!'

‘You might not be able to help yourself,' said Dr Moran. ‘We're within days of finding a cure. Lock him in the boiler room.'

Jay was taken away, struggling, shouting and protesting.

Jay hammered on the boiler room door and yelled to be let out. No-one came. When his voice was hoarse and his knuckles bleeding, he sat down on an upturned crate in the dim yellow glow of a single light bulb and looked around. Metal pipes snaked off in all directions. They'd once carried heat and hot water all around the science building. But they were cold now, unused.

The only door was bolted on the outside. There were no windows.

Jay's mood swung wildly between white-hot anger and black despair. The Immunes were supposed to be on his side. Instead they'd treated him like the enemy.

‘When I get out, I'm going to kill them all. Then I'm going to kill those Cultivars,' Jay raged to himself, as tears of helplessness ran down his face.

The door opened and Toni came in, carrying food and drink. She closed the door behind her.

Jay smeared the tears off his face and called her an ugly name. ‘Get away from me. You lied to me.'

Toni put the food and drink on the floor. ‘Shut up and listen.'

Jay slumped down again on the crate. ‘Say what you want. I'm not listening.'

‘I didn't trick you,' said Toni. ‘I really thought they might help. Look, I know you're angry. But… I'll come with you tonight to rescue your dad from the Research Station.'

‘Oh yeah,' Jay said scornfully. ‘That would be great! We'll wander in there, just the two of us, defeat the Cultivars and get Dad out. What planet are you on?'

‘I know the layout of the Research Station,' said Toni.

‘What?'

‘My dad used to work there,' said Toni. ‘I went there, loads of times. When the other scientists became Verdan, they started doing all these dodgy experiments trying to create the perfect plant/human hybrid. Dad resigned in protest.'

Jay didn't care about Dr Moran. ‘Can you really get us into the Research Station?'

‘Yeah, I think so,' said Toni. ‘Provided the Cultivars haven't changed it too much.'

Jay stared into her eyes.

‘You can trust me,' said Toni. ‘I'm not lying to you. I didn't before either.'

Jay knew he'd got no choice. ‘All right.'

‘OK,' said Toni. ‘But you're going to have to do what I say. First, we have to wait until dark to rescue your dad.'

Jay knew she was talking sense. ‘OK.'

‘And now,' said Toni, ‘you have to tell my dad that you've changed your mind. That you realize he can't risk his mission to save the human race to rescue one man, even if he is your dad.'

‘No way!' said Jay, glaring at her.

‘If you don't, they won't let you out of this room. How are we going to rescue your dad then?'

Jay stared at her. ‘Why do you want to go with me?' he asked her. ‘You don't even know my dad. You've only just met me.'

‘Because I'm sick of being here in this dump,' said Toni, her voice shaking with rage and frustration. ‘I'm sick of having my blood taken, day after day. Dad says a vaccine is the best way to fight back. But I want to
do
something. I feel like a lab rat. I'm going crazy cooped up down here!'