by Michael Ford
Fionn shook his head with a flash of anger that made Kobi hold his breath. “Not controlling. Communicating.”
“It’s . . . amazing,” said Asha. “Like they’re part of you. To be able to project to every single one of them . . . It’s impressive, Fionn. I’ll give you that.”
Fionn smiled, looking for a second like the young boy Kobi remembered, shy and kindhearted.
“They’re my friends.”
Kobi watched as the rats descended, as if of one mind, scurrying off into the darkness.
“Waste must be getting down here,” said Kobi. “A lot of it.” Mischik needs to know. But how would Fionn react to that? They needed to tread lightly.
Fionn nodded and a ghost of a smile flickered over his lips. He fingered the wolf tooth and pointed the flashlight farther into the tunnel. “Follow.”
He began to walk off.
Kobi caught Asha’s eye and tapped his own head. He felt the telltale prickle as she read his thoughts: We can’t tell Fionn that this Waste contamination needs to be wiped out.
They wandered back up the tunnel, Fionn leading the way. He moved with ease, even when the ceiling height dipped. Back at the rubble-strewn shaft, Asha stopped, touching her head in pain again.
“It’s coming from down there.”
Kobi joined her. “What is?”
“The strong feeling. Waste. Lots of it.”
“More rats?”
Asha shook her head and turned to Fionn. “Stay behind me,” he said. “I’ll keep you safe.” He seemed excited, like now that his secret had been discovered he was desperate to show it all off. “Don’t tell Mischik, all right?”
Kobi caught Asha’s eye again. “We won’t,” said Asha.
Dread settled in the pit of Kobi’s stomach. He had a bad feeling: his instincts told him danger was close.
As they descended once more, through junctions and shafts, splashing occasionally through small pools of water, Kobi realized he hadn’t been marking arrows on the walls, but Fionn seemed to know exactly where he was going. I hope so. Otherwise we’re completely lost. . . .
“We must have walked miles by now,” said Asha.
“I think we could be under the central district of the city,” said Kobi. “You can feel the ground shake a bit from the traffic.”
Dim light came from ahead, around a corner, but it didn’t trouble Fionn at all. As they came closer, Kobi saw it wasn’t a single source but a number of glowing points dancing in the air.
“Fireflies!” said Asha.
Fionn held up his hand as they approached, and the insects parted, forming into two distinct swarms that hovered on either side of them.
“That’s incredible!” said Asha.
“Down here, everything is my friend,” said Fionn. He pointed and the fireflies drifted ahead, lighting the way. Kobi couldn’t help but smile.
He heard water once more, at first just a few drips and a splash, then something louder. Under his feet, outlined in the fireflies’ light, the base of the tunnel was softer, covered with patches of moss. How anything could grow down here in the dark was a mystery. Didn’t plants need sunlight?
Asha, just ahead at the corner, suddenly stopped, her eyes wide.
“Be careful,” said Fionn.
Kobi reached them—and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The tunnel floor had disintegrated completely. It simply ended in what looked like midair, and beyond, a huge cavern, larger even than the old football field at Bill Gates High School, stretched away. Waterfalls flooded from points near its ceiling, spouting into the space below, where they gathered in a pool covered in giant purple lily pads. Walls teeming with green plant life and phosphorescent flowers lined the cavern’s perimeter, and moths the size of Kobi’s head wafted gently through the air. But the weirdest thing of all was how it all moved. The plant life shifted and reached, seeming almost to grow before their eyes. It was beautiful but somehow menacing at the same time—a giant living organism.
And, without any doubt, a concentration of Waste of a kind Kobi hadn’t seen since he’d left Old Seattle.
But this wasn’t Old Seattle. This was beneath the new city—Kobi wondered how far they’d traveled underground. Had they moved from under the slums to the central district? Fionn’s eyes gleamed as one of the moths fluttered closer, then landed on his outstretched hand. Fionn caught Kobi’s eye, and Kobi was reminded of the butterfly shadow puppet Fionn had projected when they were staying at Bill Gates High School in Old Seattle—a Waste-mutated creature that wasn’t evil or dangerous but to Fionn symbolized the beauty and freedom of the Wastelands. More than any other place, Old Seattle had been a home to him. He’d even spoken out loud there after having spent five years mute—the effects of a traumatizing CLAWS experiment in which he’d failed to control a mutated bear, allowing it to get loose and then kill a number of scientists before the young boy’s eyes.
Kobi peeled his gaze from the butterfly, setting his look on Fionn. “We have to tell Mischik,” he said.
The moth detached from Fionn’s arm as the boy rounded on Kobi, eyes flashing. “No!”
“Fionn,” Asha said, reaching for him. “You have to understand—this could be deadly. If this contamination reaches ground level, it’ll be unstoppable. The Waste will consume New Seattle.”
Kobi couldn’t read Fionn’s expression at all. Perhaps he doesn’t think that’s a bad thing. . . . “People will die, Fionn,” he said. “Thousands of people.”
Fionn’s mouth tightened. “I won’t let that happen,” he said.
“You can’t stop it,” said Asha. “You might be able to control a few rats, but you can’t—”
Fionn touched his temples, and it was like someone turned off the lights. The flowers seemed to lose their brightness, the fireflies faded, and all the plants that had been shifting and reaching and probing suddenly drooped. The water still flowed, crashing into the pool below, but otherwise everything was completely still.
“Can’t I?” said Fionn. He turned to them, his face pleading. “If you tell Sol, they’ll want to destroy it all. That’s all they know. Waste is bad. Kill the Waste. It’s not fair.”
Asha was ready to argue, Kobi thought, but she simply sighed. “Okay, Fionn. We can talk about this, but you have to come back to base. If you don’t, Sol will come looking anyway—they might even send drones down here. And they’ll find this place.”
Fionn looked defeated. Sulkily, he nodded, and pushed back past them. As he left, the lights of the jungle came alive once more. With a final look at the seething morass of vegetation, Kobi followed. He wondered how far underground they were and how high the Waste life had spread. There might be patches that had already reached the foundations of the soaring skyscrapers of New Seattle, waiting just below the streets.
When they reached the ladder up to the manhole, Fionn hung back.
“It’s all right,” said Kobi. “It’s just the base.”
There was a grim set to Fionn’s shoulders, but he gripped the rungs and climbed.
They emerged back behind the generators and Kobi took a deep breath. The air wasn’t fresh here by any means, but after being in the claustrophobic tunnels for the last couple of hours it tasted good. Fionn looked completely out of place, grubby and wild.
Asha smiled and ruffled his hair. “You need a shower!” she said.
“Not so fast,” said a voice.
From behind the generator, Mischik stepped out, along with a Sol security detail. All of them were armed.
Fionn staggered back, right into Kobi.
“It’s all right,” said Asha, holding her ground. “It’s just Dr. Mischik.” She turned to the Sol personnel. “We just found Fionn,” she said. “Is there a problem?”
Mischik’s voice wavered as if he’d just experienced a shock. “We know you’ve been in the prohibited tunnels. You’re still wearing your lenses, remember.”
Kobi was confused. “They’re switched off.”
&
nbsp; Mischik shook his head. “When we realized you were missing, we switched them back on.”
“We saw everything,” added the tall, bearded Sol agent who’d been riding Leon’s motorbike during the mission to the clinic. His jaw was set.
Fionn began to shake his head rapidly. Kobi heard his voice in his head, though he knew Mischik and the others, who weren’t infected, couldn’t. “Please don’t hurt them. You can’t kill it all!”
“Get Fionn cleaned up,” said Mischik. “Give him and Asha a strong dose of Horizon to flush their systems.”
Fionn tried to run back down the tunnel, but the Sol staff rushed forward and grabbed him. Fionn thrashed and wailed.
“Keep him in his room until he calms down. Fionn, please, you have to understand,” Mischik urged a little more gently.
The tall Sol agent pulled the boy away. Fionn looked back at Asha and Kobi with a quiet fury. He blames us, thought Kobi.
“Fionn, I’m sorry,” said Asha, following after them. “We couldn’t have known they were watching. It will be all right.” With a last glance back at Kobi, Mischik turned after them, leaving Kobi alone.
Kobi took the lenses from his eyes, and tossed them away. He paced away toward the labs. A feeling of uneasiness welled in his stomach, and one thought wouldn’t leave his brain, swirling around over and over. The Waste in the tunnels won’t be able to be contained. Waste is coming into the city. And it’s going to be worse than ever.
7
IN THE MEDICAL WING, Johanna was using a scanner to assess Kobi’s vital organs. The device looked like a metal wand and gave readings as she moved it over his torso and head.
“Blood pressure fine—better, actually. Metabolism strong, levels of antibodies up.” Her fingers elongated into vines and carried the device over Kobi’s shoulders and down his back. “White blood cell production up too.” She sighed. “You seem healthier than ever.”
“I feel better than ever too. Just like back in . . .” He trailed off before he said, “Old Seattle.”
But Johanna gave him a long stare, her auburn eyes as deep and rich as ferns. “I know what you’re thinking.”
Kobi looked away. “It’s almost like I miss it. Waste. I miss being around it.”
Johanna sat down beside him. “You think your abilities are stronger because you have recently been exposed to Waste?”
Kobi didn’t say anything for a moment. “It’s possible, isn’t it? I haven’t felt right since I’ve been here, and it explains why I’m not as strong anymore, why you can’t take as much blood. All of it. Fionn might be right. Me and him. We just don’t belong here.”
Johanna shook her head. “I don’t agree with you.” She picked up a tablet from a wheeled metallic table and sat back down. “I’ve been recording all of the Healhome kids’ abilities.” She touched the tablet a few times, bringing up a set of graphs with the names of each Healhome kid on a graph’s axis. Kobi saw quickly that only his baseline measurements were down. Fionn’s graph showed a sharp increase, Asha’s a slight upward curve, and Johanna’s graph had dramatically increased since the date of their arrival six months ago.
She pointed to hers. “I think our abilities run far deeper and are far more complex than we know. I think training helps them grow, but I also think the powers depend on our mental state—on the connection between our body and mind. And what triggers their development is different for all of us. Fionn’s powers have skyrocketed since we arrived here. I think his powers are fueled by anger. By feeling in control. You’ve seen the change in him.”
She extended her fingers into a twirling column. “I think my powers have developed because I feel useful. I have found what I’m good at.” Kobi studied her face and saw a lingering sadness. “At Healhome I never fit in. I wasn’t loud or strong or determined. I never felt like part of the group. It was only really Rohan that I was friends with. He was always kind and so funny. I miss him.” She paused. “I think I’ve found purpose.”
Kobi heard Hales’s voice in his head again, pictured his face suddenly, and felt himself droop as if pulled down by a great weight. “I miss Hales too. I miss being with him. I miss my old life. I just don’t think I can be strong without him. Maybe my powers are linked to that somehow?”
Johanna smiled sadly at him. “You have to find what you’re missing, what’s holding you back.”
An alarm cut through the room, a sharp wail from the corridor. Johanna stood, rigid. “It’s the emergency alert. Doctors are being called in.”
A surge of dread filled Kobi instantly. “Rohan!”
Together Kobi and Johanna rushed from the testing room, picking their way through the crowded main atrium until they located the passage that led to the makeshift medical room. When they arrived, Kobi saw that the glass partition had misted and doctors crowded inside. The door was automated, and Kobi didn’t have clearance. He thought about kicking it in.
“I’ll open it,” called Johanna. She pressed her finger on a light blue scanner pad, and the door whistled open. “Kobi, wait!” said Johanna, but he pushed through the doctors until he could see the bed.
Rohan was having some kind of seizure. His body twisted and jerked. A bald male doctor with pale freckled skin held him down by the shoulders.
“Cardiac arrest,” said a tall, dark-skinned woman with short gray hair—clearly in charge. “Steve, the defibrillator.” She opened Rohan’s gown at the chest. Kobi was ushered back by a nurse.
A third doctor, eyes steely, placed two electrical cathodes on either side of Rohan’s heart. “Clear!” said the head doctor.
Rohan’s body leaped from the bed.
“Still no heartbeat,” said a nurse by a machine Kobi couldn’t identify.
“Clear!” said the head doctor again. Rohan’s body spasmed, but his eyes remained closed. Kobi couldn’t look at his face. The slack cheeks and lifeless skin were too much for Kobi to bear. “No. Rohan, no,” whispered Kobi, his shoulders and arms frozen into leaden, sinking weights. The room seemed to spin.
The doctors administered the shocks to his heart another time, then another, then another, until Kobi saw them slowing, casting doubtful looks at each other. The lead doctor glanced over to where Johanna and Kobi were watching frozen near the doorway. Kobi could read everything he needed to know in her gaze. But he couldn’t accept it.
“Keep going,” said Kobi, and he heard Johanna burst out in sobs.
Mischik strode into the room. The doctor shook her head at the Sol leader. “Rohan didn’t make it. Cardiac arrest caused by the toxin.”
Mischik opened his mouth, but he wavered. No words escaped him. Finally, he swallowed and put his hands on Kobi and Johanna’s shoulders. “He’s gone. Rohan’s gone.”
“No,” whispered Kobi. The doctors moved away and, as if watching himself from afar, Kobi walked in a daze to Rohan’s side, touching the soft skin of his arm. He was so still now. Johanna followed him, then bent and kissed Rohan on the cheek.
“No,” said Kobi. It was all he could say.
Kobi told Leon the news himself. He thought it would be best coming from him. But it was undoubtedly the hardest thing Kobi had ever had to do. Leon had broken down completely, curling up on the sofa in the game room with his hands over his face and wailing. He’d gone to see Rohan’s body, and two hours later, he still hadn’t come back. Kobi, Yaeko, Asha, and Fionn sat in the game room in silence. Kobi could sense the grief spreading in waves from Fionn. The last time Fionn had seen Rohan, his friend had been healthy. Asha had filled him in on their mission to the anti-Waste clinic in the slums, and the attack from the Snatchers. Fionn had listened with tears in his eyes. “I should have been there with you. I shouldn’t have disappeared. I could have helped.”
Kobi looked up and saw Johanna enter the turbine hall. “Kobi, Asha, can I have a word?” she said.
When they were outside, Johanna cast a look around, then whispered, “I want to show you something.” Her eyes were puffy and worn out. Kobi just nodded, t
oo tired to ask any questions. Asha must have felt the same because she followed wordlessly alongside Kobi. Johanna led them down a couple of levels to the storage facilities. The rest of the base was a hive of activity, though it seemed somehow muted. Word had got around of the contamination beneath the city. A pall of despair and desperation seeped into every corridor, every set of eyes, palpable in the slumped body language, the muttered voices. Rohan had been popular. His death seemed like an omen for the end. We’re losing, thought Kobi. Everyone knows it.
Johanna’s fingerprint gave them access to a small storage room. It contained the smells of damp and dust, like it wasn’t used very much. Strange that the door is still secure though, Kobi thought. What’s in here? The room seemed ordinary, lined with shelves and plastic crates. Johanna reached toward one of the upper shelves. She wrapped leaflike tendrils around a small box. Opening the lid, she took out a battered drone. Kobi recognized it. He’d seen one of this kind before. Kobi’s skin tingled, and he breathed in a sharp gasp. It can’t be.
“I should have shown you this before,” she said, “but Mischik made me swear not to. I caught him watching the drone footage in his quarters. He didn’t know I was there at first. I don’t even know if anyone else has seen the recording.”
Kobi held his breath as Johanna switched on the drone. A projected head appeared, and Kobi’s heart rattled in response. It was Jonathan Hales. His features were tired and drawn, indicating prolonged Waste exposure. He looked close to collapse.
“Play message,” said Johanna.
“Greetings, Alex,” Hales said in a weak voice. He began to cough, and his words tumbled out in a disjointed ramble. “I . . . I have had a breakthrough. I didn’t want to say until I was sure”—more coughing—“but I fear I may not have long left. I’ve stayed here too long already.” He lifted a piece of paper into the shot. “I found something. It was in Apana’s office in a secret compartment. I don’t think he trusted anyone. You know what he was like. It always had to be about him. Anyway, I discovered the key to completing the cure. We have the cleansers, but this—this is the key to eradicating the Waste permanently! And I know where to go. The Park site! It’s going to be difficult to get there, impossible for me—for everyone—but there is one person who can do it. Kobi!”