by Michael Ford
The elevator was glass sided, and as it began to climb, Kobi watched the city drop away. He turned away from the ranks of sleeping Snatchers to look out over the sweep of the bay. The plant life stopped abruptly at the ragged shoreline, like it had been torn off by some giant hand, with wrecks of ships and buildings half submerged. The sea was black and choppy and completely unwelcoming.
The elevator opened into an expansive room with a curved outer wall of glass giving a 360-degree view of the city. But Apana didn’t seem interested, turning instead to a bank of keyboards and monitors on the inner wall. First he scanned his fingerprints, and the screen lit up.
“Greetings, Dr. Apana. Voice identification, please.”
“ID Code Alpha, Alpha,” said Apana.
Now all the monitors blinked into life, in addition to holographic displays showing 3D maps of the city, with tiny red lights representing the drones.
“Readings indicate critical failure of environmental containment,” said the computer. “Recommend emergency evacuation and quarantine protocols.”
“A bit late for that,” muttered Apana, his fingers moving stiffly over the touch pads. “Hendrix, connect via VCP to port three.” The drone floated close and spun. Something began to whir inside it. “The upload should only take a few . . .” Hendrix made a beeping sound. “There! Now we just have to transmit.” He continued to type, then tapped the screen triumphantly. “It’s done,” he said. The message began to play.
“CLAWS is lying to you. They don’t want you to get better. They don’t want a cure to the Waste. My name is Kobi Hales. I’m immune to—”
Hendrix wobbled a little in the air. “Charge at ten percent,” said an electronic voice. “Sleep mode activating.” The green lights dimmed, and the drone lowered to the ground.
Apana’s features shifted from happiness to dread in a flash. “Negative, Hendrix. Stay awake.”
The drone rose once more.
“Um . . . does that count as switching off?” said Asha.
“We should be okay,” said Apana. “It was only for a split second.”
Yaeko shook her head. “Oh no . . . Look!”
On the holograph display, the red dots showing the locations of the Snatchers were moving in a strange pattern, wheeling around in the sky and coalescing into a swarm. Slowly they began to stream back toward the Space Needle. Kobi glanced outside and saw them, all of them, closing in on the Observation Deck. The sky seemed to darken as the winged drones blocked the view.
The message was still playing Kobi’s words when something thumped into the roof above their heads.
“They’re coming!” he cried.
17
MORE SNATCHERS SLAMMED DOWN above them, hitting the roof of the tower. The Observation Deck trembled with each impact.
Then, farther around the viewing platform, glass exploded inward. A Snatcher reached inside, gripping the vertical steel stanchions that separated the glass panes. It tried to squeeze its body through, but it wouldn’t quite fit. The Snatcher screeched and retreated, then flung itself again, crumpling the metal and falling through the gap it had created. It righted itself on its insectoid legs and turned its visual sensors in their direction. A series of beeps sounded, perhaps summoning others, then it lumbered toward them.
“Back into the elevator!” shouted Asha, stabbing at the button. The doors remained stubbornly closed.
“Run!” said Kobi, grabbing Fionn and practically dragging him away. Apana stumbled after them too, with Asha at his side. Only Yaeko remained, frozen in place. The Snatcher lunged for her, but she jumped above its stinger, clinging to the ceiling. The drone turned and reached upward, and she fired the stun baton. The Snatcher crashed into the wall and lay still. The elevator doors pinged open. But before they could climb in, two more Snatchers came scurrying along the Observation Deck.
They all ran in the opposite direction.
“Hendrix, Omega Protocol in three,” said Apana.
“What’s Omega Protocol?” asked Kobi.
“You’ll see,” said the old man.
Just as the two Snatchers reached the floating droid, it exploded with a colossal boom that shattered a dozen or more windowpanes and set Kobi’s ears ringing. When the smoke cleared, all that remained of the Snatchers were tangles of charred metal. Unfortunately, the explosion had wiped out the wall console as well.
“Did the message finish?” asked Yaeko, aghast.
“I don’t know. Most of it got out. That’s what matters,” said Apana. “There’s another elevator on the far side. We need to get to it before—”
A Snatcher lurched toward them from the opposite direction. Kobi readied his ax, looking for an opening as it advanced. He swung and caught one leg, but another swiped him in the stomach and threw him against the wall. Through a winded daze, he saw the Snatcher move toward Fionn, who was completely unarmed in its path. Kobi was sure he’d be trampled, until Asha shoved Fionn aside. Then she screamed as the Snatcher’s claw stabbed down at her back. Kobi was relieved to see its blow land squarely on her backpack—but as she fell, he saw blood coming from her shoulder. The Snatcher had stabbed all the way through.
Asha lay helpless on the ground. The Snatcher reared back, ready to finish her, but Kobi managed to throw himself shoulder first into its back, knocking it off balance. It bounced into a wall, mashing screens, then turned to face him, lashing out with a claw. Kobi ducked beneath it, then lifted the ax double-handed and brought it down as hard as he could right in the center of the creature’s “forehead.” Sparks showered over him as the Snatcher’s legs spasmed, its central motor systems malfunctioning. He yanked the ax clear, then cut into the Snatcher’s damaged part again. This time the Snatcher lay still.
Yaeko and Fionn helped Asha off the floor.
“I can stand,” she said, but her face had gone pale, and she was hunched over in pain. Her pack lay spilled open on the floor.
Kobi led the way farther around the perimeter of the Observation Deck. Impacts rocked the structure on all sides as Snatchers attached themselves to the outside of the glass viewing panes and began to smash through. More piled in behind, eager to join the frenzy, but if anything, their sheer number proved an impediment. Only a handful of them got through the swarm. When Kobi and the others reached the far elevator, the doors opened almost at once. They piled in and the glass door closed. A Snatcher charged at them, and the glass splintered but didn’t break as the elevator began to descend. Inside, everyone seemed to breathe out at once.
“What now?” said Yaeko. “They’ll be waiting for us at the bottom.”
They didn’t get that far.
The elevator ground to a shuddering halt, suspended. From every side, Kobi saw Snatchers closing in. Five at first, then more than a dozen. They climbed from above and below, clinging to the steel spans like insects.
“They’ve stopped the elevator,” said Apana.
Yaeko shrank into a corner, hugging her knees and burying her face in them. Asha shared a glance with Kobi, one hand clutching her injured shoulder, and shook her head hopelessly. The Snatchers blocked almost all the light as they swarmed across the outside of the elevator. Kobi felt their tiny gleaming eyes settle on him hungrily. Was Melanie watching now? Was she controlling them? Several extended spinning saw blades. When they touched the glass of the elevator walls, a hideous screeching flooded the enclosed space.
“This is it,” Kobi said. He couldn’t believe it would end like this. After getting so far, transmitting the message. Without thinking, he reached out to hold Asha’s hand. If they were going to die here he didn’t want to feel alone. She squeezed as well and hugged Fionn closer. Fionn’s eyes were closed, but when they opened, they held no fear.
Only rage.
Glass splintered as a Snatcher sting pushed through, slicing toward Yaeko. She squirmed out of the way—straight into the grip of a claw that broke through. It clamped over her boot, pulling her toward it. “Help me!” she cried, unable to tear free.
Kobi smashed at the claw with the hilt of his ax, but another Snatcher claw knocked him off balance, and the ax slipped from his hand. Asha grabbed Yaeko’s arm and pulled. For a moment the girl and the machine were locked in a tug-of-war, and Kobi scrambled to grab hold of Yaeko’s other arm. Kobi felt his heels sliding across the floor, unable to prevent Yaeko being heaved away, feet-first, toward the open side of the elevator.
In a flash of white, the Snatcher was flung sideways. Asha, Kobi, and Yaeko tumbled backward in a heap. He didn’t know what had happened, but then another Snatcher vanished with what sounded like a squawk. Kobi saw a long orange bill, a flap of gigantic wings, before whatever it was darted away. One by one, the other Snatchers detached from the side of the elevator, and as the view of the skyline opened up, Kobi saw more of the new arrivals. The white birds were pelicans, air gusting with each beat of their enormous wings, their beaks alone seven or eight feet long. One carried a Snatcher dangling by one leg and squirming to get free.
There were other birds too. Kobi spotted a massive hawk that swooped low and wrapped its talons around a Snatcher before crushing it and dropping its carcass into the grasslands below. Three other attack drones were in pursuit, but the hawk tipped its wings and evaded them easily before batting two aside with a powerful wing stroke. There were bats too, the flaps of their leathery wings snapping the air like whips. Enormous wasps hummed in the night, their stings stabbing into the Snatchers’ circuitry, disabling them instantly. The Snatchers spun, trying to right themselves in midair before smashing into the sides of buildings and bursting into flames. Smaller birds too, sleek seabirds with dappled feathers, stabbed down from higher altitudes, taking out Snatchers left and right before a flock of pigeons arrived in a convoy over the skyscrapers. Kobi was turning in his spot, enthralled, when he finally understood what was happening. Fionn stood perfectly still in the center of the battered elevator. His eyelids were still closed, but behind them his eyes were shifting quickly. Kobi remembered Johanna’s words. Anger. Anger makes Fionn’s powers stronger.
“He’s controlling them all,” Kobi gasped, staring around at the birds, insects, and bats.
A stiff breeze buffeted the inside of the elevator, streaming through the smashed wall panels and stirring Fionn’s hair. The Snatchers were in disarray, changing directions to face the oncoming threats. One by one they were picked off, either knocked from the sky by wings and beaks or seized in a raptor’s talons and carried away. Kobi saw several Snatchers latch on to the wings of a hawk. It flapped in panic, but another clamped on to the side of its head. The giant bird of prey let out a screech of rage as one of its wings buckled. More Snatchers flung themselves onto its body. From the elevator Kobi watched as the majestic bird careened through the sky above them and into the Observation Deck. The impact reverberated down the shaft, and suddenly the elevator gave an ominous creak. One of the cables above snapped, and the car tipped sharply. Apana was thrown toward the opening in one of the walls, but Kobi managed to grab his wrist and hold on. The others braced themselves, Yaeko clinging to the wall with both hands, and even Fionn’s eyes sprang open in surprise.
“It’s going to fall!” said Yaeko. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
Easier said than done, thought Kobi. There was no way to climb down that he could see. Heading upward through the shaft might be a possibility for Yaeko, but Kobi wasn’t sure how far he’d make it, and the others would find it impossible. Could he carry them if he had to?
He felt a hand on his arm. It was Fionn, teeth gritted, brow furrowed in concentration and fury. “I have a way, Kobi,” he said. “They’re coming.”
“What’s coming?” asked Kobi. He looked out through the aerial dogfight still raging between the flying animals of the Wastelands and the Snatchers. A fluorescent-green, glimmering craft was winding a steady path from the south, looping between the skyscrapers of downtown Seattle. It looked at first like a kind of futuristic airship, the shape of a narrow barge and sparkling with light, but as it came toward them Kobi realized it had two huge pairs of wings oscillating at such tremendous speed they were just a blur.
“It’s a dragonfly!” exclaimed Asha.
The creature had two bulbous yellow eyes on the side of its head and delicate legs dangling under its body, lined with fur. It cut a path through the airborne battle, and the buzz of its wings became a deafening drone. Rotating in midair, the tip of its stiff, segmented abdomen swung around until it came to rest against the edge of the leaning elevator.
“Climb on,” said Fionn.
“You must be kidding,” said Yaeko.
But Asha scrambled on right away, shuffling with her legs on either side of the long tail. Kobi helped Apana to the edge, supporting the old man as he clambered on as well.
In small cautious steps, Yaeko straddled the insect and lowered her body to its abdomen, wrapping her arms around the insectoid body. She looked like she was going to be sick. The elevator jerked another few inches.
“Quickly!” yelled Kobi, giving her a shove. He jumped on behind her. The skin of the dragonfly felt curiously soft, like worn leather. He reached back, holding out a hand for Fionn. Just as their fingers touched, the elevator groaned, shuddered, and then fell. He gripped Fionn’s hand; the sudden dead weight almost pulled him off the dragonfly’s back. Yelping in terror, Fionn swung from Kobi’s grip, dangling over a drop of hundreds of feet. The elevator slammed into the ground far below, throwing up a cloud of debris and dust. Kobi gritted his teeth and hauled Fionn up beside him. As soon as Fionn was seated, they lurched off through the air.
Kobi could do nothing but hold on, leaning closely over the dragonfly’s soft, warm flesh. The wings roared like a jet engine, blasting air over them. They swooped lower between two towering skyscrapers before banking sharply into a ninety-degree turn. Snatchers swarmed around them, but the turbulence of the dragonfly’s beating wings buffeted their flight paths into disarray. Kobi caught a reflection in a pane of glass on one of the buildings and saw himself clinging there, amazed.
They left the pursuing Snatchers in their wake and flew out over the bay. Kobi looked back toward the Space Needle. Several columns of smoke rose from the wreckage of the Observation Deck, where the number of drones was at last thinning. From the corner of his eye, he saw that three of the drones had split away and were preparing to charge at the dragonfly from directly below. Two were caught in the shifting air currents and veered off at angles, but the third kept coming, only jerking off course at the last moment. With a crash it collided with the dragonfly’s wing.
The Snatcher plummeted like a rock, but the dragonfly’s wing flailed. Kobi’s stomach plunged as the giant insect listed in the air, then began to drop, its remaining wings losing their rhythm. For a few beats, it recovered before lurching downward again. Kobi clung on desperately, heartbeat ratcheting up at the impossibly huge drop below. Wind gusted in his ears as they lurched.
“We’re going to crash!” bellowed Asha. “Hold on.”
There was water below, then land as the dragonfly began to spin under the uneven thrust of its wings. The force threatened to rip Kobi and the others off. He leaned closer to the abdomen, gripping with knees and arms. It was the only thing he could do. Not that it was going to help. The ground was rushing up to meet them, buildings and trees and water in a blur. . . .
He didn’t feel the impact. He only woke from unconsciousness, confused, body pulsing with pain. It could only have been a few seconds after the crash. He was lying on marshy grass, on his side, and he could hear groaning. Rolling over, he stared into a yellow eye the size of a basketball. The body of the dragonfly was bent horribly in two, its wings smashed beneath it.
“Asha?” he called.
It felt like his mind was rebooting and his body hadn’t quite caught up. When he tried to stand, his legs gave way, and he fell back to his knees. There was a body a few yards away. It was Alan Apana. “Doctor?” he shouted.
“Kobi? Is that you?” T
he voice belonged to Yaeko, though he couldn’t see her.
“Where are you?”
He stumbled over uneven ground, ankles sinking in mud. He heard a sound coming from the other side of the dead dragonfly, a rhythmic splashing like someone running toward him. He leaned against the insect’s body for a moment, then peered over the top.
His heart almost stopped. A Snatcher was standing in the shallows, looming over Fionn, who was trying to crawl away.
“No!” Kobi cried. Somehow he managed to clamber over the abdomen and flopped down on the other side. But as he picked himself up, the Snatcher was already reaching down and scooping Fionn up. The younger boy began to scream. “No . . . ,” Kobi said again, breaking into a sob.
A shadow passed over him, a hulking presence from behind. He heard the telltale chittering beep of a Snatcher. He turned and fell on his back, without even the strength to lift his arms. From beneath its metallic carapace, its stinger appeared, rearing back to strike at Kobi, the deadly toxin swirling in its capsule.
18
THE STINGER RETRACTED, AND the Snatcher’s legs suddenly folded into its body as if it had deactivated. Kobi heard a rapid thumping sound, and a shadow passed overhead. Helicopter?
He twisted to see a large open-backed chopper land a few yards up the shoreline. The initials “CLAWS” were painted along the tail. Before its runners even hit the ground, rifle-carrying personnel in black hazmat suits jumped out. They approached the dragonfly with their weapons trained warily on it before the leader gave a number of hand signals. Kobi found himself staring into the barrel of a gun.
“Up!” said the man behind the visor.
Kobi did as he was told. All he got was a shove. Kobi grabbed the man’s arms and flung him twenty feet. But others surrounded him, aiming their weapons. Fionn was being lifted over a soldier’s shoulder, kicking and screaming. Kobi watched in horror as another soldier stepped over and struck Fionn’s temple with the butt of his gun, knocking him out. Kobi searched frantically for the others and found them: Asha and Yaeko clung to each other as soldiers ushered them at gunpoint toward the helicopter’s cargo doors. Apana was being practically dragged, struggling to stay upright. Once they were aboard the helicopter, the CLAWS guards lined them up on a single bench, then sat opposite, keeping their rifles raised. Fionn’s head rolled weakly as the soldier dumped him in a seat and fastened the belt around his waist. Kobi still had a utility knife in his belt, but the hard faces behind the visors opposite told him it wouldn’t be very smart to try and use it.