Boy X

by Dan Smith

  ‘OK, then, we should go now. We don’t have much time.’

  Ash typed one more message and placed the tablet computer on the metal floor by his feet, turning it so the scientists could read what he had written. He nodded to his mum and looked at her for the last time before heading out of the lab.

  When Ash and Isabel reached the door, the tablet screen had already dimmed, preparing to close down and conserve its battery, but the message was still visible:

  I will come back. I will save you. I promise.

  23 hrs and 45 mins until Shut-Down

  ‘Twenty-four hours.’ Isabel set the countdown timer on her digital watch. ‘And we were in there for . . . fifteen minutes?’

  Ash nodded, and when Isabel thumbed the button, the minutes began to tick away. Time was already running out. ‘You sure you know where we’re going?’ he asked. ‘HEX13?’

  They sneaked back upstairs, bathed in the white glow of a handheld fluorescent light taken from one of the labs. Ash worried it would make them easy to spot, that Thorn would see them coming, but Isabel said she couldn’t make it to the other end of the building without it. In a way, it was a relief not to be in total darkness, but Ash still had a prickle down the back of his head when he thought about Thorn being just beyond the light, so he reached out with all his senses, trying to detect him.

  ‘Twenty-four hours is not long,’ Isabel said.

  ‘Just over twenty-four hours.’ Ash tried not to think about Mum locked in that room with Kronos swimming in her blood.

  ‘Maybe it’s not enough.’

  ‘It is enough,’ Ash said. ‘It’s a whole day.’

  ‘And even if we get out—’

  ‘ When we get out,’ Ash corrected her. ‘And don’t think about it. Just get us out of here and we’ll find Cain and Pierce, and get the cure. We’ll be all right. We have to be.’

  ‘Yes. We have to—’ Isabel gasped and came to a stop.

  On the floor just in front of them was a red footprint facing in their direction. It was faint, like a print in wet sand just on the edge of the shore, but it was clear enough to see the heel, the curve of the arch, the ball and the toes. Behind it was another, and then another, each one a little more visible than the last.

  Ash’s footprints. Not his blood, though.

  And there were other prints too, from shoes or boots too large to be Isabel’s.

  ‘Thorn,’ Isabel said.

  ‘Ignore it.’ Ash tried to sound brave. ‘We already know he’s here somewhere.’

  Isabel nodded. ‘That body – Paco – is up here, isn’t he?’

  Already, Ash could see a dark shape in the gloom on the floor ahead, and he could smell blood in the air. There was a hint of peppermint and leather too – Thorn’s smell. It was swirling in a shimmer of chemicals, tropical fruit and fear. ‘Look away,’ he said. ‘We’ll go past.’

  Paco was lying slumped against the wall. There was blood down the front of his white coat, a heavy patch of it around his stomach (he’ll gut us both) and a puddle on the floor beside him. Ash could see where he had knelt when he was searching for the keycard, and the place where he had stepped in the man’s blood before walking away.

  ‘Look at the wall,’ he told Isabel, and they left the horror behind, continuing past the lobby stairwell and along several other corridors leading into the darkness.

  ‘Where’s everyone else?’ Ash whispered.

  ‘There is no one else.’

  ‘There’s no one else on this island? No one at all?’

  ‘Just Papa and me. Maria and Begonia and . . . and Paco. And a security team. Sometimes more guards come if there is a big project.’

  ‘And you live here?’ Ash asked. ‘But how old are you? What about school?’

  ‘I’m fourteen. Papa teaches me. Science. Maths and English.’

  ‘And your mum?’

  ‘I have no mama.’ Isabel said it like she didn’t want to talk about it, so Ash stopped asking questions and just followed for a while, the white light from the fluorescent bulb illuminating the way.

  Isabel led them down the third corridor on the right, all the way to the door at the end, passing the mangled bodies of two more security guards, and when Ash put the card into the slot beside the door, something clunked inside. ‘Still power to the locks,’ he said. ‘I wonder how long it lasts.’

  Isabel shook her head and pushed on the door, stepping into a huge concrete room that smelt of dust and cardboard and a jumble of other things Ash didn’t recognize. It was filled with shelving that reached from floor to ceiling, and had the open, empty feeling of a cave. The glow from the fluorescent tube reached only a couple of metres around them, and there was no sight of the far wall.

  ‘I sometimes come in here with Dad to get supplies,’ Isabel said. ‘Always makes me feel . . . Brrr.’ She shivered.

  ‘You mean it gives you the creeps?’ Ash looked around, squinting into the darkness beyond the light.

  ‘The creeps. Yes.’

  ‘Me too.’

  They stole like thieves between two banks of shelves stacked high with orange plastic containers that looked like petrol cans, tins, spools of wire, jars of powders and pills. Even boxes containing cans of food. There were huge crates with images of medical equipment stuck on them, and rows and rows of the stainless-steel temperature-controlled containers they had seen in the labs.

  Approaching an area stacked with tools, Isabel gave Ash the light, telling him to hold it close to the shelf so she could find what she was looking for – a red crowbar as long as her arm.

  ‘What do we need that for?’

  ‘You’ll see.’ Hefting the crowbar, Isabel took Ash to the back of the room where there was an endless line of metal cabinets. Each was taller than Ash, painted olive green and with a yellow number stencilled onto the door. Isabel counted along the row, ‘ Uno . . . dos . . . tres . . . quatro . . .’ touching each cabinet as she went. When she came to number seventeen, she stopped and stood in front of it, crowbar hanging at her side.

  ‘This one,’ she said.

  Ash watched in confusion. ‘I thought we were looking for the way out?’

  ‘We are.’

  ‘And it’s in there? What is it, some kind of secret entrance? It looks too small.’

  ‘You’ll see.’ Isabel lifted the crowbar and slotted the narrow end into the crack in the cabinet, just above the lock. She put as much force behind it as she could, pushed and pushed, but nothing happened.

  ‘You’re never going to open it like that,’ Ash said. ‘Are you sure this is the way out?’

  ‘This’ – Isabel puffed as she leant on the crowbar – ‘is the only way out. We need what’s in here.’ She held tight with both hands and jerked her weight against the bar, two, three times, but the locker door didn’t budge.

  ‘What is it? Some kind of key?’

  ‘Just help me with this.’ Isabel waggled the crowbar, trying to jam it deeper into the gap, and levered at the door once more. She grunted with effort, then stopped to catch her breath. ‘Are you going to help me or not?’

  ‘All right.’ Ash put the light on the floor. He wasn’t big for his age – not as strong as most of his friends – so he wasn’t sure he’d do any better than Isabel, but he grabbed the crowbar, and—

  From somewhere among the racks of supplies came a scuffing sound that made Ash snap his head up and look into the darkness.

  ‘You heard that?’ he whispered.

  ‘I don’t think so. You have good hearing.’

  Ash nodded and held the crowbar back over his shoulder, ready to swing it hard like a cricket bat. ‘It feels like someone is watching us,’ he said. ‘You feel that?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  He tightened his grip on the crowbar and listened, searching for the source of the sound. He strained his ears for the faint thrum of a heartbeat, or the soft sigh of a breath. He tested the air, detecting a trace of the horribly familiar scent of peppermint.

  ‘Th
orn?’ he called. ‘Is that you?’

  Nothing.

  ‘Come on,’ Isabel said. ‘Let’s open this and get out of here.’

  Ash waited a little longer, then nodded and turned back to the locker. It felt wrong to be facing away from whatever danger was out there, but Isabel was right. They had to get away fast. Ash had to think about saving Mum. If he concentrated on her, remembered how she had looked, how scared she was, then he could be strong. He could do this.

  He turned and jammed the crowbar into the gap above the lock, looking at Isabel and saying, ‘Together.’

  One more hard shove was all it took. There was a crack as the lock snapped, and a bang as the door swung open and slammed back against the locker beside it. Isabel and Ash stumbled forwards, dropping the crowbar with a loud clatter that echoed through the room, jarring his sensitive hearing. At the same time, part of the lock shot away and pinged against the shelving. Ash put his hands on the bank of lockers to the left, stopping himself from smashing into them face first, and Isabel smacked into him from behind so that her head was right next to his, her chin on his shoulder.

  Her heart was thumping so hard Ash could feel it against his back as well as hear it.

  ‘You all right?’ he asked.

  ‘Sí.’ Isabel nodded, her hair tickling his face, and then did the weirdest thing. She laughed.

  It took Ash by surprise. There was nothing funny about what was happening. They were stuck in a research facility, in the dark, with a deadly virus and a lunatic killer on the loose. And he was still in his pyjamas. There was nothing funny about it AT ALL.

  But Isabel’s laugh was as infectious as Kronos and Ash couldn’t stop himself from joining her. It was better than crying. Better than curling up in a ball and wishing they were safe. So they stayed there, leaning against the locker, laughing away the fear and horror of the past hour.

  ‘I think we did it,’ Ash said, finally coming to his senses. ‘I think it’s open.’

  Still leaning against him, Isabel stifled her giggling. ‘You’re stronger than you look.’ She became serious, as if remembering where they were and what they had to do.

  Ash did the same and looked at the box nestled in the bottom of the locker.

  It was metal, olive green, with writing stencilled on the top:

  DANGER. HIGH EXPLOSIVES.

  Ash stepped back. ‘Seriously? That’s our way out? Explosives?’

  Isabel picked up the light and held it towards the locker, peering inside. ‘You could read that?’ she asked. ‘Without the light?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Ash was confused. ‘It’s just there. I mean . . .’ His eyes locked with Isabel’s.

  ‘You hear good and you see good,’ she said.

  Ash shrugged. ‘I guess. Yeah.’

  He glanced back at the locker, wondering what was happening to him. How had he been able to read the stencilling and Isabel hadn’t? In the total darkness of the corridor he had been as blind as Isabel, but with just a little light, he could see better. He wished there had been time to ask Mum about it. Maybe it was something to do with Kronos. Or the BioSphere. Whatever it was, it was freaky, but at least it was becoming easier to control.

  Isabel was staring at him as if she were trying to figure him out, so Ash changed the subject. ‘You’re serious about this? We’re going to blow our way out?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘No way. I mean, it’s kind of cool, but there has to be something else. An emergency door or . . . something.’

  Isabel blinked and looked down at the box. ‘In lockdown, everything is closed. Everything. This is the only way out.’

  ‘We’ll kill ourselves.’

  Isabel placed the light on the ground, and reached in to unfasten the catch on the front of the box. When she popped it open, the scent of marzipan oozed out.

  ‘Careful.’ Ash took another step back.

  ‘It’s safe,’ Isabel said. ‘I’ve used it before.’

  ‘You’ve used it before? Why? Why is it even here?’

  ‘It’s something new,’ Isabel said. ‘For research.’

  ‘That doesn’t make sense. I thought this place was for, like, medicines and stuff.’

  Isabel glanced up at him. ‘This is stuff.’

  ‘No, this is weapons. They make weapons here?’

  ‘Not guns. Other kinds of weapons, I think.’

  Ash tried to digest what Isabel was telling him. ‘Other things like what?’

  ‘Like this, I guess.’

  ‘And why have you used it?’

  ‘Well.’ She shrugged and leant back to let Ash see what was in the box. ‘Papa tested it and I watched. Out in the jungle. It’s very safe until it’s ready to . . .’

  ‘Explode?’

  ‘Yes. Or flash or smoke. It can do many things. Soon it will be for the army to use, I think.’

  ‘The army? My God.’ Ash rubbed a hand over his head.

  ‘This place is getting crazier by the minute.’ He paused, trying to make sense of everything. ‘Anyway, you said your dad didn’t talk about his work.’

  ‘Well . . . he is not supposed to. I’m not really allowed in the lab or to know what they are doing, but he told me about this. Said it was fun and let me watch him test it.’

  Ash took a step closer and studied the contents of the metal container. At one end was a number of what looked like plastic pencil boxes, while the rest was stacked with bricks wrapped in brown paper. Each brick had HEX13 printed on the top.

  ‘High Explosives Experiment Number Thirteen,’ Isabel explained.

  ‘What does that mean? That it took them thirteen tries to get it right?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Sheesh.’ Ash shook his head. ‘You sure it’s safe?’

  ‘It won’t go off without these.’ Isabel took out one of the small plastic boxes, and opened it to show Ash what appeared to be a smartphone and a collection of metal matchsticks. ‘They’re . . . how you say . . .?’ She waggled her index finger like she was firing a gun.

  ‘Triggers?’ Ash tried to sound brave and like he knew what he was talking about, but he couldn’t stop thinking that he was standing in front of a box full of explosives!

  ‘Detonators.’ Isabel tapped the metal sticks as she remembered the word she was looking for. ’And this is the handset.’ She picked up the object that looked like a smartphone. ‘We take them with us to the shutters and make a hole.’

  ‘Just like that?’

  Isabel shrugged. ‘It only needs a little.’

  ‘What about using it to get them out of that lab, then? To break the glass?’

  ‘I think it would be too dangerous. Maybe kill them.’

  A clear and horrible picture popped into Ash’s head – of Mum and the others blown apart inside the lab. ‘Yeah, you’re probably right.’

  ‘So.’ Isabel grabbed a satchel from beside the metal box containing the HEX13, then opened it wide so they could place the bricks inside. ‘Let’s do it.’

  But as Ash reached out to take the first one, he realized he had made a mistake. While he had been worrying about explosions and escape, he had failed to notice something important. His own heart drummed in his chest, steady and firm. Beside him, Isabel’s beat harder and faster.

  But they had been joined by a third heartbeat. A slow and strong rhythm accompanied by the strong scent of peppermint and new leather . . .

  Ash whipped round, as a soft voice spoke from the darkness.

  ‘I think you kids better let me take over now.’

  23 hrs and 09 mins until Shut-Down

  Ash’s hand went down, feeling for the crowbar lying on the floor.

  ‘That looks like dangerous stuff.’ The voice again. Smooth and deep. ‘You’ll kill yourselves.’ Something stepped closer to the edge of the semi-circle of white light. It was just a silhouette, but Ash recognized the slender shape.

  ‘Thorn.’ The word escaped his mouth before he realized he was going to say it.

  ‘Give it to
me and I’ll get you out of here.’

  Isabel backed up against the lockers, breathing hard.

  ‘No . . .’ Ash managed to say. He was both afraid and annoyed with himself for allowing Thorn to creep up on them. ‘You . . . injected me. My mum too.’

  Thorn took a small step closer, making hardly a sound. ‘An unfortunate necessity. But you’re all right, aren’t you? I made sure of that.’

  ‘You killed Paco,’ Isabel stuttered. ‘And the guards. Gave Papa the virus.’

  ‘The virus?’ Thorn took another step forward. ‘No. Cain did that. And Pierce.’

  ‘You’re one of them,’ Ash said as his fingers touched the cold metal of the crowbar.

  ‘You’re wrong about me, Ash.’ Thorn’s voice was quiet and soft. He was like a snake hypnotizing its prey. ‘Let me help you.’ He reached forward, his hand breaking into the light as if it were just floating there. ‘We’ll find a way out, together. Trust me.’

  Ash tightened his grip around the crowbar and tensed his arm, ready to use it. Thorn took another step closer and Ash saw something metallic glint in the torchlight. The blade of a knife.

  Thorn almost split him in half, Pierce had said.

  Ash remembered the dead guards, the blood, and acted without further hesitation. He raised the crowbar as if it were no more than a large stick, and threw it at Thorn as hard as he could. After that, everything dropped into bizarre, frame-by-frame slow motion. Ash had time to watch the crowbar tumble, spinning lengthways as it crossed the distance to the edge of the semi-circle of light. He saw Thorn’s shadow standing motionless, the crowbar heading towards him like a propeller, and when it was only a metre away Thorn began to react. He must have moved like lightning, even though it looked so much slower to Ash.

  Thorn bent at the knees, then twisted and started to shift sideways, but he wasn’t quick enough. The curved end of the tool struck his right shoulder, and Ash saw the wrinkle in the material of his jacket. The crowbar jerked when it made contact, flicking up so the straight end caught Thorn on the chin. Ash had time to see the ripple spread out across his cheek and his neck, then Thorn went down with a grunt, disappearing into the darkness.