They were in a clearing, surrounded by low buildings and she looked around, wondering how the hell she had got herself into this mess. The fog was evident, but patchy, and an alarm was ringing with a forlorn, lost sound that reverberated between the buildings. People dashed around, seemingly oblivious to the truck and its occupants. Perhaps Moon’s men had overstretched themselves? More and more things were occurring which made her think they had become complacent. The experiment was falling apart around them. With the alarm ringing, and the panic and confusion, she thought it must resemble Jericho before the walls fell, the alarm representing the trumpet that sounded the death knell.
She only hoped she didn’t fall with it.
CHAPTER 27
Nigel Moon sat in his office surrounded by research papers. He could feel the start of a headache, and he wished someone would turn that damn alarm off. His life’s work was hanging in the balance, and he was damned if he was going to give it up without a fight.
Drake stood before him wearing an impervious mask of indifference. “What do I pay you for?” Moon asked, keeping his tone of voice calmer than he felt.
“Security.”
“Security.” Moon nodded. “Now can you kindly explain to me how two small children have escaped? And it’s not as if this is the first time it’s happened is it.” He was referring to Mat.
“We never anticipated taking prisoners, so we don’t have a proper holding cell.”
“And that’s your excuse. For god’s sake man, are you incompetent as well as stupid?” Moon was pleased to see a nervous tick afflict Drake’s left eye. For all his bravado and macho bullshit, he knew Drake would toe the line. He was being paid too well to rock the boat – and Moon’s powerful aura defied anyone to challenge him.
“It won’t happen again.”
“It shouldn’t have happened in the first place.” He narrowed his eyes and scowled. “And have you found the cause of that blasted alarm?”
Drake coughed to clear his throat. “Someone’s sabotaged the generator.”
“I already know that, now tell me something I don’t know.”
Drake looked up at the ceiling, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. “No, I mean a second generator.”
Moon stood up so quickly that Drake took an inadvertent step back. “Another generator. Where?”
“In the compound.”
Moon swept a pile of documents off the desk. “I’m surrounded by fools and amateurs,” he bellowed, his cheeks flushed. “As if I haven’t got enough problems to deal with. Is it them?”
“Them?” Drake frowned.
“The children.”
Drake shrugged.
“Give me strength. I expect you to deal with the problem at once. And I want those generator’s back up and running, immediately.”
“Well, there’s a problem with that.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Moon narrowed his eyes. “And what is this problem?”
“The main circuits are fried. We’ve got to get replacements, and it’ll take a few days.”
“No, it’ll take a few hours, do I make myself clear.”
Drake opened his mouth to speak, but Moon interrupted him.
“Think very carefully before you reply, Mr Drake.”
Drake swallowed. “I’ll get on to it right away.”
Moon smiled. “Make sure you do. And I think we can kill the alarm now, don’t you. Also, find those children before they do any more damage. Use the dogs.”
Drake visibly shivered.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
Drake shook his head.
“Well, get on with it then.” He watched Drake leave the room before sitting back down. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. He was too close to his objective to have it interrupted by a couple of kids. He had to admit that things hadn’t been going according to plan, but now Chase had changed all that. He hoped she was the key he had been searching for. No, she was the key he had been searching for, otherwise it was all in vain. That’s why it was now so important that she came to term.
There were always bleeding hearts ready to condemn his work, saying that he was playing at being God. But didn’t they realise he wasn’t playing, he was a God. He had the power to alter life.
The preliminary enzyme tests on lab rats and monkeys had been encouraging enough to go ahead with the human field trials. The top brass had not offered any objections. Most of them were old and they knew that if the experiment was successful, it would work in their favour. They all wanted their health and youth back, but if the shit hit the fan, they would deny all knowledge of the program. That was their way: disassociation. There had been a couple of dissenting voices, but they had been silenced, permanently.
The animal tests had been abandoned after the human trials began, and the first plant crops had been left to grow wild. They would have to be destroyed eventually, but that could wait. The new crops were growing in a sterile facility in a secret location. With accelerated growth, they didn’t have to wait years to harvest the results.
The alarm suddenly stopped ringing and Moon exhaled a sigh of relief. Now that he had Chase, it was time to start winding down the operation in Paradise. He had enough data and on the whole, the results had been encouraging. He knew that, to an extent, his food worked. It just needed the creases ironing out. Although Mat now showed symptoms of psychotic behaviour, he hadn’t been as badly affected when he impregnated Chase. That had all changed now though, after Moon had used him as a guinea pig for another unsuccessful batch, which he thought, might have reversed the problem. As there were normally two genes controlling a trait, one from each parent, Moon hoped that Chase’s baby would inherit the stronger traits. The result in the child would depend on whether the gene was recessive or dominant, and Moon hoped that Mat’s previous mild, psychotic trait was going to be inhibited by Chase’s genes. It was a fifty-fifty gamble. If it was successful, she wouldn’t give birth to a baby, she would give birth to a pharmacy. Moon smiled. Everything would be all right. He could feel it. Leaning back, he interlinked his fingers behind his head, closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence.
***
Ratty’s only plan of action now was to get out of the fog and get home. But which way? It all looked the same. He was sure that they had already passed certain trees, but he didn’t mention it. Besides, he could be mistaken. Didn’t all trees look the same? But they didn’t all look like witches on broomsticks like the lightning scarred one they were leaning against. He had already seen it once; he remembered being momentarily scared by its peculiar shape as it loomed out of the mist.
As Ratty stood contemplating a course of action, a low growl emanated from the fog. His eyes went wide, alert. Panic coursed through his veins as the sound grew menacingly closer.
“What’s that?” Izzy asked, her body tensed as the growls got closer and louder.
Ratty couldn’t answer because he didn’t know. As the fog eddied and swirled, it took him a moment to spot anything. Then he saw them, coming out of a depression, four figures and three dogs straining at the leash.
“Quick, come on.” He grabbed Izzy’s hand and dragged her in the opposite direction, running for all they were worth. But the men and their dogs were getting closer, the dogs growls growing steadily louder. But something about the growls didn’t sound quite right.
Ratty dodged around a tree, only to accidentally catch his foot on a distended root and stumble. He let go of Izzy’s hand as he fell into a mulch of leaves. And then the growls were in his face, and for the first time in his life, Ratty wet himself. The smell of rotting flesh washed over him, and he looked up into the salivating maw of a disfigured beast. Although definitely canine, probably Doberman pinscher, it was also something more. Its teeth-lined muzzle seemed impossibly elongated. Ratty couldn’t quite place it, but as the dog opened its maw to snarl, he was reminded of a crocodile. Rows of teeth disappeared down its throat, which made its growl more ragged. Whatever th
ey had done to the dog, it was now an abomination, a genetic freak, engineered to be a terrifying killing machine. It was a case of purpose over aesthetics.
The creature strained against the leash, it’s powerfully muscled body quivering. The man holding it struggled to keep it under control.
“I would suggest that you don’t move.”
Ratty recognised Drake’s voice.
“Ratty, what’s going on?” Izzy squealed.
“It’s okay, Izzy. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be all right.”
Drake laughed. “Take them away and get those blasted beasts under control.”
Someone manhandled Ratty upright. He had trouble seeing Izzy clearly, but he could hear her crying and he couldn’t help feeling that it was his fault she was crying. If he hadn’t insisted on staying, perhaps they could have escaped; perhaps they could have convinced someone that something was going on. Now he would never know.
“I’ll take the girl.” Drake’s voice sounded hollow, dispassionate.
Izzy screamed.
Ratty struggled against his captor. “If you lay one hand on her, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Drake snarled.
“I mean it,” Ratty said, full of gusto.
“Get him out of here,” Drake commanded.
Ratty kicked and fought but it was no good. The last thing he heard was Izzy screaming.
CHAPTER 28
As Chase and Adam were goaded toward a squat building that sat hunched against the fog, the alarm fell silent. One of the guards punched a series of numbers on a key pad and the door hissed open. They followed a bright corridor, and were forced toward a door at the end, which one of the guards unlocked, pushing Chase and Adam through before shutting the door behind them with a metallic clang and locking it.
“Chase, is that you?”
“Jane, oh my god, Jane.” Chase turned to see her friend and she rushed over and embraced her. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. “This is all my fault.” Overwhelmed with relief, she couldn’t believe her friend was all right.
“What the hell’s going on?” Jane asked, her bruised face full of confusion.
“It’s an experiment,” Chase said. “A goddamned sick experiment with the food. It’s supposed to cure people of sickness, but it’s had the opposite effect.”
Looking around, Chase saw they were in a small windowless room with a single dirty bulb emitting a cancerous yellow light. Having been taken in an earlier truck, she spotted Mandy sitting on a bunk bed. The sedative must have worn off because she was crying. Then she noticed someone else in the room, sat hunched in the corner, almost hidden behind the bunk beds.
“Mat.” She hardly dared breathe in case he disappeared like smoke.
“Best leave him,” Jane whispered. “He’s not all there.” She twirled a finger at the side of her head.
But she couldn’t just leave him. She walked across and hunkered down and laid a hand on his shoulder. Mat looked up, shook his head and then lowered it again.
“Mat, it’s me, Chase. You know who I am. That’s why you tried to warn me about what was going on. Talk to me, please.”
“He’s got the change,” Mandy said, looking up. “Just like me.” She shook her head and started crying again.
“It’s like being locked up with a couple of loons,” Jane said.
“Mat, talk to me.”
Mat batted her hand away. “I know who you are,” he mumbled. “I wished you here.”
Chase frowned. “I don’t understand.” Why was he doing this to her?
“I conjured you from a picture. I’m the magic man.” He grinned.
Chase was confused. “You mean the photograph?” She took it out of her bag and handed it to him.
Mat snatched it from her. “I had almost convinced myself that you didn’t exist, that you were a figment of my imagination, someone I had dreamed. And then you showed up. I conjured you here.” He shook his head and looked up, his eyes moist with tears. “You don’t know what it’s been like for me. I knew there was no going back, I needed someone.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me what was going on. Why be so cryptic?”
“Perhaps you’re not real.” He reached out and pinched Chase on the arm, causing her to flinch. “If you’re a dream, I don’t want to scare you away. I don’t want to wake. But I am awake, aren’t I ... and you’re a part of my nightmare, a ghost from a past that I can’t remember. I conjured you from a photograph, and now you’re here, haunting me.”
“Oh Mat, what have they done to you.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. She turned to look at Adam who was still standing by the door. “Is this what you wanted? Take a good look. Is this the price you were willing to pay?”
Adam looked at the ground and didn’t reply.
“It’s okay Mat.” She turned back to him. “I’ll get you out of here.”
“Haven’t you realised yet?” Mandy shook her head and sobbed. “There is no escape, not for any of us.”
“Don’t give up. There’s always a way out. There must be a cure. Adam, tell them.”
Mandy laughed.
Adam shook his head. “They don’t know exactly what’s gone wrong yet, so how can they cure it?”
Mat grabbed Chase by the arm. “She’s right. There is no escape, not for us, but you need to get out of here. You need to tell people what’s happened so it can’t happen again. They’ve messed my head up so bad. Sometimes I don’t even know who I am.”
“I can’t leave you here. I won’t leave you here.”
“It’s out of your hands.”
Chase refused to accept what he was saying. Her head was spinning. Everything was so confusing; none of it seemed real. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Jane.
“They’re right, sugar.”
“What’s going to happen to us?” Mandy asked, her chest heaving between sobs.
“We can’t just leave them,” Chase vehemently said.
“What choice do we have,” Jane replied. “You’ve seen what’s happening to them.”
Chase shook her head and put the palms of her hands to her temples. “I don’t know what to think. I still can’t believe what’s happening.”
Jane suddenly went pale.
“I ... I’ve been eating the food they gave me.” She looked at Mat and Mandy. “Am I going to become like them? Oh god, don’t let me be like them.”
Chase stood up and hugged her friend. “It’ll be okay. Trust me.”
“I do trust you, sugar. It’s them I don’t trust.” She looked back at Mat and Mandy.
“Well, we’ve all got to trust each other.”
“Does that include me, too?” Adam asked.
“That depends on you.”
“I thought we were doing the right thing.”
“And now?”
He momentarily looked at Mat and Mandy before lowering his head to stare at the floor. “I don’t know.”
“Well you’d better get off the fence. You’re either with us or against us.”
“Then I suppose I’m with you.”
Chase eyed him suspiciously for anything that might indicate otherwise, but Adam didn’t move. “Okay,” she said, turning her back on him, “Now we need to plan how we’re going to get out of this.”
“Haven’t you realised yet, we’re damned.” Mat looked up, his eyes dull and lifeless as though the spark of life had been extinguished. “We’re the new lepers. Unclean.”
“No, there’s got to be something we can do. Moon must be able to undo what he’s done.” Chase wasn’t going to admit defeat. She hadn’t found Mat just to lose him again. She wasn’t going to let him bury his head in the sand.
Just then the sound of footsteps echoed outside and a key turned in the lock. The door opened and two small figures were shoved into the room.
“Ratty!” Chase instantly recognised the young boy, relieved to see that he was all right. The other figure was a young girl. Drake stood in the doo
rway behind them, grinning arrogantly.
Ratty looked up at Chase and gave a half-hearted smile that suddenly melted into a fearful grimace. He backed away, protectively keeping the young girl behind him.
“That’s who killed the vicar,” he cried, pointing past Chase.
CHAPTER 29
Chase was confused. For some reason, Ratty was pointing behind her, into the room. She turned around. Adam stood behind her, along with Jane, Mandy and Mat.
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