Lost World Circus

by Justin D'Ath

  Contents

  1  NOBODY IS SAFE

  2  WHITE LAVA

  3  SUPERCLOWN TIME

  4  RIDICULOUS

  5  HELLO SUPERCLOWN

  6  BRING ON THE TESTS

  7  PRETENDING

  8  THE FIFTH TIME

  9  RF2

  10 PRISONERS

  11 DRUGGED

  12 HERE GOES NOTHING

  13 BENEATH THE CITY

  14 ANIMAL LANGUAGE

  15 HELP

  16 KARATE KIDS

  17 GERMS

  18 DESTROY LWC ANIMALS

  19 ANIMAL PLANET

  20 PHOTO

  21 WORLDWIDE EXCLUSIVE

  22 THE BIGGEST NEWS STORY EVER

  23 WISH ME LUCK

  24 FOUR MOMENTS OF TRUTH

  25 HI, DAD

  26 STUN GUN

  27 COLT-CAM

  28 POCKET MONEY

  29 MAD SCIENTIST

  30 OUR TURN

  31 HARE AND TORTOISE

  32 A REALLY LONG KICK

  33 COLT IN WONDERLAND

  34 THE LOST WORLD

  35 BIG, WRINKLY AND GREY

  36 POINT BLANK

  37 FREAK OF NATURE

  38 THE PRIZE

  For Ryker Arlo D’Ath,

  Welcome to the animal planet

  Poppa Nig

  ‘COOEE! COOEE! COOOOOOOOOEE!’

  Birdy was shouting and waving and jumping up and down on the beach.

  Colt waved, too. But he wasn’t jumping up and down and he didn’t bother shouting – the ship was too far away. It had dropped anchor about two kilometres from the island.

  He wondered why it hadn’t come closer.

  ‘Do you think they’ve seen us?’ asked Birdy.

  Colt zoomed his superhuman vision. ‘Looks like it. They’re launching one of those Zodiac inflatable boats.’

  ‘Yaaaay!’ Birdy turned a double cartwheel on the sand.

  ‘You should take it easy,’ he said.

  She performed another cartwheel, grinning at him all the way around. ‘You sound like my mum.’

  Colt shrugged. ‘I saved your life last night, so I’m kind of responsible for you now.’

  ‘You so are not!’

  He smiled and looked back out to sea. A man and a woman in strange white outfits with elasticised over-shoes and fitted hoods were climbing down a rope ladder into the Zodiac. ‘That’s creepy.’

  ‘What’s creepy?’ asked Birdy, whose eyesight was only normal.

  ‘They’re wearing hazard suits.’

  ‘Well, this is called Plague Island.’

  ‘Only because there are lots of ghost rats here.’ Colt felt a twinge of unease. ‘Don’t tell anyone you got bitten.’

  Birdy frowned. ‘But didn’t you tell your mother last night?’

  ‘The phone stopped working – I don’t think she heard.’

  He hoped she hadn’t. He didn’t want people asking tricky questions. Why was Birdy still alive? for example.

  The Zodiac came bouncing across the glassy green waves. Its two passengers had put on orange lifejackets over their weird white outfits. Birdy waved and the woman waved back. The man made a shooing motion with one hand, warning them to stand clear as he steered the sleek inflatable lifeboat into the shallows.

  The woman jumped out as soon as its bow touched the beach. She carried a seriously big first-aid kit.

  ‘Hey, guys!’ she said, fitting a surgical mask over her mouth and nose. ‘My name’s Hayley – I’m a doctor. Which one of you got bitten by a ghost rat?’

  Birdy looked at Colt. His mother must have heard him after all. Too bad.

  ‘Neither,’ they both said at the same time.

  They had to lie, otherwise Colt’s secret would be out.

  And since last night it was a double secret – not only was he Superclown, but there was something weird in his blood that had saved Birdy from what should have been certain death.

  Hayley pulled on a pair of latex gloves. ‘You are the two kids who were kidnapped from the Lost World Circus, aren’t you?’

  ‘I was kidnapped,’ Birdy said. ‘Colt came to rescue me.’

  ‘And neither of you was bitten by a ghost rat?’

  ‘Do either of us look dead?’ asked Colt.

  Birdy performed another cartwheel, to show she wasn’t.

  The sailor’s name was Macca. He was a large, strong- looking man. He put on a surgical mask, too. But instead of a first-aid kit, he carried an ugly black pistol. ‘What happened to the kidnappers?’

  ‘They got away in a seaplane,’ Birdy said.

  Both she and Colt were shivering in their damp clothes. They’d spent much of the night in the island’s inner lagoon, keeping her fever down. While Macca stood guard with his gun (Against what? Colt wondered), Hayley gave each of them a silver thermal blanket to wrap around themselves and lifejackets to wear on top.

  ‘Why are you wearing hazard suits?’ Birdy asked. ‘It’s not like humans can catch rat flu.’

  The doctor and the sailor exchanged knowing looks.

  ‘What?’ said Colt.

  ‘Haven’t your heard?’ asked Macca. ‘There’s been nothing else on the news for the past 24 hours.’

  Birdy rolled her eyes. ‘Take a look around, guys. Can you see any satellite dishes or HV towers?’

  ‘Well, I guess not,’ Macca said.

  Colt looked at him, then at Hayley. ‘Would one of you please tell us what’s going on?’

  ‘There’s been an outbreak of rat flu,’ Hayley said. ‘And now . . . people are catching it.’

  A strange, dreamy feeling passed over Colt as his brain processed her words. He couldn’t have heard correctly.

  ‘Did you say “catching” it?’ he asked.

  The doctor nodded.

  ‘But that’s impossible! Animals catch rat flu. People only get it if ghost rats bite them. And there are hardly any ghost rats. Except on Plague Island,’ he added.

  ‘That used to be the case,’ Hayley agreed. ‘But the virus has changed. Four cases of rat flu were admitted to hospital yesterday in a little town called Abattoir. And none of them was bitten by a ghost rat.’

  Birdy gasped. ‘Our circus was there a couple of weeks ago!’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Hayley.

  Colt remembered the phone conversation he’d had with his mother the previous night. Her voice had kept fading out, but she’d said something strange about the circus. ‘What’s the circus got to do with it?’ he asked.

  ‘Think about it,’ Hayley said. ‘All those animals and birds touring around the country in open cages. We think that’s where the outbreak might have started.’

  ‘But they’re all vaccinated,’ Birdy argued. ‘Colt’s mum’s the vet. She’ll tell you.’

  ‘We have spoken with Dr Lawless,’ said Hayley. ‘But the virus has evolved. Nobody’s safe now.’

  Birdy’s eyes went big. ‘You mean nobody at the circus is safe?’

  Macca shook his head. ‘If this new version of rat flu is as bad as the one that affects animals,’ he said, ‘nobody in the world is safe.’

  Five minutes later they were all in the Zodiac, bouncing out through the surf towards the distant ship.

  No matter what awaited them in the outside world, it was a relief to leave Plague Island behind.

  ‘Wait!’ Birdy cried suddenly. Her eyes locked with Colt’s. ‘What about Scarlet and Goldie?’

  Macca slowed the Zodiac’s super-quiet outboard motor. ‘I thought there were just two of you.’

  ‘Scarlet and Goldie aren’t people,’ said Colt. ‘They’re regent firebirds.’

  ‘There are only ten left in the
whole, entire world,’ Birdy added.

  Hayley frowned. ‘How did they come to be on the island?’

  ‘The kidnappers stole them from the circus,’ said Colt.

  Birdy smirked. ‘And we kind of stole them back.’

  ‘Are they in a cage?’ Macca asked.

  She shook her head. ‘They’re just flying around.’

  All four of them looked back at the island. They were halfway to the ship. Only the tops of the coconut palms and the big, cone-shaped hill where the ghost rats lived were visible over the waves.

  ‘They’re worth ten million dollars each,’ Colt said.

  Macca let out a low whistle. ‘Is there any way you could catch them?’

  ‘I guess not,’ said Birdy. Her eyes glistened. ‘But they’ll die if we leave them there.’

  It was true. If the ghost rats didn’t get Scarlet and Goldie, the virus would kill them as soon as their RatVax protection expired.

  Colt had an idea. Back at the circus, he’d often heard the trilling, three-note whistle of the regent firebirds as they called back and forth between their cages. He put his fingers to his lips. ‘Cover your ears, guys.’

  Birdy took his advice, but their two rescuers didn’t. That was a mistake. When Colt mimicked the call of a regent firebird – only much, MUCH louder than any Lost World bird in history – it must have rattled their eardrums.

  ‘Oh my giddy aunt!’ gasped Hayley.

  Macca’s face wore a pained expression. ‘How on earth can you whistle so loudly?’

  Colt couldn’t explain it without revealing his secret. Only Birdy and one other person knew he had superpowers. Well, two others if you counted a boy named Zac Watson, but he’d promised not to tell anybody. ‘Do you want me to do it again?’ he asked.

  Hayley shook her head. ‘Once was quite enough, thank you very much.’

  Anyway, there was no need for more whistling.

  ‘Look!’ cried Birdy.

  Halfway between them and the island, two red-and-gold specks came winging across the waves towards the Zodiac.

  ‘Now there’s a sight I haven’t seen in a dozen years!’ said Macca, who was probably about Colt’s age when he last saw birds flying free. ‘And you reckon they’re worth ten million dollars?’

  ‘Each,’ said Colt.

  ‘Don’t let them on board!’ Hayley cried suddenly.

  Birdy was hanging over the rear transom with her arm extended like a branch for the birds to land on. She looked back at Hayley. ‘Why not?’

  ‘They might be contagious.’

  ‘How could they be contagious?’ asked Colt. ‘Mum gave them their shots last week.’

  ‘The virus has changed,’ Hayley reminded him. ‘We’re not even sure if RatVax works anymore.’

  She gave Macca a nod. ‘Use your gun.’

  Colt couldn’t believe his ears. ‘Are you crazy? They’re Lost World birds!’

  ‘He does have a point, Hayles,’ the sailor said doubtfully.

  ‘And we have our orders,’ said the stony-faced doctor.

  By now the nearest bird was less than 30 metres away – an easy shot if Macca’s pistol had heat-seeker bullets. But just as he squeezed the trigger, something considerably larger than a regent firebird came flying through the air and latched onto his arm. It spoiled his aim. Instead of hitting Goldie or Scarlet, the heat-seeker bullet found another hot target – the Zodiac’s shiny new IonDrive outboard motor.

  There was a loud BOOM and a blinding flash.

  Everyone was thrown into the bottom of the boat. Wispy blue smoke coiled around them, along with a smell of gunpowder and fused electrical wires.

  Colt was the first to recover. He found himself lying in a tangle of limbs – most of them not his own. Macca was sprawled face-down next to him and one of Hayley’s legs lay slantwise across his chest. Birdy had disappeared right inside her too-big lifejacket, but both her small hands were still gripping Macca’s arm.

  ‘Please don’t shoot them, please don’t shoot them!’ she whimpered, over and over like someone talking in their sleep.

  ‘It’s okay, Birdy,’ Colt said gently. ‘Nobody’s going to hurt them.’

  Macca’s gun-hand was within easy reach. Grabbing the pistol by the barrel, Colt used a bit of Superclown muscle to twist it free, then he tossed it over the side.

  Splash!

  ‘Hey!’ said Macca. ‘That was a thousand-dollar gun!’

  Almost nothing when compared to a ten-million-dollar bird, Colt thought.

  Hayley struggled up into a sitting position. ‘Is anyone hurt?’

  It took them a few moments to untangle themselves and straighten their lifejackets (everyone) and surgical masks (Hayley and Macca). They all seemed okay, although Macca was flexing his big right hand and looking puzzled. He was probably wondering how two kids had managed to disarm him.

  Hayley seemed puzzled, too. She had been watching the birds, not Macca, when the pistol went off, so she didn’t see how Birdy had saved them. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

  ‘I seem to have shot the outboard motor,’ Macca said sheepishly.

  ‘Where are the birds?’

  Colt rose unsteadily to his feet and peered back towards the island. Two familiar red-and-gold shapes went flying into the distant palm trees. ‘Looks like the explosion scared them off,’ he said.

  Birdy clapped her hands. ‘Yay!’

  Colt wasn’t so jubilant. Birdy’s heroics had bought Goldie and Scarlet a bit of time, but they wouldn’t last long on the rat-infested island.

  Or would they?

  The drifting Zodiac rocked sideways across a big wave, causing Colt to nearly lose his balance.

  ‘For heaven’s sake, sit down before you fall overboard!’ Hayley growled.

  Colt barely heard her. Standing up gave him a better view of the island. Something strange was going on. The big cone-shaped hill had a crater at the top like a volcano. Last night there’d been no sign of any volcanic activity, but now lava seemed to be flowing out of it – white lava. He zoomed his superhuman eyes.

  Shashlik!

  It wasn’t lava, it was ghost rats. Thousands of them. Tens of thousands! More animals than Colt had seen in his entire life. They reminded him of army ants, spilling out of their nest to protect it from unwelcome intruders. Except there were no intruders – he and Birdy had left the island, and Scarlet and Goldie were right down the other end. Something else must have caused the rat stampede.

  But whatever the reason, it was amazing to watch.

  The seething, white mass disappeared from view behind the palm trees and the tangled tropical undergrowth at the base of the hill, only to reappear a short time later on the beach.

  What are they up to? Colt wondered, as the leading animals came swarming out across the sand towards the water’s edge.

  And even there they didn’t stop.

  Something had changed. Last night the big, white rats had been shy of the water; now they were racing each other into the sea like competitors in a triathlon. Even the waves couldn’t stop them. Some went tumbling back towards shore, little white lumps that became lost in the foam, others simply disappeared beneath the churning green water, but most kept coming.

  And coming.

  And coming!

  Soon there was a column of rats that was 20 or 30 animals wide, stretching out across the sea in a long, bobbing line.

  Headed directly towards the Zodiac.

  ‘Sit down, Colt!’ Hayley said for the second or third time.

  This time he obeyed. He didn’t want to alarm his companions – especially Birdy. Last night she’d nearly died because of a ghost rat. If she knew a whole army of them was on the way, she might freak out. So might Hayley, who was even freaked out by firebirds.

  ‘Can you start it?’ he asked.

  Macca was spraying the smoking outboard motor with a pocket fire extinguisher. ‘I think it’s a goner.’

  ‘Are there oars?’

  ‘There’s no need
for that,’ said Hayley (little did she know). ‘I’ll call the ship.’

  Inclining her head, she spoke into a voice-activated communication device hidden somewhere beneath her collar: ‘DoRFE Rescue to DoRFE Command, could you send another boat, please? We have engine problems. I repeat, we have engine problems.’

  Colt drew in his breath. Alarm bells started ringing inside his head. They must have been ringing in Birdy’s head, too. Her eyes went big. She leaned towards him and mouthed two words:

  Rat cops!

  ‘I can lip read, too,’ Hayley said. ‘You shouldn’t really call us that.’

  ‘What should we call you?’ asked Colt.

  She shrugged. ‘Hayley is fine. Or doctor, if you prefer. And for your information, DoRFE is a large organisation. Not all of us hunt rats. Personally, I have never killed anything larger than a mosquito.’

  ‘You told Macca to kill Goldie and Scarlet,’ Birdy said.

  Hayley looked apologetic. ‘I’m sorry about that. It’s just that I value human life over the lives of birds and animals.’

  ‘Goldie and Scarlet aren’t dangerous.’

  ‘They spent the night on an island crawling with ghost rats.’

  ‘So did Colt and I.’

  Hayley nodded. ‘And that poses a bit of a problem.’

  ‘What sort of problem?’ Colt asked suspiciously. (Hayley mightn’t be a rat cop, but she did work for DoRFE.)

  ‘Well, even if you and Birdy aren’t infected, there might be quarantine issues,’ she said.

  It explained their suits and gloves and surgical masks. And made Colt even more worried. Quarantine was a dirty word as far as he was concerned – thanks to the rat cop to end all rat cops, a really nasty woman called Officer Katt. She was actually Superintendent Katt now – she’d been promoted – but she’d always be Officer Katt to Colt.

  Unlike Macca and Hayley, Officer Katt didn’t mind killing things. She even seemed to take pleasure from it. Colt hoped she wasn’t on the DoRFE ship. He craned his neck to see over the waves. Only the funnel and the tops of its radio masts were visible. And something he hadn’t noticed before – an orange flag with a white rat symbol on it.

  Right now, white rats posed an even bigger threat than rat cops. But nobody except Colt knew about them.

  ‘How long before the other boat comes?’