‘We got ’em,’ Peter murmured from his perch on the wall. ‘They just weren’t the answers we wanted.’
He was staring down at the town, but his face was blank, like he didn’t have enough energy left to even focus his eyes.
He’d finally cracked. He’d finally found something that was just too big for his denial. The truth that Jordan and I had been trying to get our heads around bit by bit for the last week and a half was all crashing down on him at once.
The wind was starting to pick up. I sat down too, afraid of being blown off-balance, and gazed back over Phoenix. I could see a glow coming up from among the trees in the middle of the circle, but only the Shackleton Building reached above the tree line.
I’d been right about the road, I realised. Not that I could see much of it from here, but Phoenix was far too close for us to have been riding out from it in a straight line all this time. They must have built the road in a spiral out from the town, deliberately making it as long as they could to keep people from coming out this far.
‘It’s not just Calvin, is it?’ I said. ‘It’s not just a few people who are planning all this. This wall – I mean, Calvin didn’t just build it all while the rest of the town wasn’t looking. This Tabitha thing goes all the way to the top.’
Peter nodded, his face white.
I guess I’d halfway figured that out already. But it was one thing to suspect it, and another thing altogether to have the truth sledge-hammered into my face like this. My mind raced in circles, trying to come to grips with everything that had happened today. But it was all just a blur. Just noise. Too much to process.
I closed my eyes, trying to block it all out. But unfortunately, there’s no place like home doesn’t work in real life.
‘What do you reckon this is?’ said Peter hoarsely, bringing me back to reality.
He was running his hand across the concrete in front of him. A metal groove, maybe ten centimetres wide, ran along the length of the wall, dividing it down the middle. As far as I could tell, it went all the way around the circle.
‘Some kind of reinforcement, maybe?’ I suggested. Not that there was anything in Phoenix that two metres of solid concrete needed reinforcing against.
‘Yeah,’ said Peter, unconvinced but not really seeming to care that much. ‘Maybe.’
‘We should go,’ said Jordan, finally turning to face us. ‘Get back down, try to get to our bikes. Should be easier to get past the guards now that it’s dark. We’ll still have the security in town to deal with, but –’ ‘Jordan, look!’ Peter had suddenly jumped to his feet. He grabbed Jordan’s arm and pointed down into the wasteland beyond the outside of the wall.
Two bright spots, moving side by side.
Headlights. There was someone out there.
‘They’re coming closer,’ said Jordan, and I could hear the life rushing back into her voice. ‘We’ve got to get down there!’
She bent down and started pulling off her shoes. ‘Get your socks,’ she said frantically.
I stared blankly at her.
‘For the friction.’ She pulled off her socks and started putting her shoes back on over her bare feet. ‘Your hands’ll get ripped to pieces otherwise.’
Not the most helpful explanation.
‘Why would I –?’
‘Just hurry up and do it!’
She laced up her shoes in about two seconds, and started pulling her socks on over her hands. Then she picked up the coil of rope, threw it down over the far side of the wall, and I finally figured out what she was doing.
‘No, Jordan, we can’t,’ I said weakly, but I was ripping off my shoes at the same time.
Jordan grabbed the rope with both hands, pulling it tight, and leant out away from the tree, feet perched on the far edge of the wall. I looked out past her feet, but it was too dark to see the ground. The wall below her faded away into black.
‘Are you sure that rope is strong enough?’ I asked, my eyes darting back to the tree.
‘Should be,’ she said, giving it another tug. ‘We’ll find out in a minute though, huh?’
Grinning a bit at the look on my face, she glanced into the darkness below her, crouched low, and stepped down over the edge.
I heard a series of grunts and shuffling noises as Jordan slid down the rope, then a dull thud and a loud, ‘Wh– ? Oomph!’
Then nothing.
Peter grabbed the torch – which I’d completely forgotten was shoved into the side pocket of my jeans – and shone it down over Jordan.
‘You okay?’ he called down.
‘Yeah,’ said Jordan, getting to her feet and squinting back at us. ‘Rough landing, though. Rope’s not quite long enough. Here, throw that and my bag down to me, will you?’
She held out her hands to catch the torch, flipped it round, and shone it up into our faces.
‘Come on – quick!’ she said, throwing a glance out behind her. The headlights were still there, still coming closer. But there was nothing to stop them veering away again at any moment.
Wrapping my socks around my hands, I grabbed onto the rope and sat down on the edge of the wall. Another gust of wind blasted past, almost knocking me off. I steadied myself with the rope, my heart hammering in my ears.
‘Just slide down,’ said Jordan, halfway between encouraging and impatient. ‘You’ll be fine as long as you don’t let go of the rope.’
‘Uh-huh,’ I murmured, wondering whether passing out might not be such a bad idea after all, because at least then I’d be unconscious when I hit the ground.
I closed my eyes and slipped down over the edge with my back against the wall.
It was all over in seconds. I gripped the rope as hard as I could, but still couldn’t keep it from running away through my hands. I slid down toward the ground, bumping into the wall as I went, concrete pulling up my shirt and scraping against my back. And then suddenly I was at the end of the rope. I fell through the air for half a second, crashed down hard into a scraggly bush, then rolled away and staggered to my feet just in time to keep Peter from landing on top of me.
‘Next time, we bring a ladder,’ he muttered, standing up and examining the scratches on his arms.
‘Where are they?’ I said.
Jordan spun me around and I saw the headlights moving along to our left. They were close now, maybe a hundred metres away, but it was still hard to tell whether they were purposely headed for Phoenix or not. The vehicle moved slowly, twisting and turning as it navigated its way across the rough terrain.
We took off at a run, chasing after it, Jordan out in front with the torch. There was no time to think, no time to do anything but keep running after those two beams of light – the closest thing to a sign of hope that we’d seen since we set out.
The landscape was completely different out here – harsh and dry and spotted with wiry half-dead grass. Either the bushland around Phoenix had all been planted, or else someone had razed all the ground out here.
‘Hey!’ yelled Jordan as we sprinted forward. ‘Hey, over here!’
We cut across to intercept the vehicle, closing in just as it reached the wall.
Peter and I joined in the shouting. ‘Hey, you!
Wait! Stop!’
The headlights slowed. I thought I could make out the shape of a big four-wheel-drive behind them, but we were still too far away to tell. The driver wheeled around until the lights were shining right into our faces, and then cut the engine.
The door opened and a man jumped out, silhouetted against the headlights. He strode towards us, reaching for something at his hip. A chill shot through me as the man’s face came into view.
It was Officer Reeve.
Chapter 28
SATURDAY, MAY 16
89 DAYS
‘Stay right where you are,’ Officer Reeve ordered, training his gun on us. He was holding it in one hand, the other one still bound up in a sling. ‘Keep your hands – oh.’ He realised who we were and lowered the weapon.
&
nbsp; I was shaking. ‘Officer Reeve –’
‘How did you three get out here?’ he demanded, cutting me short. His expression was suddenly very cold.
‘Us?’ said Peter. ‘How did you get out here with a car?’
Officer Reeve didn’t answer. He holstered his weapon and rubbed a hand down over his face.
‘No-one is supposed to…’ he stopped and shook his head, then unclipped a set of keys from his belt. ‘Follow me.’
He led us around behind his vehicle, which turned out to be some kind of armoured van. It was all black, with a Shackleton crest on the side.
‘What are you doing out here?’ Peter asked.
Again, Officer Reeve ignored him. He pulled out a key and opened up the back of the van. ‘Get in,’ he said.
‘But –’
‘If you want to live, get in.’
We decided to get in.
The back section of the van was empty, windowless, and painted the same shiny black as the outside. There were no seats and nothing to hold onto – nothing to do but squeeze in and crouch down on the floor.
Officer Reeve slammed the door closed as soon as we were all inside, plunging us into complete darkness. I felt the van dip slightly as he returned to the driver’s seat. With the rumble of an engine, the van suddenly lurched forward and I was thrown sideways into Jordan.
‘Sorry,’ I muttered.
But that first bump turned out to be the least of our worries. For the next ten minutes we were jolted around in every direction, struggling to avoid getting slammed up against the walls or each other as the van cut a path through the wasteland.
Finally, Officer Reeve pulled to a stop.
‘Where do you reckon he’s –’
But Peter’s voice was drowned out by a sudden blast of noise from outside – an enormous mechanical clunking so loud that the whole van vibrated with the force of it. After a few seconds, the clunking gave way to a clattering of wheels and a low screech of metal against metal.
Something was moving out there. Something big. And then whatever it was pulled to a stop and the noise died away.
The van started driving again. About thirty seconds later, the screeching and clattering returned, more quietly this time, fading behind us as we drove off.
For a few minutes, the ride was as bumpy as ever, but then Reeve took a sharp left and the ground under us instantly became smooth and flat.
‘Now what?’ Jordan whispered. ‘What do we say when he lets us out?’
‘Play dumb,’ said Peter desperately. ‘Just act like we don’t know what –’
‘He caught us outside the wall!’ I hissed at him. ‘How are we supposed to play dumb about that?’
No answer. No-one said anything else for the rest of the journey.
After maybe half an hour, the ground got rougher again – not nearly as bad as before, but enough for me to realise that we’d gone off the road. I’d barely had time to adjust to the change when the van rumbled to a stop and Officer Reeve opened the door to let us out.
The three of us staggered out of the van.
We were back in Phoenix. On the edge of it, anyway. Officer Reeve had driven around onto the grass at the eastern end of town, near the track that led out to the airport. I guess he didn’t want to cause a scene by parading us through the town centre.
‘Come with me,’ he said, locking the door. ‘And don’t try anything stupid or you’ll wind up in even worse trouble.’
I had a hard time imagining how that could be possible, but I didn’t have the headspace to come up with an escape plan. And even if we did get away from Officer Reeve, today had made it pretty clear that there was nowhere to run to.
Reeve led us towards the security centre, and I vaguely registered that we were on the same street that Mr Ketterley had guided Mum and me through on the day we’d first arrived. I didn’t remember shaking quite so much the first time around.
A few people turned to look at us as we went past, but Officer Reeve just smiled and waved at them like there was nothing going on.
The path opened up onto the end of the main street and Reeve started walking faster. He had a look of pained indecision on his face, like he wanted to get us inside the security centre as soon as possible, but wasn’t sure what to do with us when we got there.
At the other end of the street, near the mall, I could still see plenty of people going for walks and finishing dinners. I thought about shouting out to them, but who were they going to believe – their friendly neighbourhood security guard, or three no-good teenagers who’d been caught breaking curfew?
So I kept my mouth shut and followed Officer Reeve up the steps to the security centre.
There was a shuffling sound behind me, and I glanced back to see Jordan with her hand down near the bushes. I raised an eyebrow at her, but she shook her head.
Reeve stopped at the top of the steps. ‘Do every-thing Calvin tells you,’ he said out of the corner of his mouth, ‘and keep your mouths shut unless you’re spoken to.’
He pushed open the door and waved the three of us inside.
Chapter 29
SATURDAY, MAY 16
89 DAYS
The little room we stepped into looked less like part of a police station and more like the waiting room of a really classy doctor’s office. There were red padded chairs all around the outside, and the walls were hung with massive abstract oil paintings that looked like they were supposed to be of doves or something.
At the far end of the room, another man in a black security uniform was sitting behind a counter, scribbling something on a notepad. He looked up as the door opened, and sent Officer Reeve a questioning look.
‘Get Calvin,’ said Reeve.
The guy nodded and slipped out into the hallway behind him.
A second later, Calvin limped into the room. He’d come without his crutch and he had to lean on the counter for support. His eyes flashed across each of our faces and his expression turned dangerous.
‘I picked up these three on my way back into town,’ said Reeve.
Calvin straightened up against the counter.
‘Where?’ he demanded.
‘They were out on the main road, sir,’ said Reeve, stiffening slightly. ‘Just short of the road works. No bikes or anything.’
I stared at Reeve. He was covering for us. I tried to keep my expression neutral, tried to act like this version of the story wasn’t news to me.
‘I see,’ said Calvin, leaning forward. ‘And you’re sure they didn’t –’ ‘I’m not sure of anything, sir. They said they’d got lost on a bushwalk.’
Calvin studied us, clearly suspicious. Then he took a step away from the counter. ‘Thank you, Reeve,’ he nodded. ‘This way, children.’
He turned on his good leg and hobbled back into the hallway.
I shot Officer Reeve a backwards glance as we followed Calvin out of the room, but he refused to make eye contact. He turned away and began talking to the guy behind the counter.
At the other end of the hallway was a big open-plan office space, which I assumed would be full of security guards during the day, but was now almost deserted. The few people who were still there looked up curiously as we went past.
Calvin led us down another hallway and into the first place in this whole building that my brain could compare to the cop shows I’d seen on TV. An interrogation room.
A square table stood bolted to the floor in the middle of the room, with a metal folding chair facing it on either side. The panel lighting in the ceiling flickered on automatically, harsh and bright. I felt really exposed all of a sudden – which I guess was the idea.
‘Sit,’ said Calvin. He pointed into the corner of the room where a couple of extra chairs were leaning against the wall.
Peter and I unfolded them and sat down next to Jordan.
Calvin lowered himself into the chair on the opposite side. ‘Explain yourselves,’ he demanded.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Peter e
arnestly. ‘We were bushwalking, like Officer Reeve said.’
‘Bushwalking. At seven o’clock at night?’
‘No!’ said Peter. ‘Well, okay, yeah, we were. But not on purpose! We started at lunchtime on one of the walking tracks.’
‘Ask Luke’s mum!’ Jordan added. ‘She saw us leave.’
‘We didn’t mean to break the curfew, but we got lost,’ I said, corroborating Officer Reeve’s story. ‘By the time we found our way out to –’
Calvin held up a hand and I closed my mouth.
‘I was under the impression that those walking tracks were quite clearly marked,’ he said.
‘I guess so.’ I shrugged feebly.
‘And yet the three of you somehow wandered so far off course that you weren’t able to find your way back to civilisation until well after nightfall?’
‘Y-yeah,’ I said, fully aware of how ridiculous it sounded.
‘Lucky Officer Reeve came past and found us,’ said Peter, trying to deflect attention from my obvious lie.
‘Very,’ said Calvin coldly. He wasn’t buying it.
My mind flashed back to the conversation we’d heard in Crazy Bill’s recording. Calvin had been ordered to keep the peace. We can’t afford a bloodbath. That’s what the other guy had said to him. I tried to reassure myself that Calvin wasn’t allowed to touch us, that he’d been ordered to keep things non-violent.
But the look on Calvin’s face told a different story. He definitely didn’t look non-violent.
‘Tell me,’ he said, struggling to his feet again so that he was towering over the top of us, ‘did you come across anything interesting in your travels?’
‘Not really,’ I said. A trickle of sweat snaked its way down my spine.
‘We saw a kangaroo with one eye poked out,’ said Peter. He seemed to be coming back to life a bit. I guess he was back in familiar territory now, talking his way out of trouble. ‘He was doing okay, though. Hopping around in circles, but –’
Calvin’s eyes narrowed. ‘That is not what I meant.’
‘Oh,’ said Peter innocently. ‘What did you mean, then?’
Arrival Page 15