Fallout

by Chris Morphew

  I heard a shout from one of the security guards. And then another noise, something I hadn’t heard since the day I got here: the long, high drone of a helicopter powering up.

  Over my head, on the far side of the van, I saw the rotor spring to life, pushing the blades in a slow circle.

  I tried to steady myself, but my attention was sucked up completely by the whir of the engine and the spinning of the blades.

  Reynolds switched targets, opening fire on the chopper. Reeve shot back, pinning Reynolds down behind wherever he was hiding.

  ‘Dad, please!’ Luke shouted over the noise. ‘It can’t just be Kara. Go. People will listen to you.’

  ‘Come with me,’ said Mr Hunter. ‘They can listen to both of us.’

  ‘I can’t!’

  Luke’s dad stepped away from the van, Amy still hanging in his arms. ‘Why? Why can’t you?’

  ‘I have work to do!’ he said, voice unsteady. ‘Here. I can’t just –’

  Thunder cracked the sky overhead, swallowing up the sound of his voice.

  ‘Luke…’ I said.

  ‘I’m the only one who can bring you back!’ he shouted, and even in the pounding rain I could see that he was crying. He turned back to his dad. ‘I have to stay. I have to.’

  I shivered, wet fingers slipping on my gas canister. If he stayed here and got himself killed because of me…

  Mr Hunter looked sick. He lifted his eyes to the ceiling, rain sliding down on his face. The noise from the chopper was shifting, the high-pitched whining overtaken by the whump-whump-whump of the blades. The downdraft swirled around us, like a blizzard to our saturated skin. ‘All right,’ he said, sitting Amy down against the van, then shrugging off his backpack and handing it to Luke. ‘All right. But I’m coming back, okay?’ He clutched Luke with both hands. ‘I’m bringing help. We are all getting out of here.’

  Luke didn’t answer. He put his gas canister on the ground and squeezed his father into the same kind of desperate, crushing hug he’d given him when he first arrived here.

  I pulled Georgia’s camera out one last time, panning the armoury just as Reynolds fired at Soren again. ‘Here,’ I said, handing the camera to Mr Hunter. ‘Take this. Show them what’s happening here.’

  He shoved it into his pocket and turned back to his son. ‘Hey. Tell your mum…’

  But Luke was already bending down to get Amy, staggering under the weight of her and the weight of everything else.

  Mr Hunter clapped a hand to my shoulder. ‘You get him home, Jordan. Keep each other safe.’

  ‘All right,’ said Reeve, from the front of the van. ‘Count of three, you run to the chopper. I’ll keep Reynolds off. One. Two –’

  Mr Hunter ran. Reeve leaned out around the corner and fired again. Luke hovered on the spot for a few seconds, then put Amy down again and dashed forward to see what was going on. Reeve stuck a hand out to block him. ‘Don’t. He’s okay. He made it.’

  Luke slumped back against the van, then jolted upright again at another flash of gunfire. Soren was sprinting towards us from out beyond the choppers.

  ‘Time to go,’ said Reeve, ejecting the ammunition clip from his rifle and smacking in a new one. He hoisted Amy up off the ground and handed her back to Luke. ‘Gonna do all the rest in one shot. Load those skids and get down that ramp.’ He picked up Luke’s gas canister and tucked it under his arm. ‘GO!’

  Gunfire exploded behind us the second we were out from the van. Reeve fired back, but only for a second. He let go of the trigger, shouting something behind me, but my ears were still ringing from the noise of the rifle. We kept running, deafened and shivering, buffeted by the wind from the chopper, and a few metres later we were out of the rain again, back under the cover of the roof. Almost there.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw the chopper lifting up into the air. For one tiny moment, I felt my heart lift with it. And then I realised Reeve wasn’t with us anymore.

  He was running back to the chopper. Back to Soren, who was standing there in the rain, completely exposed. Soren turned in a circle, hands to the sky, screaming up at his mother. ‘No! No! Take me with you!’

  ‘Soren, get over here!’ Reeve roared, crouching behind the van. ‘You want to get yourself killed?’

  Luke and I kept moving, closing the last ten metres to the skid units. I dumped my gas canister in the back cage of the nearest one, shifting the fire-fighting gear aside to make room, then gave Luke a hand lowering Amy in with it.

  Reynolds fired his rifle and I almost dropped her. But he wasn’t aiming at anyone on the ground. He was targeting the helicopter.

  Someone in the helicopter fired back.

  The shooting silenced Soren for only a couple of seconds before he started shouting at his mum again. Wild, desperate nonsense on an almost Crazy Bill level. He was melting down. Losing it completely.

  His whole life, Soren had never been separated from his mother for more than a couple of hours. She’d been his only family, his only friend, his only anything. And now she was leaving him.

  Reeve dropped Luke’s gas canister and bolted out from the van. He grabbed Soren from behind, spun him around and smacked him across the face, yelling at him to shut up and get it together. The chopper kept rising, swaying erratically in the wind.

  Reeve threw his free hand out past Soren, firing his rifle again.

  And then more gunfire, much closer this time, shredding the concrete at my feet. Officer Webb was taking aim at us from the top of the stairwell. His hands were shaking on his gun, attention flitting from us to the chopper. My stomach lurched at the thought of what Shackleton would do to these guys when he learned they’d let a helicopter escape.

  I ducked between our skid unit and the one next to it, crawling past the massive tyres to the driver’s seat. The skids only had one seat up front, but there were platforms around the cage where other people could ride standing up.

  I peered under the line of skid units and saw Webb’s legs dashing across the floor. I couldn’t work out whether he was coming after us or the helicopter, and I don’t think he knew either.

  ‘Quick!’ I climbed into the driver’s seat. ‘Hop on!’

  ‘You don’t know how to drive!’ hissed Luke, but he was already clambering into the cage with Amy.

  The key was in the ignition, and the set-up looked pretty similar to Mum and Dad’s car back home. Steering wheel. Accelerator. Brake. I could do this.

  ‘Go!’ Reeve shouted behind me. ‘Go, go, go!’

  He’d finally got Soren away from the helicopter and was dragging him, still screaming, to catch up with us.

  I turned the key. The skid unit roared to life and started rolling forward. I stomped my foot down on one of the pedals, which turned out to be the brake, and the skid ground to a stop.

  Webb fired again and Luke cried out behind me.

  ‘Luke!’ I yelled.

  ‘No, I’m fine! I’m fine! Just go! Hurry!’

  I hit the other pedal. The skid jerked forward. We hurtled straight for the back wall, and I spun the wheel just in time to avoid a collision. Too far. The skid hurtled around, heading almost directly back the way we’d come. Luke cried out and I heard the cage rattle behind me as he fought to keep Amy steady.

  I caught a glimpse of Soren shoving Reeve away as he tried to pull him aboard another skid; the chopper pitching forward, almost catching on the roof; Webb lining up his next shot; Reynolds running towards us. I turned the wheel again, gentler this time, and we veered away at a right angle.

  Webb fired. I ducked, swerved, almost fell out of my seat and, miraculously, found myself staring straight down the ramp. We lurched forward, speeding through the door and into the rain. And even over the storm and the shooting and the noise of the engine, I could still hear the glorious thumping of the chopper as it floated into the air above the armoury.

  We shot down the ramp. I squeezed the steering wheel with both hands, terrified I was going to drift sideways and send us roll
ing over the edge. But we made it. Off the ramp and onto the dirt road. I glanced back and saw two more skids shooting out of the building behind me. Soren had somehow pulled himself together enough to drive on his own.

  An exultant laugh escaped my throat. We were all out. Kara and Mr Hunter were clear of the building, clear of the trees, rising into the charcoal sky.

  Finally – finally – the world was going to know about us. We were going to be okay.

  Bright light flashed in the corner of my eye from somewhere in the bush. A rumble echoed out from the source of the light, starting low but quickly getting louder, and a dark shape streaked above our heads.

  I had just enough time to register that it was heading straight for the helicopter before the sky was torn apart by a blinding explosion.

  Chapter 17

  WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5

  8 DAYS

  I slammed on the brakes and the skid spun to a stop in the mud. Luke was screaming. Raw, gut-wrenching cries. I looked back, expecting to find flaming wreckage raining down behind us, but the explosion had passed and everything was shadowy grey again.

  ‘Keep going!’ yelled Reeve.

  A fourth skid unit shot out from the top of the ramp. They were coming after us. Soren zoomed past me, screaming and screaming but still streaking forward, like he’d forgotten he was in control of his skid. I hit the accelerator again.

  ‘NO!’ Luke gasped behind me. ‘Go back! You have to go back!’

  ‘For what?’ I said desperately, heart plummeting from my chest. ‘There’s nothing we can –’ I swerved again, narrowly avoiding a tree as we sped up the muddy track, back to the main road, right behind Reeve. ‘Wait. Do you hear that?’

  I strained my ears, trying to tune out the rain and the skids, making sure it wasn’t my imagination. But no, I could still hear it. Fainter now, but definitely there. The helicopter was still flying.

  Back in the cage, Luke let out a kind of coughing sob. He’d heard it too.

  But I had no time for feeling relieved right now. I glanced down at my hands and realised there were mirrors on either side of the steering wheel, reflecting what was behind me. Officer Webb was right on my tail, leaning forward in his seat, close enough for me to see the look of terrified determination on his face. Reynolds stood on one of the platforms at the back.

  I floored the accelerator, knuckles white against the steering wheel, more or less okay as long as the path was there. But sooner or later, I was going to have to pull off into the bush, and then things were really going to get interesting.

  Another dark blur rocketed past above our heads, lighting up the sky as it exploded.

  ‘He’ll be okay!’ I said, not needing to see Luke’s face to guess at his expression. ‘If they dodged one of them –’

  I coughed, catching a mouthful of dirty water as Reeve’s skid hit a dip in the path in front of us. I splashed through after him, wiping my eyes clear with the back of my hand.

  I glanced at the mirrors again. Security were still coming. They’d gained another couple of metres on us. Officer Reynolds was leaning out the cage, hanging on with one hand, aiming his rifle with the other.

  ‘Turn!’ Luke shouted. ‘Get off the road!’

  It was all too fast. The trees blurred past us on both sides. There was no way I could turn off without smashing the skid into a ball. Not until the bush thinned out.

  ‘I can’t!’ I said. ‘Do something!’

  ‘What am I supposed to –?’

  Reynolds fired his rifle. I swerved again. There was a crunch and a snapping of branches as I drifted too close to the side of the road. The skid shuddered horribly, spinning its wheels, and then jolted forward again.

  Another burst of brilliant light flashed overhead. I couldn’t hear the chopper anymore, but that didn’t mean much with everything else that was going on.

  I felt the skid tip slightly as Luke started moving around in the back. ‘Okay – okay – just go straight for a second.’

  ‘That’s what I’ve been trying to do!’

  I checked the mirrors again and saw Reynolds lining up another shot.

  Luke grunted, lifting something. Whatever it was clattered against the back of the cage. There was a dull, wet thud and a jangling of metal behind us and suddenly Webb and Reynolds were skidding into the bushes at the side of the road. We pulled away and I caught the reflection of a giant toolbox lying in the mud.

  ‘Nice one,’ I said, teeth chattering in the cold. The rain pelted down against my arms, turning my fingers numb. Amy moaned, and I wished we had a blanket or something to put over her.

  I squinted through the spray from Reeve’s tyres. The landscape had just shifted abruptly, trees falling away from the side of the road. We’d reached the other clearing. The warehouse.

  A rifle erupted on the other side of the razor-wire fence and I almost dived out of the driver’s seat. Reeve fired back, aiming the rifle up above head height, trying to scare the guards off without actually hurting them.

  ‘What’s he doing?’ Luke panicked, clambering up behind me.

  ‘It’s okay,’ I said, ‘he’s not –’

  ‘No, what’s Soren doing?’

  Soren had made it to the far end of the warehouse. Despite his meltdown, he was somehow managing to keep his skid in one piece. He peeled off the road, sending his skid hurtling down the narrow gap between the fence and the edge of the clearing. Reeve’s skid plunged in after him.

  ‘Slow down!’ said Luke.

  ‘What?’

  ‘When you turn, you’re meant to slow –’

  I spun the wheel hard to the left, foot shifting to the brake pedal. We slid across the wet grass, spraying mud, and crunched sideways into a tree. Amy gasped in pain.

  ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry!’ I said, hitting the accelerator again. We surged straight over the gap, colliding with the fence on the other side.

  Luke shouted behind me. ‘JORD–!’

  Gunfire roared in my ears, tearing into the cage behind me. My left mirror exploded and disappeared. I pumped the accelerator. The skid shuddered, still scraping against the fence. The guard fired again. I twisted the wheel to the right and the skid finally broke free.

  ‘You guys okay?’ I called back, gunning it after Reeve, who’d slowed down at the warehouse to wait for us.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Luke. ‘I think so.’

  I could still hear the guard splashing through the mud on the other side of the fence. He shouted at us to stop and give ourselves up. Yeah, right.

  Reeve picked up the pace again as we approached. Into the bush. I followed after him, scanning frantically for a safe path through the trees. Soren was way up ahead by now, almost out of sight.

  I felt like I was getting the hang of the steering now, as long as there were no more sharp corners, anyway. The skids were definitely at home out here. Their oversized wheels tore through the undergrowth like it was nothing. I was just starting to think that I could get this thing home without any more disasters when I heard the growl of another engine.

  Webb and Reynolds. Still coming.

  I looked into the bush, searching for the source of the noise, taking my eyes off the path for just a second too long.

  A boulder loomed out of nowhere. I heaved at the steering wheel, pulling us away to the right, but it wasn’t enough. The skid’s left wheel ran up over the rock, tipping us sideways. There was an awful sliding and crashing from the cage as everything – and everyone – rolled to one side.

  The shifting weight was enough to bring the skid over completely. We hit the ground and I was flung out of my seat, ribs smashing against something sharp in the mud. Amy screamed in pain.

  Another skid roared up in front of us. Reeve jumped out of the driver’s seat and came over to pull me up. I steadied myself against the closest tree. Luke was already back on his feet. He bent down, trying to help Amy who was crying on the ground, but he couldn’t lift her. It looked like he’d sprained an ankle or something.

&n
bsp; ‘Get in,’ said Reeve, pointing Luke towards the upright skid. ‘I’ve got her.’

  Luke left Reeve to it. I saw a gas canister lying in the mud and hobbled over to grab it, battered arms protesting as I hefted it into the air. I dumped the canister in the back of Reeve’s skid and jumped in after it. Reeve lowered Amy on top of me, and then helped Luke over the side of the cage.

  The guards’ skid raced closer, coming at us from the side, near enough for me to see Reynolds lining us up with his rifle.

  Reeve jumped into the drivers’ seat as Reynolds fired.

  ‘GO!’ said Luke. ‘What are you waiting –?’

  Reeve whipped his weapon around and shot back. The guards’ skid shuddered, throwing Reynolds to the ground as the front tyres blasted apart.

  Officer Webb hit the brakes, bringing the skid to a stop only a few metres away from us. He threw his hands into the air, the rain pasting his blonde hair to the sides of his face. ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please don’t –’

  He shrieked and leapt from the skid as Reeve shot out the other two tyres.

  ‘I’m not going to hurt you, mate,’ said Reeve, lowering the rifle. ‘We’re the ones trying to stop the bloodshed. Might be a good idea for you to remember that.’

  He pushed the accelerator, driving us away into the night.

  Chapter 18

  WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5

  8 DAYS

  ‘It must have been some kind of automated defence system,’ said Reeve, shifting his grip on Amy and scanning around us one last time as the entrance to the Vattel Complex rolled open at our feet. ‘To take out anything that might fly over and spot us. I’m so sorry, mate. I had no idea.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Luke croaked, limping down the steps. ‘Not your fault.’

  We’d left the skid out in the bush at a safe distance, and made the last leg here on foot. The rain was still coming down. Not that we could get any wetter or colder at this point.

  I gazed down into the tunnel, eyes barely focusing. I needed to rest. Not yet, I told myself. Not until I’d made sure everyone else was safe.