Fallout

by Chris Morphew

Soren and Mike had just clambered up onto the surface. Something about Mike’s body language made me think he was going to be sick again. Soren twitched around like a cornered bird, checking that the coast was clear. He tugged on Mike’s arm, pointing at something, and then the two of them were swallowed up by the bush.

  Chapter 20

  FRIDAY, AUGUST 7

  6 DAYS

  ‘Jordan!’ Luke panted behind me as I leapt up the steps to the tunnel entrance. ‘Wait, are you sure this is –?’

  He gave up, saving his energy for running. His ankle still wasn’t a hundred percent, but he pushed on anyway, determined to keep up.

  Reeve had started to follow us too, but I’d told him to stay put. If Soren was about to do something stupid – which was almost a certainty at this point – I wanted to deal with him myself. And if he was going to bring trouble on the Complex, I wanted someone down there who I trusted to take charge.

  As soon as my head was above ground level, I scanned the bush and saw Soren and Mike skulking towards the east side of town. I hurried after them, quick as I could without giving myself away.

  The rain had stopped since the last time we were up here, but the sky was still a pretty menacing shade of grey. Soren spun around as he ran, weird little pirouettes, as though he was trying to see in every direction at once, far less sure of himself now without Kara. He’d thrown a white lab coat on over his clothes, the one he used to wear when he was playing overseer. Stupid to wear something that bright out here, but I doubted he’d even done it consciously.

  After a few minutes, they pulled away to the right, heading south in the direction of the airport road.

  I broke into a full run, abandoning the thought of sneaking up on them. Almost instantly, I felt a stitch in my side. I kept running, ignoring the pain, but then my stomach started churning and I realised what was really going on. I let out a groan that was equal parts fear and frustration. Seriously? Right now?

  Luke called out behind me. My vision blurred, collapsing the bushland, reducing it to liquid. My foot caught on something and I dived into the swirling undergrowth. I rolled onto my side, writhing on the ground, fighting with everything I had not to cry out, sure I was going to just disintegrate completely this time and melt away into the dirt.

  But somehow, my body managed to hold itself together. The convulsions finally began to ease and slowly, slowly, the world spun back into place. I lay there, remembering how to breathe again, then opened my eyes and sat up.

  The landscape had shifted completely. I was still surrounded by trees, but not the towering, ancient-looking things that filled this place in our time. I was sitting in a vast field of saplings, as though someone had swooped in here overnight and planted a whole forest. Phoenix was nowhere to be seen.

  Kara had told us about this. It wasn’t just people who’d been affected by the fallout. Before the destruction of the Vattel Complex, this whole area had been nothing but wasteland. The seemingly centuries-old bushland that surrounded Phoenix had all sprung up from nothing in the last two decades.

  Which meant that, judging by the shoulder-high growth all around me, I’d probably landed not too long after the Complex went down.

  ‘Why did you bring me here?’ asked a girl’s voice over my shoulder. ‘You know I hate this place.’

  I searched for her, standing up to see over the saplings, and found a large, dome-shaped tent only a few metres behind me. An older man and a teenage girl were sitting out the front on folding chairs.

  ‘No, you don’t,’ the man said patiently, pressing his fingertips together, and I felt a chill stab through me as I realised who I was looking at.

  It was Shackleton. Maybe ten years younger than he was now, brown hair instead of grey, and dressed in a tan safari shirt instead of his usual jacket and tie, but there was no mistaking the calm, icy malevolence glinting in his eyes.

  The girl stared up at the sky, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, and I recognised her as well. She was the girl from the Vattel Complex in my last vision. The one who’d been crying under the table when it all blew up. Older now; maybe my age.

  What was she doing with Shackleton? Kara and Soren had never mentioned either of them, so why –?

  Then Luke was there in front of me, derailing my train of thought. He was mouthing at me, hands hovering at my arms.

  ‘Seriously, Noah –’ the girl began, but Shackleton cut her off.

  ‘Father,’ he said, the patient tone vanishing from his voice. ‘You are to call me “father”.’

  I leant past Luke to look at them. Luke mouthed a word I’d never heard him use before.

  ‘You’re not my real dad,’ the girl said sulkily.

  ‘I adopted you, did I not?’ said Shackleton. ‘I took you into my home. That makes me your real father. The past is dead, girl. You would do well to remember that.’

  Luke sidestepped in front of me, reaching for me again, and the frustration on his face dragged me back to reality. Soren and Mike were getting away. And I was probably disappearing almost completely by now.

  I reached for Luke’s hands, fingers passing through his only once before he locked on and took hold of me.

  Behind him, Shackleton leant forward and put a hand on the girl’s knee. ‘And as I have told you before, you do not hate this place. This place has made you who you are.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ The girl jerked her leg away, suddenly defensive.

  ‘You are a very special girl, Victoria.’

  Victoria. I stretched up to look over Luke’s shoulder, taking in the girl again. Dark brown hair, piercing eyes, slim build, sharp jaw line…

  It was Dr Galton.

  Luke tightened his grip on my arm, pulling me closer to him. Come on! Get back here!

  ‘Wait!’ I said. ‘Just let me –’

  But it was too late. The nausea flared up again, and the world of the present crashed into this one. And just like before, I was in both places at once, the sky simultaneously grey and clear, the bushland ancient and new. I could still see Shackleton and Galton, but they were flickering in and out with everything else. I held on, pushing down my gag reflex, trying to catch as much of their conversation as I could before they were gone.

  The teenage Dr Galton was looking up at Shackleton like he’d caught her doing something shameful. ‘I’m not. Why would you say that? I’m not – I’m just like everyone else.’

  ‘Your body is resilient beyond any normal human standard,’ said Shackleton gleefully. ‘I can use that.’

  Now I felt two kinds of sick. But instead of being appalled by Shackleton’s blatant desire to ‘use’ her, Galton looked almost relieved. Like she’d been expecting him to say something else.

  ‘The world is a mess, Victoria,’ Shackleton continued. ‘Humanity has lost its way. It is our job to rectify that. If this place can be used to change others the way it has changed you –’

  Galton’s eyes narrowed. ‘This is about your Tabitha project.’

  I was shaking harder now, leaning into Luke for support. I dropped one of his hands to wrap an arm around my convulsing stomach.

  ‘What are you doing, Noah?’ Galton pressed. ‘What’s this all about?’

  ‘Patience,’ said Shackleton. ‘That is all a good many years away. For now, I just want to conduct a few –’

  My legs fell away and the campsite disintegrated, along with the rest of the universe. It all spun together, like mixing paint, and I squeezed my eyes shut, clutching Luke’s arm, sure I was going to throw up all over him.

  Light sparked on the other side of my eyelids and for a few seconds, I felt rain pouring down across my back. Then everything went dark and I was dry again. The light shifted a few more times, and then everything straightened out again and I felt Luke lowering me to the ground.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked, completely spooked. ‘What was going on over there? It was like you didn’t want to leave or something.’

  ‘Sorry,’ I said, l
etting him pull me to my feet. ‘Did you see where Soren went?’

  Luke pointed in the direction they’d been heading when I flashed out. I jogged off again, but slower than before, still recovering from the after-effects of my vision.

  ‘You sure you don’t want to stop for a minute?’ asked Luke, racing to catch up.

  ‘Why? I’m fine.’

  ‘Because,’ Luke caught my wrist, pulling me back, ‘Jordan, you were – I don’t even – even after I grabbed you this time, it was like you were still stuck back there. Or, I don’t know, like you were stuck halfway or something. I could see you, and I could feel you, but – I don’t know. You definitely weren’t fully here. And then you – you started glowing. Well, not – like, it wasn’t bright or anything. But something was happening to you. I – I thought I was going to lose you.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said again, trying to ignore the little ripple of anxiety running through me at the idea that I had ‘glowing’ to add to my list of bizarre symptoms. ‘I was holding on, trying to hear as much as I could. That might have been what did it.’

  ‘Holding on?’ said Luke. ‘You can control it?’

  ‘No, not like – I don’t know. A little bit.’ I released Luke’s hand and we picked up the pace again.

  ‘What did you see, anyway?’ he asked.

  ‘I think I just found out how Shackleton first discovered this place. It was –’

  But then I spotted something white through the trees up ahead of us. Soren. I broke into a sprint again. He jerked his head around, seeing me coming, but didn’t try to run away. I caught up and found him standing at the edge of the airport road, hands twitching excitedly at his sides.

  ‘You are too late,’ he said.

  ‘For what?’ I demanded. ‘Where’s Mike?’

  Soren smiled. ‘He’s coming.’

  I shoved Soren into a tree. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘I am doing what is necessary,’ said Soren coldly.

  A low rumbling noise rose up. Something was coming down the road. I backed into the bush, taking cover behind another tree.

  It was a skid unit, zig-zagging all over the road, like the guy behind the wheel had about as much driving experience as I did. Like he was just another fifteen-year-old kid.

  ‘Crap,’ Luke breathed.

  The skid shot past, finally straightening out, and I saw Mike hunched over the wheel, eyes fixed on the path ahead, black hair fluttering out behind him. He’d taken a pair of scissors to the sleeves of his shirt, exposing the black spiral of his overseer tattoo for the whole world to see.

  ‘Where’s he going?’ I hissed at Soren.

  He said nothing.

  I started sprinting after the skid.

  ‘Jordan, no!’ Luke shouted. ‘You can’t –’

  There was a crash of bushes and I heard his footsteps come pounding up the path behind me.

  Mike hit the end of the dirt path and kept driving, out onto the bike track that would take him straight into the town centre. Every second, he pulled further away from us.

  I should’ve stopped at the end of the path. I should’ve just turned back to the safety of the bush and left Mike to it. But I hammered forward, hesitating for only a moment at the edge of town before sprinting out in full view of the surveillance cameras. Luke shouted another half-hearted protest, but kept following. Back into town for the first time in weeks.

  The skid rocketed between two blocks of identical houses, all lifeless and empty, overgrown grass in the front yards.

  ‘MIKE!’ I yelled, pounding after him but still losing ground. At the end of the block, the bike track opened up onto the town centre. Mike slowed down just a little bit, glancing off to his right. Further up ahead, the prisoners in the fenced-off exercise area out the front of the Shackleton Building looked up. A few of them ducked for cover. Others shouted out words of encouragement.

  I stopped at the end of the block, just short of the town centre, survival instincts finally kicking in. Security were already pouring out of the Shackleton Building and the security centre, spreading across the street to head us off. Mike veered away to the right.

  One of the guards opened fire. I dropped to the ground. The skid kept moving, full throttle again, and the guard dived out of the way.

  Mike was heading straight for the security centre.

  More gunfire. The skid rattled and shook but somehow kept going, swerving erratically and then resuming its collision course, juddering up the security centre steps and smashing through the front doors.

  For a long moment, everything seemed to stop.

  The guards held their fire.

  The prisoners fell silent, gaping out from behind the fence.

  ‘No…’ I breathed, leaping to my feet, realising what he was about to – The whole world shook and I was thrown to the ground as the security centre blew apart in a ball of fire.

  Chapter 21

  FRIDAY, AUGUST 7

  6 DAYS

  ‘Jordan!’

  The voice was muted, distant, like he was yelling underwater.

  Fire fell from the sky all around me. Glass shattered as the windows of surrounding buildings gave way. There were shouts, screams, thundering footsteps, all of it muffled by the ringing in my ears and the splitting pain in the back of my head.

  Luke swam into view above me and thrust out a blurry hand to drag me up. I swayed, finding my feet, eyes watering at the haze of dust and smoke.

  The security centre was a shell, flames towering above what little was left of the roof, spewing inky smoke into the air. The heat was unbearable.

  There was a shout from behind the fence and one of the guards fired his rifle into the air. Apparently, a couple of the prisoners had made an escape attempt.

  More guards moved in to subdue the crowd, trying to herd them back inside. I craned my neck, looking for my dad, but couldn’t see him.

  Another wave of security officers came out from the Shackleton Building. A few of them were wearing backpack things with hoses twisting out from the sides, but the rest of the fire-fighting stuff was stored in the security centre. It had all gone up in the explosion. One of the guards turned in our direction, squinting through the smoke.

  Luke tugged at my arm. ‘We need to go.’

  I staggered again, pressing a hand to my head, and felt the blood seeping through the mess of matted hair.

  A security van screeched to a stop in the middle of the street and half a dozen officers piled into the back. The van roared away again, gunning it for the south end of town. Out to the armoury for more gear.

  There was an enormous cracking noise and the guards with the hoses ran for cover as a section of the security centre wall that had somehow survived the initial explosion came toppling down above their heads. For a second, I thought I saw the charred remains of Mike’s skid unit lying upside down in the middle of the flames, but then a fresh cloud of dust billowed up, swallowing it all again.

  ‘Jordan,’ said Luke, putting an arm around my shoulder, steering me away.

  ‘Yeah. OK.’

  We raced back out to the cover of the bush.

  We made it back to the Complex and found Soren heading into the ground just ahead of us. I sprinted down after him, dizziness fading now, the shock of what I’d just witnessed giving way to a cold, dark fury.

  Mike was gone.

  Dead.

  Hysterical screaming echoed up the stairwell. Cathryn. ‘Stop! Let me go! Let me GO!’

  ‘He’s – Oof!’ Tank grunted like he’d been bashed in the stomach. ‘He’s gone, Cat!’

  Cathryn kept screaming.

  ‘Jordan!’ cried Mum, throwing her arms around me as soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs. We were both knocked sideways as Ms Hunter brushed past to meet Luke.

  ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ I said, disentangling myself and going after Soren. I caught him going into the surveillance room and slammed him against the doorframe with my forearm across his throat. ‘YOU KILLED
HIM!’

  Through the crack in the door, I saw Cathryn, half-collapsed and sobbing in Tank’s arms. Reeve stood behind them, stony-faced. He’d had friends in that building.

  ‘No,’ Soren coughed. ‘I did not kill him. He chose it. Michael gave his life to give us a chance at –’

  ‘His life!’ I shouted. ‘His! Not yours! You sent him out there to die because you –’

  ‘Look!’ Soren shoved me off and pushed the door open, storming across to the surveillance computers. ‘Look at what he died for and tell me it was not worth the sacrifice!’

  I stared at the circle of computers. The feeds were gone, replaced by flickering static on every screen. When the security centre was destroyed, so was the surveillance network.

  ‘You think that changes what you did?’ I said. ‘You think you can justify a murder by –?’

  Cathryn let loose another agonised scream and tore herself out of Tank’s grip. She charged at Soren, grabbing at his hair. ‘You killed him!’

  Soren shrieked, pulling back, but she dug her nails in, swinging her other hand around and smashing her fist into his nose. He kicked her away and she fell to the ground, sobbing. ‘You killed him… You killed him…’

  Soren brought a hand up his nose, trying to stop the flow of blood. He moved in to kick her again.

  ‘Oi!’ barked Reeve, ‘that’s enough.’ And suddenly he had a rifle trained on Soren’s chest. ‘Touch her again, and we are going to have a serious problem.’

  ‘She attacked me!’ said Soren, throwing his hands in the air.

  Reeve twitched his rifle to the side of the room. ‘Up against the wall.’

  ‘You going to shoot him, boss?’ asked Tank.

  Reeve didn’t answer. He gestured at the wall again and Soren leant up against it. ‘Hands behind your head,’ said Reeve.

  ‘I just handed you the keys to the Shackleton Building!’ Soren spat, but he did what Reeve told him.

  Reeve’s rifle came down between Soren’s shoulder blades.

  Soren’s knees began to buckle. ‘He was supposed to get out! He was supposed to park the vehicle and –’