‘You going to get up or lie around in the dirt all day?’
He made to grab her hand, knowing it was a wasted effort. When she grabbed his hand there was an immediate electric shock that coursed through his entire body, but she held firm and she pulled him towards her. She laughed at his astonishment. He stared. Her teeth looked beautiful, she was beautiful, and somehow her hair being shaved made no difference at all.
Genie felt hot tears flowing down her cheeks as she watched the wild range of emotions on Rian’s face.
‘You’re real. You’re real. You are REAL!’ he shouted.
He grabbed her, crushed her to him, nearly squeezing all the breath out of her. She inhaled. He smelled beautifully of sweat, he was hot and was perfectly, absolutely Rian.
‘I never—’ Rian tried to say.
‘Shh,’ Genie whispered. ‘Hush.’ She felt his hands pressing against her, felt his fingers experimenting with her stubbly head. She realized that Rian was crying,
his tears flowed down her neck. She understood that this was the most perfect moment in her life. She never wanted it to end.
Rian pulled away a second, didn’t care that his eyes were wet.
‘I never want us to be apart again. Not even a second.
I love you, Genie. I truly love you.’
Genie closed her eyes and rested her nose on his forehead.
‘Even looking like this?’
Rian pulled away again to look at her. He sensed her nervousness.
‘It looks cool.’
She nodded and began to smile. Cool was good.
Rian kissed her and their lips tasted of salt. Genie sighed. Then she frowned as she felt the heat on his neck and saw the colour of his skin.
‘How did you get so blue? Rian? And your neck is burned.’
‘Accident. It doesn’t matter.’
‘It matters. I leave you alone for just a few hours and you turn blue!’
‘I’ve got a million questions,’ Rian began, but Genie put a finger on his lips.
‘I’ve got another surprise for you.’
Rian suddenly looked worried.
‘Your leg’s not going to fall off, is it?’
Genie laughed. ‘No.’
She took a deep breath. A simple thing like breathing was suddenly a miracle. She’d never underestimate that again.
‘I remembered we’d agreed to pick the apples. So I brought some friends.’
Rian frowned. He had no idea what she was talking about. Genie turned and signalled back to the unseen eyes in the forest. Denis was first out. He wore the rotting underwear and tatty green socks with pride. Rian stared with complete astonishment as eight perfectly formed and very pale kids walked out of the forest.
‘Denis? Renée?’ He didn’t recognize the others immediately and noticed some were wearing underwear and some were almost naked. But they were alive and real, just like Genie. He turned to look at Genie.
‘You do this?’
He recognized Miho, the girl who’d disappeared right after graduation. She’d supposedly been kidnapped by her father and taken back to Japan. It had made the national newspapers. How many other lies had he swallowed about why kids were missing in Spurlake? He looked back at Genie for some kind of explanation.
‘We ended up in the same place as the howling dog.
Can you believe that? Marshall was right, there’s something special about that area.’
Renée stood looking at Rian, pursing her lips. ‘You think you could stop pawing each other for a moment and get us something to wear?’
Rian laughed and stood up, wiping his eyes. He approached Renée and attempted to give her a hug.
She resisted.
‘Not without clothes on, even if you are my half-brother.’
‘Come on,’ Genie told them. ‘There’s a goodwill bag under the stairs and I’m sure we can find stuff in there for all of us.’
Rian regarded them all with awe and wonder.
‘I am just plain astonished. Come on. Anyone hungry?
We have cereal, almost defrosted milk and er . . . noodles.’
‘Are they wheat-free?’ Julia asked. ‘I’m on a wheat free diet.’
Genie looked at her and frowned. ‘Julia, get real. You just spent over a year inside a computer. No diets here.
This is the country.’
Denis was looking at Rian curiously.
‘How come you’re blue?’
‘Went swimming,’ Rian said, suddenly embarrassed.
Genie shepherded them all into the house. She wanted to know why he was blue too, but she’d get it out of Ri, later.
‘I want to call my folks,’ Julia declared as she adjusted the shorts and T-shirt she had found. She looked funny wearing khaki tied with string, but kinda cute, even if she was impossibly skinny.
Denis, dressed in cut-off jeans and a shirt five times too big for him, looked at Genie and shook his head.
Renée was thinking the same. Most of them were too scared to call home. Some remembered why they had left in the first place.
‘No calls,’ Genie told her. ‘Julia, they probably think you’re dead by now. Denis was already buried, for God’s sake. Who knows what they put in his coffin. We can’t just call your folks. They’ll think it’s a hoax. We have to plan this. Got to take Reverend Schneider and the Fortress by surprise. Right, Denis?’
Denis agreed. ‘We’re out. But they’ll be looking for us once they realize we’re gone. We got to stay hidden till we can plan something.’
‘Genie’s right,’ Rian told them. ‘You can’t just call home. Besides, the Fortress might be listening. I’m beginning to think they control everything around here.
Ever wonder how come the Spurlake News never says anything about the Fortress? Like it doesn’t exist. Did any of you know about it before they grabbed you?’
Most kids shook their heads.
‘You’re not kidding. I’ve got bad news for you, Ri,’
Genie said. ‘You aren’t going to like it.’
‘What?’ Rian was thinking the worst now. ‘You’re OK, right? I mean, no missing bits? I was looking at Renée and I swear she used to have red hair.’
‘She did. But we’re all fine, some small changes, but no big deal. But listen, Ri, you, of all people, can’t phone home.’
Rian was confused. ‘Why?’
‘Mr Yates. That’s why. There’s a picture of him at the Fortress. Employee of the Month, no less.’
‘No way,’ he scoffed. ‘Can’t be him. He works in town.
He’s an accountant. You’re mistaken. I mean, I hate him, but it can’t be him.’
‘Red face, chubby, got a big neck, black-framed glasses, stupid moustache,’ Genie described. She could see instantly from his face that it was his Mr Yates.
Rian looked at her, astonishment giving way to anger.
‘Mr Yates works for them? That bastard’s known about this all this time? My mother’s boyfriend?’
‘I’m sorry. But he’s not the only one. You ever think
about that? The people who work at the Fortress live in Spurlake. They know us. They know exactly what’s happening. They know all the troublemakers, the awkward squad, the loners – and I bet a lot of them go to Reverend Schneider’s Church. The woman who prepped me at Fortress was wearing a Celtic cross. He handed me over to her like they were old friends. Hell, I bet our school principal sends them a regular list of people she wants to get rid of. She has evil eyes.’
Renée pushed her empty bowl of cereal away.
‘They know all our secrets. My mother is devoted to that church. Denis’ folks too. I swear we got to do something, Rian. We got to make sure people know.’
Cary was thinking. ‘But if they all work at the Fortress, who can we trust?’
That was exactly what Rian was thinking. All those rows he’d had with Mr Yates, about how he’d sworn teleportation and science fiction was bunk, and all this time he was working for the Fortress. Cary
was right.
Who could they trust in Spurlake? They would have to let people know outside. But then again, it was so fantastic, who the hell would believe them?
Julia put her spoon down; she’d hardly eaten anything. She was sulking.
‘I still don’t see why I can’t call home. I mean, I’ve been
gone over a year. They have to have forgiven me by now.’
Genie looked at this petite girl and wondered what she did that was so bad she fell into the hands of Reverend Schneider. She didn’t look to be the sort who’d do anything wrong.
Denis looked at her and shook his head.
‘Remember why you left, Julia. It’s been two years and I can still remember exactly why I ran.’
‘They were beating you. They never did anything bad to me. Nothing.’
Cary stood up. ‘Julia, you weighed sixty-five pounds or something when you came to the Fortress. You hadn’t eaten any food in like a month. I was there, remember?
Reverend Schneider told you what? He could cure you?
Make you whole again?’
Julia blushed. Reverend Schneider had said exactly that. Told her she’d never be hungry ever again. He hadn’t lied actually. She looked at Cary.
‘Well at least I didn’t try to run my father over.’
‘It was an accident.’
‘That’s not what your father said.’
Genie slammed her hand down on the table.
‘We’ve all got reasons to be here. Think about the kids who didn’t make it. We’re alive. We made it. We have to tell people what’s going on. We need to stick together and
watch each other’s backs. We don’t call anyone right now.
We have to keep the element of surprise. We only have two or three people we can trust back in Spurlake. OK?
No calls and we don’t return until we’re ready. If anyone knew we were here they’d grab us back so fast you wouldn’t have time to blink. Understand?’
It took a while to get everyone to agree. That, and Rian disconnecting and dismantling the phone. Temptation is a hungry animal.
Genie was making sure everyone had a place to sleep. For most of them it was a completely new experience and they’d have to learn how all over again.
They’d been sleepless from the moment they had been teleported and for Denis that meant a long time awake.
Genie was happy that they’d kept the food down, so far.
She had only been in the system a few hours, she’d had it easy. The others were all experiencing problems with simple things, bumping into stuff mostly. Getting distance right was a biggie and even climbing stairs had to be relearned. Suddenly having a mouth full of spit was awkward, feeling the blood in your veins disconcerting, somehow gross. It was so weird. Feeling your teeth with your tongue or being warm or cold were new experiences all over again.
She found Miho crying in the bathroom, sitting in the corner with some face cream on her nose.
‘Miho?’
‘I’m scared. I don’t know what I’m feeling. I feel sick and my teeth hurt and my hands feel like lead and I’m scared about going home. I don’t think I’ve got a home any more.’
‘How did you end up in the Fortress? I remember you. You painted all those fantastic murals at school.
I heard you won a scholarship to Emily Carr. You already graduated, right?’
Miho rubbed the cream into her face, hot tears rolling down her cheeks.
‘My mother is seriously ill. My father wanted me to go to Japan to study. I mean . . . I don’t even speak Japanese.
He said I couldn’t go to art college. He was very angry. I went to see Reverend Schneider and . . .’ she sobbed, trying to take in a breath. ‘He said he’d talk to my father. He said he’d put me somewhere safe where he couldn’t get me.’
Genie hugged her, let her cry on her shoulder.
She figured that Reverend Schneider was going to come up in all their stories. They had to find a way to fix him, just had to.
Rian came back upstairs with blankets from the
storeroom. He handed some over to Randall, who’d hardly said anything yet. He was utterly bewildered by being back in real life and seemed the worst affected by memory loss.
‘Smells of dog but they’ll keep you warm,’ Rian told him. Suddenly Rian remembered something.
‘Hey, Genie?’
‘What?’ she called from the bathroom.
‘I forgot to tell you. Moucher’s still alive. My ma stitched him up. He lost a lot of blood, but he’ll be fine.’
Genie appeared at the bathroom door with red eyes.
She was wiping away tears.
‘No way. Schneider hit him so hard I swear he was dead.’
‘He was in bad shape, but she sewed up the wound and I think he’ll heal.’
Genie felt a surge of hope. Mouch was alive. It lifted her spirits. She took Randall by the arm and led him to a pile of cushions in a corner.
‘You’re sleeping here, Randy. You OK?’
Randall nodded. He seemed confused.
‘Genie? I know I heard it before, but what’s a dog?’
Genie looked at him with confusion. ‘Dog?’
Rian had also noticed his disorientation. ‘He’s tired.’
‘You know what a cat is?’ Genie asked him.
‘I had a cat when I was a kid. Can’t remember its name though.’
‘Can you remember where you lived?’
‘Seven-five-six Mulberry. You don’t forget where you live.’
‘Then you’ll remember what a dog is tomorrow.’
She helped him lie down. Randall was strange. Maybe he’d always been strange.
She met Rian on the landing, a question unasked about Randall on his lips. Genie shrugged. She didn’t know any more than he did. Perhaps the kid would feel better in the morning. It must be weird to be downsized like that.
Downstairs, they drank tea and held hands. The two of them together at last.
‘You know what worries me most, Ri?’
‘What.’
‘It worked. The Fortress don’t know it worked. They don’t know we’re alive, but when they do, this thing is going to be worth billions to someone. We’re just nine kids who want revenge on Reverend Schneider, but someone has a fortune invested in this idea and they won’t want us telling anyone about it.’
Rian understood.
‘We’d have to get us all to Spurlake, hope Officer Miller
will protect us and then get out fast.’
Genie nodded. ‘We just proved teleportation works.
We’re going to be valuable. The Fortress will want us back real bad. We’re like returning astronauts or something.
Y’know, those guys who went to the moon, like forty-odd years ago.’
‘They’ll want to study you all,’ Rian agreed. ‘That so sucks. You’re right, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.’
‘They’d cut us up like lab rats or something. Don’t tell the others. But we have to keep it secret until we’re ready.’
Renée appeared in the doorway suddenly, wearing one of Marshall’s sweaters. ‘Your pig is making noises outside. I can’t sleep.’
‘Probably needs water,’ Rian told her. ‘I’ll get the bucket.’
Rian left to deal with the pig and Genie looked at Renée and smiled.
‘I heard what you said, Genie. We got to be smart.
We have to protect ourselves. You’re right, we’re like the first people on Mars. We could be celebrities.’
‘They’d never let us get that far, Renée. If they let the world know we exist then they will have to account for all the other missing kids. Either way, they won’t
ever want to admit to the world they were using live kids in experiments.’
‘I guess you’re right.’ She looked disappointed.
‘And tomorrow?’
‘You’ll see. We need to build up strength. Everyone’s muscles are so weak right now. Get some s
leep. OK?’
‘You look cute with a shaved head, y’know. You going to grow it long again?’
‘I’ll just be happy if it grows. I want to be normal.’
Renée laughed. ‘Yeah, right, normal, whatever. That’s so going to happen. Night.’
It was four a.m., still dark outside. As far as Genie could make out, everyone was asleep, although most were restless, having shallow dreams. Genie was stood in the bathroom, resting her head against the mirror as she let cold water flow over her hands. She had no idea how long she had been there but it had been a while. She’d hugged Rian until he’d fallen asleep in her arms and then lain there, totally awake. She, more than most, realized what a miracle it was that she was alive and able to see Rian again, let alone hold him, feel his hot flesh against her, something so simple and utterly precious. Amazing also to be able to stand here and feel cold water trickling over her hands.
But did she deserve it? She had doubts.
Someone entered the bathroom behind her and closed the door.
‘You too?’ Renée asked.
Genie didn’t move. ‘I never realized how much I like water flowing over my hands. Never knew how important it was to simply breathe, Renée.’
‘Can’t sleep. Can’t get used to being solid. Feels so heavy. I never knew how you could feel how heavy you are. It just feels so weird.’ Renée came forward and sat on the toilet. She totally understood why Genie was acting strange.
Genie shut off the tap and dried her hands, moving towards the door to give Renée privacy.
‘I used to dream about snow,’ Renée whispered. ‘I had the same thing going over in my head for over a year.
Kept looking up and seeing snow and imagining it melting on my eyelids. Just that, thinking about snow and knowing I’d never feel anything, ever again.’
Genie understood. She’d only been trapped in the Fortress for moments, but it was enough. She was again standing on the transmission platform, watching her own body disintegrating, like so many grains of sand in the wind. It was a terrifying but fascinating impression that would stay with her for always.
‘I’m worried, Genie,’ Renée finally confessed. ‘I’m
worried about what’s inside us. If everything is going to work inside. I mean, what if it suddenly goes wrong. How do we know this is going to last? What if I start falling apart? I saw what happened with other kids.’
The Repossession Page 25