Mutation

by Chris Morphew

  I looked over at the playground. Reeve’s wife, Katie, was waiting at the bottom of the slide, hands outstretched to catch her son. We’d seen them playing there before, back when –

  Back when there were three of them.

  Then someone else ran out from behind the playground. It was Mike. He bolted across the grass, looking frantic, head spinning in all directions.

  I pushed myself to my feet, psyching myself up for a chase.

  But as soon as I started moving, Mike spotted me. He ran straight over, looking even more panicked than he had when he’d found us in the cave.

  ‘Peter,’ Mike demanded. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘They took him to the medical centre,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t be stupid. Where is he?’

  ‘Mike, seriously, he’s –’ ‘He’s not,’ said Mike. ‘Not anymore. Someone’s taken him.’

  Chapter 19

  SATURDAY, JUNE 20

  54 DAYS

  ‘What?’

  ‘You swear it wasn’t you,’ said Mike, raking his hair back out of his eyes. ‘You didn’t, like, break him out last night or something?’

  I grabbed him with both hands. ‘What are you talking about? When did this happen?’

  ‘I just came from the medical centre,’ he said, shaking me off. ‘We went in to see Pete yesterday after school, but they said he wasn’t having visitors until this morning. So we go back, and the whole place is in freaking chaos. Pete’s parents crying, nurses running in and out, the doc shouting at people to figure out where he’s gone …’

  I pictured Peter being taken into the medical centre, raging and screaming. Shackleton standing over him, smiling. Deciding he was too big a security risk. Phoning in the order to take away more than his legs.

  ‘How long ago was this?’ I asked.

  ‘I dunno,’ said Mike. ‘Fifteen, twenty minutes?’

  I started running.

  ‘Wait,’ said Mike, chasing after me, ‘they’re not letting anyone in –’

  He broke off, focusing on keeping up with me. I dashed along the row of cafes, the too-white walls of the medical centre already in my sights.

  ‘Why were you looking for me?’ I asked, when it was obvious Mike wasn’t going to give up and leave me alone.

  ‘We thought you guys –’

  ‘No, I mean, why do you care?’

  I twisted sideways, edging between a cafe table and a couple of bikes zooming past in the opposite direction.

  ‘He’s my – mate,’ Mike puffed indignantly, still following.

  ‘Sure he is.’

  I turned left, up the road between the mall and the medical centre. The only asphalt road in Phoenix. There was a truck parked at the end of the road. Two guys in white jumped out of the back and I almost had a heart attack.

  But they were just delivery guys, bringing in supplies from ‘out of town’.

  I threw a glance over my shoulder, checking that Mike hadn’t caught my overreaction.

  ‘Look,’ he said, starting to fall behind now. ‘We need him, okay?’

  I shot past the truck and veered around the corner, onto the main street. I stopped for just a second, scoping out my surroundings. There were two security officers standing at the top of the steps to the medical centre, blocking the way inside.

  Mike caught up, panting.

  ‘You know what?’ he said, catching sight of the guards. ‘Bad idea.’

  I ignored him, dashing up the steps two at a time. Mike didn’t follow.

  One of the guards held out a hand. ‘Sorry, Miss Burke. Emergency access only.’

  I recognised the voice. Officer Miller, the guard from the lake.

  ‘It’s an emergency,’ I said, pushing the hand out of the way.

  Through the glass, I saw Peter’s mum sitting on a waiting room chair, pale and gutted. Peter’s dad was parked in his wheelchair, holding her hand. They stared up at a nurse who I thought might have been Mike’s mum, and whatever she was telling them, they weren’t liking it.

  ‘Miss Burke,’ said Miller. ‘If you don’t head back downstairs, my orders are to send for Officer Calvin.’

  I stood my ground, knowing I couldn’t let it get that far but wanting to find out as much as I could before I backed off.

  More nurses rushed around inside. No sign of Dr Montag. The nurse talking to Peter’s parents walked away, and Mrs Weir’s head fell to her knees. She shook with tears. Mr Weir put a hand on her back.

  ‘Miss Burke,’ said Miller again. ‘Trust me. You really don’t want to mess with the chief right now. Why don’t you just head on home?’

  I wanted to argue. But even if I did get in there, what was I planning on doing?

  I started back down the steps.

  Find Luke, I told myself. Work this out –

  There was a bang on the other side of the glass doors. I looked back, but from this angle all I could see was a reflection of the security centre across the street.

  The guards peered through the glass. Miller reached over and unlocked the doors. They slid open.

  Mr Weir glared down at me from the top of the steps. He’d seen me watching him.

  I stared back, wondering if I really wanted to have this conversation.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Mr Weir muttered, pushing past Miller to the ramp leading down the side of the building.

  I faltered for just a second longer, then leapt down the rest of the stairs and went around to meet him at the bottom.

  Mike had disappeared. Probably off to find his friends and figure out how something could possibly go wrong in this town without us being behind it.

  Peter’s dad braked at the bottom of the ramp. He’d grown a beard since the last time we spoke, though it didn’t look intentional.

  ‘Please,’ he said in a ragged whisper. ‘Tell me where he is.’

  ‘We haven’t got him!’ I said.

  ‘You think I don’t know that?’ said Mr Weir. ‘Fell from a piece of gym apparatus, my arse. You think I don’t know what really happened?’ He stretched in his seat, checking to make sure we wouldn’t be overheard. ‘Please – Just tell me you know something.’

  I slid down against the wall, sitting on the concrete at the bottom of the ramp. ‘They took him yesterday and he was gone by this morning,’ I said. ‘That’s all I know.’

  ‘Why?’ he choked. ‘Why is he doing this to us? I’ve done everything he asked. Everything.’

  Mr Weir broke down, and it took everything I had not to join him.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered, not even looking at him as I said it. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  How much longer could all of this stay secret?

  What would happen if Luke and I ‘disappeared’ too? Would people start to realise that something was up? Or would the end of the world just tick by without anyone even noticing?

  ‘Jordan!’

  Luke’s voice suddenly cut into my thoughts. I dragged myself to my feet and stepped away from the building.

  Calvin was stomping down the road, pulling Luke with him. It still seemed wrong seeing him without a crutch.

  I stood my ground. No point running, anyway.

  Mr Weir wheeled out from behind me, spinning around to meet Calvin as he arrived.

  ‘What have you done with my son?’

  Calvin looked down at Mr Weir. The ghost of a smile crossed his face.

  I took a swing, aiming to punch that smile straight down Calvin’s throat.

  Calvin’s hand shot into the air, catching my fist before it hit home. He clamped down on it, crushing my fingers.

  ‘Calm yourself, Jordan,’ he said, finally letting go. ‘You don’t want to make me angry today.’

  He reached down to his belt and unclipped a set of keys.

  ‘Come on. Let’s go for a drive.’

  Chapter 20

  SATURDAY, JUNE 20

  54 DAYS

  Calvin took Luke and me the back way around the medical centre. It was quieter out here. Less chance of
us making a scene.

  Mr Weir tried to follow us until Calvin drew his gun and asked him to turn around.

  We walked in silence, heading for the east end of town. Calvin in front, not even bothering to look back and check on us.

  Luke’s feet dragged along the bike path.

  My body screamed at me to run – and my mind had to scream back just as loud how pointless that would be.

  We reached the edge of town and turned up the street bordering the bush.

  There was a van parked about fifty metres away. Gleaming black, with a big red Shackleton Co-operative crest on the side. The van Reeve had used to bring us back from outside the wall, or one like it.

  ‘Where are you taking us?’ I asked.

  No answer.

  We stopped at the van, and Calvin unlocked the big double doors at the back. He shoved Luke roughly inside. I dodged out of the way before Calvin could touch me, and climbed in after him.

  Calvin laughed and slammed the doors behind us.

  We were crouched in an empty storage area. Pitch black, except for the tiny crack of light creeping in from under the doors. Nothing to sit on and no way to see outside.

  ‘Peter’s gone,’ I whispered.

  ‘What?’ hissed Luke’s voice, right beside me. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘They’ve taken him from the medical centre.’

  ‘When did this happen? I thought they were still –’

  He was drowned out for a second as Calvin hit the ignition. The van began to move, and I braced my feet against the back of the door to keep from being pitched into it.

  I felt Luke jolt forward beside me. There’d been three of us the last time we were in here, but it was still plenty cramped with two. We swerved around a corner, and I was thrown sideways into him.

  ‘So, what – is that where we’re going now?’ Luke asked as we straightened out again. ‘To wherever they’ve got Peter?’

  I shrugged. Then, realising how useless that was in the dark, ‘I don’t know. Why did Shackleton let you and me go if he was just going to capture us again? Why not just knock out all of our legs and be done with it?’

  Luke grunted his agreement and the conversation died.

  But I had a feeling we’d have an answer soon enough. The van shuddered and rocked. Calvin was moving fast. Wherever we were going, he was eager to get there.

  After maybe ten minutes, we swerved again, and I could hear the tink-tink-tink of gravel spraying up against the sides of the van.

  A couple more turns and the van began to slow. I rubbed my legs, trying to get rid of the pins and needles that were creeping into them.

  Calvin brought us to a stop. His door opened and closed. There was a jingle of keys and then a sudden burst of light as he threw open the back to let us out.

  I crawled outside.

  We were at the airport.

  It didn’t look like anything had changed. The whole place was still completely abandoned. Just an empty stretch of tarmac and a little grey terminal building.

  Luke looked up into the sky, as though expecting to see something coming in for a landing.

  Calvin snorted. ‘Idiot boy.’

  He led us across to the terminal building. The window I’d smashed on our last trip out here had been repaired. Typical Phoenix. Everything pristine, even in a place nobody was supposed to see.

  Calvin found the key and unbolted the entrance.

  ‘In you go,’ he said.

  ‘What are you doing to us?’ I said.

  Calvin reached for his gun again. ‘In.’

  ‘You can’t shoot us,’ said Luke shakily, walking through the door. ‘Mr Shackleton said –’

  ‘The situation has changed quite a bit since then, don’t you think?’

  The inside of the building was just the way I remembered it. An empty shell. Everything that wasn’t cemented down cleared out right after the last of us moved here.

  Calvin circled a dusty marble counter, crossing to a door labelled STAFF ONLY.

  He pushed it open, bringing us into what I guessed had been the employees’ staffroom. Small, windowless, and just as empty as the rest of the building.

  No Peter.

  ‘Sit,’ said Calvin, closing the door behind us.

  We sat down against the wall. Calvin put his weapon back into its holster and stood over us, arms folded in front of him.

  ‘A few of my security staff have developed an unfortunate curiosity about you,’ he said. ‘I decided it would be more prudent have this discussion out here.’

  I had a feeling the discussion was going to be a short one. Calvin isn’t what you’d call a master conversationalist.

  ‘Mr Shackleton,’ Calvin continued, ‘is very interested to know the whereabouts of your friend, Peter.’

  What?

  A weird smile crossed his face. Like maybe he knew more than he was letting on.

  Or maybe he was just thinking about hurting us.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ said Luke. ‘Why would we know –?’

  ‘It’d be a terrible shame if the two of you decided to be uncooperative in this matter,’ said Calvin in voice that sounded like he didn’t think it would be terrible at all. ‘It would be all the excuse I needed to finish what should’ve been done two weeks ago.’

  Calvin’s hand crept down towards his gun again, and a terrible thought crossed my mind. What if he’d been the one who’d taken Peter? What if he’d done it without Shackleton’s knowledge?

  We’d seen Calvin walking up to the medical centre yesterday afternoon. If anyone had the resources to sneak Peter out undetected, it was him.

  He’d made no secret about wanting us dead. Maybe this was his chance.

  ‘So,’ said Calvin. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘We don’t know!’ said Luke. ‘How would we?’

  ‘Jordan? Any thoughts?’

  I froze, itchy with sweat, forcing myself to keep looking straight at him.

  ‘Nothing?’ said Calvin. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at Luke’s head. ‘How about now?’

  ‘No!’ said Luke, cowering. ‘No … please …’

  ‘Put it down!’ I said, shifting forward.

  Calvin swung the gun across to me. ‘I really don’t think that’s –’

  He broke off. In the silence, I heard a gentle buzzing. Calvin’s phone.

  He switched his gun to his left hand and reached down to fish it out of his pocket.

  ‘Yes sir, what is it? … Yes, I’m out there already … Thank you, sir … Yes, I’ll question them now … Of course, sir. I’ll let you know.’ Calvin returned the phone to his pocket, looking frustrated.

  Shackleton’s seen that we’re out here, I realised.

  ‘Why are you even bothering with all of this?’ Luke asked. ‘Why can’t Shackleton just find Peter with his computer?’

  Calvin’s smile looked like it was about to return.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Why indeed?’

  He switched the gun back into his right hand. Luke flinched at the movement.

  Calvin crouched down, bringing himself level with us. ‘Last chance,’ he said, the barrel of his gun drifting lazily back and forth between Luke and me. ‘Where is he?’

  I felt myself starting to shake, almost crying again. Not fear, though. It was bigger than fear. Bigger than me getting shot. After all my visions, everything that had happened …

  It couldn’t end like this. It couldn’t.

  This wasn’t what I was here for.

  Calvin began to straighten up, pointing his gun at Luke’s shoe. ‘Maybe just the toes to begin with,’ he said. ‘Something to –’

  No.

  I threw myself at Calvin before he could stand all the way up again. He swore, staggering, gun slipping from his hand. He caught it again, but at least now his finger was off the trigger.

  Both of us still off-balance.

  I found the ground first and threw up my knee, catching him between the legs. He cried out, and w
e both went down. I had one hand clawing at his face and the other frantically trying to pin his wrist to the floor. Calvin’s head smacked into the carpet and my thumb slipped into his mouth. He bit down hard, and I screamed, hand shaking, thumbnail digging into the roof of his mouth, and then –

  Calvin stopped struggling.

  His hands dropped to his sides and he relaxed his jaw, letting my hand free. I tensed, waiting for him to spring up again. His fingers loosened around the gun and I snatched it up, throwing it away across the floor.

  ‘Luke, quick!’ I said. ‘Get his legs. Make sure –’

  I jumped as Calvin made a noise under me. A shallow, gasping breath. I glanced down at his face.

  He was crying.

  Sobbing. Saltwater bucketing down from his eyes. Shoulders shaking with the effort.

  ‘I’m sorry …’ he choked. ‘I’m sorry …’

  I backed off, pushing up slowly from the ground, poised to come down on him in a second if I had to.

  What?

  It was a trick, surely – but why? He’d almost had me.

  Calvin pushed himself up on his hands, scrambling out from under me. He sat there for a moment, wiping his eyes, then slowly stumbled to his feet.

  I leapt up too, hands outstretched, eyes flashing down to the gun on the floor.

  But Calvin seemed to have forgotten about it. He opened his mouth, closed it again, took another heaving breath and turned to the door.

  ‘Should we … do something?’ Luke whispered behind me, as Calvin walked out.

  We followed at a distance, reaching the door just in time to see Calvin step out onto the tarmac. He climbed into the security van, heaved the door shut, and peeled away down the dirt road towards town.

  Chapter 21

  MONDAY, JUNE 22

  52 DAYS

  ‘My place?’ Luke suggested, squeezing through the mass of people outside the front office.

  ‘Probably best,’ I said. ‘I don’t think my parents have quite recovered from Mike’s little visit.’

  I’d walked to school today, so I hung back from the end-of-day crush to the bike racks, waiting for Luke to find his way out again. We were planning to pick through everything we knew about Peter’s disappearance and see if we could work out what Calvin might have done with him.