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by Trish Moran

  She nodded. ‘And the great thing about it is that you don’t look like an absolute freak. Your nose twitches a bit, that’s all.’ She sighed, ‘Even Otis’s owl eyes were less noticeable than mine!’

  ‘Yeah, but you could see so much better than him. Especially when it’s dark,’ Cam pointed out. ‘And, anyway, you get used to them, Zig. I hardly notice now.’

  Zig started to laugh, ‘One, you never saw me normal – or rather one-eyed – and two, we lived in a place known as the Zoo!’

  Cam smiled. ‘Well, I think you’re just brill!’

  ‘Our medical Labs would like to take a close look at both of you over the next few days, to find out how they did this,’ Celia said.

  ‘Can they help me look normal again?’ Zig asked anxiously.

  ‘I’m sure they’ll do all they can to help both of you,’ she smiled.

  ‘And what about the others?’ Zig continued. ‘Can we get them out, too?’

  ‘If they want to come out.’ Cam reminded her that most of them had found their new life a great improvement on their former way of living. He turned back to Celia. ‘Our house was pretty cool, all mod cons. OK, we had to do stupid tests and things to get food, but it did keep us fit. And we all came from the streets. We hadn’t had anything like that before.’

  ‘That still doesn’t give anybody the right to use you like they have done,’ Isaac commented.

  Abel had listened in silence for several minutes. A dark look passed across his face. ‘No one deserves to be kept prisoner and experimented on, then discarded when they are no longer any use. No one – Lab or Non-Lab! We will find a way to free the rest of these people. Reuben is coming over first thing in the morning. He is a Lab who works in a special police department that deals with Lab matters. He may be able to help us get into Bramways discreetly. And Celia, we need to step up our investigations into Independent Lab groups. There may be more centres like these.’

  ‘I can work on that with you, Celia,’ Isaac offered. ‘I’m due a few days leave, so we can start straight away.’

  ‘It’s two o’clock. Let’s get some sleep now,’ Ruby suggested. ‘Zig, your old room is still there for you, and perhaps Cam could sleep on the sofa for tonight? Your roommates are away at the moment, in London, so you won’t be disturbing anyone. You must both be exhausted.’

  Zig opened her eyes the next morning to find Cam standing beside the bed with a cup of tea. She smiled.

  ‘We’re really free! It wasn’t a dream!’

  ‘Ruby phoned. She asked us to go to her house for breakfast.’

  ‘I’ll be ready in a minute,’ she replied.

  Soon they were seated in Ruby’s kitchen. Ness and Zac were delighted to see Zig again and soon warmed to Cam.

  ‘Where have you been, Zig? Why are you wearing sunglasses?’ Ness asked her. ‘Can we help you work in the garden this morning?’

  Ruby smiled. ‘Zig and Cam will be busy today.’ ‘There’ll be other days,’ Zig told her. She frowned. ‘Unless Bailey has found someone else to do my job?’ Ruby shook her head. ‘None of us gave up on you, despite Angus’s message. He’s disappeared, by the way. Celia phoned Adam just after you went to bed. Angus’s room was empty. He packed a bag and left some time in the night.’

  ‘Did Adam know about Bramways?’ Zig asked her. ‘If he did, he’s not admitting anything. Celia said he sounded really angry to find Angus had gone.’

  ‘Has Abel any plans to get the others out?’ Zig continued.

  ‘He’s heading out there now with Reuben.’ Ruby looked at both of them. ‘If you’re feeling up to it, some of the Compound Lab medical researchers would like to speak to you this morning.’

  Zig glanced at Cam and said, ‘That would be fine. I hope they can do something about my eyes!’ The two children had left the room and could be heard playing in the lounge. With trembling hands she took off her sunglasses and watched as Ruby took a deep breath. ‘Pretty scary, hey?’

  Ruby stood up and wiped a tear from Zig’s cheek. ‘Hey, you’re back with us, you’re safe! That’s what matters. And … they’re not that bad, really …’

  ‘They’ll all get used to them!’ Cam nodded in agreement as he ate another piece of toast.

  ‘I’ll keep these sunglasses on. Can I phone Ginny, Ruby? I know she won’t be here until Monday, but I’d like to let her know I’m back. I worried about you and Ginny most of all when I was at Bramways.’

  Ruby nodded and hugged her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  ‘Well, your eyes are functioning perfectly. It’s amazing! The things you can see, even in almost total darkness,’ Dr Schultz exclaimed.

  ‘Yeah! I really enjoy being able to see so well, especially after managing on one normal eye for so long,’ Zig agreed. ‘But I hate looking like a freak. Even when I had an eye patch I didn’t look like such a monster.’

  Dr Schultz patted her shoulder. ‘Don’t worry. My colleague Dr Nazir, whom you saw earlier, and his team have come up with the perfect solution. Contact lenses!’

  ‘But contact lenses will only cover half of my eyes. The white parts of my eyes hardly show anymore.’ She frowned into the mirror.

  ‘He has taken that into account. These will be a special kind of contact lenses. I’m sure he can explain it better than I can.’

  Dr Nazir came into the room and opened a laptop on the desk in front of them. A 3D image appeared on the screen.

  ‘This is what I have planned, Zig. We’ll make you some special contact lenses, a bit like the coloured contacts you can find today, but larger, so that they cover more of the front surface of your eyes. They’ll be coloured to represent the white, iris, and pupil. You can choose your iris colour.’

  ‘And I’ll look normal!’ Zig cried. ‘Will I be able to see through them easily?’

  ‘Yes, though maybe not as clearly as you can without them. You won’t be able to wear them all the time, though, as their size may mean they may cause some discomfort, so your eyes will need a rest quite frequently.’

  ‘When will they be ready?’

  ‘In two days’ time. We hope you’ll let us continue to study your eyes, Zig. If we can understand how they performed this transplant successfully, we may be able to use their ideas to help other people with sight difficulties,’ Dr Shultz added. ‘It will mean X-rays, further tests …’

  ‘Operations?’ Zig looked worried.

  ‘No operations!’ Dr Schultz smiled.

  ‘OK then.’

  ‘If you could just turn once more to the left, Cam, and hold still,’ said Lu Win, a young Lab, ‘we’re nearly finished. Two more images and we’ll be there.’

  ‘Then we can have a snack break, you said,’ Cam reminded her.

  ‘Certainly!’ she smiled. ‘Our third snack break. Where do you put it all?’

  ‘It’s just so good not having to play for it. I was such a loser with this wonky nose.’ Cam grinned as he sat down with a plate of sandwiches.

  ‘Well, while you get your strength back, I’ll upload these images and we can take a closer look at how your nose works,’ Lu Win said.

  As she left the room, Zig appeared and sat down with him.

  ‘You OK?’ she asked.

  ‘Mmm!’ Cam mumbled through a mouthful of food.

  ‘I’m getting some special contacts to make me look normal,’ she smiled.

  ‘That’s great, Zig!’ Cam said.

  ‘I’ll be glad when they’ve finished all this medical stuff, won’t you?’ she continued.

  ‘No, I’m fine. I trust these guys here, way more than Takir and his friends,’ Cam said. ‘You were right: the people here at the Compound are great, Labs and Non-Labs.’

  Lu Win reappeared in the doorway and turned to the laptop on the desk.

  ‘Hi, Zig, are they finished with you for today? We’re nearly finished here, too, Cam. I’ve uploaded the images and we think we know what the problem is. If you take a look at these first three pictures it shows that the implan
ted organ just here at the top of your nasal passages actually moves slightly, only up to two millimetres, but that is what causes you to lose your sense of smell at times. Then in the next two images it moves back again. Your slightest movement, even the level of your breathing, can affect it.’

  ‘So that’s why I couldn’t really smell anything much when we were running?’ Cam said.

  ‘Yes, that’s very likely.’

  ‘Why does it move?’ Zig asked.

  Lu Win shrugged. ‘We think that the organ chosen is actually too small for your nasal cavity.’

  ‘But Brit never had any trouble,’ Cam pointed out.

  ‘Is she of a smaller build than you?’

  Cam thought. ‘Yes, she is quite small.’

  ‘So what next?’ Zig asked.

  ‘We can solve the problem by removing the implant, which would present a risk factor due to the way it has been inserted, or we could strengthen the tissue holding the implanted organ in place.’

  ‘Would you have to operate?’ Zig raised her eyebrows.

  ‘Yes, but we can perform keyhole surgery for the second option. What would you prefer, Cam?’ Lu Win looked at him.

  He frowned. ‘I’m happy to keep the enhancement, especially if it works all the time.’

  ‘Then Dr Schultz, the team and I can go ahead with the operation the day after tomorrow, if that’s OK?’ Lu Win said.

  ‘That’s great!’ he replied.

  Zig and Cam were making their way back to Ruby’s house when they met Abel. He stopped, shaking his head.

  ‘I don’t know how they managed things so quickly, but the place was virtually empty except for a few maintenance workers.’

  ‘No sign of Angus or Takir or any of our friends?’ Zig sounded astonished.

  ‘Nothing at all. A Non-Lab security guard let us in and showed us around an empty building that was supposedly being renovated. He told us that it is due to open as a state of the art care home later this year. There was a partly furnished medical room, but the wing you described where you stayed was completely empty. A team of Non-Lab workers were fitting new carpets and hanging new curtains. There was no sign that anyone had lived there. Everything seemed brand new.’

  ‘How could they have packed up and got out so quickly?’ Cam asked.

  ‘How can we find them?’ Zig added.

  Abel spread his hands. ‘Come to our house this evening. I have asked a few other people who are interested. We can discuss things then.’

  Just then there was a loud shout.

  ‘Zig! Zig!’

  Ginny came racing down the path and flung herself into the older girl’s arms.

  ‘Hey!’ Zig hugged her tightly, ‘I didn’t think I’d get to see you until Monday!’

  ‘I made Daddy bring me here today!’ Ginny squeezed her face against Zig’s. ‘I knew you would come back! I told everyone! Mummy said you wouldn’t – that you were a fly-by-night. But she wouldn’t tell me what one was. And Daddy said it was for the best. What’s the best about losing your friend? I told them you would come back! And you did!’

  ‘I missed you, Ginny!’ Zig smiled.

  ‘I missed you, too!’ she replied, ‘Hey, you’ve got two eyes now! But why are you wearing sunglasses?’ Ginny continued, ‘and who is he, why is his nose twitching?’

  Zig introduced her to Cam and told her he sometimes had trouble with his nose and that she still had trouble with her new eye and needed to wear the sunglasses for a while.

  ‘So you got a new eye and he got a new nose? Wow! I bet it was a Lab doctor, wasn’t it?’ Ginny looked at Cam. ‘Aren’t Labs great? But lots of Non-Labs are great, too!’

  Zig laughed, ‘You’re still a chatterbox, aren’t you, Ginny? I want to know all your news. What have you been doing this last month? Let’s see if Ness and Zac want to join us, then we can all go down to the play area.’

  Soon they were heading for the park where they met other young children living in the Compound. Zig pushed the youngsters on the swings and watched as Cam kicked a ball around with the older ones. Ginny stood beside her most of the time, frequently reminding the others that she had always known Zig would be back.

  Adam appeared, ready to take her home as dusk started to fall.

  He glared at Zig. ‘I hear you’ve been involved in research with Angus and some of his old friends.’

  ‘Reluctantly!’

  ‘Where is he now?’

  ‘I don’t know; but I do know I’m going to find him!’ Zig jutted out her chin.

  ‘Or maybe you already know and you both have some other plan up your sleeve?’

  ‘Don’t think I wanted anything to do with their weird experiments!’ Zig sprang up to face him.

  ‘Daddy! Zig!’ Ginny looked at them with a worried expression.

  ‘Hey,’ Cam walked up to them, and put his arm around Zig. ‘Hey! Calm down. Come on, it’s about time we got these kids home, anyway.’

  Adam scowled over his daughter’s head as she hugged Zig.

  ‘You’re not going to go away again, are you, Zig?’ Ginny asked anxiously.

  Zig kissed her forehead. ‘No, Gin. I’m not going anywhere. See you tomorrow.’

  Ruby smiled and invited them both for a meal when they dropped the children off.

  ‘Abel has invited a few people over later,’ she told them.

  ‘I’m not really hungry at the moment,’ Zig replied. ‘I think I’ll take a walk around the Compound for half an hour.’

  Lights flickered on as she walked past the groups of houses. A mother called her son to get ready for bed; a teenager stood on a balcony laughing and chatting on a mobile phone.

  Zig wondered where the others from the Zoo could be. Were they safe? Had their escape put the others in danger?

  She found herself near the garden area. It was quiet there; everyone had left for the day. The gate creaked as she pushed it open. Glancing around her, she slipped off her sunglasses and bent down to look closely at the first group of plants. The scent of the ripening tomatoes filled her nostrils. She fingered the downy leaves and idly began pulling weeds out from between the plants; tying up a loose stake here and there. She was so engrossed in her work that it was a moment before she became aware of people close by. Celia, Isaac, Bailey and another young man stood there.

  ‘Zig! Bailey said he was sure you’d be here!’ Celia said.

  ‘We were worried – you’ve been gone for nearly two hours. I had an idea that you might be here, but it’s so dark, how can you …’ Bailey’s voice faltered as a beam of torchlight caught her eyes. Zig saw the look of astonishment on all the faces looking at her.

  Fumbling in her pocket, Zig quickly pushed her sunglasses onto her face.

  ‘I know … I look like a monster!’

  Isaac quickly stepped forward. ‘No, Zig, it … it just took us by surprise, that’s all.’ He pushed the sunglasses up and gently touched her cheek. ‘You’ll never be a monster!’

  ‘You can see in the dark?’ Celia said.

  ‘Yes, as long as it’s not pitch black. I’ve cat’s eyes. Wildcat.’ Zig gave a shy smile.

  ‘Wildcat?’ the young man whistled.

  ‘This is Keith,’ Celia said.

  Keith held out his hand and shook Zig’s. ‘Pleased to meet you. Your eyes are pretty amazing.’

  ‘Yeah, OK, for a comic book hero maybe. I can’t wait for the Labs in the Medical Centre to fit me out with some new contact lenses!’ Zig replied.

  Bailey walked forward, shining his torch around the vegetable bed. ‘You’ve been busy. We’ve been meaning to weed and sort out the tomatoes for weeks.’

  He gave her a hug. ‘We’ve really missed you, Zig!’

  Another sound made them all turn around as Cam appeared, his nose twitching, ‘I followed your scent as soon as I felt my nose was working again!’ He stopped. ‘Damn, it’s gone again. I can’t smell anything. It’s so frustrating. I can’t wait until I get it fixed!’ He looked around at the others and
smiled, ‘I told you, everyone would soon get used to your eyes, Zig.’

  Isaac hooked her arm through his, ‘that’s right, Cam. She’s still our Zig. And what about you? What’s special about your nose?’

  ‘Inside it’s bloodhound, but it’s not really working properly at the moment. The medical guys here said they can fix me up.’ Cam explained as they walked back to Ruby’s house.

  Abel sighed as he finished describing his visit to Bramways, ‘You left everyone there less than twelve hours before we got there, yet there was no trace of them. Nothing at all!’

  ‘How did they do it?’ Isaac asked. ‘How could they cover their tracks so quickly without leaving a trace?’

  ‘They must have left some kind of traces,’ Zig ventured. ‘If I went back with you, maybe I could spot something. My eyes could come in useful.’

  ‘Wait until I get my nose fixed, then between us we’d be sure to find something,’ Cam said eagerly.

  ‘That could actually be our best bet,’ Isaac nodded.

  ‘The sooner we go the better!’ Zig added. ‘I hope nothing has happened to any of our friends.’

  ‘Abel has given me a list of all cars and registration numbers at Bramways today. I’ll do a search on them and see if I can find out their owners,’ Celia said.

  ‘I’ll help you with that, Celia. I could check up on the addresses you come up with,’ Isaac offered.

  ‘I’d like to help, too,’ Keith said. ‘Any way I can.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  ‘I’ll meet you when school finishes this afternoon, if my eyes are OK,’ Zig promised Ginny two days later. ‘I feel a bit silly wearing these sunglasses all the time.’

  ‘OK. I hope they can fix your eyes today!’ Ginny hugged her and jumped up.

  Zig watched her as she ran down the path, then turned to Ruby. ‘My new contacts should be ready today. I can’t wait to get them on and look normal again.’

  Ruby smiled and hugged Zig. ‘We don’t mind what you look like, but it will be easier for you, Zig. Here’s Cam, are you ready to go?’

  ‘I’ve been ready since five o’clock this morning!’ Cam said as they stepped outside.