“I can’t wait to hear this one,” I wheeze skeptically.
“It’s simple enough. They can only make you fight if you have an incentive. Take me out of the equation and they’re screwed.”
“Yeah, but how am I gonna do that?” I frown. “Dan-Dan won’t let you leave this cage until…”
I stumble to a halt. I see now what he’s asking. I was never as sharp as Vinyl, but I’m no dummy either.
“Don’t think about it,” Vinyl snaps before I can argue. “You know it’s the only way. Hurry up and do it before they spot the danger and separate us.”
“Vinyl…” I croak.
“I know,” he sighs.
He’s right, of course. It won’t be much of a victory, but the alternative is letting him be torn apart by a pack of undead strangers. I’ve watched people succumb to zombie attacks. It’s dreadful, the fear they experience, the haunted look in their eyes as their skulls are cracked open, knowing what’s to come, that their bodies will be violated even in death.
I step up next to Vinyl. He stands to attention, holding his chin high, eyes set straight ahead.
“You’re sure?” I ask him.
“Yeah,” he grunts.
“Any last words?”
“See you in Heaven.”
I smother a snort. “You really think they’d let me in?”
“I’m sure of it,” he says softly, then smiles. “After all, you’re an Angel.”
“And you’re an arsehole,” I snicker.
“Takes one to know one,” Vinyl laughs. Then he steels himself. “Do it now before I lose my nerve.”
I reach out towards him.
“Hey,” Vicky Wedge says. “What’s going on in there? Daniel, stop them! She’s going to–”
But before Dan-Dan or anyone else can interfere, I grab hold of Vinyl’s head and whip it savagely to one side, snapping his neck, killing him on the spot. Then I bite into his skull and rip through his brain with my fingers, making sure I finish him off completely and set him free.
FIFTEEN
“No!” Dan-Dan howls, his face reddening with rage. “She can’t do that! Stop her!”
“I think it’s too late, Daniel,” Owl Man chuckles.
“Bring him back,” Dan-Dan shouts. “Turn him into a zombie.”
“You need brains to become a zombie,” I sneer, flicking bits of Vinyl’s gray matter in Dan-Dan’s direction. “But if you want to come in and check if I’ve left enough of his brain intact, be my guest.”
Dan-Dan’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. He starts forward and I think he’s actually going to be dumb enough to enter the cage. Then reality kicks in and he draws to a halt. Jaw trembling, he thinks for a moment, then barks at my dad. “Smith! Go in there and see if there’s any hope.”
Dad nods obediently, opens the door of the cage and enters. He hurries across, barely glancing at me, focused on Vinyl. He passes close by. I could reach out and gently scratch his cheek, or tackle him and snap his neck. But I don’t. For all his flaws, as I’ve noted bitterly many times before, he’s still my dad and I love him.
Dad stares into the hole in Vinyl’s skull. Then he steps back and shakes his head.
“Damn.” Dan-Dan actually stamps his foot like a pantomime villain. “What sort of a hellish demon did you raise? He was her best friend, yet she killed him as if he meant nothing to her.”
“It was because of her feelings for him that she removed him from your grasp,” Owl Man answers. “You pushed her too far, Daniel. If you had given them even a glimmer of hope, she would have carried on. But they knew they were doomed. She had nothing to fight for, and the boy obviously preferred to die at a friend’s hand.”
“It’s easy to be wise after the fact,” Dan-Dan huffs, shooting me an evil look.
Dad hasn’t moved. He clears his throat and addresses his foul master. “If you want to chain me up in her dead friend’s place, Lord Wood, I won’t resist.”
Dan-Dan blinks, taken aback by the offer. “Why are these cretins so ready to sacrifice themselves?” he growls.
Justin is laughing. “You never were very good at understanding the mentality of the common folk.”
“There’s nothing common about that family and their cohorts,” Dan-Dan spits. He stares at me, weighing up his options, makes a face. “No, Todd, your offer is appreciated, but the game has been spoiled. Besides, I’m not sure she would fight as valiantly for you as she fought for her boyfriend.”
“I want to see more,” Vicky Wedge pouts.
“Then find your own thinking zombie to dance for you!” Dan-Dan screams. She cringes and falls silent. He looks at me again, like a petulant, overgrown child. I flick him the finger and he bares his teeth. “You think you’ve got the best of me, don’t you?”
“No,” I mutter. “But I got under your skin for a minute and I spared Vinyl any more of your torment. That’s enough for me. I don’t care what you do to me now. Torture away to your heart’s content.”
Dan-Dan sighs, the rage draining from him as swiftly as it formed. “No. I don’t have the heart for it now. You,” he nods at Rage, who has been watching with a wry smile. “Go in there and subdue her. Kill her father first, just in case that hits her where it hurts. Then finish her off.”
“Do you want me to make it slow?” Rage asks, cracking his knuckles.
“I couldn’t care less.” Dan-Dan yawns irritably and casts his gaze over his retinue of children, gathered in a cluster behind him. “I’m going to retire with my darlings when this is over, spend a week or two shut off from the world, with only my little cherubs for company. I feel terribly tired all of a sudden. I need to recharge my batteries.”
Owl Man calls to Dan-Dan as Rage steps through the open door of the cage. “I’ll ask you again, Daniel. Don’t do this. Give her to me. There is more to the girl than you ever imagined. You should stop treating her as a plaything.”
“I’m through treating her as anything,” Dan-Dan says. “Bored now. I’ll hang around until the other zombie pulps her brain, then I’ll be glad to be rid of her.”
“And if she overcomes your latest foot soldier?” Owl Man asks.
“She won’t,” Dan-Dan sniffs. “She’s through. This isn’t a contest, just housecleaning.”
I turn to Dad, who looks far calmer than I thought he would. “This is what you get for taking the side of creeps like Daniel Wood,” I tell him.
Dad shrugs. “I’m sorry about Vinyl. I know you liked him. He would have been a good kid if–”
“What?” I snap. “If he’d been white?”
Dad smiles thinly. “It’s too late for me to change my ways. I know you never saw eye to eye with me on this. If we’d had a few more years, maybe I could have convinced you, but that’s the way it goes. I’ve no hard feelings, B. Regardless of our differences, I always loved you.”
“Yeah, well, you had a funny way of showing it,” I whisper.
“Come on,” Rage booms, taking up position in the center of the cage. “Let’s get it on.” He beckons me forward.
“You gonna fight for me?” Dad asks.
It’s my turn to shrug. “I suppose. You’re not really worth the effort, but Mum would want me to.”
“You don’t have to,” he says. “We can blow this joint together, ruin their plans the way Vinyl did.” As I stare at him uncertainly, he carefully reveals the top of the grenade that he showed me before. “This is how I’ll choose to go if that guy gets the better of you. I don’t mind doing it now, with you by my side, if you’ve had enough.”
I gaze at the grenade, imagining the moment of explosion, one short flash, one decimating blast, then lights out. The escape I’ve been longing for.
But when did I ever take the easy option? I feel like I’d be letting down the team if I rolled over now. I’ve defied the odds plenty of times before. Maybe Rage will slip and crack his head open, or he might spontaneously combust. Perhaps I’ll find one last spark of energy and expose a weak point. Massive
ly unlikely, but if there’s a fight to be fought, I’m compelled every time to stand my ground and face it. I’m a sucker for lost causes.
“Wait a bit,” I sigh. “They might let you live once I’ve been dealt with. Don’t be in a rush to blow yourself up.”
I turn my back on Dad and start towards Rage.
“B,” Dad stops me, and winks when I look back. “Give ’em hell, girl.”
“I’ll do my best,” I grin weakly, and advance.
Rage is waiting for me, smiling wickedly, thumping his right fist into his left palm.
“I would have dreamed of this moment if I’d been able to sleep,” he says. “I’ve known it was coming since we first met. No,” he corrects himself. “Not since the very beginning but early on. There was something about you. The others were fodder but you… I knew we’d have it out with each other further down the line.”
“You should have killed me in the underground complex when you had the chance,” I growl.
“And miss out on all the fun times we’ve enjoyed?” he hoots. “You’ve been a joy to spar with. I’m just sorry it has to end so soon. I was hoping to lock horns with you for years to come. As they say in those old spy films, you were a worthy adversary.”
“Will you tell me something before you kill me?” I ask.
“Depends what it is,” he smirks.
“Remember what the Board suggested when they brought us here?” I whisper. “That Dr. Oystein might have sent you in as a spy, that he told you to kill Pearse and Conall to make it look like you were on Dan-Dan’s side? Any truth to that?”
Rage stares at me coldly. “Why do you care?”
“I used to hate you,” I tell him. “Then I grew to respect you. If you really are a heartless bastard, I’ll be mad at myself for buying your act and letting myself start to trust you. But if you’re secretly still on Dr. Oystein’s side, it’ll give me hope that this poxy crew of power-hungry maniacs can be brought down, and I won’t go to Hell cursing your name.”
“I don’t care about a few curses,” Rage says.
“Come on,” I urge him. “Nobody can hear. I won’t give you away. Level with me.”
I don’t know why it matters. Maybe I’d grown to like Rage more than I ever acknowledged. Maybe I need to believe that goodness exists in the least likely of places, that not everyone is rotten to the core, even those who most appear to be.
Rage holds my gaze for a few solemn moments, then sighs and shakes his head. “I must be getting soft, because I’m tempted to lie and tell you what you want to hear. But no, I’m not here on Dr. Oystein’s business. He didn’t tell me to kill Pearse and Conall.”
I nod miserably. “I figured as much but I had to ask.”
“But if it’s any consolation,” Rage adds, “I didn’t switch sides randomly. I had a good reason for cutting my ties with the doc.”
“Care to elaborate?” I ask.
He smiles icily. “No. All I’ll say is that you should have paid more attention when your mate, Billy Burke, staggered into County Hall with all guns blazing.”
“What does Burke have to do with this?” I frown.
“He discovered the truth of the old cliché,” Rage says. “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. That night when we were bringing Dan-Dan back, when I left you to go off on my own, I returned to Brick Lane, to get to the bottom of the matter. I like to know things. I found out that–”
“What are you waiting for?” Dan-Dan shouts. “Are you trying to bore her to death?”
Rage laughs. “My master’s voice. Sorry, Becky, but my big revelation will have to wait. A pity, as it was a real killer. I wish I could have shared it with you. I think you’d have seen the bitterly funny side, like I did. Or maybe it would have driven you demented, like Burke. I’ll try to tell you if you’re still conscious after I’ve disabled you, before I rip your brain out of your head.”
“Come and get me, big guy,” I snarl, and step forward into range, ready for the final fight of my life.
A guard on one of the roofs yells a warning through a megaphone before Rage can throw the first blow. “Zombies! Coming out of the river!”
“Zombies!” a guard on a different roof echoes.
Soon guards everywhere are bleating, “Zombies! Hundreds of them!”
“Thousands!”
“They have us surrounded!”
“Calm down,” Justin roars as panic sets in. He grabs a megaphone from one of his people and addresses the guards on watch. “Are the sirens working?”
There’s a short delay, then the answer comes back—the sirens are functioning as normal.
“Are the zombies pressing forward past the outer ring of speakers anywhere?” Justin asks.
That’s a negative. No zombie has breached the invisible, high-pitched barrier.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about,” Justin says smugly. “I don’t know why the beasts have gathered, but they can’t harm us. We’ll deal with them later. Now let’s return to more pressing business.” He turns his attention back to Rage and me.
“Wait,” a soldier yells. “It’s not just zombies. There are mutants too.”
“Where?” Justin roars, losing his composure.
“Over here. A few dozen of them.”
“Anywhere else?” Justin bellows.
The other guards start reporting that there are mutants mixed in with the zombies on all sides. Justin looks uneasy now. Everyone does.
“What’s happening?” Vicky Wedge squeals.
“Shut up,” Justin snaps, turning to Owl Man. “Zachary? Do you know what the mutants are doing here?”
Owl Man shakes his head calmly. “I have an idea but nothing more.”
“Then share it with us,” Justin thunders.
Owl Man smiles and starts to respond, but is interrupted by a guard on one of the walls. “The mutants are unfurling a banner. It’s some sort of drawing.”
“Here too,” another calls.
“Here.”
“And here.”
“Tell me what you see,” Justin yells when the guards fall silent.
“Not much yet,” one of them answers. “They’re still unfurling it. It’s big, takes several of them to handle it. Wait… it’s coming into focus… it’s a drawing of somebody’s face.”
“Mr. Dowling’s, I bet,” Dan-Dan mutters nervously.
“Is it a clown?” Justin hollers.
“No,” the guard replies. “It’s a normal person. It’s a…” He falls silent again.
“What is it?” Justin practically screams.
“It’s a girl’s face,” the guard shouts back at him. Then, as everyone gapes, he points a finger at me and croaks, “It’s her.”
SIXTEEN
Justin and Dan-Dan dash to the top of the nearest wall to check on what the soldiers have reported. A nervous hush has descended. Most of the soldiers and Klanners in the yard are ascending to view the undead threat for themselves, but they climb silently. My sense of hearing doesn’t work quite so well since Dan-Dan sliced off my ears, but my nostrils are fine (he must have been saving them for the next round) and the smell of sweat is strong and sweet in the air.
Vicky Wedge and Coley remain down below, close to the cage, under orders from Justin to keep an eye on me. Josh has followed the others to the higher levels, but Owl Man has stayed behind. He’s tickling Sakarias, not bothering to hide a smug little smile.
“Any idea what’s going on?” Rage asks.
“No,” I reply.
“Why the hell would a pack of mutants be carrying banners with your ugly mug on them?” he presses.
“Maybe I turn them on.”
He laughs. “Looks like I won’t be killing you just yet.”
“Why not?” I sniff. “There’s no reason to let this get in the way. I’m still up for a scrap if you are.”
“And risk the wrath of Justin Bazini? Nuh-uh. I won’t touch a hair on your head until I’ve been given the word.” Rage takes a closer l
ook at my scalp and frowns. “Not that there are any hairs left to touch.”
I almost ask him if I look as bad as I feel, but I know the answer, so I don’t bother. Instead I ask Dad if anything like this has happened before.
“No,” he says. “There have been plenty of attacks by individuals, and small groups of zombies so hungry or deranged that they’ve pushed through the pain or deafened themselves. But we’ve never seen mutants.”
“You don’t look too worried,” I note.
He scratches the back of his neck. “It’s odd but I’m not. I’d accepted that it was my time to die. I was sure when I came in that this cage would serve as my tomb. The commotion doesn’t bother me as much as it would have earlier.”
We wait in silence until an edgy Dan-Dan returns and shouts at Coley to shackle me and take me up top. He’s huffing and puffing. I think about taunting him, but decide to save it until I know for sure what’s going down.
As I’m led out of the cage by a nervous Coley, arms bound behind my back, Owl Man heads off across the courtyard, clicking his tongue at Sakarias to follow.
“Where are you going?” Dan-Dan snaps.
“My laboratory,” Owl Man says.
“Now?” Dan-Dan is astonished.
“There are bits and pieces which I wish to gather up.”
“Why? Are you thinking of going somewhere?”
“If the eviction notice that I’m expecting is served, then yes.”
“Zachary,” Dan-Dan stops him. “You know what’s happening, don’t you?”
“As I said, I have an idea.” Owl Man stares at Dan-Dan coldly. “Last chance. Give her to me, Daniel. Place your trust in me and it will be repaid. If you ignore my offer, I won’t be able to help you.”
Dan-Dan gulps, looking from Owl Man to me and back again. “I can’t,” he wheezes. “Justin has called for her.”
“Will you take his side over mine?” Owl Man purrs.
Dan-Dan hesitates, then scowls and recovers his arrogance. “Always,” he yaps. “You’re nothing but a meddling scientist. We hold the true reins of power here and you would do well to remember that.”
“Of course, my lord,” Owl Man chuckles, bowing sarcastically. Straightening, he sets his gaze on Rage. “I’d like to take that one with me, to help me move some of my equipment. Have you any objections?”