This Rage of Echoes

‘Just around the corner. We didn’t want to attract attention.’

  ‘You’ve got attention now,’ Eve shouted.

  I nodded. ‘Five hundred Echomen are going to tear along this path any minute.’ Then I noticed the way Eve looked at Paddy then me as she ran. ‘It’s OK, Eve. This is Paddy. He knows about the Echomen. He’s killed plenty of them, too.’

  Paddy had one of the sports bags as well. Even though I couldn’t see the weapon I knew there’d be one inside. Instead of going for the gun, however, he tossed me a bunch of keys. ‘Bring the truck up to your house. I’ll get the others.’

  ‘Make sure you bring Madeline,’ I told him.

  This earned a strange look from Paddy. ‘You do know what she is, Mason?’

  ‘We’ll talk later. Those bastards are going to be here any second now.’

  Paddy darted back to our house. Eve followed me to the truck at a breathless run. Even so, she managed to pant out questions. ‘You knew about these things all along. Why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘Echomen aren’t easy to explain.’

  ‘Mason? It cost the life of our mother!’

  ‘I didn’t know they’d follow me home. I thought I’d shaken them off.’

  ‘You should have warned us!’

  ‘Get in the truck! They’re here!’

  Still glaring at me in fury she scrambled into the passenger seat. ‘Mason—’

  ‘Not now!’

  I started the motor, slammed home the gears. Soon I had the machine roaring up the street to the front of our house. By this time Echomen streamed along the path from the woods into the suburbs. Not only were they an invading army they all wore the same face. Mine.

  ‘Why aren’t they attacking us?’ Eve asked. ‘What are they doing?’

  I watched them running into the gardens of other houses in the street.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Eve whispered, ‘they’re going after our neighbours.’ Then her voice rose into a yell. ‘And it’s all your fault, Mason! You brought them here!’

  Paddy, Ruth, Dianna, Ulric and Madeline sped up the driveway then piled into the back of the truck.

  Eve turned on them. ‘Are you fucking cowards, or something?’

  Ulric fired the order: ‘Mason, drive.’

  Eve couldn’t believe what she’d heard. ‘You’ve got guns. I saw them. Stop them attacking our neighbours – kill them!’

  In that frigid Nordic way Ulric stated, ‘There are too many of them. They’ll kill us, too.’

  So I drove. I hated myself. I hated Ulric. But what else could I do? The hundreds of Echomen would overwhelm us in seconds, even with our machine-guns. So, yes, I drove. As I drove I saw monsters that wore copies of my face drag innocent people I’d known for years into their houses – what they’d do to them indoors was a question I didn’t want answering.

  Dianna peered through the windows in the rear doors as I quit the suburbs in a swirl of exhaust fumes. ‘We used to think Echomen were stupid because they were so easy to kill. Now they’re changing. They’ve upped their game.’

  Ahead of me, a figure stood at the side of the road. When so many people look like you how do you tell them apart? Most I couldn’t. This one was different. Even though he smiled at me I saw the wound in his cheek. The one I’d made when I punched the belt buckle pin through his flesh. It still oozed a sticky, green pus down his jaw; not that it appeared to pain him at all. I slowed down in preparation to crushing the monster with the truck.

  In that monotone Ulric said, ‘Keep driving, Mason. Ignore him.’

  ‘That’s the one who killed our mother. Shoot the bastard or I’ll ram this heap of shit right into him.’

  Paddy gripped my shoulder. ‘We can’t do anything to draw attention to us.’

  ‘Jesus Christ, Paddy. Five hundred copies of me have just slaughtered an entire neighbourhood. Don’t you think I’ve got myself well and truly noticed?’

  ‘It’s going to take time for the police to act. We’ve got to put distance between that back there and us.’

  ‘You are cowards,’ Eve hissed. ‘If you’d killed some of them they might have backed off.’ When nobody replied, Eve turned on Madeline in the back of the truck. ‘You enjoyed watching innocent men, women and children being slaughtered, didn’t you?’ She tried to strike her but Madeline sat too far away. ‘I said you enjoyed it, didn’t you, you fucking bitch?’

  ‘Hey, Eve!’ I shouted.

  As Eve sat with her face buried in her hands I drove past the monster who wore my face on the front of his skull. As he smiled he gave me a casual salute. And all I could do was drive on.

  A moment later Ruth leaned forward. ‘Mason. I’m sorry. But this situation has got bigger and more dangerous.’

  I grunted. ‘Tell me about it.’

  ‘We aren’t beaten yet, though. The world out there, even though they don’t know what’s happening, are depending on us to save them.’

  ‘Our army numbers all of seven. That doesn’t amount to much, Ruth.’

  ‘Six,’ Eve snapped. ‘Madeline doesn’t count.’

  There was a beat then Ruth added, ‘That’s why it’s important we stay in one piece. But there are more of us. We’re going to take you to meet someone who has been fighting Echomen for longer than we have. She knows what we have to do.’

  After that the only talk was Ruth giving me route directions. Pretty soon we were out of Tanshelf, driving north into open countryside toward where they’d hidden the RV.

  Paddy certainly can pick his times. He must have been thinking about this until he couldn’t take the internal pressure any more. ‘Mason,’ he said in a low voice. ‘You and Madeline. What’s the story?’

  chapter 28

  Eve answered for me, not that I wanted her to, not in a million years, because she announced, ‘Mason and Madeline were locked in the same cell together. They became very close. Isn’t that right, Mason?’

  I cast a glare back at my sister.

  She continued in light-hearted tones even though she was sinking blades into my back. ‘They formed a bond. They’re inseparable now. Although you’ve seen what she is, haven’t you?’

  I growled, ‘Eve.’

  Madeline folded her arms across her chest, a posture of defensiveness. Even though she didn’t speak her dark eyes flitted from face to face, especially to Eve.

  And speaking of sister, dear sister, she went on, ‘I repeat, you’ve all seen what she is, haven’t you? Madeline is a female version of my brother.’ She ruffled my hair like I was five. ‘See those jeans and the T-shirt the monster’s wearing? Mason gave her those. She’s probably even wearing his underwear.’

  ‘Eve, that’s enough!’

  Even Ruth was stunned – the same Ruth who took bloodshed in her stride with a smile on her face. ‘Dear God, Mason, is that true?’

  ‘No! Well, yes … it’s true about the clothes.’

  ‘Hell, Mason. What were you thinking?’

  ‘But it’s not true about the underwear.’

  Paddy whistled. ‘Commando?’

  ‘Look, there’s nothing between us …’ I realized this sounded all wrong – worse, they were making their own assumptions about Madeline and me. ‘If you give me chance to explain—’

  ‘Hey, Mason.’ Paddy laughed but he wasn’t amused. ‘Do you want me to explain the meaning of incest?’

  ‘It’s not even fucking incest,’ Eve snapped. ‘It’s narcissism taken to the ultimate. What my brother is doing is loving himself.’

  ‘Listen,’ I began, ‘it’s not—’

  Ulric rode over me. ‘That is evil.’

  ‘It’s not bloody natural,’ Paddy added. ‘If you want to get all romantic with yourself there’s good old-fashioned masturbation, you know? That’s cool; everyone does it. Schoolteachers, cops, judges, pastors, chefs, presidents, even the dentist who puts his fingers in your mouth – we all choke the monkey now and again.’

  Dianna eyed Madeline. ‘We could just push her out through the back d
oors.’

  ‘Hey! Listen to me!’ Before anyone could interrupt this time, I jerked the steering wheel causing the truck to lurch; my human cargo bounced off the vehicle’s walls. ‘Now you hear what I’ve got to say. Yes, I gave Madeline my clothes because those bastards shoved her into my jail cell naked. I did consider giving her clothes that belonged to my mother or my sister, but Eve would have exploded at that. So I believed I was being considerate of my sister’s feelings.’ My voice softened, ‘Especially as she’s gone through hell recently. Another thing. Madeline isn’t like the other Echomen. She doesn’t harbour malicious intentions toward us. She also saved Eve’s life.’

  This seemed to settle my passengers down because they didn’t say a word for a while; they were thinking about what I’d said. This seemed a good moment to advance my manifesto. ‘That’s why I don’t want any of you ill-treating her. That goes for you, too, Eve. Besides, we’ve got a golden opportunity here to understand one of these things first hand. Madeline might be able to teach us something about their nature. Does everyone agree?’ Absolute silence – apart from the motor, that is. I gave the wheel a dance, which in turn gave the truck a merry jive. Grunts sounded as those men and women hung on to prevent themselves being bounced against the metalwork. ‘I asked: does everyone agree?’

  ‘You’re asking us to trust Madeline?’ Dianna sounded doubtful.

  ‘That’s a big ask,’ Paddy said.

  ‘OK.’ I held the van steady. ‘How long until we reach your friend with all the answers?’

  ‘About an hour.’

  ‘Good. I’ll tell you what happened to me since leaving you last week. Then you decide. OK?’

  Behind me they must have been shooting questioning glances at each other, then one by one they said their ‘OKs.’ I noticed Eve award Madeline a hostile stare, but didn’t disagree.

  So as we rode the straight highway between fields of corn, the sun burning down, I related all those incidents over the last few days that had hit me with all the subtlety of cannon shells. I described the ride with the Elvis-ish trucker who steadily turned into a Mason Konrad look-alike. After that came the peaceful spell at home before being hauled away in the dead of night to a makeshift jail built in the swimming pool. Either by accident or malevolent design the Echomen had constructed their prison at my old school. Then I took great care to explain how Madeline had been dumped into the cell with me; how she’d gradually changed into a female version of me, but … BUT … she wasn’t hostile to humans, that she was different from the other Echomen, and … AND … I did not engage in any perverse jiggery with her. ‘She’s as much a victim of this as we are,’ I added, revving the motor to underline the statement. I finished off by describing our return to school the following day – Eve, Madeline and me – the discovery of the shrink-wrapped dead, our tortured clones in the classrooms, and how the Echomen appeared to be testing their own kind to destruction, maybe trying to uncover the weakness and strengths of human form. Oh, and I mentioned something about the telepathic links, but I didn’t have enough evidence to elaborate on it. Rather than the transfer of rational thought it seemed more like an empathy of physical feelings with the briefest of flashes of what the Echomen saw.

  Then I clammed up. As I did so I glanced into the rearview to check the reaction of my audience. One person who did look at me strangely was Madeline, the one I least expected to regard me quizzically. However, I figured she must have been asking herself: ‘OK, Mason has just given them a thorough retelling of all that happened to us. But why didn’t he mention the stranger? The one who walks through walls. The apparition who frightened Konrad. Why did Mason neglect to mention it?’

  But there’s a reason for everything, Madeline, I thought. The same reason I haven’t explained the nature of Natsaf-Ty to you. With Natsaf-Ty still a secret I had the reassurance of an old-time poker player with a derringer secretly tucked inside his boot. I glanced at her again, just in case that rudimentary telepathy of ours had projected those thoughts into her head. However, she wore a poker face right at that moment. If she had detected anything going through my mind she didn’t let on.

  ‘OK,’ Dianna said, ‘for the time being I say we trust Madeline.’

  ‘For now. OK.’ Ulric bordered on the reluctant.

  Ruth nodded. ‘We can suck it and see for twenty-four hours.’

  ‘I’m fine with it if you are,’ Paddy added, some of his old heartiness returning. ‘Anybody got anything to eat? I’m starving.’

  ‘There’s gum.’

  ‘Chewing gum is cheat eating.’ Paddy rubbed his stomach. ‘Just scream out loud if you see a drive-thru.’

  Eve stared at him. ‘At a time like this? You want to eat?’

  ‘Welcome to our magical realm, Miss Konrad.’ Paddy sounded light-hearted to sweeten a bitter pill. ‘From now on it’s always “At a time like this”. We grab food when we’ve the opportunity, because sometimes you miss dinner for days at a time.’

  Eve pressed her lips together hard. Said nothing. A cold fury burnt in her eyes.

  She’s angry, I told myself. At me first. Then Madeline. Then the Echomen last of all. No, scratch that. Last of all she was angry at Ruth, Dianna, Ulric and Paddy. Come to that, you could add God, or Mother Nature, or whoever is responsible for human biology. Right at that moment, my sister held an ice-cold fury in her heart for lots of things.

  I switched on the radio. Straightaway a news bulletin report blasted from the speakers. ‘We’re receiving reports of a series of attacks taking place in a Tanshelf suburb. Details are sketchy at the moment but police are looking for a local man who lives in the street where the incident took place. He’s described as in his late twenties with dark hair and a slim build. Authorities refuse to release his name at this stage but a neighbour told our reporter that he’d only returned home recently after working away.’

  Eve groaned. ‘Oh my God.’

  I glanced back, thinking she’d reacted to the radio report. Instead she stared through the windows set in the rear doors of the truck.

  ‘Eve, what’s wrong?’

  ‘We’re being followed.’

  ‘Police?’

  She shook her head. ‘It’s one of those things – an Echoman.’

  Paddy frowned. ‘How can you tell?’

  ‘Bloody obvious really. They’re driving our mother’s car.’

  ‘The green hatchback?’

  I clicked my tongue. ‘They must’ve grabbed the car the moment we took off.’

  Ulric lifted the sports bag on to his lap. ‘We’re not going to outrun the car in this. I’ll get rid of them.’

  I glanced at the bag with the gun muzzle pointing out. ‘We can’t draw attention to ourselves, Ulric. If you let fly with that cannon you’ll bring the police down on us in no time.’

  ‘Police would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?’ asked Eve.

  ‘Think about it, sweetheart.’ Paddy smiled. ‘The cops know about what happened in your neighbourhood, your brother’s the prime suspect, so they’re going to keep you locked up until they get answers, but what happens if the cops start turning Echo on you?’ He shrugged. ‘I can even spell what’ll happen in six letters: U … R … D … E … A … D.’

  ‘You think I’m just a kid, don’t you?’ Eve’s cold anger suddenly turned hot. ‘To you I’m just Mason Konrad’s stupid little sister.’

  ‘No, I didn’t mean that; it’s just—’

  She spoke with force now. ‘Ulric, don’t fire on them. Mason, take the next left.’

  ‘It’s just a dirt track.’

  ‘I said: next left.’

  If you’re a guy and you’ve got a sister – an older one, or a younger one, it doesn’t matter – and if your sister uses that tone of voice on you, believe me, to ignore her is to do so at your peril. I turned left.

  ‘Slowly,’ Eve hissed. ‘Pretend you haven’t seen him.’

  ‘Is it Konrad?’

  ‘Konrad?’

  ‘He’s the leade
r – at least he seems to be.’ For the first time in ages Madeline had spoken. ‘You’ve seen him. The one with the face wound. Mason did that.’ She voiced the ‘Mason did that’ so proudly I felt everyone stare at me.

  ‘Madeline suggested I award him my surname, Konrad. Now it gives something to take back from him.’ I clenched the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles whitened. ‘When I catch up with him.’

  The van bumped along the track. Overgrown bushes scraped their limbs along the flanks of the vehicle.

  Eve leaned forward until her head levelled with mine. ‘Not too far. Just around the corner, then stop. He won’t see you until the last minute.’

  Ulric nodded. ‘Then I’ll take care of him.’

  ‘No, you won’t,’ Eve told him. ‘I will.’

  ‘You?’

  ‘Give me the gun.’

  ‘You know how to use a firearm?’

  ‘Guns are designed to be used by even the most stupid people. Don’t you ever watch television?’

  ‘Even so—’

  ‘Besides, I shoot skeet.’

  ‘But not with one of those,’ Paddy pointed out as Ulric eased the black sub-machine-gun from the bag. ‘That’s a widow-maker.’

  Eve didn’t waver. ‘You told me that fighting Echomen is going to be my life from now on.’ She held out her hand for the weapon. ‘If there’s got to be a first time for me killing someone …’ – she shrugged – ‘… let this be it.’

  Ulric frowned. ‘Do you think killing is as easy as in the movies? Bang-bang, drop down and play dead?’

  ‘Instead of patronizing me, give me the gun. Then sit back and watch what I’ve got planned for him.’

  Chapter 29

  Dianna said, ‘Eve’s right, Ulric. She’s got to do it sometime.’

  ‘No,’ I told them, ‘she’s not ready.’

  ‘Like I said, Mason. Watch me.’ Eve held out her hand for the gun.

  ‘We’re here with Eve.’ Ulric handed her the weapon. ‘We can help her if she makes a mistake.’

  ‘I won’t.’ She grasped the gun.

  As I brought the van to a stop after the next bend in the track Ulric quickly showed Eve how the machine-gun worked. Despite my misgivings, my sister’s right about one thing: most guns aren’t even as complicated as food processors: just point the hardware then squirt. Your target’s gonna get a gutful of hot lead. Of course, it takes expertise to hit distant targets, or ones concealing themselves, or moving fast, but at short range … OK, quit babbling, I told myself. You’re nervous at what your little sister plans to do. Just get this thing over and done with.