‘Doing what?’
‘Acting like you’re the only one on the planet who can fix anything, like it’s your personal responsibility. You’ve been doing it all day.’
‘I just need to do what’s right.’
‘We all need to do that, mate. What’s going on with you? And you need to be fair dinkum with me.’
‘I still don’t really understand what that means.’
‘It means different things at different times, but right now it means tell me the truth.’
Judd stares ahead. ‘It’s embarrassing.’
‘Spill it.’
‘Right.’ It’s difficult to say. ‘I just — since — the incident at Imax, I’ve felt — like a fraud.’
It’s not what Corey was expecting to hear. ‘What?’
‘The heroic Judd Bell of the fabled Atlantis 4, unable to deal with a single terrorist, couldn’t even come up with a plan, cowering behind a car with a shotgun pointed at his face.’
‘That’s why you’ve been running around like a chook with its head cut off, trying to save everyone?’
Judd nods. ‘Pretty much, though “chook with its head cut off” seems a tad harsh. I guess, I don’t know, I’m — I’m trying to make up for it, be the man the world thinks I am.’
‘I didn’t have a plan either, mate. Neither did Rhonda. We were all dead if Severson didn’t turn up, so don’t beat yourself up about it.’
Judd takes it in with a nod, but Corey can tell he doesn’t quite believe it. The Australian looks at the iPhone in his hand again. Curiosity gets the better of him and he plays Lola’s message.
It’s not good. Her voice is reed thin, like she’s in pain. She’s trapped in a building on Doheny, her leg caught under something heavy. He can’t quite work out what it is because the sound is distant and echoey, but she’s asking Bowen for help.
Concerned, Corey instantly returns the call. It goes straight to voicemail. ‘Bugger.’
Judd turns to him, notices his strained expression. ‘Everything okay?’
Corey shakes his head. ‘Lola needs help. She’s trapped in a building.’
‘What? Christ.’
‘I need to go there.’
‘Where?’
‘Doh- Don- Don Henley?’
‘Doheny Drive. Know how to get there?’
‘Just follow the map app.’ Corey works the iPhone screen, swiftly finds the location.
‘Be careful. LA’s a shark pit, if you hadn’t noticed.’
‘I just spent fifteen minutes dodging exploding chainsaws. I noticed.’
Judd gestures to the chainsaw that lies across his handlebars. ‘Do you want to take this? In case.’
‘Had more than enough of those for one day.’
‘What about the pistol?’
Corey shakes his head. ‘Better if you have it, I think. In case.’
Judd nods. ‘Okay. Just — let me give you my number.’ Corey passes over the iPhone and Judd taps his digits into the address book, then passes it back. ‘Be careful.’
‘Yes, Mother. Second time you said that. I’ll be fine.’
They exchange a nod, but it’s difficult to say goodbye. To lighten the moment Corey gestures to the bulge in his pants. ‘Is that a canister of counteragent in my pocket or am I just happy to be leaving?’
Judd thinks about it, then grimaces. ‘That was just weird.’
‘It was, wasn’t it? It was meant to be funny but ended up being gross.’
Judd grins. ‘I’ll see you.’
Corey returns it. ‘Not if I see you first.’ He thinks about it. ‘And what does that mean, anyway? Why does it matter if I see you first if we’re both seeing each other at the same time?’ He pedals off, wobbles violently, finds his balance, increases his pace and rides away. ‘Come on, dog.’ Spike gallops after him.
Judd watches them go, then rides off in the opposite direction, consults the map on his phone for the fastest route to his destination, then builds speed quickly.
He doesn’t feel great about letting Corey ride off on his own. He worries about him like he would a kid brother, feels responsible. After all, he’s the one who brought him to this country in the first place.
Judd takes in the road, astounded by the amount of destruction. He doesn’t know what he’ll find when he reaches the school, but hopes he’s up for the challenge. He can feel the weight of the pistol in his jacket pocket. He’s glad he has the weapon with him.
Corey pedals the bike so hard Spike has trouble keeping up.
The dog barks.
‘Well, you’ll just have to lift, won’t you? We’re in a rush. There’s no time for a rest stop.’
Another bark.
‘I miss having the chopper, too.’ He doesn’t add that he’s not sure if he’d be able to fly it even if he had one.
Another bark.
‘No, I’ve never seen a “shark pit”.’
Another bark.
‘I guess it’s like a snake pit but worse, because it has sharks.’
Another bark.
‘I don’t know. It must be full of water otherwise the sharks would be dead and that wouldn’t be scary, it’d be sad.’
The Australian takes in the road before him, littered with smoking wrecks and displaced people. The number of buildings and houses on fire is the biggest surprise. He keeps an eye out for any vehicle with a dark exhaust, though it looks like every car has already exploded, is on fire or has been abandoned.
The dog barks once again.
Corey glances at the map app on the iPhone. ‘Not far.’ He stops pedalling and freewheels past a line of wrecks that litter Doheny, the bike’s gears ticking furiously, and scans the road before him. ‘Where is it?’
He sees it in the distance, the towering white building with the large blue stripe Lola mentioned in her voice message. It’s not that far away—
Boom. The explosion is enormous, blows him off the bike and knocks him clean across the sidewalk. He hits a building ten metres away, then slumps to the ground. It feels like he’s been bitch-slapped by Goliath.
His head throbs and his ears ring. He opens his eyes. His vision is blurred. Smoke cloaks the road. He can just make out the burning wreckage of the car that exploded on the opposite side of the street. He pulls himself up unsteadily, the bike crumpled against a shop-front, both wheels buckled, the iPhone smashed on the sidewalk in front of him. He can feel something licking his ankle. He turns to look at it, but his eyelids get very heavy very quickly and he needs to have a little lie down. He rests his head on the warm pavement and can’t help but think Judd was right: he really needs to be careful. Maybe if the astronaut had told him a third time he would have paid better attention.
Spike bounds over to Corey. His master is unconscious.
The dog barks.
There’s no response.
Spike turns, sees the cuff of Corey’s left jeans leg is on fire. He barks again.
Corey does not wake up.
Spike trots over to the left cuff, assumes the position and releases a short squirt of urine. The flames are instantly extinguished — but Corey does not wake.
The dog lies down beside him.
28
Finally.
It took Bunsen five one-hundred-litre rhino drums to do it, but the Item is now filled with the Swarm.
He removes the electric water pump’s hose, screws on the radiator cap, then uses an oxy-welder to seal it tight. He eases the trolley loaded with the Item out onto the helipad. It’s both heavy and unwieldy, but he eventually parks it beside the Tyrannosaur, where Enrico continues to remove the water tank from the airframe. Bunsen then pulls out a swathe of black-green netting from the trolley’s bottom shelf, which will be used to camouflage the Item’s true shape and nature.