“No, I don’t think so. I wandered for a while, then Reaper came to me again. He’d found Shade by then, and also Haru, the ice lady. And he told me what we had to do.”
“Find us again,” Jack said.
Fleeter nodded. She looked pale and alone, and Lucy-Anne almost felt sorry for her. “If the Superiors can’t get out, what hope do we have?” Lucy-Anne asked.
“None,” Sparky said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rhali said. “We’re out of time anyway. Fleeing London isn’t our aim anymore.” She pointed at Hayden. “It’s all on him.”
“Reaper’s coming, Jack,” Fleeter said. “Him, Shade, Haru. And me. We’re all behind you, now. We’ve tried to fight. We’ve tried violence, and it didn’t work. Stopping the bomb is the only way.”
Jack did not respond. He was frowning, looking into a distance none of them could see, and perhaps seeing a future none of them wanted to see.
“I don’t trust him at all,” he said at last. “And I don’t trust you.”
“But I came back to—”
“We move on,” Jack said. “Fleeter, I can’t stop you coming with us. And I won’t. But we’re not going to sit and wait for whatever plans Reaper might have for us now. If we meet him, so be it. But we go.”
“Yeah,” Sparky said.
“Absolutely,” Jenna said.
Rhali nodded her head. Even Andrew seemed to agree, his visage blurring with a half-smile.
“Lucy-Anne?” Jack asked.
“We go,” she said. She looked at Hayden. He shrugged his backpack higher, and the tools inside rattled.
“Just get me to the bomb as quickly as you can,” he said. “I’ll do my best to do the rest.”
Jack was curious as to exactly what had been used against the Superiors. He had little doubt that whatever it was had been developed from Miller’s vivisection of those infected by Evolve, but whether it worked against the developing illness—or perhaps even caused it—was something that would have great impact in the future. Miller had said that the illness affecting many of those with talents was a side-effect of Evolve, but it could just as easily have been something Miller had created himself, whatever he claimed.
But the future where this would matter was far, far distant. The immediate future was less than four hours long. His injuries burned, eye throbbing, and he had yet to fully assess the damage done. But there was no time even for that.
As they approached the Imperial War Museum, Rhali used her gift to warn them of movement ahead. And there was plenty. Andrew also went ahead to scout their route, and he returned several times with tales of creatures wandering the streets. They were all heading in the same direction—towards the museum.
Jack sought ways to communicate with those things they would face. He did his best to think of them as human, although forcibly evolved far from what he understood human to be. But after everything he had seen, he also thought of them as monsters. Like Reaper, they looked down upon the Irregulars as way below them, insignificant as insects to an elephant. Unlike Reaper, they ate them.
His efforts frustrated him. His talents were many, but not endless. And search though he did, he could not perceive a way to touch those creatures from the north.
“We all want the same thing!” he said to Rhali. “They’ve come down here because of the bomb, though none of them can stop it. And even though perhaps we can, I just don’t know how to tell them that.”
“Can’t you just talk to them?”
“You’ve seen some of what I’ve seen. I think they’re beyond conversation.”
Lucy-Anne had already shared with him what she knew of them from her time in the north. They looked wild, but carried a startling intelligence. They were vicious and brutal, but organised as well, sometimes hunting in packs for some of the scarcest food there was—humans.
Jack had asked what they ate in the north, and it had been Andrew who offered the answer. I only saw it once but…think of farms where humans keep cattle. More than that, you don’t want to know.
And so close to the museum they called a halt again, hiding behind the innocent facade of a restaurant window, watching darkness fall outside and wondering what to do.
“Nomad is still inside?” Jack asked.
“She showed no sign of wishing to be anywhere else,” Andrew replied. He seemed to flicker before Jack, like reality wavering in and out of focus.
“If she can get in, so can I,” Jack said. “Maybe that is the first thing to do. I’ll go inside, look at everything, try and find a way in for Hayden.”
“But how can you get past everything Hayden says they have in there, even with your talents?”
“Nomad did.”
“Nomad’s almost a dream,” Lucy-Anne said.
Jack’s frustration was growing. Blessed or cursed with such powers, still he sat in an Indian restaurant where no one had eaten for two years, curled menus and neat place settings taunting him with the normality that was no more.
“Maybe Reaper had the right idea,” he said quietly. “A distraction. Not for the Choppers, but for these things around the museum. Draw them away so that Hayden can get inside. Work on the traps. See what he can do. He’s the tech guy, after all. Get into the tank and start dismantling the bomb.”
“Me and Sparky,” Jenna said.
“No,” Jack said.
“But—”
“No! You’ll be killed. They’ll catch you easily. No, it has to be me and Fleeter. We’re the distraction, you get Hayden inside, then I’ll meet you back at the museum.”
“You’re taking on an awful lot yourself,” Lucy-Anne said. “Why don’t you let—”
“Where’s Rhali?” Jenna asked.
As he stood from the chair he’d taken and moved to the front window, Jack already knew. No, he tried to say, but his mouth was suddenly dry.
He saw Rhali just as she disappeared around the junction at the end of the street, heading for the museum. She’s going to get herself killed! he thought. But at the same time he realised that whatever happened when they pursued Rhali could be the distraction they needed. And she knew that.
“Fleeter!” Jack said, readying himself to flip and go to Rhali’s aid.
And then all hell broke loose.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THREE
For a moment Jack thought something had happened to the sinking sun, shadowing the street outside and concealing everything from view. Then as the creature struck the window and smashed through, he realised what had happened. As they’d been sitting there talking they had been stalked. And now the stalker had closed for the kill.
He squeezed his eyes shut and crossed his arms before his face, yet still he felt the cool kiss of dozens of glass shards across his cheeks and chin, forearms and scalp. He backed quickly away and his legs struck a chair, sending him sprawling. Even before he struck the ground he was kicking back with his feet, trying to distance himself from the window and whatever was coming in, because it was big. It had to be to block out so much light.
Fleeter screamed.
Jack opened his eyes and felt the horrible tickle of shattered glass across his face. He looked at the floor and risked blinking rapidly, and his vision cleared.
Someone shouted. Jack lifted his head and picked up the chair at the same time, but the thing was paying him no attention. Its teeth and claws were concerned only with Fleeter. Its wings were folded around her, claws at their tips curled into her shoulders, and its bat-like face darted down again and again, biting chunks from her arms as she waved them frantically before her face. The creature had long blonde hair, and for what felt like several long seconds Jack became mesmerised by the flowery hair clip hanging from a few thin, filthy strands.