He remembered meeting Emma, the two of them floating down the river and onto Lake Arapuni. Their search for a boat, the run in with Duke and his men. His escape.
Finding Sarah and George in the school. Cambridge and the evac centre. Rescuing Emma. The creatures ambushing them. The big leader and the darkness.
Jack remembered it all.
Right in front of him, the same boy held out his arm to Jack, his ice blue eyes pleading. Jack shook his head. Fate was strange. Rising to his knees, he remembered he had a little Swiss Army Knife in his first aid kit. Praying the creatures wouldn’t hear him, he searched his pack, hurrying. Pulling out the knife, he made quick work of the strange muck holding George to the wall.
George collapsed into his arms, whimpering. He eased the boy down to the ground and gave him the water valve. Seeing the liquid move along the tube, he searched around for Sarah.
Jack jogged a few metres up the corridor, now looking at each face. Searching. Blonde hair? No. Move on. He saw kids, adults, elderly, Maori, European, Asian, Pacific. It really didn’t matter. Everyone was here. The population. Food. Not seeing Sarah, Jack knew he and George needed to keep moving. Lingering any longer increased risk of discovery.
— 19 —
Jack lifted George into his arms and made his way towards the door with the red sign, continuing to search faces as he went. Not seeing Sarah, he hurried on, eager to get out of sight. Eager to eat something. Eager to leave this cursed place.
He could see the sign on the door now: SWITCH ROOM. The walls on either side looked new, with fresh green paint.
Jack tried the handle. Grinning as it turned, he hurried through. As he put George down, the boy whimpered. He crouched down till he was at eye level. George stared at him vacantly. In that fleeting moment, he realised all the horror the poor kid had seen in the last few days. Grasping his shoulder, Jack comforted him.
“You’re safe now, George.”
George blinked his eyes rapidly but remained silent.
Jack frowned and let out a breath as he took in the layout of the large room. On either side of the door were storage lockers. On the left- and right-hand walls stood rows of metal cupboards. In the far-right corner were more storage lockers. A small hand basin stood in the far-left corner, while a small window was set centrally in the wall opposite. Bright sunlight shone onto the floor of the room. Opening one of the cupboards revealed panels of switches similar to those on a household meter board, but industrial-scale. Jack read the labels: UTILITY ROOM; TURBINE ROOM; GATE HOUSE and smiled. He knew what these were. They controlled power to the various rooms of whatever building he was in. Jack scanned the labels again. Turbine Room stood out. You normally only found turbines in power stations.
Moving to the small window set in the opposite wall, he looked out. Below him surged a river.
And then all the clues added up. The switch labels, the north-facing dam, the large river below it… The mighty Waikato River.
And we’re in the bloody dam! They’re imprisoning us in the dam! Why?
Jack gazed out the window, hoping for further clues as to which hydro-electric dam they were in.
“Mum?” croaked George.
“What’s up buddy?” Jack said, hurrying over.
“I want my mum.”
Jack paused. Do I tell him the truth? Sugarcoat it? He went for in between.
“Still out there, buddy. You and I are going to be like Spiderman and save her. What do you think of that?”
George nodded in agreement, his eyes cast to the floor.
“You must be hungry, eh?” Jack said, lifting George’s chin up and wiping away his tears.
“Yup,” George whispered.
“Okay buddy, you hang in there. I just want to barricade this door first, okay?”
Jack quickly searched the room for anything to lean up against the door. He didn’t want to drag anything across the floor, so the lockers were out.
He moved past the metal switch cupboards to the back of the room where the storage lockers were. They were set against adjacent walls and a gap had been left in the corner. It was perfect. It wouldn’t help against any monsters, but it might be of use if the fat guy came along.
Collecting George, he hoisted him up to sit on top of the lockers, then hauled himself up and down the other side and lifted George down. Pulling all his clothes out of his pack, he made them into a sort of bean bag to sit on. Jack opened his snack box.
“Chocolate?”
The little red-head kid smiled at him as he handed him a bar of Whittaker’s. They ate in silence, enjoying the sweet treat.
Jack looked down at George eating and thought about the other boy he’d tried to save. The creatures had attacked them so fast he’d had no time to save Flatcap and his family. Jack pushed the image of the little boy being torn apart from his mind. Now was not the time to dwell on it. He glanced at George again. Chocolate smeared around his face.
Jack reached out and ruffled his hair, grinning at the little fighter. “Well, George, how do we get out of the Pit of Despair?”
George shrugged his shoulders, rested his head against Jack’s chest and fell asleep.
Jack stared out the window a long time, turning everything over in his mind. He ran through a thousand scenarios trying to figure a way to escape, but kept drawing a blank.
Finally, he let sleep take him.
— 20 —
Dee stirred in the bottom of the boat and stretched out her cramped legs. She could see Boss hunched over the steering wheel. Focused on keeping the boat in the middle of the river.
The pack of Variants had tracked them upriver all night, screeching at them. Howling at them. Dee had watched them for hours, cringing inwardly every time they uttered a sound. It was a noise that no matter how many times you heard it, it never got easier to bear.
Dee was surprised she had fallen asleep. Her nerves were a tattered mess. Searching the river banks, there was no sign of the monsters now. She glanced up at the sky, thankful for the sunshine. It gave them a chance to move on land.
“Hey.” She smiled, looking at Boss.
“Hey.” Boss turned and yawned. “About time you woke up.”
“Why didn’t you wake me. I would’ve taken the wheel.”
“You looked exhausted.”
“Any idea where we are?” Dee said, standing.
“Still out in farming land, by the smell. Variants buggered off about an hour ago.”
“About time. Don’t know if I could’ve handled that much longer. I felt like a goldfish being watched by a ravenous cat.”
“What do you mean? You slept all night.”
“Well, someone had to.” Dee smiled. She scanned around, searching. “C’mon. Let’s find some food. And we really need a gun. Farmers are good for guns, right?”
“Yeah, I suppose.” Boss shrugged and yawned again.
He spun the wheel and moved the boat closer towards the shore. Dee stood next to him and gripped her katana as she searched the bank for Variants, fearful of them darting out of the shadows. Swarming the boat and tearing them apart. They waited in the boat with the engine switched off. Dee could hear birds and insects and the rustle of trees in the late morning breeze but everything else remained silent. Satisfied, she tapped Boss on the shoulder and leapt from the boat.
“Let’s go. Silently,” Dee whispered.
Dee and Boss kept to the tree line. Creeping along, they tracked inland, making for one of the houses. It was a single-storey brick home with a large deck extending from the back. A couple of large sheds lay adjacent. Keeping to the shadows of the trees, Dee and Boss cautiously came up one side. They stopped a few metres from the back door. Heart pounding, Dee gripped the katana for comfort. She looked for any signs of occupants, or Variants. Glancing left and right, she came up clear. Not a sound came from the house.