“Huh,” Josh replied. “I thought maybe you talked about Z and how Clatter is planning on selling it on the streets.”
This time Scrawl did blink. But he quickly regained his composure. “That didn’t come up,” he said. “But it sounds like somebody’s been talking to you about it.”
“Where’s Firecracker now?” Josh asked.
“How would I know?” said Scrawl.
“Don’t lie,” Josh snapped. “He never went home.”
Scrawl had a puzzled look on his face. “He’s missing?”
Josh nodded. “Yeah, he’s missing. And I think you know why.”
Scrawl sat down on a chair. “No,” he said, although he seemed to be talking to himself and not to Josh. “He said he wasn’t going to take him.”
“Who said that?” Josh demanded. “Take him where?”
Scrawl looked up. “Charlie told you about the Z, didn’t she?”
Josh hesitated. If he admitted it, then Scrawl might do something to Charlie. But she was the only likely source of the information, and they both knew it. “Yes,” he said.
Scrawl stood up. “We have to find her,” he said.
“Wait a minute,” Josh protested. “What about Firecracker? And why do we have to find Charlie? She was fine when I saw her.”
“When was that?” asked Scrawl.
“About two hours ago,” said Josh.
Scrawl shook his head. “They could already have her.”
Josh held his hands up. “What the hell are you talking about?” he said. “If you’re trying to get me to forget about Firecracker—”
“I didn’t do anything to your friend!” Scrawl shouted. It was the first time Josh had ever heard him lose control. All he could do was stand there, looking at Scrawl’s normally cool face twisted in anger.
“Listen to me,” Scrawl said in a softer tone. “There’s more going on here than you know. Way more. It’s not just about Z or the game. But it’s gone too far now, and I can’t let him hurt anyone else.”
“Clatter?” Josh asked.
Scrawl nodded.
“Charlie said he killed Bess,” said Josh. “Is that true?”
Scrawl looked away. “We didn’t take her to the hospital,” he said quietly. “We put her in the incinerator.”
“And you just let him?” Josh said angrily. “You didn’t try to stop him?”
“You have a little sister, right?” Scrawl asked in reply.
Josh nodded. “So what?”
“Well, so do I,” said Scrawl. “Two of them. Jilly and Annie. They’re nine and eleven. Do you want to know what Clatter said he would do to them if I told anybody about him, about what he does?”
Josh shook his head. “I think I can imagine,” he said.
“I thought I could go along with his game,” Scrawl said. “Believe it or not, he’s been good to me. I owe him a lot. But I’ve paid him back enough. And now we’re going to stop him.” He took a deep breath. “But first I have to show you something you really don’t want to see.”
19
Josh looked down into the hole. A foul smell wafted up through it. “I’m not going down there,” he told Scrawl. Scrawl was kneeling in the street, holding the manhole cover he’d removed a moment ago. “Just do it,” he ordered Josh. He looked over his shoulder. “That light is going to change in about fifteen seconds, and I don’t really feel like getting flattened. Now go!”
Josh hesitated just a moment longer, then stepped onto the first rung of the ladder. When he was halfway down, Scrawl followed him, pulling the manhole cover back over the opening. Seconds later Josh heard the sound of wheels over their heads. He reached the bottom of the ladder and stepped into a puddle of water that covered his shoes and the bottoms of his jeans.
“Nice place for a front door,” he remarked as Scrawl joined him.
“That’s the point,” Scrawl said. “It’s the back door. And where better to put it than in the middle of one of the busiest streets in the city?”
Josh had to admit it was a clever idea. When Scrawl had told him they were going to go into the sewers through a hole in Broad Avenue, he was sure he’d heard wrong. But as soon as the light turned red to allow the cross traffic from Seventh Street to go, Scrawl had run out, heaved the manhole cover up, and told Josh to get in.
Josh still wasn’t sure he should trust Scrawl. But following him seemed to be his only option.
“Did it have to be a sewer?” Josh asked.
“Actually, it’s a storm drain,” Scrawl corrected him.
Scrawl had brought two flashlights along. They each had one, and Josh used his to scan the tunnel ahead of them for anything he didn’t want to step in. Several times the beam of light shone on rats, which looked at Josh and Scrawl with wary eyes and scurried out of sight beneath the piles of trash that littered the floor.
“Where are we going?” Josh asked Scrawl for the tenth time since leaving the apartment.
“I told you, you don’t want to know,” said Scrawl.
“I have to find out sometime,” Josh objected.
Scrawl stopped. He turned and looked at Josh, his flashlight casting a ghostly shadow on his face. “Okay,” he said. “You’re right. I’m taking you to Clatter’s factory.”
“His factory?”
“Where he makes Z,” said Scrawl.
“That’s insane,” Josh said. “We should be getting help.”
Scrawl hesitated. “I think Firecracker is there,” he said. “Maybe Charlie too.”
Josh felt his heart skip a beat. “Why would he have them there?”
“That’s the part you don’t want to know about,” said Scrawl. “You’ll just have to see for yourself.”
He resumed the trek through the sewer. Soon the floor began to slope down, and Josh had to work hard to keep his balance. They descended at a steep angle before the tunnel leveled out again and continued on. Then they walked for another fifteen minutes, making several turns, until they came to a steel door marked with a sign that read CES CREWS ONLY.
“City Electrical System?” Josh said. “What is this, a power hub or something?”
“Or something,” said Scrawl. He was typing something into a keypad to the side of the door. A moment later it opened with a hiss. Scrawl stepped inside and motioned for Josh to follow.
They were in a small room. On the side opposite the first door was another door, exactly the same. The first door shut behind Josh as Scrawl went to the second. “This is an airlock,” Scrawl explained. The two doors can’t be open at the same time, and each one has a different code.” He looked up at the ceiling, where a several small nozzles protruded from the smooth metal surface. “If you enter the wrong code, those emit gas,” he said. “It will knock you out cold in under ten seconds.”
“That would certainly keep people out,” Josh said. “So why do you know the codes?”
Scrawl finished typing. “Let’s just say Clatter trusts me,” he said. “Well, as much as he trusts anyone.”
The room Josh entered next was huge. It was also as modern looking as the sewer entrance was dilapidated. The walls were covered in polished metal, and the lighting was low and soothing. Several fans were running, and the air smelled clean and fresh.
“It’s like a hospital,” Josh said.
Scrawl snorted. “You’re not far off,” he said.
Josh could see a row of five metal operating tables on the far side of the room. As they drew closer, he saw that a body lay on one of the tables. It was a zombie. Its wrists and ankles were constrained by metal cuffs attached to the table, and another metal cuff was around its neck, holding it down.
The zombie was a teenage girl. Her long blond hair was matted, some of it clotted with dried blood from a wound on her scalp. Her skinny body was dressed in dirty jeans and a pink Hello Kitty T-shirt. Her skin was mottled with ugly bruises, and one eye was sewn shut with thick black thread. The other eye looked up at the ceiling, unmoving.