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.I was sitting under a blazing sun, surrounded by knee-high saplings.I was engulfed in complete darkness.I was watching the day break over a barren wasteland.I closed my eyes against the pounding nausea, clinging to Luke, sure it was all that was keeping me alive.And then finally, I was back in the present, mouth clamped shut to keep myself quiet, head throbbing like I’d smashed it into a wall.‘Shh…’ Luke breathed, cradling me like a little kid.‘Shh…They’re almost gone.’I opened my eyes and the world swung slowly into focus.Two bright torch beams cut through the trees.I held my breath.They were pointing away from us, back towards town, but all it would take was one sound…Slowly, the lights dimmed into the distance.By the time they were gone, I’d got my head back together enough to stand without collapsing or throwing up.Luke held onto me anyway, fingers lacing themselves around mine.I could feel him shaking.Twice in two days.Why? Why now, with everything else that was going on?‘That was – I thought we were dead,’ breathed Luke.‘Seriously, if they had taken like two more steps…’‘What stopped them?’ I asked, moving closer and resting my arm around him.‘I don’t know.I was too busy hanging onto you.’ He glanced over, like he wasn’t sure how much more he wanted to say.‘It was worse this time, wasn’t it?’‘Yeah,’ I said.‘Wait.Why? Did you see something?’‘No.I don’t know.It just scares me, Jordan.It freaks me out that one day you might just – that I might not be able to bring you back.’I shivered, looking up at the stars, wondering for a moment if all of it – everything I was seeing – really was just random.Just chaos.An unguided by-product of an unguided universe that was completely indifferent to everything we were going through down here.But no, there had to be more to it than that.There had to be more than I was seeing.All of this might not make sense now, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t ever.A minute or two later, we were stepping through the low, overgrown ruin that marked the entrance to the Vattel Complex.There was a dull rattle as someone downstairs opened the trapdoor, and I glanced around one last time to make sure there was no-one waiting to follow us in.A thought struck me as we started down the mouldy stairs.‘What if those guards had shot you?’‘They didn’t,’ said Luke.‘Yeah, but what if they did? What if you’d, like, jumped up and waved your arms around and got yourself killed back there?’‘That would’ve been a pretty bad tactical decision.’‘You’d be dead,’ I said.‘Yeah,’ said Luke, sounding slightly exasperated.‘That’s why I didn’t do it.’‘You would have been shot dead,’ I said, lowering my voice as we neared the bottom of the stairs.‘Shot.Not stabbed.’‘That’s not exactly an improvement.’‘I know, but you get what I’m saying, right? You could have changed it.You could have changed what we saw on that video.None of it would have happened.’‘That’s not what Kara says.’I breathed a frustrated sigh.This was not a new conversation.And as far as Kara was concerned, there was only one way this was all going to play out.The way she’d explained it, there was no last time and this time.It was all one time.All the same.What we’d seen on that video wasn’t just going to happen, it had already happened.It was just as unchangeable as anything else in the past.‘Kara’s not a scientist,’ I said.‘She’s a doctor.’‘Right,’ said Luke, squinting at the sudden brightness as we walked into the corridor.‘Yeah.I hope you’re right.’Mum and Mr Hunter were both waiting up for us in the surveillance room, nursing mugs of tea.The teabags sat in a little dish on the table, ready to be dried out and reused.Mr Hunter came over to meet us.He frowned at the expression on Luke’s face.‘Everything okay?’‘Yeah,’ said Luke quickly.‘Almost ran into security on the way back, but we’re okay.’Mum hoisted herself out of her chair, grunting with the effort.‘I can’t believe I keep letting you do this.’‘I’m fine,’ I said.‘What about you guys? Is everyone else –?’I jumped back, startled, as I realised for the first time that Amy was in here too.She was sitting in the corner on the edge of the table, staring into space like she was hypnotised.I walked up to her.‘Amy…?’‘Whoa.Hi,’ she said.‘Sorry.I guess I kind of spaced out for a bit there, huh?’ She blinked hard and got to her feet.‘I think I’m going to go to bed.’I stared after her as she left the room.‘How long was she sitting there?’ Luke asked.‘A while,’ his dad said.‘We did ask if she was…’ He looked up.‘Did you hear that?’Everyone stopped.For a moment, all I could hear was whirring computers and the buzz of a fluorescent tube flickering in the next room.Smash!A noise like a battering ram, violent but far off.It was coming from somewhere in the research module.‘Crap,’ said Luke, standing over one of the monitors.I joined him just in time to see a cloud of dust billow up into the camera lens.‘Is that…?’ asked Mum, behind me.‘Yeah,’ I said.‘Bill’s room.’Chapter 9SATURDAY, AUGUST 112 DAYS‘Hey!’ Peter shouted, as Luke and I sprinted past his door.‘HEY! What’s going on out there?’We ignored him.Another explosion of sound echoed up the corridor.Creaking, twisting metal.‘Are you sure we should be running towards him?’ Luke panted.‘I don’t think Bill’s going to hurt us,’ I said.‘He needs our help, remember?’‘He put me in the hospital!’‘Okay, yeah, but – we’ll be careful.’I could see something silhouetted in the dim light, blocking our path up ahead.I slowed as we reached it.The metal bookcase that had sealed the entrance to Bill’s room was lying on its side, bent in half like it was made of cardboard.It was wedged into the debris at a particularly narrow section of the corridor, forming a makeshift barrier to keep us out.‘Help me move it,’ I said, gripping the bookcase with both hands.Luke leant in next to me.I dug in with my heels.The bookcase shifted slightly, scraping against the walls, but only seemed to get itself more tightly lodged into the surrounding bits of debris.‘You really want to be doing that?’ said Mr Hunter, coming up the corridor behind us.‘No,’ said Luke.‘Yes,’ I said.‘Okay, fine.Yes.’Mr Hunter shouldered his way in between Luke and me.‘Okay.Three.Two.One.Push.’The bookcase buckled, angling forward, grinding against the concrete on either side.We pushed again.All at once it came loose, crashing to the ground.I clambered over and ducked into Bill’s room.The dust was clearing by now [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]