Doomsday, page 9
‘But there will be no one to control. Nothing will survive.’
‘I-will-survive,’ the computer corrected him. ‘Malig-Tumora-will-be-in-command-once-more. This-has-always-been-my-goal-from-when-Malig-Tumora-was-a-human-being. Now-that-I-am-a-machine-it-is-still-the-reason-I-exist. Nothing-else-matters.’
The nameless Gadge who had accompanied them from the roof gave out a pathetic whine, like the tiniest lapdog. He looked helplessly towards his leader and then at the canister in his hand. He couldn’t have looked at it with more horror if it had been a ticking bomb. Slowly, very slowly, he put the canister on the ground against the wall and backed away.
The observation ball saw him move and complained, ‘No. Pick-up-the-canister. Take-it-back-to-the-roof-and-attach-it-to-the-spraying-machines. Gadger-Red-will-give-you-the-signal-to-start-the-spraying.’
‘To kill our own kind, and the two of us with it? Never,’ said Gadger Red. ‘You,’ he snapped. ‘Call all of the others and bring them here.’
With a face distorted by fear and revulsion, the bewildered Gadge backed through the glass door and stepped cautiously away along the corridor.
Berrin followed him with his eyes. Why had Gadger Red called for the others to join him? What was he going to do? A rage was building inside the creature. His massive shoulders were tensing, the claws were fully extended on both of his paws. That rust-red tail, which had struck fear into the hearts of so many Rats, was twitching nervously.
Somewhere above them the Obsidian absorbed another withering round from Jones’s tank.
‘You were going to kill us,’ said Gadger Red, more in a wolfish growl than a human voice. ‘You were going to infect all the humans with a deadly disease when you’d already promised them to me. They were our reward. Have you forgotten the bargain? Once you were finished with them, we could eat them all alive.’
‘Not-any-more,’ said Malig Tumora. ‘The-young-humans-were-too-clever. They-destroyed-the-purple-flowers. They-set-their-parents-free. That-one-behind-you. He-was-the-worst. If-you-want-someone-to-eat-alive-take-him.’
Gadger Red looked over his shoulder at Berrin whose heart leapt into his mouth. Was this the end? Was this the moment when Gadger Red’s patience would crack, when he would take his revenge and slice Berrin to pieces with a single swipe of his paw?
Gadger Red continued to eye Berrin; each second was longer than an hour to the shivering boy. ‘Eat alive,’ he murmured. ‘No, not him.’ Berrin’s lungs filled with air once more.
The huge Gadge was looking around him now; not at the observation ball, which still delivered Malig Tumora’s toneless voice, but at the rows of dull grey circuits and the black wires that connected them.
‘Eat alive,’ Gadger Red said again, more forcefully this time, and in two terrifying strides he reached the nearest bank of electronics and plunged his massive paw in amongst it. His claws hooked savagely around whatever he could grasp and, with a flinch of his shoulder, he yanked a chunk free.
‘What-are-you-doing?’ demanded the observation ball. ‘These-are-my-memory-circuits. You-have-destroyed-valuable-data.’
Gadger Red ignored the computer. Instead he snatched up a tangle of black wires and, with a snap of his jaws, bit through them to expose the shiny metal strands within. This was just the beginning. As quickly as the Gadge’s slashing, grasping paws could get hold of more wires, those vicious jaws chewed them to shreds. He kicked at the frames that held the grey circuitry, smashed blinking lights, and wrenched thick electrical cables from their sockets.
‘Stop. This-damage-will-be-difficult-to-repair. Come-to-your-senses.’
The reply was swift and brutal. The observation ball made the mistake of swooping low, eager to repeat its demands. In a lightning blow, so fast Berrin barely saw it, Gadger Red punched the metal sphere with such force it flew wildly against the glass. The wall exploded into a million diamond shards while the inner workings of the observation ball spilled out, like an animal whose belly had been slit open.
Berrin fell back against the wall. If Gadger Red saw him now, he might become just one more target of this destruction. He was huddled in a corner when three other Gadges raced in.
‘Have you heard?’ called their leader. ‘This machine was going to kill us so that it could go on with its madness. Well, we’re going to get in first. Kill Malig Tumora!’ he roared. ‘Eat him alive.’
The three newcomers didn’t need any further orders. The savage wolf within each of them took over and, like Gadger Red, they attacked the exposed wires and the silent, unmoving bulk of Malig Tumora. More of the beasts arrived and all around, on the floors above as well, Berrin could hear the same frenzied destruction.
Berrin realised with a wrench of his heart that he was witnessing a savage death. He had hoped for this death for as long as he could remember. Every moment of his life had been blighted by Malig Tumora and the evil that lived on in his computer. Now the end had come, not in the great explosion Berrin had somehow imagined, but with the steady slashing and tearing of wild beasts. Malig Tumora was dying slowly, piece by piece, torn into lifeless shreds by the hideous creatures whom he’d betrayed.
‘What does it matter how he dies?’ Berrin whispered to himself. ‘As long as the evil is dead.’
His eyes fell on the orange canister. The monstrous plans of that evil creature were not defeated yet. If one of the Gadges kicked the canister in his fury, the deadly contents would break free. Even if the Gadges left it alone, the continuous pounding from the tank’s cannon would eventually bring down the roof. The falling brickwork would surely smash the canister like a nut under a hammer blow. He had to get it out of the Obsidian.
Fighting his revulsion, Berrin picked up the canister. None of the Gadges noticed him slip away into the corridor as the building lurched at the impact of yet another round. This one struck above him and, moments later, the roof at the end of the corridor collapsed and the bright glow of flames fell through the gap. Burning debris scattered across the floor, though not enough to block it. It was more a hurdle really, but smoke was already beginning to choke the air around him. There was no time to think. Clutching the canister tightly, he raced towards the flames and leapt over them. He felt only a momentary heat and hurried on through the rubble and around a corner. There were the wide doors that opened into the square. A direct hit from the tank had blasted them aside. He could see the open ground outside. Ten seconds and he could be free of the building, with the deadly bacteria secure in his hands.
Yet Berrin didn’t move. If he left the building now, he would be leaving his parents to die. He looked at the orange canister nestled in his arms like a helpless baby. He had to choose: his parents or so many others. He’d made that decision once already today and it had sickened him to his soul. Now he faced it again. He let out a desperate moan. Why him? Why was he the one who had to choose?
A noise distracted him. Berrin turned round, expecting to find that a Gadge had followed him. A fog of powdered masonry and smoke from the fire hampered his vision. Whoever it was came closer until he saw a face. It was Kelsey.
‘The building is falling apart around us. We are going to die here after all,’ she called to him.
Berrin’s thoughts seemed fractured in so many directions at once he feared he would lose his mind. He held a canister of poison in his hands that could kill every human being. Yet his parents were trapped inside a building that must surely collapse if the pounding from that tank continued. Worst of all, the shame of his brief betrayal was sharpened by sight of Kelsey who was still tormented by her own treachery.
I shouldn’t have been so hard on her, he thought. Did I act any better when it was my turn? It was in this sad thought that he found the solution.
‘Kelsey,’ he called gently. ‘Come here. I need you.’
Kelsey hadn’t expected these words, especially said with such tenderness. She made herself creep closer, until Berrin held up the canister. When she saw it, she stepped away again. ‘I was there just now,’ she said. ‘I heard you speaking to Gadger Red. I know what’s in that thing you’re holding.’
‘Then you know we have to get it out of here before the building collapses.’
Kelsey nodded, her eyes focused on the canister, the rest of her face a grimace of horror.
Berrin held it out to her again.
‘No, no, I can’t,’ she wailed.
‘Listen to me,’ he said. ‘You betrayed us to save your parents, didn’t you? Well, I did the same thing when Gadger Red threatened mine. The thing is, we’ve both got a second chance, here and now. If you carry this canister to safety, you’ll be able to hold your head high again, and so will I.’
‘But some of the Gadges are still firing their guns into the square. They’ll shoot at me. If they hit the canister …’
Berrin’s answer was enough to chill the bones of even the bravest soul. ‘That’s why you must carry the canister like this,’ he said, and, holding it tightly against his stomach, he hunched over to show how she must protect it. ‘Keep your back to the Obsidian and never turn around. That way your body will stop any bullets from reaching the canister. If they shoot you down before you reach safety, the canister will lie under your body, unharmed. None of the bacteria will be released.’
‘But I’ll be dead!’
‘If the Gadges shoot straight enough, yes. That’s the risk you have to take. Once you pretended to be one of us. Do this and you’ll really know what it means to be a Doomsday Rat.’
Kelsey’s face was already white from all the fine dust churned up by the explosions. Now the last of the colour drained from her lips.
‘Do it, Kelsey. You’ll be saving thousands of lives.’ For an instant, Berrin remembered his view from Mount Windenbeck. How far did the land extend; how many human beings lived beyond those horizons? ‘Maybe millions,’ he muttered, to himself as much as Kelsey. ‘Do this and no one will remember the way you betrayed us.’
The girl’s eyes stayed wide with fear but something new forced its way into her face: the dogged determination Berrin had seen when he first met her in the tunnels. Without another word she took the canister from his hands and began to pick her way through the debris towards the doorway. She turned once for a final nod towards Berrin, then, pressing the canister firmly against her stomach, disappeared through the damaged doors.
Then Berrin was gone himself, towards the stairwell and the unknown room where his parents were waiting.
SIXTEEN
A Swarm of Rats
WHERE WERE HIS PARENTS? Berrin hadn’t noticed what floor they’d been on when he was reunited with them. But it had to be an upper floor because the view down into the square from their window had been from quite a height. At least that meant they had a better chance of still being alive. Jones had concentrated his attack on the lower floors.
Those lower floors were mostly taken up with the massive mechanical body of Malig Tumora and, as Berrin knew only too well, that body was under attack by angry Gadges. After two flights of stairs, he risked a peek and saw metres of black wire and whole sections of circuit boards strewn across the corridor.
He climbed higher, but at the third floor, the roars and savage echoes of destruction warned him not to stop. Just as well too, because he had no sooner climbed towards the next floor than four, five, six Gadges rushed into the stairwell where he’d been standing only moments before. Though there was no blood in Malig Tumora’s death throes, the Gadges seemed driven by the urge to kill everything in their path. If they had found him standing there, startled and too slow to get out of their way, they’d have slashed him to pieces without a second thought.
Berrin was thankful that the smoke and dust masked his scent. The Gadges headed down towards the floors below and he relaxed. It was then that the same dust caught in his throat and, before he could slap a hand over his mouth, he coughed.
Most of the Gadges were too busy jostling with one another on the stairs to hear him, but the last in line stopped. He looked up the stairwell. ‘There’s a human hiding above us,’ he called to the others and took a step back up the stairs, bringing him level with the corridor his companions had seemed so eager to flee. Any moment, he would race up the rest of the way. Berrin would barely have time to move.
It was then that Berrin discovered why these Gadges had wanted to escape from the third floor. Without warning, a surge of flame shot into the stairwell from the corridor and took hold of the Gadge like an orange hand. The desolate howl of a wolf mixed with the scream of a human being. It was a death cry no natural creature would make. When Berrin dared look down again, all he could see was the beast’s charred remains.
He was free to continue searching, but the fire was spreading, and as Berrin began to climb again he found the air so hot he could barely breathe. He had to get to his parents soon, or they would never escape alive.
He reached the fifth floor and began to make his way cautiously along the central corridor. Gadges were still a danger here, but they were all firing guns from the windows and had eyes only for the square below. He hurried along, ignoring every room whose door was still intact. Gadger Red had destroyed the door he was looking for. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about locks and keys.
Some of the rooms he peered into had been destroyed by cannon fire from Jones’s tank. Survival had become a matter of luck. If his parents were in one of the unlucky rooms, they would already be dead.
Finished with the fifth floor he climbed again, and at the second room he came to he found the door wrenched from its hinges. This had to be the one. He moved quickly to the door, only to fall back at the intense heat.
‘Mother, Father, are you here?’
No reply, but what did that mean? They might be alive but overcome by smoke. There was nothing he could use to shield himself from the flames, but they hadn’t taken hold yet. If he was quick …
He leapt over a burning beam and deeper into the room. His skin felt as though it was peeling from his flesh. A flame licked at his arm, bringing a cry of pain. He staggered away, only to be nipped from behind by more agony. He hadn’t taken a breath since entering through the broken door, but he was gradually checking every corner of the room. At last he was sure. The room was empty.
Another missile crashed into the Obsidian and the entire building seemed to groan. How much more of this could it take? How many more strikes would he be able to dodge before he was caught in the wrong place at the worst possible moment? And where had his parents gone? Were they safe already? Was all this danger a waste of time? They might have escaped down the stairwell while he was on the roof.
He looked back the way he had come. In less than a minute he could be free of the building too, as long as he dodged the Gadges on the way out. No, he had to be sure. If the worst had happened, if his parents were lying dead from breathing too much smoke, he must at least see the horror for himself.
He turned around and headed in the opposite direction. Around one corner, then another, and then he tripped, finishing face first on the gritty carpet of the corridor. He was sitting up, checking himself for damage, before he saw what he had fallen over — the body of a man. Standing over it, staring down at him in exhaustion, was the face of a woman. He’d found them at last.
‘Help me, Berrin,’ his mother gasped. ‘Your father’s still unconscious. I’ve tried to drag him to the elevator but he’s too heavy.’
Berrin scrambled to his feet and together they struggled to carry the slumped figure along the corridor. His father wasn’t a small man and there was nothing more awkward to lift than a limp human body. Progress was painfully slow.
‘There it is, we made it,’ his mother cried. She rushed ahead and stabbed at a button on the wall beside the shiny metal doors. ‘I hope it’s still working.’
Berrin had ridden in elevators before. In fact, twice on that very day. If he hadn’t been so terrified on each occasion, it might have been fun. Certainly, the elevator was the best way to get his father to the ground before the entire building collapsed. It was taking its time coming though. Perhaps he could sense the whirr and clang of its workings as it drew closer. He put his hand against the door …
‘Ow! It’s too hot to touch,’ he cried.
His mother dabbed at the metal gently with the back of her hand, snatching it away quickly. ‘There must be a fire in the lift well,’ she said, and with those words she crumpled to the ground beside her husband and began to weep. ‘How can we save him now?’
‘Not by staying here,’ said Berrin. He slipped his hands under his mother’s armpits and tugged her back to her feet. ‘Come on, we can’t give up yet.’
The relentless pounding of the Obsidian continued as they painstakingly made their way back the way they had come. An entire section of wall fell from a storey below. The building lurched like a dizzy monster then seemed to recover itself.
‘We have to hurry,’ Berrin said. ‘The whole building is going to collapse.’
Yet for all their lifting and straining, they only managed to get as far as the same room where they had been kept prisoner. It was a charred ruin now and the smoke gushing forth was so thick they could barely see each other. Worst of all, though, their struggle to safety hadn’t even begun properly and already Berrin’s mother was exhausted.
‘I don’t think I can lift him any more,’ she puffed.
Berrin looked down at his father’s body. He could barely budge it an inch on his own. After all they had been through, were the three of them going to die together on the sixth floor of Malig Tumora’s headquarters?
‘This is Doomsday,’ he said to his mother. ‘We knew the end was coming, a long time ago.’
‘Who, Berrin? Who are you talking about?’
‘The Rats, my friends. We’ve been fighting back ever since Ferdinand escaped into the tunnels so many years ago that only he can remember. If it wasn’t for him, I would never have known who you were, never have found you.’
Berrin swept the smoke away from around them and came to embrace his mother. This was the touch that the poor grown-up named Lucy had wanted to share with him. It hadn’t felt right with her. Like Olanda, he had broken away. But holding his mother, and letting her hold him so tightly, a warmth came to him that he had craved even before he knew what it meant. Doomsday or not, he wasn’t ready to give up what he found in that embrace.
