Instinct (2010) (37 page)

‘Do you have any idea where we are?’

‘I’m pretty sure it’s still Level Two. Even on that trip, I think I’d have noticed a twenty-foot drop. But whereabouts, I have no idea. Do you think you can walk?’

Laura tried to lean forward. Her ribs screamed through her. ‘Jesus!’

‘What?’

‘My ribs. I might have cracked a couple on my left side.’ She rolled over on to her right and rocked forward on to her knees. ‘But I think I’ll be OK. What about you?’

‘My arm is pretty messed up, but I think my ankle’s gone down a bit, so nothing that’s going to stop me moving. It might not feel like it, but we were lucky.’

Webster eased on to his front, looking for a way to move that didn’t fill him with pain. After trying every
angle, he realized he was just going to have to grit his teeth and get on with it.

He stopped for a moment and turned to Laura. ‘If we find Andrew …’

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘OK,’ Webster said quietly.

They shuffled their way out of the nest, Webster suppressing a moan as he knocked his arm into the horns of the stag beetle.

‘That sounds bad,’ said Laura. ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’

‘Let’s just get moving.’

‘I think it’s this way,’ said Laura. ‘The larvae moved in the other direction when the mother came back. They would have gone further into the nest for protection.’

In great pain, she eased herself past the giant beetle and shifted herself along beside Webster so that he could follow her.

Garrett had given up on Webster, Laura and the kid. If it was going to be her and Wainhouse trying to save the geeks – well, she couldn’t see how it was going to happen.

George turned to her. ‘So, what now?’ The silence cranked up the discomfort still further.

‘Who you asking?’ Garrett asked eventually.

George shrugged. ‘I wasn’t …’

‘’Cause I’m just about shit out of ideas,’ she added.

‘OK, Garrett, I’m asking anyone. Let’s get it out in the open: no way through to the stairs on this level and no way on to Level Two without more of that.’ He pointed to Carter’s hand. In the absence of laboratory calcium, Susan had found some blackboard chalk and mixed it with water to calm the inflammation. It had had little effect. ‘But we’ve got to do
something
.’

‘Unless Bishop’s keeping a secret fire escape up his ass, I don’t know what that something is.’ Bishop looked up. ‘Yeah, you. You got us the hell into this mess, any ideas how we’re going to get out?’ Garrett asked.

‘What about back the way we came?’ asked Takeshi.

‘You do know it’s full of killer wasps, don’t you?’ said Wainhouse.

‘Certainly, but if we have two routes and we know one is impossible, it only makes sense to try the other.’

‘That’s a little too Zen for me,’ said Wainhouse, hoping for a laugh from Garrett. It didn’t come.

‘Do we have any more weapons that can clear the space on Level Two?’ asked Susan.

Garrett shook her head. ‘We’ve used up the good stuff. Only basics left,’ she said, tapping her semi-automatic rifle.

‘So we’re fucked then?’ said Mike with sarcastic brightness. He pretended to think for a moment.

‘You know what we could do?’ he said. ‘We could send Bishop here down to Level Two so he can check things out. It’s dangerous, but it’s a risk I don’t mind taking.’

‘Me neither,’ said Wainhouse, getting to his feet. Bishop looked up to see everyone except Garrett staring at him.

‘What’s that going to solve? What do you think I can do down there?’ he asked, now feeling very anxious.

‘I’m not sure I care,’ said Wainhouse, moving towards him. ‘If I’m going to die because of you, I wouldn’t mind watching you cop it first, shitcake.’

Susan spoke up. ‘He’s right. What’s the point? We’ll be no better than him if we just send him off to die.’

‘Let’s take a vote on it,’ said George. ‘Anyone who wants a little thrill in our last half-hour in this hole, say “Aye”.’

George, Wainhouse and Mike said their ‘aye’s with bitter menace.

‘That … that’s three against three,’ Bishop said. Takeshi, Susan and Garrett had remained silent.

‘You know what?’ said Wainhouse, his face inches from Bishop’s. ‘Maybe I don’t give a shit about the vote.’

‘Leave him!’ snapped Garrett. ‘We might find a way out of here that he can help with. We keep him alive, whether he deserves it or not.’

Wainhouse looked darkly at Garrett.

‘So we’re back to being fucked,’ he said.

‘What was that?’ said Susan.

‘What?’ asked George.

‘Stop moving, everyone!’ Susan’s complexion was skimmed milk, her small voice unsteady. They all listened.

‘I can’t …’ began George.

‘Shhhh!’ hissed Susan. ‘There!’

The sound burst out from the floor below and they all turned to see a blackfly, big as a baseball and loud as a chainsaw, swooping in gentle curves above them. The insects would have been affected by the light bomb to differing extents, depending on how much protection they had had from the glare. This fly reminded the seven they were on borrowed time. Soon the rest of the insects would wake up and want to explore the commotion on Level One.

‘That’s all we need,’ said Garrett, pulling her rifle from her shoulder.

Pain and weakness were gradually slowing the progress of Laura and Webster. They had stopped twice to see if they could tourniquet his arm with strips of leaves. The second time, Laura insisted on doing it and felt the sticky mush of the coagulating blood. Webster stifled raging screams as she tied the leaves off with a piece of torn trouser-leg. Her lack of medical experience meant this was done with little precision. Webster thought her efforts were actually hurting more than the stab of the beetle, but he did nothing to remedy the situation but gasp, ‘A little looser,’ into her ear.

Reaching a wall, they found that Level Two had its own set of blue lights. It was all they had to go on, so Webster tried to use them as markers. He smeared a little blood on the wall next to each light so they knew where they’d been. But it was hopeless: as soon as they found themselves pushed away from the wall by a barrier of plants, they had to change their route to avoid the dense trunks that would not let them past. By the time they reached another blue light, it was not the one Webster thought they had been aiming for.

Occasionally they ran into insects. The first scared the life out of Webster when he moved a leaf to reveal its malevolent eyes staring up at him. It took a
second to accept that it was too stunned to move, but Webster was still shocked at the sight of this armchair-sized spider, enormous claws curving out of its mouth.

‘That must be one of the mutations,’ he said.

Laura peered over his shoulder. ‘Sorry to diappoint you, but that’s an amblypygid. They’re not poisonous, but I’d rather not be in reach of those claws when he comes round.’

They moved on and almost stumbled into a scorpion. Like the amblypygid, it was not moving, but they could see the life behind its eyes as it waited to rise and kill again. It was so big that, although they could see its huge claws, they could see no more of its body except for the giant sac of poison that hung from its tail ten feet above them.

‘Thank God for that light bomb,’ said Laura. ‘That’s the Arizona bark scorpion, one of the most venomous species in the world. If they were trying to make killers, they chose their subjects well.’

They moved quickly on.

By now they had been walking for about fifteen minutes, with no obvious progress.

‘Major, do you have any idea where we are?’

Webster sighed and looked down to Laura’s clear blue eyes.

‘No. I’m sorry.’

‘Maybe we need to try something else.’

‘I just don’t know what. These insects are going to
wake up soon, and our only chance has to be trying to find the way up.’

‘What if we follow the wall until we get to the hole the explosion made?’

‘I’ve tried that. We get maybe ten yards before getting blocked off, then we have to move out into the middle again, where we’re lost.’

‘OK. Well, let’s keep going. It’s got to be better than staying here.’

‘Sure,’ said Webster. She was right, but they were running out of time.

Despite being a hundred times the size, it moved exactly like a real fly. Rubbing its forelegs together, it snapped its head quickly from side to side. The scientists watched closely as it buzzed from surface to surface. It stopped next to Carter’s hand and bent forward to examine it. Something, perhaps the poison from the blister beetle, put it off and instead it flew down to the cockroach hole and disappeared inside. Garrett ran to the hole to see if she could get a shot in, but it was long gone.

‘Did you see that? Proportionately, it’s far bigger than the wasps,’ marvelled George.

‘Amazing,’ said Susan. ‘The integument still operates even at that size.’

‘The integu-what?’ asked Wainhouse.

Mike turned to him. ‘It’s what makes them so strong and flexible. And if that part of them has survived all the experiments, then maybe everything else has.’

‘So what?’

‘So it might help us. If they also have the same visual processing as normal insects, then they will only be able to see us clearly if we move.’

‘But we’ve got to move,’ Garrett said. ‘We’ve got to get the hell out of here.’

‘I know, but it doesn’t hurt to remember things that might make them leave us alone,’ said Mike.

They were distracted by another sound: from the other side of the room, they heard a soft paradiddle, getting louder. One by one, they turned in the direction of Bishop’s office. By now most of the fires had either died to embers or gone out entirely. A near-darkness had returned that sapped the room of visibility. However, the entrance had a blue light above it that made it just possible to see the door, which now showed a small, jagged hole.

‘The wasps!’ shouted Bishop.

‘Nobody move,’ whispered Mike.

Nobody did, except Garrett. Slowly, she brought her automatic rifle up to her shoulder and set it to fire a single bullet.

Closing her left eye and lowering her right to peer through the sights, she was now looking straight at the hole that was growing around the door lock.

She knew that if her shot was off she might just blast a hole in the door and release the wasps, so she did not squeeze the trigger until she was absolutely certain of her aim.

Only Susan had seen Garrett raise her weapon. The
bang
of the primer igniting the propellant sent an explosion of shock through everyone else.

Her shot was true.

The bullet ripped through four wasps then flew down the corridor and into Bishop’s office, shattering his coffee machine.

The sound of the wasps stopped, then began again with less purpose, as if they had regrouped and were only warily restarting the process of breaking down the door. This gave Garrett another chance to take aim.

‘What the fuck was that?’ said Bishop in an angry whisper.

‘That was me shooting wasps,’ said Garrett, in a manner that suggested he ought to be grateful and shut the hell up. ‘I’m buying us time. Now get to the ropes and head down to Level Two. None of us checked –’

Her instructions had to wait for another pull of the trigger and the chaos that followed.

‘… Excuse me. None of us checked the stairs in Level Two yet. Watch the hell out for the insects, but right now that’s our only way out of here, and time we ain’t got. I’ll cover these fuckers while you do it. Hopefully this confusion’s going to keep the others off your ass.’

‘Wait,’ said Bishop. ‘Listen.’

‘I am listening. I can hear big fuckin’ wasps.’

‘Shut up!’

It was faint, but it was definitely Laura and Webster, calling their names.

‘Where the hell are they?’ asked Garrett, moving around the floor. ‘Major! Keep shouting! We’re gonna find you!’

At the next call, they looked towards the cockroach hole. Webster and Laura’s calls were still faint, but this was where they were loudest. Garrett dropped down and dipped her head through the floor.

‘Major?’

‘Garrett?’ He sounded like he was talking through a pillow.

‘Major? Where the hell are you?’

‘Garrett. Look for a blue light. Can you see a blue light?’

‘A blue light? Hang on.’ She swivelled herself round until she had taken in 360 degrees of the floor below. ‘Yes! A blue light. I can see one, twenty feet away. Wave your hand in front of it so I know I’m looking at the right one.’ Webster did as he was asked.

‘Yes! Major, I’m looking right at you. Follow my voice and we’ll get you up here.’

‘Keep talking, Garrett.’ This was followed by the swish of leaves and the bending and snapping of twigs and branches.

‘Keep talking? You got it, Major. The fuckin’ wasps are at the fuckin’ door but I just shot a bunch of ’em. Carter got fucked by some crazy poisoned beetles but he’s still alive, and it’s good to know you’re alive cos I fuckin’ need you up here if we’re gonna have even a half-chance of getting the fuck out of this place. We’re not a hell of a lot closer than when you jumped down the –’

‘Garrett, we’re right underneath you but we need help. There’s a good trunk right here but it’s not enough for us to climb up. We’re going to need someone to come down and help us.’ Webster was looking right at Garrett, who returned his relieved smile with one of her own.

‘You got it, Major, I’m sending Wainhouse with a rope.’

Wainhouse had appeared at the hole while Garrett was talking. He had a huge grin on his face. This was hope, and he could feel it filling him up as the despair shrank away in response.

‘You two had better clear the way,’ called Garrett. ‘He’s coming down.’

Garrett tied one end of the rope to an enormous filing cabinet that was lying on its side nearby and the other end to Wainhouse. He dropped into the hole and Garrett eased the rope out to let him down.

By now the others had gathered around.

‘George, Mike, I’ll need you two to pull this up when Wainhouse ties them two on.’ They were grateful to be useful, and when Wainhouse gave the signal, they pulled Laura up in a few seconds.