Hurt World One and the Zombie Rats (23 page)

‘Oh, that reminds me, I have a gift for her
as well.’ Natalie hurried back to her bedroom dressing table. Her
own bottle of perfume contained the signal transmitter Kaptu had
given her. Using dark matter, the signal could pass unhindered
through kilometres of rock. A quick twist was all it needed to
activate. Now, let’s see if he came.

Natalie went from there to the jewel box,
pulling out the first piece that came to hand. It was a gold
necklace. That would do. Meltman recongising it as one of his was
just one risk in a thousand. Natalie dropped it into a jacket
pocket and returned to the doorway. Meltman was still sniffing his
wrists.

‘It grows on you,’ he said. ‘I suppose you
could describe the scent as mysterious.’

‘Mysterious and attractive. It suits you just
like I hoped.’

The Meltman straightened and looked her up
and down with adoring eyes. ‘You’ve changed.’

‘Oh, really? How is that?’

‘More worldly. More beautiful.’

Natalie hooked her arms with his. ‘You’re
just being kind. It was such an intense journey I’m sure I look a
nightmare.’

They walked toward the elevators over
polished black and white checkered tiles.

‘You look far better than I will if I ever
have to take that ride. It is my own private escape pod. It is good
to see it work today without a hitch.’

‘You will never need it. You own the ground
under Asylum City. Like with this hotel, there are no limits.’

‘No limits, but this was more work than most
things,’ said the Meltman. ‘We filled the building with gas,
knocking everyone out for the night. And then we went to work,
floor by floor, stripping the entire building an army of ants
stripping a carcass of its flesh and disappearing back into its
nest.’

‘Won’t they come after you?’

‘They do not think they can reach me and they
are too afraid of what I might do if they try. Their fear is
justified. They have let me grow too big. They did not take
seriously the man living under their boots and now it is too
late.’

They stepped into the golden elevator and the
Meltman pressed down.

‘You have the whole floor to yourself. There
is room service. Anything you require.’ The Meltman smirked. ‘I
have put you on a different floor to your mother for that very
reason.’

The elevator was descending slowly from its
eighth floor starting point. Natalie took the Meltman’s arm, not
because it was what she wanted to do but because it was what
repulsed her the most. ‘You have been very kind to me.’

‘Seeing you again is all the gratitude I
need.’

The elevator stopped and Natalie sprung back.
The doors opened to a banquet room in which a table of real
mahogany wood was set out with eight places and a white attired
servant for each. Six of the places were already occupied. Shally
Nirajo, Mario and a bunch of Meltman generals. With them were
glasses of champagne, platters of fruit and cheese and menus of tan
leather and gold trim. The menus had the Nile Grande written upon
them, for the Meltman had even stolen these. The party turned
towards the Meltman and Natalie with very different looks on their
faces. Some were scared, some were reverent, and in the case of
Nirajo, there was the kind of revulsion Natalie had been battling
to conceal.

‘Sorry to keep you waiting,’ said the
Meltman, not looking at anyone in particular. ‘We were catching up
on old times. Anyway, there is no need to rush. We have something
fine to celebrate, the return of family. Let’s enjoy ourselves with
a real feast. But rearrange your chairs so that Natalie is sitting
next to me.’

It was Nirajo that had to move, having
strategically placed herself at the table between the two remaining
empty chairs. She did not resist, for it would entail making
accusations she could not bear to voice. She picked herself up
shakily from the table, knocking over her champagne glass as she
went.

‘Oh, sister,’ chuckled the Meltman
ebulliently. ‘Pace yourself. I want this to be a very long
night.’

23 Death for breakfast

Kaptu Z regained consciousness with his wrist
detector showing green. He forced himself not to react to it. He
was being dragged across dirt, his arms tightly gripped by powerful
hands. If his assailants realised he was back with the living, they
were liable to make it a very short stay. He kept his body limp,
let them do the work. Or maybe he had no choice about it. In a
wildlife preservation park, it would make sense if their darts
contained paralysing agents. That would have explained why he had
not roused with any jerky movements, the way people usually did
from violent rest.

While Kaptu feigned unconsciousness, all
other eyes were open in idle stares of cold-blooded indifference.
There were three men pulling Kaptu along, another a step behind,
and Mas. The men were Congolese and dressed in park ranger
uniforms. They had pistols at their hips. Mas had slung the
tranquilizer gun over her shoulder and was carrying a pulse
debilitater. They were moving towards the lions cage, a vivid
sunrise lighting the way. While the lions were sedate in one corner
of their cage, the cages on the way were more boisterous: the
monkeys and gorillas were in particular running a riot.

‘What’s going on?’ cried an old woman,
marching out along the dirt track leading from the central domed
building.

The men reacted reticently, as afraid of her
as they were Mas. It was La Pack and she ran her private zoo with a
ruthless detachment. Still, it was usually only with Mas in
residence that people got fed to the lions.

‘A Hurt World technician,’ replied Mas.
‘We’ve dealt with them before. This time they’re a little more
organised. They’ve brought a signature dog.’

‘Whose scent has been marked?’

‘Mine.’

‘How did they know you were here?’

‘I’ve been waiting around to ask him. I
injected him with a reviving agent to help speed the process along.
But I’m afraid I may have given him a dose of tranquiliser more
befitting an elephant.’

‘That doesn’t surprise me.’

‘I’ve run out of time. The Kudos has left
port and Jalanti is in quite a state.’

‘If you kill him, we’ll always be having to
look over our shoulders. He may even know that I’m your
mother.’

‘Well, that’s something even I would struggle
to find the evidence to support.’

They reached the lion’s cage; the men
dragging Kaptu along stopped and looked to Mas for instructions.
The lions were on the far side of the cage, though the odd lifting
of head from amongst the pride suggested their presence had not
gone unnoticed.

‘Maybe they can,’ replied Mas, her attention
remaining with La Pack. ‘But you don’t need this wretched place
anymore. With the money I’m sending you, you can go back to South
Africa. Start a real zoo. You’ve always talked about it.’

‘Sure,’ said La Pack unconvincingly.

‘Could you at least pretend? Pretend
what?’

‘That I’ve made a difference.’

‘I’d love to, honey. Now what about the dog?
Shall we shoot it?’

‘If you wait a few days you can sell it back
to the United Nations. I’d imagine after their man turns up eaten,
they’ll be prepared to pay quite a bit. Be discreet, of
course.’

‘Won’t they still be able to track you with
it?’

‘It won’t matter.’

‘Our relationship may be troubled but I’m not
about to sell to the police the dog that can track you.’

‘That’s touching. Then you’d better shoot
it.’ Mas leaned into La Pack, wrapping her arms around her in an
awkward embrace.

La Pack returned it somewhat aloofly. ‘I’m
glad you told me about your plot. We’ve never really shared before.
You go shepherd your zombie rats. I’ll stick with my lions. I’d
like to buy more, but not South African ones. They’re more likely
to lick someone than bight them. Not like the Congolese variety.
Their table manners are particularly appalling. In a good way.’ She
turned to the guards holding Kaptu. ‘Throw him in with the
breakfast.’

Mas walked away with a flapping of hand.
‘I’ll see you later,’ she said dismissively.

‘Don’t be like that,’ replied La Pack,
following her. ‘Come on, let’s go shoot that damned dog on the way
to your chopper. It can be a mother daughter thing.’

*

Kaptu could feel the adrenalin flooding into
his muscles, but he had to keep calm and let himself be dragged
into the cage. There was no other choice. He had no chance with so
many guards around him and with Mas still in the vicinity. On the
other hand, he did not know if the odds against lions would be any
better. As he lay sprawled out on the dusty floor, he peeked out
across at the lions. They were stirred onto their feet, their eyes
fixed on him and the strips of meat being thrown in around him.
They were enormously powerful creatures and they would dine as they
pleased. Kaptu noticed gaps in the roof bars that might just have
been wide enough to squeeze through. He exploded to life, grabbing
some of the strips of meat and rubbing his body in their fat and
sprang up onto the cage wall, just climbing out of reach of a
charging lion. With the added greasiness the fat had given him, he
was able to squeeze through bars without losing too much skin. He
quickly slid along the top of the cage and dived down onto the
guards who were preoccupied with pulling more meat from the food
chest. Taken by complete surprise, they had barely reacted by the
time Kaptu had relieved one of his pistols and turned it on them.
He did not leave any of them alive. It was not hard when they had
just tried to feed him to a pride of lions.

A dog was barking in the distance. Kaptu knew
it was Blast and started running. If the barking had drowned out
the gunfire for those on the way to shoot it, he might have the
advantage of surprise. But he wouldn’t be able to choose his
moment. He feared the next shot he heard would be the death knell
not only for Blast but also for Natalie. His legs were not moving
as fast as they should have been, weighed down by the remnants of
tranquiliser. He pumped his arms, desperate to propel himself
around the rusted old shed from which the barking was
originating.

And there she was, pulling at the lead staked
to the ground, her tail standing bolt upright. Kaptu aimed in the
direction she was looking and fired. His bullets ripped into the
shed, eliciting a scream from beyond it. Kaptu put another shot
that way before the scream had a chance to settle and he spun round
and shot the lead off Blast; it came running, low and fast, and it
was clear it had been very well trained. Kaptu advanced at the
shed, keeping low and he dived through the door into the darkness.
Suddenly there was a barrage of gunfire ripping through the far
wall above him. He returned fire in its direction, not stopping
until all three of his guns were empty. The firing had stopped on
the other side of the wall as well.

As Kaptu hurriedly reloaded, Blast came up to
him and licked his face. ‘Yeah, I know,’ murmured Kaptu. ‘I taste
like dead meat.’

He left the shed and watchfully edged his way
around the outside. He took the final corner gun first, cracking
off a burst of fire that cleared the three bodies crumpled across
the ground. He paused over them. They were wearing the khaki
uniforms of the wildlife preservation park and they were badly
mangled by bullets. There was a trail of blood leading away towards
the domed building. Kaptu clicked his fingers at Blast and pointed
at it. ‘Sniff, girl.’

Blast obediently brought its nose up to the
blood trail, but did not show any reaction. So, the blood did not
belong to Mas. If it was her mother’s, however, the trail might
still be worth following. But Kaptu baulked at the idea. Such a
task would best be done by a well-armed unit. Although he had one
on standby, they were waiting to do something else.

Kaptu had noticed a motorbike in the shed
when he first dived into it and he hurried back that way. Being in
a fortified compound with armed patrols, it was not surprising that
he found it unlocked. It started crisply and he sped out towards
the perimetre fence. Clorvine followed his progress through the
scope of her long gun, which was protruding into the wildlife
preservation through the hole he had cut in the wire. She quickly
set about making the hole wider with a laser-blade and was just in
time to peel back the wire before Kaptu raced through. The
motorbike roared back to her and Kaptu leaned over the handlebars.
‘Good morning.’

‘Are you alright?’ Clorvine asked. ‘You were
gone a long time. And then there was the barking and gunfire. You
found Mas, didn’t you?’

Kaptu swung off the motorbike and peered back
into the wildlife preserve. Blast was running for them, her ears
pinned back and her tongue flapping. Kaptu knelt down to meet
her.

‘We’ve got to get to the air force base,’ he
murmured Clorvine’s way.

‘But I’ve called in reinforcements. Congolese
Special Forces. If Mas is not dead, they will want Blast to sniff
her out.’

‘They’ll have to do their own sniffing.’
Kaptu stood up. ‘And I’m afraid all they’ll get is the smell of
death.’ He smiled into her deep brown eyes. ‘Come with me and I’ll
show you where the real action is. We have the fastest
intercontinental passenger rocket in the world at our disposal. We
will be in Texas before you even have time to think.’

‘Texas?’

Kaptu noticed her hesitation and said, ‘Oh,
you’re thinking now.’ He sighed. ‘Don’t worry about this place.
What we have here is a world-class snake breeder poisoning the
world with the monster of all venoms: Heroin 3. But this is just
the tail of the operation. We’re going to cut off the head.’

‘Let’s go then. The hovercraft is behind the
trees over there.’ They ran to it and were immediately speeding
away. The arid grassland raced by in an eerie silence. Kaptu didn’t
like it, he preferred his engines loud. Clorvine fumbled clumsily
with the harness in the driver seat. Her eyes had become transfixed
on a point in the distance. Her face scrunched up with concern.