Spiral (18 page)

Drake steepled his fingers as he absorbed this. “So what you’re saying is that conventional forces — armed only with rudimentary weapons — stopped the Phase? So with modern equipment, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“If — and only if — you can find where the new Phase is taking place, and destroy the Warrior Class before they spread,” Eddie answered. “Before or during pupation.”

“Why?” Drake cut in.

“Because the Warrior Class can reproduce, too. When they get out, their numbers become —”

“Exponential,” Drake interjected. “So they’re male and yet they can reproduce.” He was suddenly struck by a question. “But why is this new Phase taking place right now?”

“As I told you, a number of factors have to be present before a Phase is triggered, and even our scholars don’t know exactly what they are. Perhaps one of the factors is simply our biological clock. The time was” — Eddie stopped, correcting himself — “
is
right. And I know it is because I can feel it, and so can all those Limiters who’ve come over to me.”

WITH CAPTAIN FRANZ
standing like a shop dummy behind them, the Rebecca twins had been watching on a security monitor as Alex and the other Styx women worked their way through the humans, impregnating them with egg sacs.

Rebecca Two spotted activity at the factory gates on another monitor. “The food drop’s arrived,” she observed.

“It’s about time. I bet the sisters are famished. Let’s see if I can override this thing,” Rebecca One said, pressing the function keys on the keyboard until she found the view she was looking for. “Here we are.” The tractor-trailer was backing up in the loading bay. As soon as it stopped, the trailer was opened and a squad of New Germanians began to hurriedly empty its contents onto a series of barrows. “Meals on wheels,” the twin joked. “
You are my sunshine
,” she began to sing quietly to herself as she switched back to the camera inside the steamy factory space. Using the swivel stick on the desktop controls, she zoomed in on the connecting doors from the loading area. Less than a minute later, the doors swung open and in came two New Germanians with a laden barrow. Behind them, a Limiter stood guard in the entrance.

Smelling the food, a horde of Styx women had been lurking just inside the doors.

Rebecca One laughed maliciously. “This is going to be good.”

Vane rushed one of the New Germanians, clawing him to the ground with amazing speed. The rest of the women immediately swarmed on both him and the other soldier, tearing at their bodies. They were so Darklit, the two soldiers did nothing to fight back.

“I suppose we promised our sisters fresh meat,” Rebecca Two reflected as she watched the carnage. “You can’t get fresher than that.”

Even the Limiter didn’t escape the women’s attention.

“Wild!” Rebecca Two exhaled.

Like an attacking spider, Vane had moved with such phenomenal speed that the trace she left on the security monitor wasn’t much more than a blur.

In a single leap, she’d reached the Limiter, and before he knew what was happening, her insectoid legs had lashed his eyes. Staggering blindly, he tried to use his rifle to fend her off, but Alex was already on his back, her teeth in his neck.

“The female of the species is always the deadliest,” Rebecca One said under her breath.

“Ha! Those two!” Rebecca Two chortled as she watched. Vane and Alex were ripping the Styx soldier apart, limb from limb, while another panicked Limiter quickly sealed the doors to the factory floor behind them. “They’re so picky about what they eat.”

As the Bedford trundled along the path of the river, the water level receded so at least their feet weren’t being swamped. Then the truck’s tires spun as they climbed the bank and were back on some sort of track.

After a while Chester felt a pressure on his upper arm. Stephanie had drifted off, her head against him. Careful not to disturb her, he took out his flashlight, shielding it as he tried to make out the time on his watch. Before he turned the light off, its stray beam flicked over Elliott, who was sitting directly opposite him. She was wide awake and staring at him and Stephanie. It might have been due to the angle of the flashlight beam, but her expression was grim and unamused.

Despite the fact that he was protected by the darkness, Chester felt himself color up, as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

It was true that he wasn’t sure how to respond to Stephanie’s interest in him, particularly as he assumed that it was mainly due to the false picture Will had painted of his prowess as a skiing champion.

And Chester felt awkward about the pace at which everything was moving, as if he was being swept along by an actual river. What it came down to was that he didn’t know how Elliott really felt about him, or how he really felt about her. There had been times when they seemed to be close, but more recently, during their stay at Parry’s house, she’d distanced herself from him, and everybody else.

Chester was just confused.

And he was very relieved when the Bedford eventually came to a grinding halt, which roused Stephanie.

“Where are we?” She yawned, sitting up.

“Don’t know,” Chester grunted, aware that he was probably still under scrutiny from Elliott.

With a crash, Parry opened the tailgate. “Everyone out,” he said.

Following behind Colonel Bismarck, Chester jumped from the truck, and found that they were under a shelter made of rusty corrugated sheets. He wandered a few paces into the open, squinting at the sky, where the dawn light was beginning to streak its way between the clouds. “What a surprise — it’s raining,” he complained, blinking as the drizzle fell in his eyes.

“That’s a Morris Minor!” Mr. Rawls announced, and Chester turned to look at the old car hidden behind the truck. It resembled an overripe and very large grape, not just because of its globular shape but because of the dull patina on its paint.

“It’s Danforth’s,” Parry informed them. “At least he arrived without mishap.”

Once everyone had gathered up their equipment, they followed Parry along a path surrounded on both sides by thick undergrowth. Chester noticed that Elliott had come to a stop and that she was grimacing and rubbing her shoulder under the strap of the Bergen. Concerned for her, he retraced his steps back to where she was. “Are you all right?” he asked, and placed a hand on her arm.

She jumped, drawing away from him, then met his eyes. “Stephanie’s very pretty. You never mentioned that you’d met someone on the estate,” she said.

“I . . . er . . . I didn’t think it mattered,” Chester gabbled. “And I really don’t know her at all.”

“I do,” Elliott replied. “She’s everything I wanted to be. And everything I hate about myself.”

Chester had no idea how to respond to this, but Parry had noticed they weren’t keeping up. “Hurry it along, you two,” he called, then continued to strike out along the path. Within a few minutes Chester caught sight of some open land before them.

“Move quickly along here,” Parry urged.

They’d emerged in a gulley at the foot of a mountain, much of which was covered with grass and sheep-cropped vegetation. However, toward its upper reaches, the soil had been scoured away by the elements, and large slabs of striated rock stood proud like the remains of ancient fortifications. Chester saw that the gulley was taking them toward a line of electricity pylons.

Parry called everyone around him on the side of the gulley. “Once we’re over the top, we’ll be in an exposed position. It’s very unlikely there’ll be anyone in the valley below, but just in case, Wilkie’s going to send you across one at a time. Understood?”

Everyone nodded, then Parry climbed out of sight. When it was Chester’s turn, Wilkie gave him a pat on the back and the boy clambered up the side. With the wind and rain in his face, he began to jog the forty feet across to where Parry was crouched down beside one of a pair of structures at the base of the nearest pylon. As Chester came nearer, he could see that these were two squat, gray-painted transformers approximately twenty feet square and covered in cooling fins. On top of them were what appeared to be elongated goalposts, from which cables extended to the pylon above.

The transformers were both encircled by a chain-link fence with razor wire strung along the top. Parry ushered Chester through a gate in the fence so he could join his father and a very fed-up Stephanie.

“This is so not cool anymore,” she said, water dripping from the end of her nose.

Finally, as Old Wilkie joined them inside the fence, Parry moved toward the nearest of the transformers, from which a steady hum was emanating. On the transformer a sign warned
DANGER OF DEATH. KEEP AWAY. HIGH VOLTAGE WILL KILL
, with lightning strikes on either side of a red skull and crossbones.

“Danger indeed,” Parry said, placing a hand on the structure. There was a whiplash crack as electricity discharged. Despite the fact that Parry’s hair was damp, it stood on end. His appearance would have been rather comical if everyone hadn’t thought he was being electrocuted.

But he was completely unharmed. “Nothing to be worried about,” he said, laughing. “An electrostatic charge to see off the overcurious.” He selected one of the fins on the side of the transformer and pressed a catch on it, then slid open a small hatch.

They all ducked in though the hatch, entering a claustrophobic chamber on the other side. Parry used his flashlight to see as he pressed a series of digits into a small key panel. The moment he’d finished, a red light blinked on above a grille beside the key panel. From it a man’s voice issued the demand “The prime sequence.”

“You know precisely who I am. Do we really have to go through this charade every time?” Parry replied tetchily.

“Of course we do,” the grille snapped, adding “sir” as an afterthought.

Parry blew through his lips, then recited, “The beast deep within the mountain slumbers until the kingdom calls, and then it shall arise to do the king’s bidding.”

“Affirmed,” the panel said. “Now sequence fourteen, if you please, sir.”

Parry thought for a moment. “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, there is a rapture on the lonely shore, there is society, where none intrudes —”