Perilous Read online

  The last clip seemed to be stuck firmly in place. I’d have to risk standing on tiptoe longer if I was going to stand any chance of undoing it. I made my third attempt, wincing from the pain in my ankle as I clawed desperately at the clip. I felt like cheering when I felt it move under my fingers, but then the hatch cover came flying off.

  I instinctively dodged sideways out of the way, and the cover went bouncing down into the darkness without hitting me, but my abused right ankle inevitably gave way again. I yelped in pain, swayed wildly backwards, recovered once, and then swayed again.

  “Amber!”

  Forge’s voice shouted from above me as I slipped off the handrail. I managed to grab it with my right hand, breaking my fall, and stopping myself from going toppling down to Level 54.

  Forge slid out of the hole feet first, lowered himself down with his hands, and dropped neatly onto the steps of the downway. “Amber, are you hurt?”

  “I’ve bruised my right ankle.” I tried putting my weight on my right foot. “I think I’m all right so long as I walk carefully.”

  “Thanks for getting me out of there, Amber. I’m really grateful.”

  I held out one of the lanterns towards Forge, saw the relieved and delighted expression on his face, and felt a flush of pleasure. “That’s all right.”

  Forge took the lantern and turned to hurry back down the stairs.

  “You’re going the wrong way,” I called after him.

  “I just want to put the hatch cover back in place,” said Forge.

  I found it hard to argue with Forge, but he’d have to climb on the handrail to put the hatch cover back, and it seemed a totally unnecessary risk. “That doesn’t matter now.”

  Forge stooped to pick up the cover. “It does matter. Rescue teams will be using the upways and downways to travel round the Hive. We can’t leave the hatch cover lying on the steps where someone could trip over it and get hurt.”

  I remembered the way I’d put my foot on Linnette’s lantern and fallen. “That’s true, but we could move it to ...”

  I let my words trail off because Forge had already jumped up on the handrail. I watched nervously as he put the hatch cover back in place, anticipating a disastrous fall, but Forge was tall enough to reach the clips easily. Within seconds, he was jumping down again. He took off his headband, turned off its lights, and put it in his pocket, then picked up his lantern and came back to join me.

  “We should find Linnette now.”

  “Yes.” I led the way up the stairs. “I’ve been away a very long time, but she’s probably still asleep.”

  “Linnette’s asleep? How can she sleep in this dreadful darkness? Especially with a broken leg!”

  “I was told to give her two painkilling tablets,” I said. “They sent her to sleep.”

  I could hear Linnette before we reached her. She was making soft snuffling noises in her sleep, but it didn’t sound like she was having bad dreams. Forge handed me his lantern and knelt beside her.

  “Does she have any injuries other than the broken leg?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Forge slid his arms carefully under Linnette, and lifted her. I led the way upwards, trying to hold the lanterns so that Forge had as much light as possible. As he lowered Linnette onto the stretcher, I gave a sob of relief.

  “We just need to get to the park now, and that should be easy.”

  “It won’t be easy at all.” Forge took back his lantern. “We’ll need to go most of the way back to our corridor, and then head west and ...”

  “No, we don’t,” I interrupted him. “That’s the way to the main park entrance, but we can take the shortcut to one of the side entrances. That’s only about two corridor lengths north of here.”

  Forge frowned. “Are you sure you can find the way in this darkness, Amber?”

  “I’m certain. Remember that I spend a lot more time in the park than you do. I’ll just call Ruby and Atticus to let them know we’ve found Linnette.”

  I took out my communicator and pressed the green button. “Hello, Ruby, Atticus, are you there?”

  “Yes,” Ruby and Atticus answered in unison. “Where are you, Amber?” Atticus continued solo. “We were expecting you to reach the park at least fifteen minutes ago. We were about to call you to ask if you’d got lost.”

  “I’m not lost. I’m in the shopping area, and I’ve found both Forge and Linnette, but Linnette’s broken her leg. Emergency Services told us to bring Linnette to the park on a stretcher, so we’ll be with you soon.”

  “How can you have found Forge?” Ruby sounded puzzled. “Atticus said he was having treatment in a medical facility.”

  I hesitated, unsure what to say.

  “The medical facility discharged me,” said Forge. “I was on my way home when the power went out. I got lost in the dark, but then I heard Amber shouting. We’d better get moving now.”

  “Good luck,” said Ruby.

  I put the communicator in my pocket, and collected my backpack and the extra lantern. I found I could hold both lanterns in my left hand, so I grabbed one of the front handles of the stretcher with my right, and started it moving.

  Forge took hold of a handle on the other side of the stretcher. “Are you sure this way is north, Amber? I’ve lost my sense of direction.”

  I was feeling far more confident now that I was no longer alone with the burden of responsibility for getting Linnette to safety. “I’ve already done a lot of wandering round this shopping area in the dark, and I’m positive that we turn right from the downway to reach the sandwich bar. We should see it ahead of us in a minute.”

  “How is your bruised ankle now?” asked Forge.

  “My ankle is feeling a lot better, but I can see you’re limping. Is your cut leg hurting you?”

  Forge stopped limping. “No, it’s just a scratch. I can see a clothes stall ahead of us but not a sandwich bar.”

  “The sandwich bar is just beyond it. Look!” I gestured with my lantern.

  “Oh yes.” Forge looked nervously round. “I know the peculiar shadows are only the effect of the lanterns swaying, but I saw some odd flashes of light past the sandwich bar.”

  “Those will just be reflections of our own lanterns.” I tugged the stretcher into motion again. “I often buy food at the sandwich bar and go to the park to eat it. Once we reach the sandwich bar, we turn right into a corridor.”

  Forge was silent until we reached the sandwich bar. “There isn’t a corridor here.”

  “I’d forgotten there was another shop after the sandwich bar.” I carried on past the next shop and pointed triumphantly at the corridor on our right. “Now if we go down this corridor, and turn left at the next crossway, we’ll reach the park.”

  As we headed down the corridor, I noticed Forge was limping again. If I asked him about his leg, he’d keep denying he was in pain, and there was no way to avoid him walking to the park. Once we got there, I’d have to make sure both he and Linnette got medical treatment.

  Just before we reached the crossway, we found an overturned trolley lying in our path. Its contents, a host of small packages, had scattered across the corridor. I picked up one of the packages, studied it in the light of my lantern, and then tossed it aside.

  “Food packs,” I said. “Someone from Accommodation Services must have been taking them to restock kitchen units when the lights went out.”

  We cleared enough packages out of the way to tow the stretcher through. “Are you sure we turn left at the crossway?” asked Forge.

  “Yes.” We reached the crossway, and I laughed and pointed. “See for yourself.”

  “You’re right,” cried Forge. “I can see a light in the distance!”

  We headed eagerly down the corridor. As we got closer, I could see it wasn’t just one light ahead of us, but two glowing lanterns, one on either side of the park door.

  I didn’t notice the shadowy figure sitting on the floor between the lanterns until he got to his
feet, picked up one of the lanterns, and came to meet us. It was Atticus.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “I’m deeply relieved to see you, Amber,” said Atticus. “How is Linnette?”

  “I was told to give her two painkillers,” I said, “and those sent her to sleep. I’m hoping that’s a good sign.”

  Atticus nodded, turned to Forge, and waved a reproving finger at him. “As for you ... Well, I’ll have to save telling you what I think of your behaviour until we’re alone, because I’m planning to use extreme language. I’ve no idea how Amber managed to get you out of the vent system, but I do know that you didn’t deserve her efforts.”

  Forge sighed. “I know I didn’t. You can shout at me all you like later on, Atticus, but we need to get medical help for Linnette now.”

  “Forge needs medical help too,” I said.

  “No, I don’t,” said Forge.

  I wouldn’t normally argue with Forge, but I was worried about his injury. “You do need medical help. You’ve been limping all the way here.”

  Atticus stooped to peer at Forge’s leg. “There’s a lot of blood where something cut through your leggings and into your calf. Let me roll up the material to see how badly you’ve hurt yourself.”

  Forge took a rapid step backwards. “There’s no need for you to look at my leg, Atticus. It’s only a scratch.”

  “It’s bleeding an awful lot for something that’s only a scratch,” said Atticus.

  “My leg stopped bleeding ages ago,” said Forge.

  “It’s possible that it stopped bleeding at some point,” said Atticus, “but I can assure you it’s started again now. You’re dripping blood all over the floor. You must have opened up the wound walking here.”

  He straightened up again. “Amber’s right. You need a doctor to treat that leg.”

  Forge groaned. “If I go for treatment, the medical staff will ask lots of questions about how I injured myself. I can’t tell them the truth, and if they spot that I’m lying then we’ll all get into trouble.”

  “If you tell the medical staff that you fell and cut yourself, they won’t bother asking any more questions,” said Atticus. “They’ve already had to treat dozens of people who’ve had accidents in the dark.”

  Atticus held open the park door. I helped Forge to steer Linnette’s stretcher inside, then stopped, stunned by the sight of the park. I’d expected the lights to be on a brighter version of the moon and stars setting. I’d expected the park to be filled with people carrying lanterns. I hadn’t expected everyone to be crowded on to the event lawn, and dancing to Carnival music.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “How did an emergency evacuation turn into a Carnival party?”

  Atticus laughed. “This is all Shanna’s doing. When we arrived in the park, most of the teens in our area were already here, and they were all frightened and upset. Shanna tracked down the park keeper, told him she’d brought along her data cube of Carnival party music, and talked him into turning on the park event sound system. Fifteen minutes later, she had everyone happily dancing.”

  The music ended, and the dancers turned to look expectantly at where Shanna stood on the circular event stage. Shanna had her blonde hair falling loose around her shoulders, she was wearing a spectacular silver Carnival dress, and was surrounded by a ring of lanterns. The dress confused me. Had Shanna really chosen to pack her Carnival dress in her emergency bag? I supposed that she must have done.

  Shanna’s voice boomed over the park event sound system. “Next we’ve got a song that’s a personal favourite of mine. It’s Blue Zone’s very own Pasquale, performing his latest hit song that he wrote himself.”

  There was a cascade of rippling music, and a male voice started singing.

  “We met at Carnival.”

  Shanna waved at the crowd, like someone conducting an orchestra, and they all joined in the singing.

  “Her mask was silver and her hair was gold.”

  I exchanged dazed looks with Forge. “She’s amazing,” he said proudly. “Absolutely amazing.”

  Atticus shrugged. “Shanna was distinctly unhelpful when the power first went out, but I have to admit that she’s doing a wonderful job entertaining everyone now.”

  He grabbed a handle of the stretcher and started towing it along the path. “The staff from our local medical facility have set up a treatment area over this way.”

  Forge and I followed Atticus along the path, through some trees, to a smaller grassy area surrounded by flowerbeds. Giant lanterns illuminated a large array of stretchers, a gazebo shrouded with sheets, and a crowd of people sitting on chairs or the grass. I noticed that several of them were swaying in time to the distant music.

  A uniformed woman hurried over to meet us, her eyes on Linnette’s stretcher. “I’m the acting triage doctor. What happened?”

  “Linnette fell on the downway,” I said. “We think she’s broken her leg.”

  The woman glanced at her dataview. “Is this the Linnette 2514-1003-947 that we were expecting?”

  “That’s right. She was in a lot of pain. I was told to give her the two tablets from this packet and they sent her to sleep.”

  I handed over the empty packet. The woman studied it briefly. “Thank you. We’ll take care of her now.”

  She waved her arm, and a man hurried over to take charge of Linnette’s stretcher. “This is Linnette 2514-1003-947,” said the doctor. “She goes straight to the top of the queue.”

  The man nodded. “The park keeper just arrived. He says he’d like to let the music go on until midnight to wear all the teens out, before trying to get them to go to sleep. He wants to know if that’s all right with us.”

  “I think that’s a good idea. We want people sleeping soundly rather than having nightmares, and it will take us until well past midnight to catch up with treating the incoming casualties anyway, so ...”

  At this point, Pasquale hit the climax of his song. Not that you could hear him at all, since the crowd on the event lawn drowned him out with their own wildly enthusiastic singing.

  “Blue Zone girl!”

  A dozen of the waiting patients joined in with the repeat of the line. “Blue Zone girl!”

  The doctor turned to face the singers with a forbidding frown, but then muttered to herself. “Better to have them noisy and happy than quiet and scared.”

  She turned back to us again, and I hastily spoke. “There’s Forge too. He ...”

  I saw Forge giving me a forbidding look, and broke off my sentence.

  “Yes?” prompted the doctor.

  “Forge was very helpful,” I said lamely.

  Atticus sighed. “Forge has cut his leg and it’s dripping blood. He claims it’s only a scratch, but he’d say that even if he was cut to the bone.”

  The doctor pointed at a chair. “Please sit down, Forge, and I’ll assess your leg injury.”

  Forge glared at Atticus, and reluctantly sat down. The woman cautiously peeled back the blood-stained fabric covering his calf, and I winced as I saw the size of the gash in his leg.

  The woman shook her head. “Forge, you’ll need to stay with us until someone is free to treat your leg.”

  “I don’t need treatment.”

  The doctor’s voice developed an edge of sarcasm. “Are you imprinted with medical knowledge, Forge?”

  “No, but ...”

  “Well, I am, and I assure you that this injury does require treatment. What is your identity code?”

  Forge was still battling the inevitable. “But it’s just a scratch.”

  “His identity code is 2514-0253-884,” said Atticus helpfully. “We’ll leave both Forge and Linnette in your excellent care now.”

  Atticus turned and walked back along the path. I gave a last wary look at Forge’s face, before hurrying to catch up with Atticus.

  “Forge is annoyed with you,” I said anxiously.

  “I don’t care,” said Atticus.

  “He’s probably annoyed with me t
oo.”

  “We had to make sure he got medical treatment, Amber. Did you see the state of his leg?”

  I couldn’t help picturing the gash in Forge’s leg, and winced again. “Yes.”

  “Now let’s find the others from our corridor, and tell them you’ve brought Linnette here. They’re all very worried about the two of you.” Atticus paused for a second. “Well, I doubt Reece cares about anything except the fact he’s in trouble. He’s lucky that Ruby has him under guard, because if I was in charge of him ...”

  Atticus realized I’d stopped moving and turned to come back to me. “Is something ...?”

  “Hush!” I interrupted him. “Listen!”

  Atticus gave me a puzzled look. “Listen to what?”

  “I thought I heard someone crying. Yes, there it is again.”

  “I can only hear Shanna’s party music.”

  “It’s coming from this way.” I headed into the trees and stared around. It was so dark that I almost missed seeing the huddled shape at the foot of a dwarf oak tree. I went over to kneel next to it. “Are you all right?”

  The shape lifted its head, and I saw it was a girl. Her face was blotchy from crying, but looked vaguely familiar.

  “You’re Celeste from corridor 19, aren’t you?” Atticus came to kneel beside me.

  The girl nodded.

  “How did you get here?” asked Atticus. “I thought all the eighteen-year-olds were at a Lottery candidates’ event in a different area.”

  “Oh yes,” Celeste’s voice was suddenly loud with anger. “We were all at the Lottery candidates’ event to celebrate the end of our time on Teen Level. I was supposed to celebrate the fact I was about to say goodbye to all my friends and never see them again. I was supposed to celebrate the fact I was about to say goodbye to the boy I loved and never see him again either.”

  I didn’t know what I could say to comfort her.

  “Counsellors have been lecturing us for weeks,” Celeste’s voice abruptly changed from anger to bitter despair. “On the day after Carnival, we’ll enter Lottery. We’ll be assessed, optimized, allocated, and imprinted. We’ll be given our levels and sent out as proudly productive adult members of the Hive, but becoming an adult means we have to end our teen relationships.”