Название: Code Name Flood
Автор: Laura Martin
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Детская проза
isbn: 9780008152932
isbn:
“He’s going to drown!” I gasped as Shawn’s head went under again. Panic dug its cold fingers into my heart. If I jumped in, all I would do was drown with him. In desperation, I attempted to rip at the rope binding my hands with my teeth, but it was no use. The next thing I knew, Schwartz had grabbed the back of my tunic and yanked me roughly away from the edge and onto the floor of the boat. He was shouting at me, but I was too lost in my fog of panic to hear him.
“Tell me who gave you that map,” he bellowed again, obviously deciding to use Shawn’s predicament to his advantage.
“She already did!” Todd yelled. “Can’t you see Shawn’s drowning?”
I stumbled to my feet in time to see Shawn struggle to the surface, grab a lungful of air, and go down again.
“He’ll get eaten before he can drown,” Chaz said, her lips pressed in a grim line. “Look.” Something in her voice cut through my panic, and Todd and I snapped our heads to follow her pointing finger.
“What is that thing?” Todd breathed. My heart stuttered to a terrified stop as I took in the creature swimming towards us. Its enormous head alone was almost as long as our boat and reminded me of an alligator with long yellow teeth jutting out from jaws that looked capable of crushing a human in one bite. Its massive body was serpentine and fluid as it cut through the water like a snake. A dark blue-black in colour, it blended almost seamlessly with the waves, and if Chaz hadn’t pointed it out, I might not have noticed it until it was upon us. But now that I had seen it, I knew it was going to haunt my nightmares. I had no clue what kind of plesiosaur it was, but it was one of the scariest things I’d ever seen. Which, considering everything I’d seen since coming topside, was really saying something.
“Get him out,” I begged as angry, helpless tears slid down my face. “Please.”
“Talk,” Schwartz said coldly.
“Sir!” Chaz said, dropping her gun to the floor of the boat as she lunged forward to make a grab for Shawn.
Schwartz shot a hand out to restrain her, his face pinched. “The safety of the lab is in jeopardy. Follow your orders.”
Words began pouring out of me, as though if I just said the right combination, I could save Shawn. Whether I trusted Schwartz didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered but getting Shawn out of the water. Fast.
“My dad gave it to me. He told me to come here.” I choked, frantic. “He didn’t say why. Just get him out. Please!”
“Dr Schwartz?” Chaz said as Shawn spluttered back to the surface. “That’s Pretty Boy. It could capsize us.” Tearing my eyes away from Shawn, I saw the beast sink down into the murky water. Somehow not seeing it was scarier than seeing it had been.
Schwartz sighed. “Fine, we’ll finish this at the lab.” Leaning over, he grabbed Shawn’s tunic, and with Chaz’s help he hauled him back into the boat, where he flopped in an exhausted heap, gasping for air. Schwartz was just turning back to the motor when the boat lurched suddenly, almost toppling Todd into the water. Chaz grabbed him and threw him to the floor of the boat next to Shawn.
“Dr Schwartz!” she yelled. “He’s testing us. Please get this thing moving, or we’re all dead.” Schwartz’s face went white, and he grabbed the cord of the motor, giving it a firm yank. The engine snarled and died. He pulled at it again, and it gave another hopeful rumble before sputtering out. The plesiosaur emerged beside us, and if I’d had the inclination to reach out a hand, I could have pricked a finger on one of the teeth that was roughly the length of my forearm. What had Chaz called it? Pretty Boy? What a stupid name for one of the ugliest creatures I’d ever seen. It sized us up before bumping its head into the boat again, making it tilt violently. Its message was clear. It was going to toy with us first, terrify us, before swallowing us whole.
“Dr Schwartz!” Chaz yelled, going for her tranquiliser gun.
“Saying my name isn’t helping,” Schwartz snapped. “And don’t shoot it. It’ll drown if we tranquilise it.”
“Good! Drown it!” Todd shouted, but Schwartz ignored him as he gave the cord another yank. This time the engine spluttered to life. He cranked the handle, and we shot off across the water, the shoreline shrinking behind us as we headed towards the middle of the lake. Pretty Boy submerged again, and I waited for it to reemerge and chase us. It didn’t.
I sank down beside my soaked and shivering friend. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. The words sounded pitiful. Shawn had almost just been shot, drowned, and fed to a monster. Sorry didn’t really cut it.
“What was that thing?” Shawn gasped, his eyes not leaving the spot where Pretty Boy had disappeared, and I realised that in the struggle to stay afloat Shawn hadn’t seen the monster approaching.
“I have no idea,” Todd said. “But I’m pretty sure it’s the reason my mom said to never swim in Lake Michigan.” Shawn’s face went green, but before I could ask him if he was OK, he’d crawled awkwardly to the edge of the boat and puked. Not wanting to lose him overboard again, I grabbed the back of his drenched tunic with my still-bound hands and held on until he finally flopped back onto the floor of the boat, his eyes shut.
I bent over him, worried. “Shawn?” I asked, not sure if I should ask if he was OK. Clearly he wasn’t. Not that I blamed him.
“He’ll be fine,” Todd said. “Just give him a minute.” I nodded, unconvinced. Just then my canteen rolled against my foot and I looked down to see the contents of my pack scattered across the floor of the boat. Every now and then the wind would catch a packet of dinosaur jerky or a pair of socks and send them flying into the lake. My journal lay in the corner by Schwartz’s foot, its pages damp and flayed open in the wind. Eyeing Schwartz to make sure he wasn’t looking, I grabbed it and slid it into Todd’s still-intact pack. Todd saw what I was doing, and when Schwartz’s back was turned, we collected what little supplies were left and tucked them all into Todd’s pack. Shawn continued to sprawl on the bottom of the boat, showing no intention of moving despite the bumping and jarring he was getting as the boat skipped across the choppy waves.
“We’ll interrogate them back at the lab,” Schwartz called to Chaz, shouting to be heard over the slap of the boat’s hull on the water.
Todd leaned in so only Shawn and I could hear him. “What lab is that Schwartz guy talking about?” he asked. “Lake Michigan is huge. I doubt this thing has enough gas to make it across the entire lake.”
“The lab is in the middle of the lake,” Chaz said, making us jump as she crouched down in front of us, her giant black tranquiliser gun slung casually over her shoulder.
I unconsciously clutched my compass. Maybe the lab was what my dad had wanted me to find? After all, he had marked the centre of the lake as the location of a member of the Colombe, and how many things could be in the middle of a lake? The Colombe was the secret organisation my dad and mom had founded in an attempt to bring people aboveground again. My grandfather, Ivan, had explained that after the Noah had discovered the organisation, a few had escaped. Was one of them hiding in this mysterious lab? Five years’ worth of questions burned hot inside my chest, but after what had just happened to Shawn, I was worried that I wasn’t going to like the answers I got.