Crawlers (9 page)

‘Yes – when we get out of this,' Jasmine echoed.

‘What's up?' Ben asked quietly.

Jasmine cast a quick glance at the three dead crawlers, which were still lying on the notice board on the floor beside her, their rubbery legs in the air. Then she looked at him.

‘Did you see the monitors?' she asked. ‘The people outside?'

‘Yes . . .' said Ben, the intense way she'd asked the question making him feel uncertain.

‘What do they look like they're doing?'

‘Nothing,' said Ben. ‘Standing there, I guess. Waiting. Guarding, like Josh said.'

‘But
why
? Why did they stop attacking? And why did the crawlers go away?'

‘What do you mean?'

‘You said you saw thousands of them,' Jasmine reminded him, ‘before, in the foyer.'

‘Yes,' said Ben, ‘but—'

‘Then there should have been more in the vent when they attacked us. A notice board wouldn't have stopped them. The room should have been full of them. But instead . . .' She
paused. ‘Instead, they just
left
. And we're being kept here. What I want to know is, why?'

‘For Christ's sake,' said Samantha loudly from behind them, ‘what difference does it make? We're stuck here!'

‘Yeah,' chipped in Lauren immediately, ‘why've you got to keep banging on about it?'

Jasmine rolled her eyes.

Ben was just about to try changing the subject, when:

‘Hey,' said Jasmine, standing up suddenly. ‘Hey. Hey!
Hey!
'

‘What?' said Ben.

‘Oh!' said Jasmine, making a face. ‘Oh, that's
really
funny, I don't think. All right, who did it? Who? Own up now, or I'm going to get angry.'

‘What? What are you on about
now
?' asked Samantha.

‘You!' Jasmine snapped back, rounding on her. ‘Don't pretend! This is something you and Lauren cooked up, isn't it? Some
stupid
little game of yours. Well I'm telling you, it isn't funny.'

‘
Don't
,' said Samantha, getting to her feet, ‘call me stupid.'

‘Uh, Jasmine?' asked Ben. ‘What exactly is the problem?'

‘Can't you see?' Jasmine pointed at her improvised dissection table. The notice board still lay on the floor, where she'd put it. But: ‘One of the crawlers has
gone
!'

For a moment there was silence in the room. It was true. Of the three squashed crawlers that Jasmine had been examining, now only two remained.

‘But . . . where is it?' asked Robert, in a voice that was dangerously quiet.

Ben noticed that Lisa too had suddenly drawn both her legs up off the floor, and had wrapped her arms around them, hugging herself.

‘It was dead . . .' he said, looking at Jasmine. ‘Right?'

‘Of course it was dead,' Jasmine snapped. ‘I mean,' she added more kindly, ‘it was squashed, right? So someone must have taken it. And I bet I know who.'

‘Listen,' said Samantha, ‘I've been sitting here all the time. So even if I wanted to, which I don't, how could I have taken it without you noticing?'

‘You just waited until I wasn't looking. Or if it wasn't
you
, then it was your
lapdog
.'

‘What?' said Lauren, realizing everyone's attention was now on her. ‘No! What would I want with one of them things?'

‘Let me guess,' scoffed Jasmine. ‘You're going to dangle it in someone's face, or something equally hilarious.'

‘I wouldn't touch them.' Lauren shuddered. ‘No way. They're horrible!'

‘Look, there were three crawlers before,' said Jasmine. ‘Now there are two. Someone in this room must have taken one.'

‘Or maybe,' Samantha pointed out, ‘it went off by itself.'

There was a pause.

‘Well, OK,' said Ben, getting up. ‘I guess we'd better search the room. Jasmine, maybe you'd better take the board and go stand over there by the sink. We don't want the other two disappearing. The rest of you' – he shrugged – ‘wherever you are now, that's your corner. Search every bit of it as carefully as you can.'

Everyone did as he said, to Ben's surprise. The room wasn't big, and it had six people in it. Ben's spot wasn't much bigger than he was: he felt stupid checking under neighbouring chairs and groping around the carpet with his hands, and he felt sure he wasn't the only one. But at that moment the door to the monitor room opened and Josh emerged. Everyone turned.

Josh looked noticeably paler than before, like he'd just had some kind of shock. He stared blankly at the expectant faces for a moment, then said: ‘What are you doing?'

‘One of the dead crawlers is missing,' Ben explained dutifully.

‘What do you mean, missing?'

‘We've just searched the room,' said Ben. He looked around. Everyone shook their heads. ‘No sign so far.'

Josh frowned. ‘Well it can't have vanished into thin air. What do you think's happened to it?'

‘Someone's taken it,' said Jasmine, from her spot by the sink.

‘Really?' asked Josh. ‘What for?'

‘For a joke,' said Jasmine. ‘Or—' She stopped.

‘Or what?' asked Josh.

‘Samantha thought it might have come back to life, or something,' said Ben.

‘Good grief,' said Josh. ‘Well . . . never mind that for now.'

Ben stared at him.

‘I've got news,' he went on. ‘Just a few minutes ago two more police cars arrived at the main entrance.'

‘All right!' said Lauren. ‘We're saved!'

‘Erm,' said Josh, ‘don't get too excited just yet.'

‘Why not?' asked Lauren.

‘What happened?' asked Jasmine.

Josh hesitated, then said: ‘They . . . didn't
all
get captured this time. That's the main thing. One of the police was wounded—'

‘
Wounded?
' Everyone was starting to react now. ‘What? How?'

‘But he managed to escape!' said Josh, making ‘calm down' gestures with his hands. ‘He got out before they could reach him, so he didn't get bitten and you can bet he'll be calling for
backup
right now
. The secret's out, people,' he added with an enthusiasm that, to Ben, was belied by the sickly look on his face. ‘I'm
sure
more police will be along soon, together with the army and . . . and everybody. So until then, all we've got to do is stay here and wait.'

‘That's what you said before,' said a voice – Samantha's. When Josh turned and saw the look she was giving him he faltered and, for once, was at a loss for a reply.

Jasmine took a step towards Josh. ‘Was it very bad?' she asked quietly.

‘It was so . . . quick,' Josh admitted. ‘The way the bitten people lured the police in and got them so easily. It . . . did rather take me by surprise. Yes.'

‘Do you and Hugo want to take a break from watching the cameras?' Jasmine suggested.

‘Thank you,' said Josh. ‘But—'

‘Ben and I could take a turn,' said Jasmine quickly. ‘Couldn't we, Ben?'

‘Er . . . sure,' said Ben, surprised. ‘I mean, yes, definitely.'

‘It's settled then.'

Before Josh could draw breath to protest Jasmine had already passed him and opened the door.

Hugo was sitting hunched in front of the screen. At the sound of the door he sniffed heavily before turning: his eyes were red and his face, like Josh's, was pale. Whatever they'd
just seen had obviously hit both boys hard.

‘We've come to give you some time off,' said Jasmine, smiling sweetly.

Hugo blinked, dubious. ‘OK,' he said finally. He sniffed again and looked hard at Ben. ‘But don't
touch
anything.'

When the door had closed behind him, Jasmine sat down on the chair and leaned back. ‘Ben,' she said, ‘we have to talk.'

‘What I'm about to tell you,' said Jasmine, ‘has got to be a secret. OK? You'll understand why as soon as you hear it, but first I've got to have your promise: this shouldn't be shared with anyone – not even the guys from your school. I . . .' She looked at him. ‘I don't know how well you get on with them?'

‘Not particularly well,' Ben admitted.

‘That's what I figured,' said Jasmine. She gave Ben a quick smile. ‘To be honest, I'm kind of the same way.' The smile faded. ‘But I'm deadly serious: can you promise you won't tell?'

Ben frowned. ‘Um, that kind of depends on what you're going to tell me, doesn't it?'

Jasmine blinked.

‘I mean, this is a mad situation we're in,' Ben explained. ‘I can't go making promises that might turn out to be dangerous later on down the road, can I?' He tried for a smile.

‘Well you're right about one thing,' said Jasmine, not smiling back. ‘This situation is definitely mad. But I reckon it might be even worse than you think.' She paused and put her head on one side, giving Ben a critical look.

There was a moment of silence between them.

Ben wanted to say something to make himself sound more impressive. Under Jasmine's gaze he found himself pushing his chest out a little and trying to make his expression as straight as possible.

‘OK,' said Jasmine. ‘You seem like someone I can trust.'

‘You too!' Ben was so pleased, he'd replied without thinking, and now he felt very embarrassed.
What a stupid thing to say
, he told himself.

‘I'm worried someone in our group might already have been bitten,' said Jasmine bluntly – bringing Ben back to the present with a bump. She nodded past him at the door and the people beyond it. ‘Maybe the person who took the crawler did it because they want to use it on someone else, somehow – put
them
under control too.' She paused. ‘I think we might have a traitor in the group.'

‘What?' Ben stared at her, gobsmacked. ‘But . . . how?'

‘It must have happened in the foyer, before we all got
in the lift. Maybe it helps explain why the adults stopped attacking so suddenly: they've got a spy in the room. They're
watching us
.'

‘Wait!' said Ben, putting his hands up. ‘Hold on a second!'

‘What?' asked Jasmine.

Ben looked at her. He was impressed by how cool she was, the way she was analysing their situation in the middle of all this weirdness. He wanted to agree with her, he really did, but . . .

‘Everything that's been happening definitely seems to be organized somehow,' he began. ‘I'm with you that far, for sure. Those people outside, and the way they stopped attacking when the crawlers were coming through the vent . . .' He pointed at the screen. ‘That was
co-ordinated
. That isn't how zombies normally behave – or, um' – he tried for a smile – ‘not in the films
I've
seen, anyhow. But what gives you the idea that someone in the group is a traitor?'

To Jasmine, Ben's smile didn't look friendly or self-deprecating. To Jasmine, Ben's smile looked like he was patronizing her.

‘Fact one,' she told him, ‘one of the crawlers is missing. Agreed?'

‘Sure,' said Ben. ‘Of course.'

‘We searched the room. It's a small room with no way in
or out, and there are plenty of us to do the searching. But – fact two – we didn't find it. Right?'

‘Yes,' said Ben, ‘that's true, but—'

‘It's like Josh said,' Jasmine interrupted (at the mention of the other boy's name Ben's smile fell). ‘The crawler couldn't vanish into thin air. So there's only one other possible explanation for why we couldn't find it – right? Someone in the group
didn't want it to be found
.'

‘Someone who's already been bitten,' said Ben. ‘Someone who's being . . . controlled. That's what you're saying.'

Jasmine just looked at him.

‘But there's just one problem with that, isn't there?' said Ben. ‘And I'm sorry' – he grinned again – ‘but it's a real stumbling block for me. Everyone else we've seen who's been bitten has got one of these things on
the back of their neck
.' He paused. ‘Now, if we're talking about
control
, the back of the neck does kind of make sense. Something back there' – he clapped a hand to the back of his own neck – ‘could mess around with the signals coming out of your brain – the spinal cord or whatever. But if you're telling me that there's someone in there' – he pointed at the door to the other room – ‘who's secretly working against us, who's a traitor, but
doesn't
have one of these things on the back of their neck – well, for one thing, where do you reckon they actually have it?' He looked at her, still grinning.

‘I don't know,' said Jasmine. ‘It's . . . somewhere else. Under their clothes somewhere, I guess.' She was getting really infuriated now, not only at Ben and his grin (and she'd thought it was cute!) but at how weak what she was saying actually sounded.

Maybe she was wrong. Jasmine hated being wrong.

‘Maybe the crawlers don't have to bite you on the neck,' she said. ‘Maybe they can still control you from some other part of your body. How should I know?'

Ben kept grinning at her.
Any second now she's going to realize she's sounding crazy
, he thought.
We're going to have a laugh about this. Any second now
.

Jasmine gave him a long look. ‘It's easy to pick holes in other people's ideas,' she said, ‘when you don't come up with any of your own.'

Ben blinked.

‘I didn't ask you to believe me,' Jasmine told him. ‘I just thought you'd appreciate some kind of warning.
Watch who you're with
, that's all I'm saying. You're right: I don't have any evidence. But I don't see why that makes you feel you can stand there with that' – she scowled – ‘that
smug grin
on your face!'