Дэниел Смит - Below Zero

Zak scanned the area, and his gaze came to rest on the second Osprey sitting on the landing strip.

That would be their escape. There was no other way out of here. Dima would have to fly it.

With the idea set firmly in his mind, Zak broke into a run, crossing the landing strip as fast as he could. He was exhausted, desperate for each breath, but the thought of taking his family to safety, and leaving this place far behind, kept him going. He could even picture it in his mind; waking them up, everybody climbing into the back of the aircraft and flying away. This was it, they were finally going to—

Something grabbed at Zak’s ankle and he went sprawling face first into the snow. He didn’t miss a beat, though. Straight away, he clambered forward on to his hands and knees, scrambling over the ice without looking back. Only when he had crawled a few metres, did he get to his feet and turn to see what had attacked him.

The soldier was propped on his elbows, watching Zak like he couldn’t work out who he was or what he was doing there. He blinked hard and shook his head, trying to get to his feet but failing. Around him, the other soldiers were beginning to stir.

‘Boy.’ The voice came from behind him. Quiet and muffled, but commanding. ‘Boy.’

Zak spun around to see the woman in black on one knee, between him and Storage. Both her hands were on the ground as she tried to push to her feet.

‘Stay where you are,’ she said.

‘Get lost.’ Zak rushed forward as the woman tried to stand. He slammed into her as hard as he could, barging her with his shoulder, sending her sprawling. The impact of it rattled his teeth, but he didn’t waste time trying to recover. If the soldiers were starting to come round, it meant everyone inside Storage probably was too. He had to get to them. He had to tell them the soldiers were unarmed. A group of nerdy scientists against highly trained soldiers didn’t have the best chance, but they were smart; if they all worked together, they might be able to overcome them.

As he came close to the edge of the landing strip, though, Zak spotted something from the corner of his eye, and he twisted to see someone tumble out of the Osprey’s side door.

The pilot! I forgot about the pilot!

The man struggled to his feet. He used one hand to support himself against the fuselage, while the other reached to draw the pistol from the holster secured to his thigh.

‘Stop him.’ The woman in black spoke again. ‘Bring him down.’

Zak lowered his head and sprinted as hard as he could but managed only four long strides before something ripped through the side of his coat, below his armpit. A fraction of a second later he heard the report of a gunshot from behind him.

Blam!

He’s shooting at me! Zak’s mind screamed, and his body shifted into overdrive. Everything was working at once – heart and lungs, arms and legs. He was running for his life now, adrenaline flooding his body.

Blam!

This time the bullet slammed through the padding on the shoulder of his coat, grazing the surface of his skin as it passed through. The shock of it jarred Zak to the left. His legs tangled beneath him and he tripped over his own feet, sprawling on to the compacted ice of the landing strip. Shoulder burning, he crawled on as shots punched into the ground around him. He was desperate. Terrified. The pilot was disorientated, but he was starting to recover. His shots were better placed, and soon his senses would return completely. Any second now, one of those bullets was going to slam through his back, or hit his head.

Keep moving! Zak had to get into Storage before that happened. He had to keep moving.

Staying on his hands and knees, he clambered across the landing strip and into the deeper snow on the other side. The pilot had stopped firing, so Zak guessed he must have used his full magazine and was reloading the pistol. This was his chance to make a final run for it.

Ignoring the burning sensation in his right shoulder, Zak stood and risked a look back. But the pilot wasn’t reloading his weapon. Instead, he was leaning into the cockpit of the aircraft. Zak had a second to register that the pilot was retrieving an assault rifle, then something hit him hard from the left.

Zak’s boots left the ground and he went sprawling, snow filling his mouth and burning in his eyes. Trying to recover, he pushed to his knees, but before he could stand, an arm wrapped around his neck and dragged him hard to his feet. His head twisted, his neck strained, and he heard the woman in black speak into his ear. ‘Nice try, kid.’

Footsteps crunched the ice and snow as the Osprey pilot came to meet them. The woman in black pushed Zak away, grabbed the rifle from the pilot’s hands, and tucked the weapon against her shoulder. She raised it so Zak was looking up into the barrel.

‘No!’ He put his hands up to cover his face. ‘Stop!’ he pleaded. ‘Don’t shoot!’

So she stopped.

Zak knelt in the ice, hands covering his face, but nothing happened. No gunshot.

He lowered his hands and looked up at her.

‘Leader?’ The pilot looked at the woman, her face hidden by the battle helmet. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘I…’ She leant forward, pointing the rifle. Zak flinched, but still she didn’t shoot. ‘I can’t,’ she said.

‘Can’t?’ the pilot asked.

‘No.’

Could it be? Zak thought. Could it be that the insects had given him something unexpected? In those moments before they left, when they smothered him, and filled him with life, maybe they had done more than just cure him. Maybe they had taken the sickness from his brain, and in its place they had given him a way to connect with other minds, the way they had connected with his . The way they had controlled the red-jackets.

So Zak concentrated like he had concentrated when he was in the wreckage of the plane, misleading the red-jackets. He stared at the woman in black, trying to put an image in her head. An image of her doing everything he told her to do. ‘You won’t shoot,’ he said.

The woman in black paused. ‘I won’t shoot.’

It worked! It actually worked!

‘You’re going to put that down,’ he said.

‘No, I’m not,’ she replied. ‘I’m going to—’

‘You’re going to put that down,’ Zak tried again, concentrating harder, imagining her obeying him.

This time, the woman in black shifted the weight of the rifle and lowered it with both hands. ‘I’m going to put this down.’ She dropped it into the snow.

Behind her, the other soldiers glanced at one another in confusion.

It’s like a Jedi mind trick! As crazy as it seemed, that’s what it was like. Zak was Obi-Wan, waving his hand and saying, ‘These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.’

No, it’s more like when Rey tells the stormtrooper to remove her restraints and drop the gun. When she’s just beginning to realize what she can do.

Zak tried not to let the mixture of excitement and confusion overwhelm him. Instead, he fixed his mind on what he wanted the woman to do.

‘You’re going to sit on the ground,’ he said.

‘I’m going to sit on the ground.’ The woman in black did exactly as she was told.

‘All of you.’ Zak imagined them all sitting down, and when he spoke the words, they all did exactly as he pictured it. They all sat down, and he turned to see Mum and Dad and May coming out of Storage, followed by Dima and all the others from Outpost Zero. Even Sofia was on her feet, flanked by her mama and papa.

‘You’re OK.’ Zak couldn’t hide his relief.

‘Zak?’ May asked as she ran over to him. ‘What’s going on? What happened?’