Abu was lithe and skinny as a bean but he still had to be careful. The opening stretched 3 metres under the surface of the rubble. It twisted and turned, the inside festooned with steel spikes and jagged edges that could cut flesh like a laser.
To free both hands, he had tied the pipe to his belt and Steph shone her helmet light into the opening to illuminate his path.
‘Good boy, Abu,’ she called down, and saw him twist to his left, narrowly missing a nasty-looking iron rod before he disappeared from view.
He could just make out where he was going thanks to Steph’s light above the opening. Reaching out a hand, he felt the side of the Cage. Twisting slightly to his right and bringing up his knees into a foetal position, he glimpsed Chloe inside the contraption. The door was jammed open by a pile of concrete blocks. He could see Chloe’s head resting on the control panel, the severed air pipe close to the side of her neck.
He felt incredibly hot and was finding it hard to breathe. A spasm of panic passed through him and he had to recall the feeling of triumph he had experienced when his efforts had saved him and his classmates on the survival course at school. He took in as much air as he could, shook off the nagging voice of self-doubt building up inside him and squeezed into the cabin of the Cage.
Leaning forwards, he tugged at Chloe’s helmet. It was stuck fast.
‘Allah!’ he exclaimed and leaned back. A sharp pain shot along his spine. He yelped and moved forwards quickly, banging his head on a piece of hard plastic. He swore. Tears begin to well up but he forced them back, angrily.
He pushed forwards again with all his strength and pulled at Chloe’s helmet. It lifted a few centimetres before knocking against a lump of concrete lodged just inside the door of the Cage. It would have to do. He yanked the tube from his belt and stuffed it under the helmet. Then he tried to shake her shoulder.
Abu heard a groan and felt Chloe move.
‘Chloe?’
No response.
‘Chloe? My name’s Abu. Your machine has been buried under rubble. I managed to crawl . . .’
She stirred, coughing, groaning. ‘Thank you,’ she said weakly.
‘Take the tube.’
Chloe managed to get her mouth around the end and she sucked on it for dear life.
Steph’s voice came over the comms. ‘Chloe!’
‘Hi Steph,’ she gasped, the tube at the side of her mouth. ‘We have one brave boy here.’
‘We certainly do. What’s your status?’
She took another gulp of air through the tube. ‘Let’s see. Abu, can you reach my wrist? My arm’s stuck.’
He looked around uncertainly. Then he saw Chloe’s gloved left hand, a slab of concrete lay across her forearm. ‘Yes.’
‘Is the monitor alight?’
He leaned over to check. ‘Yes.’
‘Tap it twice. You should get a management screen.’
Abu felt a tingle of excitement. He could not believe he was helping E-Force. He touched the screen and the page came up.
‘Scroll down until you see “Light”. See it?’
‘Er . . . yes, yes, I do.’ His voice trembled.
‘Okay, touch that.’
The confined space suddenly lit up with the powerful beam from Chloe’s helmet. Abu shielded his eyes for a second then peered around at the devastated interior.
‘What do you see?’
‘There’re two slabs of concrete pining you down. The one on your arm, the other across your back.’
‘What about the control panel – the plastic panel in front of me?’
Abu shuffled around and checked over the black surface dotted with flashing lights. ‘Seems okay. It’s in one piece and there are some electronic displays working.’
‘About a third of the way along from the left you’ll see a panel about 10 centimetres square. Should be lit up. Is it?’
‘Er, yes.’ He stretched over towards the area Chloe had described.
‘What does it say?’ Chloe asked, an edge of tension in her voice.
‘It says “Online”.’
Chloe let out a deep sigh. ‘Fantastic. Right, next, Abu, can you free the door?’
‘It’s jammed open with a block of concrete. I’ll try.’ He pushed against the slab.
‘Hang on. Is it supporting anything? Don’t bring the whole lot down on top of us.’
‘No. It’s on its own.’
‘Okay.’
Abu pushed the slab of concrete. It shifted a few centimetres.
‘Chloe?’ It was Steph. ‘What are you planning? We’re digging down but it’s going to take time.’
‘Which is something we don’t have much of. Get everyone back, Steph. I’m going to try to lift the Cage out.’
‘But . . .’
‘No buts.’ She turned back to Abu. ‘Can you move it some more?’ she asked.
Abu felt giddy, the air was stifling and he was drenched in sweat, but he felt more determined to succeed than ever. ‘I can do it,’ he panted and pushed again. The block moved a couple more centimetres. He took a deep breath and shoved at the block with every ounce of strength in his sinewy young body.
The block fell away from the door of the Cage.
‘It’s free,’ Abu announced, his voice raspy.
‘Well done! Now can you get inside and close the door?’
Abu slipped his legs under the control panel, a space just big enough for a skinny child and pulled on the door as he curled himself into a ball, his back against the block trapping Chloe’s arm. He felt its roughness scrape along his back, ripping his flesh. He stifled a yelp of pain. The door of the Cage was undamaged. It sealed tight.
‘Okay, last thing. Abu, can you reach up to the control panel?’
The boy shuffled his legs along and managed to squeeze his torso around, dragging his side along the slab of concrete, making him gasp. He pulled up and could just about see the panel.
‘You have to touch the panel that says “Online”,’ Chloe gasped. ‘Can you reach it?’
‘Yes, just about.’ He reached across and touched the plastic. It felt wet and he realised his fingers were covered in blood.
‘Touch the panel that has a green “Elevate” sign. Then brace yourself. Okay?’
The boy twisted slightly, his entire body screaming at him. He saw the panel and reached across, but it was too far away. He forced his fingers forwards, willing them to stretch as far as they possibly could. He could see his fingertips – they were only a millimetre or two from the panel. But he felt exhausted, the pain was cutting through him and sweat ran into his eyes. Worst of all, he could find so little air, his chest was burning. With one final, desperate effort he stretched out a single finger, felt the panel and touched its edge.
It took a second for the machine to respond before it jolted backwards. There was a loud grinding of metal and concrete. A desk, still almost intact, slammed against the front of the Cage and the machine began to shudder. Abu gripped the edge of the plastic panel and felt himself being squeezed back against the concrete slab lying between him and Chloe. Then, in a single swift movement, the incredibly powerful machine eased backwards. The concrete and debris and the rubble and the twisted steel beams all fell away. The Cage staggered upright, buried waist high in the wreckage.
Chloe managed to manoeuvre her body forwards a few centimetres. The blocks that had trapped her fell backwards into the rear of the Cage. Pulling off her helmet, she looked down and saw the bloodied face of her saviour, Abu, smiling at her, his teeth brilliant white against the grime and red smears.