14

An Unexpected Ally

I urge Katja forwards, knowing in my heart that Chets is going to catch us. Kat is slowing even more and I have to push her from behind. We’re close to the lake but we’re not going to get there.

I hear a shout, ‘Out of my way, Chubs!’ and a thud. I turn around and Trent is sprinting up behind us. ‘They’re after me,’ he says.

The main entrance is flung open and Digger and Hoche come running across the lawn. Chets is rolling around on the ground.

‘Chets!’ I say. Idiot Trent must have shoved him out of the way in his desperation to escape. He’s such a jerk.

‘Leave him, he’s done for,’ Trent says. ‘Where do we go?’

I hate Trent but I can’t leave him to be alienated. ‘The lake,’ I say. ‘We have to jump into the lake.’

‘There they are,’ Katja says, pointing to where Big Mak and Adrianne are waving at us from the lake, holding on to a small raft with my backpack on it.

Kat is fading fast. Unnaturally fast.

‘Into the water,’ I yell, hoping it will wake her up a bit.

We leap in – Katja, Trent and me, and make for the others. Then we swim for our lives, pushing the raft in front of us. When I turn around I see Chets, Hoche and Digger standing on the pier, with all the worker bug-eyes behind them. They’re not attempting to follow, which worries me as much as it cheers me.

We pull ourselves out of the water. Adrianne throws the backpack over her shoulders and Big Mak and I hold up Kat, half carrying her into the trees.

‘Chets?’ Mak says.

I shake my head.

‘Chets is one of them?’ Trent says.

‘You mean you didn’t know that when you pushed him out of the way?’ I say. It’s more of a statement than a question, though.

‘If he’s one of them, I probably just saved your lives. You should be thanking me.’

Trent is such a jerk.

‘Great, we’ve lost a Chets and gained a Trent,’ Adrianne says. ‘And what happened to Katja?’

‘The spit,’ I say. ‘I think it has something in it to make you sleep.’

‘Like a sedative venom,’ says Ade. ‘That makes sense. That’s why Digger was spitting into the water supply.’

‘He probably spat in the tomato soup, too,’ I gasp, while trying to stop Kat from falling to the ground.

‘So glad we didn’t eat that,’ Mak says.

‘Where are we going now?’ Trent asks.

‘I found a place. We’ll have to circle back behind the building. We should be safe there for a while.’ Mak stops for a moment. ‘Wait a sec.’

‘Are we ditching Katja?’ Trent says. ‘She’s holding us back, and if she’s going to fall asleep and turn into a bug-eye, we don’t want her near us anyway.’

‘We are not ditching Katja!’ I turn on him. ‘If you want to stick with us, Trent, you’d better stop being such a dirtbag.’

‘Chill out, fangy. Just saying what everyone else was thinking.’

‘None of us were thinking that, Trent,’ Adrianne says.

‘Right,’ Mak says, putting Katja over his shoulder in some kind of highly impressive superhero carry. ‘I can manage Kat. Let’s get going.’

‘Still with us, Kat?’ I say.

She gives me a sleepy thumbs-up.

‘If we can get her to basecamp before she goes out, we might be able to save her.’

We move out.

The new basecamp that Mak has picked out is closer to the building, but I’m thinking that could be a good thing because they won’t think to look for us there. There’s another hollowed-out bush – a bit thorny on the outside, so we can’t get in without being scratched, but it feels safe on the inside.

‘What can we do?’ Adrianne says, taking off the backpack.

I grab the bag and unzip it, pulling out an oxygen tank which has a breathing mask attached to it by a tube.

‘Put this over her mouth and nose,’ I say, and we secure it to her face, making sure the seal is tight to her skin, just as she stops responding.

I turn the valve on the neck of the tank, and hear the oxygen hissing up the tube and into the mask.

‘Lance, you’re a genius,’ Adrianne says. ‘If she’s breathing pure oxygen, none of the spores should be able to get in.’

‘We’ll give her an hour’s sleep, then try to wake her,’ I say.

‘What if it doesn’t work?’ asks Trent.

‘It will work,’ I say. ‘And then we can take it in turns to have a sleep.’

‘I dibs first go after Katja.’

Trent is such a jerk.

Mak goes into the new lookout tree, while Adrianne and I watch over Katja. She’s sleeping peacefully and, as her wet hair dries in the sun, it forms little curls around her face. It makes her look younger.

Ade and I look through Dale’s notes for more clues. We know what we’re dealing with now, but what we don’t know is how to stop the aliens. And as Chets is one of them, I’m desperate to find a way of turning him back.

‘What happened in the dining hall?’ I ask.

Trent talks through a mouthful of biscuit. ‘It was fine. We were having a laugh, chilling out. We were going to settle down for some sleep but then we heard you over the speaker. We thought it wouldn’t be a biggie, staying awake, but it got harder and harder. Then Miss Hoche started playing that music and tiredness just took over. I was alright, because obviously I’m a beast…’

Adrianne snorts.

‘But the others were struggling. Imran and Isla fell asleep first.’

‘Did you let them out like we said?’ Adrianne asks.

‘No way we were opening those doors,’ Trent says. ‘We tied them up with bag straps.’

‘Then what happened?’ I say.

‘They went mental.’ He shrugs. ‘And we suddenly heard loads of noise coming from outside the dining hall. All the other bug-eyes were going at the doors with axes and hammers. They broke in and started rounding everyone up. I escaped.’

‘Of course you did.’ Adrianne rolls her eyes.

‘What about the others?’ I say.

‘Dunno. Didn’t stop to look. Every man for himself.’ He stuffs another biscuit in his mouth.

‘Nice,’ I say.

‘Don’t judge me.’ He spits crumbs at me. ‘You let your best buddy Chets get buggy. You’re no better.’

I bite my lip. There’s no point arguing with Trent – he always has been and always will be a massive butt-brain. But I’m angry with myself, too, cos a little part of me knows there’s some truth in what he’s saying. It’s my fault Chets became a bug-eye. And I have to fix it.

‘It’s been an hour,’ Adrianne says. ‘Shall we wake her?’

‘It’s just Katja, not flipping Sleeping Beauty,’ Trent snorts, which just goes to show how stupid he is.

‘Mak,’ I call through the branches. ‘We’re going to wake her. Come down and get your stuff together, just in case.’

We pack up all our gear, tie our laces and put our bags on our backs.

‘Ready?’ I say.

They nod.

I kneel on the floor beside Kat and tap her gently on the arm.

‘Katja?’

She doesn’t respond.

I shake her shoulder, not too hard, and say her name again.

I think one of her eyelids moves a teeny tiny bit, but I can’t be sure.

‘Kat – I’m so sorry, but it’s time to wake up.’ This time I tap her arm with one hand and shake her shoulder with the other.

‘For God’s sake,’ Trent says. Then he puts his face next to Katja’s ear and screams, ‘Aaarrgghhhhh!’

Kat sits bolt upright and gasps, the mask coming loose from her face. Her eyes open. They’re the colour of a mystical lagoon where dolphins leap majestically and mermaids comb their hair.

‘Katja, you’re alright.’ Adrianne squeaks and hugs her.

‘What happened?’ Kat says, squinting around at all of us.

‘You took a hit in the arm,’ I say. ‘Chets’ spit.’

‘We think the hunters’ spit contains a strong sedative,’ says Ade.

Katja puts her hands to her face. ‘I fell asleep!’

‘But Lance got an oxygen mask on you first, so you didn’t breathe in the spores,’ says Mak.

‘So I’m OK?’

‘You’re OK,’ I say. And I smile for the first time in what feels like days, but is probably just hours.