Chapter Text
Dark skies brooded over the tiny town of Backwoods. The winds lashed at the trees that gave the town its name, whipping the branches into a frenzy. Leaves skittered over the ground as if they were being chased, and from behind two large gates came the creak, creak, creak of a metal sign swinging in the wind.
DANGER! it read. KEEP OUT!
Somewhere, deep underneath the ground, something woke. Something ancient, something soiled, something wicked.
It felt the change in the air above, it sensed the coming storm.
I'm here, it murmured. I'm coming.
***
“I’ve had enough of this!” Isak threw his Atari console across the room irritably. “Can’t we play something else for a change?”
“You’re only pissed because I always beat you at Pac-Man,” said Jonas, grinning, still busy on his console, watching the small black circles chase each other over the screen, snapping at each other. “I got all the fruit and power pellets that last level, you just got eaten by a ghost. You never get higher than the hundredth level so I don’t know why I bother playing you.”
“I’m bored watching you guys,” said Magnus, chewing loudly on a Jawbreaker, his SuperRange baseball cap jammed over his long curly hair. “Can’t we play Super Mario or something?”
“You can’t even play Donkey Kong,” said Isak, punching him, and Magnus kicked back at him. “I’m awesome at Donkey Kong. You’re the one whose mom hates computers so much she doesn’t even let you have a Walkman.”
“What tapes have you got?” Mahdi was searching through Jonas’s shelves. “What’s this? You’ve got Madonna?”
“Madonna’s a feminist icon, man,” drawled Jonas. “Chicks love it.”
“Boys,” shouted Jonas’s mom from downstairs. “Ten minutes, and I’m chucking you all out.”
The boys sent up a group wail.
“Mom, do they really have to go yet?” shouted back Jonas. “We’re okay up here.”
His mother put her head round the door. “Yes they do, Jonas, and you have to get cleaned up and look presentable. Thea’s boyfriend is coming over for dinner.”
The door closed behind her, and Isak looked at Jonas, eyebrow raised. “Since when is Thea dating someone?”
Thea was Jonas’s older sister, and as far as they all knew, she’d never had a boyfriend in her life. She was always walking around with her head stuck in a book, and had never seemed to care about boys before.
Jonas looked amazed. “I’ve no idea. Nobody tells me anything. It’s probably why Mom’s making such an effort, though. Probably scared he’ll dump her or something.”
“Wow,” said Magnus smirking, “bet he’s a librarian or something.”
“Or a science nerd,” put in Mahdi.
“What’s wrong with being a science nerd?” asked Isak huffily.
“Oh nothing,” said Mahdi airily, “just you might end up like all those weirdos up by the lab in the woods.”
Above Backwoods there was a chemical facility, bounded by barbed wire and surrounded by a forest. There were lots of warning signs – HAZCHEM! – DANGER! – so their parents had forbidden them to hang out there. Needless to say, they often did, for a crafty smoke or a beer, or when one of them wanted to make out with someone … which (unfortunately for them) very rarely happened.
“Well I guess this means we’re having a special dinner at least,” said Jonas, stretching. “Mom’ll probably lay out a huge banquet for this guy. All Thea can do is toast a Pop Tart.”
Isak flushed and looked down. Pop Tarts were very often all he had for dinner, mostly the brown peanut butter ones that you took out of a foil packet and heated up in the toaster. It was all his mom was able to cook sometimes when she was bad, unless she could mix up the odd bowl of Angel Delight from a sachet. Lately the voices in her head had been growing louder and louder, and Isak had needed to pretty much take care of himself, make sure he had clean clothes for school and stuff like that.
And it wasn’t that his mum disliked computers, although he let Mahdi think that – it was that she never had any money enough for the rent, let alone a Walkman.
“You okay man?” Jonas was looking at him carefully, and punched him on the shoulder.
“I’m fine,” Isak lied, and got up off the bed, pretending to look for his anorak so Jonas wouldn’t see his face.
From outside the window there came the loud, throbbing hum of a motorbike, growing louder and louder as it came down the drive. The boys looked at each other. Nobody they knew had a motorbike.
“Who on earth’s that?” asked Magnus, but at the same time Jonas’s mom shouted. “Right boys! Time to go!”
“That’s never Thea’s date?” said Isak, and instantly they all rushed to the window and flung open the curtains. Dark was falling outside, but the porch light threw a tiny bit of light over the drive, as a huge Harley Davidson low-rider motorbike drew up and parked outside with a screech.
“Holy crap,” said Magnus, “that’s Thea’s new boyfriend?”
Isak looked down. Underneath the window, Thea was sitting on the back of the chopper, with her arms around the waist of – Isak strained to see properly. He couldn’t get much of a view, because Magnus’s head was in the way, but the sound of voices greeting each other floated up from below. It sounded like Jonas’s mom was really piling on the charm.
“Oh God,” said Jonas, slapping his forehead, “tell me he’s not one of the Penetrator crew.”
The Penetrators were a group of boys in their final year. Some of them hung around on motorbikes, and loved to play stupid games like chasing their pushbikes and trying to run them off the road. It was the most entertainment they could find in Backwoods.
“I don’t recognise him,” said Magnus, practically hanging out of the window in enthusiasm. “I don’t think even any of the P-squad have a real Harley Davison. That guy must have some serious cash.”
Isak looked at Mahdi. “You wanna ride home together?”
“Sure,” said Mahdi. He had a new BMX which easily outperformed Isak’s old banana-seat bike, but he’d always ride pace with Isak and wouldn’t shoot off and leave him, unlike Magnus who loved to show off his Aviva Speedo. “Take the trail up by the woods?”
“You’re on. Bye Jonas,” and Isak swung himself out of the door and down the stairs, Mahdi following after him.
“Hey, what about me?” shouted Magnus behind them, but they were already in the hallway, and Thea and her date were coming in the front door.
Downstairs was bright lights, fresh-cut flowers and cheerful, cooking smells; Jonas’s mom had evidently pulled out all the stops to impress her daughter’s date. It always made Isak a little sad when he saw other people’s houses; his own house was only lit by dim cheap bulbs and never smelled of anything nice, especially when his mom was having one of her bad days.
“Welcome, Even!” Mrs Vasquez was saying, her voice all girlish and fluttery. “Thea’s told me so much about you!”
Isak stopped short, and Magnus almost collided with him from behind.
At the door stood a tall boy, dressed in biking leathers and carrying a motorcycle helmet. Underneath he wore a Boy George T-shirt and his blonde hair was cut, streaked and tipped with pink like one of the singers in Duran Duran. He looked like he’d walked off some kind of Spandau Ballet pop video, and in the small town of Backwoods, where everyone wore Hoosiers T-shirts, check shirts and baseball caps, he stuck out like an absolute sore thumb.
Isak was pretty sure he wasn’t one of the Penetrator squad – and was that – eyeliner?”
“Oh!” Mrs Vasquez was laughing embarrassedly. “What an interesting outfit you have, Even. I was thinking it was fancy dress dinner tonight!”
“Mom!” Thea spoke up for the first time. “It’s the New Romantic look, don’t you know anything?”
Thea was looking different too; she wore a Frankie Says baggy T-shirt, tight black jeans and thick black eye makeup like Madonna. She looked up at Even with an expression full of adoration.
“Hello Mrs Vasquez!” Even’s voice was low and cheerful, and his smile lit up his face like a sudden blast of sunshine. “I’m so glad to meet you!”
Isak stood very still on the stairs. He had never seen anyone smile like that before.
“Jonas?” Mrs Vasquez looked round. “Oh, these are his friends, Isak, Mahdi and Magnus. Can one of you get Jonas please? It’s very impolite for him to stay upstairs in his room. Tell him to come down and say hello.”
“I’ll … I’ll do it,” said Isak, turning around and running up the stairs. Who the hell is that, he thought amazedly to himself. How did nerdy Thea manage to get a guy like him?
“Jonas,” he said. “Your mom says you have to go downstairs. Thea’s boyfriend’s here.”
“Ugh,” sulked Jonas, getting up and pulling on a clean shirt. “Do you want to stay for dinner? I can ask Mom specially.”
Isak hesitated. Part of him wanted to – really, really wanted to – but Mahdi was calling for him downstairs and they’d already promised to ride back together so – He shook his head.
“No, I’m good. Next time, maybe.”
Jonas winked at him. “Okay, man. Wish me luck with Thea and her biker boy.”
***
Deep below ground, something was stirring.
Eva felt it, even before she opened her eyes. Something dark, something wild and desperate. It searched at her, tugged at her mind, probed into her brain.
Leave me alone, she thought angrily. Get back! and the thing retreated, snuffling and evil, coiling around the remains of her memory.
I’m still here, it thought back at her wickedly. I’m never going away.
Eva opened her eyes with a start. She was still sitting in the same, glass-walled chamber in the same darkened corridor. To either side of her stretched identical rows of rooms, all boxed-in, all barred, under the huge concrete walls that held her down.
She went to the barred door and peered out. Above her, the number 11 was illuminated in a pale glow.
“Sana,” she whispered. “Sana, are you ready?”
From chamber number 8 across the corridor, Sana looked at her. Her dark eyes were set and determined. “Ready.”
“Okay,” said Eva, shakily. “Come on, let’s do this.”
Sana closed her eyes and concentrated. Eva did the same. She felt the air suddenly thicken around her, as if she was being squeezed under unbearable pressure. A thin trickle of blood snaked its way out of her nose and down her lip.
Who am I, she thought to herself. Who am I.
“More,” encouraged Sana in her ear. “Summon the storm.”
***
Night had fallen and it looked like a storm was coming. Branches thrashed in the gathering wind outside, and they knew they had to get home soon. As they collected their bikes, Isak was pulling around his old Beaman when he suddenly saw – it had a puncture. The tyre had burst, and the metal scraped agonisingly along the road.
Ugh, he thought to himself. That’s all I need.
“Guys, wait!” he called, but Mahdi and Magnus were already at the top of the drive. “I’ve got a flat.”
“Hurry up!” shouted back Magnus. “It’s gonna rain soon!”
“Need a hand?” said a voice behind him, and turning, Isak saw Even leaning on the doorway behind him, smoking a cigarette.
“Ummm, I’ve bust my tyre,” said Isak, wondering why he wasn’t able to put his words together in the way he normally did. “I’ve got a kit somewhere, but I’ve …”
I’ve never actually fixed my own tyre, he thought to himself. That’s something Jonas usually does for me.
“Want me to take a look?” Even twitched his cigarette from his lips and flicked it in a shower of sparks into the bushes.
“Thanks,” gasped Isak, his ears turning extremely red. “That would be great, thanks.”
Even examined his tyre, spinning it gently in his large hands. “I think you’ve got a hole in the outer, but I think the inner tube is pretty much okay. Oh look, here’s the nail.” He opened the kit and extracted the tyre plaster, and with a quick flick of his finger pulled out the nail, taping it up. “If I pump it up now, you’ll have enough to get home. You don’t live far, do you?”
“No, just the other end of town,” said Isak, watching as Even adjusted the bike nozzle and gave it a few quick pumps. Isak tried not to watch the blond hair falling in his face too intently, or the precise movements of his fingers as he squeezed the tyre and nodded in satisfaction. “I think you’re hard enough now. Safe ride home.”
Isak gasped a brief thanks, and pedalled up the hill to where his impatient friends were waiting for him.
“What’s bike-boy like then?” asked Magnus curiously.
“Uhhh, I don’t know,” said Isak. “He just fixed my tyre.”
“I wonder if he’s in Thea’s year,” said Mahdi. “He looks a bit older though.”
A sudden crack of thunder sounded above them, and Isak looked up. The sky looked black and dangerous; boiling clouds swirling around in a whirlpool of black and silver. “We’d better go.”
They free-wheeled down the hill for a while, taking the trail round the edge of the woods, where the barbed wire of the facility could just be seen. KEEP OUT! DANGER!
The wild night lent a peculiar, ghostly quality to the trees, they strained in the wind with twisted limbs, lashing over the road and making them swerve. Isak’s dodgy tyre bumped and wobbled as his friends’ faster bikes swept away ahead of him.
“Wait!” he cried, and the next moment his tyre hit a particularly sharp stone –
And above him a hideous scar of lightning blazed out of the electric storm flickering above –
CRACK - !
And the next moment the little air in his tyre gave way and he was somersaulting over the handlebars, turning over and over –
“Isak!” Mahdi’s panicked voice echoed from a distance. “Isaaaak!”
He never hit the ground.
***
Blood poured from Eva’s nose as she sat cross-legged in concentration, the storm thickening and boiling around her. Across the corridor, Sana’s eyes were closed in pain, her entire thoughts concentrated on the energy flickering between them. Alarms were ringing down the length of the facility, voices were shouting in the distance, but she kept her focus.
Around them the outlines of the facility slowly dimmed. Above them dead leaves blew in the wind, and the bark of decaying trees pressed through the transparent walls. All dying, all rotten, Eva thought to herself despairingly.
Shut up! Sana thought at her angrily. Keep going!
Who am I? Eva thought to herself desperately. I am –
The trees were so close now, she could almost touch them, see their flickering shapes and hear the rustle –
Help! Help!
A figure of a boy stumbled in front of her, a boy of about her age, staring around him at the hideous woods that encircled him, lost and confused.
Who are you? Eva thought at him, amazed. How did you get here?
The boy gazed at her. I don’t know, he thought back desperately. I don’t know who I am.
“Now!” Sana’s voice was in her ear, all around her, plucking at her thoughts, pulling her onwards. “Now, Eva!”
No, wait! thought the boy at her. Wait!
Eva gritted her teeth and summoned all her strength.
CRACK - !
And she was suddenly turning over and over, spinning through the shattered air, until she hit the ground with a rough thump.
Ow, she thought agonisedly, I’ve hurt myself, that really hurt –
A moment later she realised she was no longer in the facility.
She was lying face down on a damp forest floor, mud sticking to her face and leaves in her hair. Above her the first splashes of rain were starting to fall.
Oh my God, she thought confusedly. I’ve done it. I’ve done it!
She raised herself on her arms and stared about her. It was dark and she could see no further than a few metres in either direction, but she could see no wire, no chimneys, no signs of HAZARD or KEEP DOOR SHUT. The leaves above her were green, and the smells were rich and living, not rotten or decaying.
It was blissful. She couldn’t help digging her fingers into the ground and joyfully smelling the mud, rubbing a leaf against her face, tasting a blade of grass.
I’m out, she thought. I’m out!
But she was cold. Her thin white facility gown clung around her, no protection from the icy winds. “Sana!” she hissed. “Sana!”
But there was no answer. She was completely and utterly alone.
Who am I? she thought? Who am I?
She looked up. Tree, she thought. Yes, tree. I remember that. Stone. Wind. Rain.
All these I remember.
She ran.
To be continued ...
*** BONUS TEASER FOR NEXT CHAPTER ***
The Finding of Eva Mohn
“Isak!” Mahdi ran wildly to the spot where his friend’s upturned bicycle lay, wheels still spinning blindly in the air. “Isak! Where did you go?”
“He’s not here!” Magnus puffed behind him. “He just disappeared into thin air!”
Mahdi looked up and down the rutted path. “I don’t get it! He was just here, and then he – ”
“You think he ran off?” asked Magnus in bafflement. “Ran up there into the woods?”
“I’m pretty sure he didn’t,” said Mahdi. “We’d have seen him, no?”
Behind them there was a searing hiss, like a breath of foul vapour, a sudden thickening of the air, a bending and pressure as if something was pressing on the trees behind them, making them bend like a painting or a stage set, as if the woods weren’t really real, and as they watched in terror, something came through the branches, something twisted, wrong, impossible –
“Oh my God!” wailed Mahdi. “What is it!”
“Aaaargh! I have no idea!” screamed Magnus. “Ruuuun!”