Below Zero

9 OUTPOST ZERO, ANTARCTICA ^NOW

Dad helped Dima to the L-shaped sofa by the pool table, while Mum nagged him, saying he shouldn’t be moving about. ‘You’ve probably got concussion,’ she said. ‘And you’ve lost a lot of blood. You need to sit down and stay sitting down.’

When she mentioned blood, Zak looked over at the patch of it drying on the floor at the bottom of the staircase. There were drips and splashes where Dima had been lying. And the bloody paper towels were gross. The place was like a crime scene.

‘Zak? May? Why don’t you two see if you can find Dima something to eat?’ Mum pointed to the kitchen at the far side of the Hub. ‘And bring some water.’

Zak could tell Mum and Dad wanted them out of the way, and as soon as they went to the kitchen he heard Dad say, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ He had never been much good at whispering. ‘Where is everyone? And the plane? I don’t want to frighten the kids, but this isn’t good.’

‘I think they’re already frightened.’

‘We shouldn’t have brought them here. Especially Zak. What were we thinking? What if something happens to him?’

Oh no, this again. Poor old Zak.

‘We weren’t to know it would be like this,’ Mum said. ‘We expected experts, state of the art medical facilities, clinical conditions and—’

‘We should have sent them back to stay with my sister.’

‘Well, it’s too late to be blaming ourselves,’ Mum said. ‘And it’s a waste of time. We can worry about all that later. What we need to do now is figure out how to put this right.’

Dad sighed. ‘Do you think it might be something to do with—’

Whoosh! Zak didn’t hear the rest because May turned on the tap and water jetted out at top speed. It hammered into the metal sink and sprayed everywhere.

‘Shh!’ he snapped at her.

‘What?’ She turned it down and grabbed a glass from the draining board.

‘I’m trying to listen.’ Zak tilted his head, peering over in Mum and Dad’s direction. Something to do with what? he was wondering, but he’d missed it now.

‘I know,’ Dad was saying, ‘but what else could have done that? Out here?’

‘You’re jumping to conclusions. We’d have to get a good look at the damage. And we need to see if they’re still…’ Mum glanced over and saw Zak watching them. She forced a smile at him, and leant closer to Dad. When she spoke again, she lowered her voice so Zak couldn’t hear.

‘What do you think that’s all about?’ Zak asked May.

‘Who knows?’ She filled the glass. ‘I think they’re trying not to scare us. You know what they’re like; they think we can’t handle anything, but they have no idea. God, imagine if they had to put up with Vanessa Morton-Chandler and her clones every day. They wouldn’t last five minutes at school. Literally.’ She sounded tough, but her hand was trembling as she put the glass on the worktop and wiped it dry with a towel.

Zak was thinking about the figure again. The explorer he’d seen (imagined?) earlier in The Hub when the lights were out. He wanted to tell May about it, as if getting it out in the open would make it less horrible. She’d think he was mad, of course, probably make fun of him like she usually did – call him a freak and stuff – but the urge to say something was too strong to resist. So he tried to think of a way to tell her, without actually telling her.

‘I read this story online,’ he said, leaning both hands on the kitchen worktop. ‘About some… researcher guy from one of these small bases out here. They were investigating meteors, right out in the middle of nowhere. Apparently there’s meteors hitting this place all the time. The Antarctic, that is, not this exact place right here.’

‘Yeah, I realized.’

‘OK. Well. Anyway, the story is: one of the researchers went out on his snowmobile to find a meteor, but there was a storm and he got lost. He found an old abandoned shack instead, like a cabin that explorers or researchers used in the past. I saw a photo – there was still food and supplies in there, like really old tins that were rusted and falling apart. Apparently there are loads of these things all over the place – ships, bases, I even saw a photo of an old church sitting out on the ice in the middle of nowhere, and—’

‘Is there a point to this, or are you trying to make me feel even worse about this place?’

‘Umm.’ Zak hesitated. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

May sighed and opened a cupboard. ‘Just tell me the rest of the story.’

‘OK. So, this guy, he went into the old shack, and the minute he stepped inside, he knew something was wrong.’

‘Hm,’ May said. ‘Like when we came in here.’

‘Yeah, I suppose. Except, he felt like people had died in there—’

‘I know that feeling.’

‘— like maybe a part of them was left behind like a ghost or something. But he was cold and hungry and the storm was getting worse, so he stayed. There was a bed and stuff, so he went to sleep, but he woke up, and there were people standing around him. At first he thought they were there to rescue him, but he realized they weren’t wearing ECW gear like they should have been, not like this stuff…’ Zak pinched the front of his thick orange coat to show May what he meant. ‘These guys were wearing old-timey cold weather gear. Like really old-fashioned.’

‘Don’t tell me; they killed him?’

‘No. They just stood there staring at him, then they turned around and left the shack. He was scared, like pee-your-pants scared, and stayed where he was, didn’t leave the shack until he plucked up the courage to go outside, but there was no one there. And when the storm cleared and he went back to base, he took some people out to investigate, but they couldn’t find the shack. It’s like it was never there.’

‘So how did they get the photo?’

‘Hm?’

‘Of the shack. You said you saw a photo.’

‘I dunno.’ Zak shook his head. ‘I suppose they used a photo of a different shack for the article. Does it matter?’

May stood there with one hand on the open cupboard door, her head turned towards Zak. ‘You saying you think there are ghosts out here?’

‘No.’ Zak wanted to tell her what he had seen, but he didn’t want her to think it was his illness making him see things. He had to know what she thought of the story.

May sighed. ‘He was hungry and exhausted, right?’

‘I suppose.’

‘So he must have been seeing things.’ She turned back to the cupboard. ‘It can happen. People hallucinate when they’re tired and hungry. Or sick. I like horror films, Zak, but I don’t believe in ghosts.’

When she said that, Zak knew he couldn’t tell her what he’d seen; May was scared enough already. She would blame it on his illness, and maybe she’d be right. Maybe he had imagined it.

‘C’mon,’ May said. ‘Let’s get something for Dima to eat.’

The kitchen was well stocked. There were cupboards full of baked beans and canned vegetables, tea, coffee, dried milk, and piles of vacuum-packed foil bags with things like ‘Beef Stew’ and ‘Chicken Curry’ printed on them.

‘Astronaut ice cream?’ May held up a foil pack.

‘Why? What’s the point? This place is basically a giant freezer, they could have as much proper ice cream as they wanted.’

‘Yeah, ’cause all they have to do is milk all the Antarctic cows they have around the base.’

‘Or they could fly it in like they do with all this other stuff.’ Zak tore the lid off a large plastic container full of chocolate bars and showed it to May. ‘Isn’t sugar supposed to be good for you if you’ve had a shock?’

‘Yep.’ She grabbed a Snickers and they went back to where the others were waiting. Zak pocketed one of the chocolate bars for later, and followed her.

‘So, what’s the plan now?’ May handed the water and the Snickers to Dima.

‘Well.’ Dad sat down. ‘Now we have power, there are two main priorities – find the Project members, and get a message out to Head Office. We need to let them know what’s going on.’

‘Do we even know what’s going on?’ May said.

‘No,’ Dima mumbled as he took a bite of the Snickers. ‘But it doesn’t look good.’

‘Well, let’s see shall we?’ Mum glared at him. ‘We’ve got power, so comms should be fine, and that means we’ll be able to get someone here in a few hours. That’s no time at all, right?’

‘Right.’ Dad stood and headed towards The Hub entrance, where a rough map was stuck to the wall by the door. The map was home-made, as if someone had been at a loose end and decided to do a bit of doodling. It was held in place by a small piece of duct tape.

Dad tapped the image of the Control module, the first building off the East Tunnel, and looked back at Mum. ‘You work on communications; you’re better with that stuff than I am.’

‘Nice to hear you admit it,’ Mum said.

‘You’ve already been in Medical, but check it again. And make sure you check the Science building – see if you can find anyone. I’ll take the West and North Tunnels, and when we’re done, we’ll meet back in Control.’ He tapped the map again. ‘They have to be here somewhere.’

‘OK, you come with me.’ Mum touched May’s shoulder. ‘Zak, you stay here with Dima while Dad checks the—’

‘No way. I’m not staying here. I’ll go with Dad.’

‘Is that a good idea?’ Mum asked. ‘Do you feel OK?’

‘Yes. Why do I have to keep telling you? I’m fine, Mum. No one ever listens.’

Mum paused. ‘OK. You go with Dad.’ She turned towards the East Tunnel. ‘May and I will go this way.’

‘Ooh,’ May said. ‘A girl team and a boy team. That’s very modern.’

Mum stopped her. ‘Let’s not go there, May, this isn’t a competition. It’s about getting out of here.’

‘What about me?’ Dima sounded half out of it. ‘Who do I go with?’

‘You stay right where you are,’ Mum told him. ‘The last thing we want is you falling over again.’

‘I am starting to feel better after my healthy meal.’ He raised a hand holding the partially eaten Snickers.

‘Good, because I’m sure we’ll need you later.’

‘Aye aye, captain.’ He saluted, took another bite, and sank back into the sofa.

‘Come on then.’ Dad nudged Zak. ‘Let’s get this done.’ He raised a hand to the others. ‘See you in a minute.’

Zak followed Dad, pausing by the West Tunnel entrance. Dad hefted the torch from his left hand into his right. He was trying not to show it, but Zak could tell he was nervous. Zak was too. They were about to make their way further into the base, and they had no idea what they were going to find.

‘You ready?’ Dad asked.

‘Sure,’ Zak replied. ‘Are you?’

Dad pushed his glasses up his nose. ‘No.’