THE KEY

1

Sarah was tired and sore when night came. Every slight movement resulted in a steady locus of pain in her legs and arms. All through the day she’d been carrying the mesh carts up and down the facility, and when dinner arrived, she was disheartened to find out that the menu had hardly changed: bowls of mushroom soup and a single slice of bread. And Sarah hated the soup – it tasted like wet sandpaper – but she also got a second bottle of water, which she had been desperately gasping for. The only fresh thing on the menu, said Andy, was the water. Sarah’s throat had been giving her no grief at all after that, but her mind – oh her mind.... That had been on full anxiety-blast.

She had reiterated the point she made earlier that she would escape this prison – although she figured prison was too kind a word for a place that exploited helpless children and animals. She told Andy and Pip and Valerie that she would come up with something eventually, a way to get out without anyone noticing. Andy had asked her what she would do if she ended up being successful, and then she realised she had no idea. She would have no sense of direction, since even in the big bad city she needed her sister to hold her hand in case she got lost. Something she would get embarrassed about quite often.

The only thing she knew about this place was that it had been located beneath a cluster of industrial buildings, and the name…. What was it? The Japanese sign? Come on, what was it?

She couldn’t remember. It was already gone from her mind. It didn’t help that she had always struggled with remembering foreign words, struggled to learn languages in general. She was a special kid with special ways of learning, Mr Deckard had told her, but she couldn’t tell if that was just a fancy way of saying she would struggle in life or if he actually meant it. Because she didn’t consider herself talented like any of those really famous people on the spectrum, the sort that could recite the first thousand digits of pi from raw memory. What were they called again? Idiot savants?

She didn’t know, but she was sure of one thing: instead of possessing any supergifts, there was a big fat OUT OF ORDER sign pegged to her brain.

She lay on the bottom bunk of her prison room, hands tucked under the pillow, listening to the thunder roar like a distant cannonshot. Her jumpsuit was no longer dirty – she had washed it slightly after showering and turning in for the night – but it was extremely moist against her skin. Highly discomforting. She started shaking her hands, as if that would somehow lessen the moisture and help her get a better night’s rest. Something she had learned a long time ago was that sleeping didn’t come easy to her. While other children saw explosive images when they closed their eyes she would see black, and so she was left alone with unsettling thoughts. Right now, those thoughts had centred around her sister and that nightmarish image of Billy Wilson.

“What are you doing?” Andy said groggily.

“Huh?”

“You’re moving so much.” His voice was so low she had trouble hearing him even in the silence. “Something wrong with you?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I miss my sister.”

“Well can you stop movin’ so much? I’m tryna sleep, too, ya know.”

Sarah disciplined herself. “I can’t help it.”

Now Andy moaned and moved over so that his legs dangled from the top bunk. Those skinny legs with their flakey soles. Sarah used to have a habit of peeling the skin off her feet, but Mom put a stop to that. It was too dangerous, she had told her. She could get an infection.

“Sarah,” he said.

She sat up and drew her knees into her chin. “Yeah?” she said softly.

Thunder. Loud, rumbling thunder.

Andy took a moment to respond. He sighed. “Why did you stop today?”

Her face lit up. “What do you mean?”

“Today, when we were heading back to the Package Area,” he said. “You stopped. Why?”

“I told you I couldn’t keep up – ”

“I know you’re lyin’ about that,” he said matter-of-factly. “You’re not that good at it, y’know.”

A part of Sarah wanted to argue with him, but he was right. There was no use. “I saw Lulu… and I went to feed him.”

More thunder.

“Hm,” said Andy. “Lulu’s a girl.”

“He is? I mean, she is?”

“Female tigers are a lot smaller,” he said. “And plus, I’ve heard Teslaface talkin’ about her an awful lot over the years.”

“What did he say?” Sarah asked curiously.

Andy kicked his legs a little. “That she’s a girl.”

“But why do they have a tiger? And why do they have dogs and cats?” There she was asking too many questions again.

“Couple reasons,” he replied confidently. “They have Lulu because her fur is worth millions.”

“Millions?” she shouted, feeling suddenly cold. She shivered. “Why so much?”

“Because they’re pretty much extinct everywhere in the world,” he said. “Lulu’s basically the last female white tiger.”

“But why does she look so weak? Her muscles are all small.”

Andy laughed. “Have you seen what they feed us?”

“Yeah,” she snickered. “It’s bad.”

“That’s a light way of putting it. With the money they save on food they can get more Jade, and then make more Afterburner, and sell it on the black market.”

“Gosh,” she said. “And what about the cats and dogs?”

He chuckled. “They just sell those. Mix them to get a rare breed – extremely rare breeds – and make a couple hundred grand. Dogs don’t really complain much so they’re happy with a little bit of dogfood every day.”

“I wish I had a dog,” she said. “Our landlord never lets us have any animals in our apartment.”

“Why?” he asked coolly.

“He's allergic to cats and dogs.”

“So why not get a snake?”

She laughed, flumping back into bed. “Are you crazy? A snake?”

“There was a pet snake at my orphanage,” said Andy in a slightly happier tone. He even chuckled. “We called him Bloodjaw and… well, we used to scare the other kids whenever someone got adopted by telling ’em Bloodjaw ate ’em. It was funny.”

Sarah’s laughter exploded right from her chest. “That is funny!”

“Yeah.” He brought his legs back over the bed. Seconds later he peeked his head topsy-turvy, letting his afro fall down like a paintbrush. “It is!”

She continued to laugh until her sides hurt. Something about his serious face doing something that ridiculous tickled her the right way.

“Anyway,” said Andy, and Sarah wiped joyful tears from her eyes.

“Yes Andy?” she said sweetly.

“I think I know how you can get out,” he said.

She pressed her lips together in a flat line. “Wha…. How?”

“The door in the cafeteria.”

“What door?”

“The door with zero-one in the middle of it,” he said, and then he picked himself up over the bed. He grunted. “Man that feels weird.”

Sarah had a bit of trouble remembering what door he was talking about, so she went over the layout of the cafeteria in her mind. She recalled the piston and the fish tank and the food bar…. Oh yes, there it was, in the back, she thought. She had wondered about that door at first, but she was too upset to ask about it.

Now seemed like the perfect time. “What’s in there?” she said, more serious than she had been before.

He neighed. “See, that’s the thing. I’m not… ya know, sure.”

“Then how do you know if – ”

“I’ve seen people go in there,” he said quickly. “Some of the guards would swipe their card down the side, go in, and the only time I’d see ’em again is if they came from another door. Like, one time, Bic – you know Bic?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Bic went through the door earlier today, but the next time I saw him, he came from the elevator by the prison. Behind us. That’s when he stopped Teslaface.”

Sarah grabbed her water bottle, opened it, and sipped it. “But what if he went up while we were – ”

“I know,” he said. “That’s why I say I’m not sure. It might lead nowhere, it might lead to another elevator. I guess I just find it hard to believe that a place like this would have only one exit point. And besides, what are they hiding back there that’s so important it needs a security keycard to unlock?”

Sarah raised the right side of her mouth grimly. “That is weird.”

Andy said, “Only thing is it’s pretty risky trying to find out. Even riskier than climbing through the vent.”

Sarah agreed. The nightmarish image of Billy Wilson wouldn’t leave her. “I really don’t like this place….”

“It’s only an idea,” Andy said. “And ideas aren’t always meant to be taken literally. I’m only saying it because I guess I have a hard time believing Mr Steel would want you killed if he wants Luna. Or Glitch wants Luna.”

In a kind of subconscious way, Sarah began screwing and unscrewing the bottle cap. She crossed her legs and propped her elbows on her knees. “Do you think we’d be able to steal a keycard?” The question was so sudden that even Sarah didn’t know how to feel about it. It had been one of those sentences with little thought put behind it.

“Not a chance,” Andy said.

“What about Teslaface?” Sarah said, thinking of her own idea.

“Same with him,” he said in a clipped voice. Then he yawned. “That guy’s a raging alcoholic and pretty much a prisoner like us.”

Now Sarah was really intrigued. “But he’s a guard?” Robot zombie had almost slipped her tongue.

“Don’t matter,” said Andy. “He’s not allowed leave the place because, well, he was saved.”

“Saved?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure what the details are. But Bic often talks about it. How they saved his ass and owed them his life. He’s pretty much a slave with extra privleges.”

“Why does he get extra pril-leges?”

“Dogged if I know,” he said. “But that’s how it is.”

More thunder, this time thinner.

Sarah didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t even considered that some of the robot zombies might have been at risk too. Suddenly the man who was nice to her made a lot more sense. Maybe he didn’t want to be here; maybe none of them did apart from Mr Steel and maybe Bic (and those men who were at the door to greet her).

She had so many questions, but at the same time she didn’t want to annoy Andy, especially considering he wanted to get some shuteye. So she left it there, thanking him for talking. They exchanged goodnights and Sarah rolled over to tuck her hands under the pillow again, slipping towards sleep slowly with lighter thoughts on her mind. She thought about the mysterious door in the cafeteria, even dreamt about it for a short while.

The cafeteria is empty, and she hears the steady twist and turn of the piston overhead. The fish tank bubbles, lips, and sways, as if being rocked from side to side; but the glass is thick and takes up the entire wall. Fish schools across and disappears into the distant blue, fading with their lurid colours and becoming one with the nothingness.

That smell… newspaper, is it? Dust, maybe? Sarah doesn’t know, but it seems familiar. She snaps a look behind at the octagon-shaped tunnel, where the bad men would normally be, only to see no one. It’s like a ghost town, and Sarah briefly thinks about how she ended up in such a situation.

Oh but that’s right. She took off after Bic brought Tesla-GRIMES-face up to another one of his meetings. She grabbed the keycard adroitly, so quick that she knew even her sister would be impressed.

She swipes the keycard – bold with its picture of Lulu – through the access slot and waits for the beeping noise.

“Access granted,” a woman’s voice says. “Did you know bunnies’ teeth never stop growing?”

“I did know that!” says Sarah.

“It’s cool, isn’t it? Really cooooooooool.” The woman’s voice deepens, and then the door opens in a sort of impossible way. It’s shaped like a cogwheel, but… but it opens as if it’s a regular knobbed door. With a creak and squeak.

The inside is dark for a moment. In fact, before she knows it, she’s standing inside and everything is pitch-black. She’s thinking about how to escape, she’s thinking that maybe she’s made a big mistake and should turn back, but then she realises that she doesn’t know where the door is. Everything is cold and empty, but suddenly, as she scrambles, she bumps into something solid. A familiar feel. She rubs her hand across it and recognises that marble smoothness.

Marble. Is she…?

The light turns on. She’s standing in her old apartment.

“It’s really cute!” a voice says, and it takes Sarah a moment to recognise that it’s her own. “Thanks, Luna!”

She turns and sees herself and her sister in the kitchen. Her sister is sweeping threads into a foot-sized bin.

“No prob kiddo,” Luna says.

“Luna…” the real Sarah says. She’s so pretty. Her hair is long and black, and her nose is curved, just as she remembers her back then. She’s beautiful.

The light dims, flickers, and turns black. Then, in a flash, it’s back again, and she’s standing in her mother’s bedroom.

The real Sarah’s heart pounds, and her lungs knot with that spider-given emotion. “Mom!” she cries.

Mom’s body is ripped open into messy parts, her intestine hanging over the bed like a loose piece of cloth, her eyes removed and placed in a plastic bag on the night table. Around her… all around her… stand robot zombies, cutting into her body with buzzsaws.

“Two million for the eyes,” says one, and she recognises him as Mr Steel.

“Sixteen trillion for the brain,” says another. Bic.

“Forty-seven uptabagillion for….” But the last stops. He turns, slowly, facing Sarah. He wears a white mask over his nose and mouth. “What did I tell you?” He reaches up with his free hand and pulls the mask down, revealing a…

Sarah woke up at eight o’clock sharp, feeling dizzy and dry-throated. Her heart was racing and sweat oiled her skin. It took her a moment to understand what happened. She looked around the place and saw that she was still in the prison room, and the fluorescents were still buzzing from their wires. The thunder had stopped, and the outer light oozed through the front door window as a long spillikin of floating dust. Above her she heard a peculiar purr, subtle but deep. Was Andy snoring?

She hopped off the bed, went to refill her bottle in the bathroom, and by the time she came out, he was wide awake, rubbing his eyes on the cot like a child after a crying fit.

“Ready for day two?” he said in that familiar dazed voice.

She was. And she was going to get that keycard, somehow, someway. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually. She was damn well sure of it.