The Killables (21 page)

He broke off, apparently reluctant to continue.

‘It did work,’ challenged Evie. ‘We’re not vegetables.’

‘No,’ Linus conceded. ‘But you haven’t had the New Baptism either.’

‘Yes, we have,’ Evie said hotly. ‘Just because we ran away doesn’t mean that we’re evil. Doesn’t mean that we didn’t have the New Baptism, because we did. I know we did. We have the scars. The ones that you opened up when you took us prisoner.’

Linus didn’t reply.

‘But . . .’ Raffy said, his hand, like Evie’s, moving to his forehead, to his scar. His eyes were flashing, full of anger. ‘If the operations didn’t work then why did he keep doing it? Why did everyone let him?’

‘Because we were weak. Because we accepted his excuses. Because we wanted it to succeed as much as he did. He told everyone that the operation didn’t work when people were too full of evil,’ Linus said regretfully. ‘And the ones who turned into vegetables he hid. We hid.’ He buried his head in his hands, then looked up. ‘Don’t you get it? The people your Great Leader operated on . . . they’re the Evils you’re all so scared of. He created them. They were the people who believed in him, who worked for him. And he . . .’ Linus stood up, took a few steps and leant over, his hands on his knees for a few seconds. Then he came back, apparently ready to continue.

‘Eventually he stopped. He had to. But people believed in the New Baptism; they needed it, needed to believe that evil had been eradicated. So . . .’ He was shifting awkwardly on his feet, unable to look either of them in the eye. ‘So the New Baptism was faked. People thought they were having it. A little incision to the side of the head. At least I thought it was just a little incision . . .’ He sighed. ‘Point is, they were convinced. And it worked, too – the placebo effect.’

‘Placebo?’ Evie asked, her nose wrinkling.

‘Tell someone you’re giving them medicine and they’ll get better, even if you’re only giving them sawdust,’ Linus explained. ‘Tell people they’re incapable of evil and they’ll believe that, too.’

‘So none of us has had the New Baptism?’ Evie’s hand moved to her head inadvertently. Her mind was racing. Could this really be true? All this time she’d been petrified that her amygdala was growing back and it had never been removed? Nor had her parents’? Nor had anyone’s? ‘Not even the Brother? Not even the A’s?’

‘Especially not the Brother,’ Linus said darkly. ‘And as for the A’s . . .’ He let out a long breath. ‘We didn’t have A’s back then. The System wasn’t built to grade people, to divide them up or pass judgement on them. It was built to make sure they had what they needed, that they were fulfilled.’

‘So no one had the New Baptism at all?’ Evie asked, still finding it hard to come to terms with.

‘No one at all. Of course, Fisher didn’t take it very well. The not being allowed to operate. He was convinced if he could just keep trying he’d figure it out. He didn’t seem to understand that he was destroying people’s lives. So we had to restrain him, lock him up. The Brother – he was just Mark back then – had been helpful; I thought he was a friend. I . . . I told him the truth. And he was great. He had all these ideas; he was going to reinforce the placebo with spiritual gatherings; he was going to be the spiritual leader of the City, keep people on the straight and narrow. He and I were the only ones who knew that the New Baptisms weren’t real; the only ones who knew any of it. But then . . .’

‘Then?’ Evie prompted.

Linus stood up and started to pace about the room. ‘I had a team of people trained on the System. I’d trained them all myself. The System was mine. I didn’t care about anything else. But he just couldn’t leave it alone – couldn’t resist the power it afforded him.’ His voice was bitter; his face suddenly full of anger.

‘The Brother?’ Evie asked, feeling the familiar prickle of fear on the back of her neck, the uneasy sensation of inadequacy, of never being good enough, that haunted her whenever she heard his name.

‘The Brother,’ Linus confirmed. ‘He wanted to control everything. He brought in changes without telling me, introduced labelling – A, B, C, D. Said it was crucial to keep the order, said otherwise he’d have to come clean about the New Baptism. And I went along with it for a bit; I thought he was doing it for the best. We’d been talking about letting more people into the City; it wasn’t growing fast enough and we needed more people to join us. So we sent out word that there was a safe community here, that people should come. And they came in their thousands – people were desperate after the Horrors; surviving was difficult. Very difficult. They thought they were coming to their salvation. And I was part of it. I helped spread the word.’

Evie closed her eyes. She could feel the warmth of her real father’s chest, could sense the atmosphere of hope as they walked towards the City.

‘But they only took the children,’ she whispered, opening her eyes again to see Raffy staring at her worriedly.

She managed a smile to reassure him, then turned to Linus. ‘So what happened to them? To my real parents? Did they kill them?’ She spoke the words flatly as though she didn’t care, but it was only because she couldn’t ask any other way, had to keep her emotions buried in case they consumed her.

Linus looked at her miserably. ‘I didn’t know,’ he murmured. ‘That you came that way. I didn’t know.’

‘So?’ Evie persisted.

Linus didn’t meet her eyes. ‘It was the deal the Brother made with Fisher in return for power. Fisher – your Great Leader – was allowed to operate on the adults who came. He got to butcher people and the Brother . . . Well, he got something else. An army of Evils to terrify the City’s citizens, to keep them enslaved, to make them so afraid that they would do whatever the Brother told them to do.’

Evie swallowed, forcing back the tears which pricked at her eyes. ‘My parents are Evils,’ she said instead. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. The people she had feared for so long were her own parents, the ones who had trudged for days in order to give her a better future.

‘And you keep them locked up? You have my parents here?’ She swung round, her eyes flashing suddenly.

Linus shook his head. ‘No, Evie. We have a few here, that’s all. The few that we have rescued,’ he added gently. ‘Most of them . . . Most of them are kept prisoner by the City. There’s a camp a few miles from the City. That’s where the Evils are kept. That’s where the Brother has put them.’

Evie nodded tightly. ‘And that’s why you left?’

Linus sighed heavily. ‘I wish,’ he said. ‘That’s when I should have left. But I didn’t want to see what was going on. I wanted to build my System, to make it perfect. I told myself that the Brother’s tactics were short term, necessary. I told myself . . .’ He let the sentence hang; his face looked tortured.

‘So what was it?’ Evie asked, cuttingly. ‘It wasn’t butchering my parents. What made you leave?’

Linus met her gaze, then looked down again, humbled. ‘Two things. First, Fisher disappeared.’

‘The Great Leader?’ Evie asked, with an involuntary shiver.

Linus nodded. ‘The Brother told me he’d escaped, but I didn’t believe him. I suspected . . . foul play.’

‘You think he killed him?’ Raffy asked, suspiciously.

Linus nodded. ‘That’s what I deduced.’

‘So you confronted the Brother?’ Raffy asked then, leaning forward, his eyes engaging for the first time.

Linus’s face twitched slightly. ‘No,’ he said, looking down again. ‘To my shame. I thought he knew what he was doing. In some ways I was relieved.’

‘Relieved that he’d killed the Great Leader?’ Evie gasped.

‘I’m not proud of myself. But I was relieved that such a dangerous man had been taken out of the equation,’ Linus responded quietly.

‘So what changed?’ Raffy asked. ‘What was the second thing?’

Linus’s expression hardened. ‘I found out that the fake New Baptism was more sinister than I’d realised. He was using the operation to put chips into people’s heads instead. The ones I told you about. Chips to track them. Chips to link them to the System. My System. So I told him enough was enough. I told him he had to stop, that I was going to tell everyone that the New Baptisms were a lie, that the Evils were a lie, but that it didn’t matter, that we would still have the City they’d dreamt of.’

Linus stopped pacing.

‘And?’ Raffy asked tentatively.

‘And that was my last day in the City. That was when the Brother introduced a new label. K. He said it was for people whose amygdalas had grown back. But it wasn’t. It was for people he decided were enemies of the regime. People who threatened him. People he had to get rid of straight away. K’s were supposedly taken away for a second New Baptism, but that was just a lie like all the rest. K stands for Killable – as you know. The Brother didn’t want to kill me himself; he knew someone would find out eventually. So he told everyone I was being reconditioned, then tied me up outside and left me for the Evils to kill. The Evils who he’d told me were being cared for, but who in reality he’d kept locked up in filthy conditions and treated like animals.’

‘But they didn’t kill you,’ Evie whispered. ‘You’re still here.’

‘No, they didn’t kill me.’ Linus turned to Raffy. ‘They didn’t kill me because your father came to my rescue. Your father saved my life.’

‘My father?’ Evie barely recognised Raffy’s voice. ‘My father saved your life?’

‘Yes, son,’ Linus said. ‘He was one of the originals. One of the men who helped us build the City. He was a believer; he helped me build the System. But he could see things were changing, too. He was a quiet man, didn’t lose his temper like I did. But he guessed about the New Baptisms; he didn’t like what the Brother was doing to the System. Using it to police people, to scare them, instead of to help them. He found out that the Brother was sending his men after me and risked his life to help me to escape. Back then it was easier – I didn’t have a chip in my head for one thing. But he knew how much the Brother wanted me dead and he made sure that didn’t happen. And one day I’m going to make sure he knows how grateful I am.’

Raffy looked at him. He seemed stronger suddenly, like his back was slightly straighter. ‘My father was made a K when I was four,’ he said. ‘If K really does mean Killable, then . . .’

‘Your father was made a K? No, that’s impossible,’ Linus said quickly. ‘That’s impossible.’

‘Not impossible,’ Raffy argued in a low voice. ‘I think I’d know.’

‘But . . .’ Linus’s face creased into confusion. ‘But I know he’s alive.’

‘And I know he isn’t,’ Raffy said. ‘He was taken away. I remember it like it was yesterday. The police guard came for him. Told us he was dangerous, that he needed to be reconditioned, that he’d never come back because he was weak and the evil in him was too strong. My mother was there. She was shaking. She told me I had to be good, otherwise they’d come for me next. She said . . .’

He didn’t finish the sentence; he couldn’t. His whole body was shaking. Evie reached out a hand and he gripped it tightly. She remembered that night, too; remembered how afterwards Raffy had changed – everything had changed.

Linus reeled. His expression said it all: grief, guilt, anger, all etched into the lines of his face. ‘When you were four?’ he asked. ‘So, what, twelve years ago?’

‘Thirteen,’ Raffy said, his voice slightly defensive.

‘Thirteen. That’s five years after I escaped.’ Linus folded his arms and paced around again for a minute. Then he came back to Raffy, stood right in front of him. ‘But if your father’s dead,’ he said then, his face anxious, his eyes intense, ‘then who has been sending me messages all this time? Who told me to look out for you? Who’s been telling me when people were being made K’s so that we could get to them first, bring them to safety?’

Evie stared at him. ‘So that’s who you are? You’re all K’s? All of you?’

‘Most of us.’ A small shadow fell over Linus’s face. ‘We don’t always get here in time. Sometimes the Evils . . .’ He tailed off, cleared his throat. ‘And sometimes we have to let it happen,’ he added eventually. ‘Otherwise they’d come after us. Otherwise . . .’ He appeared to shake himself. ‘The point is, your father told me about you. He told me to find you. How could he do that if he’s dead?’

‘You knew about us?’ Evie asked incredulously. ‘You knew we were escaping from the City? Then why did you take us prisoner? Why did you beat Raffy?’

Linus arched an eyebrow. ‘That wasn’t a beating. That was just so you wouldn’t try to escape. Not until I’d got you here to safety. Until I was sure the City police guard had given up their search.’ He turned back to Raffy. ‘So who has been communicating with me? I need to know.’ He gripped Raffy’s shoulder, staring at him. Raffy looked back helplessly. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘But I found a communication device. In the System.’

‘You found the communication device? So it’s been compromised?’ Linus’s eyes grew big with fear.

‘That’s why they made him a K,’ Evie explained quietly.

‘When did you find it? How? Who did you tell?’

‘I found a glitch. Only it wasn’t a glitch. I was doing maintenance on the System and I saw some weird code, some activity that didn’t make any sense,’ Raffy answered uncomfortably. ‘Are you saying that my father planted it? That it was his way of communicating with you?’

Linus looked like he could barely hear Raffy, was barely aware of their presence. ‘But it doesn’t make any sense,’ he was saying, shaking his head, his face still taut with worry. ‘You found it last week? Who’s been communicating with me? Who took over from your father?’

Then Evie looked at Raffy and over at Linus, and she took a step forward. Because she knew, she understood suddenly – understood everything.

‘Lucas,’ she said quietly. ‘He knew. He’s been doing it all this time. He’s senior in the government but he told me about Raffy. He told me Raffy had to escape.’

‘Lucas?’ Raffy snorted. ‘Lucas was the one who kept telling everyone I was mad, who said that I hadn’t found anything more than a glitch, that I was delusional . . .’ As he spoke, he realised what he was saying, realised what Lucas had been trying to do. ‘Lucas?’ he stuttered. ‘Lucas? All this time?’