Free Contact by Chris Morphew

anytime they want. This is probably just one more way for them to try and convince us that there’s nothing weird going on.’
    â€˜And it’s great for us, right?’ I said. ‘Perfect chance to have a look around in there.’
    â€˜Definitely,’ said Luke, getting more animated by the second. ‘And the Co-operative must have some way of communicating with the outside world, right? Even if it’s just to make sure no-one else finds out where we are before doomsday.’
    â€˜That’s true,’ said Jordan slowly.
    Oh, right, of course. Now that Luke wanted to go, it was suddenly an awesome idea.
    Thankfully, that wasn’t all I had up my sleeve.
    â€˜I found something else too,’ I said, dashing over to the bookcase again. I’d put the picture frame back together last night, to make sure Mum or Dad didn’t come in and find it. ‘Check this out.’
    I dragged the picture out again and pulled back the tabs around the edge. I flipped the cardboard over, lifting it up for the others to see.
    Luke made a noise that was somewhere between shouting and choking.
    Jordan just stared at me, horrified, like she thought I’d made this thing.
    â€˜No, Jordan, I –’
    â€˜It’s an email,’ said Luke, pointing at the top of the first page.
    It was. An email from Mr Shackleton to Victoria Galton, dated nearly two years ago, with the subject line, Re: Tabitha: Trial 4.05.1 – 4.05.8.
    Tori,
Certainly a step in the right direction!
Keep me posted,
Noah
>Sir,
>Here are the results from the latest trial. Obviously,
>there is still much to be done to ensure that we’re left
>with a viable ecosystem at the end of the project, but
>as you can see, we have made some solid progress this
>time around.
>Victoria
>
    Then came the photos. There were sixteen of them printed out under the text of the email, all grouped into pairs.
    Before and after.
    The before shots each showed a different animal. A rat, a rabbit, a sheep, a horse, a pigeon, a cow, a German shepherd, a chimp. Each one was standing in the middle of a small, grey room that I assumed was part of a laboratory or something.
    The after shots were barely recognisable. Just bones and blood and hunks of meat.
    Whatever was left after Tabitha had finished with them.
    â€˜It’s like –’ Luke said eventually. ‘They look like … Like they were blown up from the inside, or …’ ‘There’s no skin,’ said Jordan.
    â€˜Yeah,’ I said. ‘It’s all just … insides. Like their skin’s been eaten away or something.’
    â€˜What could do that?’ asked Luke. ‘Insects? Like, a plague of something?’
    â€˜I dunno,’ I said. ‘But I’ve got a feeling we’re going to find out.’
    I pointed to the bottom corner of the frame. At the end of the last page, right under the pile of mess that had once been a chimpanzee, Crazy Bill had taped a rusty silver key. Three words were scribbled next to it in his weird, blocky handwriting:
    MORE TO COME.

Chapter 10
    S UNDAY , M AY 24
81 DAYS
    â€˜So, I was looking at that magazine article again,’ said Jordan as we left the mall and headed out into the main street. Dad had organised to meet us at two, so we’d decided to grab some lunch on the way in. ‘I noticed something in one of the photos. The one of Shackleton shaking hands with Dr Montag in the medical centre.’
    â€˜What about it?’ I asked, jumping at the chance to talk about something other than dismembered animal corpses for a while.
    â€˜Off to the side, you can see the edge of something metal,’ said Jordan. ‘I think it’s a door like Pryor’s.’
    â€˜Montag’s office?’ Luke suggested.
    â€˜Don’t think so,’ I said. ‘Not the one he takes patients into, anyway.’
    â€˜I didn’t see anything like that when I was there,’