Read Boy X for Free Online Page A

door.
    â€˜That’s it!’ Isabel pushed forward and the door swung open, letting out a dull, blue glow.
    Ash had never been so pleased to see even the smallest amount of light, but as they stepped into the lab, it dawned on him that they had heard a lot of shooting. Much more than was needed to kill the one man now lying in the corridor.
    An awful feeling came over him.
    Maybe everyone in the lab was dead; perhaps, other than Thorn, he and Isabel were the only ones left alive.

T he lab was a billion miles away from the kind of thing they had at school. A clinical, icy-blue glow made everything feel hostile and alien, and the air smelt of polished metal and chemicals. Underneath that was the faint hint of another smell; like unburnt gas from a cooker.
    As they ventured further into the lab, Ash saw a huge, circular corridor that made him think he was inside a giant stainless-steel doughnut, with the centre section divided into four wedge-shaped glass labs. Each lab was at least the size of a school hall, and was filled with equipment that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a science fiction film. There were computers with dimly glowing keyboards, glass chambers with pipes connected to the metal ceilings, androw upon row of shiny containers that looked like largecalibre ammunition shells.
    The nearest lab had robotic arms sprouting from the floor, pincers hanging over a dental chair that was surrounded by even more medical apparatus. Along one wall was a row of twelve metal-framed, glass-fronted cubicles, each one with a digital screen.
    Large, black-haired monkeys occupied four of the cubicles. They had been pacing their prisons, but the moment Ash and Isabel came in, the monkeys stopped and came right up to the glass to watch. Standing up, the creatures would have been almost as tall as Ash, but they remained hunched, with powerful shoulders drawn forwards. Their sleek hair shone, and each had a grey stripe across its back, shimmering in the eerie blue light. They ignored Isabel, fixing their eyes on Ash.
    Close to the door of the lab where the monkeys were imprisoned, two security guards lay face down on the floor, with blood pooled around them. Ash knew they were more of Thorn’s victims.
    â€˜Papa must be in one of the other labs.’ Isabel’s voice was small and quiet. She let go of Ash’s hand and moved ahead, her pace quickening as she hurried round the circular corridor, boots clomping on the metallic floor.
    Ash went after her, catching up as they rounded the bend and the third lab came into view. What they saw made them stop in their tracks.
    Inside, Mum was leaning against a large waist-high glass box with four holes in the front. Her arms were crossed andher head was hanging as if she were deep in thought.
    On the opposite side of the room, an olive-skinned man was standing beside a tall clear-fronted refrigerator filled with small bottles of amber liquid. He wore a pass clipped to his belt, his name printed in small type on it: Dr Ernesto Vasquez . Isabel’s papa. Close to him, two women were sitting cross-legged on the floor.
    They were all wearing yellow protective hazmat suits without the helmets.
    Ash came to a halt as if he had run into an invisible barrier. The relief of seeing his mum alive was incredible.
    â€˜Papa!’ Isabel shouted, but there was no reaction from anyone inside the lab, so she knocked hard on the glass. ‘Maria? Begonia?’
    Ash’s mum jerked her head up and caught sight of her son. She looked tired, with hunched shoulders and bloodshot eyes, and her face was glistening as if it were too hot in the lab. When she saw Ash, though, she pushed away from the in-vitro cabinet and hurried forward. The two women got to their feet, and Isabel’s dad rushed towards the thick glass wall.
    As soon as Ash locked eyes with his mum, he began to speak, letting everything pour out. ‘What’s happening? There was shooting and there’s