Crater Lake

Jennifer Killick

Praise

‘A brilliant sequel to Crater Lake, if anything, I think this is better than the first! Scary, funny and thrilling.’ Richard Simpson, whatiread.co.uk

‘Jennifer Killick does it again! An excellent sequel to the first book, in what I really hope is a long Crater Lake series … a cross between Goosebumps, an episode of Scooby Doo and something else I can’t quite put my finger on.’ Georgina Carter

‘A huge success of a sequel. Like The Empire Strikes Back is to Star Wars: dare I say it, arguably BETTER than the original. Double the scary, the fun, the adventure & the mystery, this is Stranger Things for kids done Killick style.’ Scott Evans, The Reader Teacher

‘Readers need to be ready for anything! They will be taken on a hair-raising adventure that will send shivers down their spines and ensure they never eat soup again!’ Kate Heap, Scope for Imagination

‘Jennifer Killick is fast becoming the queen of the horrorcomedy genre… This is a perfect transition book; it captures many of the struggles experienced by pupils as they move from primary to secondary school and helps to emphasise the importance of staying true to oneself and valuing your friends. I absolutely adored every word of it.’ Linda Canning

Title Page

Dedication

For the old new friends that

I feel lucky to have in my life:

Lorraine Gregory

Eloise Williams

Bruce, Cian and Rhys

Title Page
Dedication
1: Battle Royale
2: Old Enemy
3: Glitch
4: Kat
5: Karim
6: Spatter
7: The Labs
8: Lights Out
9: Dead End
10: The Bells
11: Hunter
12: Playing the Game
13: Night Terrors
14: Ade
15: Chets and Mak
16: Unravelling
17: A Start
18: Trent
19: Bugged Out
20: The Sting
21: Truth
22: The Swarm
23: At All Costs
24: My Squad
25: Humansplaining
26: Worth Fighting For
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Other books by Jennifer Killick
Copyright

Battle Royale

‘Die, loser! Die!’ Chets’ voice screams through my headset as he pulls off a 360 no-scope with the majesty of a leaping panther.

‘Is that your thirteenth kill, Chets? What happened? Bandito9000 has turned into a savage!’

‘My time as an alien wasp changed me, Lance. You don’t experience something like that without growing from it. I think it activated some dormant skills that I never knew I had.’

‘Gaming was literally the only thing I was better at than you.’ I groan as I take a hit. ‘Do you have a med kit?’

‘On my way, StarshottA51,’ Chets says. It’s so good to hear his voice. ‘And you’re amazing at lots of things.’

Standard Chets, trying to be kind, when we both know it’s not true. ‘Yeah, I’m amazing at 2 doing lousy in tests, getting detention and making my mum stress.’

‘Is she in the hospital today?’

‘No, actually.’ I am frantically building to get some height so I can kill some dude called RabidMilson2006 who is apparently desperate to get me out of the game. ‘She’s home. She seems better.’

‘That’s great, Lance,’ Chets says, as Bandito9000 effortlessly takes down RabidMilson2006, leaving me looking like a noob.

‘Thanks, mate,’ I say. ‘She’s been so ill since our Crater Lake Year Six school trip-slash-fight for survival in the summer that I’d forgotten what it was like to have normal Mum around the house. She’s smiling and singing again. It’s nice.’

‘It wasn’t your fault, you know,’ Chets says.

‘Feels like it was.’

Mum’s illness can get triggered by stress, and let’s just say that what happened at Crater Lake made her lose her mind with worry. You can’t blame her, really. She thought she was sending me on a Year Six residential where the scariest thing that would happen would be a bad zip-wire landing, or falling out of a canoe. Nobody 3 expected Crater Lake activity centre to be the HQ for an alien takeover.

There’s just us and two other duos left in the game.

‘None of us asked for it to happen, and if it wasn’t for you, we’d all be creepy bug creatures.’ He pauses and I swear I can hear him shudder at the same time I do. ‘Like Digger. How are you sleeping now? Any better?’

Sleep has never come easily to me, and it’s been even worse since Crater Lake. The crater contained the remains of a meteorite which released invisible spores into the air. Sleeping at Crater Lake allowed the spores to use your body as a host, turning you into an alien slave. When sleep means the end of your life as you know it, it becomes the enemy. And that’s not a fear you get over easily. The CPAP oxygen machine I use every night helps with my sleep apnoea, but it doesn’t take away the nightmares.

‘You know, same as usual,’ I say, because I don’t want sympathy. We’ve all struggled with awful memories of our residential.

We take out another team.

‘You’ll always be a hero, Lance,’ Chets says. ‘No 4 matter what happens, you’ll always be the one who saved us.’

As much as I’d love to take all the credit – the respect I got after defeating the alien hordes and stopping them from taking over the world was the high point of my life so far, and I will almost definitely never get that kind of glory again – winning at Crater Lake was a team effort. Everyone had courage, and everyone had skills. Chets with his smarts and tech genius; Kat with her kindness and insane talent for climbing; Mak with his prepper survival knowledge and bearlike strength; and Ade with her mega-brain and super-speed.

‘We all saved each other, Chets. You, Katja, Mak, Ade and me.’ I glance at the screen. ‘They’re not coming, are they?’

‘They might still,’ Chets says. ‘They’re probably just running late.’

‘VenomAde has joined another party.’

‘Is Adrianne still hanging out with that new group? The ruffians?’

I smile. Only Chets would use a word like ruffians. ‘Yep. She’s so different now.’

‘And she and Katja haven’t made up yet?’

5 I glance at the screen. No sign of xKittyGrimeX. No texts from Kat on my phone.

‘They haven’t spoken to each other for months. And when I tried to talk to Kat about it, she got so mad that she won’t speak to me anymore either.’

‘Do you miss her?’ Chets asks.

Like the polar bears miss their melted icecaps.

‘Nah. Well, maybe a little, sometimes.’

‘I always thought you two would end up…’

I fake a coughing fit to hide my pain. I know he’s trying to help, but I really don’t want to hear this right now. My screen turns red. You were eliminated by UglyPugly1985. ‘Sorry, Bandito,’ I say. ‘I suck today.’

‘It doesn’t matter, Lance. It’s just a game.’ He says this, but I can hear the frustration in his voice. He’s become way more competitive lately, and Chets hates doing badly at anything. Not that he did badly – I totally dragged him down with my lameness.

‘You’d have been better off with MakKarnage,’ I say. ‘But I think we’ve lost Mak for good.’

‘You never know. Nobody can predict these things, especially those of us who are inexperienced in matters of the heart.’ 6

In spite of everything, I splutter out a laugh.

‘He got his ear pierced,’ I say. ‘I’m not sure there’s any way back from that.’

‘Is it golden, like a pirate’s?’

‘It’s a giant diamond. It sparkles in the light so you can see him twinkling from the other end of the corridor.’

‘That sounds kinda nice, in a way. Festive.’

‘I’d love to agree with you, Chets, but it’s more like the Poundland version of Ronaldo. And it just doesn’t seem like, you know, Mak.’

Chets takes a slurp of drink. ‘I guess they really aren’t joining the party. I used to love it when we all played together every week.’

‘Me too.’ For a long time it was literally the only thing I looked forward to. We promised we’d carry on the tradition: every week, no matter what. ‘I guess everything changes, even if we don’t want it to.’

‘True say,’ Chets sighs, and I smile at that.

‘As they aren’t coming,’ I say, as carefully as I can, even though I know saying it carefully probably isn’t going to make a difference. ‘Would it be OK if I invite my other friend, FreshTrim?’

One, two seconds of silence.

7 ‘Chets?’

‘Which friend do you mean?’ he says. He knows which friend I mean.

‘FreshTrim101, my friend from school: Karim. I told you about him a couple of times, remember? He moved to Straybridge over the summer because his parents are working on the SMARTtown project. He didn’t know anyone when he started at Latham High.’

‘I vaguely recall you mentioned a new … acquaintance.’

Talking like he’s got something painful stuck up his butt. He gets like this every time I try to introduce him to Karim.

‘You’ll really like him, Chets – he’s a good guy. He’s funny.’

‘I’m sure he’s hilarious,’ Chets says. ‘But I think it sends the wrong message to have him in our party, just in case the others do show up. We don’t want them to think they’ve been replaced.’

‘No, we don’t,’ I say. ‘But having a new friend doesn’t mean anyone’s been replaced. It’s just a new friend.’

‘Hey!’ Chets says. ‘I’ve just thought of another thing you’re the best at. You always win at wing 8 roulette, because you’re the only person I know who can handle the extra hot without crying.’

‘Well yeah, that does make me a bit of a legend,’ I say, knowing there’s no point in pushing any harder. I don’t want to lose Chets on top of all of the others. ‘Duos again?’

‘For sure, StarshottA51. Let’s go.’

As we haul out, ready to parachute into another game, a tap on my shoulder makes me jump out of my skin.

‘Jeez, Mum!’

‘I was calling you for ages. I wish you wouldn’t have that on so loud – you’re probably damaging your ears.’ She ignores my eye roll. ‘After this game, I want you to come and decorate the Christmas tree with me. It’s been sad and bare for far too long.’

‘Who is sad and bare?’ Chets says into my ear.

‘The Christmas tree,’ I say. ‘Because apparently trees have feelings, too.’

‘Hi Chets!’ Mum shouts into my ear, and waves for some unknown reason.

‘He can’t see you, Mum,’ I say.

‘Hi, Mrs Sparshott,’ Chets shouts back.

‘Should I just give Mum the headset so you two 9 can chat?’ I say, and then, ‘Joking, Mum!’ when she reaches out to take it. ‘I’ll come down in ten, OK?’

‘If you don’t, I’ll come up again.’ Mum laughs and finally leaves my room.

‘Why haven’t you decorated your tree?’ Chets says.

‘It was delivered a week ago and Mum felt too unwell to do it,’ I say. ‘But apparently now she’s feeling better enough to hang some baubles, and ruin my life by trying to chat to my mates.’ I am a bit embarrassed, but it’s so good to have her joking around that I’m actually quite looking forward to doing the tree with her.

‘Right. Ready to drop in three, two, one…’

And then a boom thunders through the house, so loud that I hear it clearly over the game. So loud that the walls shake. The spare oxygen canisters for my CPAP rattle and clink together for a few seconds, and then go still.

‘Did you hear that?’ Chets says, as I jump out of my gaming chair, which is hard cos it’s really low, and I’m slightly lacking in core body strength. I dart to the window, forgetting that I’m attached to my console by the headset lead. It jerks me back, 10 and my headset thuds onto the carpet, at the same time as my mum runs back into the room.

Outside my window, the winter sky is the palest grey-blue, quiet and clear without even a bird to break up the view. I can see a way across Straybridge, beyond the shopping mall and the church in the town centre, and across to the other side of town, where a plume of black smoke is billowing into the air.

I fumble my headset back on as my mum gapes open-mouthed at the scene outside. ‘You seeing this, Chets?’

‘If you mean the apocalyptic toxic cloud, then yeah, I’m seeing it.’

‘I’m going to look at the news,’ Mum says, heading downstairs. ‘You stay here.’

I grab my phone and start scrolling through social media. Within thirty seconds I’m seeing the same word over and over again. Explosion.

‘What is happening?’ Chets gasps, probably looking at the same feeds as I am.

I stare at the smoke churning and bubbling in the sky above my town: a town where literally nothing interesting ever happens, and I feel a creeping dread prickling in my chest. 11

‘I don’t know,’ I say. ‘But, to use the words of every great Star Wars hero, I have a really bad feeling about this.’

Old Enemy

It only takes a minute for the shocked silence to be replaced by the sound of sirens. I watch from my window as distant blue lights zip down streets towards the smoke, and I’m trying to work out exactly where they’re going. It’s got to be a couple of kilometres away, which means the explosion must have been big for both me and Chets to hear it from our houses.

‘Lance, I’ve got to go,’ Chets says. ‘My mum is having a meltdown.’

‘Yeah, no problem, mate,’ I say, my mind still racing as I try to work out what could have happened. ‘I hope she’s OK. Text you later.’

‘Let me know if you find anything out,’ Chets says. ‘See ya.’

I pull off my headset and scroll through my phone again.

‘Lance! Come downstairs, will you?’ Mum shouts up. ‘Something’s coming on the news.’

13I jog downstairs to the den where Mum is sitting on the sofa with the remote control in her hand.

‘We are interrupting our programming to bring you a breaking news story,’ the newsreader says. ‘There have been reports of a large explosion in the town of Straybridge. The cause is not yet known and we have no details of any casualties. Local police and fire services are responding to the incident and we’re hoping we can provide you with more information shortly.’

‘What is happening, Lance?’ Mum whispers, and I can see that she’s scared. This is not good for her.

‘I don’t know, Mum,’ I say. ‘But it might not be as bad as it looks.’

She pats the sofa next to her, and I perch on the edge of the seat.

‘The explosion is believed to have originated at the university campus in Straybridge.’

‘Oh god, I hope Nadia’s OK.’ Mum grabs her phone with shaking hands, and holds it up to activate her face ID. ‘Stupid thing,’ she shouts when it fails to recognise her three times because she’s moving around too much. 14

‘Here,’ I say, taking it from her and holding it up to her face to unlock it. ‘And I’m sure she’s OK. It’s Saturday, so she’ll be at home with Karim.’

Mum scrolls through her recent calls and then puts the phone to her ear. ‘Damn, it’s engaged!’

‘I’ll call Karim.’ Mum is going into full-on panic. Since she met Nadia at the hospital back in June, they’ve become really good friends. And I’m glad because it was our mums who introduced us before we started at Latham. I really didn’t want to meet Karim at first, because it was weird being set up by our mums like some kind of arranged friendship. Plus I already had my mates and I wasn’t looking to add any more. But we got on as soon as we met. We have loads in common and have a laugh. And, as it turned out, my other mates didn’t last that long into the first term.

‘Sparshott, my G!’ Karim’s voice shouts into my ear. ‘Can you believe what is happening?’

‘Is your mum OK?’ I say, because Mum is literally whacking me on my knee and mouthing words urgently in my face.

‘Yeah, we were all at home when it happened,’ Karim says. ‘Mum’s just gone in now to try to find out what’s going on.’ 15

‘She’s fine, Mum,’ I say. ‘She’s just gone in now to try to find out what’s going on.’

‘Oh, thank goodness,’ Mum sighs. ‘Tell Karim to tell his mum to call me when she gets a chance.’

‘Did you hear that, K?’

‘Yep. Will do.’

I give my mum a nod, and then shuffle back on the sofa while she goes off to make a cup of tea. ‘So, what do you know?’

‘Not much, really. Just that there was some kind of accident at the lab that caused an explosion. Mum went nuts, got on her phone and went off in the car.’

‘It was definitely an accident?’ I ask. ‘Someone didn’t blow up the lab on purpose?’

‘She seemed to think it was an accident, but we don’t know anything for sure. She was mostly worried about the possibility of experiments in the labs being compromised.’

‘What sort of experiments?’ I ask. I’ve never really wondered what goes on in there before, but it suddenly occurs to me that maybe I should have.

‘They have a few different departments,’ Karim says. ‘Obviously she mostly works on the XGen 16 stuff so she doesn’t know much about what happens in the other areas. Why? What are you thinking?’

‘I’m not sure,’ I say. ‘I guess I’m wondering if there was anything dangerous in the labs.’

‘So you’re thinking the town is going to be overrun with those creepy pink-eyed rabbits, spreading zombie germs through the population? You’ve been in too many life-or-death situations, my friend – you’ve gone straight to disaster movie mode.’

‘Yeah, I guess.’ I lower my voice so Mum won’t hear. ‘I just know that there are things out there in the universe that are dangerous. I don’t want to get taken by surprise again.’ Karim has heard all about Crater Lake, so he knows where I’m coming from.

‘Dude, it is so unlikely that anything like that would happen here. The only thing that Straybridge is known for is all the SMARTtown stuff – renewable energy and super-fast wifi. If I was an alien species, intent on destroying the human race, this is the last place I’d start. Besides, didn’t those spore things come out of a meteor hole or something?’ 17

‘Yeah,’ I laugh. ‘They came out of a meteor hole.’

‘Well, I haven’t seen any meteor holes around here, have you?’

‘No, I haven’t … but maybe there was something in the labs. I just want to be ready.’

‘Lance Sparshott, you were born ready. You are the readiest person I know. I have been secretly calling you “Mister Ready” since I met you.’

‘Alright, I hear you,’ I say. ‘Talk later?’

‘I’ll call you when I hear from Mum,’ Karim says. ‘Be ready.’

‘I will.’

‘I know you will.’

I laugh and hang up as Mum comes back into the room, looking a lot less upset than she did before. ‘Shall we decorate the tree now?’

‘Sure,’ I say. Nothing like something getting blown up to make you feel festive. ‘Shall I get the boxes down from the loft?’

‘No need,’ she beams. ‘I’ve already done it.’

‘Mum,’ I say, ‘that wasn’t smart – what if you’d fainted?’

‘But I don’t feel faint. I can’t remember feeling this well for ages. I’m not tired, I can eat normally, 18 and there’s no pain. Plus, I’m sure my hair is getting shinier. Does it look shinier to you?’

I look at Mum’s long, dark hair and honestly, I have no idea. Who thinks about how shiny their mum’s hair is? No one, that’s who.

‘Yeah, I think it is. Definitely.’

Mum pulls the boxes of decorations in and we begin to unpack them, untangling lights and pulling off layers of bubble wrap. The TV is still showing the news, but they’re mostly boring on about all the SMARTtown stuff.

‘Straybridge won a competition to become the country’s first SMARTtown as part of a new scheme, receiving a huge financial investment in the areas of science and technology. Benefits to the town include solar panelling on all houses, and the opportunity to be the first place in the country to trial XGen’s cutting-edge phone and data services…’

Blah, blah, blah.

‘Isn’t the tree lovely?’ Mum says, smiling at it like it’s her favourite child.

‘It’s very tree-ish,’ I say, glancing up at it. ‘And big.’

‘It’s one of the special ones from Verge’s Garden Centre,’ she carries on, regardless of my lack of 19 interest. ‘You know they dig them up leaving enough of a root ball that they are still living, and can be replanted after Christmas. Isn’t that incredible?’

‘A living tree? Sure. Mind blowing.’

‘So they continue to produce oxygen. It was one of the things that helped us to win the SMARTtown investment.’

‘The cones on it are a weird shape,’ I say, reaching out to inspect one of them. It’s wider and rounder than normal pinecones, and the petal-slash-scale things are bigger, so it sort of looks like a rosebud made out of wood.

‘They’re special, aren’t they? They’ll begin to open up in a few days – the smell is supposed to be divine. Have you found the end of those lights yet?’

‘Yep.’ I pass it to her. Mum is a total weirdo about the decoration placement, so I mostly just pass her things while she puts them on the tree. Apparently, there is an exact right place for each one.

‘We have just received an update from the Straybridge police. They aren’t allowing anyone, reporters included, into the town. Anyone not within the town’s boundaries at this moment is being told to stay away.’ 20

We both look up to see images on the screen of police setting up roadblocks and turning cars around.

‘Why would they do that?’ Mum says, her arm frozen midway to hanging a crystal butterfly on a high branch.

‘Maybe they don’t think it was an accident, and they want to catch the person who did it.’

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