Jake Atlas and the Keys of the Apocalypse by Rob Lloyd Jones

Author:Rob Lloyd Jones [Jones, Rob Lloyd]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781406396201
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2020-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

22

Pan kept shaking her head as she stared at the chaos all around us. “Jake,” she insisted, “this volcano is not active.”

“Are you crazy?” I cried. “Look!”

At the top of the crater, more rocks shot up from the slope like corks popping, forced out by pressure from below. Something spluttered from the ground, dazzlingly bright.

“It’s lava!” I yelled.

“It can’t be, Jake!”

“Stop saying that! Obviously it is!”

Higher up the slope, the steam grew even thicker. It spread around the crater’s rim, like it was deliberately encircling us. It was turning darker too. Was it even steam any more? It looked more like smoke – black smoke.

I remembered the scenes from my dreams; natural disasters destroying the lost civilization: an earthquake, a tsunami, floodwaters… Had the smoke caused the volcano to come back to life?

More rocks cascaded down the slope, another geyser erupted and the crater shook even harder. The mercenary who had almost killed me roared into her smart-goggles, demanding evacuation, but would help arrive in time?

“We have to get out of here,” I called to Pan.

We scrambled up the crater, legs burning from the effort; steam and sweat stung our eyes. The slope was shaking so violently that it was impossible to stay upright, so we resorted to a frantic crawl. I glanced down and saw tumbling rocks fall into the pit.

Then something began to rise from the pit. A bubble of black liquid, like an inflating balloon.

It swelled into a small, dark dome and then burst, spraying fiery, orange flecks across the base of the crater. More steam gushed from the hole, along with toxic-looking yellow-green gas. I stood halfway up the slope, staring – mesmerized – as the fumes parted to reveal a pool of lava, bubbling and spitting. The liquid fire began to fill the base of the crater like a blocked drain overflowing. It was rising.

“Pan, go!” I wailed.

She was already climbing as fast as she could. Another geyser erupted in our direction. We screamed and covered our heads as scalding water showered the slope. Higher up, the black smoke grew even thicker, a dark wall trapping us in the crater.

Below, the pool of lava rose higher. I could feel the intensity of its heat prickling my skin and frazzling the hairs on my arms. Our clothes were soaked from the steam. Gases drifting up from the volcano stung my eyes, blurring my vision.

The gases swept away as a helicopter rose above the crater. Further down the slope, the mercenaries gathered together and signalled to the pilot. A wire was lowered from the helicopter, and each mercenary clipped a carabiner on its end to a hook on their belt. Now the helicopter rose, lifting them all from the slope so they dangled together in a group hug.

“They’re leaving us to die!” Pan breathed.

“And they have the keys,” I added.

Pan started screaming things I can’t repeat, when a ball of fire spat from the lava pool like a flaming arrow. It hit the helicopter’s tail in a burst of sparks.

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