Six (Countdown book 1)

Chapter 20

I stared at the silver car curiously. I walked around it. It was smaller than the seven seater, but still pretty big. "Are you sure that's okay?" I asked Wyatt, who was stood in the corner, his arms folded, smiling slightly. "Because I could end up destroying it."

"It's fine." Wyatt said. "If you destroy it, we've still got the other one."

"Brilliant." I muttered, running a hand across one of the doors, already planning what I was going to do to it.

"As long as it's actually going to be improved." Wyatt said, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded. "I've already got some ideas of what I could do to it. I'm thinking that if I can get a look at the engine, I might be able to upgrate it to-"

"All I'm hearing is blah, blah, blah, technical stuff." Wyatt cut across, grinning. "I'll take it that you can make it stealthy, then?"

I almost started explaining how I could make a new coating around the car that would make it pretty much invisible, but I stopped myself. "Yeah, I can make it stealthier." I said.

"Good." Wyatt said. "Then it's all yours." I smiled excitedly at the car.

"I can get started straight away, then. I need to wait for some of the-" I paused as Wyatt gave me the look. "The technical stuff for the Cure to get to the right temperature. But it'll take a few days, because if I speed it up the particles will become more energetic, and, of course, it might exceed the temperature I need it, in which case I'd have to start all over again and-"

"Blah, blah, blah, science stuff..." Wyatt cut across.

"No need to be rude." I muttered. "I did dumb it down a bit for you."

"Not enough." he commented. There was a loud crash from upstairs. "I'd better go," he said. "Sounds like they're killing each other upstairs."

"I need to go upstairs anyway." I said. I followed him up to the bottom floor, then kept going upstairs to my lab. I walked in, and began turning things on. It seemed like only minutes later that Andy came to tell me that dinner was ready.

I followed her downstairs and into the kitchen. We all sat around, and Wyatt dished up pizzas and garlic bread. I poured myself a glass of coke, and picked a few pieces of pizza and garlic bread. I picked half-heartedly at the pizza, thinking about how close we were to June.

"Eli?" Wyatt asked me.

I looked up. "Yeah?" I thought he was going to shout at me for not eating enough again.

"We were wondering if you had anything that Andy and Tony could take with them tomorrow." Wyatt told me.

"Tomorrow?" I asked, frowning.

"Yes, tomorrow. June the third." Tony said irritably.

"What?" I shouted. "But we're still in May!"

"No we're not, Eli." Wyatt said calmly. "And Tony and Andrea need to leave tomorrow to get to the new Six's house in time."

"Oh." I said, looking back down at my food. June? June? We were already in June. I had three days left. I glanced over to Scarlett, my stomach turning painfully. "I've, um... I've probably got some stuff that'll help you. I finished working on the tracker that should lead you straight to the Six." Wyatt nodded.

"What about phones?" he asked.

I nodded. "I've finished them too. I've added on loads of extras. I can explain them to you later." After that, I didn't eat anymore. I glared down at the food as though it had personally made me miss so many days.