Gone Series Complete Collection (40 page)

“What makes you think he won’t just come after us?”

“Think about when he first came rolling into Perdido Beach,” Sam said. “He had a plan. He trained his people and rehearsed.”

“So we go back to Perdido Beach?” Astrid asked.

“Orc is still there, and a few others. There may be trouble with them.”

“We need to get some food for these kids,” Edilio said. “That’s first.”

“Three or four miles to Ralph’s,” Sam mused. “Can they make it?”

“I guess they have to,” Edilio said. “But they’re scared, too. I mean, you got some messed-up kids here. What they been through and all?”

“We’re all scared, there’s not much we can do about that,” Sam said. But he didn’t like the sound of that. It was glib. It was meaningless: sure, they were all scared, but there was something they could do about it.

In fact, they had to do something about it.

Sam stopped in the middle of the road and waited for the others to catch up.

“Listen,” he said. He raised his hands to get their attention, calm them down, but they had seen what happened when Sam raised his hands. They flinched and seemed about ready to dart off the road and into the woods.

Sam dropped his hands hastily. “Sorry. Let me start over: Could I have everyone’s attention?” Sam said, using a gentler voice. He kept his hands by his sides. He waited patiently until he was sure everyone was listening. Quinn still hung back.

“Some bad stuff has happened to all of us,” Sam said. “Some very bad stuff. We’re beat up, we’re tired. We don’t know what’s going on. The whole world has gone bizarre on us. Our own bodies and minds have changed in ways that are even weirder than puberty.”

That earned a few smiles and one grudging laugh.

“Yeah. I know we’re all shook up. We’re all scared. I know I am,” he admitted with a rueful smile. “So, let’s not try and play like it isn’t scary. It is. But sometimes the worst thing is the fear. You know?” His gaze traveling over the faces, he realized anew that they had another concern, greater even than fear. “Although hunger’s no joke, either. We’re a few miles from a grocery store. We’ll get you all fed there. I know some of you have been in hell since this happened. Well, I would like to tell you it’s over, but it’s not.”

Grim looks on every face.

Sam had said all he had really planned to say, but they still needed something more. He shot a glance at Astrid. She was as solemn as anyone, but she gave him a nod, encouraging him to say more.

“Okay. Okay,” he said so softly that some had to move closer to hear him. “Here’s the thing. We’re not going to give in. We’re going to fight.”

“Got that right,” a voice cried out.

“First thing we need to have clear: there’s no line between freak and normal here. If you have the power, we’ll need you. If you don’t, we’ll need you.”

Heads were nodding. Looks were being exchanged.

“Coates kids, Perdido Beach kids, we’re together now. We’re together. Maybe you did things to survive. Maybe you weren’t always brave. Maybe you gave up hope.”

A girl sobbed suddenly.

“Well, that’s all over now,” Sam said gently. “It all starts fresh. Right here, right now. We’re brothers and sisters now. Doesn’t matter we don’t know each other’s names, we are brothers and sisters and we’re going to survive, and we’re going to win, and we’re going to find our way to some kind of happiness again.”

There was a long, deep silence.

“So,” Sam said, “my name is Sam. I’m in this with you. All the way.” He turned to Astrid.

“I’m Astrid, I’m in this with you, too.”

“My name is Edilio. What they said. Brothers and sisters.
Hermanos
.”

“Thuan Vong,” said a thin boy with yet-unhealed hands like dead fish. “I’m in.”

“Dekka,” said a strong, solidly built girl with cornrows and a nose ring. “I’m in. And I have game.”

“Me too,” called a skinny girl with reddish pigtails. “My name’s Brianna. I . . . well, I can go real fast.”

One by one they declared their determination. The voices started out soft and gained strength. Each voice louder, firmer, more determined than the one before.

Only Quinn remained silent. He hung his head, and tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Quinn,” Sam called to him.

Quinn didn’t respond, just looked down at the ground.

“Quinn,” Sam said again. “It starts fresh right now. Nothing before counts. Nothing. Brothers, man?”

Quinn struggled with the lump in his throat. But then, in a low voice, he said, “Yeah. Brothers.”

“Okay. Now let’s get everyone some food,” Sam said.

When they started out again, they no longer spread in every direction. They didn’t march like an army, but they came as close as a bunch of traumatized kids could. They walked with their heads a little higher.

Someone actually laughed. It was a good sound.

In a low voice Astrid said, “Nothing to fear but fear itself.”

“I don’t think I said it quite that well.”

Edilio slapped him on the back. “You said it well enough, man.”

“Sam’s back.”

“What?”

“Sam. He’s back. He’s coming down the highway.”

Howard’s chest tightened. He was halfway down the steps of town hall, on his way to McDonald’s for one of Albert’s waffle-burgers.

It was Elwood, Dahra Baidoo’s boyfriend, who had delivered the news. He sounded relieved, there was no denying it. He sounded glad. Howard made a mental note that Elwood was disloyal, but he realized at the same time that he might have bigger issues to worry about than Elwood’s loyalty.

“If Sam’s coming back, it’s on the end of a leash held by Drake Merwin,” Howard blustered.

But Elwood was off to tell Dahra and was no longer listening.

Howard looked around, feeling a little lost, not quite sure what to do. He spotted Mary Terrafino pushing a shopping cart loaded with juice boxes, A&D ointment, and some bruised apples across the plaza toward the day care. Howard trotted down the steps and caught up with her.

“T’sup, Mary?” he asked.

“Um, your time?” Mary said, and laughed at her own wit.

“Yeah, you think? My time’s up?”

“Sam’s on his way.”

“You saw him?”

“I had three different people tell me he’s coming down the highway. You better rush out and stop him, Howard,” Mary crowed.

“He’s one guy, we’ll kick his butt.”

“Good luck with that,” Mary said.

Howard wished Orc was here. With Orc at his side, he didn’t have to put up with any of Mary’s lip. But one-on-one was a different story.

“You want me telling Caine you’re on Sam’s side?” Howard demanded.

“I didn’t say I was on anyone’s side. I’m on the side of the prees I take care of. But here’s what I notice, Howard: I notice you hear Sam’s name and all of a sudden you’re ready to wet yourself. So, you know what? Maybe it’s you who is disloyal. After all, if Caine is so great, why would you be scared of Sam? Right?” She leaned against her basket and got it rolling again.

Howard swallowed hard and argued with his own fear. “It’s no big thing,” he told himself. “We have Caine and Drake and Orc. We’re cool. We’re cool.”

He believed that for a good twenty seconds before he broke and ran for Orc.

Orc was in the house he had taken over and now shared with Howard, just across the street from where Drake lived. It was on a short street, the closest place to town hall that you could live. Kids called it Bully Row.

Orc was asleep on the couch with a DVD of a kung fu movie playing at blasting volume on the TV. Orc had taken to staying up through the night and sleeping days.

It was a lousy house, in Howard’s opinion, badly decorated and smelling of garlic, but Orc hadn’t cared. He wanted to stay close to the action in town. And he wanted to stay close enough to keep an eye on Drake across the street.

Howard searched for the remote and shut off the TV. There were empty beer cans on the glass-topped coffee table, and cigarettes in an ashtray. Orc was now drinking a couple beers a day.

Since Bette. That’s when the drinking had started in earnest. Howard was worried about Orc. Not that he exactly liked him, but Howard’s fate was bound up with Orc’s and he didn’t like the picture of what his world would be like if Orc dumped him.

“Orc, get up, man.”

No response.

“Orc. Get up. We have trouble.” Howard poked him in his shoulder.

Orc opened one slit eye. “Why are you bothering me?”

“Sam Temple is coming back.”

It took Orc a while to process that. Then he sat up quite suddenly and grabbed his forehead. “Oh, man. Headache.”

“It’s called a hangover,” Howard snapped. Then, when Orc shot him a murderous look, he softened and said, “I have some Tylenol in the kitchen.” He filled a glass of water and tapped two pills into his palm and brought them back for Orc.

“What’s the big deal?” Orc asked. He’d never been exactly quick, but now Orc’s thick-headedness was really irritating Howard.

“The big deal? Sam is coming back. That’s the big deal.”

“So?”

“Come on, Orc. Think about it. You figure Sam is cruising into town and he doesn’t have some kind of plan? Caine isn’t here, man, he’s up the hill. Drake, too. Which means it’s you and me in charge.”

Orc reached for one of the beer cans, rattled it, sighed contentedly when he heard an inch of beer sloshing. He poured it down his throat.

“So we have to go kick Sam’s butt?” Orc asked.

Howard hadn’t thought that far ahead. If Sam was back, that wasn’t good. Sam was back and Caine wasn’t? It was hard to figure that out.

“We go spy him out, man. We see what he’s up to.”

Orc squinted. “If I see him, I’ll kick his butt.”

“We have to at least figure out what he’s after,” Howard cautioned. “We should get whoever is around at town hall. Mallet, maybe. Chaz. Whoever we can find.”

Orc stood up, belched, and said, “I gotta pee. Then we’ll get the Hummer. Go kick some butt.”

Howard shook his head. “Orc. Listen to me. I know you don’t want to hear this, but backing Caine may not be the winning move.”

Orc stared his blank, stupid stare.

“Orc, man, what if Sam wins this? I mean, what if Sam gets over on Caine? Where does that leave us?”

Orc didn’t answer for so long, Howard was sure he hadn’t heard him. Then Orc heaved up a sigh that was almost a sob. He grabbed Howard’s arm, something he never did.

“Howard: I killed Bette.”

Howard said, “You didn’t mean to, Orc.”

“You’re the smart one,” Orc said sadly. “But sometimes you’re dumber than me, you know that?”

“Okay.”

“I killed someone didn’t do me any harm. Astrid ain’t ever going to even look at me again unless she’s hating me.”

“No, no, no,” Howard argued. “Sam is going to need help. He’s going to need someone tough. If we go to him now, eat crow, you know, say, ‘Yeah, you’re the man, Sammy.’”

“You kill somebody, you burn in hell,” Orc said. “My mom told me that. Once my dad was beating on me, we was in the garage, so I grabbed up a hammer.” Orc now pantomimed the scene. Grabbing the hammer, looking at it, raising it. Then he let it drop. “She said, ‘You kill your father, you’ll burn in hell.’”

“What happened then?”

Orc held up his left hand. He pushed it close to Howard’s face. There was a scar, almost perfectly round, no more than a quarter inch across.

“What’s that?” Howard asked.

“Power drill. Three-sixteenths bit.” Orc laughed ruefully. “Guess I’m lucky it wasn’t the three-quarter-inch, huh?”

“That’s messed up, man,” Howard said. He’d always known that Orc came from a tough home. But a power drill was off the hook. He himself came from a fairly average home, neither of his parents was a drunk or violent or anything. Howard did what he had to do to survive, being small and weak and not popular. He liked being in charge, having people scared of him, so being Orc’s friend had worked out for him.

But now Howard was starting to see that though Orc was stupid, he wasn’t wrong. Orc and School Bus Sam, the big hero, were never going to get along.

And now, Howard was as trapped as Orc.

Trapped.

“Okay, then,” Howard said. “We go to Caine.”

Orc belched loudly. “Caine’s mad at us.”

“Yeah,” Howard said. “But he still needs us.”

THIRTY-SIX

84
HOURS
, 41
MINUTES

“
HOLD HIM
DOWN
,” Diana yelled.

The sound of her voice was far off. Drake Merwin heard it bubbling up through a red scream that filled his brain.

Screaming, screaming, screaming everywhere, all through his brain, from a million mouths, rising and falling, gasping for breath.

“I can hold him,” a voice said. Caine. “Back away on three. One . . . two . . .”

Drake flailed madly, unbound, shrieking, thrashing, hurting himself but unable to stop. The pain . . . he had never felt anything like it, never imagined anything could be like it.

A force pressed down on him like a thousand hands holding him with firm pressure.

“You have the saw?” Diana’s voice asked. Not smug now, not smug at all, but raw and horrified.

Drake struggled against the invisible force, but Caine had him pinned down with his telekinetic power. Drake could only scream and curse, and could barely move his facial muscles enough for that.

“I am not doing this,” Panda said, weeping. “I’m not sawing off his arm, man.”

The words sent a shock of terror to join the pain. His arm? They were . . .

“He’ll kill me if I do it,” Panda said.

“I’m not doing it,” various voices chimed in. “No way.”

“I’ll do it,” Diana said, disgusted. “You’re all such big tough guys. Give me the saw.”

“No, no, no!” Drake screeched.

“It’s the only way to stop the pain,” Caine said, almost showing some emotion, some pity. “The arm is done for, Drake-man.”

“The girl . . . the freak . . . ,” Drake gasped. “She could fix it.”

“She’s not here,” Caine said bitterly. “She’s gone with Sam and the rest of them.”

“Don’t cut off my arm,” Drake cried. “Let me die. Just let me die. Shoot me.”