Love Bug (17 page)

-40-

“Eat something,” Samuel said holding out a grizzled stick of jerky to Xander. They had brought other supplies, but making a fire was too risky after the run
in with the young Red.

“I don’t want that garbage,” Xander grunted as he pushed away his grandfather’s hand.

“You’ve haven’t eaten anything since we left camp and from what I was told, very little even before that,” Samuel continued.

“
I’m not going to put that crap into my body,” Xander sneered. “Who knows what the hell is even in there? It’s probably road kill.”

“Suit yourself,” Cora smiled and snatched the jerky from Samuel.

“Figures you’d eat it,” Xander grinned without an ounce of humor. “You’ve gone native, become a full blown savage. You’ll probably be eating bugs and painting on cave walls by the end of the night.”

“You’ve
got bugs?” Cora teased. “Now I’m really hunger. Why’d you have to go and talk about bugs?” Teasing Xander seemed to come naturally to Cora.

Xander made a rude noise and snatched a second piece of jerky that Samuel held out.

“Thank you,” Samuel said to Xander.

“Save it,” Xander grunted and turned his back on Samuel and Cora. Soon they would be asleep and then Xander could check the signal on his radio transmitter. It had been a few hours since he pretended to scratch his leg and flicked the homing signal button. Xander hoped that he was far enough out of the dense woods that it would be picked up by the ERC
and sent to his father, but he had no way of knowing. Ideally, Xander would have liked to have waited for a clearing, but he had to keep the transmitter hidden and time was running out. Samuel estimated that they would be near the Red camp by tomorrow night.

Samuel checked the small screen on his wrist. Small red dots merged
into crooked lines that eventually connected to larger masses, spreading across the screen like a bloody amoeba. Samuel had known the Reds were coming together, joining up for a reason known only to them, but even he was shocked by what he saw on the small screen. He would seriously need to reconsider their plan. It had at first seemed feasible to cause a distraction that would allow Cora to slip in and rescue Remmy, but now that plan was little more than a death sentence for his granddaughter.

“We need a new plan, right?” Cora asked from where she looked over Samuel’s shoulder. He hadn’t even noticed her presence.

“So it would seem,” Samuel admitted. There was no reason to keep anything hidden from Cora, even the impossible odds that were stacking up against them. “There are more Reds than I had ever imagined. They must be coming from miles and miles away. I am really at a loss as to why.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Cora replied. “I don’t care if it’s for a birthday party or a barbeque…” Her words trailed off as she thoug
ht about what she had just said. A
barbeque
. Samuel told her that he believed the Reds to be cannibalistic, having found a few fragmented bones in the woods with teeth marks. Were the Reds coming together to eat Remmy? Cora felt sick and furious with herself. How could she even allow herself to say something like that? How could she have been so freaking stupid? Cora was happy to be free of her Em-Pak, allowed to feel things, like how she felt around Remmy, but the opposite end of the deal was excruciating. Self-doubt, guilt and disgust surged through Cora making her head light.

“It’s okay,” Samuel smiled weakly. “
Members of the Eldritch family have always had the ability to move their mouths faster than their minds. Cora, I know what you meant to say and I’m sure that Remmy would have too. Beating yourself up for a slip of the tongue isn’t going to do anyone any good.”

“I guess so,” Cora muttered without conviction.
In her mind’s eye, Remmy was lashed to a spit, slowly turning over a fire surrounded by slavering Reds. Doubt crept in, strangling Cora’s hopes like weeds. Tears glistened in the corner of her eyes.

Xander quietly shook his head, disgusted at his sister’s emotional display.

“Look here,” Samuel said holding out his wrist for Cora to see. He had zoomed in on the main Red camp. A countless number of Reds formed a massive ring around three red dots and one yellow dot. The four dots moved as if dancing with one another. “Remmy’s still alive.”

“But what are they doing to him?” Cora demanded. “What’s g
oing on there?” She was relieved to see Remmy’s yellow dot glowing vibrantly on the screen, moving and full of life, but the Red dots appeared to be trailing him or maybe even chasing him.

“I’m not sure
, Cora,” Samuel admitted. He sighed heavily and decided to be honest. “Cora, remember when I said that Remmy was alive because he fought back?”

“Yeah,” Cora nodded. “He attacked that one Red. Hit him in the face with a rock. Why?”

“Well,” Samuel paused. He needed to be honest. Deceit served no purpose. “I’m not one hundred percent sure, Cora, but from what I can surmise, I’d guess that the Reds are having Remmy prove himself again.”

“Prove himself?” Cora questioned. “What do you mean?”

“He means fight, you moron,” Xander chimed in. “A huge ring like that and four dots in the middle? Sure sounds like a gladiator arena to me. Boy, that’s got to be a sight. All those Reds and your dirty little boy toy in the middle of it all.”

Cora wanted to attack Xander, to claw his eyes, but there was no time to waste.
Angry words died and festered in her throat.

Samuel cut in before Xander could say more. “
I think it would be a good idea if we kept moving. We can sleep when we’re done saving Remmy, right?”

“
You mean, we can sleep when we’re dead,” Xander added humorlessly and climbed to his feet. He spat the half-chewed wad of jerky onto the ground and began walking.

-41
-

Remmy
was granted a brief rest following his fight with the Red children. Hatch demanded that he be fresh for his fight with Tam. She didn’t want anyone complaining about unfair fights, but Remmy suspected it had more to do with Jessica than a sense of fair play. Either way, Remmy greeted the respite with a mix of emotions. On one hand, he was glad to be out of the foul arena, but knew that he would soon be thrown back in to face something far worse than three Red children.

The dingy shack felt heavy, filled with the stagnant air of a tomb. Remmy forced himself to breathe, to get lu
ngful after lungful of the charnel air. He needed to remain focused. Remmy had gotten the best of Tam before and that saved his life, but he doubted that Tam would make the same mistake twice. Rage burned brightly in Tam’s eyes as he glared at Remmy from across the arena. The fact that Remmy had injured Tam called into question the man’s position as second in command. There was no question that Tam was a vicious warrior, and few wanted to challenge that, but a human, a boy at that, not even a full-grown man, had bested him. That fact couldn’t be ignored. Tam was going make sure there were no questions remaining at the end of the fight.

Remmy grabbed a strip of filthy fabric from the pile in the corner of the shack. He had to wrap his wound and make sure that a slick of blood didn’t interfere with his ability to fight. The rag was disgusting, covered in countless germs, but Remmy doubted he’d live long enough for the bite to become infected.

“Get that look off your face!” Jessica snapped from the doorway. Remmy looked past her and watched the sun drop lower in the sky. Night was coming and soon he would be forced back into the arena. Memories of time spent in the fields, some even with Jessica, flooded Remmy’s head. Would this be the last sunset he would ever see? The last time he would ever watch the brilliant colors of a dying day stretch across an indigo sky? He would miss these colors. He already missed Cora.

“What look?” Remmy grunted and turned his back on Jessica. Before he could turn completely
away, Jessica dashed across the shack with incredible speed. She snapped her teeth savagely mere inches from Remmy’s face. His hands shot out instinctively to push Jessica away from him.

“Good. Very good,” Jessica said through her shark-like grin. “You’ve
still got some fight in you. You’re going to need that against Tam.”

“What I need is a freaking tank,” Remmy spat. “He’s a monster. You all are.” Remmy added the last bit in an attempt to hurt Jessica. The to
othy smile never once flickered. If his words cut Jessica she refused to show it.

“A tank would help,” Jessica shrugged, “but I wouldn’t count on it. You need to find some way to beat him.”

“And how’s that going to happen?” Remmy demanded. “He’s going to gut me in front of all you and for what? Because of some rule made up by Hatch?”

“The rules are NOT made up!” Jessica growled. “The rules are what keep order! The rule
s are what kept you alive, Remmy! So I wouldn’t be so quick to write off the rules or Hatch for that matter. Besides me, Hatch is the only friend you’ve got right now!” A devious look fell over Jessica’s red painted face. She knew something that she wasn’t telling Remmy. Some secret was being withheld.

“Hatch
, my friend?” Remmy sneered. “Jeez, well if that’s true then Tam must want to hug me to death. What the hell are you talking about, Jessica?”

“Look,” Jessica whispered, her words slurred by row upon row of dagger-like teeth. “Hatch knows that Tam wants her spot and so far she’s been able to keep him in line, but that’s not going to last fore
ver. You smashing Tam’s face made the others question his ability to lead.”

“So what?” Remmy replied. “Like I care about some Red power
play. It doesn’t matter who’s the king of your dirty little ant hill, I’m dead either way.”

“Not necessarily,” Jessica grinned, her teeth too large for her mouth. “Hatch wants Tam gone. You do that and you’re free.”

“Free to be a Red you mean?” Remmy scoffed. “Hatch said it herself that I had better be a Red by the end of the fight if I wanted to live.”

“Free is free,” Jessica replied. “Hatch will keep her word. If you kill Tam, his spot is yours.”

“As long as I’m infected,” Remmy growled.

“Infected, evolved, whatever. Who cares?” Jessica said. “However you look at it, at least you’re alive. Dead and
self-righteous is still dead.”

“Why the hell do you even care?” Remmy demanded. “And don’t feed me any of that crap about being my friend. You and I both know that’s a total load. What are you getting out of this?”

The smile faded from Jessica’s face, her lips struggling to conceal her pointed teeth. She sat back and crossed her legs, her eyes level with Remmy’s own. “The truth?”

“That would be nice,” Remmy said, a fake smile wrinkling his face.

“The truth is that I hate Tam,” Jessica answered.

“I’m sure a lot people feel that way,” Remmy replied. “Please
, I’m sure a lot Reds probably feel that way.”

“Yeah,” Jessica said softly, “but none of them are promised to Tam.”

“Promised?” Remmy asked. “You mean for like marriage or something?”

“Every king needs a queen
I guess,” Jessica grunted. “He won me, so I’m his unless someone else takes his place.”

“So whoever is second in command owns you?” Remmy asked. “Can’t Hatch do anything? Why can’t she just kill him?”

“No she can’t do anything,” Jessica sighed. “Hatch doesn’t like it anymore than I do, but if she challenges Tam and kills him, then the rules say she took his place, which means no one is left to lead. It would create chaos, everyone struggling to take control. The rules say Hatch can’t step down, only be taken down and replaced. The leader of the Reds is never allowed to retire, only die. Tam is dumb, but even he’s not stupid enough to challenge Hatch in the arena.”

“Those rules are stupid,” Remmy added. “She’s the leader. She can do what she wants.”

“Not really,” Jessica replied. “Sure, being the leader has its benefits, but it’s a shaky throne that Hatch sits on. She always has to worry about someone trying to kill her. Worry about the rules.”

“Enough with these stupid freaking rules!” Remmy shouted. “Why are they so important? No offense, but I really don’t see much going on around here that
needs rules.”

“That’s exactly the point,” Jessica answered. “You don’t see things going on around here. The rules are what keep us from destroying
each other. If there were no rules the Reds would turn on each other. Hatch and her rules are the only thing that keep our people safe.”

“Your people?” Remmy snorted. “Your
people were back in the camp, Jessica, not here. You’re not a person.”

“So kind of you to notice,” Jessica said sarcastically. “Save your judgments
, Remmy. The Reds are my people now. None of us asked for what we’ve become, so how can we be condemned for it? We’re only doing what every other person is trying to do – survive. Why is that so wrong?”

“It’s not,” Remmy replied. “But how you survive is. Kidnapping people, forcing them to become Reds or eating them if they don’t. It’s disgusting.”

“You think I want to eat people?” Jessica asked. “You think that was something I thought about before I changed?”

“How the hell should I know?” Remmy answered, but a note of sadness in Jessica’s voice pierced Remmy’s heart. Jessica had been exactly where he was, had been given the exact same odds. She hadn’t asked for any of this. “I’m sorry. I guess not.”

“Of course not,” Jessica continued, “but what are we supposed to do? That is what my body demands. We eat other things, but if we don’t at least eat some people then we begin to break down, turn back into screaming monsters.”

“So eating people is what keeps you from turning back?” Remmy asked.

“Exactly,” Jessica smiled. “Isn’t it better that we eat a few instead of being some mindless monster that kills without reason or thought? It’s nature, Remmy. We don’t want to kill all people, just enough to survive.”

“Sure,” Remmy snapped. “Don’t want to mess up the food supply.”

“You know, I don’t remember you being so whiny,” Jessica teased, clacking her teeth together. “I’m getting a little sick of your prejudice, Remmy.”

Remmy let out an acerbic laugh. “But you need my help.”

“And you need mine,” Jessica added. “I know how you can beat Tam. He’s tough, but I know something most people don’t.”

“And if I do beat him,” Remmy paused, “then what?”

“You take his place,” Jessica answered, “assuming you’ve changed.”

“But you said whoever takes his place owns you,” Remmy co
ntinued. “That would mean that –”

“That we’d be
together,” Jessica said, finishing Remmy’s sentence. “I’d much rather be promised to you instead of Tam.” Jessica paused and then added, “Even if you are whiny.”

“Fine,” Remmy relented. “Tell me what to do.” He listened intently as Jessica filled in the gaps in the plan. Remmy had a chance to beat Tam, albeit an extremely thin one, but it was better than nothing.
As Jessica got up to leave, Remmy suddenly found himself not only worrying about the fight, but also what would happen after.