Gone Series: Plague Part 39

When they were all done the boat was surprisingly sea-worthy. They'd all felt pretty well pleased with their work, but a day of fishing was still to be done.

Harder later in the day. As the sun heated the top layer of seawater, some of their most reliable catch went deeper or stopped feeding.

So there were none of the jokes or laughs or bits of song that often accompanied their homeward row.

"They still haven't picked up yesterday's catch!" Quinn yelled when they drew close enough to see.

And sure enough, most of the fish they'd worked so hard to land the day before were still on the dock, rotting in the heat.

This revelation set off a round of angry curses from the crews, followed by a more disquieting worry. It was hard to imagine how Albert could have let this happen.

"Something's deeply wrong," Quinn said. "I mean even more wrong than we knew."

They were still two hundred yards out when Quinn saw a blur that froze and became Brianna. She was at the end of the dock.

There was something in her hand.

"You guys hang back," Quinn yelled to the other boats. "We'll go in and see what's up."

Quinn's boat touched the dock and he tossed a loop over one of the cleats.

"About time," Brianna said.

"Hey, sorry, we were kind of busy," Quinn snapped. "And I didn't exactly realize I was on a schedule."

"I don't like what I have to do here," Brianna said. She handed Quinn the note.

He read it. Read it again.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he demanded.

"Albert's dead," Brianna said. "Murdered."

"What?"

"He's dead. Sam and Dekka are off in the wilderness somewhere. Edilio's got the flu, he might die, a lot of kids have. A lot. And there are these, these monsters, these kind of bugs ... no one knows what to call them ... heading toward town." Her face contorted in a mix of rage and sorrow and fear. She blurted, "And I can't stop them!"

Quinn stared at her. Then back at the note.

He felt his contented little universe tilt and go sliding away.

There were just two words on the paper: "Get Caine."

Chapter Thirty-One.

3 HOURS, 49 MINUTES.

SAM PULLED THE boat to within thirty yards of the sh.o.r.e.

"I guess you wish you'd burned me all up, huh?" Drake called to him.

"I do," Dekka growled.

"That's true," Toto said. "She does wish it."

Sam had to master a furious anger that burned within him. How had Drake escaped? Had he found a way to bribe Howard?

"He wouldn't be standing there taunting us unless he thought he could beat us," Sam said quietly. "Those bugs: I couldn't kill them when they were a lot smaller." He looked at Toto. "All you've got is the truth-telling thing, right? You don't have some other power?"

Toto gave his answer to the missing Spidey head. "No weapons."

"Can those things swim?" Jack wondered.

"If they could they'd already be after us," Sam said.

"Do you think Drake can control those things, make them do what he wants?" Jack wondered.

"I guess we'll find out sooner or later," Sam said.

They all fell silent, gazing at him expectantly.

For the moment they were probably safe, Sam reasoned. Otherwise Drake would have come after them. If they went ash.o.r.e it would mean a fight. And Drake was pretty c.o.c.ky, swaggering around and taunting them from sh.o.r.e.

He could head the boat back up the lake. He could land and get around Drake's insect army. They could make it to someplace where they could fight without destroying the marina.

"We need to get away from here," Sam said.

"Hey, Sam," Drake shouted. "I thought you'd like to know this isn't my whole army."

Sam didn't doubt it.

"Your girl Brianna tried to stop us." Drake waved a bowie knife in the air. "I took this from her. I whipped her, Sam." He snapped his whip hand. The crack was like a pistol shot. "I broke her legs so she couldn't run. Then ..."

Dekka was halfway over the side, ready to swim ash.o.r.e. Jack grabbed her and held her.

"Let me go!" Dekka yelled.

"Hold her," Sam ordered Jack. "Don't be stupid, Dekka. He wants us to come rushing at him."

"I can beat him," Jack said. "Dekka and me together, we can kill him."

Sam registered the fact that Jack was actually making a physical threat. He didn't remember ever hearing that kind of thing from Jack. But Dekka was Sam's greater concern.

"I'm going to kill him," Dekka said in a voice so deep in her throat she sounded like an animal. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him." Then she shouted, "I'm going to kill you, Drake. I'm going to kill you!"

Drake grinned. "I think she liked it. She was screaming, but she liked it."

"He's lying," Toto said.

"Who?" Sam snapped.

"Him." He pointed at Drake. "He hasn't killed that girl or hurt her."

Dekka relaxed and Sam and Jack let go of her.

"Truth-teller Toto," Sam whispered. "He can tell when people are lying."

"I just decided I like you," Dekka said to Toto. "You might be useful."

Toto frowned. "It's true: you just decided you like me."

"Keep listening, Toto," Sam said. He thought for a minute. Then he yelled, "Brianna may be dead, but we still have more than enough muscle to deal with you."

Drake threw back his head and laughed. "Yeah, the rest of my army is finishing off the last few kids in Perdido Beach. It was a beautiful ma.s.sacre, Sam, you should have been there."

Sam made a motion to Dekka not to answer. The more Drake talked the better.

"But I still have Astrid alive, Sam," Drake shouted. "I have her somewhere safe. I want to take my time with her."

Sam waited, held his breath.

"Those are lies," Toto said.

"All of it?"

"All of it."

Sam breathed.

"Well, Drake," Sam shouted across the water. "I'm sorry to hear about that. I guess there's nothing left but for you to come and get me."

His tone was so casual, it left Drake gaping openmouthed. It took the psychopath a few moments to regroup.

"What's the matter, Sammy? Scared? Chicken?"

"No, actually we were thinking we might catch some fish," Sam yelled. "I hear the trout from this lake are delicious. Would you like to join us? You can swim with that whip hand, can't you?"

Drake stared. He looked at the knife in his hand as if it had somehow betrayed him. Then, eyes narrowed, he glared at Toto.

"Come on, Drake. Don't be a baby. Come and get us."

All the while Sam had been letting the boat edge closer, closer while not grounding. He was within ten yards of Drake. He didn't have to raise his voice to be heard.

Without turning toward her, and speaking in a whisper, he said, "Dekka, can you reach him from here?"

"Barely," she said. "The sharper the angle, the less I can do. But yeah."

"On one," Sam said. "Three ... two ..."

Dekka raised her hands and Drake rose feebly from the ground. He felt it immediately, knew what was happening, and kicked against the air like a marionette.

Sam raised his hands. Twin beams of green light fired. They hit one of the creatures, two feet to the left, but Sam swung right and caught Drake's leg.

The leg turned bright and smoke swirled.

Drake lashed with his whip and caught one of the creatures. He yanked himself out of Dekka's field and tumbled among the creatures, blocked from Sam's beams.

"Will he die?" Toto asked.

"Sadly, no," Dekka said.

From sh.o.r.e they heard Drake bellowing in outrage, then: "Get them! Go!"

The creatures responded instantly. They rushed to the water's edge. It was almost impossible for Sam to see them as living creatures, they seemed more like robots. Insects simply were not that big. Couldn't be that big.

They rushed in a swarm to the water. And kept running straight in.

"They float," Jack said. "That's bad."

"Yeah, but they can't swim very well," Sam pointed out. He threw the engine into reverse and chug-chugged slowly back to a safer distance. The creatures had stopped rushing into the water. Those that could reach bottom scurried ignominiously back to dry land. Two of the creatures floated like unmoored rafts, or like trailers caught in a flood, twisting slowly, helpless.

Then one of the creatures on sh.o.r.e opened its wings. Beneath the hard carapace were wings like a dragonfly's.

"They can't actually fly, can they?" Dekka wondered.

The creature lifted off. It was awkward and slow. But it flew.

It flew toward the boat.

"Go back to camp after you off-load the catch," Quinn instructed his crews. "I'll catch up with you later. And if I don't ... well, keep up the routine."

He felt worried eyes following him as he walked down the dock. There was one motorboat that still had a few gallons of fuel. They had designated it for emergency use only. He supposed this was emergency enough.

"You coming?" Quinn asked Brianna.