Gone Series: Plague Part 45

Taylor made a face. "You mean the Breeze? She zooms in and starts yelling to Edilio about how the bugs are coming toward us and they're as big as SUVs. And since then, I don't know where she's been. Probably looking for Jack. Or Dekka," she added with a leer.

Caine nodded and kept his face down so as not to betray his pleasure. Brianna was a problem: her speed was almost as effective as Taylor's power when it came to evading Caine. And she was absolutely loyal to Sam.

"What about Sam and Astrid?"

"Oh, no, there is no Sam and Astrid, not anymore." Taylor leaned closer and began to unload everything she knew. In ten minutes Caine had a very complete picture, far more detailed than what Quinn had grudgingly revealed.

Sam was definitely off on a harebrained search for water. Dekka and Jack, too. Astrid had left with Little Pete.

And Quinn had evidently not known the shocking but not unwelcome news: that Albert wasn't dead but recovering under Lana's care.

"So are the two guys who tried to kill him," Taylor said. "That'll be trouble."

"What two guys?"

"Human Crew losers: Turk and Lance. Maybe Orc, too. No one knows what happened with him except that he's on a bender."

Better and better. There was no one in town right now who could fight Caine. It was incredible. It was miraculous. It was fate.

Kings were supposedly chosen by G.o.d. Well, if there was a G.o.d in the FAYZ, it seemed like He'd made His choice.

But it wouldn't last. He would have to act quickly.

"Taylor, I need you for something very important," Caine said.

"I don't work for you," Taylor said huffily.

Caine nodded. "That's true, Taylor. You have amazing powers. And you're a smart girl. But no one ever seems to respect you for it. I didn't mean to sound bossy."

She shrugged, mollified. "No problem."

"I just think you're a very valuable, useful girl. I think you should have a place with me. I respect you."

"You're just trying to get me to help you," Taylor said.

Caine smiled broadly. "True, true. But I can pay much better than Sam and Albert. For example, you know about the island, right? And you can bounce to any place you've seen, right? Any place you know?"

She nodded, cautious. But Caine could see she was intrigued.

"If I arranged to have you rowed out to the island, you'd be able to get back and forth anytime. Easy as pie."

She nodded slowly.

"What would you say to a hot bubble bath?"

"I'd say, 'h.e.l.lo, long time no soak.' That's what I'd say."

"All kinds of food. Peanut b.u.t.ter. Chicken soup. Crackers. All kinds of movies in the system there. Popcorn to go with the movie."

"You're trying to bribe me."

"I'm promising to pay you."

She didn't need to say it. He could see it in her eyes.

"I need to know where these creatures are, these bugs. How fast they're moving. Which way they're coming."

"That's all?"

"That's all," Caine said.

And suddenly Taylor was gone.

Chapter Thirty-Five.

1 HOUR, 55 MINUTES.

SAM WATCHED HIS friends until they disappeared from view. Toto wasn't much of a swimmer, so they'd given him a seat cushion to float on and Jack hauled him along with one hand.

Jack wasn't much of a swimmer, either, but you didn't have to be elegant when you had ten times normal strength.

Sam fired up the engine. It roared as he gunned it loudly. Drake would have to be deaf not to hear it.

Then he threw it into gear and went tearing parallel to the sh.o.r.e.

The moonlight was faint, but it was enough to reveal the sudden rush of movement by the creatures on sh.o.r.e. They were falling for it.

Sam quickly lashed the wheel. He dove off the starboard side, jumping clear of the screws that blew past, churning water into foam.

He looked again to see that the bugs were in motion. They were a silvery swarm heading away. He did not see Drake.

Sam swam after the others. He'd stayed with the boat a bit longer than he'd planned and now he was a half mile from the dock. He had a long swim ahead of him.

But water was Sam's natural element. He'd surfed since he was a toddler, and powering through placid lake water was nothing compared to fighting the surf.

The cold water felt good. Clean. He switched from freestyle to backstroke for a while, gazing up at the night sky, but powering along as fast as he could all the while. If he were back in the world, he'd be looking to join the high school swim team. His b.u.t.terfly stroke was weak, but his freestyle was as good as anyone's, and his backstroke even better.

What would it be like to be worrying about improving his b.u.t.terfly or b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke instead of worrying that his friend was being eaten alive from the inside?

What was he going to do next? They trusted him, Dekka and Jack. They expected him to always have a plan. But beyond getting away from Drake and his bug army, he didn't have a plan.

Drake would go after Perdido Beach next. He would send those creatures rampaging through town killing everyone.

Then he would take Astrid and ...

Don't get emotional, Sam warned himself. Just figure out how to win.

He heard clumsy splashing ahead. He rolled over smoothly into a crawl and powered hard and fast.

"Shhh," he hissed as soon as he was up with them. "You people make more noise than a bunch of littles in the kiddie pool."

The four of them closed the distance to the dock. Sam motioned for Jack, Dekka, and Toto to slip silently beneath it. Toto had lost his grip on his cushion and it floated away. Jack banged his head on the bottom of the dock and cursed under his breath.

Sam palmed the dock and hoisted himself up, drenched.

"Hi, Sam."

Brittney stood not twenty feet away.

He spotted three of the creatures over by the marina parking lot. They were waiting. Like a well-trained pack of attack dogs.

He'd been outwitted. Outplayed.

"Hi, Brittney," Sam said, standing there, dripping.

"I asked you so many times to release me, Sam," she said. Her voice was cold and far away. Not angry, not scared. Just maybe a little sad.

"I know, Brittney. But I'm not a cold-blooded killer," Sam said.

Brittney nodded. "No, you're a good person." She said it without sarcasm.

"I try to be. Like you, Brittney. I know you're a good person."

He glanced at the creatures. They hadn't moved, but they were alert. They could be on him in ten seconds.

"He hates you," Brittney said.

"Drake?" Sam laughed. "He hates everyone. Hate is all he's got."

"Not Drake. Him. G.o.d."

Sam blinked. What was he supposed to say to that? "I thought G.o.d loved everyone."

"I used to believe that, too," Brittney said. "But then I met Him."

"Did you?" She had lost whatever grip on reality she'd had. He couldn't blame her. What Brittney had endured would leave anyone mental.

"He's not in the sky, you know," Brittney said in a normal, conversational tone. "He's not up in Heaven somewhere."

"I didn't realize that."

"He's in the earth, Sam. He lives in a dark, dark place."

Sam's heart missed a beat. He felt cold. "You met G.o.d in a dark place?"

She showed her twisted, damaged braces in a surprising, rapturous smile. "He explained His great plan."

"Yeah?"

"His time is coming. All of this ..." She swept her arm wide. "It's all like, like ... like an egg, Sam. He has to be born from this egg."

"He's a chicken?"

"Don't mock, Sam," Brittney chided. "He waits to be born. But He needs Nemesis to join Him, Sam, and you ... you won't let that happen."

"Nemesis? What's a nemesis?"

Brittney had a crafty look as she said, "Oh, Sam. You know who Nemesis is. He has the power to complete G.o.d's plan." She laced her fingers together, almost awestruck by the act, like it was sacrament. "They must be joined, the Darkness and Nemesis. Together they will have all power, and then, Sam, it all ends, you know. Then the eggsh.e.l.l cracks and He is born."

"That sounds ..." He resisted the urge to say "crazy." "It sounds interesting. But I don't think the gaiaphage is G.o.d. I think he's evil."

"Of course he's evil," Brittney enthused. "Of course! Evil, good, there's no difference, don't you see that? They're the same thing. Like me and Drake. Yin and yang, Sam. Two in one, a duality, a ..."

She faltered a little, like a child trying to explain something she didn't quite understand. She frowned.

"He lied to you, Brittney. The gaiaphage is not G.o.d. He reaches into people's minds and makes them do terrible things."

"He warned me you would say that," Brittney said. "My Lord and Nemesis must be joined. And all of you have to die. You're all like a disease. Like a virus. A plague that must be wiped out so that He can unite with Nemesis and be born."

Sam was getting tired of the talk. He'd never cared much for religion one way or the other, and some fantasy religion made up by a dead girl to justify the gaiaphage's lies was even less interesting than Astrid's religious excuses for not having s.e.x. He was impatient to find out what Brittney meant to do. If there was to be a fight, then let there be a fight.

"And then what, Brittney? Did the gaiaphage explain that to you?"

"Then all the world will be remade. That's His purpose, you know."

"No, I didn't know. I guess I missed that part. I was still back at the part where he has to kill everyone."

"He was forged by a race of G.o.ds in the far reaches of s.p.a.ce to remake the world, to create it anew."

"Yeah, well, that sounds just a tiny bit insane, Brittney."

She smiled. "It's all insane, Sam. All of it. But He will make it all over again. Once He is born anew."

Sam felt tired. He wished Astrid were here, maybe she could find out more. Maybe she could talk Brittney out of her lunatic delusion. But he wasn't Astrid.