Gone Series: Plague Part 5

Albert turned and walked away with Jamal in his wake.

"Those kids are flipping you off, boss," Jamal reported.

"Are they digging?"

Jamal glanced back and reported that they were.

"As long as they do their work they can flip me off all they like," Albert said.

It was then that Roscoe came up to report his haul from Hunter. And to tell Albert a crazy story about Hunter's shoulder biting him.

"Look," Roscoe said and held out his hand for Albert's inspection.

Albert sighed. "Save the crazy stories, Roscoe," he said.

"It's like, like, green, kind of," Roscoe said. "I'm not the Healer or Dahra," Albert said.

But as he walked away something nagged at the edges of Albert's thoughts: the wound really had looked a bit green.

Someone else's problem. He had plenty of his own.

It was then that he spotted someone lying on the sand, just lying there like he might be dead. Far down the beach.

He felt in his pocket for the map.

Was it time? He glanced back at the still. The hopeless still.

His insides squirmed a little at what he was about to do. Panic would not be good. Everyone was on edge, weird, freaked since Mary's dramatic suicide and attempted ma.s.s murder.

The people could not take another disaster. But disaster was coming. And when it hit, if there was panic, then Sam would be needed here in town.

But there was no one else Albert could trust with the mission he had in mind. Sam would have to go. And Albert would have to hope that no new disaster arose while he was gone.

Sam felt a shadow.

He squinted one eye open. Someone was standing over him, face blanked by the sun behind him.

"Is that you, Albert?" Sam asked.

"It's me."

"I recognize the shoes. I don't feel good," Sam said.

"Would you mind sitting up? I have something important to talk to you about."

"If it's important, go talk to Edilio. He's in charge."

Albert waited, refusing to speak. Finally, with a sigh that became a groan, Sam rolled over and sat up.

"This is just between us, Sam," Albert said.

"Yeah, that always works out so well when I keep secrets from the council," Sam said sarcastically. He rubbed his hair vigorously to knock some of the sand out.

"You're not on the council anymore," Albert said reasonably. "And this is about a job. I want to hire you."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Everyone already works for you, Albert. What's the problem? Does it bother you that I don't?"

"You liked it better when no one was working and everyone was starving?"

Sam stared up at him. Then he made an ironic two-finger salute. "Sorry. I'm in a lousy mood. Bad night followed by bad morning. What's up, Albert?"

"There's a big problem with the water supply."

Sam nodded. "I know. As soon as the gas runs out we're going to have to relocate the whole town up to Evian."

Albert tugged at his pants, then sat down carefully on the sand. "No. First of all, the water level in Lake Evian is dropping faster than ever. There's no rain here. And it's a small lake. You can see where it's dropped from, like, ten feet deep to half that."

Albert pulled a folded map from his pocket and opened it. Sam scooted closer to see.

"This isn't a very good map. It's too big to show much detail. But see this?" He pointed. "Lake Tramonto. It's like a hundred times bigger than Evian."

"Is it inside the FAYZ?"

"I drew this circle with a compa.s.s. I think at least part of Lake Tramonto is inside the barrier."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "Dude, it's, like, what, ten miles from here?"

"More like fifteen."

"Even if it's there and even if the water is drinkable, how are we going to bring it down to Perdido Beach? I mean, look." Sam traced lines with his finger. "Going or coming back it's right through coyote country. And that would take a lot more gas, that drive. I mean, a lot more."

"I don't think my salt.w.a.ter still is going to work," Albert admitted. He gazed moodily down the beach toward his work crew. "Even if it does, it may not produce enough."

Sam took the map from him and studied it intently. "You know, it's weird. I kind of forgot there were such things as paper maps. I always used to use Google maps. Maps dot Google dot com. Remember those days? What's this?"

Albert peered over the edge of the map. "Oh, that's the air force base. But look, it's pretty much all on the other side. The runway, the buildings and all. Why? Were you hoping to find a jet fighter?"

Sam smiled. "That might be useful if it came with a pilot. It's one thing for Sanjit to crash-land a helicopter. It's a whole different thing flying a Mach two jet around inside a twenty-mile-wide fishbowl. No. I don't know what I was hoping for. Maybe a magic ray gun that could blow holes through the barrier."

"You know," Albert said, trying to sound casual, but sounding instead like he was delivering a well-rehea.r.s.ed speech. "I read in a book where in the old days-I mean, really old days-businessmen would hire explorers to go search out new territory. You know, to find gold or oil or spices. Of course these explorers would have to be tough and be able to deal with all kinds of problems."

Sam had no trouble grasping Albert's meaning. "You want to hire me to explore this lake."

"Yes."

Sam looked around at the sand. "Well, as you can see, I'm very busy."

Albert said nothing. Just waited and watched Sam like a lizard watching a fly.

"You don't want the council to know about this. Why?"

Albert shrugged. "Anything the council hears about, the whole town knows ten seconds later. You want panic? Anyway, it's not about them. It's me doing it. Me and you. And a couple of other kids to back you up."

"Why not just send Brianna? She'd get there fast."

"I don't trust her. Not for something like this. I mean, Sam, we could be in trouble on water really soon. I mean, soon. I've got a truck going later, after that, maybe half a dozen more runs."

Sam fell silent. He drew little abstract shapes in the sand, thinking.

"I'll do it," Sam said. "I'm not happy about keeping it secret from Edilio."

Albert pressed his lips into a line. Like he was thinking. But Sam could see Albert had an answer ready. "Look, secrets don't last long in this place. For example, Taylor's been telling an interesting story all over town."

Sam groaned. Had to be Taylor, he reproached himself. What was he going to tell Astrid? Not that it was really her business. They'd never said he couldn't see anyone else, make out with anyone else. In fact once, in a flash of anger, Astrid had told him to do just that. Only she hadn't said "make out." She'd used a phrase he'd been a little shocked to hear coming from Astrid.

"Sam, Edilio's a good guy," Albert said, breaking in on Sam's gloomy thoughts. "But like I said, he'll tell the rest of them. Once the council knows, everyone knows. If everyone knows how desperate things are, what do you think will happen?"

Sam smiled without humor. "About half the people will be great. The other half will freak."

"And people will end up getting killed," Albert said. He c.o.c.ked his head sideways, trying his best to look like the idea had just occurred to him. "And who is going to end up kicking b.u.t.ts? Who will end up playing Daddy and then be resented and blamed and finally told to go away?"

"You've gained new skills," Sam said bitterly. "You used to just be about working harder than anyone else and being ambitious. You're learning how to manipulate people."

Albert's mouth twitched and his eyes flashed angrily. "You're not the only one walking around with a big load of responsibility on your shoulders, Sam. You play the big mean daddy who won't let anyone have any fun, and I play the greedy businessman who is just looking out for himself. But don't be stupid: maybe I am greedy, but without me no one eats. Or drinks. We need water. You see anyone else in this town that's going to make that happen?"

Sam laughed softly. "Yeah, you've gotten good at using people, Albert. I mean you offer me a chance to go off and save everyone's b.u.t.t, right? Be important and necessary again. You have me all figured out."

"We need water, Sam," Albert said simply. "If you find water up at this Lake Tramonto and come back and tell people they have to move up there, they'll do it. You tell them it's going to be okay and they'll believe you."

"Because I'm so widely loved and admired," Sam said sarcastically.

"It's not a popularity contest, Sam. People love you when they need you, and then ten minutes later they're tired of you. In a very short while they're going to realize we're very close to all dying of thirst. And there you'll be with the solution."

"And they'll love me. For ten minutes, until they've had enough to drink."

"Exactly," Albert said. He stood up. "We have a deal?" He extended his hand down for Sam to shake.

Sam stood up. "And the lake? I mean, if it's there?"

"If it's there, it's my lake," Albert said coolly. "I'll sell the water and control access. Maybe then we won't end up in the same bind all over again."

Sam shook his hand and laughed out loud. "You are less full of c.r.a.p than anyone around, Albert. If it's there, I'll find it. I'll leave tonight."

He took the map. "You want someone to go with you?"

"Dekka." Sam thought a moment longer. "And Jack."

"You want Computer Jack? Why?"

"It's a good idea to have someone around who's smarter than you are."

"I suppose so," Albert said. "You need someone to communicate, too. Take Taylor."

"Not Taylor. I'll take Brianna."

Albert shook his head. "You kissed her, get past it. We need someone in this town who can fight if necessary. I mean at the freak level, no diss on Edilio. Taylor's useless in a battle of any kind, while Brianna can take on just about anyone."

Sam nodded. It made sense. If he wanted Dekka along he'd have to leave Brianna behind. But Taylor?

Suddenly the trip, which he had started to antic.i.p.ate just a little, seemed much less like fun.

Lana disliked going into town. In town people asked her for things. But she needed a gallon of water to take back up to Clifftop anyway, so she figured she might as well stop by the so-called hospital and clear up the usual backlog of kids with broken arms, burned hands, and a rumored cut wrist.

She wasn't that sure she should be fixing anyone dumb enough to try and slit his wrist. After all, the FAYZ would kill you soon enough, why be in a hurry? And if you wanted a quick trip out of the FAYZ there was always Mary's way: the cliff.

Dahra Baidoo was reading her medical book and telling some kid with a sore tooth to be quiet. "It's just loose, it will come out when it wants to come out," she said irritably.

She looked up with a weary smile when she noticed Lana.

"Hey, Lana."

"Hey, DB," Lana said. "How's medical school?"

It was an old joke between them. They had worked together closely in times of crisis. The flu that had gone around a couple of weeks ago, the various battles and fires and fights and poisonings and accidents.

Dahra would hold the injured kids' hands and feed them Tylenol while waiting for Lana to come around. The fire had been the worst. The two of them had been down here together for days, barely seeing the sun.

Bad, bad days.

Dahra laughed and tapped the book. "I'm ready to perform heart transplants."

"What do we have?" Lana asked. "I heard you had an uncommitted suicide."

"No suicides. Broken ribs. And a burn. Not too bad, and I should probably let her suffer since she got it from trying to light a bag of p.o.o.p and throw it."

Lana heard a hacking cough from a very sick-looking girl. "What's that?"

Dahra gave her a significant look. "I think our flu is back. Or never went away." She pulled Lana off to the side, to where the patients couldn't hear. "I think this may be worse, though. This girl is hallucinating. Her name is Jennifer. She came crawling in here this morning. She keeps talking about some other girl named Jennifer who coughed so hard there were pieces of her lungs coming up. And then she supposedly coughed so hard she broke her own neck."

"Fever brings on the crazy sometimes," Lana said.

"Yeah. Still, I wish I had someone to go check on her house. See if there's anything going on."

"Where's Elwood?"

Dahra sighed. "That's over."

Lana had never liked Elwood much and she kind of wanted to know what had happened-Dahra and Elwood had been going out for a long time. But Dahra didn't look like she was interested in spilling her guts.