Burn (Pure #3)(90)

“Don’t say that.” Partridge rushes toward her now. He says in a low voice, “Your grandfather, Pressia—I found him. I’m bringing him back.”

“What are you talking about?”

The crowd is pressing in. Iralene has his arm. “Don’t make a scene.”

“No, no. We wouldn’t want a scene, would we?” Pressia says.

“I can explain,” he says, but she can tell he’s not sure. In fact, his eyes are wide, and she knows he’s terrified.





EL CAPITAN





NAME




Beyond the strip mall, El Capitan sees a row of toppled columns, lying in front of a large pile of rubble.

He begins to climb it. With each step, he feels the bruises from Helmud’s jabs. His brother kicked his ass. So what? He deserved the beating. Plus, it feels right to be a little battered—it matches how he feels inside: punched, worn out, done.

“Check it,” he says to Helmud halfheartedly.

Helmud runs his hands over the tape, the square box. “Check?” Helmud says, more question than answer.

El Capitan knows the tape’s coming loose—too much fighting, too much sweat—but the bacterium’s in place, more or less. “Good enough.”

He sees a hole at the top of the rubble. He shouts, “Come out! Come out! Whoever you are!” He wishes he had a rifle to shoot off the air. He’d like to give whoever might be down there the impression that he’s trigger-happy. His guns are defining, and to be honest, he needs them back. He feels like he’s lost all sense of himself—direction and purpose. He’s just here—with Helmud.

His brother can’t leave him alone. He hates him and he needs him and he hates himself for needing him.

El Capitan calls again, but still no response. He steps back and waits a little while.

Just when he thinks it’s empty, there are some scuffling noises. A man’s head appears from a hole not far away. “El Capitan?” he says, blinking into the pale light. He spots Helmud over El Capitan’s shoulder. They must look pretty beaten up, but this guy looks a little banged up too—and blanched. He seems scared of El Capitan. His fear feeds El Capitan, who sometimes misses being feared.

“Who are you?”

“Name’s Gorse,” he says.

“I know that name,” El Capitan says. “Fandra’s brother?”

He hesitates then nods and looks past El Capitan and to either side of him. Gorse’s fusings must lie beneath his coat, which bunches on one shoulder. His hands have a sheen to them as if he had reached into a fire to pull something out. “I heard you were in the city—with Bradwell.” Evidently he’d feel a little safer if Bradwell were here.

“He’s meeting me. He picked this place. Thought it’d be safe and good to get out of the weather. How many down there?”

Gorse raises his eyebrows. “Just two of us.”

“Mind if we wait for Bradwell with you?”

Gorse isn’t sure. He glances below and then back at El Capitan.

“I’ve got good news for you, Gorse,” El Capitan says.

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Fandra.”

“What about her?” He squints at El Capitan suspiciously.

“She’s alive. She survived out there, barely, and she got picked up by survivors out at Crazy John-Johns. She’s okay.”

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

“I saw her myself,” El Capitan says. “Long blond hair. She saved our asses out there.”

“Saved our asses,” Helmud says.

“You don’t have to take our word for it.” El Capitan says. “Bradwell’s coming, like I said. You can ask him yourself.”

Gorse glances at El Capitan and Helmud, and then something behind them seems to catch his eye. “Don’t have to wait,” he says.

El Capitan turns. Bradwell is climbing the rubble. Bradwell sees Gorse and shouts. “Hey, Gorse! Did you hear the news?”

El Capitan looks back at Gorse. “See? I told you he’d confirm.”

Gorse must want to hear it for himself. He plays dumb. “The news? What news?”

“Your sister. We saw her out by the amusement park. She’s fine, Gorse. She made it after all.”

Gorse goes still. His eyes shine with tears. He clears his throat, excuses himself, and disappears down the hole.

“And?” El Capitan says to Bradwell.

“I found Pressia. I said what I had to say. I let her go.”

El Capitan isn’t sure what this means. He told her that he loved her? What did she say? He decides he doesn’t want to know. Why punish himself with details?

“What the hell happened to you two? You look like hell,” Bradwell says.

“We fell.”

“Down a flight of stairs?” Bradwell says.

“Yeah,” El Capitan says, “something like that.”

“Something,” Helmud says, “like that.”

Gorse reappears, his eyes red rimmed. He’s been crying. He rubs his face roughly. “Fandra. Alive? You sure of it?”

“Sure of it,” Bradwell says.

Gorse lets out a loud shout of joy. “Well, we’ve got to celebrate, then! We’ve got some top-notch stuff down here, from before the still exploded.”