Fear (Gone #5)(80)

Why was this happening?

She missed her step, stumbled, and landed hard on her knees. She cried out in pain, and then screamed as the lash landed across her back.

In a rage she flew at him. Her fists punched and her fingernails tore but he was far too quick. He punched her in the face. It was not a slap. It was a full, hard punch. Her head swam and she saw stars.

Just like a cartoon, she thought. Then she fell straight back.

When she came to she found Justin next to her, holding on to her and crying.

Brittney was seated a few feet away.

The circle of blue sky was the color of new denim, and smaller, noticeably smaller than it had been. The sky was a black, featureless bowl.

“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” Brittney asked almost shyly.

It took Diana a few moments to make sense of things. Drake was not here. Drake couldn’t be here so long as Brittney was.

Whip Hand was not here.

Diana climbed quickly to her feet. “Come on, Justin, we’re out of here.”

“I found some rocks,” Brittney said. She held up a good-size rock in each hand. “I can hit you with them.”

Diana laughed in her face. “Bring it, zombie freak. You’re not the only one who can find a rock.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Brittney said. “But it won’t hurt me when you hit me. And you can’t kill me.” Then, as an afterthought she added, “Anyway, I’m not a zombie. I don’t eat people.”

“Why are you doing this, Brittney? You were the one fighting us at the power plant. You were on Sam’s side. Or don’t you remember that?”

“I remember,” she said.

Diana’s mind was turning at top speed. If she told Justin to run back toward the lake, how far would he get before the darkness closed in? Which was worse? To wander alone in the dark until he fell off a cliff or was scented by a coyote or wandered into a zeke field or … or … or…

“Then what happened to you? Why are you helping Drake? You should be fighting him every time you get the chance.”

She smiled and Diana saw the broken wire sticking out of her braces. “I can’t ever fight Drake, you know. We’re never together.”

“Exactly. So whenever he’s gone you can—”

“I’m not doing this for Drake,” Brittney said earnestly. “I’m doing this for my lord.”

“Your… Your what? Your what? You think God wants you to be doing this? Did you go stupid on top of being undead?”

“We each must serve,” Brittney recited, like a lesson she’d learned a long time ago.

“And you think Jesus wants you to do this? This? Threaten a pregnant girl with a rock? That’s your religious theory? Jesus wants you to help a sadistic mental case to turn me over to a monster? I must have missed that part of the Bible. Is that part of the Sermon on the Mount?”

Brittney looked at her, very serious, and waited until Diana had run out of breath, if not scorn.

“That was the old God, Diana. That God was before. He doesn’t live in the FAYZ.”

Diana felt like choking the girl. And if it would do any good she would, and gladly. She wondered if she could stun Brittney long enough to get away. Surely a big rock would at least stun her.

But unfortunately everyone knew the story of what had happened when Brianna fought Drake. She had sliced him up like a butcher with a hog. And yet, he had survived. The same would be true of Brittney. And Diana didn’t have a machete.

“God is everywhere,” Diana said. “You were a church girl; you must know that.”

Brittney’s eyes were bright, eager, as she leaned forward. “No. No. I don’t have to follow an invisible god anymore. I can see him! I can touch him! I know where he lives, and what he looks like. No more little children’s stories. He wants you. That’s why we came for you.” She made a chiding face. “You should be excited.”

“You know what? I’m ready for Drake to come back. He’s evil, but at least he’s not an idiot.”

Diana stood up. So did Brittney.

“Justin,” Diana said.

“Yes?”

“See the place where the hills end? The lake is just past that. Start running.”

“Are you coming?” Justin cried.

“Right behind you. Now, run!”

Brittney didn’t come after Diana, although Diana swung on her again. Brittney ran after Justin.

She caught him easily. Diana tried to grab Brittney, but a pregnant girl running in the sand…

Brittney hugged Justin to her with one arm. In her free hand she held a sharp rock very close to Justin’s chattering, fearful mouth. It was a heartbreaking parody of maternal protectiveness.

Diana remembered again who Brittney had once been. The brave, decent girl who refused to disappoint Sam and Edilio.

It was Diana, along with Caine and Drake, who had made this Brittney. They and, of course, the Darkness. What a fatal little group they had proved to be. Look at the damage they had done, she and Caine and Drake. And the gaiaphage.

Now here they were on their way to a reunion. Diana, and Drake, and the gaiaphage. And Caine’s role would be played by his son or daughter.

She had wanted so badly to escape it all. For that briefest moment she believed she had changed Caine. And that was when they had created the baby inside her.