Gone (Gone #1)(100)

Drake stepped up behind him and swatted him on the back of his head.

"Come on, Sam. Even Caine's scared of you, so you must be tounh. Come on, show me what you've got" He hit Sam again, this time with the barrel of the gun. Sam collapsed facedown in ihe dirt.

Sam raised himself up. He tugged as hard as he could, but his hands were imprisoned. His tlesh itched. He fought against a tide of panic. He wanted to scream curses, but that would only entertain Drake.

"Yeah, take it like a man" Drake crowed. "After all, youVe fourteen, right? So how long till you vacate? It's all just a passing phase here in the FAYZ, right?"

The mixers dug the concrete block out of the dirt, and now, as he tried to stand, Sam felt the terrible weight of the thing. He could stand, but not without struggling.

Drake got up close to him. "So who's the man here? Who brought you and the rest of these freaks down? Me. And me without any powers at all."

Sam heard a door slam. He craned his head and saw Caine and Diana coming across the lawn.

Caine walked at a languid pace across the lawn, smiling more broadly the closer he got,

"Well, if it isn't the defiant Sam Temple" he said. *Let me shake your hand. Oh, sorry, my bad" He laughed, a sound thai seemed more a release of tension than anything else.

"I got him," Drake announced. "I got them all"

"Yes, you did," Caine said. "Good work. Drake. Very good work. And I see Sam's little friends are likewise caught."

"Why don't you give Drake a little scratch behind the ears, Caine, he's been such a good dog," Diana said.

The mixers had dug Astrid's hands out of the dirt. She was crying hysterically, unable to stand all the way up. Little Pete went to her, walking like he was in a dream, head down over his Game Bov.

Astrid bumped her concrete block into Little Pete—

And suddenly Sam knew what she was doing. He had to provide distraction. He had to keep the focus away from Astrid and Little Pete.

"You don't want to mess with this girl, her name is Lana ," Sam said, jerking his chin toward her. "She's a healer"

Caine's eyebrows shot up. "A what? A healer?"

"She can heal anything, any kind of injury" Sam said. Astrid, barely able to move, was slowly, rhythmically swinging her block back and forth ir a narrow arc, bumping it against Little Pete's Game Boy.

"She healed me" Sam said. "Coyote bit me. Want to see?"

Caine said,"I have a better idea. Drake: give the girl something to heal."

Drake laughed out loud, a gleeful sound. He pressed the muzzle of his pistol against Sam's knee. "No," Diana yelled.

The explosion was shocking. The pain, at first, didn't register, but Sam collapsed. He fell on his side like a felled tree. The leg, blown half off, buckled and twisted beneath him.

And then came the pain.

Drake smiled hugely and yelled an exultant, "Yeah!"

Astrid, startled, slammed the concrete block so hard against Little Pete that she knocked the Game Boy from his hands and knocked him back a s:ep.

Diana frowned, alarmed. For the first time she really registered Little Pete's presence.

Through a red mist of pain Sam saw her eyes fly open, her finger stab toward Little Pete.

"Drake, you idiot, the kid. The kid."

Astrid dropped to her knees, slammed the concrete block down on the Game Boy,

There was no Hash of light. No sound.

But suddenly the concrete enotsing Astrid's hands was gone. Simply gone.

So was the concrete block on Sam's hands.

And every one of the other children.

Astrid was on her hands and knees, knuckles pressed into the soft dirt.

The concrete blocks were gone like they had never existed, though the hands of those who had been trapped longest were masses of pale, dead, sloughing skin.

Caine was quick. He backed away, turned, and ran for the building. Diana seemed torn, uncertain; then she bolted after Caine,

Little Pete picked up his game. The block had disappeared a split second before smashing down on the game. It was dirty and had a piece of grass sticking out of it now, but it still worked.

Drake stood rooted. The gun was still in his hand, smoking from the bullet he had fired into Sam's knee. He blinked.

He raised the gun and fired at Little Pete. But his aim was wild. His aim was off because of the blinding flash of greenish-while light-Drake's arm> the entire arm holding the gun. burst into flame.

Drake screamed. The gun fell from his melting fingers. The flesh burned black. The smoke was brown-Drake screamed and stared in stark horror as the fire ate away at his arm. He broke and ran, the wind fanning the

(lames.

"Good shot. Sam," Edilio said.

"I was aiming at his head" Sam said, gritting his teeth through the pain.

Lana knelt beside Sam and laid her hands on the bloody mess of his knee.

"We have to get out of here " Sam managed to say. "Forget me, we have to run. Back to ... Caine will .. T

But that was the last of his strength. It felt as if a black hole was swallowing him up. He swilled down and down into unconsciousness.





THIRTY-FIVE


86 HOURS, 11 MINUTES

"WHERE ARE WE?" Sam woke up all at once and was embarrassed to find that he was being half dragged down the road by Edilio and a kid he didn't know. Edilio slopped, "Can you stand?"