Gone (Gone #1)(107)

The freezer was better. There were frozen buffalo wings, something in a Tupperware container, and a microwavable pepperoni pizza.

"Oh, yes," Lana said. "Oh, definitely,"

She popped the pizza in the microwave and punched the numbers. It was fascinating watching it rotate. Her mouth watered. It was all she could do to wait till the microwave dinged.

She ate the pizza by ripping it with her bare hands, folding up the gooey slices and scooping up whatever dripped on the counter.

"Oh, you want some, too?" she asked when Patrick showed up wagging his tail and looking eager. She tossed him a piece, which he caught in the air.

"Well. WeVe been through it, huh, boy?"

Lana found the master bedroom shower upstairs and spent half an hour in the stream of hot water. The water ran red and black down the drain.

Then she invited Patrick in, shampooed him up, rinsed him off, and kicked him out to shake like crazy and spray dog water all over the bathroom.

She wrapped herself in a towel and went exploring through ihe house for clothing. Slwood didn't seem to have any sisters, but his mother was petite, so with some cinching and tying-off Lana managed to put together an outfit.

She picked her old clothes up and almost fainted from the stench.

"Oh, my God, Patrick: that's what I've been smelling like? I have to burn these things"

But she contented herself with stuffing the bloodstained, dirt<rusted, sweat-stinking, torn, and shredded clothing into a trash bag. Unfortunately she was stuck with her old shoes: Elwood's mother's shoes were two sizes too large.

She trotted down the stairs, feeling better than she had in a very long time. Then she spotted the phone and could not resist the urge to pick it up. Call her mom. Tell her mom ... well, something. She knew what everyone had told her about the FAYZ. But, still...

"No dial tone, Patrick"

Patrick was not interested.

"You know what, Patrick? I'm just going to sit down and cry for a while"

But the tears wouldn't come. So after a while she sighed and carried a warm Diet Pepsi out onto the porch.

It was the middle of the night. The street was quiet. She was in a town she had grown up in but had been away from for years. She'd run into some kids she'd known back in the day, but most of them hadn't recognized her beneath her coating of filth. Now maybe at least people would know her. Although it occurred to her that Sam and Astrid and Edilio probably wouldn't recognize her now ihat she was clean.

"I feel like going somewhere, Patrick," she said. "But I don't know where."

A car turned onto the street. It was moving slowly. Whoever was behind the wheel was clearly not an experienced driver.

Lana stiffened, preparing to rush back inside and lock the door. She raised a cautious wave, but she couldn't see the driver and the driver didn't seem :o want to stop and chat. The car continued on down the street and turned off. "Some kind of patrol," Lana said to Patrick, She stayed a while longer on the porch before heading back inside.

She instantly recognized the boy standing in the kitchen. Patrick growled and raised his hackles. "Hello, freak" Drake said.

Lana backed away, but too late. Drake leveled his gun at her. "I'm right-handed. 'Least I used to be. But I can still hit you from this distance" "What do you want?"

Drake motioned toward the stump of his right arm. It was gone from just above the elbow, "What do you think I want?"

The one time she'd seen Drake Merwin, he had made her think of Pack Leader: strong, hyper alert, dangerous. Now, the lean physique looked gaunt, the shark's grin was a tight grimace, his eyes were red-rimmed. His stare, once languidly menacing, was now intense, burning hot. He looked like someone who had been tortured beyond endurance.

Tlltry," Lana said.

"You'll do more than try" he said. He convulsed in pain, face scrunched. A low, eerie moan escaped his throat.

"I don't know if I can grow a whole arm back" Lana said. "Let me touch it."

"Not here," he hissed. He motioned with his gun. "Through the back door."

"If you shoot me, I can't help you," Lana argued.

"Can you heal dogs? How about if I blow his brains out? Can vou heal that, freak?"

The car Lana had seen driving by was parked, engine running, in the alley behind the house. The boy called Panda was at the wheeL

"Don't make me do this" Lana pleaded."l would help you no matter what. You don't have to do this"

But there was no point in arguing. If Drake had ever owned a conscience, it had died along with his arm.

They drove off through the sleeping town.

Out into the night.

Howard had seen with his own eyes the small army Sam had assembled. He'd seen them descending on Ralph's, The grocery store was unguarded, which meant the other sheriffs had decided to get out of the way and make themselves scarce.

"There's too many," Howard had concluded.

So he and Ore had stolen a car and made their way toward Coates Academy. But they had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the road and ended up on a dirt track leading into the desert as night fell.

They had turned around, retracing their way to the main road, but that hadn't worked, either. Finally, they ran out of gas.

"This was your stupid idea " Ort muttered-