Gone (Gone #1)(108)

"What did you want to do? Stay in town with Sam? He had. like, twenty kids with him *

"I could kick his butt."

"Ore, don't be a moron," Howard snapped in frustration. "If Caine's not there, and Drake's not there, and Sammy is marching back into town like a big deal, what do you think that means?! mean, come on, Ore, do the math."

Ore's pig eyes had narrowed to slits. "Don't call me stupid. I have to, I'll kick your teeth in"

Howard wasted twenty minutes ameliorating Ore's hurt feelings. Which still left them sitting in a dead car in the middle of nowhere,

"I see a light," Ore said.

"Hey, yeah." Howard jumped from the car and started running. Ore lumbered after him.

The twin beams of a car moved at an intercept angle to them. If they slowed down, the car would miss them, never see them.

"Hurry up," Howard yelled.

"Catch them." Ore urged Howard on as he gave up the race and slowed to a heavy-tooted slog.

"Okay," Howard yelled. His foot caught on something, and he sprawled into the dirt. Hepickec himself up and only then felt the sharp pain in his ankle.

"What the—?" He froze. There was something there in the darkness. Not Ore, something that smelled rank and panted like a dog.

Howard was up and running in a heartbeat."Something is after me," he yelled.

The car lights were vectoring toward him. He could make it. He could make it. If he didn't fall again. !f the monster didn't get htm first.

Howard's feet hit blacktop and he was illuminated, brilliant white. The car screeched. It came to a stop. The monster was nowhere in sight. "Howard?"

Howard recognized the voice Panda was leaning out of the window.

"Panda? Man, am I glad to see you. We've been—" Something dark and swift leaped and caught Panda's arm. He let out a shriek.

From inside the car, a dog barked frantically. Something hit Howard in the back and he hit the pavement on his hands and knees.

The car lurched forward. The bumper stopped six inches from Howard's head-There came a scream, a male voice. Ore. Ore back in the darkness somewhere.

There were dogs everywhere, swarming around Howard. No, not dogs, he thought, wolves. Coyotes.

The car door opened, and Panda fell out, wrapped half around a coyote.

A loud bang and a stab of orange light. But ihe coyotes didn't stop.

Another shot, and one of the coyotes yelped in pain. Drake staggered into view, looking like a scarecrow in the headlights.

The coyotes retreated, out of the light but by no means gone. Howard got slowly to his feel.

Drake pointed the gun at Howard's face. "Did you set these dogs on me?*'

"They chewed on me too, man* Howard protested. Then he yelled out at the desert, "Ore. Ore, man. Ore"

A voice like w￡t gravel, but with an eerie high-pitched tone, said, "Give us female."

Howard peered into the night trying to make sense of it. It wasn't Ore. Where was Ore?

"What female?" Drake demanded. "Who are you?"

Slowly, on every side, all around the car the desert moved. Shadows crept closer. Howard shrank back, but Drake stood firm.

"Who's out there?" Drake demanded.

A mange-eaten coyote with a scarred muzzle that gave him a sinister grin stepped into the circle of light. Howard almost fell down when he realized it was this coyote who spoke.

"Give us female."

"No," Drake said, recovering quickly from the shock/She's mine. I need her to heal my arm. She has the power and I want my arm back"

"You are nothing," the coyote snarled.

*Vm the kid with the gun* Drake said.

The two of them, two of a kind, it seemed to Howard, stared holes in each other.

"What do you want with her?" Drake demanded.

"Darkness say: bring female"

"Darkness? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Give us female" Pack Leader said, returning to his single-minded point."Or we kill all"

"I'll kill plenty of you."

"You die," Pack Leader said stubbornly.

Howard felt it was time to speak up. "Guys. Guys. We have a standoff here. So why don't we see if we can figure out an arrangement?"

"What are you talking about?*

"Okay, look, Drake, you said iomeibing about the female healing your arm?"

"She has the power. I want my arm back"

"And Mu um... coyote... ycu're supposed to take her to some other dog called Darkness?"

Pack Leader eyed Howard in a way that suggested he was considering how to butcher and eat him.

"Okay" Howard said shakily."! think we can work a deal."





THIRTY-EIGHT


74 HOURS, 10 MINUTES

"ASTRID,* EDILIO SAID. "I'm so sorry about your house"

Astrid squeezed Edilio's hand. "Yeah. I have to admit, it was hard for me to see."

"You could stay over at the firehouse with me and Sam and Quinn," Edilio offered.

"It's okay. Petey and I are going to room with Mother Mary and Brother John for a while. They're hardly ever home. And when they are, well, ycu know, it's good to have people around"