Gone (Gone #1)(97)

Drake had noticed the same thing. He glanced back in the direction they'd come from, tried to make sense of the topography. "Coates is back that way. The barrier is over that way" He pointed. "There's no wind, so the tire is going to climb the hilL Which means theyll be coming this way, toward Coates. They'll pass down below us"

"What are you going to do, shoot them when they walk past?" Chunk asked, eager and afraid.

"Yeah, that's right, three thousand feet down this hill and I'm going to shoot them with a handgun," Drake said sarcastically. "Moron."

"So what do we do?" Panda asked. "No wonder Caine's scared of this guy. Dude can do all that?"

"That's a four bar, right there, I bet" Chunk opined. "I seen all kinds of stuff at Coates with Benno and Andrew and Frederico, none of them could do that kind of stuff. You think he can take Caine down?"

Drake spun and smacked Chunk in the mouth with the back of his free hand. When Chunk staggered back, Drake moved in and kicked him in the groin.

Chunk grabbed himself and fell lo his knees. He whimpered, "Why d you do thai, man?"

"Because I'm sick of listening to you," Drake snapped-"Pm sick of all this powers crap. You saw what we did to freaks at Coates? Who do you think it was that took care of that? All these kids with their stupid so-called powers. Starting fires and moving stuff around and reading your mind and all? Who do you think it was grabbed them one by one in their sleep and beat them down and when they woke up their hands were setting up in a block of cement?"

"It was you, Drake" Panda said, placating him. "You got

Wilbur..

Thats right. And I didn't even have a gun then. It's not about who's got powers, morons. It's about who's not afraid. And who's going to do what has to be done"

Chunk was climbing to his feet now with a hand from Panda.

"It's not Sam Temple or even Caine you little worms need to worry about, it's me," Drake said. "Mr. Laser Hands down there isn't going to make it to where he can fight Caine. I'm going to take him down long before that."





THIRTY-FOUR


87 HOURS, 46 MINUTES

THEY WERE SIX now. Sam. Edilio. Quinn, Lana, Astrid, and Little Pete. All plans for following the FAYZ wall home were abandoned for now. The fire, a patchwork of brilliant yellow and orange, was climbing the hills to the north, cutting them off. They could only keep moving south.

DawD came at last, an unsatisfying gray that bleached the color from everything, even the fire.

They could see where they Were placing their feet, now, but that didn't stop them from tripping and stumbling. They were lead-footed from exhaustion.

Little Pete silently collapsed and was left behind until Astrid noticed. After that Edilio and Sam took turns carrying him on their backs, which made their progress even slower and more treacherous.

Little Pete slept that way for a while, maybe two hours, then, when the boys couldn't manage another step, he woke up and set off on his own, and now they were all following him, loo tired to argue or try tc redirect him, since he was going mostly in the right direction.

"We gotta stop, man," Edilio said."The girls are tired"

"Pm fine" Lana said. Tve been running with coyotes. Walking with you guys is like standing still"

"I've had it" Sam agreed, and stopped right where he was, which happened to be beside something that was either a very big bush or a small tree.

"Petey" Astrid shouted. "Come back. We're stopping."

Little Pete had stopped walking, but he would not come back. Astrid wearily trudged to him, every sore footstep communicating the pain she was in.

"Sam," Astrid yelled."Quick"

Sam thought he was too tar gone to respond, but he somehow started his feel moving again and went up to where Little Pete was standing and Astrid kneeling.

There was a girl lying in the dirt. Her clothing was a mess, her black hair ratty. She was Asian, pretty without being beautiful, and little more than skin and bones. But the first thing they noticed was that her forearms ended in a solid concrete block.

Astrid made a quick sign of the cross and pressed two fingers against the girl's neck, "Lana" Astrid cried.

Lana sized up the situation quickly. "I don't see any injuries. I think maybe she's starving or else sick in some other way."

"What's she doing out here?" Edilio wondered. "Oh, man, what did someone do to her hands?"

"I can't heal hunger" Lana said.*] tried it on myself when I was with the pack. Didn't work"

Edilio untwisted the cap from his water bottle, knelt, and carefully drizzled water across the girl's cheek so that a few drops curled into her mouth.

"Look, she*s swallowing"

Edilio broke a tiny bite from one of the Power Bars and placed it gently into the girl's mouth. After a second the girl's mouth began to move, to chew.

"There's a road over there" Sam said. "I think so, anyway. A dirt road, I think"

"Someone drove by and dumped her here " Astrid agreed,

Sam pointed at the dirt. "You can see how she dragged thai block*

"Some sick stuff going on," Edilio muttered angrily. "Who would do something like this?"