Contagion (Toxic City, #3)(47)

“And I've seen him do so much more than that,” Fleeter said.

“Not too bad,” Jenna said, standing. “A few nasty cuts that should be stitched. No shrapnel in you that I can find.

Fleeter nodded her thanks.

“So what went wrong this time?” Jack asked.

“They had something,” Fleeter said. “A gas, maybe. It was like…” She trailed off and looked at Jack. “You won't have felt it yet. The weakness. The sickness.”

“We've seen enough of it,” Lucy-Anne said.

“It seemed to boost the illness. I've felt it, and every time I flip I feel it more. But whatever they used on us made it all so much worse. And while we were down, they attacked.”

“Who got away?” Jack asked, his voice flat. He wants to know if his father is dead, Lucy-Anne thought. And though Reaper was a beast, a killer, and no longer anything approaching a father to Jack and his sweet sister, she so hoped that he was still alive.

“Puppeteer was already dead when we came around,” she said. “I think the illness was quite advanced in him, and whatever they used on us pushed him over the edge. We fought, but we were weakened. I flipped but couldn't move…I was as still as everything else around me. Reaper shouted, but knocked himself down. He became enraged. He has such pride, Jack, in what he can do, and suddenly losing control drove him mad.”

“Madder,” Sparky said.

“By then there were reinforcements coming in, on land and in the air. Choppers, scores of them, but they weren't shooting to kill. They were trying to capture us. So we fought. They had Scryer, but she got free and ran. They shot her, then. I saw her go down, and she must have been hit by twenty bullets. Tore her apart. Shade disappeared and I haven't seen him since. Reaper retreated, and for a time he and I were together. We ran through the streets, and I could feel his fury and pain. Then I tripped and fell, hit my head, and when I came around I was on my own.”

“He left you,” Jack said.

“Perhaps he thought I was dead.” She sounded so sad to Lucy-Anne, because she did not believe that at all.

“Sounds like they were taking their last chance to catch you,” Jack said. “Maybe when this is over they still want subjects to experiment on. So they didn't follow you in to London?”

“No, I don't think so. I wandered for a while, then Reaper came to me again. He'd found Shade by then, and also Haru, the ice lady. And he told me what we had to do.”

“Find us again,” Jack said.

Fleeter nodded. She looked pale and alone, and Lucy-Anne almost felt sorry for her. “If the Superiors can't get out, what hope do we have?” Lucy-Anne asked.

“None,” Sparky said.

“It doesn't matter,” Rhali said. “We're out of time anyway. Fleeing London isn't our aim anymore.” She pointed at Hayden. “It's all on him.”

“Reaper's coming, Jack,” Fleeter said. “Him, Shade, Haru. And me. We're all behind you, now. We've tried to fight. We've tried violence, and it didn't work. Stopping the bomb is the only way.”

Jack did not respond. He was frowning, looking into a distance none of them could see, and perhaps seeing a future none of them wanted to see.

“I don't trust him at all,” he said at last. “And I don't trust you.”

“But I came back to—”

“We move on,” Jack said. “Fleeter, I can't stop you coming with us. And I won't. But we're not going to sit and wait for whatever plans Reaper might have for us now. If we meet him, so be it. But we go.”

“Yeah,” Sparky said.

“Absolutely,” Jenna said.

Rhali nodded her head. Even Andrew seemed to agree, his visage blurring with a half-smile.

“Lucy-Anne?” Jack asked.

“We go,” she said. She looked at Hayden. He shrugged his backpack higher, and the tools inside rattled.

“Just get me to the bomb as quickly as you can,” he said. “I'll do my best to do the rest.”

Jack was curious as to exactly what had been used against the Superiors. He had little doubt that whatever it was had been developed from Miller's vivisection of those infected by Evolve, but whether it worked against the developing illness—or perhaps even caused it—was something that would have great impact in the future. Miller had said that the illness affecting many of those with talents was a side-effect of Evolve, but it could just as easily have been something Miller had created himself, whatever he claimed.

But the future where this would matter was far, far distant. The immediate future was less than four hours long. His injuries burned, eye throbbing, and he had yet to fully assess the damage done. But there was no time even for that.

As they approached the Imperial War Museum, Rhali used her gift to warn them of movement ahead. And there was plenty. Andrew also went ahead to scout their route, and he returned several times with tales of creatures wandering the streets. They were all heading in the same direction—towards the museum.

Jack sought ways to communicate with those things they would face. He did his best to think of them as human, although forcibly evolved far from what he understood human to be. But after everything he had seen, he also thought of them as monsters. Like Reaper, they looked down upon the Irregulars as way below them, insignificant as insects to an elephant. Unlike Reaper, they ate them.