“You know who I mean,” he said. “The human race. We made them, and that gives us responsibility. It’s that simple.”
“I didn’t make anything. The older generation did. Why are they my problem?”
“Because they have it bad. We all know they do. Imagine being one of them.”
“I don’t want things to be bad for them,” Amy said. “I really don’t. I just don’t want them around me. Why does that make me a bad person?”
“I never said it makes you a bad person,” Jake said.
Archie Gaines raised his hand. “Amy has a good point, Mr. Benson. They’re a mess to stomach, looking at them. I mean, I can live with it, I guess. But all this love and understanding is a lot to ask.”
“Fair enough,” Mr. Benson said.
Archie turned to look back at Amy. She nodded her thanks. His face lit up with a leering smile. He believed he’d rescued her and now she owed him. She gave him a practiced frown to shut down his hopes. He turned away as if slapped.
“I’m just curious about them,” Jake said. “More curious than scared. It’s like you said, Mr. Benson. However they look, they’re still our brothers. I wouldn’t refuse help to a blind man, I guess I wouldn’t to a plague kid neither.”
The teacher nodded. “Okay. Good. That’s enough discussion for today. We’re getting somewhere, don’t you think? Again, my goal for you kids this year is two things. One is to get used to the plague children. Distinguishing between a book and its cover. The other is to learn how to avoid making more of them.”
Jake turned to Amy and winked. Her cheeks burned, all her annoyance with him forgotten.
She hoped there was a lot more sex ed and a lot less monster talk in her future. While Mr. Benson droned on, she glanced through the first few pages of her book. A chapter headline caught her eye: KISSING.
She already knew the law regarding sex. Germ or no germ, the legal age of consent was still fourteen in the State of Georgia. But another law said if you wanted to have sex, you had to get tested for the germ first. If you were under eighteen, your parents had to give written consent for the testing.
Kissing, though, that you could do without any fuss. It said so right here in black and white. You could do it all you wanted. Her scalp tingled at the thought. She tugged at her hair and savored the stabbing needles.
She risked a hungering glance at Jake’s handsome profile. Though she hoped one day to go further than that, she could never do more than kissing. She could never know what it’d be like to scratch the real itch.
Nobody but her mama knew Amy was a plague child.
By Craig DiLouie
The Children of Red Peak
Our War
One of Us
Suffer the Children
Tooth and Nail
The Alchemists
The Great Planet Robbery
CRASH DIVE
Crash Dive
Silent Running
Battle Stations
Contact!
Hara-Kiri
Over the Hill
THE INFECTION WAR
The Infection
The Killing Floor
THE RETREAT
Pandemic
Alamo
The Children of Red Peak Page 32