Lightning Child
Page 41
But after so long inside the mountain supplies are running low. One of the children, Gabriel, and the troubled soldier, Marv, are sent outside to scavenge for things they need. They carry steel crucifixes that allow Peck, and the handful of children he has appointed Guardians, to check whether they’ve been contaminated when they return.
Gabriel searches the places he scavenges for books. Most of the children can’t read, but he and the rebellious Mags remember how. Books aren’t allowed in Eden, so Gabriel relays the stories he finds on the outside to Mags when he returns.
One day while Gabriel’s outside scavenging he comes across the body of Benjamin, a soldier who was in Eden when they first arrived, together with a bloodstained map that shows the way to a place called Mount Weather. When Kane learns of the map he sends Gabriel and Marv out to find Mount Weather, even though winter is close and the storms are coming. On the way Marv becomes infected with the virus and starts to change into a fury. Before he kills himself he explains to Gabriel everything that’s wrong with Eden. Benjamin had been trying to get the children out but Kane uncovered his plan and sent Peck to kill him.
Gabriel continues to Mount Weather where he finds another bunker, stocked with supplies. He returns to Eden, only to discover that Kane had never intended either he or Marv to return. He sneaks back in through one of the vent shafts, intending to free the Juvies without Kane knowing. But Kane has brought forward the ceremony where the children will be matched, forcing Gabriel to rethink his plans.
While searching for a way to get the children out of the mountain Gabriel discovers stockpiles of the virus, proving that it was Kane who was responsible for releasing it in the first place. Gabriel interrupts the ceremony and confronts Kane, threatening to contaminate Eden if he won’t let them leave. The children are scared to go outside but Gabriel convinces them. He holds Peck and the Guardians at bay while Mags and the others escape into the tunnel that leads to the outside. As he’s running after them Gabriel is shot but Mags and one of the others, Jake, come back for him and drag him out. Together they seal the tunnel and Gabriel leads the children to Mount Weather.
The Juvies have spent the winter in Mount Weather, but Gabriel knows they’re not safe there. Soon the storms will clear and Kane will send Peck for them.
The Juvies are reluctant to leave without a destination, however, so Gabriel sets out with Mags, looking for another home for them. He has the map Marv gave him, with all the bunkers that once were part of the Federal Relocation Arc marked on it. The closest is in West Virginia, a place called The Greenbrier.
On the way Gabriel and Mags run into a group of soldiers from The Greenbrier led by the wiry gunslinger Hicks. They follow them back to a once-luxurious resort where they meet the detached Dr. Gilbey. Gilbey is a scientist; the resort conceals a huge underground bunker she has been using as a lab while she works on a cure for the virus.
When two of the soldiers, Truck and Weasel, attempt to sneak into Mags’ room that night Hicks suggests she would be safer in the bunker with Gilbey, but she ends up becoming infected by the virus. Hicks explains that Mags’ only chance is for Gabriel to help Gilbey in her quest for a cure. Gilbey needs furies that are still active on which to test her work. Hicks and the other soldiers search hospitals, looking for specimens hiding in areas that might have been shielded from the effects of the pulse released when Kane scorched the skies.
Gabriel joins Hicks and the other soldiers on a visit to a hospital in Blackburg. They find a fury, but Gabriel freezes when it attacks Ortiz, one of the soldiers, and Hicks has to kill it, along with his comrade.
When they return to The Greenbrier Gabriel insists on seeing Mags. Unbeknownst to Gabriel it was Gilbey who infected Mags; she has been kept in a cage in the basement with a young fury, Johnny 99, since. Gilbey threatens a similar fate for Gabriel if Mags reveals this, but when they bring her out Mags manages to warn Gabriel that he has to flee.
That night Gabriel escapes The Greenbrier. He knows that Gilbey will send the soldiers after him; he intends to lead them away so he can double back and rescue Mags. His plan is to bring her back to Eden and put her in the scanner, to remove the virus from her system, but a storm blows in and he ends up collapsing in the snow outside The Greenbrier’s gates. Hicks rescues him and brings him to a nearby church. He reveals that he was infected when the furies overran the last of humanity a decade before and has been surviving on medicine Gilbey gives him. The medicine slows down the virus, but its effects are dwindling. He agrees to help Gabriel free Mags and bring her back to Eden if he can come along.
Gabriel and Hicks break Mags out of her cages. When Mags refuses to leave without Johnny 99 Hicks stays behind to try and get more of Gilbey’s medicine. The three set off but Gabriel and Mags are both injured and Johnny 99 is too small to move quickly. In an attempt to evade the soldiers Gilbey sends after them, Gabriel leads them into the Appalachians.
Mags insists on sharing the medicine Hicks gave her with Johnny 99 and it quickly runs out. She and the kid both become sick. Hicks catches up with them, but when he sees Mags he explains to Gabriel she doesn’t have long now, even with the medicine he’s brought. Hicks convinces Johnny 99 he’s holding them up, so the kid leaves. When Mags finds out she grows angry. Gabriel goes off to try and find him while Hicks takes her on.
Gabriel finds Johnny but then they run into Truck and the other soldiers. They manage to evade them and catch up with Hicks, but Mags and the kid are very sick now. They make it back to Eden with the soldiers hot on their heels. Gabriel gets them inside, where he learns that Peck has taken most of the Guardians to Mount Weather. He brings Mags and the kid to the scanner, leaving Hicks to close up the blast door, but Hicks double-crosses him, letting the soldiers in.
When he finds out Gabriel aborts the scan, but the scanner has fried Mags’ and the kid’s circuits, rendering them both unconscious. Gabriel hides Mags in the armory and goes back out to confront the soldiers, hoping to bargain with Hicks’ for his help saving Mags’ life. Hicks offers to let him go if he’ll give up the Juvies at Mount Weather. Hicks wants to take them back for Gilbey to experiment on. But then Mags bursts out of the tunnel and overpowers the soldiers. She, Gabriel and Johnny 99 make their escape, leaving them tied up in the chapel with Kane.
They set out for Mount Weather, hoping to get there ahead of Peck. Mags seems better but Gabriel has doubts about her sudden transformation, worried that the work of the virus is not yet done.
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