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“Don’t worry,” Laura said, watching the woman. “I’m not going to hurt you. ”
The ranger’s gaze was fixed on Laura, but she didn’t try to move or struggle. Alec had removed Brown’s shoes, throwing them into a nearby creek. He’d said it would be harder for Brown to run that way, though the amount of tape binding her ankles made the bare feet unnecessary. Now, the poor woman just looked cold.
Laura knelt down beside her, the ranger’s terrified eyes watching Laura’s every movement. With her left hand she reached out and grasped one of Brown’s feet. Brown twitched at the touch, pulling back instinctively, but Laura held tight and the resistance faded. Brown’s skin was icy and rough. Laura reached one hand into the pocket of her coat and retrieved a pair of her own wool socks, and then proceeded to pull them onto Brown’s feet.
The ranger looked confused and opened her mouth to speak, but Laura motioned for Brown to stay quiet.
A voice broke the silence. “They’ve instituted martial law. ”
Laura, startled and embarrassed, saw Alec sitting motionless on a rock about twenty feet away. His pale skin and sunken features made him appear ghostly in the dim light.
Laura let go of Brown’s foot and stood. “You heard something?” Alec had kept both of the rangers’ radios, and had listened for hours while they hiked.
Alec shook his head. “They’ve ceased all radio traffic. ”
“They know we’re listening?”
“Probably. ”
“Then what?”
“I got some information from her,” Alec said, nodding slightly toward Brown. “The military seems to have figured out two things: they know our network is made up of teenagers. ”
Laura sat on a log near Alec, leaning forward. “Have they caught anyone?”
He nodded. “She doesn’t know anything about it, but they must have. Because the other thing they’ve figured out is that our abilities are caused by a virus. ”
“What? But they’re not. ”
“Remember that crap she was spewing last night about the police taking teens?”
Laura nodded.
He took a swig from his canteen and then continued. “They’re doing it because teens—American teenagers—are getting abilities. And, since the government can test for it, that means they must have captured someone; they must have some strain of the virus to compare it to. ”
“But it’s not a virus,” Laura said again. She didn’t catch it. She was injected with it as a baby. Her parents told her.
Alec rolled his eyes. “It must have mutated. How long since your abilities manifested?”
Laura was flustered now. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. She was supposed to be superior to everyone. “Uh, I don’t know. Two years?”
“See, you should have had them before that—they were supposed to come around age twelve or thirteen. Mine came late, too. ”
Laura was trying to think clearly, but this was the first significant problem in their plan she’d encountered. Every chase, every attack—those were things she could handle. But this was different. The entire system was flawed. And everything hinged on this.
Alec was still talking to Laura, but stared at the ranger. “I think it was broken from the beginning. We didn’t get our powers when we were supposed to. We got physical side effects, which we weren’t supposed to. And now it’s spreading like a virus. ”
“So what do we do?”
“We do a better job of hiding. We go for targets that will slow their study—hospitals, labs, the damned CDC if we can get it. ”
“Should we speed up our attacks on the scheduled targets?”
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “I wish I knew how the testing works. How do they know if someone has been tested? Complete quarantine? Some kind of identifying mark? If it’s something simple like a tattoo, then we need to get ourselves tattoos. If we can look like we’ve been tested, then we can walk around without suspicion. ”
Laura pointed at the ranger. “What do we do with her? She’s seen everything. She heard us talking. She saw what I did to the other one. ”
“It will be useful to have a hostage,” Alec answered. “They’re probably trying to find us right now. ”
“We won’t be dealing with police,” Laura said, almost surprised that she was arguing with Alec. “It will be the US Army, maybe special forces. They won’t be negotiating for hostages. ”
“Then we’ll kill her,” Alec said.
Laura stood. “We could have just left her there, by the cars. What good did bringing her do? She slowed us down—and I won’t be able to carry both her and Dan if we need his powers. ”
“You’re right,” Alec said. He slowly stood from his rock, twisting his neck and back to stretch the muscles. “But I want more information from her. ”
“What more does she know?”
Alec took a step toward Laura. Alec was the highest rank of the three of them and Laura knew she was pushing it.
Alec smiled. “I don’t know. Let’s ask. ”
He brushed past Laura and knelt beside Brown.
“Leave me alone,” she whispered. “I don’t know anything. ”
Alec, his back to Laura now, didn’t respond. He simply sat there and stared at the girl. Laura didn’t want to watch, but couldn’t look away. She knew what Alec was doing—playing with Brown’s mind. After a tense moment, Brown looked puzzled and smiled nervously.
“What’s going on, Alec?” she said.
His voice was soft and soothing. “What’s your name?”
Brown paused for a moment, her gaze darting up to Laura. “You know my name,” Brown said. “Take this tape off. ”
“Humor me,” Alec said. “What’s your name?”
“This isn’t funny,” she said, and her face contorted in another wave of confusion. She shrieked, flailing uselessly against the restraints.
“Here are the rules,” Alec said, his voice suddenly filled with hatred. “I’m going to ask you some questions. If I like your answer, you’ll be fine. If I don’t, you’ll get more of the same. ”
She froze, her eyes wide and terrified. Laura shuddered to think what memories Alec was stuffing into the girl’s brain.
“Good,” Alec said. “Now, what is your name?”
“Gina,” she whispered. “Gina Lynn Brown. ”
Laura watched for a moment, and then turned back to her tent.
FOURTEEN
“AT LEAST IT’S NOT BREAD and water,” Aubrey said, looking down at the pouch in her hands. It was military rations—vacuum-sealed tuna casserole.
Jack smiled. “I don’t know if this is much better. ”
“It’s warmed up. That’s something. ”
They were in another warehouse, this one smaller and without guards. The floor was cement, and along three of the walls were long rows of cots. There had to be at least two hundred, but only about half were occupied—maybe fifty by the kids who had gone through the testing with Aubrey, and about that same number who had already been in the warehouse when the others had arrived. The fourth wall was lined with portable restrooms.
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