Hunter (9780698158504)

by Carroll, Michael

  Lance grabbed Max’s arm, twisted him around, and slammed his fist into Max’s face.

  Max stumbled backward a couple of steps, then straightened up. He pulled a handkerchief from his overcoat pocket and spat a glob of blood into it. “That’s the last time you’ll ever hit me, Lance.” He wiped his mouth and stuffed the handkerchief back into his pocket. “It’s time for you to grow up. I told you—I’ve been watching you since that news report. Steering things. Smoothing out the path for you. You think that Parker Lethridge really wants you to join his detective agency? No, he has no real intention of doing that. But he believes he does, for now. All those books he wanted you to read? That wasn’t his list. It was mine. You have to know what’s going on in the world. And do you honestly think that the carnival has become successful because you’re such a hotshot at sorting out problems? You’re good, but you’re not that good. I’ve been doing a lot of your work for you.”

  “Then why reveal all this now, Dalton? What’s changed?”

  Max resumed walking. “What’s changed is that certain information has come to light and it requires action. More specifically, it requires you.”

  “I don’t want this!”

  Max stopped, and turned back to face him. “When did whatever you want become important? This is bigger than your petty little circus, Lance. I need you to get back in the game.”

  “I was never in the game.”

  “Sure you were. I don’t mind admitting that you’re smarter and more creative than I am, and it’ll take a mind like yours to solve this problem. You remember what happened in the pocket universe that was created when Krodin altered the past. . . . You’re the one who worked out how to beat him.” Max walked slowly back to Lance. “I could have come for you the minute we found you, made you forget you ever left, but I knew you were going to be important down the line. I can’t risk manipulating your mind again. Can’t take the chance that I’d destroy whatever it is that sets you apart from the rest of us. Now. Look behind you.”

  Lance turned. A young boy wearing a black leather jacket over a gray hooded sweatshirt was walking toward them, his head down. He stopped a few yards away, and it was only when he pulled back his hood that Lance saw that he wasn’t a young child; he was about fifteen years old.

  Max said, “Lance, this is Cameron Sharkey. Cam to his friends.”

  Cam nodded at Lance, and said, “Yes, I’m a dwarf. Get over it.”

  Lance shrugged. “I’ve got a friend who’s thirteen feet tall. Makes no difference to me what size someone is.”

  “Cam has total recall,” Max said. “And I mean total. He literally is unable to forget anything. Cam, what did you have for breakfast eighty-four days after your third birthday?”

  “Cornflakes. And orange juice.”

  “Was the juice fresh or from a carton?”

  Cam closed his eyes for a second. “From a carton. My mom went shopping three days earlier and bought two cartons. We did have fresh juice too, but my dad hated the carton stuff, so Mom always kept the fresh juice for him.”

  “How many different items did your mother buy on that shopping trip?”

  Cam frowned. “Fifteen. Or two hundred and nine, if you count all the cookies as individual items.” He looked at Lance. “Glad she didn’t buy cereal or something like that.”

  Lance asked, “Yeah, but you wouldn’t be able to count how many cornflakes were in the pack, would you?”

  “Course not,” Cam said. “But given enough time I could count how many flakes were in each spoonful I ate. It would take ages, though.”

  Max said, “You’ll meet the other members of the team soon enough.”

  “Max, I have school,” Cam said.

  “I told you, I’ll take care of that.” He turned back to Lance. “Your old life is over. You won’t be going back to the carnival again. You’ve got the skills you’ll need to—”

  “Screw you, Max! You don’t get to run my life!”

  “This is important, you stupid little punk!”

  Softly, Cam said, “You can’t beat him in an argument, dude. He always wins.”

  “There are things going on that you cannot possibly understand,” Max said. “You think this is all random? That it’s just chance that some of us are superhuman? We were chosen for this. All of us. We’re part of a plan that was set in motion long before any of us were born!”

  “You are so full of it,” Lance said. “Everything you do or say is just more manipulation. Why would I ever trust you again?”

  “Because the human race is blindly running up the sides of an active volcano, and we’re the only ones who can see.”

  Cam said, “Right. This is the thing about eggs again, isn’t it?”

  “What’s that?” Lance asked.

  “Solomon Cord said it. You know Sol? He said, you don’t keep all your eggs in one basket, in case something happens to the basket. If it does, all your eggs are gone. Earth is the basket, and the humans are the eggs. So we have to go into space, spread out through the stars, otherwise everything we’ve done—every single human accomplishment—will have been for nothing.”

  Max sighed. “Lord, save me from dumb teenagers. No, Cam, that’s a completely different thing.”

  “But you said about the volcano . . .”

  “That was metaphorical. My point is that we are here to steer the human race away from annihilation by its own hand. We’re shepherds.” He looked at Cam. “That was a metaphor too.”

  “I know that,” Cam said. Under his breath, he muttered, “I am so sick of people treating me like a kid just because I’m small.”

  Max continued, “But something went wrong. . . . Some of the chosen are using their powers for selfish reasons.”

  Lance muttered, “Said the billionaire.”

  “Shut up. I’ve donated a thousand times more money to charities than most people earn in their entire lives. There are people like Casey Duval and Slaughter and Dioxin. The Shark. Torture. Two dozen others.”

  Lance asked, “Why haven’t you gone after Duval or the others?”

  “I’ve tried, but I can’t find him. Duval is smarter than me. I can’t read him, and his power allows him to see the power in others. He’s playing the same game as I am, but all he has to do is look at a piece and he instinctively knows the best place to put it. Lance, the fact that they also have powers suggests that there’s something fundamentally flawed with the big plan. If we knew exactly what that plan is, we could tackle that directly, but we don’t. We can’t know—it’s beyond human understanding. So we have to deal with those villains before we can—”

  Lance said, “Careful, Max. Your arrogance is showing. Just because you can’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s beyond anyone’s understanding. And you’re making a mistake to assume that there must be a plan because you just can’t think of any other reason for superhumans to exist. If there are gaps in your knowledge, then filling them in with the first crackpot theory that fits doesn’t make you smart. It makes you an idiot.”

  “All the evidence supports that theory.”

  “Yeah, if you cherry-pick the evidence! What do we actually know about the superhuman powers? Some people have them. Most people don’t. A tiny number of people are like me and Solomon Cord: We’ve been changed by whatever it is that makes superhumans, but it didn’t take.”

  “I don’t get that,” Cam said. “Cord tried to tell me, but it didn’t make sense.”

  Lance said, “We’re like . . . a sheet of paper that got wet, and was then dried. The paper is no longer wet, but you can’t ever get it back to the way it used to be.”

  Cam nodded. “Ah, right. Yeah, I get that now.”

  “And that’s all we know,” Lance said, looking at Max. “That’s all of the actual evidence. Everything else is just speculation.”

  “That’s all you kno
w,” Max said. “Cam, walk away.”

  “But I want to . . .” Cam turned and headed back toward the cemetery’s gate.

  To Lance, Max said, “In time, I’ll tell you everything. I could tell you now, but to be honest it’s too big for anyone to comprehend in one go. I’m not patronizing, Lance. This is huge.”

  “If you’re right.”

  “I am.”

  “So what can you tell me that won’t make my head explode with the sudden rush of knowledge?”

  “Abby is going to die.”

  Lance took a step back. “What? Why? How do you know?”

  “Quantum saw it happen. He’s been getting visions of the future. They’re mostly vague, but he says that some of them are so clear, it’s like watching a movie. This one’s not quite that clear, but it’s clear enough.”

  “When will it happen? How?”

  “We don’t know when, but we figure it’s at least a couple of years away. I can read Quantum’s mind, and—sometimes—I can almost see what he sees. Abby will die. She doesn’t know, by the way. We can’t tell her. We have to stop it from happening, because she’s vital to the future of the human race.”

  “How is it going to happen?”

  “Slaughter will kill her. That’s why I need you, Lance. That’s why I had to break you out of your old life. Slaughter killed your family, and before too long she’s going to kill your friend. So I need your brains, and your determination, to find a way to stop her.”

  ON THE DRIVE BACK to the carnival site, Josie asked Lance what was wrong.

  “Nothing. So, did you get everything you need?”

  “Don’t do that, Hunter. Stop deflecting. You wouldn’t say why you had to come into town this morning, but from the look on your face it wasn’t a good thing.”

  Why not? Lance asked himself. Why not tell her everything? Dalton is going to wipe her memories anyway.

  He slowed the car down and pulled to a stop at the side of the road. “My name isn’t Hunter Washington. It’s Lance McKendrick. And I’m two years younger than everyone thinks I am. When I was fourteen I got tangled up with some superhumans, and—long story short—we made an enemy of Slaughter.” He looked at Josie. “You’ve heard of her?”

  She nodded, eyes wide.

  “She killed my family. Smashed her way into the house and murdered them in their beds. Just because she was pissed that me and my friends ruined her plans and she wanted to take it out on someone.”

  “My God . . .”

  “Oh, there’s more. I couldn’t cope with what had happened, so I asked Max Dalton for help. I know you know who he is. Max isn’t just a mind reader, though. He can change people’s memories. That’s sort of what he did for me. He made it so that it wasn’t so painful for me to think about my mom and dad and my brother. That was a mistake, because Max now thinks I owe him a favor. Hey, you want to know a few truths about him? He likes to present himself as a great benefactor, but the fact is, he’s a coward and a bully. He’s used his abilities to build a fortune, and if anyone gets in his way he just tweaks their memories until they’re no longer a problem.”

  “Hunter, this is—”

  “Lance. Not Hunter.”

  “Why are you saying these things?”

  “Because they’re true. I’m almost a superhuman myself. I don’t have any powers like Thunder or Titan or any of those guys, but I have skills that make me more than human. For one thing, I’m very good at getting people to like me, and persuading them to do what I want.” He laughed. “You know, in school I almost never did any homework? I was always able to talk my way out of it. So, yeah, that’s me. I’m a con man, I suppose. Nearly everything you think you know about me is a lie.”

  “I don’t believe any of this,” Josie said. “If you were that good at persuading people, I would believe it.”

  “Oh, it’s true. I left the others when I found out what Max was really like. I probably found out lots of times, but he just kept changing my memories. But when I got proof, I left before he could do it again. I haven’t seen him since, until yesterday. It turns out that he’s known where I’ve been for a long time, and he’s been interfering with my life ever since. And now he wants me back, which means that my life as Hunter is over. This is my last day with the carnival. Chances are, none of you will ever see me again.”

  Josie didn’t respond. Lance waited a couple more minutes, then started up the car again. “You all right?”

  She shook her head.

  “I’m sorry. I wish things were different. I wish that I really was the guy you believed me to be. But in a few days’ time, you won’t even remember me. Max Dalton will—” He stopped when he realized that Josie was crying. “I’m sorry.”

  “Just take me home.”

  Fifteen minutes later, as they neared the carnival site, Josie said, “Pull over.”

  Lance stopped the car again. “You OK?”

  She covered her face with her hands. “No. I’ve been in love with you for almost a year! I’ve tried and tried to get close to you, but you won’t let me! And now you dump all this on me and say you’re leaving!”

  “I don’t have a choice, believe me.”

  “That other girl you told me about, when we were at the lake. Is she a superhuman too?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How am I supposed to compete with that? She can probably fly and, I don’t know, shoot lasers out of her eyes or something! All I can do is cook.”

  Lance reached out to take her hand, but she snatched it away. “Josie, you are . . . You’re amazing. You’re sweet and funny and mischievous and smart and beautiful and there’s a million reasons I should be in love with you. But Abby—”

  “That’s her name? Abby?”

  “She was the first girl I ever cared about.”

  “And she broke your heart.”

  “Well, no. Not really. But she didn’t love me back. Not the way I wanted. And I know it’s crazy, but I haven’t been able to get over her. There was something about her that even now makes my heart go nuts—”

  “This isn’t helping!”

  “Sorry,” he said again.

  “Just . . . Let’s get back. You probably need to pack up your stuff, anyway. And you have to tell Morty that you’re quitting. When are you leaving?”

  “Tomorrow morning. Max is sending a car.”

  • • •

  “Forty-miler,” Nigel said to Lance. “I knew it. Said it the first time I saw you.”

  “Oh, come on! I’ve been here for over a year!”

  They were in Morty’s caravan, with Morty, Jerry, Masatoshi, and Tina. Morty hadn’t spoken since Lance broke the news that he was leaving.

  “Look, this was going to happen eventually,” Lance said. “Nothing is forever. I’ve worked hard, I’ve helped turn this place around, and I . . . I don’t want to go. I have to.”

  Morty slowly rose from behind his desk. “You lousy little punk. I gave you a break, and this is how you repay me?”

  Jerry said, “Steady, Mort. Hunter’s done all right by us.” To Lance, he added, “I don’t want to see you go, but I get it. Carny life isn’t for everyone.”

  “Get out. All of you,” Morty said. “You too, punk. I ever see you around here again, you’ll regret it. You are dead to me.”

  “No, Morty, I—”

  “I said get out!”

  Outside in the boneyard, they gathered around the campfire. Tina stood next to Lance and put her arm around his shoulders. “He’s hurting. He doesn’t mean that.”

  Jerry said, “She’s right. Morty might never have said it, but he loves you like a son. Better than his real sons—they stuck with their mother after the divorce and made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with him.”

  Masatoshi said, “Where are you going to go?”

  “Ba
ck home.”

  “Forever?”

  Lance nodded. “I think so.”

  Masatoshi stepped in front of Lance and grabbed his hand. After a brief pause, he pulled Lance closer, hugged him. “Gonna miss you, little brother.” He patted Lance on the back and stepped away. “Train hard, huh? Every day.” Then he turned and walked away into the darkness.

  Jerry patted Lance on the shoulder. “You take care out in the world, kid. And don’t worry—I’ll talk to Morty. He’ll come around.”

  To himself, Lance said, No, he won’t. Max will mess with all of your memories. Soon you won’t remember me at all. He shook Jerry’s hand. “Thanks for everything.”

  “Sure, kid.” He patted Lance’s shoulder again, and walked away.

  Only Nigel and Tina remained, standing side by side, so close that their bodies were touching.

  Look at them, Lance thought. The bearded lady without her beard, and a tattooed man who looks so scary, he should be in his own horror movie. “I’m sorry about this, guys.”

  “Don’t be sorry, Newbie,” Nigel said. “Forty-miler. Greenie. Yeah, you’re just a blow-in. Come along for the ride for a while, then you’re gone. Life here is too hard and too weird and you want to get back to normal, where it’s safe and warm and cushy.”

  “I’m going to miss you too,” Lance said, smiling. “I’ll miss everyone. I’m really am so sorry about this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, then tossed them to Nigel. “My motorbike’s yours, if you want it.”

  “Yeah, thanks. I’ll keep it safe for you.”

  Tina asked, “What about Josie? You told her yet?”

  “We’ve talked.”

  “Hunter, she’s in love with you.”

  Lance could only shrug.

  Tina shook her head in disgust. “Oh, that’s low. I thought you were a better guy than that.”

  “No, I . . . I just mean that she’ll get over me. She’ll find someone better. Someone who’ll be able to love her back.”