Sanjit reached over and put his hand on Virtue’s shoulder. “I love you, man.”
Virtue put a hand over his own heart and nodded.
“Great,” Sanjit said aloud though only he could hear his own voice. “And now that we’ve had that touching scene, it’s time for our heroes to go out in a flaming ball of glory.”
Virtue frowned, trying to hear.
“I said,” Sanjit shouted at the top of his lungs, “I’m invincible! Now let’s fly!”
Dekka saw Zil’s crew split into two groups, to left and right of the road. An ambush.
She hesitated. It would be good right about now to be Brianna. Breeze wasn’t bulletproof, but she was awfully hard to hit when she was going three hundred miles an hour.
If she kept going, they would shoot her down.
Where was Brianna? Still too sick to move, no doubt, otherwise she’d be in the middle of it. Brianna was not one to miss a fight. Dekka simultaneously missed her and hoped she stayed safely at home. If anything ever happened to Brianna, Dekka didn’t know how she would go on living.
But where was Sam, that was the big question? Why was it Dekka’s job to walk this road? She didn’t even know that she had to. Maybe nothing would happen. Maybe Drake, rampaging up from the beach, would take on Zil and the two of them would finish each other off.
Dekka would like to see that. Right about now. Right now before she had to keep walking up the road to Clifftop.
“Yeah, that would be great,” Dekka said.
Zil’s punks were losing patience. They weren’t waiting. They were working their way toward her on both sides of the road. Clubs. Bats. Crowbars.
Shotguns.
She could run. Live. Get away. Find Brianna and say, “Breeze, I know you probably aren’t going to feel the same way, and maybe this will just gross you out and you’ll hate me for saying it, but I love you.”
Her body tingled with fear. She closed her eyes for a second and felt in that temporary darkness what it would feel like, death. Except that you couldn’t really feel death, could you?
She could run away. Be with Brianna.
Except no, that wasn’t ever going to happen. She was going to live out her days loving Brianna from a distance. Probably never even tell her how she really felt.
Out of the corner of her eye Dekka saw Edilio running straight at Drake from behind. He was alone, the crazy boy, going after Drake. Farther away, moving much too slowly, Orc.
Edilio could have decided to hang back, wait for Orc. Maybe wait too long as Drake laid into terrified children. But Edilio had not made that decision.
He wasn’t waiting for Orc.
“And I’m not waiting for Sam,” Dekka decided.
She started walking.
The first gun fired. That creep Turk. It was as loud as the end of the world. Dekka saw the fire spray from the muzzle. Hot lead pellets hit the concrete before her. Some bounced up and embedded themselves in her legs.
Hurt. Hurt more later.
Dekka couldn’t reach Turk or Lance or Zil with her powers. Not from this distance.
But she could make it really hard for them to aim.
Dekka raised her hands high. Gravity failed.
Dekka walked forward behind a wall of dirt and dust and swirling cacti.
Sam was just at the twisted metal gate of the nuclear plant when he heard a rush of air and saw a blur.
The blur stopped vibrating and became Brianna.
She was holding something. Two somethings.
Sam stared at the objects in her hands. Then he stared at her. Then back at the objects in her hands.
He waited until she was done coughing, bent over.
“No,” he said.
“Sam, they need you. And they can’t wait for you to snail walk all the way back.”
“Who needs me?” Sam asked skeptically.
“Astrid told me to get you. No matter what it took.”
Sam could not help but be pleased. “So. Astrid needs me.”
Brianna rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Sam, you’re still necessary. You’re like a god to us mere mortals. We can’t live without you. Later we’re going to build you a temple. Satisfied?”
Sam nodded, not meaning to agree, just meaning that he understood. “Is it Drake?”
“I think Drake is just part of it,” Brianna said. “Astrid was scared. In fact, I think your girlfriend may have had a really bad day.”
Brianna dropped the skateboard in front of Sam. “Don’t worry: I won’t let you fall off.”
“Yeah? Then why did you bring the helmet?”
Brianna tossed it to him. “In case you fall off.”
Edilio had trouble running in the sand. But maybe that wasn’t why he couldn’t seem to catch up with Drake.
Maybe he didn’t want to catch up with Drake. Maybe he was scared to death of Drake. Orc had fought Drake to a draw once. Sam had fought him and come out on the losing end.
Caine had killed him.
And yet, there was Drake. Alive. As Sam had known he was. As Sam had feared. The psychopath lived.
Edilio stumbled and tripped in the sand. His automatic rifle hit muzzle first and fired, BAM BAM BAM into the sand as Edilio accidentally squeezed the trigger.
Edilio stayed on his knees. Get up, he told himself. Get up, this is what you do. Get up.
He got up. He started running again. Heart pounding like it would tear itself loose.
Drake wasn’t far away now, just a hundred feet, maybe, not far. Whipping some poor kid who’d run too slowly.
Edilio had seen the results of that terrible whip. It had broken something in Sam, the pain of that whip.
But Edilio moved closer. The trick would be to get close enough…not too close.
Drake still had not seen him. Edilio raised the rifle into firing position. Fifty feet. He could hit Drake from here, but there were a dozen other kids in range just beyond him. Bullets didn’t always go exactly where you aimed them. He could kill Drake. He might also kill the fleeing children.
He had to stall until the kids got out of range.
He lined Drake up in the sights. Aiming was hard with the weapon on automatic. The kick would be ferocious. You could aim the first shot, but after that it would be like spraying a fire hose.
Had to get Drake to stop. Had to let the kids get away.
“Drake,” Edilio said. But his mouth was as dry as the sand. What came out was a barely audible rasp.
“Drake!” Edilio yelled. “Drake!”
Drake froze. He turned, not in a hurry, slow. Languid.
Drake smiled his feral smile. His eyes were blue and empty of anything but amusement. His dark hair was matted and filthy. His skin seemed to be smeared with mud. There was dirt in his teeth.
“Why, Edilio,” Drake said. “Long time, wetback.”
“Drake,” Edilio said, his voice failing him again.
“Yes, Edilio?” Drake said with exaggerated politeness. “Something you wanted to say?”
Edilio’s stomach heaved. Drake was dead. Dead.
“You…you’re under arrest.”
Drake barked a surprised laugh. “Under arrest?”
“That’s right,” Edilio said.
Drake took a step toward him.
“Stop. Stop right there!” Edilio warned.
Drake kept moving. “But I’m coming to surrender, Edilio. Slap the cuffs on me, officer.”
“Stop! Stop or I’ll shoot!”
Kids beyond Drake were still running. Far enough? Edilio had to give them all the time he could.
Drake nodded, understanding. “I see. You’re such a good boy, Edilio. Making sure the kiddies get out of the way before you gun me down.”
Edilio guessed that Drake’s whip would reach ten, maybe twelve feet. He was no more than twice that distance now. Edilio aimed for the center of Drake’s body, the largest target, that’s what he’d read you were supposed to do.
Another step. Another. Drake advanced.
/> Edilio stepped backward. Again.
“Oh, no fair,” Drake mocked. “Keeping me out of range like that.”
Drake moved suddenly, with shocking speed.
BAM!
Click!
The first round hit Drake in his chest. But no other bullets flew.
Jammed! The gun was jammed. The sand was in the firing mechanism. Edilio yanked the bolt back, trying to-
Too late.
Drake lashed him, curled his whip around Edilio’s legs and suddenly Edilio was on his back, gasping for breath and Drake was standing over him.
The serpentine hand wound its way around Edilio’s throat. Edilio thrashed. He tried to swing the gun like a club, but Drake blocked it easily with his free hand.
“I’d whip you, Edilio, but I don’t really have time for fun,” Drake said.
Edilio’s brain swirled, crazy, fading. Through blood-reddened eyes he saw Drake’s smile inches from his face, savoring the close-up joy of watching Edilio die.
Drake grinned. And then, as Edilio lost consciousness, as he fell into a pit of blackness, he saw metal wires growing across Drake’s mud-flecked teeth.
FORTY-ONE
12 MINUTES
SANJIT HAD FORGOTTEN every single thing he thought he had learned about flying a helicopter.
Something about a lever that changed the pitch of the rotor blades.
Something about angle of attack.
A cyclic. Pedals. A collective. Which was which?
He tried the pedals. The tail of the helicopter swung violently to the left. He took his feet off the pedals. The helicopter had almost spun off the deck.
“Well, that works okay!” Sanjit shouted, desperately hoping to reassure the others.
“You should probably go up first, before you try turning!” Virtue yelled.
“You think?”
Now he remembered something. You twisted something to make the rotors give you lift. What was there he could twist?
Left hand. The collective. Or was it the cyclic? Who cared, it was the only thing that twisted.
He twisted it. Gently. Sure enough, the engine noise increased and changed in pitch. And the helicopter lifted off.
Then it began to spin. The helicopter drifted toward the bow, toward the superstructure while the tail spun the helicopter like a top, clockwise.
Like a Tilt-A-Whirl.
Pedals. Had to use them to…
The helicopter stopped spinning clockwise. It hesitated. Then it began to spin counterclockwise.
Sanjit was distantly aware that several voices were screaming. Five kids in the chopper. Five screams. Including his own.
Pedals again. And the helicopter stopped spinning. It was still drifting toward the yacht’s superstructure, but now it was doing so backward.
He twisted the collective all the way, all the way, baby, and the helicopter shot upward. Like a ride Sanjit had been on in Las Vegas once. Like the helicopter was on a string and someone was yanking it toward the clouds.
Up and over the superstructure. Sanjit saw it pass beneath his feet.
WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!
The rotors had hit something. Bits of wire and metal poles flew away. The yacht’s radio antenna.
The helicopter was still rising and still drifting backward toward the cliff.
The other thing. The watchamacallit the cyclic the stick the thing near his right hand grab it grab it do something something something push it forward forward forward. Spinning again! He’d forgotten the pedals the stupid pedals and his feet couldn’t find them now and the helicopter had spun 180 degrees and with the cyclic tilted forward was now zooming straight for the cliff wall.
It was maybe a hundred feet away.
Fifty feet.
In a split second they would be dead. And there was nothing he could do to stop it happening.
Diana ran across the overgrown lawn. Caine was ahead of her, faster, she had to catch him.
The sound of the helicopter engine was growing louder, closer.
Caine stopped at the edge of the cliff. Diana reached it, panting, a dozen feet away from Caine.
In a flash Diana understood what Sanjit had been hiding. Far below a white yacht lay crumpled against the rocks. A helicopter struggled aloft, spinning crazily this way and then that.
Caine’s face formed a wicked smile.
Penny was just laboring up behind. Bug, well, he might be there, too. No way to know.
Diana rushed to Caine. “Don’t do it!” she cried.
He turned a furious face to her. “Shut up, Diana.”
As they watched, the helicopter spun again and surged toward the cliff.
Caine raised his hands and the helicopter stopped moving forward. It was so close that the rotor hacked apart a bush that clung to the cliff face.
“Caine, don’t do this,” Diana pleaded.
“What do you care?” Caine asked, genuinely puzzled.
“Look! Look at them. They have little kids in there. Little children.”
The bubble canopy of the helicopter was no more than a rock throw away. Sanjit struggled with the controls. Virtue beside him, gripped his seat cushion. Three smaller kids were huddled in the back seat, screaming, covering their eyes, not so young they didn’t know they were a split second from death.
“I guess Sanjit should have thought about that before he lied to me,” Caine said.
Diana grabbed his arm, thought better of it, and reached for his face. She pressed one hand against his cheek. “Don’t do it, Caine. I’m begging you.”
“I’ll do it,” Penny said, appearing on Caine’s other side. “Let’s see him fly when the cockpit is full of scorpions!”
The wrong thing to say, Diana knew.
Caine snarled, “You’ll do nothing, Penny. I make the decisions here.”
“No, you do what she tells you to do,” Penny said. She practically spit the words at Diana. “This witch! Pretty girl, here.”
“Back off, Penny!” Caine warned.
“I’m not scared of you, Caine,” Penny shouted. “She tried to kill you while you were unconscious. She-”
Before she could finish the accusation Penny flew through the air. She floated, screaming, in midair, above the thrashing rotor blades.
“Go ahead, Penny!” Caine bellowed. “Threaten me with your powers! Make me lose focus!”
Penny screamed, hysterical, flailing wildly, staring down in terror at the flashing blades below her.
“Let them go, Caine,” Diana pleaded.
“Why, Diana? Why do you betray me?”
“Betray you?” Diana laughed. “Betray you? I’ve been with you every day, every hour, from the start of this nightmare!”
Caine looked at her. “But you hate me, anyway.”
“No, you sick, stupid creep, I love you. I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t. You’re sick inside, Caine, sick! But I love you.”
Caine cocked an eyebrow. “Then you must love what I do. Who I am.”
He smiled and Diana knew she had lost the argument. She could see it in his eyes.
She stepped away from him. She backed toward the cliff. Felt with her feet for the edge as she held his gaze.
“I’ve helped you when I could, Caine. I’ve done all of it. I kept you alive and changed your filthy crap-stained sheets when the Darkness held you. I betrayed Jack for you. I’ve betrayed everyone for you. I ate…God forgive me, I ate human flesh to stay with you, Caine!”
Something flickered in Caine’s cold gaze.
“I won’t stay with you for this,” Diana said.
She took another step back. It was meant as a threat, not meant to be final.
But it was one step too many.
Diana felt the sudden horror, knowing she was going to fall. Her arms windmilled. But she could feel that she was too far, too far.
And in the end, Diana thought, wouldn’t it be better?
Wouldn’t it be a relief?
She stopped fighting and toppled backward of
f the cliff.
Astrid ran, pulling Little Pete behind her.
No way she could have known, she told herself as she panted and yanked and her heart pounded from the fear of what she would see when she reached Clifftop.
No way she could have known that the game was real. That it had become real when the last battery died. And that Little Pete’s opponent in the game was no program on a microchip, but the gaiaphage.
It had reached Little Pete. It wasn’t the first time. Somehow, in some way she might never be able to grasp, the two greatest powers of the FAYZ were linked.
The gaiaphage had tricked Little Pete. It had used Little Pete’s own vast power to give life to its avatar, Nerezza.
Orsay, too, had once touched the mind of the gaiaphage. It was like an infection-once you had touched that restless evil mind, it had some kind of hold over you. A hook buried in your mind.
Sam had said Lana could still feel the gaiaphage inside her. She still wasn’t free of it. But Lana had known it, been aware of it. Maybe that had given her a defense. Or maybe the gaiaphage simply didn’t need her anymore.
They reached the road to Clifftop.
But the way forward was blocked by what looked like a tornado. A tornado named Dekka.
Dekka raised the whirlwind before her and walked steadily.
BLAM!
A stab of fire barely visible through the flying, swirling debris.
“Get her! Get the freak!” Zil bellowed.
Dekka kept moving, ignoring the pain in her legs, ignoring the slosh of blood filling her shoes.
Someone was running up behind her. She yelled back over her shoulder without looking, “Stay back, you idiot!”
“Dekka!” Astrid’s voice.
She came at a run, yanking her weird little brother along behind her.
“Not a good time for you to yell at me, Astrid!” Dekka yelled.
“Dekka. We have to get to the cliff.”
“I’m going wherever Zil is,” Dekka said. “I have a right to defend myself. He started this fight.”
“Listen to me,” Astrid said urgently. “I’m not trying to stop you. I’m telling you to hurry. We have to get through. Now!”
“What? What’s happening?”
“Murder,” Astrid said. “We have to get through. You have to get through!”
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