It felt different this time. Feeb and uninfected, friend and enemy.
But it was more than that.
We were going to find a permanent cure for all of this.
We walked silently into the forest, us Feebs in the middle so we couldn’t run off. Ricker, Gabbi, and I stayed together. Tabitha took two of her Feebs and somehow got Leon, Nindal, and Bernice included. Jane was there, protected from all sides by other uninfected. Her being cured and all, they hoped she’d recognize something eventually.
Sergeant Bennings took along Hugh from the Feeb-haters. He didn’t explain why his people had been working with the Feeb-haters. Deep down, I felt sick about it because I suspected they would have taken out a whole town of people because Sergeant Bennings wanted me to find his son.
Ricker wore a small pack, a water bottle latched to the side of it, a light, short-sleeve shirt, thick pants, and hiking boots. A bandanna around his neck, a hiking hat and sunglasses. In the before time, he could have been going for a hike in the hills to check out a waterfall. Now, it was a matter of preventing sunburn, dehydration, and dressing in such a way that you could walk forever. I adjusted the bandanna tied around my neck. Eyes skittered away from mine whenever I looked at the uninfected too quickly. It felt like they were waiting for me to do something to justify putting a bullet in me.
Sergeant Bennings had wasted no time. We’d left town within an hour of when he showed me Alden’s notes. Even walking underneath the trees was hot. The sounds made everyone nervous. There were birds, hundreds of birds around us by the sound of it. Dry leaves crunched under us and yellow dust coated our shoes and pants. Water sloshed in the bottle slung around my shoulders. I hid my limp as best I could. The bite on my leg was even hotter than the sunlight. I’d been given no chance to clean it yet. I didn’t understand what it could mean so I didn’t want to think about it.
We entered a clearing full of vehicles. The pine trees formed a green background against the dead grasses trampled by the cars. Sergeant Bennings planned for us to drive as far as the roads would allow. The hazardous waste camp in Alden’s drawings was about 150 miles away, down in the valley. Less than a three hour drive once. No way to know how long it would take now.
We packed into the cars and the engines roared to life. The noise was deafening. The bird noises disappeared, the wind seemed to stop, the trees almost leaned back from us, as if wanting no part of the chaos that would come next.
Our caravan ate up fifty miles of highway and main roads, maneuvering around obstacles, bypassing wash-outs, snaking through foothill towns when too many accidents clogged the freeways.
Before long the Vs came out—sometimes from the side, sometimes from ahead. They were decrepit, gaunt things you could almost feel pity for. Whatever memories had allowed them enough consciousness to survive for this long wouldn’t last much longer.
Our cars easily outdistanced most of them. Others were shot dead and run over. I sat in between Ricker and Gabbi and couldn’t help but feel as if the world was ending all over again. How long did either of them have before going fully V? How long did I have before I was trapped like Jimmy? We would get no mercy from Sergeant Bennings and his people.
Ricker pressed his forehead against the glass, closing his eyes for a moment.
“Are you okay?” I said, even as I watched the Vs outside. They had been alive once, they had been loved by someone once.
“Upset stomach,” he said. “Carsick, I guess. It always happens—just not in awhile.”
“You felt it on the way back from the cave?”
“Yeah, but not as bad. That was a short trip.”
“Maybe we should stop,” I said.
“I’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“Stop, Maibe. It’s carsickness. It’ll be fine.” An angry note crept into his voice.
I stopped. Ricker didn’t get angry. Ricker smiled almost as much as Jimmy. Ricker was gentle and kind and thoughtful. But the grimace on his face spoke of more than nausea. The tightness of his lips and the lines in his forehead showed tension, ferocious emotions held back—
“I’ll be fine. Just leave me be.”
Sergeant Bennings turned around and stared at him through his face shield.
“What are you looking at?”
“You,” Sergeant Bennings said. “Going V right here in this backseat. Aren’t you?”
“And if I was?” Ricker snarled out.
“I will put a bullet in your brain.” He pulled the gun out so fast it was a blur.
I gasped, choking on my breath. Should I touch Ricker? Should I say something? Would that finally push him over the edge or talk him back down?
There was a long measured look between the two of them. The driver watched through the rearview mirror, his eyes bugging out behind the mask. I realized with a shock that it was Hugh. From the group who hated Feebs so much they drained the blood out of one of their own. He looked ready to jump out of the driver’s seat any second.
The silence stretched. They did not break their stares.
Sergeant Bennings tightened his grip on the gun. Ricker trembled as if his willpower to hold back was breaking. Gabbi looked ready to lunge. My mind went blank. I shouted silently at myself to do something or my friends would die right here and now.
“Good.” The word came out like Ricker had opened a release valve. He relaxed back into the seat. “You better be ready.”