Jay woke when his head bumped the window. He clamped his jaw shut to keep his teeth from chattering.
“Cold…” he stuttered.
“Dad?” whispered Leah.
Gentle hands wrapped a blanket tighter around his shoulders. “I was getting worried about you,” said Kate.
“What…what time is it?” asked Jay. He tried to open his eyes, but everything was dark. He could tell they were moving, but he couldn’t hear the engine.
“What’s going on? Are we flying?”
“No, we’re not flying, and I think it’s like, two in the morning or something…” Kate replied.
“How do you feel?” asked Leah.
Jay took stock of his body. His stomach gnawed at his backbone, desperate for food, but the sensation was dulled to the point that he hardly noticed compared to the fire and pain that spider webbed across his hands, wrists, and forearms. On top of all that, his joints ached and a bone-shattering cold encased him in what felt like a glacier’s worth of ice.
“I’ve been better,” he muttered through clicking teeth.
The car hit a pothole, and they all bounced. Kate snorted. “You’ve sounded better, too.”
“Where are we going? You got the car fixed?”
“No…” began Kate.
“But, you’re driving?” Jay asked.
“Technically yes, but not really. Your friend Carson came back and hooked up a tow cable. They’re pulling us down the road—I’m just steering.”
“What?”
“I know, it’s crazy. I’m not even allowed to use the headlights because they don’t want us to know where we’re going and it might drain the battery.”
“They really like our battery, man,” intoned Hunter from the back seat.
“Yeah, Kate has to figure out when to turn based off the signals the guys in front of us use.”
“This doesn’t make any sense…” Jay said. “Am I hallucinating?”
“Tell me about it!” blurted Thom from the darkness behind Jay. “I’ve been saying this has been a bad idea from the get go! I don’t trust these guys, I don’t like these guys…”
“Okay Thom, we got it,” said Kate.
“I agree with Thom,” Jay said, trying to sit up in his seat and wincing from the effort. “We c-can’t trust these people—we d-don’t know anything about them! For all we know…” he paused to catch his breath as his body shivered. “They could be the same people we met at the b-border…”
“I agree. These guys act legit, but I don’t trust them.”
“You trusted them enough to hook up our c-car—” began Jay.
“What the hell was I supposed to do?” Kate hissed. “Stand there and just watch you die? For Christ’s sake, Jay, you got some kind of blood infection. They said they’ve got a doctor—they’ve got an actual hospital up and running!”
The car remained silent for a while, more so than normal, because without the sound of the engine or air conditioning, the only sound was tires on asphalt.
“I’m sorry,” Kate whispered.
“No, it’s not your f-fault…” Jay stuttered in reply. “It’s not anybody’s f-fault.”
“Well, I still blame the guys who cut you,” muttered Leah. “If those people hadn’t been such…assholes,” she blurted, “you never would’ve had to defend yourself in the first place!”
“That may be…but I think the f-first guy that attacked me…for the gas…I think he was j-just scared and trying to get home and didn’t know what else to d-do.” Jay closed his eyes and clamped his jaw shut to stop his teeth from clicking.
Dammit.
“We can argue who was right and who was wrong all night,” Kate said. “It doesn’t change the fact that you’re sick, and they have medicine—and a doctor—at their disposal. I didn’t think we had much of a choice.”
“What do they want in return?” Jay struggled to ask without stuttering. He turned his head, trying to look out the window into the black nothing nothing just beyond the edge of the road. Every now and then, he caught a glimpse of a star through the clouds.
“Nothing really,” Kate said slowly. “That’s what worries me.”
“Nothing?” asked Jay.
“Just information. These guys claim they’re cut off from the outside world, and since we’re coming from Illinois by way of Indiana, we’ve traveled more than anybody has since Impact. At least anyone that they’ve run into.”
Jay groaned as his body shivered uncontrollably. “I’ve got a bad f-feeling about this…”
Leah added her coat on top of him. “You don’t seem to be as hot as you were earlier,” she observed, one cool hand on his sweaty forehead. “You think the fever broke?”
Jay’s teeth clicked together uncontrollably for a few seconds. “I d-don’t think so…” he struggled to say. “It feels like I’m w-waking up from a dream.” He adjusted his position in the seat and tried to wrap the blankets tighter around him. No matter how much he burrowed into the layers of clothing surrounding his burning skin, he couldn’t get warm enough. “So tired…”
“You hang in there, Jayashekhar Cantrell. You hear me?” Kate ordered. Her voice sounded as if she were at the far end of the tunnel. “I just got you back and I’m not losing you again.”
“Not going anywhere…” Jay mumbled. Why won’t everybody just leave me alone? I’m cold, I’m tired, I just want to rest.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, a thought bubbled up through the murky cloud about fire. Oh yeah…I was gonna learn how to make a fire…wait, didn’t I already learn that? It’s in the book…where’s the book?
“Jay!” Kate called from the other side of their house, her voice muffled by the walls.
“What?” he yelled back. She always yelled through the walls and the doors instead of walking across the house to come find him.
Wait. The house burned down! What the hell is going on?
“Kate!” he called out. He opened his eyes but saw only darkness. There weren’t even any stars to see now.
He heard a voice call out in the distance, but couldn’t make out the words. Then another voice. The feverish skin of his face felt tickled by a breeze.
Now I’m standing outside? What the fuck is going on? Where is everybody and why can’t I see anything?
His mind raced in circles for a few moments trying to grasp one of the fleeing thoughts that scattered from his consciousness like cockroaches whenever he shined the light of intent upon them. Images of Kate and Leah flashed before his eyes, replaced by stars in the darkness, and the sky on fire, writing ribbons of purple, green, and red snakes above danced before his eyes, mocking him.
I’m losing my mind…
Jay shivered. Cold. So tired.…why won’t they let me sleep?
I just want to rest…