Gone (39 page)

"He's one guy, we'll kick his butt"

"Good luck with that," Mary said.

Howard wished Ore was here. With Ore al his side, he didn't have to put up with any of Mary's lip. But one-on-one was a different storv.

"You want me telling Caine you're on Sam's side?" Howard demanded.

"I didn't say I was on anyone's side. I'm on the side of the prees I lake care of. Bui here's whit I notice, Howard; I notice you hear Sam's name and all of a sudden you're ready to wel yourself. So, you know what? Maybe it's you who is disloyal. After all, if Caine is so great, why would you be scared of Sam? Right?" She leaned against her basket and got it rolling again.

Howard swallowed hard and argued with his own fear. "It's no big thing" he told himself."We have Caine and Drake and Ore. We're cool. We're cool*

He believed that for a good twenty seconds before he broke and ran for Ore.

Ore was in the house he had taken over and now shared with Howard, just across the street from where Drake lived. It was on a short street, the closest place to town hall that you could live. Kids called it Bully Row.

Ore was asleep on the couch with a DVD of a kung tu movie playing at blasting volume on the TV. Ore had taken to staying up through the night and sleeping days.

It was a lousy house, in Howard's opinion, badly decorated and smelling of garlic, but Ore hadn't cared. He wanted to stay close to the action in town. And he wanted to stay close enough to keep an eye on Drake across the street.

Howard searched for the remote and shut off the TV. There were empty beer cans on the glass-topped coffee table, and cigarettes in an ashtray. Ore was now drinking a couple beers a day.

Since Bette. That's when the drinking had started in earnest. Howard was worried about Ore. Not that he exactly liked him, but Howard's fate was bound up with Ore's and he didn't like the picture of what his world would belike if Ore dumped him.

"Ore,get up, man"

No response,

"Ore. Get up. We have trouble" Howard poked him in his shoulder.

Ore opened one slit eye. "Why are you bothering me?" "Sam Temple is coming back "

It took Ore a while to process that. Then he sat up quite suddenly and grabbed his forehead. "Oh, man. Headache"

"It's called a hangover," Howard snapped. Then, when Ore shot him a murderous look, he softened and said, "I have some Tylenol in the kitchen" He filled a glass of water and tapped two pills into his palm and brought them back for Ore.

"What's the big deal?" Ore asked. He'd never been exactly quick, but now Ore's thick-headedness was really irritating Howard.

"The big deal? Sam is coming back. That's the big deal."

"So?"

"Come on, Ore. Think about it. You figure Sam is cruising into town and he doesn't have some kind of plan? Caine isn't here, man, he's up the hill. Drake, too. Which means it's you and me in charge."

Ore reached for one of the beer cans, rattled it, sighed contentedly When he heard an inch of beer sloshing. He poured it down his throat.

"So we have to go kick Sam's butt?" Ore asked.

Howard hadn't thought that far ahead, if Sam was back, thai wasn't good-Sam was back a:id Caine wasn't? It was hard to figure that out.

"We go spy him out, man. We see what he's up to"

Ore squinted. "If I see him, I'll kick his butt."

"We have to at least figure out what he's after" Howard cautioned. "We should get whoever is around at town hall. Mallet, maybe. Chaz. Whoever we can find."

Ore stood up, belched, and said, "I gotta pee. Then we'll get the Hummer. Go kick some butt"

Howard shook his head. "Ore. Listen to me. I know you don't want to hear this, but backing Caine may not be the winning move."

Ore stared his blank, stupid stare.

"Ore, man, what if Sam wins this? I mean, what if Sam gets over on Caine? Where does that leave us?"

Ore didn't answer for so long, Howard was sure he hadn't heard him. Then Ore heaved up * sigh that was almost a sob. He grabbed Howard's arm, something he never did.

"Howard: I killed Bette."

Howard said,"You didn't mean to, Ore"

"You're the smart one," Ore said sadly. "But sometimes you're dumber than me, you know that?"

"Okay*

"I killed someone didn't do me any harm. Astrid ain't ever going to even look at me again unless she's hating me "

"No, no, no" Howard argued."Sam is going to need help. He's going to need someone tough. If we go to him now, eat crow, you know, say, 'Yeah, you're the man, Sammy"'

"You kill somebody, you burn in hell "Ore said. "My mom lold me thai. Once my dad was beating on me, we was in the garage, so I grabbed up a hammer"Orc now pantomimed the scene-Grabbing the hammer, looking at it> raising it-Then he let it drop-"She said/You kill your father, you'll burn in hell'"

"What happened then?"

Ore held up his left hand. He pushed it close to Howard's face. There was a scar, almost perfectly round, no more than a quarter inch across.

"What's that?" Howard asked.

"Power drill. Three-sixteenths bit." Ore laughed ruefully. "Guess I'm lucky it wasn't the three-quarter-inch, huh?"

"That's messed up, man," Howard said. He'd always known that Ore came from a tough home. But a power drill was off the hook. He himself came from a fairly average home, neither of his parents was a drunk or violent or anything. Howard did what he had to do to survive, being small and weak and not popular He liked being in charge, having people scared of him, so being Ore's friend had worked out for him.

But now Howard was starting to see that though Ore was stupid, he wasn't wrong, Ore and School Bus Sam, the big hero, were never going to get along.

And now, Howard was as trapped as Ore

Trapped.

"Okay, then," Howard said."Wego to Caine" Ore belched loudly. "Caine's maj at us" "Yeah," Howard said."But he still needs us."

64 HOURS, 41 MINUTES

'HOLD HIM DOWN! Diana yelled.

The sound of her voice was far off Drake Merwin heard it bubbling up through a red scream that filled his brain.

Screaming, screaming, screaming everywhere* all through his brain, from a million mouths, rising and falling, gasping for breath.

"I can hold him," a voice said. Caine. "Back away on three. One -.. two ,, f

Drake Sailed madly, unbound, shrieking, thrashing, hurting himself but unable to stop. The pain ... he had never felt anything like it, never imagined anything could be like it.

A force pressed down on him like a thousand hands holding him with firm pressure.

"You have the saw?" Diana's voice asked. Not smug now, not smug at all, but raw and horrified.

Drake struggled against the invisible force, but Oine had him pinned down with his telekinetic power. Drake could only scream and curse, and could barely move his facial muscles enough for that

"I am not doing this" Panda said, weeping. "Pm nol sawing off his arm, man"

The words sent a shock of terror to join ihe pain. His arm? They were ...

"Hell kill me if I do it" Panda said.

"Pm nol doing il," various voices chimed in. "No way."

"ill do it," Diana said, disgusted."You're all such big lough guys. Give me the saw"

"No, no, no!" Drake screeched.

"It's the only way to stop the pain" Caine said, almost showing some emotion, some pity. "The arm is done for, Drake-man"

"Thegirl... the freak.,. "Drakegasped,"Shecould fix it"

"She's not here" Caine said bitterly. "She's gone with Sam and the rest of them"

"Do^t cut off my arm" Drake cried."Lei me die. lust let me die. Shoot me."

"Sorry" Caine said. "But I still need you, Drake. Even one-handed."

There was the sound of someone bursting into the room. "All i could find was Tylenol and Advil "Computer Jack said.

"Let's get this over with!* Diana snapped.

Impatient to maim him. Looking forward to it.

"You do this, he's going to kill you," Panda warned.

"Oh, Drake's already decided he wants to do that," Diana said. "Tighten the tourniquet"

"He's going to bleed to death," Jack warned. "There must be big arteries in his arm"

"He's right," Caine said."We need a way to sea! the stump"

"It's already cauterized" Diana said. "I just need to cut below the burn"

"Yeah, okay," Caine agreed.

"I can't reach him through your force field," Diana said. "Can you pull it back to keep lis left side paralyzed, and maybe Panda and some of these other supposedly tough guys can grab on to his stump"

"Let me get a towel* at least. I don't want to touch that" Panda said with revulsion.

"Nobody cuts my arm" Drake rasped. "I'll kill anyone who touches me "

"Let him up, Caine," Diana snapped.

The elephant was off Drake's chest, he could move again. But now Diana's face was inches from his, her dark hair hanging down on his tear-streaked face.

"Listen, you stupid thug," Diana said. "We're cutting off the pain. As long as that burned stump is there, you'll be like this. You'll be screaming and crying and wetting your pants. Yeah, you ve peed yourself, Drake"

Somehow that fact shocked Drake into silence.

"You have one hope. Just one. That we cut off the dead part of your arm and do it without starting the bleeding again"

"Anyone cuts me dies" Drake said. Diana pulled back, out of Drake's view.

Caine said, "Do it Panda. Chunk. Grab that slump"

The pressure was on Drake again, immobilizing him. He didn't feel the towel that was wrapped around his arm or the grip of hands. That purl of his arm was naked bone, all flesh melted away, nerves burned
oft\
dead. The pain started higher up, where just enough nerve endings still survived to slam his fevered brain with wave upon wave of agony.

"It's not Diana or Panda or Chunk or even me," Caine said. "It's none of us, Drake. It's Sam. It'jSam who did this to you, Drake. You want him to get away with it? Or do you want to live long enough to make him suffer?"

Drake heard a shimmery, metallic sound. The saw was too big for Diana to handle easily. The blade wobbled a little as she lined it up,

"Okay" Diana said. "Hold on to him, HI be as quick as I can be."

Drake lost consciousness, but his dreams were as pain-racked as his waking. He weaved in and out, awake and screaming, asleep and crying.

He heard a distant thump as his arm dropped to the floor.

And then a sudden frenzy of running and yelling, shouted orders and confusion, a flash of Diana threading a needle with bloody fingers. Hands all over him, the pressure squeezing the air from his lungs.

Staring up from the bottom of a deep well, Drake saw lunatic faces looking down at him, eyes wild, bloody faces like monsters.

"He'll live, I think" a voice said.

"God help us if he lives" a voice said. "No. God help Sam Temple." And then nothing.

"Astrid, I need you lo start talking to these kids" Sam said. "Find out their powers. Find out how much control they have. WeVe looking for anyone who might be able to help in a fight."

Astrid looked uncomfortable. "Me? Shouldn't Edilio be doing that?"

"I have a different job for Edilio."

They were in the plaza, sitting wearily on the steps of town hall, Sam, Astrid, Little Pete, and Edilio, Quinn was gone, no one knew where. The liberated Coates kids—the Coates Freaks, as they now proudly called themselves—had been fed at Ralph's and were being fed again by Albert, who was walking among them handing out burgers. Some of the kids had eaten too much all at once and had thrown up. Uui most still had room for a hamburger—even if it was on a toasted chocolate chip waffle.

Lana was just about finishec healing the hands of the refugees. She was staggering from exhaustion and finally, as Sam watched, her legs folded under her and she fell to the grass, Before he could even get up to help, some of the Coates kids stretched her out with gentleness bordering on reverence. They rolled jackets to mak< her a pillow and borrowed a blanket from a tattered pup tent to spread over her.

"Okay, I'll talk to them" Astrid said. But she still looked reluctant."! can't read people like Diana does"

"That's what's bothering you? \bu're not my Diana. And hopefully I'm nol Caine"

"I guess I was hoping this would all kind of be oven At least for a while"

"I think it will be over. For a while. But first we have to plan and make sure we're ready when Caine comes back"

"You're right." She smiled wanly. "Anyway, it's not like I was dreaming ot" a big meal, a hot shower, and hours and hours of sleep"

"Yeah. You wouldn't want to start getting soft now. would you?" Something else occurred to him. "But hey, keep L. R happy, huh? I don't want you disappearing suddenly"

"That would be a shame, wouldn't it?" she said dryly. "Maybe I'll try Quinn's trick: Hawaii, Petey, Hawaii."

Astrid rounded up her brother made sure he was okay, then plunged into the crowd-Sam motioned Edilio closer. "Edilio. I have something I need you to do"

"Whatever you want."

"It involves driving. And it involves keeping a secret?

"The secret is no problem. Driving?" He gulped theatrically, like a cartoon character doing a double take.

"I need you to get a truck and go to the power plant," He explained what he wanted, and Edilio's expression grew darker with each word. When he was done, Sam asked, "Can you handle that? You'll need to take at least one other guy with you."

"I can do it," Edilio said. "I'm not happy about it, but you know that"

"Who will you take with you?"

"Elwood, I guess> if Dahra will lei me borrow him "

"Okay. Go take an hour or twc lo figure out how to drive"

"A day or two more like it," Edilio said. But then he executed a mock salute and said, "No problem. General."

Sam sat alone now. shoulders hunched, head buzzing from lack of sleep and the aftereffects of pain and fear. He needed to think, he told himself, needed to prepare. Caine would be planning.

Caine. His brother.

His brother.

How long did he have? Three Jays. In three days he would . . ■ disappear And so would Caine.