Shudder (Stitch Trilogy, Book 2) (35 page)

Alessa and Isaac and Janie weaved
their way through the crowded cars as the train plowed through the
darkened tunnels. Bats and rodents scattered from their path, and
the engine valiantly cleaved through any garbage or rubble that had
collected on the tracks. Alessa couldn’t believe the track was
still intact after all these years, but somehow, the train was
running.

When they reached the front of the
train they ran into Sato, who had taken the opportunity at the
platform to climb down from the engine and board the train with the
rest of the passengers.

Isaac shook her hand eagerly and
shared his congratulations. “Wow. Just, wow.”

“
Sato,” Alessa praised.
“This is incredible.
How
did you do this?”

Sato laughed. Alessa had never seen
her blush. She nodded her head toward Carlos and explained, “This
one found this old hunk of junk in the basement of a transportation
museum built on top of the old tracks. I just got it lubed up and
retrofitted the engine to run off a power cell. It was nothing,
really.”

“
Yeah, nothing,” Alicia
laughed, running her hands around Sato’s waist and embracing her
from behind. She cradled her face over Sato’s shoulder and planted
a soft kiss on her cheek. “This is
all
because of you.”

“
Yeah, whatever.” Sato –
ever reserved – brushed off Alicia’s well-deserved admiration, as
Alessa and Isaac laughed. Sato could say whatever she wanted – the
rebels owed her big time.

“
Less.” Janie pointed to a
couple open seats on a box pushed against the side of the freight
car. “Come sit with me.”

Alessa left Isaac chatting with Sato
and Alicia and Carlos and curled up next to her sister as the train
finally emerged from the tunnel and into the open air beyond
Paragon’s gates. A raucous cheer rose from the rebels, and Alessa
and Janie clapped excitedly.

“
We’re on our way,” Alessa
beamed.

“
Thanks to you and Isaac
finding us somewhere to go,” Janie pointed out. “So, catch me up on
what you two have been up to,” she prompted.

Alessa walked Janie through everything
she and Isaac had experienced on their journey outside the compound
– camping in the woods, their run-ins with the creatures, the
abandoned towns and city, Isaac’s close call with illness, finding
the base, her doubts about Joe, and finally Michael’s theory that
the strange things she kept feeling were actually a new
extrasensory talent.

“
Okay, let me get this –
he thinks you’re an ‘empath?’ And that this ability was somehow
unlocked by the stitch?”

“
Yeah,” Alessa explained.
“I can basically see and feel people’s final thoughts before
death.”

“
But you said that it
started while you were still in the woods, right? Like before you
reached civilized areas? So exactly whose thoughts and feelings
were you tuning into then?”

This was the hardest part to explain.
But then again, Janie had witnessed it at the prison, even if she
didn’t realize. “You remember when we opened Nikhil’s cell? And I
said I was afraid he might be dying?”

Janie nodded, her brow furrowed in
concentration.

“
Well, that was because
I
felt
something
when I unlocked the door. I sensed confusion and anxiety inside the
room, and I assumed it was coming from Nikhil… but then, you saw
what was in there.”

“
Yeah,” Janie affirmed.
“So… you’re saying you felt these things from that
monster
?”

Alessa nodded. “I think so…” She
explained Michael’s hypothesis, that the beasts – whatever they
were – were running on some sort of primal wavelength that happened
to coincide with the human near-death frequency that Alessa seemed
attuned to.

“
So you were getting
readings or whatever from those creatures as they stalked you in
the woods?” A shiver ran down Janie’s arms. “That’s
creepy.”

Alessa snickered. “To say the
least.”

“
Useful, though, I
guess.”

“
Maybe,” Alessa shrugged.
She looked down at her hands and found herself fiddling with her
ring once again. That reminded her.

“
Oh, I never got a chance
to tell you what I saw in Joe’s – in Sara’s – cell.”

“
I saw the names carved
all over the walls – you couldn’t miss them. It was sweet, in a
stalker-ish kind of way…” Janie smiled sheepishly.

Alessa chuckled. “No, not
just that. When I
touched
the writing, I got this flash.” She smiled, her
eyes far off as she remembered the reassuring feelings that had
washed over her in Joe’s cell. “I could see what Joe was thinking
as he did it, as he wrote the names. He wanted me and Isaac to be
happy – together – to take care of each other. I think he knew we’d
end up finding each other, and he was okay with it. So… it made me
feel better, about everything.”

Janie squeezed Alessa’s hand. “Well, I
could have told you that. Of course Joe would want you two to be
happy. But I’m glad you got the closure you needed.” She patted
Alessa’s hand. “Hot ring, by the way.”

“
Thanks,” Alessa smiled.
“Present from Isaac,” she explained.

Janie nodded approvingly. “I gotta
hand it to him – the boy’s got taste.”

Alessa laughed. “Actually, I haven’t
told him about anything that happened in the prison yet. I should
probably go fill him in.”

“
Of course,” Janie smiled,
yawning, her head drooping back against the wall. “I won’t be going
anywhere.” A second later her eyes were closed, and she seemed to
be dozing peacefully.

Alessa sought out Isaac to catch up on
the details of their raids of the prison and medical
center.

He was surprised to hear
about Alessa and Janie’s encounter with the creature in Nikhil’s
cell. “That means those things are
inside
Paragon, too?”

“
I guess so,” Alessa
confirmed.

Isaac shook his head. “I would have
bet anything they were a result of the virus. But how could that be
if they’re inside the quarantine zone?”

Alessa shrugged. “Who said the
compound was ever really quarantined? If we’re all vaccinated, we
wouldn’t notice if the virus was all over everything we touched,
even within Paragon, right?”

“
That’s true…”

When Alessa reached the part about
what she’d experienced in Joe’s cell, Isaac was quietly nodding, a
faint smile on his lips. He took a deep breath and absorbed what
she had said for a moment before responding.

“
I – I can’t tell you how
much that means to me, Less. I know you’ve been saying for years
that Joe would be supportive of us, you know, being together. But
if I’m honest, I don’t think I ever really believed it. I always
had doubts.”

He took her hands in his and smiled
brightly. “But no more. Thank you for that.”

He leaned in for a long, gentle kiss,
and all of the day’s tensions melted out of Alessa’s
body.

She’d certainly had her own share of
doubts lately – about Isaac and Joe, about Paragon and the rebels,
about her own role in pretty much everything – but finally, she
felt like she was right where she was supposed to be.

She eyed her sister across the way –
somehow napping serenely amidst the commotion of the train car –
and basked in the warmth of Isaac’s body by her side, and the
energy of the rebel fighters all around her. Despite her fears, she
believed in what she was doing here, what they were all doing. They
would avenge the wrongs that’d been done to them, and they would
deliver Paragon’s people to the future they deserved.

Alicia squeezed her way through the
crush of bodies towards the front of the car and headed for Isaac
and Alessa. “Guys – Regina’s calling a meeting. Could you round up
Janie and meet us in the third car in fifteen minutes?”

“
Sure,” Isaac replied. “Be
right there.”

And so it began again. This time,
Alessa was eager for the fight.

37. BRIEFING

The third car was packed to standing
room only with all of the rebel leaders and 50 or so of their most
talented agents, Isaac, Alessa, and Janie included. Isaac was eager
to hear what Regina had to say, both about their plans for Raptor
and the revelations he and Lizzie had heard from the Developer. But
he hoped the meeting wouldn’t last too long – he still hadn’t had a
chance to check on Josephine and her parents since they’d
boarded.

Regina called the meeting to
order.

“
It’s great to see you all
in one place,” she began. Lizzie stood by Regina’s side, and Isaac
noticed with a chuckle that she’d changed out of the loose pilfered
scrubs and into her usual fitted jumpsuit. She didn’t fill it out
like she usually did – and she still looked exhausted and haggard –
but not nearly so much as she had in that flimsy hospital gown.
Isaac was glad to see that she looked more like herself.

“
I have to thank Isaac,
first of all, for finding my daughter Lizzie this morning – this is
one train I would have hated for her to miss.” She smiled as the
rebels shouted a hearty, “Here, here!” in Isaac’s honor, and he was
greeted with many sturdy pats on the back.

Alessa grinned up at him with esteem,
and Isaac’s heart skipped a beat – she never failed to have that
effect on him.

When the cheering subsided, Regina
drew their attention once more. “Lizzie brings tidings from
Paragon’s leaders, with whom she’s been held captive for the past
several weeks. As you know, we’ve had some reports over the years
of certain individuals within the Ruling Class who seemed to hold
some authority, but they’ve proven elusive, and we’ve never been
able to get close enough to learn who they are or what they’re
working toward. Over the course of her captivity, Lizzie managed to
finally extract this crucial information for our cause.” She turned
to Lizzie and motioned toward the crowd. “If you wouldn’t
mind.”

Lizzie nodded and stepped forward. Her
voice cracked as she began, but as she spoke, her words grew
stronger. “Paragon has a message for us, one that they spent weeks
carefully outlining to me so that I could deliver it to you all.
But first, let me explain how I came to be their
messenger.”

She brushed a stray golden hair out of
her face, taking a deep breath before she continued. “Our contact
within the producers had reached out to me late in the fall,
triggering the breakdown of my stitch while I was still on a drama.
But when I stole away to meet him during Alessa and Isaac’s escape,
we were caught.”

She looked down for a moment, her face
pained. “There was a mishap with the guards, and they accidentally
killed him. I bought some time by leaking the little I knew of
Alessa’s escape route,” she mouthed a quick but genuine “sorry” at
Alessa, “but I feared the worst for myself. However, it turned out
Paragon’s leaders – the Engineers, as they call themselves – had
other plans for me.”

A gaggle of quiet murmurs broke out
amongst the rebels, but the whispers faded when Lizzie resumed her
story.

“
They put me before the
people of Paragon, and asked them to serve me justice. Would they
forgive me for trying to escape – and potentially opening a breach
for the virus – or would they see me punished? As it turned out,
the people decided I deserved punishment, and took justice into
their own hands…” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “They
stoned me.”

A gasp spread over the crowd. “They
wouldn’t!” someone yelled.

Lizzie motioned at her own
face. “I have the scars to prove it, unfortunately.” Lizzie
surveyed the crowd. “Did none of you witness it? There had to
be
someone
there…
there were hundreds in the crowd.”

No one spoke up.

Isaac caught Janie nudging Alessa’s
arm out of the corner of his eye. “No one saw? How is that
possible?” Janie wondered.

Alessa shrugged. Isaac leaned over and
in a whisper added, “If I had witnessed Lizzie almost die and done
nothing about it, I wouldn’t exactly want to volunteer that
information to Regina, either…”

“
That’s a good point,”
Alessa agreed.

But Janie didn’t seem convinced. “I
don’t know… something about this just feels off to me.”

“
Shh,” Alessa hushed.
Lizzie was speaking again.

“
The Engineers put a stop
to it before the mob killed me, at least – apparently they were as
taken aback by that turn of events as I was. They kept me safe in
the medical center and slowly nursed me back to health.

“
During my recovery, they
spent hours explaining to me the history of Paragon, and their
individual roles in bringing our society about. They admitted their
mistakes – with the Ruling Class, the stitching, all the ways they
tried to control us – and apologized –”

The rebels grumbled under their
breath.

“–
however little that
might be worth.” Lizzie paused and looked around the room,
obviously collecting her thoughts. “But the one thing that really
struck me in all my conversations with the Engineers was that they
truly seemed to have the best intentions. They saw the downward
spiral our world was on, and when they had an opportunity to try to
set things straight – to create a better future for all of us who’d
survived – they took it. But they’re only human. They screwed up.
And now they want our help to make it right.”