Michael Grant - Lies

But he wasn’t the only one to be terrorized by Drake. Drake had come after her, early on. If she thought about it, she could still almost feel the sting of his slap on her face.

He’d made her…

He’d bullied her into calling Little Pete a retard. He’d terrorized her into betraying the person she loved most in the world.

She had managed to put it out of her mind. Why couldn’t Sam do the same?

Howard laughed. “Sammy didn’t want people using the ‘Z’ word.”

“The what?” Astrid snapped.

“Zombie.” Howard made a booga-booga face and stretched his hands out like a sleepwalker.

“Taylor, get out of here,” Astrid said.

“Hey, I-”

“This is council business now,” Astrid said, putting all the frost she could command into her voice.

Taylor hesitated, looked to Sam for guidance. He didn’t look up or stir. Taylor took a second to give Astrid a middle-finger salute and then popped out of the room.

“Sam, I know you’re upset over what happened with you and Drake,” Astrid began.

“Upset?” Sam echoed the word with an ironic smirk.

“But that’s no excuse for you keeping secrets from us.”

“Yeah,” Howard said, “Don’t you know only Astrid is allowed to keep secrets?”

“Shut up, Howard,” Astrid snapped.

“Yeah, we get to lie because we’re the smart ones,” Howard said. “Not like all those idiots out there.”

Astrid turned her attention back to Sam. “This is not okay, Sam. The council has the responsibility. Not you alone.”

Sam looked like he could not care less about what she was saying. He looked almost beyond reach, indifferent to what was going on around him.

“Hey,” Astrid said. “We’re talking to you.”

That did it. His jaw clenched. His head snapped up. His eyes blazed. “Don’t push me. That wasn’t you with your skin whipped off and covered in blood. That was me . That was me who went down into that mine shaft to try to fight the gaiaphage.”

Astrid blinked. “No one is minimizing what you’ve done, Sam. You’re a hero. But at the same time-”

Sam was on his feet. “At the same time? At the same time you were here in town. Edilio had a bullet in his chest. Dekka was torn to pieces. I was trying not to scream from the…You and Albert and Howard, you weren’t there, were you?”

“I was busy standing up to Zil, trying to save Hunter’s life,” Astrid yelled.

“But it wasn’t you and your big words, was it? It was Orc who stopped Zil. And he was there because I sent him to rescue you. Me!” He stabbed a finger at his own chest, actually making what looked like painful impact. “Me! Me and Brianna and Dekka and Edilio! And poor Duck.”

Suddenly, there was Taylor again. “Hey! One of Edilio’s soldiers just came staggering in from the gas station. He says someone attacked, took the place over.”

That silenced the argument.

Sam, with exquisite contempt, turned to his girlfriend and said, “You want to go deal with it, Astrid?”

Astrid flushed red.

“No? I didn’t think so. Guess it will be up to me then.”

He left silence in his wake.

“Maybe we better pass some laws real quick so Sam can save our butts legally,” Howard said.

“Howard, go get Orc,” Albert said.

“Now you’re giving me orders, Albert?” Howard shook his head. “I don’t think so. Not you or her,” he said, jerking a thumb at Astrid. “You may not think much of me, you two, but at least I know who saves our butts. And if I got to take orders from someone, it’ll be the someone who just walked out of here.”

TWENTY-ONE

14 HOURS, 44 MINUTES

“FIND EDILIO ANDDekka and Brianna,” Sam told Taylor. “Edilio and Dekka to the gas station. Brianna on the streets. We’re going to deal with Zil.”

For once, Taylor did not argue. She bounced away.

He took a deep breath of cold night air and tried to get his head together. Zil. Had to stop him.

But all he could see was Drake. Drake in the shadows. Drake behind bushes and trees. Drake with his whip hand.

Drake, not Zil.

He squeezed his eyes shut. It would be different this time. Back then he’d had no choice but to let Drake take him. No choice but to stand there and endure…and endure…

He noticed Howard coming up behind him. It surprised him a little, until he realized Howard would see it as an opportunity to use Orc for profit.

“Howard? What kind of shape is Orc in?”

Howard shrugged. “Passed out, dead drunk.”

Sam cursed under his breath. “See if you can get him up.”

He tossed out the orders on automatic. Not needing to think about it. But he still felt like he was in a dream. Not quite focusing.

Drake. Somehow that animal was back. Somehow he was alive.

How was he supposed to fight something that could not be killed? Zil he could handle. But Drake? A Drake who could return from the dead?

I’ll burn him, Sam told himself. I’ll burn him inch by inch. I’ll turn him into a piece of charcoal. I’ll reduce him to ashes.

And scatter the ashes over a mile of sea and land.

Kill him. Destroy him. Destroy the remains of the remains of the remains.

Let him come back from that.

“If I get Orc up, it will cost you,” Howard said. “He’s fought Drake before.”

“I’ll burn him down,” Sam muttered to himself. “I’ll kill him myself.”

Howard seemed to think this was directed at either Orc or him, and scuttled off as quickly as he could without another word.

It wasn’t far to the gas station. Just a few blocks.

Sam walked down the middle of the street. No lights. Silence. His footsteps echoed.

He walked on legs stiff with fear.

He had forgotten to tell Taylor to get Lana. Lana would be needed. Taylor would figure it out, though. Smart girl, Taylor.

He remembered Lana’s healing touch that day as the last effects of the morphine wore off and the pain, like a tidal wave of fire, consumed him. Her touch, and the wave had slowly receded.

He had screamed. He was sure of that.

He had screamed until his throat was raw. And in nightmares since that day.

“Ashes,” Sam said.

Alone on the dark street. Walking toward the thing he feared most in the world.

Astrid was shaking. Every type of emotion. Fear. Fury. Even hate.

And love.

“Albert, I don’t know how long we can keep Sam involved at all,” she said.

“You’re upset,” Albert replied.

“Yes, I’m upset. But that’s not the point. Sam is out of control. If we’re ever going to have a working system we may have to find someone else to play the role of savior.”

Albert sighed. “Astrid, we don’t know what’s out there in the night. And maybe you’re right that Sam is out of control. But me? I’m really glad it’s him out there getting ready to face whatever it is.”

Albert picked up his omnipresent notebook and left.

To a now empty, silent room, Astrid said, “Don’t die, Sam. Don’t die.”

Taylor found Edilio already en route to the gas station. He had just one soldier with him, a girl named Elizabeth. Both were carrying machine pistols, part of the armory they’d found long ago at the power plant.

Elizabeth spun and almost sprayed Taylor when she popped in.

“Whoa!” Taylor yelled.

“Sorry. I thought…We heard gunfire.”

“Gas station. Sam’s on his way, told me to get you going in that direction.”

Edilio nodded. “Yeah, we’re on our way.”

Taylor grabbed him and pulled him aside so Elizabeth wouldn’t overhear. “Sam is fighting with Astrid.”

“Great. That’s just what we need: the two of them at each other.” Edilio ran his hand back over his brush-cut hair. He still kept it short unlike most kids, who had given up on personal grooming. “I haven’t heard anyone shooting in the last few minutes. Probably just some drunk fool got hold of a gun.”