Blackout (8 page)

FIFTEEN

LAURA KNELT IN THE DRY
mountain grass. She carefully rolled her tent into a neat package, and then slipped it into its green nylon bag.

She hadn’t slept much. She was amazed that Dan had been able to sleep through the forest ranger’s cries, but he’d always had the worst reactions to using his powers. He’d probably be tired for days.

Gina Brown had known more than she’d let on, just as Alec had expected. Yes, she was just a forest ranger in an obscure part of central Utah, but she’d been monitoring her radio, and even the forest service was being conscripted into service.

“You need to hurry,” Alec called out to Dan, who was still moving sluggishly around the campsite. “They could be here any minute.”

One of the most important bits of information Brown had was that this roundup of all the teenagers was somewhat localized—a huge number of soldiers had moved into the West earlier in the week. With Brown’s disappearance, and the collapsed Eagle Canyon bridge only forty miles away, it was almost certain that troops would be on the mountain soon, if they weren’t there already.

Worse, Brown told of an enormous army base that had sprung up in the desert west of Salt Lake City. Laura had assumed the three of them were in the middle of nowhere—a thousand miles from any of the real action—but now it sounded like they were only a few hundred miles from one of the largest military centers in the United States.

She glanced over at Brown, who lay awkwardly on her back, staring at the sky. She was quiet now, her mind having been ravaged. Alec hadn’t held back, fully aware of the consequences. So many memories had been inserted during the night, most of them conflicting. Some were horrifically violent and others were reassuring her with warmth and trust. Laura didn’t know if Alec had ever done this before, but the results were appalling. Gina’s cries—cries of intense pain but also of joyful rescue—had gone on for hours until her mind just couldn’t take any more.

“Come on,” Alec demanded. He shoved the last of his gear into his bag and threw it to Laura.

She wanted to ask what Alec was going to do with Brown, but knew that asking wouldn’t help anything. If the ranger was lucky, he’d shoot her. If she was unlucky, he’d leave her there to die—her mind too scrambled to know how to survive on her own.

Laura looked at the ranger again, and their eyes met. There was no emotion or movement. If Brown hadn’t blinked, Laura would have assumed she was dead.

“Dan,” Alec called. “Laura. Come check this out.” He had unfolded the map.

Laura was strapping on the heavy frame pack, adjusting the straps around her chest and hips as she and Dan met Alec.

“Keep your eyes on the map,” Alec said quietly. “Don’t look up. They’re here.”

“Where?” Dan asked. He finally seemed alert.

“I saw movement in the trees to the west, near the two dead pines.”

Laura forced herself to keep her head down. “You’re sure it’s the army?”

Alec nodded. “Uniforms.”

“Why haven’t they shot us already?” Laura said.

“They’re not in position yet,” Alec said. “At least, I don’t think they are. And maybe they’re trying to figure out what we can do—what our powers are. Maybe they want to capture us alive.”

“How many?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Alec said with a smile. He jabbed the map. “We’re only four miles from the road if we go cross-country. Laura can do that in—how long?”

She pursed her lips and looked down the rough slope at the forested terrain. “If the ground is like that, thirty minutes. Maybe forty.”

“How fast can you do it carrying someone?”

Laura thought about Brown lying on the grass. When she’d heard that the soldiers had arrived, she’d been relieved, thinking that the girl might live. “She doesn’t know anything else,” Laura said. “She’ll slow us down.”

Alec almost couldn’t contain his glee. “You won’t be carrying her, Laura. You’ll be carrying me.”

“What?”

“It’s simple,” Alec said, grinning. “You can carry me faster than I could run myself. And we’ll be in a big hurry.”

“Why?” Dan said, annoyance in his voice. “Where will you be going without me?”

“We’ll be running from you,” Alec said. “And you’ll be chasing after us. I need you to start an avalanche.”

Dan looked at the long dry grass under their feet, confused.

“They can’t chase us if the mountain is falling down around them.”

Dan stammered for a moment. “I’d have to touch it. I couldn’t run.”

Alec was so pleased with himself he looked like his smile would rip into his cheeks. “You don’t need to run. Just tear this mountain to hell and protect yourself. When the soldiers are taken care of, follow us.”

Laura had pulled a bag of toiletries out of the frame pack, and had the contents splayed on a rock as though she was looking for something. Alec paced impatiently, barking the occasional order for her to hurry.

“I’m going to go pee,” Dan called.

“Fine,” Alec yelled, mock exasperation in his voice. “Take your time. We’ll be waiting here another hour for Laura.”

This still didn’t feel safe, Laura thought. At any moment, one of them was going to get a sniper’s bullet in the back of the head.

She looked over her shoulder. She couldn’t see Brown. If the military didn’t immediately move in for her, she’d die in the avalanche.

“I’ve counted four,” Alec said quietly as he walked past Laura.

“Five,” she said. She couldn’t be sure they were all different people, though. “Light infantry. M4 carbines.”

Alec stepped next to her, digging in the frame pack. She peered inside and saw his hand wrapped around the pistol.

“When it happens,” he said, “we’ll both run—give them two targets instead of one. When I tire out, you carry me.”

Laura nodded. She took a pair of gloves from the pack—Alec wouldn’t stop her now—and walked to the bush where Brown lay. She knelt down at the ranger’s side.

“I’m sorry, Gina,” Laura said. “This will be better than being crushed.”

With a single quick snap, Laura broke Gina Brown’s neck.

She had just stood when a plume of dust exploded in front of her. Alec was already running, and gunfire erupted. Laura jumped forward, doing a tuck-and-roll down the rocky hill, and then darted for the trees.

Laura could hear bullets hitting the ground around her, but only for an instant before the sound was drowned out by the deep, shuddering groans of erupting earth.

A boulder, twice as big as her head, flew over her shoulder, and Laura sped up, hurtling wildly through the path of an earthquake.

SIXTEEN

“THEY’RE CALLING IT THE FREAK WAR,”
Sibley said. Aubrey, Jack, and a few others were sitting on nearby cots, listening as he spoke. “This thing that we’ve got, this disease, it didn’t start in America. They think it started in Russia, maybe, or China. No one’s sure. Before we even knew that we were getting sick, they had already diagnosed it and were training the freaks to fight.”

“They?” Jack said.

“Whoever it is,” Sibley answered. “Nobody knows.” He seemed to enjoy being the center of attention, the only one who knew what was going on. And he probably didn’t know very much—just more than the other teens in the warehouse. Or he could have been making it all up.

“So there’s a whole army of . . . ?” Aubrey started but didn’t know what word described people like her and Matt and Nate.

Sibley shook his head. “No, not an army. There’s not enough of us for that. They’re terrorists.”

Aubrey leaned forward. “What do you mean ‘not enough of
us
’?”

He smirked. “I’m not dangerous, so don’t worry. Sitting right here, I can do exactly nothing.”

“What can you do somewhere else?” Aubrey asked, her eyes wide in the dim light of the warehouse.

“I can kill plants,” he said, looking almost embarrassed. “It’s not even a dramatic death. I touch them, and they’ll die over the next couple days. If it’s something big, like a tree, it’ll die in a couple weeks.”

“Wait,” Jack said, looking at Aubrey, concern spreading across his face. “This is a disease?”

Sibley laughed. “Well, it sure as hell isn’t the X-Men. I don’t know how it works, but everyone who has some kind of power—even stupid ones like mine—have a lot of side effects. Ever since I started, I’ve been getting ulcers. And if I get cut, I’ll bleed for weeks.”

Aubrey’s eyes met Jack’s, and she nodded. The fatigue of disappearing was one thing, but the blindness—it scared her to death.

“So, if it’s a disease,” Aubrey said, “then why is everyone different? If we all got a cold then we’d have the same symptoms. Why can you kill plants and someone else can turn into a monster?”

“I’m not a doctor,” Sibley said. “I don’t know. But what about something like schizophrenia? Two people may be schizophrenic, but they don’t have the same hallucinations. They don’t act the same. They just act different from normal people.”

“So what are we doing here?” Jack asked.

Sibley shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He gestured around the room. “Aaron over there is sure that we’re being protected from the war, because he’s an idiot who believes everything he’s told. That girl there with the red hair thinks that the government is going to run tests on us like lab rats. Those two guys with the blond hair think that the Freaks are going to be trained as supersoldiers, but I think they watch too many movies. Maybe we’re going to be locked up—prisoners. Or, maybe they’ll just lobotomize us all.”

Jack took Aubrey’s hand in his. His palm felt rough and dry, but she squeezed it tight and flashed him a weak smile. Somehow, holding his hand made it easier to breathe.

“Are there more?” Jack said. “More like you?”

“You mean here?” Sibley asked. “The test results come in every day. I don’t know why mine haven’t shown up yet. They don’t seem to come in order.” He stood up and walked to the enormous open door. Jack and Aubrey followed him, along with a few others. The chain-link walkway stretched fifty yards to a gate. Four guard towers, two on each side of the path, watched the open space.

“You see that?” Sibley said, pointing. “Your name gets called on a speaker, and you walk down to that door. It unlocks, you go through, and it locks behind you. Then they give you the news, Positive or Negative for the virus.”

“How many Positives?” Aubrey asked, staring at the door.

“Enough,” he said, and for the first time his voice broke. He
was
scared. “I don’t know. Maybe one out of twenty? Maybe less. I’ve been here three days, and I’ve seen eight or ten. Most of them freak out—they don’t think they’re sick, or they try to use their abilities to get out.”

“Where do they go?” Jack asked. “The Positives?”

“Over to the right,” Sibley said, gesturing to a squat cement structure. He coughed, regaining his composure. “They try to fight, but it’s no use.”

“Why?”

“Ever seen those sound guns the army has? They call it ‘nonlethal force’—a huge directed blast of sound that knocks you down.”

Jack nodded and squeezed Aubrey’s hand. “Well, we won’t have to worry about that.”

For now, they were safe. Aubrey had dodged the blood test, but she could still be found out. She scanned the room, a thought nagging her. Nicole was at a table near the center of the room, now surrounded by six of the best-looking guys there. She was laughing.

Nicole knew Aubrey’s secret. What would she say if Aubrey was declared Negative? Would Nicole turn her in?

Suddenly Aubrey noticed that the catwalk had guards on it—fifteen already, but more were entering through the small doors high up, close to the ceiling. She pointed it out to Jack.

“More kids are coming,” Sibley said with a sigh. “You’d better find a cot while you can. Last night people were sleeping on the floor.”

SEVENTEEN

IT WAS A DISASTER.
Whatever hopes Laura had of finding Alec were dashed within seconds of the avalanche. The air was suddenly so thick with dust that she could barely see two feet in front of her, and she was buffeted by rocks the whole way down.

She had to just ride it out, skittering and jumping in the loosening debris field as the whole face of the mountain collapsed. It was destruction like she’d never seen—it was Dan finally letting loose. Pure, unchecked devastation.

Laura could run ahead of it, her unnaturally strong legs able to balance on the tumbling mass of dirt, boulders, and trees. And when she got to the bottom, she dashed up the mountain on the other side. The avalanche crashed just below her, waves pounding into a rocky cliff. As she ran, splintered wood and shattered rock flew all around her.

She didn’t stop until she reached the next crest, and the rumbling, grinding earthquake behind her had come to a halt.

The view was choked with dust, and she couldn’t make out more than the dark scar that once had been covered with trees and vegetation. She didn’t know how to judge the size of the crater—five football fields? Ten? Fifty? It had to be more than that. It was one whole side of the mountain torn loose.

The plan had been to carry Alec when he couldn’t outrun it any longer, but they’d been separated almost immediately. And if Laura could barely stay ahead of the avalanche, did Alec have any chance?

Laura waited. She waited for the dust to clear, for someone to move, for a voice—anything.

But there was nothing. The mountain seemed dead.

The army had to have backup somewhere. The few soldiers they’d seen in the woods couldn’t have been everyone. And just because she couldn’t see through the dust didn’t mean they couldn’t. They might be in helicopters, with thermal imaging. They might have snipers posted on this very mountain.

She scanned the scar one more time, looking for something, anything.

She checked her jeans pocket for her smartphone. She’d never needed it with Alec around, but he was gone now.

Laura was on her own.

EIGHTEEN

AUBREY WOKE WITH A START,
frightened from her already uneasy sleep by the sound of a loudspeaker. The morning sky outside was dark blue, the sun not yet over the horizon.

This was the third time she’d heard the loudspeaker. It came on twice during the night, once taking three girls to be judged and later taking two boys. All five were declared Negative and were released, gleeful, from the chain-link cage and put in a waiting jeep.

The voice on the loudspeaker was metallic and cold. Aubrey would have thought it was a computer, except she could hear the voice take a breath just before it read the names.

“John Sibley, please proceed to the exit gate.”

Nearly everyone in the warehouse rose to their feet as Sibley stood from his cot, but no one said a word. He nervously attempted to straighten his rumpled shirt, and then crossed to the large overhead door that led toward judgment. He’d be a Positive—a Lambda?—that was certain. Unlike some of the other judgments, there wasn’t a question this time—no one doubted where Sibley would end up.

He was trying to put on a brave face, trying to keep up his air of confidence, but fear was peeking through. It was like watching a prisoner walk to the death chamber. No one knew what would happen to the Positives, but images of giant needles and dissection and experimentation loomed in everyone’s mind.

Aubrey felt nauseated as she watched the boy step out into the cool morning air of the chain-link tunnel. What made her any different from him? She was infected just like he was. Neither one of them deserved whatever fate awaited the Positives, but was it fair that she’d be safe?

“Go get ’em, Sibley!” a boy in the warehouse yelled, though if Sibley heard it he didn’t respond.

As he got farther down the guarded walkway, a mass of kids gathered at the door. A few even stepped outside, but kept an eye on the watchtowers—no one was sure how far they were allowed to go. Each tower housed at least three armed guards, and each was mounted with a strange, round black disk.

Even back where they were, Aubrey heard the electric buzz as the gate unlocked. Sibley hesitated only a moment before opening it, and then stepped through. The gate led to a small room made of more chain-link, with doors to the left and to the right. On the left, standing back from the little room, were another three armed soldiers in combat fatigues, and an armored truck.

On the right was a chain-link tunnel leading to another building—a squat, cement structure with no windows.

“John Sibley,” the voice announced. “Positive.”

A boy in the crowd swore.

There was another buzz and the door on the right swung open. Sibley turned back to look at the kids in the warehouse, and offered a small wave.

One of the soldiers on the left leveled his rifle at Sibley, and the metallic voice said, “John Sibley, please continue to your right.”

Sibley paused, glancing at the soldiers, and then up at the nearest watchtowers.

“John Sibley, please continue to your right,” the voice repeated. Sibley flipped the bird at the towers, then turned and walked quietly down the tunnel and out of sight.

Aubrey felt Jack’s shoulder touch hers. “He’ll be all right,” Jack said quietly.

“You don’t know that.”

“This is America,” he answered. “They can’t do anything too terrible.”

Aubrey didn’t answer. If someone had told her last week that American soldiers were going to round up—or shoot—innocent teenagers just because they had an infection, she wouldn’t have believed that either.

But was Nate innocent? Did he really attack the soldiers, or was he just trying to defend himself? It all seemed like such a blur now.

“Kara Meyers,” the voice called.

A blonde girl about Aubrey’s age let out a quiet gasp, and another girl assured her everything would be fine.

“Kara Meyers,” the voice repeated. “Please proceed to the exit gate.”

Aubrey watched as the girl hugged her friend, tears streaming down her face. Aubrey moved to take Jack’s hand, but stopped herself.

“Kara Meyers—”

“I’m coming,” she shouted angrily, and quickly stepped out of the group into the empty walkway.

“We’ll be fine,” Jack whispered to Aubrey. “They never swabbed your cheek.”

“What if they saw something?” she asked.

Kara was walking slowly past the watchtowers. Aubrey glanced at Nicole, who was hanging back from the crowd, standing alone. Their eyes met for a moment, and Aubrey could see terror in Nicole’s face.

The sound of the clanking gate drew Aubrey’s gaze back to Kara, who now stood, small and fragile, in the chain-link room.

“Kara Meyers,” the voice announced. “Negative.”

There was a sigh of relief in the warehouse. Kara’s friend let out a cheer of support, and a small applause erupted as the door on the left swung open and Kara stepped out to the waiting soldiers. They smiled at her, and one put his hand on her shoulder as he led her to the waiting armored vehicle.

The speaker squawked again. “Aubrey Parsons.”

Panic swept through her body, and she turned to Jack, throwing her arms around him.

“It’s okay,” he said, his voice weak. “You’ll be okay.” He hugged her tightly, one arm around her waist and the other cradling her neck. “Whatever happens, you’ll be okay. I’ll make sure.”

“How?” she whispered, tears flowing freely down her face.

“I don’t know. But I’ll get you out.”

“Aubrey Parsons. Please proceed to the exit gate.”

She pulled back from him, her hands still gripping his shoulders. “Promise me. If I go Positive that you won’t try anything stupid. Don’t get killed.”

“I’ll get you out,” he said, his eyes hard and dark.

“Promise me,” she demanded. “Now.”

“I won’t do anything stupid.”

He pulled her closer. She couldn’t be a Positive.

“Aubrey Parsons, proceed now to the exit gate or you will be extracted.”

Jack ended the embrace and took a step back.

“Go,” he said urgently, taking her elbow and pointing her to the walkway. “I’ll meet you down there.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

She squeezed his hand briefly and then stepped out onto the dirt path.

The gate that had seemed so far away suddenly felt too close, and the high chain-link walls made her claustrophobic, even though she could see through them.

The soldiers at the side were watching her approach. They looked nervous, as though she might attack at any moment. Had that happened before? Like Nate?

She wondered what she’d do, if she could actually do something powerful. If she had powers like Sibley had talked about, if she could fight. Would she break out? Would she attack the soldiers to rescue Jack?

Would Jack attack the soldiers to rescue her?

He’d never forgotten her, even when she’d betrayed him and left him alone. It seemed so obvious to her now, and she wondered what had made her forget about him all of this time. She wanted to make it right. If that was even possible.

And then she was at the gate, too soon.

There was a loud buzz, and the gate unlatched. She grabbed the heavy metal handle and pulled it open, and went inside. Up close, she could see that the room wasn’t chain-link like everything else was—the walls and roof were made up of tightly spaced steel rods. It wasn’t a room; it was a reinforced cage.

She turned to look back at the warehouse, but had a hard time picking Jack out of the crowd. Her eyes just weren’t good enough anymore. She wished she could see his face.

The door fell closed and locked.

Aubrey held her breath. When they declared her a Positive, she would also be a criminal. They’d know she tried to hide it and falsified records. Would they care? Would she go to jail? Would it be a war crime?

“Aubrey Parsons,” the voice said. “Negative.”

An uncontrollable smile broke across her face, and she waved back at the group as they cheered.

The door on the left clicked open. She rushed out to the soldiers, feeling elated and free. The towers weren’t watching her now, and the fences weren’t trying to hold her in.

A soldier approached her, smiling. “Sorry to make you go through that. Hop in the vehicle and we’ll get you out of here.”

Grinning, Aubrey jogged to the large armored truck and climbed into the backseat next to Kara. She’d done it.

“Jack Cooper.”

She left the door open to watch Jack as he came down the path. He walked faster than the others had, almost running by the time he got to the gate. Aubrey shouted to him and cheered as the door opened and he stepped into the cage. They’d be back home soon, and things would be different.

“Jack Cooper,” the voice said. “Positive.”

“What?” The smile faded from her face.

Jack stood in the center of the cage, not moving. Kara took Aubrey’s hand, but Aubrey shook her away.

“No,” Jack shouted. “I’m not sick. I’m not Positive.”

“Jack Cooper,” the voice said calmly, “please proceed to your right.”

Aubrey leapt from the truck, running to the cage. She could hear a flurry of voices behind her, and the tinny squawk of the loudspeaker, but she ignored it. Jack met her at the wall of steel, yanking and tugging on the gate.

“Jack,” she shrieked, reaching through the bars to touch him. She could only get her hand in up to her wrist.

The loudspeaker blared. “Step back!”

Jack grabbed her hand, a look of panic in his eyes.

“I’ll disappear right now, right here,” she whispered fiercely. “They’ll have to take me with you.”

“Don’t you dare.” He let go of her hand and tried to push her away. “You’re free. I’ll get out.”

“But I can do it right now, and then I can go with you,” Aubrey insisted, forcing her hands between the bars and grabbing his shirt.

“No! If you’re free you can get me out. Who knows what will happen if we’re both Positives?” He took her hand in his own.

“I want to come with you!”

“No. You get me out.”

“I will,” she promised,

“Step back!” the voice repeated. “We will use force.”

“Go,” he said, pushing her hand through the fence. “Don’t get killed like this.”

Pain burst through Aubrey’s head and rippled down her body. It was as though she were being beaten with a baseball bat, but couldn’t tell where she was getting hit. She saw Jack stumble and collapse. Her legs felt like overcooked noodles, and she could barely muster the strength to bring her weak arms to her ears. Noise was coming from somewhere—piercing, thundering noise that seemed to sap all of her energy and cripple her brain.

And then, as suddenly as the noise came, it disappeared, leaving her crumpled in a heap, unable to move.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and saw that she was being dragged away from the cage.

The world was silent. Whatever had happened had completely deafened her.

“Jack,” she shouted, though she couldn’t hear her own voice. “I’ll get you out.”