S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND, Season One Omnibus (110 page)

“
I'm not half-wild,” I mutter.

Ben slings his pack onto his shoulder. “She's your responsibility, Case. Keep her on a leash, if you have to. A short one.” He waggles a finger in my face. “I don't trust her.”

“
Fuck you,” I tell him. I'm beyond desperation by now. I'm livid with anger and frustration. “Fuck you and the whore you rode in on.”

He laughs. “You got a regular little potty mouth on you, don't you, little lady. No social graces. Maybe you are a wild one after all.”

“
I told you I'm not wild. And yeah, maybe I do have a potty mouth. I pick things up quick.”

Ben's smile doesn't falter. “Where I come from, the correct saying is horse, the horse you rode in on. Not whore.”

“
I meant what I said.”

“
She'll just slow us down, Ben,” Casey says.

Ben shoots him a warning look. The awkward silence is abruptly filled with a quiet buzzing noise. Casey and Ben turn to me, both of them wearing startled looks on their faces. They stare at my pocket, the source of the sound.

“
Well, well, well. Ain't that interestin?” Ben says.

“
She's got a Link, Ben,” Casey exclaims. “Did you know she's got a Link?”

“
Course I didn't know, you idiot!”

“
I don't think she's zombie-raised t'all.”

“
Christ, boy, whyn't you shut up for once?” Ben turns to me, one eyebrow cocked curiously. “I knew you ain't been completely open with us.”

He raises the rifle and points it at my stomach. I don't move.

“
I guess you better answer it.
Jingle-jangle.
Slowly, now.”

I reach into my pocket and grab the Link.

“
Careful does it, sweetie. And don't you go mentionin nothin about us, y'hear?”

I glance at the screen and see that it's Kelly. Ben doesn't move a muscle, just stands there watching me, waiting for me to connect. The barrel of the rifle doesn't move a millimeter.

I thumb the button and say, before Kelly can speak, “What's the matter, Kyle?”

Kelly frowns, confused.

“
Listen,” I say, “I'm a little busy right now. How's your brother? How's Uncle Joe? Still…you know?”

Kelly's look of confusion gives way to one of concerned understanding. “Yeah, he's, uh, not doing so well. Are you on your way? When are you going to get here?”

“
Soon. I've got a few things I need to do first. I might be a little later than I said.”

“
We're cutting it close as it—”

Ashley's voice comes through in the background. “Is that Jessie? I need to talk—”

Ben's hand snakes out and snatches at the Link. I try to pull it away but I'm too slow and it slips out of my hand and clatters to the floor. Before I can move, Ben's already retrieved it.

“
Don't say anything!” I yell. “Get out of there! Hide!”

But Ben has already thumbed the disconnect. He slips the Link into his pocket. It pings again almost immediately, but he ignores it.

“
Give me that back!” I yell, pushing my way to him. Casey holds me back. “That's mine. You can't take—”

Ben's hand whips out again and slaps me across the face. I fall over backward, tripping over one of the legs on the coffee table.

“
Hey, what'd you do that for?” Casey cries, his eyes growing wide. “What'd you hit her for? What's gotten into you, Ben?”

Ben spins around to face his younger partner. “Idiot! This whole time we been sittin here tellin her everythin and
she's one of them!
She's one of those jacker kids Elena's team is tryin to find!”

“
You are from Arc!” I scream. I try and scramble to my feet, but stop when Ben swivels the gun at me.

“
I will shoot you. Don't think I won't!”

“
I didn't fucking lie to you, you asshole!” My cheek feels hot where he slapped me, but not half as hot as I feel inside. I want so badly to reach over and get the pistol out of my backpack and shoot him right in his face. But I resist. Between them, they have a rifle and a lot of ammunition, plus knives and machetes and who knows what else inside those packs of theirs. Bombs, apparently. “You lied to
me
when you said you weren't with Arc!”

“
We ain't with Arc,” Ben roars. “And your name ain't really Lana Ryan, is it?” He laughs. “Stupid me. I thought that name sounded familiar. Talk about ridin the whore in. Lana Ryan's your mother, ain't she?”

“
You sonofa—”

The hand darts out a third time and it's closed and hard as iron and the hard parts hit me square in the eye and the impact rocks me backward and onto my ass.

“
You ain't Lana Ryan, you devil bitch,” he hisses. “You're her daughter. You're that Jessica Daniels girl, aincha?”

I choke on my tears. “How did you—”

“
How did I know?”

He bends over and wrenches me to my feet, pulling me by the collar of Casey's shirt. It tears down the side, but he doesn't let go. He lowers his face and once more I find myself nose to nose with him, smelling that cloying breath. This time his deep blue eyes are bloodshot and the veins on his forehead pulse like ticking time bombs.

“
They was lookin for you,” he says, and suddenly every last bit of courage drains from my body. “But I found you first.”

 

“Change of plans,”
Ben tells the person on his Link.

I can't see or hear who he's speaking with, but at the moment I don't care. My head hurts too much, and my thoughts are all jumbled. The can of pears I'm pressing against my battered face provides no relief. Casey hands me the other can, but it's only slightly cooler.

“
I'm sorry about Ben,” he whispers. “I don't know what got into him.”

I don't answer. My one eye is quickly swelling. I close them both and focus on not puking.

“
No!” Ben snaps. “Meet up with us on the hill.”

My heart skips a beat. I don't need a mind reader to know he's talking about Jayne's Hill.

“
Because!” he shouts. “No, screw what Paddy thinks. It's time we pulled the Coder.”

Another jolt to my system. He's talking about Micah. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I wonder how surprised he'll be when we get there and he finds Micah is gone.

“
Are you with Arc, or aren't you?” I ask, under my breath. But before Casey has a chance to answer, Ben spins around and points at us.

“
Keep your fat mouth shut, boy, y'hear?”

He turns back around and lifts the Link to his ear. “Damn Casey… We just came from there. We was headin out when we ran into a…an obstacle. Nothing we couldn't handle… No. What do you mean?” He laughs. “Course we didn't do nothing stupid.” He looks over at me and winks. “You'll never guess what we found.”

There's a low murmur from his Link.

“
Not even close. One of yours. Little Miss Muffit, the queen jacker herself.” He looks over at me. “Naw, she ain't talkin—ain't seein much neither at the moment—but don't you worry. I'll get what we need out of her…Don't tell me—”

He listens for a moment, shaking his head, his face getting redder.

“
Just meet us on the hill. I reckon because of me your job just got a hell of a lot easier. You'll be back in your own bed by tomorrow night, out of this stinking hellhole.” He turns away. “Can't say the same for the kids, though.”

I didn't think my hopes could sink any lower. This day just keeps getting worse.

“
Naw, she's alone,” Ben says. “Brave little bitch…Don't know why. Don't really care. Rest of them jackers must be up there on the hill…Naw, going back.”

He wanders over to his pack and rifles through it for a moment.

“
Cocky,” he says, laughing, “the little bitch. Got a mouth on her. Kids these days. They're all like that. Wish Casey was, spineless piece of shit.” He listens for a moment, holding the Link to his ear, rolling his eyes, pantomiming impatience. “Three hours at the most. Not sure how fast the girl is on her feet. She's a little worse for the wear. Think she got more than she bargained for during her little adventure. Don't know yet…No, I told you she was alone.”

There's a crackle on the other end and Ben chuckles and clicks off. Then he strides over to me and picks up my backpack and unzips it and starts to shake it out onto the floor.

“
What are you doing? Stop that!” I say.

He doesn't. The gun falls out, hitting the carpet with a dull thud. He sets the pack aside and snatches it.

“
Funny lookin tampon if you ask me. You sure wouldn't want to be stickin one of these up your twat.”

“
Open your mouth,” I growl. “It'll fit nicely in there.”

He laughs. “And to think I almost felt sorry for you, thinkin you were one of those Forgotten ones, the Left-Behinds. But turns out you ain't. You're just one of them gamers Arc hired.”

“
Arc didn't hire us!”

He slaps me again, backhanding me across the other cheek. My head rocks back and the pain flares and the can of beans goes tumbling out of my hand. “I told you not to lie to me no more!”

He checks my pistol, ejecting the last round and tossing it to Casey. “Hold onto this,” he says. Then he holds the gun up to the window and looks through the barrel. “Thing's useless. Ain't nobody never told you how to take care of your weapons?” He throws it back into the pack, then reaches into a pocket.

“
Whoa, what are these?” he asks, holding up the syringes. “Blood?”

“
Nothing.”

He turns them over in his hands, studying them, holding them up to the light and peering through the viscous liquid inside. After a few seconds, his eyes widen. “Why are you in such a hurry to get back?”

“
That's none of your business.”

“
One of you was bitten, wasn't they?”

I don't answer.

“
Who gave these to you?”

“
No one.”

He pulls back his fist and I flinch. “I said no lyin! Who gave these to you?”

“
A guy, okay? I need them. They're medicine. Please, I need to take them back.”

The grin on his face widens. “Oh, we're going back alright.” He lowers his face to me and the smile looks like a sneer. “I know what these are. I know why you were in such a hurry. And I know who gave these to you.”

I flinch with every word.

“
Which one of you was bitten? Or was it two?”

Again, I don't answer.

“
Wait, Ben,” Casey says, leaning forward. He's unable to restrain his curiosity any longer. “I don't understand. What is it?”

Ben turns to him, his eyes wild with excitement. “Medicine,” he whispers harshly. “Medicine for the living. Poison to the dead.”

Casey looks confused. “What? A cure?”

“
It's not—” I begin, but Ben cuts me off.

He rolls the syringes in his fingers. “Is it just these two doses?”

I nod. “Please, I need one—”

“
Have you seen it work? How do you know it works?”

“
Please, I don't know, I just—”

He sticks the cap of one of the syringes in his mouth and pulls it off. The needle twinkles in the dim light. “Maybe we should test it out, right?” he says through his clenched teeth.

“
What are you doing!” I scream at him, lunging.

“
Hold her,” Ben roars at Casey, as he scrambles out of my reach. Casey grabs me and twists my arm behind my back.

“
Please,” Casey pleads into my ear. “Just hold still.”

But his hands are slick with sweat and I manage to slip out. I drop and spin before he can react, jerking him off balance. He stumbles to his knees with a yelp. As he falls, I drive an elbow into his face and he grunts and falls away. I step into a defensive pose, but my foot twists on the can and I go to my knees. Casey recovers and he shoves me the rest of the way down, yelling for me to stop. “Please,” he says, “I don't want to hurt—”

But the can is in my hand and I slam it against his face. He crumples to the floor and doesn't move.

“
That's enough!
” Ben hisses into my ear. Before I can move, he has me in a headlock, his knee pressing into my kidneys. I can see the needle in his hand, ready to push that serum into my veins. All I can think about is telling him that it won't work.

He grabs my hair instead, yanking my head back. “You did say you were bitten, didn't you?” My bandage slips off. He flings it away in disgust and when he lets go, I try to jerk away. Pain flares inside of my neck. He grabs me again, jerking me to my feet, and I scream in pain. I try to reach up and grab his hand to hold myself up, but he shakes so hard that I lose my balance and fall. Using my own weight against me, he throws me back down onto the floor. It slams into my jaw. Blood fills my mouth. I cough, sputtering, but he's sitting on top of me, pinning me down.

“
That's not for me!” I try to say, but my tongue is fat and numb where I've bitten it and my lips are mashed into the carpet. “You'll just be wasting it! I need it for—”