Délon City: Book Two of the Oz Chronicles (16 page)

Cheetos.

“There he is,” Wes said. “King of kings.”

“Devlin,” I said. “Where is he?”

“In the van,” Wes replied. “Out like a tanked-up frat boy.” “We need to get him in here,” I said. I went for the door. “Now hold on... hold on.” Wes gave Lou a look like I had lost

my mind. “Them Délons is heavier that a ton of bricks with a ton bricks piled on top of them. Why in the world would we want to drag his purple butt up in here for?”

“I’ve got an idea,” I said.

“Now I’m all kinds of happy for you there, Oz, but my old back’s got some ideas of its own, and it ain’t got nothing to do with lifting nothing heavy.”

“What idea?” Lou asked.

I looked at her. She hadn’t changed into a Délon during the Dac attack. She couldn’t be one. I had no idea what Canter was mouthing off about in my trip to the future, but Lou wasn’t a Délon. I suppose that didn’t mean she wasn’t a Délon spy, but she wasn’t part of the collective at any rate.

“Délons don’t like the cold,” I said.

“Well, hell, anybody with a pea size brain knows that.” Wes said.

“No, it’s more than that. They lose themselves in the cold. They lose each other. They’re not part of the collective. They may even become more human.” I was so excited, I was talking a mile a minute.

“You’ve been out of the picture for a while now, junior,” Wes said walking around the counter. “It don’t get cold no more. Not winter cold. In fact, last year, right after you took out the Taker Queen, the temperatures did nothing but go up. Shirtsleeve weather from there on out. It’ll dip in the forties from time to time, but thems some rare days.”

“It was cold on Monteagle yesterday,” I said “Snowing, and the snow was sticking.”

Lou thought it through. “You’re right. I don’t know why I didn’t pay more attention to it, but it was.”

“And Devlin’s been different ever since,” I said. “He’s lost touch with the collective.”

Wes grabbed a stick of beef jerky from a nearby canister. “Come to think of it, it has been a might colder this winter.” He stuck the jerky in his mouth and tore off a chunk, all the while maintaining his dip of tobacco perfectly in his lower lip. “That don’t explain why you want to drag that purple pile of crap in here.”

“There’s a walk-in freezer in the back.”

“So,” Wes said.

“So,” Lou said jumping off the corner. “We need to get Devlin in the freezer.”

“What good would that do?” Wes protested.

“It will tell us what freezing temperatures do to the Délons,” I said. “It could be a way to beat them.”

Wes gave it some thought. “What if it kills him? You willing to take that risk? You were keen on keeping him around before because he was Devlin.”

I said, “It’s a chance we have to take.” I walked out of the convenience store before I could think about it. I was willing to sacrifice one of my old warriors for the greater good. I didn’t want to give myself time to back out.

***

We put Devlin in the freezer and waited. Some of us waited better than others. The dogs lounged around in the convenience store parking lot. Kimball kept a close eye on his troops. Wes found a cot in the manager’s office and decided he needed a nap. Gordy was busy bossing Valerie and Tyrone around. He had made the decision that he was not going to be last in the pecking order. As long as he barked orders at the two younger kids, he felt like he was in charge of something even though they weren’t really listening to him.

Lou kept her distance from me. She had sensed that there was something wrong in our relationship. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew I needed my space. I knew she wasn’t a traitor. She couldn’t be. I knew it in my heart of hearts, but I still needed some time alone to sort out what my next move would be.

I sat in the back storage area flipping through a Stephen King book that must have belonged to one of the former convenience store workers. It was
The Stand
, and it was as thick as a brick. It was about a super flu that wiped nearly everybody out. I could relate. There were good guys and bad guys and a whole lot of scary stuff on just about every page. I decided that once everything got back to normal I was going to read the book.

I leaned back on a box of toilet paper and to my surprise dozed off. It was unexpected. I was so tired I didn’t even know I was tired. When I slept, I left that convenience store. I don’t know where I went. I didn’t dream. I just slept. It was a deep disappearing sleep, like I was invisible. I knew it was rare even while it was happening. I heard a voice in my head saying, “This is peace. Remember it.”

The peace didn’t last. I was torn from my deep sleep by the sound of Devlin screaming. I instinctively knew it was him. I stumbled to my feet and raced to the walk-in freezer. I was met there by the others.

“The poor sucker’s awake,” Wes said.

“You think?” Gordy said sarcastically.

“What do we do?” Lou asked.

Tyrone and Valerie huddled together. They were both in midchew on candy bars scared out of their minds.

I cleared my throat. “I go in,” I said.

“Wait a minute,” Wes said. “Wait just a damn minute. That ain’t the smartest idea you’ve ever had. You don’t know what state he’s in. If he’s still a Délon, well then he’s one pissed off Délon because we locked him in a freezer.”

“Yeah,” I said, “And if he’s Devlin... Just plain Devlin, I mean, he’s going to need our help, and we can’t help him from this side of the door.”

“Wes is right,” Lou said. “You can’t just walk in there.” She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small handgun. “Take this.”

“Whoa!” Gordy said.

Tyrone stepped in closer. “Cool!”

Wes ripped the gun from her hand. “Cool, nothing. Where in tarnation did you get this thing?”

Lou cast her eyes down to the floor. A look of shame engulfed her. “I found it in the manager’s office.”

“A gun ain’t nothing to be trifled with,” Wes said. His voice was low and even, but his sense of outrage was evident. “If you ain’t never used one of these things, you’re more likely to kill yourself than what you’re aiming at.”

“A gun beats a knife any day,” Gordy said smugly.

“Boy,” Wes said stepping toward him. “I’ve had just about enough of your lip. I’m the adult here. You understand? What I say goes, and I say ain’t none of you kids going to carry a gun.” He turned to the freezer. “Step back. I’m going in.”

“No,” I protested.

“Son, that smart-ass friend of yours is right. A gun beats a knife any day of the week, and since I’m the only one here who’s fired one of these things before, I’m the one who’s taking it into that freezer and seeing if old Devlin is a crazy-mad Délon or some poor little kid freezing his ass off.”

“But,” I said.

“But nothing. This ain’t up for debate. You done a lot of leading up to this point, Oz, but it’s my turn, you understand?”

I hesitated. I did understand. I knew he had to do this, and I knew why. I said nothing and backed away from the door.

Wes took a deep breath, gave his unshaven chin a stroke with his callused hand, and then opened the freezer door. “Close it behind me so... Nothing can get out.” With that, he entered the freezer and Gordy quickly pushed the freezer door shut.

We waited for what seemed minutes, but was probably more like thirty seconds. There wasn’t a sound from the other side of the door. At one point Lou put her hand on the door handle. I removed it gently. She tried to nod and smile, but she couldn’t quite pull it off.

Gordy broke the silence. “Now that I think about it, I ain’t too sure a gun will do much good against a Délon.”

“Gordy,” I said. “Shut up!”

“What?” he asked. “I’m just saying they got thick skin. Purple Pete’s liable to get even madder if Mr. Redneck Goodwrench in there tries to shoot him.”

“We should go in,” Lou said.

“No! We wait!” I yelled it without conviction. I wanted to go in the freezer as much as she did.

The door opened. Wes’s fat head popped out. “You best get in here,” he said looking at me.

I swallowed and did as Wes requested. I stood in the doorway and peered through the fog of the chilled air. My eyes adjusted and I could see that the walls and shelves in the freezer were covered in oozing purple chunks of... Délon. “What...”

“He exploded,” Wes said. “Best I can figure anyway.” I dropped my head. “We killed him.”

“We killed a Délon,” Wes said. For the first time, I noticed Wes wasn’t wearing his coat. He pointed to the back corner of the freezer. “But old Devlin is still alive and kicking.”

Huddled in the corner, underneath Wes’s coat, a naked Devlin trembled and cried silently. I rushed to him and knelt down. “Devlin!”

He looked up at me. He was covered in the purple ooze and it was starting to freeze. “Hey, boss man,” he said.

“Devlin,” I repeated. I didn’t know what else to say. He was Devlin again. His chubby face was scarred a little and his eyes were still a little milky white, but I could make out the gray-blue tint around the pupils “You’re back.”

“I am?” he said. “Back?”

“You’re not a Délon anymore.” I looked up at Wes. “We need to get him out of here.”

Devlin grabbed my arm. “Can’t leave, boss.”

“What do you mean you can’t leave?”

“You’re going to freeze to death in here, boy,” Wes said.

“They’ll find me out there,” Devlin said. His trembling intensified.

“Who...” I corrected myself because I knew who. “How?”

“I can hear them out there,” he said confused. “They’ve been looking for me... for us for a long time. We got cut off.”

“Wes is right, you’ll freeze to death in here.”

“I’d rather freeze to death than have them find me,” he answered. He twitched suddenly and tried to make himself smaller. “Don’t let them find me.”

I didn’t know what to do. Leaving him in the freezer was cruel, but letting the Délon collective hone in on him outside the freezer seemed even crueler. I looked at Wes for guidance, but the expression on his face told me he was just as lost as I was.

I stood. “Let’s find a towel or something to wipe that stuff off you, and then get you in some warm clothes at least.”

He nodded.

Wes darted out of the freezer in search of a towel and clothes.

“They’re losing control,” Devlin said.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m the enemy, Oz. You need to interrogate me.”

“You’re Devlin. You’re not the enemy.”

“I’m a Délon... At least there’s still a little Délon deep inside of me. You need to get all the information out of me before...” He stopped.

“Before what?”

“You know what.”

“If you’re talking about dying, I’m not going to let that happen...”

“Shut up, Oz!” His voice trembled from anger not the cold. “You can’t save everybody. Your hero rap was getting tired when we were fighting the Takers. It’s twice as bad and useless now. Worry about the people worth saving.”

“You’re not worth saving?”

“I’m a bad kid who did a few good things in his life. You should be fighting for the good kids who may have done a few bad things in their life.”

“What’s the difference?”

He laughed. “I have no idea. That’s why I was never cut out for this hero crap.”

Wes walked in with a towel and clothes. He tossed the towel to Devlin. “Wipe that mess off.”

Devlin stood on wobbly legs and started to wipe himself down with the towel. “Like I said, they’re losing control.”

I cleared my throat. I didn’t want to interrogate him, but he was right. “Why?”

“They don’t know. They’ve ruled for almost a year now with no problems, but about a month ago the temperatures started to drop. They were able to keep them in the 90s until then.”

“That’s why they want their Source,” I said.

“Exactly. They control the source, they control everything.”

“What’s the Source?” Wes asked.

“Don’t know,” Devlin said tossing the sloppy purple towel to the freezer floor. He stepped into a pair of long underwear. “None of them know either.”

I looked at him finding myself not being able to believe that his stocky frame was a sleek Délon frame less than an hour ago. “But they think I know?”

“They think you’re the key to everything.”

“Me?”

“You’re the way to the Source. That’s all they know.” He pulled on a pair of pants. His legs were visibly shaking, and he had to prop himself up against the wall.

“That’s why they want to make me king?”

He chuckled. “They have no plans to make you king. Roy set his sites on that position from the beginning. He killed the Pure in order to become king, but the Royal Council turned him down flat until he finds the Source. Once he does, he’s set.”

“The Pure?” Wes asked.

“The Pure. The only pure Délon. He didn’t start as a human. He was always Délon. You think Délons like me... or like I used to be are big uglies, you should have seen this guy. Makes Roy look like a boy scout. That’s why the Royal Council looked the other way when Roy killed him, but they had no idea that the Pure held everything together.”

“So, Roy kills the Pure, and the Délons lose control of their weather?” I asked.

“Not just the weather. Everything’s out of control.” Devlin wrapped himself in a big coat and sat on a five-gallon bucket labeled Friar Lard. “Dacs didn’t show up until about a month ago. Skinners are multiplying faster than we can keep up. And you may have noticed the time shifts.”

I nodded. “I noticed.”

“None of that happened when the Pure was alive. He kept everything in line, if you know what I’m saying.”

“I get the idea,” I said. “So what do we do?”

“Oh no,” he smiled. “I’m just the messenger. You’re the hero. You’ve got to figure all that out on your own. The only thing I’ll say is don’t trust the time shifts. You don’t always know when they’re happening, and the people or freaks you meet in time shifts aren’t always there to help you.”

I sighed. I was running out of questions to ask him, and I knew once I did, I would have to decide what I was going to do with him. I wanted to put that off as long as possible. “What about...” I hesitated. I turned to Wes. “Can I have a minute alone with Devlin?”