Chapter 18
We arrived back at the parking lot and a wave of relief washed over me as I saw Faith and Jonah right where we left them sitting comfortably in the back of Josh’s Jeep. Twilight took hold as we crossed the parking lot. I squinted to see the outlines of Faith and Jonah’s heads through the glass. I smiled, remembering a time when I would have felt gut-wrenching anxiety at seeing Faith and Jonah tucked in a back seat together. With disaster on the horizon, both their feelings were the least of my worries.
“I’ll move the Jeep farther down the road before I head out again,” said Josh as we arrived at our respective doors.
“How long do you think you’ll be gone? When should we start to worry?”
“Worry about what?” said Jonah.
“We found Ivan, Tatiana, and Waynesburg. Josh is going back to steal the remote for the drill,” I said.
“That’s great, right?” said Faith, leaning towards me.
“It could get complicated. We can’t afford to underestimate Ivan. He’s not liable to be guarding something he values so much with nothing more than an alarm and his wits,” said Josh.
Hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I felt as though someone watched us.
“We’ll go with you then.” Jonah’s eyebrows arched with eagerness.
“Yeah, now that you’ve scoped the place, you can use us for something,” said Faith.
“California doesn’t exactly need more forest fires,” I said looking down the bridge of my nose at Faith’s casual attitude.
“I work best alone anyway. Brute force isn’t the way to go here. I’ll disarm the trip wire, sneak into the trailer, find the remote, and slip back out. If I’m gone longer than an hour, leave and go back to the cave for the others. If I can’t get this remote, then we can’t stop that earthquake, and we need to get the hell out of town,” said Josh.
“We won’t leave you with Ivan,” said Faith.
“Don’t worry about me. The worst thing he’ll be able to do is detain me. He can’t shoot, stab, freeze or burn me. If he wants to take me out, it’s going to take time and planning on his part,” said Josh.
“So if you’re caught, run. If he shoots, so what?” said Jonah.
“He doesn’t want to lead them back to us,” I said.
Josh smirked and started his Jeep. “It’s going to be fine. I know what I’m doing.”
We pulled out of the parking lot and drove about halfway back to the highway. Josh turned onto an access road blocked off by a metal fence and a cattle grid.
I looked into the back seat at Jonah and Faith. I wanted to see their expressions to gauge their mood. Both looked anxious. I turned back to Josh as he shut the engine off and something moved outside his window. I strained to make out features. Thorn!
I shrieked as the horrible decayed mouth and tangled matted mane came into focus. Josh stared at the gate ahead. Thorn opened the driver’s door and grabbed a fistful of Josh’s shirt. Thorn yanked Josh out of the vehicle. My door popped open. The tattooed Victoria street girl gripped my bicep and flexed her forearm, bringing life to her giant tarantula tattoo.
The spider raced from its owner’s flesh, up my shoulder and onto my neck.
“Get it off! Get it off!” I screamed.
I felt the pinpricks of the creature’s legs and a sharp pain as the spider’s fangs sank into my skin. The world went black.
I blinked groggily coming back to consciousness in front of a campfire. I sensed bodies around me. I felt my arms pinned behind me, secured by something I couldn’t interpret through the fog of anesthesia.
My vision regained clarity slowly, blink after blink, heartbeat after heartbeat. We were all tied up around the campfire. Josh’s dark beard stubble, Jonah’s glossy black hair, and Faith’s springy dreads were struck dramatically with firelight.
Each of us was secured to tent chairs with Thorn’s sticky silken webbing wrapped around us like grotesque cocoons. Jonah stayed unconscious, his head drooped listlessly forward. Josh jolted awake, gained his bearings, and squinted at something behind me. Faith roused slowly.
I looked down at my chest to evaluate the condition of my cocoon. The revolting material had the consistency of a spider’s nest with the strength of fishing twine. I could move only enough to flex my arms and suck air into my lungs.
“Wake up kids,” said a woman’s voice I didn’t recognize.
“Welcome to California!” said a more familiar voice.
I looked up to see the white-haired man from my vision. Waynesburg.
I turned my head to see the tattooed woman standing next to me. My nerves seized and relaxed again. I noted her crossed arms and placid face. I saw no sign of Thorn, Ivan, or Tatiana.
I tried to levitate myself, but nothing happened. I focused on each of my friends, but nothing happened. Faith concentrated on the campfire, having as much luck me.
“I have to thank you for coming to visit us tonight. If it had been my call, Thorn would have killed you both,” Waynesburg said. “After he smelled you in the wind, I would have given him the green light to kill your entire little troop. Irina, you’re lucky your father still wants you alive. Hell, you’re all lucky to be prisoners instead of dead bodies. Ivan is still willing to make a place for all of you in the new variant world. Since your little pack of renegades is so determined to interfere, you’ve given us an excuse to accelerate our timeline. Ivan is so eager to test my drill. I’ve been waiting years myself. Admittedly, I have my reservations about hitting the button a little early.”
“You can’t!” I croaked. I whipped my head around looking for Ivan, Tatiana, and Thorn. They were all gone. I knew without asking they were on their way to the Sutro Baths cave.
“The city! Those people!” blurted Faith.
“Why is Ivan risking exposure here?” said Josh.
“There’s no risk, you idiot. California has earthquakes all the time. No one’s going to go looking for a cause. We will be at a safe distance. I can’t say the same for whoever you left to guard the drill.”
Scathing hate filled Faith’s voice. “People like you make my skin crawl. You’re so selfish. You think nothing of ruining an entire planet for billions of people.”
“That’s the plan. But, you know what’s coming,” said Waynesburg.
“What makes you think you can remake the world with any measure of control?” I asked.
“Science. You kids really aren’t too bright, are you?”
“Okay, you’ve had years to plan. Say your science is right on the money. You’ve got the best kung-fu in town. Good for you. How can you justify it?” said Josh.
“I don’t have to justify myself to you. Any of you.” Waynesburg looked around at us.
“Ivan is nuts, so let’s write him off entirely. But you, you’re a human being with a conscience. Are you even a variant? How can you be sure Ivan will let you join his club in the new world order?” I asked.
“Why don’t you let me worry about my fate, sweetie?”
“Sir, what do you want us to do with the rebels until morning?” said the tattooed girl.
“My friend needs water. He’s aquakinetic. He’ll die if he doesn’t stay hydrated,” I said.
Waynesburg ignored me. “Split them up. Have Rose and Sage carry them up to those hills. Make sure they’re all a long way from civilization.”
“Rose and Sage?” said Faith.
“Are you listening? Jonah could die! He needs water.” I raised my voice.
Our pale winged friends both stepped out of the darkness. The orange firelight, hid the blue hue of their skin, but their pale platinum hair shone like spun gold. They wore identical pale pink dresses and specially tailored dark brown leather jackets the same texture as their wings.
They flexed and closed their wings in unison. Faint snaps and cracks popped from a far off point in the forest. Help for us? Or more malicious variants? I seemed to be the only one who heard the sounds. I tried my best version of a poker face as the twins eyed me.
“What are you doing with these assholes?” yelled Faith.
“You can’t be on their side!” I shouted.
I looked at Faith with incredulity, trying to fuel her rage while I strained to hear sound from the trees.
“Have you seriously never considered what our lives are like? Living around human society, but never in it,” said Rose.
“Everyone but us gets to have a life. We’re sick of it,” said Sage.
“Why do you suddenly get to put yourselves before every other person on this planet?” I said. If help was coming, I wanted an argument with the twins drowning out any footsteps in the forest.
“Peter’s right. We don’t have to justify ourselves to you,” said Rose.
“No, let’s talk justification.” Sage gestured aimlessly at the world around her as she walked towards me. “Ivan is your father. Both you and Ilya are betraying your own blood. For them.”
“I
am
them,” I said.
“Well we’re NOT!” shouted Sage. Crackling underbrush echoed somewhere close.
A visceral animal snarl like something from an enraged wild cat erupted in the dark, somewhere right outside the campsite. Was Thorn still around, lurking out of sight? The snarl rumbled into a deep growl and stopped.
“Shut up! There’s something out there,” said the tattooed girl.
“Thorn went with the Krylovs,” said Rose as she looked around cautiously.
A swooping
WHOOOMP
cut through the air. A tree trunk whizzed over our heads knocking Sage, Rose, and Waynesburg to the ground. The treetop grazed the trailer scratching the siding with an ear-piercing
SQUEEEEEE
.
Sage and Rose stumbled to their feet and took off together, disappearing into the night. Waynesburg lay unconscious on the ground, bleeding profusely from a head wound. Reflected firelight danced on the growing pool of blood beneath him. The tattooed girl was nowhere in sight.
“Is everyone all right?” Cole stepped into the campsite.
“You are the best big brother a girl ever had.” Faith smiled at him.
“How about getting this foul crap off us?” said Josh.
Cole ripped away the back of Josh’s sticky cocoon.
“Jonah’s still out cold,” I said. “The girl with the tattoos had a spider that bit me and knocked me out. I don’t know what knocked him out.”
Cole freed me and moved on to Faith. I ran to the picnic table and grabbed a bottle of water. I cracked it and gently tipped it into Jonah’s sleeping mouth.
“It was the girl. She got all of us except Josh,” said Faith.
Cole reached Jonah and removed his cocoon gently, placing him on the ground afterwards. I resumed trying to get Jonah to drink. A few moments later his eyes flickered open. I hugged him. I felt Cole’s stare bore into my back. I didn’t turn to face him.
Ilya stepped into the campsite and I realized the snarl we’d heard had been one of his illusions.
“Speaking of the world’s greatest brother! How did you know?” I said.
“When you screamed for something to get off you, it caught my attention. You come in louder than most of course, even from a hundred miles,” said Ilya.
Suddenly my chair started quivering. The trailer began to tinkle and crack. The plates on the picnic table rattled. Nausea surged up inside me. The ground, the air, and everything around me vibrated. Cole shielded Faith as a branch came down from one of the tall pines overhead. Cole caught the branch and threw it back into the forest.
“Oh shit!” Faith covered her nose and mouth with both hands.
“Was that what I think it was?” I said, frowning as I tried to listen for something, anything.
“That was an earthquake,” said Cole, hanging his head, dejected.
“It wasn’t so bad,” I said.
“Here, no,” said Ilya.
“Damage in rural areas is often minor, even when the epicenter is close. It’s the urban areas which usually suffer. The shaking didn’t last for even a full minute, so the damage shouldn’t be that bad. Let’s pray there are no aftershocks,” said Cole.
“We should go back to the cave for the others,” said Faith.
“We need to get Jonah to a hospital,” I said.
“No, I’m fine.”
“He’ll have to wait in line behind people with life threatening injuries. They can’t offer him any useful treatment. We’re better off to try to keep hydrating him ourselves,” said Josh.
“Can we even get back into San Francisco?” I asked.
“We should at least try,” said Ilya.
“What do we do now, after we meet up with Nellie, Bruno, Ralph, and Adelaide? We’ve failed,” I said.
“We should still go to the NCEDC at Berkeley. We can’t undo what just happened, but we can warn them the technology exists. This is still only the beginning,” said Cole.
“I don’t know if I can face the city. What if buildings came down? Real people could be dying, trapped in rubble . . . and we could have stopped it. What if a tsunami is coming?” I fought a lump in my throat.
“Like I said, the damage won’t be that bad with such a short quake. Worry when the shaking lasts more like four minutes. That’s when you’ll get an epic wave,” said Cole.
“Save the melodrama for later. We still need to move quickly. Now!” Ilya gestured toward the trail.
I helped Jonah to his feet, hanging on to his waist, pulling one of his arms around my shoulders. I relished the excuse to be close to him. I felt foolish at failing to release my feelings for Jonah. Since the moment we met, all I’d wanted was to be close to him. First, I thought he’d never look twice at me. Then fate turned his toxic touch to an inability to be touched. Resentment at my luck crept into my heart and I took a deep breath to steady myself. Anger wasn’t going to help anyone.
“Come on, follow me. I left quite the path in here. I’m parked next to Josh’s Jeep,” said Cole.