Almost surely not what Dekka wanted. Although, Dekka had never asked, never said anything.
She doubled over with a fit of coughing as she rose from her bed.
She should probably get dressed at least. Put on some clothes, not stagger out into the street wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a purple hoodie. But another round of strangled coughing left her feeling weak. She had to save her strength.
Shoes. Definitely needed shoes. That was the minimum. She shuffled out of her slippers and searched around under the bed for her sneakers. Found them after more hacking and almost lost the will at that point. Sam didn’t need her. Whatever was going on…
Then she noticed the orange glow from the window. She pushed back the curtains. The sky was orange. She saw sparks, like fireflies. She pushed the window open and almost gagged on the smoke.
The town was on fire.
Dekka got her shoes on. She found a scarf and her bucket of fresh water. She drank deeply of the water. It was going to be a thirsty night. Then she plunged the scarf into the rest of the water, soaked it, and tied the soggy mess over her mouth and nose. She looked like a pajama-wearing bandit.
Out onto the street. An amazing, awful, unreal scene. Kids were coming past, alone or in small groups, glancing back over their shoulders. Carrying a few pitiful possessions in their arms.
A girl loaded down with a big bundle of dresses staggered past. “Hey! What’s going on?” Dekka rasped.
“Everything’s burning up,” the girl said, and kept moving.
Dekka let her go because now she spotted a boy she knew. “Jonas! What is this?”
Jonas shook his head, scared. Scared and something else.
“Hey, don’t walk off, I’m talking to you!” Dekka snapped.
“I’m not talking to you, freak. I’m done with all of you. It’s because of you this is happening.”
“What are you talking about?” But she’d already guessed. “Is it Zil did all this?”
Jonas snarled at her, his face transformed by rage. “Death to freaks!”
“Hey, fool, you’re a soldier.”
“Not anymore,” Jonas said, and took off at a run.
Dekka wobbled. She was so weak. So unlike her usual self. But there was no doubt about what she had to do. If kids were running away in one direction she had to head in the other. Into the smoke. Toward the bright orange glow that sent up sudden flares of fire, like fingers reaching for the heavens.
Diana stumbled as she raced to keep up. Caine was pushing the pace. The haggard band of Coates kids trotted along, terrified of being left behind.
She had enough strength to keep up, but barely. And she hated herself for having that strength. And hated Caine for giving it to her. For what he had done. For where he had led them to.
But like the others she raced to keep up the punishing pace.
Across the highway. Smooth concrete under foot. Across the access road, and pelting across the school yard. So bizarre, Diana thought. The school yard where the town kids used to play soccer and try out for cheerleader, and now they were running like no one before had ever run on this overgrown field.
The fire was in the east, a wall of flame down Sherman. Their path lay down Brace Road, just two blocks from the fire. It was a straight shot down Brace to the marina.
“What about Sam?” someone asked. “What if we run into him?”
“Idiot,” Caine muttered. “You think this fire is a coincidence? It’s all part of my plan. Sherman cuts off the western end of town. Kids will run toward the plaza, on the other side of Sherman, or down to the beach. Either way, it’s away from us. And Sam will be there with them.”
“Who’s that?” Diana said. She stopped. Caine and the rest stopped as well. Someone walked straight down the middle of Brace. It was impossible to tell at first whether he was walking toward them or away. But Caine knew the silhouette instantly.
The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. No one else looked like that.
No one.
“No,” he whispered.
“Do we keep going?” Penny asked.
Caine ignored her. He turned to Diana. “Am I…am I crazy?”
Diana said nothing. Her horrified expression gave Caine his answer.
“He’s moving away,” Caine whispered.
Smoke swirled and the apparition was gone.
“Optical illusion,” Caine said.
“So we keep going straight?”
Caine shook his head. “No. Change of plans. We’ll cut through town. Head for the beach, then make our way back.”
Diana pointed a shaking finger at the burning street beyond. “Go through the fire? Or go down streets that are going to be filled with Sam’s people?”
“I have another way,” Caine said. He crossed quickly to a fence around the backyard of the closest house. “We’ll make our own street.”
He raised a hand and the fence bulged inward. With a rending, tearing sound the fence gave way.
“Backyard to backyard,” he said. “Let’s move.”
“We did it, Leader! We did it!” Hank said. He had to shout to be heard over the roar of the flames.
Antoine lay on the ground, crying loudly. He had pulled off his shirt to see the wound in his side. He lay there, fat and jiggly, as he cried about the pain.
“Man up,” Hank said harshly.
“Are you crazy?” Antoine cried. “I have a hole in me! I have a hole in me! Oh, God. It hurts so bad!”
Perdido Beach was burning. At least a big part of it was. Zil climbed atop a Winnebago in the beach parking lot. He could see much of the town from there.
Sherman was ablaze. It looked like a volcano had erupted in the middle of town. And now the flames were advancing toward the center of town along Alameda.
His doing, all of this. His creation. And now they would all know that he was serious. Now they would all know that you didn’t mess with Zil Sperry.
“Take me to Lana,” Antoine moaned. “You guys have to take me to Lana!”
The sun wasn’t up yet, so it wasn’t possible to see the smoke plume, but Zil sensed that it was huge. There was not a star to be seen in the sky.
“Think we got Sam?” Lance asked.
No one answered.
“Should we go back and get more gas?” Turk asked. He, like everyone else, was ignoring Antoine.
Zil couldn’t answer. A part of him wanted to burn it all down. Every last house. Every vacant, useless store. Burn it all down and dance up here atop the Winnebago while it burned.
The plan was to create chaos. And to help the freak Caine to escape.
“Leader, we need to know what to do,” Turk urged.
“Help me,” Antoine moaned. “We gotta stick together, don’t we? Don’t we?”
Hank said, “Antoine, shut up or I’ll shut you up.”
“He burned a hole in me. Look at it! Look at it!”
Hank glanced up at Zil. Zil turned away. He didn’t have an answer to the problem of Antoine.
The truth was, Zil hated seeing wounds of any kind. He’d always been squeamish about blood. And the one quick glance he’d stolen at Antoine’s injury had made him sick to his stomach.
Which probably didn’t help Antoine much.
Hank said, “Come on, Antoine. Come with me.”
“What? What are you…I’ll be good, it’s just that it hurts, man, it hurts so much.”
“Dude, come on,” Hank said. “I’ll get you to Lana. Come on.”
Hank bent low and propped Antoine up as he struggled onto his feet. Antoine shrieked in pain.
Zil climbed down the ladder that was bolted to the back of the Winnebago.
“What do you think, Lance?” Handsome Lance. Tall, cool, smart Lance. If only, Zil thought for not the first time, all Human Crew could look like Lance. Lance reflected well on Zil. Whereas fat, drunken Antoine, Turk with his dragging foot, and Hank with his nasty ferret’s face made it seem that he was surrounded by losers.
Lance looked thoughtful. “Kids are spread all over the place. All confused. What do we do if they decide we were responsible for burning the town and decide to come after us?”