Wes’s bullet had been better aimed. It had pierced his high olive-skinned forehead and blown out the back of his head. There was nothing Doc could have done, even if he’d been right there with them, a gallon of Heal at his disposal.
Brandt, who now carried in a holster on his hip a boxy, heavy trophy from the encounter, was with Aaron. They were in the tunnel where we would have stored our spoils if it had not been occupied. If it was not being used as a prison again.
As if losing Wes was not enough.
It seemed hideously wrong to me that the numbers remained the same. Thirty-five living bodies, just like before I’d come to the caves. Wes and Walter were gone, but I was here.
And now so was the Seeker.
My Seeker.
If I’d just gone straight to Tucson. If I had just stayed in San Diego. If I had just skipped this planet and gone somewhere entirely different. If I’d given myself as a Mother like anyone else would have after five or six planets. If, if, if… If I had not come here, if I had not given the Seeker the clues she needed to follow, then Wes would be alive. It had taken her longer than me to figure them out, but when she did, she didn’t have to pursue them with caution. She’d barreled through the desert in an all-terrain SUV, leaving bright new scars across the fragile desert landscape, each pass getting closer.
They had to do something. They had to stop her.
I had killed Wes.
They still would have caught me in the first place, Wanda. I led them here, not you.
I was too miserable to answer her.
Besides, if we hadn’t come here, Jamie would be dead. And maybe Jared, too. He would have died tonight, without you.
Death on every side. Death everywhere I looked.
Why did she have to follow me? I moaned to myself. I’m not hurting the other souls here, not really. I’m even saving some of their lives by being here, by keeping Doc from his doomed efforts. Why did she have to follow?
Why did they keep her? Mel snarled. Why didn’t they kill her right away? Or kill her slow-I don’t care how! Why is she still alive?
Fear fluttered in my stomach. The Seeker was alive; the Seeker was here.
I shouldn’t have been afraid of her.
Of course, it made sense to be afraid that her disappearance would bring the other Seekers down on us. Everyone was afraid of that. Spying on the search for my body, the humans had seen how vocal she was about her convictions. She’d been trying to convince the other Seekers that there were humans hiding in this desert wasteland. None seemed to take her seriously. They had gone home; she was the only one who kept looking.
But now she’d vanished in the middle of her search. That changed everything.
Her vehicle had been moved far away, left in the desert on the other side of Tucson. It looked as though she’d disappeared in the same way it was believed I had: pieces of her bag left torn nearby, the snacks she’d carried with her chewed open and scattered. Would the other souls accept such a coincidence?
We already knew they would not. Not entirely. They were looking. Would the search become more intense?
But to be afraid of the Seeker herself… That didn’t make much sense. She was physically insignificant, probably smaller than Jamie. I was stronger and faster than she was. I was surrounded by friends and allies, and she, inside these caves at least, was all alone. Two guns, the rifle and her own Glock-the very gun Ian had once envied, the gun that had killed my friend Wes-were trained on her at every moment. Only one thing had kept her alive until now, and it couldn’t save her for long.
Jeb had thought I might want to talk to her. That was all.
Now that I was back, she was condemned to die within hours whether I spoke to her or not.
So why did I feel as though I was at the disadvantage? Why this strange premonition that she would be the one to walk away from our confrontation?
I hadn’t decided if I wanted to talk to her. At least, that was what I’d told Jeb.
Without a doubt, I did not want to talk to her. I was terrified to ever see her face again-a face that, no matter how I tried, I could not imagine looking frightened.
But if I told them I had no desire for conversation, Aaron would shoot her. It would be like I’d given him the order to fire. Like I’d pulled the trigger.
Or worse, Doc would try to cut her out of the human body. I flinched away from the memory of the silver blood smeared all over the hands of my friend.
Melanie twisted uneasily, trying to escape the torment in my head.
Wanda? They’re just going to shoot her. Don’t panic.
Should this comfort me? I couldn’t avoid the imagined tableau. Aaron, the Seeker’s gun in his hand; the Seeker’s body slowly crumpling to the stone floor, the red blood pooling around her…
You don’t have to watch.
That wouldn’t stop it from happening.
Melanie’s thoughts became a little frantic. But we want her to die. Right? She killed Wes! Besides, she can’t stay alive. No matter what.
She was right about everything, of course. It was true that there was no way the Seeker could stay alive. Imprisoned, she would work doggedly to escape. Freed, she would quickly be the death of all my family.
It was true she had killed Wes. He was so young and so loved. His death left a burning agony in its wake. I understood the claim of human justice that demanded her life in return.
It was also true that I wanted her to die.
“Wanda? Wanda?”
Jamie shook my arm. It took me a moment to realize that someone had called my name. Perhaps many times already.
“Wanda?” Jeb’s voice asked again.
I looked up. He was standing over me. His face was expressionless, the blank facade that meant he was in the grip of some strong emotion. His poker face.
“The boys want to know if you have any questions for the Seeker.”
I put one hand to my forehead, trying to block the images there. “If I don’t?”
“They’re ready to be done with guard duty. It’s a hard time. They’d rather be with their friends right now.”
I nodded. “Okay. I guess I’d better… go and see her at once, then.” I shoved myself away from the wall and to my feet. My hands were shaking, so I clenched them into fists.
You don’t have any questions.
I’ll think of some.
Why prolong the inevitable?
I have no idea.
You’re trying to save her, Melanie accused, full of outrage.
There’s no way to do that.
No. There isn’t. And you want her dead anyway. So let them shoot her.
I cringed.
“You okay?” Jamie asked.
I nodded, not trusting my voice enough to speak.
“You don’t have to,” Jeb told me, his eyes sharp on my face.
“It’s okay,” I whispered.
Jamie’s hand wrapped around mine, but I shook it off. “Stay here, Jamie.”
“I’ll come with you.”
My voice was stronger now. “Oh, no, you will not.”
We stared at each other for a moment, and for once I won the argument. He stuck his chin out stubbornly but slouched back against the wall.
Ian, too, seemed inclined to follow me out of the kitchen, but I stopped him in his tracks with a single look. Jared watched me go with an unfathomable expression.
“She’s a complainer,” Jeb told me in a low voice as we walked back toward the hole. “Not quiet like you were. Always asking for more-food, water, pillows… She threatens a lot, too. ‘The Seekers will get you all!’ That kinda thing. It’s been hard on Brandt especially. She’s pushed his temper right to the edge.”