* * * * *
We run through a cornfield where the stalks only come up to our shins.
Then another field that’s sprouting grass.
Finally, we reach a thick clump of trees. My sides are about to burst by now. I pant, sucking in burning air.
“I have to stop,” I say, leaning against a tree. We’re covered enough so that I don’t think Jeff and his cronies can see us.
Dorian stops also, watching as Tommy and I keel over with exhaustion. I sit down, but my heart still tries to slam its way out of my chest. My lungs are on fire. I breathe in coolness and rest. Right now, I don’t care if Jeff catches up with us. I just need to sit down for a second. “If I can pick up heavy stuff now, why can’t I freaking run?”
“Running and super strength are two different things,” Dorian says. “None of us Outbreakers are natural marathon sprinters. I wish I was. We need to keep moving.”
“Good to know.” I stand. He’s right.
Tommy looks back to the field. “That Jeff guy’s got to be driving after us. And I don’t think I can jack his SUV.” He extends his hand to me. “Allie, come on. I really don’t want you going down in history for wiping a whole town off the map. They can find someone else if they really have to.” He’s scared for me. With me.
I stand. “I don’t, either. Come on.”
We walk along the edge of the trees, all three of us panting and just trying to catch our breath. We’re leaving Dorian’s parents and his house farther behind us. Leaving Evansburg and its people behind us…
I stop. Tommy and Dorian do, too.
Dorian coughs. “You’re not actually thinking of going back to Jeff?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “You heard what Jeff said. If we don’t go through with this, everyone in Evansburg’s going to get turned. To be honest, I can’t think of a better way to stop it. I can’t just leave those people for the Deathwind to get.”
“Allie, please,” Tommy says. He grips my arm, pulling me away from Dorian. Even though I’m strong enough to resist, I let him. “Heck, lighting the whole town on fire would be better than this. Let them do that. I’ll even go back and suggest it to them. Then you won’t have to do this. And what might you and Dorian merging again do to you? What if you lose your mind again and it never comes back? Or if something weird happens and you can’t return to human form? We’re dealing with something dangerous. I don’t like this. You might not be the same afterwards. What are all these transformations doing to you on the inside?”
“I’m still the same Allie,” I insist. “You’re not going to Jeff. They might take you captive or even hurt you to get to me. I’m not going to have that happen to you.” Tommy and I stand face-to-face. We’re inches apart. I take his shoulders and squeeze them. My heart’s pounding. I can smell Tommy’s aftershave now. Our gazes meet and we draw closer--
“Hear that?” Dorian turns in a circle.
Tommy and I separate. My heart stops.
I listen.
An engine rumbles closer and closer in the quiet.
Dorian looks around like a deer in the sights of a predator. He pales. There’s no way he’s going to go willingly.
“Duck,” he says, running for some underbrush.
“Allie, hide!” Tommy says, pulling on my arm.
We scramble for it. Duck down. I huddle near Tommy and we exchange looks of horror. The engine gets closer.
A second engine joins the first one, higher and whinier. Two vehicles. Jeff’s called in backup.
“There he is.” Tommy's words are hot on my ear.
A large, black shape crawls along the outside of the trees like a bear circling its prey. It bounces up and down on the uneven ground. I could run to it and back while holding my breath, it’s so close.
The SUV stops.
I swear.
We wait. The underbrush blocks out everything except for dots of blue sky and splatters of green field. And the shadow.
The second engine draws up behind us and idles. They have us blocked in.
Dorian and I are going to destroy Evansburg tomorrow.
God.
The door to the SUV opens. The vehicle makes a dinging sound that's so normal, I almost want to laugh.
“Kids,” Jeff says into the air. He speaks with patience, with understanding. “We're not trying to be the bad guys here. We don't want to treat you like prisoners. You don't deserve that. If anyone deserves to feel bad about this, it's Madeline. She's the one who drove us to this. She's left us no choice.”
There's real regret in Jeff's voice.
“Just know that when you do this, you'll be saving a hundred people from something the two of you know all too well,” he continues. “In exchange for your services, we will help you find Madeline again. That's my promise to you. Maybe she knows a cure for being an Outbreaker if she's in charge of that force. Most of the Outbreakers in town will be helping you.” Jeff talks from somewhere deep, somewhere personal. “A cure is something a lot of us will be seeking from her if it's possible.”
I suck in a breath.
Stand up.
I know I’m hurting Tommy, but the only other choice is to let all of Evansburg suffer my fate.
“Allie. Come back,” Tommy whispers.
“I can’t. What else am I supposed to do?” Jeff won’t want to burn down the whole town. The Outbreakers would never get away with it without going to jail.
Nobody’s going to think a tornado is suspicious.
I walk away from Tommy and Dorian. I’m along for the ride. I try not to think about what I’m going to do tomorrow. I have to keep my mind on the people we’re saving.
Jeff stands near the SUV. He’s not smiling. His face doesn’t change when his gaze lands on me.
Dorian appears next to me, fists clenched. “Where are my parents?”
“They’re fine.” He looks in the direction of Dorian’s yard. “We’re just making sure they don’t leave the house until your job is done. They’ll be okay, I promise. We can’t have them interfering with this. It’s too emotional for them. Too many people are depending on us.”
It’s done. I can tell from the silence that follows. The way that Dorian looks at the ground. The way he deflates, leaving a shell in his place.
He opens the back door of the SUV and climbs in.
“Allie.” Jeff nods to me.
I breathe in and force it out, all too aware that Tommy’s standing next to me, silent and waiting. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Seventeen