Thud.
Thunk.
Crunch.
The remnants of Evansburg play an ominous song under the tires of Uncle Cassius’s car. Red lights glare in our window, pulsing like blood, then fade as we pass a fire truck.
“How do you know?” Dorian asks. His voice shakes. “How do we know you’re not making this up?”
“Do you think I would turn my own father if this wasn’t true?” Madeline presses her face to the window, trying to see outside. “Or my boyfriend of two years? Or anyone? I have a link with the Deathwind that no one else has. I know what’s going to happen.”
“You could be lying,” Dorian says.
I hope she is, that she’s just nuts. There’s no way I can take her word. I don’t want to take her word. I don’t want it to be true that I’ve done the wrong thing.
But what if she’s not lying?
I look up. I can’t help it.
There’s nothing left here.
We’re driving through an open landfill, not a town. Headlights creep over splintered boards, fallen trees, and garbage in the road. There’s a figure in a yard, leaning over wreckage with a flashlight. I recognize the plaid shirt. It’s Jeff. He’s standing with an old woman who has some framed, cracked pictures—cracked memories--in her arms. Standing close. Keeping guard. Watching for the Deathwind in case it’s coming a night early.
We pass and they disappear into darkness.
I don’t miss the way Madeline stares at them both. Or the way her gaze darts around the inside of the car, searching for an answer. An answer Dorian and I have taken from her.
“Is this enough?” Uncle Cassius asks. “I’m taking Allie out of here, Madeline. And you should stay clear of here, too. They could see you.” Each word gets more forceful, more urgent.
She swallows. Her eyes appear in the rearview mirror, trained on me and Dorian. They’re full of hate. “You’re right. If I call the Deathwind, the old Outbreakers will know I’m here. We’ll have to move on and find another town. Quickly.” Madeline looks up at the oblivion ahead of us. The splintered boards on the side of the road. The debris on the pavement, shredded into wood chips. A little kid’s stuffed animal, crushed under wheels and rain. “How could they have thought to do this?”
Someone steps in front of the car.
Uncle Cassius turns around and guns it.
I’m not sure if it’s for me or for Madeline.
We pass the spinning lights of the fire trucks. Of an ambulance with open doors that is, thankfully, empty.
I curl up in a ball and disappear inside myself. Next to me, leather creaks as Dorian does the same. We’re separate but united in the darkness behind my eyelids.
No one speaks for a long time.
Uncle Cassius slows. I look up. We’re pulling into the driveway of Dorian’s house. The lights are on inside. Someone moves in the kitchen. The door flies open and a figure stands framed in it, waiting. One of Dorian’s parents.
“Allie, if you need to go to the bathroom, do so now,” Uncle Cassius says. “I’m taking you home.”
“Tonight?” I almost leap off my seat. “Why should I believe you? Or anything else I’ve heard?”
Uncle Cassius looks down at the dashboard and away from me. Madeline sits there, waiting. “Please, Allie. You need to be away from all of this. I should have taken you home the night I found you.” He’s clutching the steering wheel. Shaking. Fighting his inner storm. “I’ll come in with you.”
“Fine,” I say. I almost tell him that I’m riding with Tommy the whole time, but keep that to myself. Madeline’s here. If she’s really this desperate to turn more people, this would be the time for her to go after him. As far as I know, she doesn’t know where he is and I’ve got to keep it that way.
I climb out of the car and follow Dorian to the door. He waves his mother out of the doorway and we enter the house. My feet are cement blocks. My eyelids, fire. My throat, sandpaper.
Tommy’s there in the hall. He grabs my hand. We face each other to the tune of hushed voices in the living room. Behind Tommy, the front door’s cracked open, letting in the cool night air.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Fantastic.” I have to tell him about what Madeline said. “Don’t step out of the house. She’s out there waiting in Uncle Cassius’s car.”
“Good to know.” He pulls me farther away from the front door. “Allie.” Tommy squeezes my hand. My heart comes back to life. Jumps through a hoop. “I want you to know…well…”
“Are you ready?” Uncle Cassius appears from around the corner.
We break apart. My uncle’s face is long. Tired. Behind him, Dorian stands against the wall. I can’t read his expression, but Tommy tenses and looks at the door.
I look at Tommy. “I guess. We need to get my stuff.”
We head out to the living room, where my duffel bag sits. Tommy takes our pillows and takes them out to his car. I pick up my bag. Even though I have the strength to lift ten of them, it weighs down on my shoulder like the Earth itself.
“Got everything?” Uncle Cassius asks.
“Yes.” I step towards the door. “I’ll throw it in Tommy’s car.”
“Okay,” he says. “What we’ll do is this. I’ll drive Madeline back to her motel. You guys follow way behind us—and I mean way behind us--and when we get there, park at the Taco Bell on the corner. I’ll meet you there and we’ll drive home.” If there’s any hurt on my uncle’s face, he’s not showing it.
He’s still being nice to Madeline, the one who started all of this. Nicer to her than he is to me. I clench my fists. I don’t get him. This makes no sense. Has the Deathwind screwed up his brain?
I brush past Dorian and his memories on the mantelpiece. He looks at me. His brown and black eyes shine with pain.
I can’t leave without saying goodbye. Dorian’s my friend.
“Dorian, I—“
“Allie,” he says. “We can’t come near each other ever again.”
I suck in a breath. “But—“
“It’s too dangerous,” he says, peeling away from the wall. His expression’s dead. This isn’t Dorian anymore. “We both saw what happened. The next town we do this to won’t be evacuated. People will die. And if one or both of us goes bad, well, I don’t want to think about that.”
“The Outbreakers said they were going to help us find a cure. Maybe we can still work something out where you could—“
“There isn’t a way out. Not right now, anyway.” Dorian stares at the floor. “Madeline has to stop the apocalypse, remember? She’s not going to cure anyone.”
“We can’t even be sure she’s not lying. You know, to try to get us on her side.”
“She hates our guts now,” Dorian says. “We’re the last people she’d cure.”
He’s right. We wrecked the town she grew up in. She has every good reason to hate us. “But how are you going to go to college?”
“I’ll have to wait.”
The pain tightens. I’m going around the real reason for it. “We can’t even, you know, keep in contact?”
He breathes in. Doesn’t answer.
Uncle Cassius grips my shoulder from behind. “We need to go, Allie. Wait until my car pulls away before you two get into Tommy’s. I’ll tell Madeline I’m coming back to pick you up later.”
I turn away and head out the door. Step into darkness and wait.
Tommy and I should take off without him. We know the way home. But once Madeline’s out of the picture, Uncle Cassius might talk more. I need to hear his explanation for all this. I’ll have to ride with him even if it’s just for a little bit.
I watch Uncle Cassius get in with Madeline down by the road, start the car, and speed away like he’s too ashamed to face me any longer.
Tommy comes out slams the door to his car. I cram my stuff inside
and we’re off.
I lean against the car window. Tommy backs up, leaving me one last view of the kitchen window of Dorian’s house, a place I’m never going to see again.
He’s standing there, framed in light.
Watching me go.
He turns off the light and he’s gone.