The Scavengers

  Chapter 15

  “Pilar! Pilar, get up. We have to go!”

  My skin felt like it was on fire. My heavy jacket was suffocating me. I tried to paw it off but when I reached for the sleeves they were gone. My eyes popped open and just as soon as I did, a splitting headache crashed through my skull. I gasped for breath, fighting the pain as it shot through every inch of my body. I wanted to scream but my throat wasn't working.

  I sat up abruptly and had just enough time to realize that some time had passed before a splintering rush of pain blew through my veins and I collapsed back down.

  “Pilar!” Jeb was leaning over me now. His bright blue eyes were wide with fear. “Can you stand?”

  I moaned and curled into a ball.

  “She's not strong enough to run.” Someone picked me up and my first thought was that he smelled like my Dad. I folded willingly against him even though in the back of my head I knew that whoever was carrying me, whoever was running with me, was too strong and too fast to be my Dad.

  “Why is she like this, what did you do to her?” Jeb's high pitched, nearly panicked voice demanded.

  “She had a bad reaction to the rock candy. It happens.” The person carrying me sounded pretty winded, but it was hard to really tell over the screaming.

  Someone was screaming at the top of her lungs. A girl's voice. A voice I recognized. Cya's voice.

  We were still running. I could feel the impact that the person carrying me made every time his feet hit the ground. Every so often he would jump. I couldn't imagine how strong he'd have to be to be carrying me at this speed. The only person I could imagine being this strong was Drake.

  Drake was saving me.

  Cya screamed again.

  “We have to save her.” Jeb had to yell to make himself heard above the screaming.

  “Can't.”

  I had the sensation of falling quite some distance, but the man carrying me landed on his feet with an oomph. It took me a minute to realize we must have just cleared the massive fence that separated Mylon from the outside world. The smell of the river intensified abruptly. “Can you swim?”

  I tried to say no but my mouth wouldn't work.

  “Not great,” Jeb answered. Maybe they hadn't been asking me. I whimpered and curled tighter into my savior's chest. I desperately wanted to close out the sound of the screams and my wish seemed to be in the process of being granted.

  “Can you swim?” Jeb asked. I thought it was a strange question for him to ask Drake.

  “Worry about yourself,” the person I hoped was Drake said. “The water isn't deep this time of year but the current is always strong. Use the rocks to keep from being swept down river. Try to stay on your feet as you make your way across. I can't keep you from being swept away.”

  “I'm not sure if I-,” Jeb hesitated. “What if I drop the radiator?”

  “You have a rope?”

  “Yes. In my pack.”

  “Tie one end of the rope to the radiator and leave the damn thing on this side of the bank until you make it across. Pull it on over after you've made it to safety. You're more important that a rusting hunk of metal.”

  Jeb didn't respond but I assumed he was doing what he'd been told. I struggled again to open my eyes as my rescuer carried me slowly and steadily into what I could only assume was the river. Cold water splashed and then submerged my booted feet. Water ran cold across my legs and then across my hips. My eyes sprung open and I gasped.

  It was late. The sun was setting in a blast of red and orange light against the western sky. The river water was horribly, terrifyingly cold against my burning hot skin. I felt sick. Incredibly sick. I looked up into Drake's golden eyes, hoping to find comfort and reassurance in him. Seth's ruined white eye looked back down at me. Drake wasn't the one carrying me. Seth was.

  I let out a small scream and tried to thrust myself away from him. Seth clasped me so tightly in place that I couldn't flail against him. He stumbled briefly and then regained his footing. “Shit. Don't struggle. You'll drown both of us. Seriously. I can swim but not that fucking well. Especially when I'm carrying someone else.”

  “Let me down.”

  “You can't stand,” Seth said flatly. “Hold onto my neck. Let me focus on getting us across the river to safety and then you can panic.”

  Cya screamed again. She sounded further away this time. The water was up to my chest now and bitterly cold. Seth stood completely still in the river. It took me a minute to realize that he was waiting for me to agree to his terms.

  “I don't want to drown,” I said finally. It took all the strength I had to reach up and put my arms around his neck. My muscles felt like they were being torn to pieces. I had no doubt that Seth was right about me being unable to stand. I pressed my cheek against his shoulder as he shifted the position he was using to carry me.

  “Hold your breath,” Seth said.

  A second later we were underwater. The current was pushing us hard enough that I felt as if I were being torn away from him. His arm was solidly locked around me but I could feel him scrambling for purchase against the rocky river bottom. I realized, with a stark sense of poignancy, that Seth was a lousy swimmer.

  He kept pushing towards the opposite bank. The rocks kept getting in our way and the water kept pushing us back down like dirt pouring in through the mouth of a grave. My lungs were starting to burn. I wanted to gasp. I wanted to scream. I wanted air.

  Someone grabbed my arm and yanked me away from Seth. I gasped as my head surfaced. I was being drug onto the muddy bank of the river. My clothes were pouring water. My hair was covering my face in a tangled swampy mess. I pushed it out of my eyes just in time to see Jeb go back for Seth.

  Jeb grabbed Seth by the back of his shirt and pulled him into the shallow water. His streaked hair had fallen in his eyes and he was coughing up water as he collapsed down onto his knees and elbows.

  “Seth,” I barely realized I had said his name. I crawled across the ground until I reached him. He blinked at me, his good eye surrounded by tangled black eyelashes. Water dripped down his chin and off the tip of his nose.

  “Thanks for not drowning us,” he whispered in between hacking coughs. “You did good, little lamb.”

  “I'm sorry,” I said as I knelt beside him in the water. “I wasn't trying to drown you. I can't swim.”

  “Me neither,” Seth admitted with a reluctant snort. “But we made it.”

  “We did.” I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. “You saved me.”

  “I keep my promises,” he said.

  It took me a moment to remember what promise he was referring to. “I didn't ask you to protect me. I asked you to protect Jeb for me.

  “You asked him to save me?” Jeb appeared beside us abruptly. “Pilar, do you know who he is?”

  “He was the only person around for me to ask,” I muttered. “I couldn't just leave you unguarded. The rock candy hit me hard. I felt invincible for all of thirty minutes and then everything went black and I started to feel like I was literally on fire. Like I was burning to death.” I shivered despite the memory.

  “Are you sure it was the rock candy?” Jeb eyed Seth uncertainly.

  “It happens sometimes,” Seth told him. “The side effects are why I don't let my followers take rock candy crystals. The chemicals used to create them hit too many people the wrong way. You only have to watch one person go crazy on rock candy to lose your appetite for the stuff forever.”

  “Rock candy is safe,” Jeb argued. “Drake told me-.”

  “Drake will say anything he needs to say at the time when he needs to say it,” Seth snapped. He was still struggling to regain his breath. “Why do you think so many Scavengers die horrible deaths?”

  Jeb looked like he was going to argue but then he stopped abruptly. “Drake told me I should kill you on sight.”

  Seth sat back in the water. It was only around 6 inches deep. His long legs were splayed out in front of him and he was leaning back with t
he palm of one hand propping him up. The leather holster he kept his sword in had slipped down around his chest so that the blade was underneath his armpit. He pulled the sword from its holster and held it out to Jeb, hilt first. “Go ahead.”

  “What?” Jeb actually took a step back away from him.

  “I'm tired. I've drank half the river. You'll never have a better opportunity. If you'd been Drake, you would have drowned me as I was trying to get to the bank with Pilar. I was at my most vulnerable then.”

  “I wouldn't have. I couldn't.” Jeb was still staring hard at the hilt of Seth's sword. “At least stand up and fight me.”

  “No,” Seth spoke remarkably calmly, considering the situation. “I promised Pilar I'd watch your back, so I did. You want to cut my heart out of my chest after I helped you, have at me. Drake will be real proud of you. Killing an unarmed man who just went out of his way to save your sorry ass is just his style. Of course, if I were you, I might ask myself one little question before I killed me.”

  “What question is that?” Jeb made no move to take the sword and his voice trembled with uncertainty.

  “Why won't Drake kill me himself?” Seth asked. He quirked his head at Jeb and winked.

  “Maybe you haven't given him the chance,” Jeb said. “Maybe he hasn't had the opportunity.”

  “He's had plenty of opportunities,” Seth said. The water was lapping at the ankles of his boots and I knew he had to be horribly uncomfortable but he was making no move to improve his situation. “Just ask Pilar.”

  “Me?” I blinked at him in confusion.

  Jeb looked at me expectantly. “What is he talking about?”

  I started to say I didn't know but then I remembered the way Seth had stood below the bus on the first night I had met him. Arms wide open, chest exposed, daring Drake to throw a knife at him. Daring Drake to kill him.

  “Jeb, don't.” I moved so that I was between Seth and Jeb. I pushed Seth's sword back into its holster. “He's right. Drake won't kill him. Seth gave him the chance the first night I met him. Drake and I were on the roof of the bus and Seth came out of the woods. Drake threatened Seth and he just stood there in front us and taunted him. Drake could have killed him but he didn't. He didn't even try.”

  Jeb frowned down at me. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” I was sure.

  “Drake told me to kill him on sight. He's the high priest of the Church of Chaos.”

  Seth adjusted the sword's sheath and stood up. He raked both hands through his short, dark hair and gave it a spiked look. It was one of those moments that I knew would forever be burned into my mind. Seth was silhouetted by a sunset so bright that the orange light seemed to burn against the back of his soaking wet leather jacket. His dark jeans clung to his skin and his boots were still mostly hidden beneath the shining blue river. He'd turned the scarred side of his face way from me so that I could only see the bright blue of his good eye, the sensuous curve of his wicked smile and the strength in his squared jaw.

  He was beautiful. My heart nearly stopped beating as my voice caught in my throat. “Seth.”

  He smiled as he turned to face me. The white streak through his hair bled down into the scar that had ruined his eye. I took a step towards him just as a terrified scream echoed out through the night air.

  The three of us turned towards the sound. It was coming from the railroad bridge that Jeb and I had used to enter Mylon earlier in the day. I could make out a three figures climbing the rotted wooden framework that supported the bridge. A massive horde of zombies appeared to be hot on their tails. Some of those zombies were climbing the tresses after them.

  “Shit!” Jeb exclaimed.

  “I didn't think zombies could climb,” I whispered, horrified as watched one of the zombies reach for Shayla and snatch hold of the ankle of her boot. She kicked that one loose but three more came clambering up in its place.

  “You'll be amazed what a zombie will do if it gets hungry enough,” Seth commented quietly.

  “We should try to help them,” Jeb said. He started towards the bridge. Seth caught him by the wrist.

  “Don't.” Seth shook his head at Jeb. “Watch.”

  Jeb tensed visibly but he didn't take another step. He pulled his wrist loose of Seth's grip and then rubbed his skin as if Seth's touch had burned him.

  Drake had made it to the bridge itself now. He laid down on the tracks and reached down for Shayla. She was only a few feet behind him. Drake locked his hands with hers and pulled her up onto the bridge beside him.

  Cya was clearly having more difficulty climbing than the other two had, but she had managed to get more than halfway to the top of the bridge. I could hear her constant, unending screams and moans as she clawed her way across the rotting wood. Her broken leg dangled uselessly from her hip, forcing her to rely completely on her other three limbs.

  Cya's ascent to the top of the bridge was painstaking to watch. The zombies were climbing faster than she could. It was clear they would make the bridge around the same time.

  “What happens when the zombies get on top of the bridge?” Jeb asked.

  “It won't happen,” Seth said flatly. He reached into his pocket and pulled a small object out. He smiled as he flicked the lighter and a flame spurted up despite having been soaked only minutes before. Seth walked towards the railroad bridge. “No zombies will be getting across this river.”

  Shayla cut the rope we'd used to lower ourselves down into Mylon earlier. It fell to the ground and landed amongst the zombies that hadn't managed to start climbing. The rope was torn apart in a matter of seconds.

  Cya had succeed at climbing to the top of the railroad tracks but it was obvious she was having a problem getting over the edge and onto the safety of the actual bridge. “Help me! Drake! Help me!”

  She was frantically waving one hand at Drake. He was less than 2 feet away from her. I watched as he reached out and grabbed her hand. Cya released her grip on the bridge so that Drake could pull her to safety.

  I unconsciously let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding.

  “Oh, thank Jesus.” Jeb said from beside me.

  Drake was holding one of Cya's hands in his own. She swung in the air for a brief moment and I waited for Drake to pull her up. I knew she wasn't very heavy. He'd had no problems carrying her earlier in the day.

  “Why isn't he pulling her up?” Jeb's question echoed my own thoughts.

  Seth stayed silent. He stood with us and yet apart from us as Drake continued dangling Cya in the air. Three of the zombies were clawing the air in efforts to reach her. One actually tried to jump. It fell past her and landed in the horde below. It was torn to pieces in seconds.

  “Help me! Get me up! Help me.” Cya sounded utterly terrified as more zombies began climbing towards her.

  Drake let go of Cya. Intentionally. He laid across the bridge and watched her fall, screaming and terrified, into the waiting zombies below.

  I clapped my hands over my ears so I wouldn't have to hear her screams. My hands did little to keep out the terror in her voice as I watched Drake and Shayla sprint across the bridge to safety. They never looked back at Cya.

  “He dropped her. He fucking dropped her.” Jeb's voice was thick with disbelief. He turned green and dropped to his knees, puking into the river.

  Seth walked over the bridge and very calmly lit it on fire.

  My knees went out from under me. It was odd because I couldn't even remember standing up to begin with. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to fight back the horror I felt as I watched the flames catch the dry, rotted wood and travel upwards through the supports of the bridge. Within minutes the entire railroad bridge was burning as brightly as any funeral pyre ever had. As I watched the flames shoot up into the sky, I knew that last of my innocence was burning up right along with that old bridge.