He sighs and wraps his hand around the back of my neck. “We’re both stubborn and strong-willed. We’ll mess up, but we’ll do it together. You didn’t want to stay, did you?”
“Oh, hell no. Walker is off her nut. Something is wrong with her and I don’t think we need to stick around here any longer than necessary.”
“I think she knows about you and the others.”
“The EVI-3?”
“Yeah. Maybe she can just sense it or who knows, they may have had some intel? Either way, her loyalties to Hamilton make working with her dangerous.”
“Are you ready to be a wanted man?” I ask.
He cracks a grin and it nearly breaks my heart. “With you by my side? Any day.”
Chapter Eleven
Dawn breaks cloudy and cold. The grass out front is coated in frost and I dig up a pair of gloves from the depths of my bag. Jude and Mary Ellen wait near the mailbox, both eager for distance.
Zoe peers through the front window. A deep frown is set on her
heart-shaped mouth. She wasn’t invited.
We know this could be settled right here, but no one wants that to happen. Not us, not Walker or Jackson. It’s the calm before a disastrous storm. The next time we see one another I fear there will be casualties. I honestly can’t think that far ahead.
Walker grabs my arm when I pass her on the porch. “Don’t do this Alex. I’ll have to hunt you down. I have my orders.”
“Do what you have to. We are. Isn’t that where we are in this world right now? It’s about survival. It always has been. Hunting down friends isn’t surviving. It’s just being imprisoned by another dictator. Another Jane. Another Chloe.”
I’m shocked to see her eyes water. “I can’t lose this chance. I want what New Hope has to offer. I need a commander like Hamilton.”
I nod and carefully extract my arm away from her tight grip. “I hope you get what you want. Good luck.”
Chapter Twelve
The distance from Bluefield, Kentucky to Mount Airy, North Carolina is three hundred and seven miles. Straight over the Appalachians. By foot, on my calculations it would take over twenty, fifteen-mile days to get there. That’s time we don’t have now that winter is coming and we’re officially on the run.
The first thing we do after leaving Walker is head for the local high school a mile away. Vehicles pack the parking lot from back when the building was used as an evacuation center. A few Eater’ roam the outsides and I have zero interest in opening up the can of decaying worms on the inside. Unfortunately, a place like this is our best shot at finding a working car, so while Jude and Wyatt search one by one, Mary Ellen and I keep watch.
When Wyatt is out of earshot I ask, “How are you feeling? Like, physically.”
Mary Ellen’s hair is tied in a tight knot at the back of her head. She looks years older since when we met last spring. The innocent Mennonite, in her long dress and childish braids, that I met hiding in that farm house is long gone. Her bright blue eyes carry a haunted look and I notice her pupils grow big every once in a while.
I have a feeling mine do the same.
“You mean the injection?” she asks. I nod. “I can feel it running in my veins. Not as much, but some.”
An Eater lumbers in our direction, getting caught between the tightly packed rows of cars. Like a rat in a maze trying to get to the treat at the end.
“I feel it too—especially when we’re in trouble, you know?”
“Yes, that’s it exactly. When Jude and I were off on our own we ran into a Hybrid—just one. We managed to get the jump on him and took care of him easily. I don’t think the results would have been the same without the injection.” She watches the Eater get past another car. He howls in warning, desperate and a little lame. “Do you think it will stay like this? Like a little bit there?”
I know what she’s asking and why. It’s nice to have a little something extra out here but it’s also not what any of us want. Not in the same way as Hamilton and his keeping the humans pure directive, it’s not like that, but we don’t know what this means. How could it change us and who we are?
“If Jane were here we could ask her.” A strange cloud crosses her face. “What?”
“Have you noticed anything else?” she asks.
“Like what?”