Savage Drift

^{CHAPTER SEVENTEEN} DEAN

I woke to the screech of brakes and Rocco’s loud voice, “Pit stop number two. Vinita, Oklahoma. Wake up. We leave here in fifteen minutes.”

Pit stop number one had been three hours earlier in Durant, Oklahoma.

We had spent twenty-five dollars on four ham sandwiches and a pint of warm orange juice. Our money was not stretching the way we’d hoped…

We would have ninety-two dollars left, after we paid Rocco Caputo.

“I’m gonna hit the head, guys. See you inside,” Jake told us.

Jake got out with Rocco while the rest of us woke up.

Astrid gave a sleepy moan from her pull-down bunk. “Are we there yet?” she asked, half joking.

I stretched up in between the two front seats, where there was a bit more room.

The gas pumps for the big rigs were set off at a distance to the rest of the gas station/minimart.

I watched Jake talk to Rocco as they walked toward the minimart. I knew that Jake didn’t really share Rocco’s view on the world. He was just getting along, making our trip easier by gaining Rocco’s trust. Jake could get along with anyone. It had saved our lives back at the Greenway, when cadets invaded the store. I shouldn’t begrudge him it now.

But I did. I really didn’t want Jake to do anything right or good. I wanted him to screw up time and time again until Astrid got it that he was the loser. I wanted her to see that he was an unreliable, macho jerk-off braggart.

Was that so wrong? (I already knew it was.)

“Do you want me to help you down?” I asked Astrid. She was sitting on the bunk, with her feet hanging over the edge, rubbing her face with her hands.

“I feel like I could sleep for another year,” she said, yawning.

“Any more cramping?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“Feel tight, really tight, but not crampy.”

“Do you want me to go get you a snack so you can keep sleeping?”

“Nah, I need to pee.”

Niko came up front with me, rooting through his backpack. He took out some money.

“Let’s just get one really big bottle of water. It’s cheaper if we share,” he said.

I moved back to help Astrid navigate the footholds molded into the side of the trailer.

“You know,” she said. “I’m hungry again. Starving.”

“We can get Astrid a snack, right, Niko?” I said, just as he said, “Guys?”

Suddenly the air was pierced by a high, thin whistling sound. It seemed to be coming from—from inside the truck cabin.

Then Niko yelled, “GUYS!”

Astrid and I stepped forward and looked out the windshield.

The light was weird, like before a thunderstorm. Then I saw it.

A black mass, skittering across the ground. Then up in the air, moving, writhing. It moved like a flock of starlings. Up and down, swooping and settling and spreading out, then contracting.

A living black cloud—maybe the size of a football field.

Niko was pulling his suit up. Thank God he still had it on and tied around his waist.

“Your suits! Your suits!” he stammered.

“Are the windows shut?” Astrid asked.

Where was my backpack? I’d been using it as a pillow.

“Who knows?” Niko shouted.

“Masks first!” I said.

Our visors, with their built-in air-filtering mouthpieces, were at the top of the pack.

I handed Astrid hers and put mine in. The rubber felt weird in my mouth, but I drew in a breath.

Filtering the air was the most important thing for Astrid and me. But for Niko, he had to get the suit on and seal it up, otherwise he’d blister and burn.

Astrid and I fumbled with our suits, pulling them up. I realized the whistling sound was coming from the suits! There was a little plastic eyelet, the size of a dime, at the lapel and it was now shrieking and giving off a bright red LED light.

The drift was making its way through the neighborhood behind the gas station, swooping and diving, getting closer.

Niko zipped his mask closed. He was safe.

I saw the red light on his suit turn green and the whistle died out.

Astrid had her suit on now, was shoving her feet into her sneakers. I zipped her face mask to the body of the suit.

“Hold still!” I told her. Her light went green.

Me next.

“We have to get Jake!” Astrid shouted. She didn’t have her mouthpiece in yet.

“No way!” Niko said. “Jake’s fine. He’s in the store!”

The drift was encompassing the minimart, now, and would be on us in a second.

I got my suit up and Astrid zipped my face mask down. Green.

Through the side window I saw Jake and Rocco sprinting toward us, chased by the swirling black soot.

And I saw, behind them, a man step out of the minimart with a gun.

BANG! He was aiming for Jake and Rocco! He must be AB, and now paranoid and freaking out.

The drift was hitting the windshield with a zinging, scouring sound.

I saw Rocco stumble. Had he been hit?

I took the filter out of my mouth so I could talk. “I’m going to help!” I shouted. “Stay here!”

Before Niko could stop me, I had the door open and was running to Jake and Rocco.

Rocco had not fallen from the shot.

He was blistering.

Maybe if we got him inside the truck—and I saw Jake stop and go back to Rocco.

BANG! The man with the gun had fired way off to the side of us. I saw the bullet spark against the sign giving the rate for diesel fuel.

Jake was leaning over Rocco’s fallen body. There was blood. Lots of blood. We had to get him inside, quick.

“I’ll help you!” I shouted, the words mashed up because of my mouthpiece.

But Jake wasn’t helping Rocco up. He was sliding the handgun out of Rocco’s shoulder holster.

Jake took the gun and fired a shot back at the minimart guy. The BOOM of the gun was shockingly loud, at that range.

“Help me get him inside!” I shouted to Jake.

“It’s too late!” he answered and I saw he was right.

Rocco was already gone, the grit had seared into his face and arms. His body was starting to bubble.

Bile rose in my throat. By then Astrid and Niko were there.

“I told you to stay inside!” I shouted.

BANG! The shopkeeper shot toward us and Jake took another shot at him.

“Come on!” Jake shouted.

BANG! The shopkeeper shot again and there was this tremendous light. A fireball blossomed from the gas pump right next to the truck and then the sound, a WHOOOOOSH-POW of an explosion, as the fuel tanks under the ground exploded.

As soon as we could get up, we ran.