us. Finally she smiled and laughed quietly.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Us,” she said. “Remember those days when we were afraid to eat chocolate cake because it would make us gain a few pounds? Well I wish I had those few pounds to keep me warm right now.”
“Pounds?” I responded. “I’d rather have the chocolate cake.”
We both laughed at that, and began to try to relax. After snuggling together for a little longer, I got up and walked around the island again.
“The island seems to get smaller every time I walk around it,” I said.
“You’re just bored,” Finn said. “This fog’ll clear soon enough, and then we’ll head west again.”
“West?” I echoed. “With what? It was scary when we had full packs and an armed Secret Service agent to protect us. Now we’ve got nothing. We can’t feed ourselves or even dry off our clothes!”
“Where else can we go?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “How about back to that town where the nice woman fed us the possum burger.”
“You do realize that the soldiers will come to that town eventually, looking for us.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. We can at least hide. There’s food there. And it’s dry.”
“But Evangelist—.”
“Forget about Evangelist,” I said. “He left us alone. We have to do what we need to to survive.”
“He didn’t leave us,” Infinity said. “We left him.”
“Well yeah. But if we hadn’t, we would have gotten shot.”
“He said he’d find us.”
“When? Today? A week from now? A year from now? When all there’s left of us is a pile of bones on this little island?”
“Ellie, lower your voice,” Finn said. I realized that I’d begun shouting without knowing it. I stopped talking and we listened for any sound from shore. All I heard were the sounds of croaking frogs and an occasional loon.
I could tell Infinity was torn, and I felt bad about pressing the issue. We sat there and stared at each other for a long time, each trying to come up with an idea.
“The fog will lift,” she said quietly. “Evangelist will come.”
“He’d better,” I muttered back to her. I traced lines on the ground with a stick as I talked. We sat there silent for a long while until Infinity finally spoke.
“I remembered some more,” she said quietly.
I stared back at her, expectantly. Finally, she opened her mouth and told her story. Back to ToC
10. on our own
INFINITY: OUTSIDE BALTIMORE, MD: DAY ZERO
I wasn’t totally convinced that Damien had the best idea when he suggested that we ride horses all the way to Cape Cod from Baltimore. But I was still in shock, as I suspected the others were. I usually had some pretty good ideas—at least I thought so—but at that moment, I couldn’t come up with one. What I’d seen of the school administration didn’t give me a lot of confidence in their abilities. And after waiting for several hours, we still hadn’t seen anyone from the city or state government telling us what to do or where to go.
So, even though I wasn’t 100% behind Damien when we mounted the horses and rode out of the stable and over Ms. Teasdale, I kept my mouth shut. I knew Ellie would follow whatever I decided to do, and Kimmy and Marcie were, well, they were Kimmy and Marcie. They didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.
The school was located 12 miles west of Baltimore, and so I knew that we would have to go around greater Baltimore and a lot of other places. And I started thinking that when other people saw what we were doing, they would think that was a pretty good idea too. I didn’t want to have to fight someone over who rode the horses, especially if they had a gun and we didn’t.
What that meant was that we needed to find every back road through Maryland and every other state between us and Massachusetts. Damien must have had telepathy, because he automatically turned onto a back road that took us into the countryside. I’d been born with no sense of
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Us,” she said. “Remember those days when we were afraid to eat chocolate cake because it would make us gain a few pounds? Well I wish I had those few pounds to keep me warm right now.”
“Pounds?” I responded. “I’d rather have the chocolate cake.”
We both laughed at that, and began to try to relax. After snuggling together for a little longer, I got up and walked around the island again.
“The island seems to get smaller every time I walk around it,” I said.
“You’re just bored,” Finn said. “This fog’ll clear soon enough, and then we’ll head west again.”
“West?” I echoed. “With what? It was scary when we had full packs and an armed Secret Service agent to protect us. Now we’ve got nothing. We can’t feed ourselves or even dry off our clothes!”
“Where else can we go?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “How about back to that town where the nice woman fed us the possum burger.”
“You do realize that the soldiers will come to that town eventually, looking for us.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. We can at least hide. There’s food there. And it’s dry.”
“But Evangelist—.”
“Forget about Evangelist,” I said. “He left us alone. We have to do what we need to to survive.”
“He didn’t leave us,” Infinity said. “We left him.”
“Well yeah. But if we hadn’t, we would have gotten shot.”
“He said he’d find us.”
“When? Today? A week from now? A year from now? When all there’s left of us is a pile of bones on this little island?”
“Ellie, lower your voice,” Finn said. I realized that I’d begun shouting without knowing it. I stopped talking and we listened for any sound from shore. All I heard were the sounds of croaking frogs and an occasional loon.
I could tell Infinity was torn, and I felt bad about pressing the issue. We sat there and stared at each other for a long time, each trying to come up with an idea.
“The fog will lift,” she said quietly. “Evangelist will come.”
“He’d better,” I muttered back to her. I traced lines on the ground with a stick as I talked. We sat there silent for a long while until Infinity finally spoke.
“I remembered some more,” she said quietly.
I stared back at her, expectantly. Finally, she opened her mouth and told her story. Back to ToC
10. on our own
INFINITY: OUTSIDE BALTIMORE, MD: DAY ZERO
I wasn’t totally convinced that Damien had the best idea when he suggested that we ride horses all the way to Cape Cod from Baltimore. But I was still in shock, as I suspected the others were. I usually had some pretty good ideas—at least I thought so—but at that moment, I couldn’t come up with one. What I’d seen of the school administration didn’t give me a lot of confidence in their abilities. And after waiting for several hours, we still hadn’t seen anyone from the city or state government telling us what to do or where to go.
So, even though I wasn’t 100% behind Damien when we mounted the horses and rode out of the stable and over Ms. Teasdale, I kept my mouth shut. I knew Ellie would follow whatever I decided to do, and Kimmy and Marcie were, well, they were Kimmy and Marcie. They didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.
The school was located 12 miles west of Baltimore, and so I knew that we would have to go around greater Baltimore and a lot of other places. And I started thinking that when other people saw what we were doing, they would think that was a pretty good idea too. I didn’t want to have to fight someone over who rode the horses, especially if they had a gun and we didn’t.
What that meant was that we needed to find every back road through Maryland and every other state between us and Massachusetts. Damien must have had telepathy, because he automatically turned onto a back road that took us into the countryside. I’d been born with no sense of
Similar Books
