I stare at him, dumbfounded. We’re hundreds of miles away from where we started. Both armies we were involved with are decimated and gone. Our friends are split and every day I learn something new about this crazy God-forsaken world, and Wyatt still has contacts. I place my hands on my hips. “Who?”
He lifts my hand and presses a quick kiss on my palm. “Can’t tell you that, babe. But come on, I think we’re about to get our chance.”
“Did you just call me ‘babe’?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Is that not a thing?”
“Not one of our things.”
“Gotcha.”
He turns on a dime and doesn’t even wait for me to make his move. I learned a long time ago to trust this man with my life. I shouldn’t be surprised he’s still three steps ahead of me.
His plan goes without a hitch, the gate opening just as we arrive. Two things make this whole situation easier than what we’re accustomed to. One is that they aren’t used to the battles, warfare, and the level of general survival that we are. The second is that we’re up against regular humans. Not the super soldiers we’re used to. They don’t hear the smallest footfall or our heartbeats. On the other hand, adrenaline makes my senses tick up a notch, and I’m well aware we need to let twelve guards go past us before we make our move. I tug Wyatt back at number ten. Two are lagging behind and we wait for them to pass before we slip through the gate.
“You’re not the only one with tricks up their sleeves,” I tell him.
“Oh, I never doubted that,” he replies, unflappable.
We don’t speak for a long time, instead using the dark in our favor. I can still see a little better than usual but I think the effects are fading. The idea worries me. I never planned on staying like this forever but having some extra mojo certainly is nice.
Wyatt ensured we exit on the southwest side of the city, moving in the direction of Raleigh. The ground crunches under our feet and the smell of soot and ash are thick in the air. The shells of buildings line the streets. “Looks like a pretty bad fire,” I say.
“Yeah,” he points down a long clear road. The fence line is visible from here, even in the dark. It veers sharply to the north. “I think this used to be part of the city.”
“A massive fire? Yeah, that’s the kind of thing that can cause setbacks.” I step over shattered glass. “I mean, in a lot of ways the city has made great strides in the two years after the fall. The government didn’t totally screw up. But they also seem like
babies just learning to walk.”
“The whole place could be wiped out quickly. Then they’d have to start all over again.” He skirts between two charred cars. “The energy to do it again? That would be a challenge.”
It takes a while to get to the end of the burned-out area and when we do, I look back and see the metal fence glinting off the sunrise.
“Do you think they have any idea what’s coming?”
Wyatt brushes my hand with his. “Not a clue.”
*
The first night out, Wyatt finds a skinny horse grazing deep in a pasture while I sleep in a musty hayloft. I don’t ask how long it took to catch him, but he’s bruised and sweaty when he comes back with a rope lassoed around the horse’s neck. There’s a bridle and reins hung on the downstairs wall, and after a bit of a fight we manage to get it on. We’re just outside of Greensboro, which is too big to enter safely. We take side roads instead, avoiding the main highways as they’re too clogged with abandoned vehicles. It’s obvious from the stench and packs of Eaters that the cleanup crews haven’t come this far. People must not come through town often. They’re either in the Safe City, holed up somewhere, or dead.
“How many people do you think are left?” I ask. The horse plods along and he’s stubborn as hell, giving Wyatt a fight if he loosens the reins. “Like, total.”
“I don’t know but I think the parasite got a lot of people.” He wraps the leather strap around his wrist. “I saw it in action. It moved quickly. Your father was smart to keep you and your mom isolated for those first few weeks.”
“My friends didn’t make it,” I tell him. I’ve never mentioned it to anyone before. Not even Cole. “I went to see if they could come with me and my mom, but they were sick when I got there.”
His free hand rubs along my thigh. I’m pressed tight against him. “I’d say there was nothing you could do, but you did it. You got the data to your father and sister. You’ve made a difference in all this.”
“Was it the right one? Why not just let the parasite fade out, let the Eaters rot and decay? Creating those Hybrids was a terrible thing to unleash on the world. Maybe worse than the Eaters themselves.”
The area we’re in is called the Piedmont Triad. Three academic cities linked together. It’s probably less rural than most of the country we’ve seen lately. Fast food restaurants pop up and down the road. Neighborhoods old and new. The farmland is less frequent although when we do find some, tobacco grows wild, withered and unharvested.
I’d never traveled much before the Crisis and one thing I’m struck by now is the familiar landscape. The stretches of road and pine trees. The architecture tugs at my memories, the plants and the occasional regional chain restaurant I haven’t seen since we left.
It feels like home, and that brings a flood of emotions I haven’t prepared for.
We approach another small intersection; gas station and pizza shop on one corner, a tanning salon on the other. White bones are strapped to the front door of the salon and I can’t stop looking and trying to hear something—someone. It’s too quiet around here. I feel the eyes but I don’t see any people, human or otherwise. I clench my arms around Wyatt’s waist and say, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”