“Let me run out there and warn them,” Brianna begged.
“If you run ten miles at high speed you’ll be dead on your feet. Hungry as you are?”
“Man, the Breeze can do ten miles in, like, a minute.” She snapped her fingers.
Sam hesitated. It was true. Brianna could get there long before any of them. It was also true she’d be exhausted by it. He’d seen her when she had done those kind of distances. She wasn’t just worn out by it, she’d looked close to death.
“Go. But stay out of trouble.” The last four words were said to a whoosh of air.
He was probably overreacting, Sam told himself. Missing Junior Mints was not a very good reason to panic. He was going to look like an idiot.
But his instincts told him he was right. He was right because if he were Caine, that’s what he would have done.
He should have seen it. He should have seen it and been prepared. Just like he should have been prepared for the raid on Ralph’s.
They drove away from the plaza. Past the graveyard Edilio had built, the one with far too many gravestones. Past the burned apartment building, the damaged preschool, the half-destroyed church.
Sam told himself he’d been running as fast as he could, just keeping up with trivia, and trying to deal with the threat of starvation. It didn’t help. If Caine was after the power plant….
They drove two blocks more, and suddenly, right in the middle of the dark street, caught in the headlights, was Zil, running and waving his arms like a crazy person.
“What do I do?” Edilio asked.
Sam cursed under his breath. “Pull over. Let’s see what it is.”
Edilio hit the brakes. Zil rushed over, breathless, panting, flushed. He leaned on the window as Sam rolled it down. “It’s Hunter, man. The freak killed Harry.”
Dekka made a sort of growling noise in her throat that made Zil take a step back. But he wasn’t apologizing. “That’s right, he’s a freak. One of you people. And he used his freak powers to kill Harry. For nothing.”
“Have you found Lana?” Edilio asked.
“I don’t know where she is.”
“Funny how you don’t call the Healer a freak,” Dekka pointed out.
“Lana’s at Clifftop,” Sam said. “Great. Now I really could use Brianna. Okay, we’re going to have to hope I’m just being paranoid about the power plant. Edilio, drop me at Hunter and Zil’s place. Tell your crew to head back to the plaza, hang around there, wait for us. Then you’ll have to head up to Clifftop and see if you can find Lana. All right?”
“Yep.”
“Dekka, why don’t you stay with me to see what this is about.”
“I’m going to go get some other normals,?
?? Zil said. “Normals gotta know what’s happening.”
Sam pointed his finger out of the window at him. “You’re going to run around waking people up out of a sound sleep? No. You come with us.”
“No way, man. You and Dekka? You’re both freaks. Freaks always back each other up.”
“You’re being an idiot, Zil,” Sam said. “I’m not going to have you running around and stirring up trouble.”
“What are you going to do? Fry me?” Zil spread his hands in a gesture that was simultaneously defiant and innocent.
“This is bull,” Sam said. “Get in, Zil. We’re wasting time arguing.”
“No way, man. No way.” Zil turned and began to walk quickly away.
“You want me to stop him?” Dekka asked.