Light (Gone 6)

TWELVE

44 HOURS

GAIA HAD SLEPT in, seeming to both age and heal while asleep. She had gone to sleep still burned and perhaps seven or eight years old, and had awakened healed and closer to ten.

Diana had not tried to wake her.

Let sleeping monsters lie.

Alex had raved through much of the long night, had awakened several times after sunrise to cry out in pain, and then had fallen back into a restless, disturbed sleep.

Diana had tried not to look at the cooked arm, now mostly eaten but not entirely, which lay by the softly snoring Gaia.

Finally, with the sun already past its peak, Gaia had snapped awake, stood up without preamble, and stepped behind a tree to take care of necessary business. Then she had eaten the rest of the arm, down to bare bone, while Alex watched in some disturbing mix of awe and horror and hatred.

He’s going off the deep end, Diana thought. She could see it in his eyes. Too much, too fast.

“I’m hungry,” Gaia said. “Growing this body at an accelerated rate demands a lot of nutrition.”

“Gaia, no,” Diana said.

Alex made a gurgling sound and tried to run. Gaia raised a finger, and he found himself running in place, feet slipping helplessly on stony earth. “I have a . . . I . . . Wait! Wait! I have a granola bar!”

“What is a granola bar?” Gaia asked.

“It’s food! Food!” Alex cried. He let the backpack slip from his intact shoulder.

The mere mention of a granola bar made Diana’s mouth water. Hunger pains stabbed at her insides. If Gaia took Alex’s other arm, she would let Diana have the granola bar.

Take it, kill him, eat him; I don’t care.

Diana lifted the pack. It was small, more a runner’s pack than anything meant for camping. She spilled it out on the ground. A small tube of lotion. A knife. A water bottle. An iPhone with headphones and some sort of solar charger. The granola bar. A map.

Gaia moved in. “Which is the food?”

Diana stared at the bar. Unimaginable luxury in the FAYZ. Oats and raisins and dates, it brought tears to her eyes. All she had to do was say, “Take him!” and the bar would be hers.

“There it is! Eat it!” Alex cried.

Gaia stooped, picked it up, frowned at it, and finally realized it was meant to be unwrapped. She ate it like Cookie Monster scarfing a chocolate chip cookie.

Diana breathed. Decision made.

“What is that?” Gaia pointed at the iPhone.

“It’s his cell phone,” Diana said. “They don’t work in here.”

“I’ve got my tunes on there,” Alex said eagerly. “Want to hear some, Gaia? Do you want to hear some music?”

“Music,” Gaia said. “What is it?”

“See, you listen to it. You stick the white things in your . . .” He had grabbed the headphones with his remaining hand and was trying to proffer them to Gaia.

Gaia took them.

“Gaia, I know how to get to the lake from here,” Diana said. “I can get you food there.” And some for myself.

Gaia laughed as she toyed with the white earbuds. “Once we go to the lake we’ll have plenty to eat.”