Dr. Skillz put his shades back on. “No doubt. Kind of surprised Tom isn’t already back.”
“Wait,” yelped Benny, “what are you saying? That Tom’s in trouble?”
“I didn’t say he was in trouble,” said Dr. Skillz. “It’s just that a lot of weird stuff’s been happening in the last few weeks. We missed most of it ’cause we were over at Lushmeadows. Bunch of animals coming out of the east, and an upsurge in the zom head count.”
“And now we got fast zoms,” said J-Dog. “Weird times.”
“It’s weirder than you think,” said Benny, and he told them about the man who hadn’t reanimated.
“Whoa,” said J-Dog. “You sure?”
“Tom was sure,” said Nix.
The bounty hunters looked at each other, then turned and looked back the way they had come, as if some kind of answer was painted on the forest.
“For the record, dude, I do not dig this,” murmured Dr. Skillz.
The four of them walked in silence for almost five minutes as they considered their next move. Nix asked, “Have you met anyone who saw the jet?”
“Sure,” said J-Dog. “Lots of people. Us too. Kinda wild.”
Dr. Skillz nodded. “Tom said that’s where he was taking you guys. A quest thingy to find whoever has that jet.”
“Yes,” said Nix firmly. “Whoever fixed and fueled that jet is trying to bring civilization back.”
“You sure?” asked Dr. Skillz. “Bad guys and freaks can fly jets too.”
Nix either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore the remark.
Dr. Skillz abruptly stopped. “Dog,” he said, “I think we’re making a mistake here.”
“Why? Tom wanted us to lifeguard these guys and—”
Dr. Skillz cut him off. “Wawona’s only six or seven miles. They can do that without us. But that dead guy bothers the crap out of me. The way he was killed? That’s got Charlie’s tag on it.”
“Totally,” said J-Dog.
“Charlie or White Bear. They used to run in the same pack; they got a whole lot in common.”
“Yeah, and I don’t like the idea of the kahuna running those hills.” Dr. Skillz glanced at Benny and Nix. “You guys said that Tom took you out on a back road, right? A route he doesn’t use much?”
“Yes, he wanted to—”
“I see where you’re going, brah,” said J-Dog.
“I don’t,” snapped Nix. “And who’s White Bear?”
Dr. Skillz made a face. “White Bear is a very big and very bad hombre. Mucho bad mojo. Even over in Lushmeadows they’re talking about him rebuilding the Matthias Empire. Got people all over the place. We saw a dozen of them today, though we steered clear.”
“We’re peace-lovin’ citizens,” said J-Dog.
“The Matthias …? God …,” breathed Nix, putting her hand to her mouth.
“White Bear’s no friend to Fast Tommy, and that’s for sure,” continued Dr. Skillz. “What I’m thinking is that Tom might not know that the Bear’s got his goons out. Not if he came out a bac
k way. He’d have missed the traffic. But if he’s dogging your boy Chong, then …”
“We have to go find him!” declared Benny, taking a decisive step toward the west.