Gone (Gone 1)

Dawn came at last, an unsatisfying gray that bleached the color from everything, even the fire.

They could see where they were placing their feet, now, but that didn’t stop them from tripping and stumbling. They were lead-footed from exhaustion.

Little Pete silently collapsed and was left behind until Astrid noticed. After that Edilio and Sam took turns carrying him on their backs, which made their progress even slower and more treacherous.

Little Pete slept that way for a while, maybe two hours, then, when the boys couldn’t manage another step, he woke up and set off on his own, and now they were all following him, too tired to argue or try to redirect him, since he was going mostly in the right direction.

“We gotta stop, man,” Edilio said. “The girls are tired.”

“I’m fine,” Lana said. “I’ve been running with coyotes. Walking with you guys is like standing still.”

“I’ve had it,” Sam agreed, and stopped right where he was, which happened to be beside something that was either a very big bush or a small tree.

“Petey,” Astrid shouted. “Come back. We’re stopping.”

Little Pete had stopped walking, but he would not come back. Astrid wearily trudged to him, every sore footstep communicating the pain she was in.

“Sam,” Astrid yelled. “Quick.”

Sam thought he was too far gone to respond, but he somehow started his feet moving again and went up to where Little Pete was standing and Astrid kneeling.

There was a girl lying in the dirt. Her clothing was a mess, her black hair ratty. She was Asian, pretty without being beautiful, and little more than skin and bones. But the first thing they noticed was that her forearms ended in a solid concrete block.

Astrid made a quick sign of the cross and pressed two fingers against the girl’s neck. “Lana,” Astrid cried.

Lana sized up the situation quickly. “I don’t see any injuries. I think maybe she’s starving or else sick in some other way.”

“What’s she doing out here?” Edilio wondered. “Oh, man, what did someone do to her hands?”

“I can’t heal hunger,” Lana said. “I tried it on myself when I was with the pack. Didn’t work.”

Edilio untwisted the cap from his water bottle, knelt, and carefully drizzled water across the girl’s cheek so that a few drops curled into her mouth.

“Look, she’s swallowing.”

Edilio broke a tiny bite from one of the PowerBars and placed it gently into the girl’s mouth. After a second the girl’s mouth began to move, to chew.

“There’s a road over there,” Sam said. “I think so, anyway. A dirt road, I think.”

“Someone drove by and dumped her here,” Astrid agreed.

Sam pointed at the dirt. “You can see how she dragged that block.”

“Some sick stuff going on,” Edilio muttered angrily. “Who would do something like this?”

Little Pete stood staring down at the girl. Astrid noticed. “He doesn’t usually stare at people that way.”

“I guess he’s never seen what some creeps can do,” Edilio said.

“No,” Astrid said thoughtfully. “Petey doesn’t relate to people usually. They’re not totally real to him. I cut my hand once, really badly with a kitchen knife, I was bleeding all over and he didn’t even blink. And I’m the person he’s closest to in the whole world.”

Lana said, “Sam, can you, you know, like burn that concrete off her hands?”

“No. I can’t aim that precisely.”

“I don’t even know what can be done,” Edilio said as he fed the girl another microscopic bite of food. “You try and break that stuff off with a sledge hammer or something, or even a hammer and a chisel, it’s going to really hurt. Probably break every bone in her hands, man.”

“Who would have done this to her?” Lana wondered.