Plague (Gone 4)

He could feel the fear in Perdido Beach. They were leaderless. They were sick, weak, hungry, lonely. They cowered because of a microscopic flu bug and a very different, much larger bug.

When it was over, when he had won, he would say: I have saved you. I alone had the power to save you. Sam failed. But I succeeded. And now settle down and do your work and pay no attention to your betters. Shhh: go to sleep, the king will make the hard decisions.

Bug was back surprisingly soon, with Taylor.

“Where did you find her?” Caine asked.

Bug shrugged. “Where she lives. I remember it from the old days when I used to sneak into town.”

“He means back when he used to sneak in and watch you get undressed,” Diana said to Taylor.

“He’s a little kid,” Taylor said with a shrug. She looked Caine up and down, skeptical and appraising. Caine knew she did not fear him—not with her powers. She couldn’t be intimidated. So he would have to reach her some other way.

“Have a seat with me,” Caine said, hopping down from the wall. “How have you been, Taylor?”

“Life’s one big party,” she said.

He laughed appreciatively at her joke. “Things must be pretty bad for Edilio to send for me, huh?”

“Things are always pretty bad,” she said. “We’re at a new level of bad. I saw those bugs.”

Caine mustered all his sincerity. “I have to go and fight these creatures. But I don’t know much about them.”

Taylor told him what she knew. Caine felt some of his confidence drain away as she laid out the facts in gruesome detail and with complete conviction.

“Well, this should be fun,” Diana said dryly. “I’m so glad we came back.”

Caine gritted his teeth but ignored her. “Who can I count on to help me?” he asked Taylor.

Taylor laughed. “Not me, dude. I’ve already gotten as close as I’m going to get.”

“What about Brianna?” Caine asked.

Taylor made a face. “You mean the Breeze? She zooms in and starts yelling to Edilio about how the bugs are coming toward us and they’re as big as SUVs. And since then, I don’t know where she’s been. Probably looking for Jack. Or Dekka,” she added with a leer.

Caine nodded and kept his face down so as not to betray his pleasure. Brianna was a problem: her speed was almost as effective as Taylor’s power when it came to evading Caine. And she was absolutely loyal to Sam.

“What about Sam and Astrid?”

“Oh, no, there is no Sam and Astrid, not anymore.” Taylor leaned closer and began to unload everything she knew. In ten minutes Caine had a very complete picture, far more detailed than what Quinn had grudgingly revealed.

Sam was definitely off on a harebrained search for water. Dekka and Jack, too. Astrid had left with Little Pete.

And Quinn had evidently not known the shocking but not unwelcome news: that Albert wasn’t dead but recovering under Lana’s care.

“So are the two guys who tried to kill him,” Taylor said. “That’ll be trouble.”

“What two guys?”

“Human Crew losers: Turk and Lance. Maybe Orc, too. No one knows what happened with him except that he’s on a bender.”

Better and better. There was no one in town right now who could fight Caine. It was incredible. It was miraculous. It was fate.

Kings were supposedly chosen by God. Well, if there was a God in the FAYZ, it seemed like He’d made His choice.

But it wouldn’t last. He would have to act quickly.

“Taylor, I need you for something very important,” Caine said.