Light (Gone 6)

As they drew nearer, Gaia flicked a finger and knocked Sam onto his back. His head hit pavement with a sickening crack.

“Lie there until I’m ready to come back and kill you,” Gaia said. “It won’t be long.”

She put her earbuds back in and walked behind a beaten Caine.

TWENTY

23 HOURS, 8 MINUTES

THE ISLAND, WHERE she looked at a startled Leslie-Ann.

The power plant, where she saw no one.

The forest. Same. No one. But lots of fire. She bounced out of there quickly.

The beach, where she saw a dead fish and some driftwood.

The so-called hospital, where one sick girl was wandering, calling for Dahra.

The lake. Dead bodies bloated in the water. Others like fish washed up onshore.

Taylor paused there.

What. Was. What.

What was she?

She had memories. Like old predigital photographs curled with age. She looked at them and understood them. But they weren’t really hers. They belonged to Taylor. She was Taylor, but she was not that Taylor.

A random spot in the desert. No one.

A wrecked train. No one.

A field of artichokes. Worms seethed from the ground, touched her, and retreated.

What. Am. I?

Taylor saw that someone was following her, but not someone she could quite see.

No one could move like Taylor. But he could.

She bounced to the ruined ghost town by the mine shaft. He bounced with her.

What. Are. You? Invisible bouncer?

She had an idea then. She bounced twelve times instantaneously, spending only a half second in each place.

He was there.

Following her.

What are you? he asked her.

I don’t know, she answered.

Maybe I can help you, the invisible one said. I made you this way. I didn’t mean to. Maybe I can fix you.

Taylor felt. She hadn’t felt lately, but now she felt. Something. Like she was water and someone was plunging a hand into her. She gave way: she formed around the probing.