Allie's War Season Three (89 page)

I'd read the feed reports and seen the altered images, so I knew a lot of people left the areas around the actual quarantine zone...afraid of infection, probably, but also in response to the chaos that broke out when news of the disease first hit.

Even so, seeing it now, I struggled to take it all in as real.

It was as if the South Bay had been transformed into a series of burnt-out ghost towns, one after the other in a fifty-mile stretch. For me, since I hadn't been back in almost four years, it also felt like it happened overnight.

Of course, on closer inspection, the streets weren't
entirely
devoid of people.

Jorag pointed out and rewound the recorded feed to show us glimpses of gangs roaming the streets through the cameras set at the topmost point on the truck. In the replay, I saw weapons in more than one hand, and what might have been a hostage situation with a young girl. For the most part, those weapons were unsophisticated, and the gang members were under twenty-five and human...they brandished tire irons, baseball bats, broken pieces of pipe, knives and in one case, what looked like a board dotted with nails.

But Revik also pointed out handguns, and I saw shotguns once or twice. In one of the replays, Yumi exclaimed and had Jorag roll back footage to a group of older humans wearing non-standard-issue armor and carrying bandoliers of grenades, with sub-machine guns strapped to their backs.

Martial law had been declared over most of Northern California when the disease hit, but they no longer had enough law enforcement, or even military, to really keep the streets free of looters, gangbangers, or these quasi-vigilante groups that seemed to have taken over cities in the absence of any legitimate rule of law.

Closer to the city, I actually saw a number of people in real time, including someone bashing in the windshield of a car parked alongside the road when we rode on an overpass on a slight rise over East Palo Alto, or maybe Los Altos. Most of the storefronts I saw by then were surrounded by broken glass and splintered wooden boards. Merchandise littered the streets for several blocks in each direction, everything from broken feed monitors to strings of clothing, broken bottles and washing machines, toaster ovens, electrical cables, kitchen items and tires. Once we could look down and see more of the city streets below, I saw smoke from more fires, including in parked cars and what looked like an outdoor bistro. I was pretty sure we were passing through Redwood City at that point...but I couldn't remember where the dividing lines fell exactly. We also saw a group of people beating on someone or something else in a ring, looking more like animals than human beings. That time, I couldn't help it...I looked away.

I glanced at Jon, strapped to the seat next to me.

Unlike me, he hadn't been going out of his way to look at this bleaker version of our old neighborhood. He'd ignored the rest of us talking and the images almost completely while we rolled back feeds and discussed what we saw. He'd mostly been reading a book on his portable monitor, and now he just seemed to be dozing, leaning back in the padded seat.

He looked pretty exhausted, so maybe that was part of it.

The seats faced inward, with padding between each one and a kind of jump harness, maybe in case we got into some kind of military conflict. Between our section of the cargo hold and the boxes of food and other staples being delivered to the quarantine zone itself, a wall made up of complex VR sensors stood, made primarily of organic components. Normally, sitting facing inward like that might have made me car-sick, but the motion modification of the seats made the ride smooth. So much so, in fact, that it was easy to forget we were moving at all.

Jon seemed to notice my stare and turned, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" he said finally. "You're back to this now?"

"Back to what?" I said.

"Well, the outside view of the apocalypse managed to distract you for a full..." He checked his watch. "Forty-eight minutes. You've been staring at me going on..." His eyes rolled up, as if he were counting. "...Eight hours now, Allie."

"No, I haven't," I said, but found myself thinking about his words anyway. "...Have I?"

Jon gave me a harder look, as if the question were beneath us both.

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he settled his back deeper into the padded seat.

"Are you going to ask whatever it is that you want to ask?" he said. "Or are you just going to keep trying to read it off my light like an overprotective and creepy weirdo?" At my amused smile, he clicked his tongue, clasping his hands between his knees as he leaned forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. "...I swear to god, between you, Wreg and Revik, I feel like I'm going to lose my fucking mind. Why did you bring me, if you think I can't handle this?"

"I know you can handle it," I said, surprised.

"Then what is your problem?"

I glanced at Revik, who gave me a bare glance in return. He was working through scenarios in VR with Yumi and the others, so I averted my eyes when I realized they were busy. It didn't occur to me until a few seconds later that Revik had done that on purpose, that they were all deliberately giving me and Jon a chance to talk. Sighing a little as it occurred to me that they were probably right, that we needed it, I met Jon's gaze.

"Okay," I said. "It's about Wreg."

"What about Wreg?" Jon said, his jaw hardening visibly.

I saw the defensive light that had already risen to his eyes and bit my lip.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell's going on there?" I said, exasperated. "Or am I just supposed to guess?"

Jon's looked away, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "Is that an order?"

"An order?" I felt my fingers clench around one another in anger. "Jesus, Jon. We used to
talk
about things like this. What's the big fucking deal? Are you still mad at me because of all those things you said in the dressing room that day?"

There was a silence. Then Jon exhaled, running his fingers through his hair. Some of the hardness left his features.

"No," he said. He laid his hand on mine, and I felt an apology in his light. "No, Al. I'm not mad about that stuff. I said I was sorry about that...I meant it."

"Then what?" I said. I bit my tongue again, and almost didn't say it, then did anyway. "Is it because of that stupid thing in the restaurant that morning? Just because I happened to notice he looked good?" Seeing Jon's expression harden, I clasped his fingers tighter. "Jon...the only reason I even
noticed
was because I knew you were sleeping with him. I was kind of thrown by that whole thing. I was trying to wrap my head around it..."

Jon turned, giving a disbelieving laugh. "Wrap your head around it?" he said. "How? By thinking...loudly, I might add...that my boyfriend is hot?" Glancing suddenly at Revik as if remembering he was there, he shook his head in irritation, lowering his voice. "I'd love to see how you'd react if
he
did that to
you
sometime..."

"He
has
done that to me," I said, irritated. "We're married, remember?"

Jon rolled his eyes again, but I was still stuck on what he'd said before.

"...And what do you mean,
boyfriend?"
I said. I stared at him, thrown by the word, in spite of myself. "Is Wreg your actual boyfriend now? You didn't tell me that."

"I didn't know I was required to."

"Is he? Or not?"

Jon frowned again, staring at the floor of the van. He didn't move for so long that I wasn't sure if he'd even answer me. Then he seemed to sigh, running a hand through his short hair, right before he glanced up.

"I guess he is," he said, meeting my gaze. "We're exclusive. Does that warrant calling him my boyfriend? Or is there some other 'seer criteria' I should be aware of...?"

"You're exclusive?" I fought the reaction out of my light. "Since when?"

"Look," he said. Laying his hands on his thighs, he lifted one to gesture sharply at me. "Why do you even care about this, Al? I get that you're my sister and all...but what really makes this any of your business?"

I had to think about that, too. Revik had as much as asked me the same thing the night before, and I hadn't really been able to answer him, either. Now, sitting here with Jon, I realized I knew the answer. It just didn't make a lot of sense. Going back and forth in my head on whether or not I should share it with him, I finally shrugged, clicking a little, more at myself that time.

"It's not," I said, holding up my hands in defeat. "It's not my business. He's just a little...intense. With you, I mean. I guess it's making me worried, because I don't really know what it means." Hesitating again, I added, "You and Dorje weren't like that. Things between the two of you seemed a lot more low-key..."

At the hard look coming to Jon's face, I changed tacks, quickly.

"...I'm just worried Wreg's not all that rational around you," I added. "He seems to be a little, well...
obsessed,
I guess..."

Jon gave me a disbelieving look, followed by a humorless laugh, right before he glanced at Revik. My cheeks warmed as I caught the meaningful look he sent between us.

"All right," I said. "I know it's hypocritical. But you've always been rational guy, Jon. I'm not used to seeing you like this..."

"Like what?"

"So...I don't know..." I hesitated, then just said it. "...Caught up. You're completely wound up whenever he's around, like you aren't really aware of what's going on around you, like you're watching Wreg and not paying attention to a lot else. And Wreg...well, Wreg's a pretty intense guy as it is. He seems positively dangerous around you...like he's ready to beat the shit out of anyone for even looking at you..."

Again, Jon laughed, giving another meaningful stare at Revik before looking back at me with an eyebrow raised. "Really, Al? You're coaching me on dangerous, overly-obsessed boyfriends? Really? You want to go there?"

"Are you in love with him?" I said, blunt.

Jon's sarcastic smile faded. "We haven't talked about that."

I rolled my eyes, suppressing my irritation with an effort. "That's not what I asked."

"Allie...again," Jon said. "How exactly is this your business?"

When I bit my lip, not answering him, he seemed to see something in my expression. Sighing again, he ran his fingers through his hair, right before his shoulders unclenched.

"Look," he said. "I know what you're talking about. Things with the two of us are a little..." Trailing, he made a vague gesture with his mutilated hand, his lips pursed. After a pause, he glanced up at me. "Don't worry about it, Al. Seriously. I talked to 'Dori about it, and he seems to think it's mostly because I'm changing. Wreg just happens to be coming along for the ride...it's probably confusing him a little, too..."

"Wreg doesn't seem confused, Jon," I said, my voice a touch warning.

Jon gave me a hard look. "What do you want me to say? Are you
seriously
telling me to stop seeing him?"

"No," I said, shaking my head, incredulous. "Of course not."

"Then what? What are you telling me to do?"

"I'm not telling you to
do
anything," I said, exasperated. "I just want to know that everything's okay with you..."

"Why
wouldn't
it be, Al?"

"I don't know." I fought to think again, feeling my jaw harden. "It's just a little unnerving...how secretive you are about him. Why, Jon? You never have been before..."

I watched as he stared at the floor of the van, seeming to think about my words. After a few more seconds, color rose to his cheeks, right before I felt a pulse of pain off his light. It was intense enough that I flinched back, alarmed.

When Jon noticed, he flushed even darker.

"You know why, Allie," was all he said.

Looking at him, I felt my own light react, right before I glanced at Revik. That time, I saw him watching us, a look of sympathy on his face when he trained his gaze more directly on Jon. When he felt my stare, he glanced at me, his eyes holding a clear warning.

He's in love,
he sent to me, simply.
Fixated anyway. They both are.

I felt my heart react, enough that my fingers tightened on the seat.
Why do you look so sad about it, then?

He shook his head, once.
Not sad. Jon's just having a hard time with it, that's all. I feel for him, because in some ways this is coming at a bad time, given everything else.
Seeing my questioning look, he elaborated, shrugging subtly with one hand.
He feels bad about Dorje...and he's having a sexual awakening, too, which is making him feel even more guilty, because he's experiencing that with Wreg...
He paused again, meeting my gaze.
Wreg told me he asked Jon for exclusivity. They made the agreement over a week ago, before Wreg left for South America.