Dust & Decay (19 page)

I’M SORRY.

Benny looked at what lay beyond the slab of concrete. Miles of white rock left by a glacier. White rock baking in the sunlight. The row of rocks split off into five separate threads that led high into the mountains and vanished into the gloom gathering under the forest canopy.

Benny remembered a basic fact of tracking that Tom had taught him: Rubber-soled shoes don’t leave tracks on rock.

There were five possible trails, and there were four of them. The sun was already behind the treetops, and it would be dark in two hours.

With a feeling of sinking horror, Benny realized that Chong, smart as ever, had picked a path away from them that was impossible to follow. In grief and shame, he had run away.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

L
OU
C
HONG RAN AS FAST AS HE COULD OVER THE ROCKS.
H
IS HEART
pounded, but it also ached. Benny would hate him for this. So would Nix and Tom. Lilah, however … well, Chong figured that Lilah would be happy to have him gone. Lilah despised weakness, and Chong felt that “weak” had quickly become his defining characteristic. At least out here in the Ruin.

He felt stupid and ashamed. He should never have agreed to come, and though he briefly thought that Tom was just as much to blame for even suggesting this trip, Chong believed the stuff that had gone wrong was all his own fault. He was fairly certain that Tom was on the verge of turning back, which meant that Chong would be responsible for screwing up what Nix and Benny really wanted. And for denying Lilah the freedom that she craved.

That was the process of logic that had spurred him to run, though now, deep in the woods, he could see that the logic was as thin as tissue paper and filled with holes. He remembered one of his father’s countless lessons about logical thinking: “When you add emotion to any equation, you can’t trust the results.” Shame and guilt were emotions, and the sum at
the end of his logical calculations was as untrustworthy as his actions back on the road when the rhino first appeared.

“I’m not cut out for the Ruin,” he told himself as he ran. “I’m nobody’s idea of Mr. Adventure.” His words were pitched to sound funny, but his heart was breaking.

As he ran he made himself remember everything that Mr. Feeney had taught them in the Scouts and what he had read in books about the forests of the Sierra Nevadas. All the tricks about tracking and stalking. And about how to foil pursuit. There was a lot of that in books. The Leatherstocking Tales and old Louis L’Amour novels from long before First Night.

Chong knew about doubling back and leaving false trails. He knew how to circle around and cut his own trail. He knew how to keep from scuffing the rocks. Several times he jumped down from the rocks and ran into the tall grass, then carefully walked backward in his own footprints so that anyone following would think he ran into the field. When he reached the forest, he found a broken branch that still had some leaves on it, and as he ran he whisked the ground behind him to wipe out his trail.

Maybe Tom or Lilah could find him, but he didn’t think so. If they were alone and had all the time in the world, sure … but they had to watch out for Benny and Nix.

Chong even smiled to himself with how clever he was being. It felt good to do something right, even if the others would hate him for it. Better that than having them hurt again because of him. Especially if Charlie Pink-eye was still alive. It would be better for Benny and the others to keep going east, to get far beyond the reach of that maniac.

Chong knew enough about orienteering to know which way was northwest. And even though he hated physical exertion, he could climb a tree and lash himself to the trunk to wait out the night.

As it grew dark he slowed to a walk. The canopy of leaves was so dense he could catch only glimpses of the sky. Sunset couldn’t be more than an hour and a half away. It was time to find shelter.

He saw an upslope and took that, reasoning that high ground would give him a better view to help him pick a likely tree for the night, and allow him to see if he was indeed alone in this section of the forest. Chong was sure he could outrun a zom, but if one came after him, the creature would simply follow him to whatever tree he chose and stand there until the world ended. It could outwait him.

“No thanks,” he told himself, and almost jumped at the sound of his own voice. He drew his bokken. He was not as strong a swordsman as Benny, or as fast as Nix, but Chong knew that he was far from helpless, and holding the weapon recharged his confidence.

At the top of the hill he turned in a full circle. Shadows clustered around the base of each tree, and every time the wind blew Chong imagined he could see a ghastly shape lumbering his way. But he saw no zoms.

He spotted a stately cottonwood tree with a couple of branches low enough to grab and many more high up among the leaves. He ran down the hill and began climbing the slope atop of which was the cottonwood. He looked left and right, checking his surroundings, filling his mind with data, being smart and careful.

But he walked right past the two figures standing in the dense shadows beneath a massive old spruce. They, however, saw him.

Tom, Lilah, Nix, and Benny were miles away. Much too far away to hear Lou Chong’s screams.

B
ENNY STOPPED AS MOVEMENT CAUGHT HIS EYE FAR TO THE NORTH
. A flock of birds leaped out of the distant trees like a cloud of locusts. They swirled and eddied in the air and then gradually settled back down among the dark green leaves.

“What was that?” asked Nix, catching the sudden jerk of Benny’s head but missing what he was looking at. She was kneeling among the rocks sixty yards from the way station, trying to determine if a smudge could be one of Chong’s footprints.

“Just some birds,” he said. Even so, Benny continued to stare.

Lilah climbed up on the rocks from the other side. “Where?”

Benny pointed. The trees were still for a five count, and then the birds jumped up again. As a swarm they moved a hundred yards south and settled in different trees.

“Lilah,” Benny asked, “d’you think—?”

Before he could finish, Lilah turned and clapped her hands over her head several times to attract Tom’s attention. He was on the far side of the station, but he came at a run.

“What is it?”

Benny described what they’d seen. Tom didn’t immediately reply. He looked at the sun again and the long shadows cast by the western line of trees, then he turned and studied the area where Lilah had pointed.

“It’s got to be Chong,” decided Tom. “Direction’s right. Could be heading for the northern trade route.”

“Yeah,” Benny agreed. Tom had made them study every route and path in the Ruin.

Nix chewed her lip. “Tom, do you think Chong’s trying to go back home?”

“Sure. Where else would he go? The question has always been how. There are fifty ways to get to Mountainside from here, and all we know for sure is that he isn’t going the way we came.”

“Preacher Jack’s out there too,” said Nix.

Tom didn’t reply, but the muscles at the corners of his jaw bunched and flexed.

“C’mon,” cried Benny, grabbing at his bokken. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

“Sorry, kiddo,” said Tom, “but you and Nix would slow me down too much. It’s going to be dark soon, and I’m a lot faster alone.”

It was true, but Benny tried to come up with an argument to get around it.

“I’ll go,” said Lilah.

Tom shook his head. “No. You’re tough, Lilah, but I can’t allow it.” Lilah stiffened at the word “allow,” but Tom didn’t back down. “I admit that you’re good. You survived out here
for years … but I’m still better at this. I’m bigger and faster, and I’ve been hunting these mountains for fourteen years. Besides, the Chongs left their son in my care. This is my fault, and it’s mine to make right. I also don’t want to argue about this. I want you to stay here with Nix and Benny. You can help them fortify this place. Remember, Sally Two-Knives is due through here tonight, and J-Dog and Dr. Skillz are in the area. Wait for them. Are we agreed?”

Nix, Benny, and Lilah all began yelling at once, telling Tom why they thought the plan was bad, arguing why they should all go, and growling at him for treating them like they were helpless. Tom took about five seconds of it before his face darkened.

“Okay—enough!”

Silence dropped over them like a net.

“This isn’t a debate. The three of you will damn well stay here and do as you’re told. That means you, too, Lilah.”

Three sets of hostile eyes glared raw heat at him. However, what Tom said next changed their looks from hostility to fear.

“If I’m not back in twenty-four hours, Lilah … I want you to take Benny and Nix back home.”

“What?” demanded Nix.

“Hold on a frickin’ minute,” snapped Benny.

“Okay,” said Lilah.

Benny and Nix whipped their heads around and looked at her liked she’d just betrayed them. Lilah’s face was a mask of stone.

Into the silence, Tom said, “Good.” He patted his pockets to reassure himself that he had everything he needed, then
fished out two of his three bottles of cadaverine and handed them to Benny.

“I don’t plan to be gone long enough to need this much,” said Tom. “You might.”

“Tom, I—,” Benny began, but Tom cupped him around the back of the neck and pulled him forward. He kissed Benny on the forehead.

“Stand tough, little brother. You’ve learned a lot in the last seven months. Use it. Be warrior smart.”

Benny nodded. “Warrior smart.”

Tom hugged Nix and patted Lilah’s cheek. “All of you,” he said, “warrior smart.”

They nodded.

Tom turned and began running along the line of glacial rocks. He moved with an oiled grace that was deceptively fast. Within seconds he was nearly to the tree line; within minutes he was gone, swallowed up by the darkening forest as the sun tumbled over the edge of the world.

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love.

This is how the whole scheme of things works.

All good things are difficult to achieve;

and bad things are very easy to get.

—R
ENÉ
D
ESCARTES
F
RENCH
M
ATHEMATICIAN
PHILOSOPHER, AND SCIENTIST
, 1596–1650

A
FTER
T
OM LEFT
, L
ILAH TURNED TO
B
ENNY AND
N
IX
. “I
F WE’RE GOING
to spend the night here, let’s make this place secure.”

“Tell us what to do,” said Nix.

The first thing they did was find string and lengths of rope and construct a network of lines around the gas station. Lilah set Benny to work gathering cans from the rubbish heap out back and buckets full of small stones. Nix used a hammer and awl from Brother David’s tools to punch holes through the cans. Then Lilah strung the cans on the taut lines and filled each one with a few stones. She strung the lines at various heights so that any zom would walk right into them, and the sound of the stones rattling in the cans would be clear and loud. The strings of cans would also hopefully trip up a human sneaking up in the dark. There was some starlight but no moon, and the tripwires were virtually invisible once the sun was down.

They hung towels and sheets over the window to block out any light. Lilah gathered wood for the stove.

There wasn’t much else they could do, and so they settled down to wait.

At first it was merely tense. Benny worried about Chong
and worried about Tom. But as time wore on he began to feel irritable and jumpy.

“I wish Tom was here,” he complained.

Lilah, who was cleaning her pistol again, shot him a look. “He would be if Chong had not been stupid.”

“Okay,” Benny snapped, “so Chong made a few mistakes … how about laying off him?”

“Why? He has caused every problem since we left town.”

“Chong’s just scared, okay? You going to tell me you never made any mistakes because you were scared?”

Something seemed to move behind Lilah’s eyes, but her voice was cold and steady. “Yes, I made mistakes. But they never put anyone else in danger.”

“That’s because you never had anyone else,” Benny said savagely, and immediately regretted his words as he saw the hurt register in Lilah’s eyes. “Oh, crap. Look, Lilah, I didn’t mean—”

She gave him a murderous look, flung open the door, and went outside. The sun was a fiery dragon’s eye peering through the trees.

Benny stared at the stiffness of her retreating back until Nix came and stood over him, blocking the view. The disapproval on her face was eloquent. Benny closed his eyes.