Four (Their Dead Lives,1) (60 page)

Those were meaningless cries, he knew. Those cries were nothing like this.
 

Nicole.
His mind whispered her name as he kissed the grave. Grains stayed on his mouth as he raised his head.
 

Turning to the others, he asked, “Brody Vitaly?”
 

Jeff raised the paper slip. “Apparently he has all the answers we want.”
 

Alec looked away, weighing options and biting his lip. Waves crashed to shore in a splash of white foam. “I have no questions.”
 

Scot clapped his hands. “Well, I somehow need to find my way to this Numark. I miss my Kels—” His face reddened before finishing her name. “Sorry, Alec.”
 

He said nothing.
 

“I know how to get there.” Jeff walked up the sand.
 

“Oh, right.” Scot, standing closest to Nicole’s grave, stared at it for seconds in silence.
He mourns nothing.
 

“We’re not far from Numark.” Jeff went for Alec, forcing them to meet eyes. “You’ll come with us?”
 

“Sure.”
If this Brody knows everything, which seems highly unlikely, maybe he knows a cure. A chance to bring Nicole back...
 

“All right,” said Scot. “Lead the way, Homer.”
 

They followed Jeff, the sun beating at their backs. To Alec, Numark was only a word, for he began to believe it wasn’t even real.
 

An unreachable hope.
 

The well, his brother’s bar, the yacht, the clinic, the cliff, the roof, the hydrant — all flashed through his mind as they traveled along the beach.
 

Perhaps they were invincible. Perhaps they were meant to save mankind, but these things plummeted to no importance. No meaning. Nicole had died. Faith had died. A cure was another impossible dream, so he disregarded the idea of saving her.
 

She is gone forever, never believe otherwise.
 

However
,
if there were a creature that had possessed Kale, turning him, causing Nicole’s death, Alec would find it and punish it. Following Jeff and Scot would help him achieve this goal.
 

The only thing they’re good for now.
 

After Nicole received full vengeance, he would be done with them, because they were not his friends, they were not his allies, they were not his brothers. Their dead lives meant nothing to him.
 

They were no better than Kale.

to be continued