Ex-Heroes, Peter Clines [reading like a writer txt] 📗

“Why don’t we wait for Zzzap?” asked Ty. “He’s coming back, right? And he’s faster than either of you.”

“We don’t know when he’ll come back,” said St. George. “He wasn’t planning on it. As far as he knows, we’ll be showing up at the gate in fifteen minutes. Maybe another five minutes of waiting before he’ll come check. So he’s here in twenty, back there by twenty-five, and the other truck doesn’t get ready and get out here for another half hour after that. I can shave twenty minutes off that if I leave now.”

Lynne coughed. “You mean … if you leave us? Out here?”

“It’s the only way. I can get away from the jammer, use the radio, and be there to help them get another truck out. Cerberus will be with you.”

The young woman shook. “But … but Lady Bee said there were hundreds of exes coming.”

Bee rolled her eyes. “Maybe—”

“We can’t fight that many. You’re leaving us out here to die.”

“You’re not going to die. You’ll be in the truck. They can’t get you.”

“Then why are you leaving? Let’s all just wait in the truck!”

“You don’t have anything to be scared of. They can’t hurt you in the truck.”

“They can’t hurt YOU!” Lynne was breathing fast. “You’re not scared because you can’t be hurt, but they’ll rip us apart.”

“Honey,” said Jarvis. “Relax for a minute.”

She whirled on him. “How am I supposed to—”

He snapped his head forward, cracking her in the skull. She dropped into his arms.

“What the fuck!?” said Luke.

“There’s a certain art to that,” Jarvis said, rubbing his salt-and-pepper scalp with his free hand. “She’ll be out for ten or fifteen minutes.”

“What were you thinking?”

He nodded down the street. “I was thinking the sun’s setting and I want to get home more’n I want to argue about how we do it. If all y’all want a piece of me once we’re back, you’re more’n welcome.”

“I don’t like it,” muttered Cerberus, “but I agree with him.”

St. George nodded. “You got anything?”

The armored titan panned her gaze around them. “Lots of movement. Nothing too close. Nothing warm. We’re the only living people within two blocks. Can’t find the damned jammer.”

“Three coming up from the south,” called Bee. “Two from the west.” She cocked her rifle, and Andy echoed the sound with his own.

Jarvis hefted Lynne’s limp form up to Lee and Ty. They climbed into Big Red’s back and the lift gate hissed up. St. George stripped off his heavy leather jacket. “I’ll be quick.” He tossed the coat into Big Red’s cab.

“You’d better,” said Cerberus.

“As soon as I’m there I can send Barry back out. He’ll keep you charged until we get another truck here.” His utility belt followed the coat into the backseat. He took a deep breath and a few running steps away from the truck.

The air hissed, the darkness fled, and Zzzap hovered above them.

Hey, he buzzed. Not interrupting anything, am I?

St. George staggered to a clumsy stop. “Bastard.”

Saw this cloud when I was running to the Mount and thought I should head back to check it out.

Ty squinted at the gleaming outline. “What cloud?”

“He sees radio waves,” said Cerberus.

Hey, did you guys know there’s a signal jammer in that car over there?

FLYING WAS NEVER any different for me. Most people don’t realize when I’m in the energy state I can’t touch anything, so I’m just in the air all the time. That’s my whole life. I’m either in a wheelchair or I can fly.

A woman called me this afternoon. She didn’t say her name, but I was pretty sure then it was the one they call Stealth. I have no idea how she got my cell number. Hell, she called me Barry and knew I was at home. There was some sort of contagion in Los Angeles, and she needed me to help keep tabs on it. Being able to fly at just over Mach five was her main interest in me (despite what’s been said in Time, People, and on that Learning Channel special, my top speed is nowhere near the speed of light). The fact that my energy state was immune to all diseases was an afterthought.

It took me half an hour to get to Los Angeles from Amherst. She was waiting on the roof of the Capitol Records building, a nice easy landmark, like she promised.

Apparently one thing she didn’t know is what that outfit of hers does to men. Or if she did know she didn’t care. If it was any tighter I could tell if she shaved her legs or not. Dear God, I could actually see her nipples through that suit and I’d swear all the belts and straps were placed to accent her boobs and hips.

She gave me the lowdown on what I was looking for. People with pale skin, a lack of coordination and language skills, high resistance to damage, and a degree of aggression. Some of them might smell like rotted meat.

I have no sense of smell when I am Zzzap.

Sounds like you’ve got a zombie problem, I said, wondering what her curves would look like when she laughed.

She didn’t laugh. I know sometimes people have trouble understanding me when I speak in the energy state. Jerry told me it sounds like I’m gargling a beehive. I didn’t think that was the problem here, though.

So, how many have you seen so far?

Stealth unfolded a map. She pointed to three small crosses, scattered across the city.

Three? That’s it?

“In a city with the population density of Los Angeles, an aggressive disease can spread to thousands of people within hours. I have seen three people who are infected. There is no telling how many are carriers that have not manifested symptoms yet.”

Jesus.

“Do you know Los Angeles at all?”

Not really, but I’m good with landmarks.

She held the map out for me. “Study this. I need you to spend the next six hours scouring the city as many times as you can. Every street, every alley, every