“They’ve given up,” Drake said from behind. He sat in the pilot’s chair, watching the sky. “Must have lost everyone on the island. They’re going to wipe it off the m—”
The sky behind them bloomed with orange light. The light expanded, flickered, and then shrunk in on itself. The surreal silence of the distinct explosion made it almost beautiful. Part of Hawkins appreciated the sight. It meant that the evil of Island 731 had been contained. But it also meant that those responsible would never have to answer for their crimes against humanity, just like the Japanese scientists of World War II.
Hawkins heard Bray counting softly. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Bray held up his index finger, signaling Hawkins to wait. Then it happened. A boomlike thunder rolled past them. Lilly’s grip on his hand tightened to the point of hurting.
“Eleven miles,” Bray said. “Four more and we’ll be outside the thickest part of the Garbage Patch. Then we can gun the engines until they run dry and activate the distress signal.”
Hawkins knelt down next to her. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay. I promise.”
As he looked into Lilly’s yellow eyes, a warm breeze pushed by the explosion’s pressure wave surged past.
“Why did you save me?” she asked, looking down at herself.
“Your brother, Kam. He … was our friend.”
She smiled. “That’s what he said, too. But I’m not like you. I’m evil.”
Hawkins thought about it. “You’re not evil. The things that happened on that island had nothing to do with you. It doesn’t matter if you’re like us. You don’t just deserve to live, you deserve a better life.”
Hawkins could see she wasn’t fully believing him, probably because of what he’d said during their first conversation. “You’re not a thing,” he said. “You’re a person.”
“I’m more than a person,” she said, looking sad.
He nodded. “And that makes you amazing.”
She placed her hand on his cheek. He could feel the hardness of her retracted claws against his skin, but didn’t flinch. For her to survive in the modern world, and for him to keep her safe, they would have to trust each other. If news of her existence ever got out, the people who had just wiped out an island would no doubt come calling. “My name is Mark, by the way. I know I already told you, but figured I should probably introduce myself again. You know, so we’re not strangers.”
She smiled. “My name is Lilly,” she said and gave a slight bow. “Lilly Shimura.”
52.
ONE YEAR LATER
Hawkins lay on his stomach, looking through a pair of binoculars. “Do you see her?”
“Nothing,” came the quiet but rough voice of Howie GoodTracks. Hawkins’s mentor and surrogate father lay next to him on the grassy bluff overlooking a rolling stream far below. “She is better than you.”
“She’s better than everyone,” Joliet added. She stood behind them, leaning against one of many pine trees that surrounded their hilltop position. She took a loud bite from an apple.
Hawkins shushed her and held a finger to his lips. “They’ll hear you!” He looked through the binoculars again, finding the deer by the stream. There were three of them. They drank in pairs while one always kept watch, wary of cougars, grizzlies, and human hunters. But no amount of vigilance could prepare them for Lilly. One of the deer was already dead, it just hadn’t realized it yet.
It had been a year since Hawkins returned to the Ute reservation. That they’d made the trip without being discovered was something of a miracle. They had been picked up by an oil tanker two days after escaping the island. The tanker’s sparse crew and lax captain hadn’t checked the contents of the heavy bundle carried by Drake when he had boarded the ship. Nor had they paid much attention to the rescued crew while they had quietly recovered on the three-week voyage to the Port of Los Angeles.
When they left the ship, Drake assumed his position as the Magellan’s captain and told a fabricated story about a storm that had capsized the Magellan. Thankfully, most of their wounds, including Hawkins’s side and Bray’s calf, had healed and didn’t require a hospital visit, which allowed Drake to leave out their less believable run-in with pirates. The police interviewed them one at a time, which allowed three of them to stay with Lilly in a cheap motel, but the interviews focused mainly on confirming their identities. Their rehearsed stories matched and once their credentials were checked out, no one questioned the validity of their story. They were free to go.