St. George yanked the chain and ripped a post from the far side of the road. “I don’t think they’ve got anything that can take out Cerberus,” he said, “and I don’t think there is anything that can hurt Barry once he’s up. Better to just do the damage and let the world do the rest.”
Lynne looked at the truck. “Won’t they lose it all, then?”
Lee shook his head. “Exes won’t eat supplies. Someone can just come by tomorrow, deal with whoever of us might survive the night, and help themselves to everything here.”
“Everyone is surviving,” snapped St. George. “We’ve got to get everyone out of here first. All the supplies second. Someone needs to go back and get one of the other trucks.”
Cerberus shook the ground as she leaped from the back of the truck. “Someone meaning you,” she growled. Her voice buzzed when she pitched it low.
“If you’ve got some jet boots you’ve been hiding from us, now’s the time.”
“I can hoof it with no risk.”
“And I can fly it a hundred times faster.”
“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 back seat. 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?
THEN
Power to the People
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.