The heat and humidity both hovered around ninety. Not a day for the great outdoors.
Upon boarding the shuttle, Hi and Shelton had headed straight for the semi-air-conditioned cabin. We hadn't talked since second period, wouldn't until we reached the privacy of the bunker.
Neither seemed happy, but they hadn't rebelled. Yet. I'd get an earful later, no question about that.
I chewed a thumbnail, repeatedly scanned the dock. Where was Ben? I hadn't seen him since biology. He'd missed both of the afternoon classes we shared.
Ben's continuing good health was my ace in the hole. If he succumbed, hello panic.
As if on cue, Ben came loping down the dock. Mr. Blue shoved off the second his son's shoes hit the deck.
"Welcome aboard, sir. Shall I show you to your cabin?"
Ignoring my joke, Ben dropped onto the stern bench, stretched his legs, and leaned back.
I waited. There was no rushing Ben.
Finally, he spoke. "I feel like three-day-old spit."
Crap.
"What's wrong?"
"Everything. My head hurts, my lungs, my feet, even my teeth. It makes no sense."
It made terrifying sense.
"And that's not the worst of it."
As he talked, Ben watched our wake vee back toward the city. Above it, gulls swooped and bobbed, anxious for scraps.
"My body's out of whack. I keep going in and out of some kind of trance.
"Yesterday, in my garage, my heart went apeshit, and I felt flames race through my veins. I started to fall, so I grabbed some metal shelving nailed to the wall."
Ben avoided my eyes. "My dad has an old Z28 engine he's using to restore a Camaro. Anyway, the shelving came loose and the engine started to fall on me."
Ben's eyes finally met mine. "That thing weighs a ton. I could've been killed."
"What happened?"
"I caught it." Disbelief. "The heat flashed, I reached up, and I caught the frickin' engine. I even placed it back on the shelf." Ben sounded as though he'd replayed the scene again and again in his mind.
"That's impossible, right?"
"No," I said gently. "I have a lot to tell you."
CHAPTER 42
Coop nipped my fingers, wanting to play. Not a good time. I'd just spilled my guts. About everything.
Well, almost.
"So that's what happened. At least, that's what I remember."
"You could see patterns on the fly's wings?" Shelton asked. "From across the house?"
"And a billion little lenses making up its eye."
"That beats my attack." Shelton's sport coat rested on his lap. I'd been afraid of losing the boys if they went inside to change. "My vision blurred, so I took my glasses off. Whammo: 20/20. For a few seconds, anyway."
"I felt normal until yesterday," Ben said. "Then it hit me like a freight train. No sonic hearing or super-smells, just weird cravings. Impulses. And my mind scrambles."
"Anything else?" I asked.
"At times, my limbs feel like they're on fire. When the burning fades, I'm strong, like I could blast through walls." He shook his head. "Then I throw up, pass out, it all goes bad."
"I'll take that over my symptoms," Hi said. "I can't leave the throne for more than a few minutes. And I must've fainted at least twenty times." He pointed at me. "You talk about smells? I got slammed while eating cream cheese. I'll never touch the stuff again."
Without question, Hi had been the sickest. He'd suffered every misery imaginable.
"It's like I was food-poisoned while suffering from malaria and poison ivy," Hi grumbled. "And brain fever. And get this. From my roof deck, I watched a mouse creep through the grass on the common. I could see his earwax from fifty yards out. Worst part was, I wanted to eat the little bugger." Hi rubbed his forehead. "Just for a second, though! I swear!"
"I understand. Raw hamburger, remember?" I shuddered. "And you saw me try to snatch Herbie."
Hi nodded.
Though I kept a brave face, inside I shivered. Hi's story reminded me of the one thing I hadn't disclosed.
I wasn't ready to talk about golden eyes.
"Sometimes I hear the smallest noises." Shelton tugged one earlobe. "Yesterday morning, the freaking power lines woke me up. I could hear the electricity. And the fits burst on and off without warning. Just a pop in my head, then bang!" Pause. "I'm getting tired of blacking out."
Silence crammed the bunker.
I pushed to my feet. Resolved to put it out there.
"We've caught a disease."
Hi and Shelton slumped. Ben tensed, fingers curled into fists.
"There's no point kidding ourselves," I went on. "Each of us had different experiences, but our symptoms are too similar to ignore."
I ticked off points by raising fingers. "Fatigue. Headache. Nausea. Fever. Congestion. Hot flashes. Cold sweats. Spiking pains."
"Blackouts," said Hi. "It all comes back to the blackouts."
Ben and Shelton nodded.
"Blackouts," I agreed, only one finger still curled to my palm. "And what they trigger. Our senses go into overdrive. It's like our minds snap briefly, then get ... confused."
Can't say crazy. Or primal. Not yet.
"I've never heard of anything like this," said Ben.