The Pure: Book Three of the Oz Chronicles (12 page)

“I freed her and we ran into the darkness
screaming for Tank. He barked. ‘Here! Here! Here! Hurry.’

“We reached him and I quickly started to
grope in the pitch black for the ropes that bound him. He was almost entirely
covered in locusts. I swatted them off his arm and began to cut the rope. He
coughed and hacked. ‘Hang on, Tank.’

“‘Forget it, Arch,’ he said. ‘Just get
out of here.’

“‘Shut up,” I said. ‘I’ve cut through
four ropes with this thing. I’m starting to get the hang of it...’ I heard a
snap, and my hand slipped forward. The claw had broken. ‘Crap!’

“Tank laughed. ‘Don’t tell me.’

“‘What?’ Lou asked.

“I couldn’t bring myself to say it out
loud. ‘Help me get these ropes untied,’ I said.

“She felt for my shoulder in the
darkness and then fumbled in the darkness until she found Tanks hands. We both
started to tug on the ropes. There were a bundle of knots, and we couldn’t tell
which way was which. April and Little Bobby began to cough violently. The
locusts were getting thicker and thicker.

“‘Go!’ Tank said. ‘Get out of here!’

“‘We’re not leaving you,” I said. I
could feel the locusts crawling in my nose. I snorted them out, blowing snot
and locusts all over Lou.

“‘Listen,’ Tank coughed. ‘It don’t make
sense for four people to die trying to save one broken down truck driver.’

“‘Stop talking,’ I said pulling on the
knots. ‘I can’t concentrate...’

“Bobby’s coughing got worse with each
passing second. I grabbed Lou’s hand. ‘Get them out of here,’ I said.

“‘He’s right,’ she said.

“‘What?’

“‘Tank’s right. We have to leave him.’

“‘I’m not...’

“‘You know he’s right!’ she said.

“‘Let’s go,” April cried.

“‘Go,’ Tank said.

“I screamed like I had never screamed
before. I jerked the rope one last time. ‘Tank... man... no.’

“‘Go!’ he demanded. ‘Before I break free
from these ropes and beat the crap out of you.’ He laughed and coughed.

“Lou dragged me for the first ten feet
until I shook loose from her grip and ran ahead of the others into the thick
covering of the woods. I cupped my hands over my ears so I couldn’t hear Tank
choking to death.”

“We wandered throughout the night. It
took us hours before we couldn’t hear the buzzing of the locusts anymore. We
were picking the nasty little bugs out of our hair and clothes longer than
that. I would shudder occasionally as I remembered the sensation of the
locusts’ prickly little feet crawling across my bare skin. I couldn’t get them
out of my mind.

“I began to plot my revenge against Carl
the second I made the decision I couldn’t save Tank. He would pay for Tank’s
death. I would make sure of it. It was now my one and only purpose on this
crap-hole of a planet. I would make him suffer just like Tank suffered. Of that
I was nothing but sure.

“I sat under a large Cyprus tree and
began to develop my plot to kill Carl. The others must have sensed my need to
be alone because they didn’t even attempt to join me. I guess they could have
been cooking up the same schemes I was cooking up. I looked over my shoulder
and saw Little Bobby snoozing away with April’s arm draped over his shoulder.
She sat, eyes drooping, fighting the need to sleep herself. She saw me looking
her way and managed a half-hearted smile before she broke out in tears.

“I heard footsteps approaching from the
creek. I swiveled my head around so fast I heard my neck pop. I was both
relieved and angry to see Lou standing a few feet away. She bent down and
propped her forearms on her knees while weaving her fingers together. She
stared without speaking.

“I let it go on for several seconds
before I finally spoke. ‘What?’ I said angrily.

“She cleared her throat. ‘You’re a
creyshaw.’

“‘I’m not in the mood, Lou.’

“‘No,’ she said. ‘You’re really a
creyshaw. A warrior.’

“I laughed. ‘I don’t feel like playing
warrior today...’

“‘Listen to me. You are a warrior. You
have a Keeper to find. You have a Storyteller to protect. Canter wasn’t just
making an offhanded remark. He literally meant that you are a creyshaw.’

“I tried to soak in what she was saying,
but I couldn’t get the sound of the locusts choking the life out of Tank out of
my head. ‘Go away, Lou. Leave me alone.’

“She sighed. ‘You lost your friend. I
get that. It’s tough. I’ve...’ She hesitated and breathed in deeply. ‘I’ve lost
people, too, but we don’t have time for you to cry for Tank.’

“‘Lou, shut up!’ I barked. ‘Leave me
alone.’

“‘No!’ she barked back. ‘You don’t get
the luxury of feeling sorry for yourself. You’re a warrior. You understand?
This isn’t a joke. It’s not a game. It’s a freaky little world where the purple
people are losing control day by day and they’ll do anything to get it back. I
need you to man up and take this seriously.’

“‘I don’t want to be a warrior!’ I tried
to convey the depth of my anger with a penetrating stare, but she gave it back
to me and then some.

“‘Want?’ she chuckled. ‘I want to be in
Disneyland with my brother and grandparents enjoying the happiest place on
earth, but that ship has sailed, my friend. Wants aren’t on the agenda anymore.
You’re a creyshaw. You have a duty and if you don’t carry it out this world
will keep on getting worse and worse until we’ll all be just as dead as Tank.’

“I stood. ‘Read my lips. I don’t care.’

“I heard her joints crack as she stood.
‘Wait a minute.’ I ignored her. ‘What if I told you there’s a possibility we
can go back?’

“‘Back where?’ I asked still walking
away.

“‘Back to our world. Before all this
began.’

“I stopped. Turning, I said,
‘Before...?’

“‘Yes.’

“I nearly fell to the ground. I couldn’t
believe my ears. ‘We can go back?’

“‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I used to
think so. The further I get from who I used to be, I’m not so sure anymore, but
Oz believed it. He thought it was possible.’

“‘How?’

“‘I told you I don’t know. But the
Destroyers want the Storytellers so I figure it’s got something to do with
them.’ “‘Tell me how this works,’ I said.

“‘The Storytellers created the
Destroyers. They underwent some kind of therapy and training by this doctor in
Buffalo. He taught them to create things with their minds. They suffered from
Down syndrome. So they used their talent to create hell on earth to punish all
the people who tormented them.’

“I thought about what she said. I looked
at Bobby.
Down syndrome
, I thought.

“‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I heard Carl’s thugs
talk about how the Bashir acted toward Bobby.’

“‘Do you think...?’

“She shrugged her shoulders. ‘There
might be a way to find out.’ She walked past me and headed toward Bobby and
April. She whistled. ‘Hey, wake up!’

“April snapped to and Bobby groggily
lifted his head.

“‘C’mon,’ April said. ‘Please don’t tell
us we have to keep going. We’re tired. We need to rest.’

“Ignoring April, Lou addressed Bobby.
‘You ever hear of HMI, Little Bobby?’

“Bobby looked down. He shook his head.

“‘What’s that?’ April asked.

“‘Hyper Mental Imaging,’ Lou answered.
‘It’s kind of like magic, isn’t it Bobby?’

“Bobby backed away from her and pressed
against April.

“‘What’s wrong, Bobby?’

“‘What was the doctor’s name?’ Lou said.
‘The one who taught you to make things with your mind. Dr. Baker?’

“‘Dr. Bashir,’ Bobby said. He
immediately covered his mouth with his hands.

“Lou smiled. ‘Of course. Dr. Bashir.’
She looked at me. ‘That’s why he called his monsters the Bashir.’

“‘No,’ Bobby said shaking his head.
‘It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault.’

“‘What’s going on?’ April asked.

“Lou gently touched Bobby’s arm. ‘We
know. Dr. Bashir made you make the monsters. Didn’t he?’

“Bobby nodded. ‘He was a mean man. He
liked to hit. He made us think bad thoughts. He wanted us to hurt people.’
“‘It’s all right, Bobby,’ she said. ‘We’re here to help you.’

“‘Not you,’ Bobby said. He pointed at
me. ‘Him.’

“I stepped back. Every instinct I had
told me to turn and run and never look back, but I was terrible at following my
instincts. I swallowed and said, ‘Why me?’

“‘You were nice to my horse once,’ he
said.

“‘I looked at him dumfounded. ‘What are
you talking about, Bobby? We didn’t know each other before...’ I lifted my arms
and spread them wide. ‘This.’

“‘Yes we did,’ he smiled.

“‘No we didn’t. I found you in Mobile.’

“‘The second time,’ he said. ‘The first
time you found me in Birmingham.’

“I thought about what he said, and
suddenly realized it was a real possibility I had seen Bobby before. I had been
to a horse track in Birmingham. Years ago. I was a kid.

“‘You came to the track,’ he said. ‘You
told your friend my horse was smarter than me.’

“‘That’s it?’ I said. ‘You chose me
because I said your horse was smarter than you.’

“He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Everyone
else thought my horse was kind of dumb. But you didn’t. You believed in him.’

“I waved my arms and walked away. Lou
ran after me. ‘Where are you going?’

“‘He chose me because I was nice to his
horse. I wasn’t even being nice to his horse. I was making fun of him. I’m not
the guy. I’m not the warrior. It’s somebody else.’

“‘That’s the way it works. The people
who are the creyshaw, the warriors, they weren’t chosen because they were ideal
citizens. They were jerks... Most of them.’

“‘What about Oz? Was he a jerk?’

“‘The biggest,’ she said. ‘But I figure
that’s what this is all about. Bad people getting a second chance.’

“‘I’m fine with who I was. I don’t need
a second chance. I was a kid when I said that about Bobby. I’m supposed to pay
for that now? Besides he doesn’t even think it was a bad thing.’

“‘I don’t have all the answers. All I
know is the Bashir are coming after Bobby. Like it or not, you’re the only one
that can save him.’

“I dropped my shoulders and lifted my
chin to the sky. ‘This is ridiculous, Lou. I can’t stop the Bashir.’

‘Not alone,’ she said.

“I turned to her prepared to laugh in
her face. It would take an army a hell of a lot bigger than me and her and
April to protect Bobby. But when I looked her in the face, I saw a
determination that was impossible not to believe. She could save the world with
one hand behind her back. I shrugged. ‘Okay, I’ll save Bobby.’

“She smiled. ‘Great! Now all we need is
Ajax.’

***

“Much to April’s dismay, we rested for
only thirty more minutes before we continued on. Lou had set up a checkpoint
with her crew. She was already a few hours overdue thanks to her abduction by
Carl’s goons. They wouldn’t wait much longer for her. They had to keep on the
move or they were at risk of being caught by the Délons. She believed purple
creepies were on the hunt for Oz and, as far as they knew, he was wherever Wes
and Lou and the others were. And if he wasn’t, he would come for them if he
thought they were in trouble. And he would, but Lou had no idea where he was.
He had left a year ago to find the Source, the key to the Délons return to
absolute power.

“That’s why Lou formed an alliance with
the Silencers. She promised them the Source if they helped her find Oz. She had
no idea what or where the Source was, but she convinced them that Oz knew, and
she could get him to turn it over to the overgrown crustaceans. They agreed and
fed her the latest tips on Oz’s whereabouts, all the while keeping the Délons
distracted and off her back. But she was growing more and more mistrustful of
the Silencers and knew it was just a matter of time before their agreement was
ended and she and the others were turned over to the Délons. She was running
out of time, and so was Oz. I didn’t want to ask her what made her think he was
still alive. I knew she had thought about it. It was written on her face when
she talked about him, but she had an unflappable faith that he was alive
because I’m sure he promised her they would see each other again. That’s the
kind of thing people said to each other even though they had no way of keeping
the promise.

“After walking and talking for an hour,
April finally piped up. ‘This is crazy! You people are just going to have to
stop. My feet hurt. I’m about to collapse from exhaustion. And I’m pretty sure
Little Bobby’s been asleep on his feet for the past couple of miles.’

“‘We can’t stop,’ Lou said. ‘C’mon it’s
not much farther.’

“‘I don’t believe you,’ April said.
‘You’re just saying that. I’m not stupid, you know...’ Her jaw dropped and her
eyes opened wide. She stumbled backwards while pointing behind me.

“I turned to see a large white hairy
monster marching through the woods in front of us. It was fifteen feet tall,
with a broad mouth and red eyes.

“‘Tarek,’ Lou said excitedly. She ran to
the beast and hugged it tightly.

“‘Lou,’ it said in deep explosive tones.

“‘It’s been so long.’ She reached down
in some thick brush and picked something up. I saw legs dangling around her
hip. She was holding a child. One of about two or three wearing a tiny little
backpack. ‘He’s getting so big,’ she said.

“Tarek spotted us and approached. ‘Who’s
this?’

“‘I found another warrior and
Storyteller,’ she said.

“It sniffed the air. A needle-toothed
grin spread across its ugly face. ‘Indeed,’ it said. ‘You are indeed.’

“‘How do you know?’ I asked.

“‘I know things,’ it said. ‘Your name?’

“‘You don’t know?’

“‘Would I have asked if did?’

“‘Archie Maynard.’

“It reached down, wrapped its enormous
hand around me, and lifted me up. ‘You aren’t much.’

“Lou shook her head. ‘He says that about
all the warriors.’

“‘Well,’ Tarek said. ‘None of them are
much. It’s frightening to think the future of your world is in the hands of
something as puny as this creature.’