CHAPTER 10
Jennifer
Once the cattle were
slaughtered, dressed, carried, and stored in the hospital’s walk-
in freezer, it was early afternoon. Jonathan suggested a bite to
eat (not cattle . . . they’d both lost their stomach for anything
more substantial than ramen noodles), and they were back in the air
over the town.
I know how to field- dress a full- grown cow. This is a
weird thing for a teenage girl who doesn’t live in a meat-packing
plant to know.
It looked ironically
peaceful, as if it had worked out all the violence in its system
for the day. Small dots of white and black marked where some robed
figures still walked through the streets, but most people were back
in street clothes and going about their business.
“Doesn’t look like
Hank has anything else planned today,” Jennifer called out.
Prob’ly too busy wondering why he’s never been
admired the way his parents told him he oughta be admired.
Loooooser!
“He’s not the one
we’re worried about. Keep an eye to the east.”
“You think Skip and
Andi will come back? What’s the point? Beaststalkers can assemble
quickly. It is part of their essential awesomeness. And according
to Mom, city hall is a fortress. It’s connected to the police
station by an underground firing range, with all kinds of weaponry
down there. At least fifty officers are going to be armed and
prepared across the entire complex, at all times. Hell—I can see
two snipers in the tower right now, trying to figure out if they
see us up here.”
“I’m sure they can.
They must have infrared technology, like we do. Better, since Hank
has had access to the town armory for some time.”
“So why aren’t we
picking bullets out of our teeth?”
“Ever try to pick off
a moving, virtually invisible target from eight hundred yards
through an infrared scope?”
“No,” she admitted.
“I’ve gotten behind in homework. And also feeding people who are
trapped under a dome. Also, guns give me a rash.”
He ignored her lame
crack. “Neither have those kids down there. As long as we keep our
distance, they’ll probably save the ammo.”
She looked east,
where the trees sprouting from the steep hills were lessening their
green and losing their first leaves. “Dad. It’s been two
years.”
“Huh? Big Blue’s only
been up—oh, you mean for you.”
“Yeah. Two years
since I learned what I was. Since Skip came to this town. Since I
met Catherine, first fought with Susan, then Eddie. I was
wondering.”
“Wondering
what?”
“If I should’ve done
anything different.”
He dipped his wings
and whistled. “The eternal question. Ace, I don’t have the perfect
answer for you here.”
“One of your
half-assed answers will be okay.”
“From my own child I
gotta take this? Heaven knows I’ve spent half my life making all
sorts of mistakes, as a dragon and a man. All I can tell you is
that every single person on this earth, living or dead, has made
decisions they regret. No one gets a do-over. Nobody ages backward.
And really, even if you did: what do you really think you could
change?”
“I could have been
more careful around Skip. Maybe it would be different with him,
now.”
“Ah, there’s one
where I can reassure you, ace. What hurts Skip is nothing you could
fix.”
“Why’re you so
sure?”
“Because of what his
mother did to him. Then his father. His parents twisted him beyond
anything anyone else could save.”
“Hmmph.”
“You have to let Skip
go, ace. You don’t have to hate him. You do have to recognize that he’s beyond help. Even
for the Ancient Furnace,” he teased.
“Oh, please, I
don’t—hey, what’s that?”
Changing direction,
they both squinted at what was coming over the hill on the highway
to the west. At first, Jennifer was convinced the tar was bubbling.
After half a minute, she realized something—many somethings—were
crawling over the asphalt.
“Skip?”
Jonathan pulled up
next to her and hovered with a sigh. “Skip’s
response.”