Hunger

to do much more than watch.
    Mike Farmer was creeping from behind the truck where he’d hidden. Mickey was facedown and terribly still. The remains of Brittney were a nightmare.
    Dekka felt a flash of anger at Sam. He had run off and left her in charge. Well, she didn’t want to be in charge. Sam wasn’t the only one who was hanging on by his fingernails.
    Brianna…The thought was like a knife to the stomach, twisting, twisting.
    She had never even told Brianna how she felt. And now it was too late.
    Something landed on the pavement next to Dekka. She stared at what looked a great deal like chicken bones. Cooked chicken bones.
    Dekka looked up. She moved back and back to get a clear view.
    Ten stories up, eerie in the blazing light atop the turbine building, someone was waving her arms. Very fast.
    Time seemed to stand still. Dekka couldn’t breathe. She stared hard, not wanting to be wrong, not willing to believe until she was sure.
    “Breeze?” Dekka whispered, amazed.
    Dekka lowered her head for just a moment and thanked God. Brianna. Alive.
    Alive and as impatient as ever, by the look of it.
    No way Brianna could hear her over the noise of the plant. How Brianna had managed to get herself up there was a mystery, but judging from her frantic semaphore of waving arms, she wanted to get down.
    Dekka waved. She even displayed a rare smile. Brianna, alive.
    Brianna stuck her hands on her hips as if to say, “What’s keeping you?”
    Dekka considered for a moment. Then she pointed to a spot just at the base of the wall, well away from the door where Caine’s boys crouched hidden with guns.
    Brianna nodded.
    Dekka raised her hands.
    Brianna leaped into midair. And stayed in midair. No gravity dragged her down.
    Dekka took a deep breath. She switched off her power for a second and Brianna fell. On again and Brianna stopped falling. Off. On. Until Brianna floated just a few feet off the pavement.
    Dekka released her and Brianna landed lightly, taking the shock in her knees. Dekka steadied her.
    “What is going on down here?” Brianna demanded. “I heard guns. Woke me up.”
    “Good to see you, too, Brianna,” Dekka said dryly. “Everyone thought you were dead.”
    “Well, I’m not. Duh.”
    Dekka shook her head in tolerant amazement.
    They joined Mike behind the truck, leaving Edilio’s soldiers in place watching the door, guns leveled.
    Mike was surprised. “Hey, Drake told Jack you were dead! Jack totally lost it believing him.”
    Brianna grinned. “Oh he did, did he?”
    “Totally. He went all Aragorn on Drake. Tried to kill him. That’s how we…I mean, how I, got away.” He burst into tears then, weeping uncontrollably and covering his face with his hands.
    “You have a thing with Computer Jack?” Dekka asked. She carefully modulated her voice, giving nothing away of her inner turmoil. This was no time to burden Brianna with feelings she wouldn’t reciprocate. Feelings that might even make her mad at Dekka. The two of them hadn’t exactly been friends while they were at Coates. Dekka wasn’t sure Brianna even knew Dekka was gay.
    “I didn’t think I did,” Brianna answered, looking pleased with herself. “I guess I do.”
    “Okay,” Dekka said, swallowing hard. The important thing was Brianna was alive. And Mickey and Brittney were not.Dekka was in charge here, she had to make some decisions. “You going to tell me how you came to be up on the roof?”
    “Um…no. But here’s the thing: There’s a door up there that leads down inside. If I had a crowbar or something, I could get it open, get in and out of there before they know it. Smack the—”
    “No, no,” Mike said through heaving sobs. “The wires are still up.”
    “What wires?” Brianna demanded.
    “Drake. He stretched wires all over the place so if you came in, they’d cut you up.”
    Dekka noted the look of shock on Brianna’s usually cocky face.
    “That’s why Jack was trying to kill Drake,” Mike said. “Jack told him he had to take them all down, and Drake pretended like he did, but he didn’t.”
    Dekka said, “Guess it’s a good thing Jack likes your act, Breeze. Mike here got away.”
    Brianna had no answer.
    “Don’t let it shake you up, girl,” Dekka said. “You had a bad day. We’ve all had a very bad day.” She sat down beside Mike and put her arm around his shoulders. “I’m so sorry about Mickey. I know you guys were buds.”
    Mike shook her off. “You don’t care about Mickey. You