Hunger

know.”
    “The Darkness. Drake talks about it, too. The thing out in the desert. The thing that gave him his arm. The thing that messed up your head.”
    Caine didn’t say anything.
    “It’s a monster of some kind, isn’t it?” Diana asked.
    “Of some kind,” Caine muttered.
    “Is it some mutant kid or whatever? Or like the coyotes, some kind of mutant animal?”
    “It is what it is,” Caine said shortly.
    “What does it want?”
    Caine looked suspiciously at her. “What do you care?”
    “I live here, remember? I have to live in the FAYZ along with everyone else. So I kind of have an interest in whethersome evil creature is using all of us for some—”
    “No one uses me,” Caine snapped.
    Diana fell silent, letting his anger ebb. Then, “It messed you up, Caine. You’re not you anymore.”
    “Did you send Jack to warn Sam? Did you send him to tell Sam how to survive the poof?”
    The question caught Diana unprepared. It took all her self-control to keep fear from her face. “That’s what you think?” Diana managed a wry smile. “So that’s why I’m being followed everywhere I go.”
    Caine didn’t deny it. “I’m in love with you, Diana. You took care of me these last three months. I don’t want you to be hurt.”
    “Why are you threatening me?”
    “Because I have plans. I have things I have to do. I need to know whose side you’re on.”
    “I’m on my side,” Diana said. It was the honest answer. She didn’t trust herself to convince him of a lie. If he thought she was lying…
    Caine nodded. “Yeah. Fine. Be on your own side, I respect that. But if I find out you’re helping Sam…”
    Diana decided it was time for a show of anger. “Listen, you sad excuse for a human being, I had a choice. Sam offered me that choice after he kicked your butt. I could have gone with him. It would have been the smart move. I would have been safe from Drake. And I wouldn’t have had to put up with you trying to paw me every time you felt lonely. And I would definitely be eating better. I chose to go with you.”
    Caine sat up straighter. He leaned toward her. His eyes made his intentions clear.
    “Oh, here we go.” Diana rolled her eyes.
    But when he kissed her, she let him. And after a few seconds of stony indifference she kissed him back.
    Then she put her palm on his bare chest and shoved him back onto his pillow. “That’s enough.”
    “Not nearly enough, but I guess it will have to do,” Caine said.
    “I’m out of here,” Diana said. She started for the door.
    “Diana?”
    “What?”
    “I need Computer Jack.”
    She froze with her hand on the doorknob. “I don’t have him hidden in my room.”
    “Listen to me, Diana, and don’t say anything. Okay? I’m telling you: don’t say anything. This is a one-time offer. Amnesty. Whatever happened with you and Jack and Sam, it’s forgotten, if…if you get me Jack. Bygones will be bygones. But I need Jack. I need him soon.”
    “Caine—”
    “Shut up,” he hissed. “Do yourself a favor, Diana. Don’t. Say. Anything.”
    She bit back the angry retort. There was no mistaking the menace in his voice. He meant it. This time, he meant it.
    “Get me Jack. Use any resource you want. Use Bug. Use Drake, even. Use Pack Leader, if that’ll help. I don’t care how it gets done, but I want Jack in two days. Starting now.”
    Diana struggled for her next breath.
    “Two days, Diana. You know the ‘or else.’”

    Albert was supervising the sweeping of his club by one of his crew, and reading about the melting points of various metals—lead and gold, especially gold—when Quinn pushed a wheelbarrow into the McDonald’s.
    In the wheelbarrow were three fish. One was very big for a fish. The other two looked more average.
    Albert’s second thought was that this was an opportunity.
    His first thought was that he was hungry and would definitely enjoy a nice piece of fried fish. Even raw fish. The strength of the hunger pangs caught him off-guard. He tried to ignore the hunger, eating very little himself and making sure that his crew were as well fed as possible, but when a guy walked in with actual, honest-to-God fish…
    “Whoa,” Albert said.
    “Yeah. Cool, huh?” Quinn said, smiling down at his fish like a proud parent.
    “Are they for sale?” Albert asked.
    “Yeah. Except for whatever I can eat. Plus, we got to send some to Mary for the prees.”
    “Of course,” Albert agreed. He considered. “I don’t have