Lies

a creature like Caine was going to tolerate Pixie and Bowie and Peace, let alone Choo. He wasn’t going to share a dwindling food supply with them.
    “Like things will be any better on the mainland,” Sanjit muttered.
    “What?” Virtue asked him distractedly. He was busy trying to strap Bowie into the back seat of the helicopter. There were only four seats altogether, the pilot and three passengers. But they were adult-size seats so the two in the back would be room enough for the three youngsters.
    Sanjit climbed into the pilot’s seat. The leather was creased and well-worn. In the movie the seat had been fabric. Sanjit remembered that very clearly. It was about all he remembered.
    He licked his lips, no longer able to put off the rickety fearthat he was about to get them all killed.
    “You know how to do this?” Virtue asked him.
    “No! No, of course I don’t!” Sanjit yelled. Then, for the benefit of the youngsters he twisted half way around and said, “Totally. Of course I know how to fly a helicopter. Duh!”
    Virtue was praying. Eyes closed, head bowed, praying.
    “Yeah, that’ll help,” Sanjit said.
    Virtue opened one eye and said, “I’m doing what I can.”
    “Brother, I wasn’t being a smart ass,” Sanjit said. “I mean I am hoping to God or gods or saints or anything else you got.”
    Virtue closed his eyes.
    “Should we pray?” Peace asked.
    “Yeah. Pray. Everyone pray!” Sanjit yelled.
    He pushed the ignition.
    He didn’t know a particular god he should pray to, he was Hindu but only by birth, he hadn’t exactly read the holy books or whatever. But Sanjit whispered, “Whoever You are, if You’re listening, now would be a good time to help us out.”
    The engine roared to life.
    “Wow!” Sanjit cried, surprised. He’d half expected, half hoped the engine wouldn’t even start.
    It was shockingly loud. It shook the helicopter amazingly.
    “Um…I think I pull this,” Sanjit yelled.
    “You think? ” Virtue mouthed, the sound of his voice swallowed by the engine noise.
    Sanjit reached over and put his hand on Virtue’s shoulder. “I love you, man.”
    Virtue put a hand over his own heart and nodded.
    “Great,” Sanjit said aloud though only he could hear his own voice. “And now that we’ve had that touching scene, it’s time for our heroes to go out in a flaming ball of glory.”
    Virtue frowned, trying to hear.
    “I said,” Sanjit shouted at the top of his lungs, “I’m invincible! Now let’s fly!”

    Dekka saw Zil’s crew split into two groups, to left and right of the road. An ambush.
    She hesitated. It would be good right about now to be Brianna. Breeze wasn’t bulletproof, but she was awfully hard to hit when she was going three hundred miles an hour.
    If she kept going, they would shoot her down.
    Where was Brianna? Still too sick to move, no doubt, otherwise she’d be in the middle of it. Brianna was not one to miss a fight. Dekka simultaneously missed her and hoped she stayed safely at home. If anything ever happened to Brianna, Dekka didn’t know how she would go on living.
    But where was Sam, that was the big question? Why was it Dekka’s job to walk this road? She didn’t even know that she had to. Maybe nothing would happen. Maybe Drake, rampaging up from the beach, would take on Zil and the two of them would finish each other off.
    Dekka would like to see that. Right about now. Right now before she had to keep walking up the road to Clifftop.
    “Yeah, that would be great,” Dekka said.
    Zil’s punks were losing patience. They weren’t waiting.They were working their way toward her on both sides of the road. Clubs. Bats. Crowbars.
    Shotguns.
    She could run. Live. Get away. Find Brianna and say, “Breeze, I know you probably aren’t going to feel the same way, and maybe this will just gross you out and you’ll hate me for saying it, but I love you.”
    Her body tingled with fear. She closed her eyes for a second and felt in that temporary darkness what it would feel like, death. Except that you couldn’t really feel death, could you?
    She could run away. Be with Brianna.
    Except no, that wasn’t ever going to happen. She was going to live out her days loving Brianna from a distance. Probably never even tell her how she really felt.
    Out of the corner of her eye Dekka saw Edilio running straight at Drake from behind. He was alone, the crazy boy, going after Drake. Farther away, moving much too slowly, Orc.
    Edilio could have decided