Plague

works for you, Albert. What’s the problem? Does it bother you that I don’t?”
    “You liked it better when no one was working and everyone was starving?”
    Sam stared up at him. Then he made an ironic two-finger salute. “Sorry. I’m in a lousy mood. Bad night followed by bad morning. What’s up, Albert?”
    “There’s a big problem with the water supply.”
    Sam nodded. “I know. As soon as the gas runs out we’re going to have to relocate the whole town up to Evian.”
    Albert tugged at his pants, then sat down carefully on the sand. “No. First of all, the water level in Lake Evian is dropping faster than ever. There’s no rain here. And it’s a small lake. You can see where it’s dropped from, like, ten feet deep to half that.”
    Albert pulled a folded map from his pocket and opened it. Sam scooted closer to see.
    “This isn’t a very good map. It’s too big to show much detail. But see this?” He pointed. “Lake Tramonto. It’s like a hundred times bigger than Evian.”
    “Is it inside the FAYZ?”
    “I drew this circle with a compass. I think at least part of Lake Tramonto is inside the barrier.”
    Sam nodded thoughtfully. “Dude, it’s, like, what, ten miles from here?”
    “More like fifteen.”
    “Even if it’s there and even if the water is drinkable, how are we going to bring it down to Perdido Beach? I mean, look.” Sam traced lines with his finger. “Going or coming back it’s right through coyote country. And that would take a lot more gas, that drive. I mean, a lot more.”
    “I don’t think my saltwater still is going to work,” Albert admitted. He gazed moodily down the beach toward his work crew. “Even if it does, it may not produce enough.”
    Sam took the map from him and studied it intently. “You know, it’s weird. I kind of forgot there were such things as paper maps. I always used to use Google maps. Maps dot Google dot com. Remember those days? What’s this?”
    Albert peered over the edge of the map. “Oh, that’s the air force base. But look, it’s pretty much all on the other side. The runway, the buildings and all. Why? Were you hoping to find a jet fighter?”
    Sam smiled. “That might be useful if it came with a pilot. It’s one thing for Sanjit to crash-land a helicopter. It’s a whole different thing flying a Mach two jet around inside a twenty-mile-wide fishbowl. No. I don’t know what I was hoping for. Maybe a magic ray gun that could blow holes through the barrier.”
    “You know,” Albert said, trying to sound casual, but sounding instead like he was delivering a well-rehearsed speech. “I read in a book where in the old days—I mean, really old days—businessmen would hire explorers to go search out new territory. You know, to find gold or oil or spices. Of course these explorers would have to be tough and be able to deal with all kinds of problems.”
    Sam had no trouble grasping Albert’s meaning. “You want to hire me to explore this lake.”
    “Yes.”
    Sam looked around at the sand. “Well, as you can see, I’m very busy.”
    Albert said nothing. Just waited and watched Sam like a lizard watching a fly.
    “You don’t want the council to know about this. Why?”
    Albert shrugged. “Anything the council hears about, the whole town knows ten seconds later. You want panic? Anyway, it’s not about them. It’s me doing it. Me and you. And a couple of other kids to back you up.”
    “Why not just send Brianna? She’d get there fast.”
    “I don’t trust her. Not for something like this. I mean, Sam, we could be in trouble on water really soon. I mean, soon. I’ve got a truck going later, after that, maybe half a dozen more runs.”
    Sam fell silent. He drew little abstract shapes in the sand, thinking.
    “I’ll do it,” Sam said. “I’m not happy about keeping it secret from Edilio.”
    Albert pressed his lips into a line. Like he was thinking. But Sam could see Albert had an answer ready. “Look, secrets don’t last long in this place. For example, Taylor’s been telling an interesting story all over town.”
    Sam groaned. Had to be Taylor, he reproached himself. What was he going to tell Astrid? Not that it was really her business. They’d never said he couldn’t see anyone else, make out with anyone else. In fact once, in a flash of anger, Astrid had told him to do just that. Only she hadn’t said “make out.” She’d used a phrase he’d been a little shocked to hear coming from Astrid.
    “Sam,