Scan by Walter Jury

Author:Walter Jury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

“STAY ON THIS ROAD FOR THE NEXT SEVEN MILES,” I SAY. Then I set the phone on the seat and carefully gather Christina in my arms. I keep the scrap of shirt pressed to the side of her head, but it’s almost soaked through. Her hair is sticky, tangled, and painting my arms with thin crimson streaks.

“Hey,” I whisper to her, holding her tight. “Wake up. Come back.”

She doesn’t move, doesn’t tense, doesn’t twitch. A chill goes through me. Twenty-four hours ago, I was trying to stop my father’s bleeding, trying to get him to stay with me. I feel just as helpless now.

“She needs a doctor, Mom.” I don’t even try to control the tremble in my voice. I’m not sure whether it was the impact of the bullet or that she hit her head on the van’s roof as she fell, but she’s deeply unconscious. Her pulse is steady, and she’s breathing, but that’s all I can say. For all I know, she’s hemorrhaging and the parts that make her Christina are irreparably broken. For all I know, she’s dying quietly in my arms. “Sooner than thirty minutes,” I add.

“It’s the best I can do.”

“Can’t we take her to a hospital?”

“We can, but we’ll have to leave her there, and I guarantee you, the Core will find her quickly, and they will try to use her to get to us. And they won’t be gentle.”

I swallow hard. “So where are we going?”

“The family compound of one of The Fifty. A place where we can get some medical care for her, and some help getting where we need to go.”

“Aren’t we past the time for cryptic bullshit?” I snap. “Who the hell are these people?”

“I’m sorry. I wish your dad had explained all of this to you earlier.”

“Me too.” I know so little about my dad and this world I’m a part of, and it’s making me nuts. But— “It’s not like he knew any of this was going to happen.” How could he have anticipated what a fuck-up I would turn out to be?

Mom sighs. “Your father believed there are still about three billion humans left.”

“No, he said there were less than that. And that the number is dropping fast.” It reminds me of that screen in my dad’s lab, with one number jittering up while the second shrank in a jagged progression.

My mother gives me the saddest smile. “Most of those humans don’t know they’re members of an endangered species, just like most H2 don’t know they’re aliens. And maybe it wouldn’t matter to some, but the Core have been so covertly merciless over the years, so it clearly matters to them. And The Fifty are well aware of their humanity and carefully protect it. As you know, the Archers are members. My family, the Shirazis, are as well, the only members in southwest Asia. There are at least five families in China, three in India, and a scattering across Europe, Africa, and South America. There are no members of The Fifty from Australia.

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