Nemesis (Project Nemesis #1)(47)

I somewhat agreed, but kept it to myself. Although I could see the logic in counting how many batteries we had-and having Zach inventory the guns locked behind the counter-some of this stuff was available all over town. Plus, how long did he think we'd be stranded up here? Eventually someone would notice that the entire town of Fire Lake had stopped venturing out of the mountains. A scout would be sent, the bridge discovered, and help would arrive. We were talking days, at most.

Unless there's nobody out there, either.

The thought sent a shiver down my spine. With communications out, we had no way of knowing what was going on beyond the canyon. What happened with the comets? They must've played a part in the blackout. The quakes had clearly stopped, but we didn't know the severity of the damage.

A corner of my mind rebelled against these rationalizations. Stop ignoring the real issues. Soldiers disappeared like ghosts. Buildings spontaneously reconstructed. Half a damn mountain put itself back together!



       
         
       
        

My body tensed. I stopped moving, fingers balling into fists.

I didn't want another panic attack, but it was never up to me.

Anxiety. Fear. Helplessness. That old cocktail, infecting my psyche like a virus. I closed my eyes, unable to dispel the tension. Or the self-loathing that came with it. I wanted a blue pill in the worst way. To lie down, and sleep, and have all this be over.

Normalcy. Anonymity. Numbness. I wanted them all back, if only for a moment.

Want your executioner back too, you putz? You're pathetic.

Anger erupted inside me. God, I'm such a waste. Locking up like a hunted animal in the middle of a sporting goods store? Because life was suddenly more complicated?

What a joke.

Like picking a scab, I wondered where Black Suit was at that moment. He hadn't lost his cool in the square when things started falling apart. Who was he, really? It seemed like he'd been operating outside the hierarchy.

So where did that place him? I tried to imagine someone applying for his role and actually laughed out loud. Job available: serial killer. Must be willing to slay the same teenagers multiple times.

"Something funny?"

I winced. The last person I wanted to see.

Ethan strolled down the aisle with a smile of contentment, like a man appreciating the fruits of his labor. It took me a second to notice that Sarah was with him. She fluttered her fingers in a coy wave. She was wearing a skirt now, which for some reason I found weirdly out of place.

"What's the joke?" Ethan asked casually.

"Nothing." I straightened, unsure how to act. I'd hung out with them almost every day for years, but things had changed recently, and we all knew it. "It's just . . . all this. What's been going on, you know? I can't seem to wrap my head around it."

Ethan nodded, even looked sympathetic. "It's been a crazy week. I remember sitting at home just last weekend, totally convinced that we were all gonna be Anvil pancakes. Then they called a miss, but somehow things got even crazier."

"You said it." Still wondering what they were doing there. Random spot check? I didn't think so.

"We've missed you, Noah." Sarah flashed perfect white teeth. "I'm not sure what's been going on, but you don't have to hang out with the trailer-park kids. Your friends want you back."

"No. I know. Things have been . . . complicated." 

"But it's not complicated." Ethan's voice carried an edge. Sarah put a hand on his arm. He took a breath, then spoke in a milder tone. "Listen, we've been butting heads lately, but that's what friends do every now and then. No hard feelings, right? We gave you this sweet gig, didn't we?" He playfully punched my shoulder. "Screwing around in here with no adults or rules, like we dreamed about in middle school? I'm jealous!"

I remembered Ethan knocking things off shelves and yelling, "Run," leaving me in the lurch, but I didn't argue the point. He was trying to be nice, so I let him.

"We want you to rejoin our team," Sarah said. "It's where you belong."

Ethan winked. "We have a spot for you in our inner circle. No more assignments, just running things. Sound good?"

I hesitated. I didn't want to spend a single minute trapped inside a room with these two, but how could I turn them down without making things worse? Ethan didn't take rejection well under the best of circumstances, and these weren't those.

Sarah must've sensed my reluctance. "Or you could work with Derrick. I guess he's kind of like our team captain. Delivers orders, and things like that."

Ethan's eyes narrowed. "Unless you like pawing through back rooms."

"No," I blurted, fumbling for a way out. "It's not that. I appreciate the offer, honestly."

"Then what, Livingston? Are we not good enough for you anymore?"

"Ethan." Sarah shot him a warning glance, then aimed her megawatt smile at me. "You can have whatever role you want, Noah. Seriously. Come back to the church with us and we'll figure it out. Just like always."

She reached out and squeezed my arm. I cringed. Accidentally pulled back.

Her smile evaporated, replaced by a hurt look, which slowly morphed to anger.

"You guys are great, I mean it," I said quickly. Then I noticed Rachel and Liesel spying on our conversation from the next row over. "I just don't want to ditch my team right now, is all. It wouldn't be right for me to bail and leave them stuck with all the work. I'll catch up with you guys at the meeting."

Neither Ethan nor Sarah said anything. I forced a smile, pulse racing.

Ethan shook his head. "You're gonna have to make a choice, Noah. Soon. You're either with us or against us. I'm done screwing around." He walked off, not waiting for Sarah.

"See you tonight, Noah." Her voice was chillier than before. "He's right, you know. You need to step up, or you might get run over. There aren't many places to hide these days." With that, she turned and left.

Releasing a pent-up breath, I replayed the confrontation in my head. Had the sinking feeling I'd come out farther behind than when I started.

"Thanks for not ditching us, Noah." Liesel smiled at me through the shelves. I think it was the first thing she'd said all day.

"Don't thank him," Rachel huffed. "He's an idiot. They just offered him a free ride, and he choked. I hope I'm next in line. Ow!"

Liesel lifted a toolbox off of Rachel's foot. "Oops. Sorry."

I ignored Rachel's aggrieved tirade, still reeling from the ambush. And, being honest, I was surprised at myself. Why hadn't I gone with them? It would've been so much easier to just join their stupid dictator club. I could fade out and do nothing, like always.



       
         
       
        

You know why. She'd never forgive you.

Min.

Was it really that simple?

Ferris's voice echoed down the corridor. "Hey guys, get up here! Something's happening outside!" Oh God, what now? I hustled to the front with the girls. Out in the parking lot, a handful of people were pointing and laughing. When I saw why, I couldn't help but chuckle, too.

Someone had spray-painted the bank window next door. A crude figure with blond hair was giving a Nazi salute. It had a Hitler-style mustache and was shouting, "DO YOUR PART!" in a word bubble. A red circle with a slash through it surrounded the whole thing, with a message in block letters below. DEATH TO FASCISTS.

Though fairly slapdash, it was obviously a caricature of Ethan. I looked for him in the crowd, but he wasn't there-he must've missed it heading the other way. "It captures his likeness pretty well," Benny Erikson joked, sweeping shoulder-length black hair from his eyes. "I give it eight out of ten."

"Ethan's gonna flip," Alice Cho murmured, her smooth features forming an apple-shaped face. "I hope whoever drew this doesn't get caught." Beside her, Emily Strang rubbed her chubby arms. "I don't like it. Why mess up the bank? The buildings around here are nice, and there's no one to clean stuff up anymore."

"I watched this whole block collapse yesterday," Jamie Cruz muttered, her chestnut curls bouncing as she shuddered. "But now look at it. I don't like the future at all."

I spun, brow furrowed. "The future?"

Jamie nodded. "Where else could we be? That mist they sprayed us with must've shot us forward in time, to some point after these buildings were repaired. That's why everyone's gone."

"That's not it," Benny argued, scratching his dirty flannel shirt. "There'd be people here in the future too, dummy."

"Okay, hotshot, you tell me what happened," Jamie fired back.

"Wormhole," Benny said confidently. "Those men pushed us into another dimension. One where everything is exactly the same, only no people. We're in a new universe, dudes. It's wild out." The two began hotly debating their theories, but I stepped away. I had enough on my mind without trying to guess the impossible.

Alice Cho trailed me, worry lines creasing her forehead. "What do you think, Noah?"

Her question caught me off guard. I couldn't remember talking to her much before-Alice had only moved to Fire Lake in high school, and she took the arty classes I avoided like the plague. I shrugged, uneasy with the topic. "Couldn't it be as simple as us being knocked out? Maybe we imagined everything falling down. An early effect of the gas."