The Host(181)

For a moment, my throat was choked with emotion. Mel was too overcome to speak as well. We were a family in that one instant. All of us.

I cleared my throat. No need to feel things that would only come to nothing.

“It was very easy. Probably any of you could get away with it, if you acted naturally. She did look at my neck.” I touched it reflexively. “Your scar is too obviously homemade, but with the medicines I took, Doc could fix that.”

“I doubt any of us could act so natural.”

I nodded. “Yes. It’s easy for me. I know what they expect.” I laughed briefly to myself. “I’m one of them. If you trusted me, I could probably get you anything in the world you wanted.” I laughed again. It was just the stress fading, making me giddy. But it was funny to me. Did he realize that I would do exactly that for him? Anything in the world he wanted.

“I do trust you,” he whispered. “With all our lives, I trust you.”

And he had trusted me with every single human life. His, and Jamie’s, and everyone else’s.

“Thank you,” I whispered back.

“You did it,” he repeated in wonder.

“We’re going to save him.”

Jamie is going to live, Mel rejoiced. Thank you, Wanda.

Anything for them, I told her, and then I sighed, because it was so true.

After reattaching the tarps when we reached the wash, Jared took over the driving. The way was familiar to him, and he drove faster than I would have. He had me get out before he pulled the car into its impossibly small hiding place under the rock slide. I waited for the sound of rock against metal, but Jared found a way in.

And then we were back in the jeep and flying through the night. Jared laughed, triumphant, as we jolted across the open desert, and the wind carried his voice away.

“Where’s the blindfold?” I asked.

“Why?”

I looked at him.

“Wanda, if you wanted to turn us in, you had your chance. No one can deny that you’re one of us now.”

I thought about that. “I think some still could. It would make them feel better.”

“Your some need to get over themselves.”

I was shaking my head now, picturing our reception. “It’s not going to be easy, getting back in. Imagine what they’re thinking right now. What they’re waiting for…”

He didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed.

“Jared… if they… if they don’t listen… if they don’t wait…” I started talking faster, feeling a sudden pressure, trying to get him all the information before it was too late. “Give Jamie the No Pain first—lay that on his tongue. Then the Inside Clean spray—he just has to inhale it. You’ll need Doc to —”

“Hey, hey! You’re going to be the one giving the directions.”

“But let me tell you how —”

“No, Wanda. It’s not going to go down that way. I’ll shoot anyone who touches you.”

“Jared —”

“Don’t panic. I’ll aim low, and then you can use that stuff to heal ’em back up again.”

“If that’s a joke, it’s not funny.”

“No joke, Wanda.”

“Where’s the blindfold?”

He pressed his lips together.

But I had my old shirt—Jeb’s raggy hand-me-down. That would work almost as well.

“This will make it a little bit easier for them to let us in,” I said as I folded it up into a thick band. “And that means getting to Jamie faster.” I tied it over my eyes.

It was quiet for a time. The jeep bounced along the uneven terrain. I remembered nights like this when Melanie had been the passenger.…

“I’m taking us right to the caves. There’s a place the jeep will be fairly well hidden for a day or two. It will save us time.”

I nodded. Time was the key now.

“Almost there,” he said after a minute. He exhaled. “They’re waiting.”

I heard him fumbling beside me, heard a metal clank as he pulled the gun from the backseat.

“Don’t shoot anyone.”

“No promises.”

“Stop!” someone shouted. The sound carried in the empty desert air.

The jeep slowed and then idled.

“It’s just us,” Jared said. “Yes, yes, look. See? I’m still me.”

There was hesitation from the other side.

“Look—I’m bringing the jeep in under cover, okay? We’ve got meds for Jamie, and we’re in a hurry. I don’t care what you’re thinking, you’re not going to get in my way tonight.”

The jeep pulled forward. The sound changed and echoed as he found his cover.

“Okay, Wanda, everything’s fine. Let’s go.”