They’d reached the beginnings of the suburbs, a mix of sprawling neighborhoods and small businesses and strip malls. The sight of people had definitely increased, but they usually hid or ran or closed the curtains as soon as they were noticed. So far, Evelyn had not seen anyone who seemed like a Crank past the Gone, except her. She was on the doorstep.
"I never thought I’d say this," Spider said as he scooped something that looked like dog food out of a tin can. "But I’m sick of chili. Especially cold chili."
They had stopped for a rest and some food. They had built a little fire in the middle of an abandoned parking lot. Evelyn was placed gently down. Newt made sure she was propped up enough to help keep her airway clear. Goose refused to even listen to her feble protests of leaving her and just taking Keisha. Every time she tried to bring it up he got harsh and snappy, but then look to Keisha and they would have a silent conversation.
The windows of the small strip of buildings were boarded up, now, which seemed kind of pointless since the doors had been ripped off their hinges and the glass on the windows had long been removed. The rain from the heavy dreary clouds still threatened to release the rain on the dry earth.
"Did it ever rain in the Maze?" Keisha asked. She was eating a granola bar, and by the looks of it every chew was a solid chore.
Newt took a bite of canned corn to hide his surprise at her mentioning the Maze. He glanced down at Evelyn. She had pushed her can of cold canned corn away. She had hardly eaten. She was hungry, but had no energy to eat. But some life flickered in her eyes with the mention of the Maze.
She didn't know if it was good or bad, but there was something. She slowly pushed herself up to sit.
"Yeah, it rained," Newt said, he shifted slightly, like he was uncomfortable remembering that place.
"Did it?" Even asked, her face scrunched, "I...I don't remember rain. Sun...blue sky...we had gardens...but I don't remember rain..."
"We had a fake sky, fake sun, fake everything. I don’t really know how they made it rain but the place was packed with all kinds of bloody techno gadgets. Stuff that made it seem bigger, more realistic, optical illusions, that kind of crap. I’ll never forget the day the sun stopped working. You wanna talk about a freak-out. That was weird."
"It...shut off. Just vanished." Even added her eyes clamped, she was holding her head between her hands, shaking it. Like she was trying to shake a memory loose.
"How’d it work?" Ruffio asked, "We’ve heard all kinds of rumors about those places."
"The experiments. All that scary spooky stuff. I’m sure it was mostly BS."
"It wasn't..." Evelyn whispered. "It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't." She had started to rock back and forth. Her breathing grew heavier.
Newt put his can of corn down, slowly placed the plastic spoon next to it. His hand trembled.
"No, no, no," Newt whispered to himself. "It's happening again."
Evelyn heard him, but she was busy trying to keep herself from spiraling. Her whole body quaked, whether it was just on the inside or manifested visibly, she didn’t know. Evelyn tried to fight through, she could make out Newt's body shaking like he was cold. Her stomach turned sour. Pain lanced behind her eyeballs, moving toward the rear of her skull and then forward again, back and forth like a pendulum. She had to shut her eyes tightly, trying to focus on something with the pain made it hurt more.
She let out a whimper.
Keisha said Newt's name gently. "Newt? Are you okay?"
Evelyn felt a hand on her but she twitched away.
ESTÁS LEYENDO
The Broken Healer
Fanfic** The third installment of Healer trilogy. This book follows the Book plot with some movie scenes and some original thoughts. ** Evelyn is rapidly turning into a crank. Her friends have been captured by WICKED. She knows there is no cure for her, s...
