The Only

CH 15

Jesse and I reappeared on solid ground, on top of the ruins that used to be our high school.

"We need to get out of here," Jesse said, "before someone realizes we aren't cooperating."

I nodded, and took off running to the north. It was hot; my hair clung to my neck in a giant, messy wad. I could barely make my muscles work enough to place one foot in front of the other.

Eventually we came to a ghetto on the outskirts of the city, where the street was lined with cars. "Can you hotwire?" I asked Jesse.

"I like the way you think," he said, jogging over to one and yanking open the door. He pulled out a couple wires from under the steering wheel and touched the tips together. The engine jumped to life.

The Traverse we were in smelled of rotten flesh, but it had a full tank of gas. We drove at ninety miles an hour down the highway, swerving between vehicles and bodies of the dead.

We were in Orlando when the tank finally hit empty. I suggested that we hotwired another and kept going, but Jesse pointed toward the darkening sky. "Headlights would draw attention. Can't get anywhere without them either."

"Well, what do we do? Sleep in the car?" I asked.

"I was actually thinking something a little more cozy," he said, pointing down the street to a Best Western.

"A hotel?" I asked as I stepped out of the Traverse. "I honestly don't think anyone around here is going to care if we borrow their house for one night."

"Do you really want to sleep in a room that someone lived and died in? There should be and empty room somewhere in that hotel, one without someone's memories, or their charred remains all over the place. Sorry Stase, but a hotel is where I'd rather stay."

"Good point. I'm coming," I answered, but Jesse shushed me. "What?" I asked. Then I heard. The low growling of a hungry feaster.

Jesse grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. Soon we were sprinting as fast as we could for the hotel. I could hear the footfalls of at least one feaster behind us as we tore through the door. Jesse grabbed a heavy chair from the lobby and shoved it under the handle of the heavy glass door, before finding and throwing the lock.

I leaned against the desk to catch my breath, trying not to look at the corpse in the seat behind it. Jesse took one look at me and laughed. "Let's find a room," he said.

After sorting through the book for half an hour, we finally found a vacant room on the second floor. He grabbed the key card from a drawer under the counter and motioned toward the stairs.

I climbed them quickly, and waited patiently for him to figure out which end of the card to insert into the door.

We finally got the room open and I ran to the bathroom to wash my wounds. Jesse came in behind me and wet a towel. He dabbed the back if my head with it, cleaning the dried blood from my hair where Solktech popped us with the handle of his cannon.

When he stopped, he dropped the towel and let his hands rest on my hips while I finished whipping off the blood. When I was done, I turned to face him.

"Turn around so I can get your head," I said, picking up the towel he dropped and rinsing my blood from it.

He did, and I gently wiped out the blood. When I was done, he grabbed my wrist and kissed my hand. "Thanks," he said. "For everything."

I nodded, throwing the towel in the bathtub. "Every moment's been a pleasure." I replied.

He gripped his side with both hands and hissed between his teeth. His fingers stained red as the blood poured from the spot where Timmy sliced him.

"Careful," I said, reaching to the shelf to get another towel. My hand came back empty. "I have to go back to the lobby and get more towels." I said.

"I'm coming, too." he answered.

"No, you're bleeding too much. Stay here. I'll be back in just a few."

I left Jesse in the bathroom and ran down the stairs. When I got back to the lobby, I cringed at the corpse and walked around it to get to the back room. A noise at the door caught my attention.

I turned around to see seven feasters busting through the door. The chair Jesse had blocked it with was in shreds on the floor. The door was shattered. Through the door, I could see a beam of light shining on he street.

Molecular Teleportation. Timmy's words swam in my brain, and I knew they had found us. There was no way in Hell I was going to go back to the pawns willingly, so I considered my options.

I considered going back to the ship, and telling them that Jesse had died, to give him a chance, at least, but they would know I wouldn't stay in a hotel alone. They would kill him. So whatever I did, I had to get Jesse.

If I stood still, the feasters wouldn't see me. If I ran, I had a chance of escaping the coming pawns. If I stood still, the pawns were sure to get me. If I ran, the feasters would catch me.

I grabbed two towels off the shelf and ran.