Page 19 of Lost Roads (Benny Imura 7)

“Okay,” said Gutsy dubiously.

“Joe, what if there aren’t enough chemicals at Site B?” asked Nix. “Or you can’t get in?”

; Ledger turned to Max Morton. The old soldier gave him a very cold and ugly smile. “The doc here is going to do his level best to make sure what we have lasts. That means he gets his pill last, after everyone else gets a dose.”

“That’s insane,” cried Morton. “If I’m sick, I can’t work—”

“Then make sure there’s enough drug to go around.”

The room was unnaturally quiet.

“Good,” said Ledger after a long moment. “You all have jobs to do, and I need you to do all of them.”

18

THE GROUP BROKE UP.

As they were filing out, Gutsy approached Benny and his friends. “Don’t any of you know how to fix those quad things?”

“Not me,” said Benny. “Never been handy with tools.”

Nix also shook her head. “We all know a little bit of routine maintenance, but…”

“But what?” demanded Gutsy, appalled. “You mean you came all this way and only one of you knew how to keep those quads working?”

Nix and Benny looked deeply embarrassed.

Gutsy wanted to scream at them. Stuff like this made her so mad. All it took was some common sense and a little planning. Why was it people so rarely thought ahead? With what she carried with her every day she could clean and dress a wound, start a fire, purify water, catch and clean a fish, sharpen sticks, build a small shelter, collect dew, and a dozen other useful things. And that was just her walking-around gear. If she was going to drive a machine all the way across the country, Gutsy would have made sure she knew how to take a quad apart down to the last bolt and washer and put it back together again. She’d have brought replacements for all of the key functions.

Now, though, did not seem the time to make a speech about preparedness.

Ledger overheard the conversation and came over. “Y’know, guys, Gutsy here makes a good point. You four are idiots.”

“Hey,” said Benny, but without emphasis. “Look, we left in kind of a hurry. We thought you were in trouble and came out to… you know…”

Ledger stared at Benny until he shut up and looked down at his shoes. Chong gave his friend a slow, ironic pat on the shoulder.

The old soldier glanced at Gutsy. “How old are you?”

“Fifteen,” she said, immediately defensive. “Why?”

He smiled. “Because this isn’t the first time I thought you were the smartest and most mature person in the room.”

Gutsy felt her cheeks burn, but somehow managed to keep normal. More or less. “Okay, well, I, um… I’m going to, um, start asking around to see if anyone used to be a mechanic.”

And with that, she fled.

19

TRÓCAIRE FOUND TÉNÈBRES ALONE, SITTING on a kitchen chair she’d pulled close to a window. He came up behind her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and stood, watching.

Two men were pushing a quad along the alley between this street and the next. A big red mechanic’s toolbox jiggled on the seat. A young boy followed behind, pulling a wagon that was piled high with engine parts.

“Well,” said the young man, “isn’t that interesting?”

Ténèbres shivered. “I’m afraid,” she said.