“Me?” Caine yelled. “I don’t think so. I own the light switch, brother.”
“Yeah, I guess you do,” Sam shouted. “And I’ve got you surrounded. And if you’re short on food up at Coates, my guess is you don’t have a lot with you here. So I’m guessing you’ll get hungry pretty soon.”
Caine’s smile froze.
“Well, there’s an unexpected development,” Diana said dryly.
Caine bit his thumbnail and yelled, “Hey, brother of mine, do I have to remind you that I have two of your people hostage in here?”
There was a long silence and Caine braced himself, thinking that Sam might launch another attack. Finally, Sam spoke. He sounded both more grim and more confident. “Go ahead, Caine, do whatever you want with the hostages. Then you won’t have hostages anymore. And you’ll still be hungry.”
“You think I won’t turn the hostages over to Drake?” Caine threatened. “You’ll be able to listen to them scream.” He could feel the color rising in his cheeks. He knew Sam’s answer. It wasn’t long in coming.
“Two seconds after I hear anyone yelling, in we come,” Sam said. “It will be bloody, and I’d like to not have that. But you know I have enough people with enough power to do it.”
Caine chewed his thumbnail. He glanced at Diana, willing her to have some solution, some helpful idea. He carefully avoided making eye contact with Drake.
“So, I have a better idea,” Sam yelled. “How about I give you ten minutes to get out of there? And I give you my word you can go back to Coates.”
Caine squeezed out a laugh that was half snarl. “Not happening, Sam. I’m holding this place. And you can go back to a very dark town.”
There was no answer.
The silence was eloquent. Sam didn’t need to say anything else. And Caine had nothing left to say. It felt as if there was a band tightening around his chest. Like he had to fight for each breath.
Something was not right. Something was very much not right. The fears that lived in his nightmares were rising now, like an incoming tide inside his head. He was in a trap.
“Stay tight,” Drake muttered as his soldiers exchanged skeptical, worried looks.
Diana swiveled in her chair. “So what now, Fearless Leader? He’s right: we don’t have any food.”
Caine winced. He ran a hand through his hair. His head felt hot.
He turned quickly, feeling as if someone was sneaking up behind him. No one there but the girl, Brittney, on the floor.
How had he not seen this coming? How had he not realized he would be trapped here? Even if he could somehow reach his people at Coates, they were far fewer in number than the number of kids Sam could command.
And none would come. Not here. Not with Sam surrounding the place.
Sam could have fifty people sitting outside the power plant within a few hours. And what could Caine do?
What could he do?
They had taken the power plant. They had turned off the lights in Perdido Beach. But now they were trapped. It was impossible.
Caine frowned, trying to concentrate. Why had he done it? In the space of a minute he had gone from crowing triumph to dismal humiliation.
What he had done? It made no sense. It gained him nothing. All he had thought was: Take the plant. Take it, and hold it. Then . . .
Then . . .
Caine felt himself sinking, mind swirling down and down as if a pit had opened beneath him.
The realization was sudden and sickening. He hadn’t taken the power plant in order to get food for his people, or even to show his power over Sam. He hadn’t been following his own desires at all.
Caine, the color all drained from his face now, stared at Drake.
“It’s for him,” Caine said. “It’s all for him.”
Drake narrowed his eyes, uncomprehending.
“He’s hungry,” Caine whispered. It hurt him to see the dawning realization in Diana’s eyes as he said the words, “He’s hungry in the dark.”
“How do you know?” Drake demanded.
Caine spread his hands, helpless to explain. Words would not come.
“It’s why he let me go,” Caine said, more to himself than to Diana or Drake. “It’s why he released me. For this.”
“Are you telling me we’re living out some fever dream of yours?” Diana was poised between laughing and crying, incredulous. “Are you telling me we did all this because that monster out in the desert is in your head?”
“What does he need us to do?” Drake asked, eager, not angry. A dog anxious to please his true master.
“We have to bring it to him. We have to feed him,” Caine said.
“Feed him what?”
Caine sighed and looked at Jack. “The food that brings the light to his darkness. The same thing that brings light to Perdido Beach. The uranium.”
Jack shook his head slowly, understanding but not wanting to understand. “Caine, how do we do that? How do we take uranium from the core? How do we move it for miles across the desert? It’s heavy. It’s dangerous. It’s radioactive.”
“Caine, this is crazy,” Diana pleaded. “Drag radioactive uranium across the desert? How does this help you? How does this help any of us? What is the point?”
Caine hesitated. He frowned. She was right. Why should he serve the Darkness? Let the creature feed itself. Caine had problems of his own, his own needs, his own—
A roar so loud, it seemed to vibrate the walls, filled the room. It knocked Caine to his knees. He clapped his hands over his ears, trying to block it out, but it went on and on, as he cringed and covered himself and fought the sudden desire to void his bowels.