Plague

Funny, Lana noticed: it looked almost cleaned up today. As if someone had come along with a leaf blower and scooted all the garbage off the road.

The town council was now Dekka, Howard, Albert, Ellen, and Edilio. Sam was entitled to attend but he usually didn’t. Astrid had made it clear she wanted no part of it anymore, but Lana had sent Brianna to tell her to be there. She wanted Astrid’s eyes on this.

So Astrid was there. Sort of. Lana had seen Astrid in a lot of different situations and moods, but this was a new Astrid: withdrawn, preoccupied. Like she was somewhere else entirely. She was biting her lip, twisting her fingers together, then catching herself and wiping her hands on her jeans.

Lana was sure she saw Astrid start guiltily when she noticed the trash blown against the barrier. But maybe she was just feeling touchy because of the story going around about Sam and Taylor.

Edilio was in charge. Which was fine with Lana. Almost everyone else had shown some weakness, some bit of crazy. Very much including herself, she acknowledged wryly.

Edilio seemed like the last sane, decent person left in the FAYZ. The undocumented kid from Honduras was the single most trusted person around. And yet, if the barrier ever came down, Edilio and his family—if they were still alive out there—would be kicked out of the country.

Of course, Lana thought, if the barrier ever came down, half the kids would be shipped off to juvie and the rest would be sent to mental institutions or rehab. So maybe getting kicked out wasn’t so bad.

Hunter looked like he was meeting the president. He stood tall and tried to smooth his hair down—a hopeless effort. Lana hid a smile as he picked a tick off his arm and flicked it away.

“Hi, Hunter,” Edilio said. “First up, man, thanks for all the good work you do, right? You’re helping to keep everyone fed and healthy, so thanks.”

Hunter searched for something to say, eyes shifting left, right, and finally down. “I am the hunter.”

“Well, you’re a good hunter,” Edilio said. “Lana says you have a little medical problem.”

Hunter nodded. “Mouths.”

“Yeah. Well, do you mind letting us look? We don’t want to embarrass you or anything.”

“Just take off your shirt,” Albert said a bit abruptly. He considered Hunter an employee. But then Albert considered almost everyone an employee.

“He can take it off or not, it’s up to him,” Dekka said in her low growl.

Hunter was confused by the back-and-forth. So Lana said, “Would you mind taking your shirt off, Hunter, so we can see? Might as well take off your jeans, too.”

Hunter pulled his T-shirt over his head. He dropped his jeans to his ankles.

There was a collective gasp.

Lana stepped up beside Hunter. She pointed to the protruding mouthparts on Hunter’s shoulder. It looked exactly like a very large ant’s head, or maybe a wasp’s head, but with oversized, gnashing mouthparts. “This was the first one. I tried to cure it. You’ll notice it didn’t work.”

She pointed to a smaller silvery, almost metallic, mouth on his calf. “Do us a favor and raise your arms up, Hunter.”

He did. Albert looked away.

There was a third mouth gnashing its teeth in Hunter’s armpit.

Lana watched Astrid watching Hunter. Her ice blue eyes flickered.

“You have a question, Astrid?” Lana asked.

Astrid pursed her lips like she didn’t, but her curiosity got the better of her. “Hunter, has anything bitten you?”

“Yes. Fleas bite me. And ticks.”

“How about a wasp?” Astrid asked.

“No,” Hunter said.

“Why a wasp?” Edilio asked Astrid.

Astrid shrugged. “I’m just trying to get information.” She was lying, Lana thought. That scary smart brain of hers was already onto something. Something she didn’t want to talk about in front of Hunter.

“Anything else strange happen?” Edilio asked.

“Just the greenie,” Hunter said.

“The what?” Edilio asked.

“They’re no good for hunting. I caught one and cooked it but it shriveled all up and there wasn’t any meat on it.”

“What’s a greenie?” Albert demanded.

Hunter frowned, looking for a way to describe it. “It flies. It’s like a snake that flies.”

Howard said, “Oh, good, I was worried we didn’t have enough weirdness to deal with. Flying snakes. That’s excellent.”

“They squirt,” Hunter said helpfully. Then his eyes widened. “It squirted me once. Right here.” He pointed to his shoulder. To the slowly gnashing insect mouth.

“Does anyone have anything sharp?” Astrid asked.

Three knives flashed out.

“I was kind of thinking of a pin,” Astrid said. But she took a knife from Howard. “Don’t worry, Hunter,” she said. She poked very gently with the point of the knife just beside the largest mouth. “Did you feel that?”

Hunter shook his head.

Astrid poked again, farther from the first spot. And again on Hunter’s upper arm.

“I guess I don’t feel stuff much.” Hunter seemed baffled.

“Something’s anesthetizing him,” Astrid said. A spasm, a look of nausea, quickly suppressed, twisted her lips.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Hunter said.

“You can get dressed,” Edilio said kindly. “Thanks for showing us.”