Spliced

by Jon McGoran

  “And Chimerica,” Pell added.

  “Sure,” I said. “But each time we run into trouble, it’s going to slow us down.” Rex and Sly were listening but they looked unconvinced. “As far as we know, this is where Ryan was shot. We need to take that seriously. We need to be safe.”

  Rex took the map back and studied it for a moment before he nodded and let out a sigh. “Makes sense.”

  The entrance to the trail was hidden by vines, but once we got past the first twenty yards, it was clearer.

  The trail itself was rougher than I expected, but it was still better hiking through nature than navigating the perils of people.

  We walked in silence as a thin layer of clouds replaced the blue sky. I tried picturing Del again, tried to steer my imagination toward a positive place. Instead, I plunged into the now-familiar mix of hope and fear, anxiety and resignation.

  I almost welcomed the diversion when Pell and Sly started talking about Chimerica, wondering what it could be, where it could be, who would be there.

  “Ruth said she pictured it on a lake in Canada,” Pell said solemnly. “She said it would be controlled by chimeras, and they’d grow their own food, bake their own bread and everything. It wouldn’t be totally built up, like a city, but it would have plenty of energy for lights and stuff. And other people could be there, too, but they’d have to promise to be nice to the chimeras and not make fun of them or anything, and if they did, they’d have to leave.” Sly listened intently, as if Ruth’s suppositions now had some great authority.

  I was still pretty sure the place wasn’t real, and I turned to Rex. But he was listening intently too. I wondered if things had gotten so bad in the real world, he’d decided it made sense to believe in Chimerica after all.

  At the bottom of a hill, we crossed an access road carved into the woods. On the other side of it, the brush had turned scraggly and brown, with brittle-looking grasses and dead, twisted trees.

  When we crested the next hill, a small tower appeared up ahead, surrounded by a cluster of small buildings and a fence. All of it was rusted and falling apart.

  “What’s that?” Pell asked, looking around us.

  “I think it’s a drill,” I said.

  Rex looked at me. “Oil?”

  “Or liquefied coal. Del’s dad used to help build these, before he became a cop. When the oil and gas started running out, some people started pumping more and more chemicals into the ground to get the last few drops out. Sometimes the chemicals seeped back to the surface.”

  “God, it killed everything,” Pell said breathlessly, looking at the devastation that surrounded us.

  “And that’s just a tiny one,” I said. “Del told me about some places that had giant operations, with these huge dead zones around them.”

  “I can’t believe they’re allowed to do that,” she said.

  “Oh, it’s totally illegal. But no one does much to stop it. Doesn’t look like this one has been used in ages.”

  “I guess the damage is already done,” she said.

  Sly cleared his throat. “This is all very fascinating, but how about we hurry up and get out of here before it kills us, too?”

  We quickened our pace up the next hill, and by the time we had reached the top, the grass had recovered somewhat, then the trees.

  The thickening clouds parted for a moment, bathing everything in a golden light that seemed unnaturally bright and cheerful after the brown and gray around the drilling installation. Then the light faded as the sun disappeared once more.

  Rex looked at the sky. “Might be some rain headed our way.”

  As we walked on, I stepped closer to him. “Do you think we’ll make it by nightfall?”

  He shrugged. “I hope so. But I don’t like the looks of those clouds.”

  A chilly breeze picked up. Rex checked his compass and we angled to the right, along the access road.

  Half a mile later, it let us out onto another road, once paved but now mostly rubble. A sign confirmed that we were headed toward Pitman, but the distance had been obliterated by rust.

  Down the road a hundred yards was another metal structure. I thought it might be another drilling installation, but as we got closer, I saw it was a sign.

  I could make out the words VILLAGE MALL, although several letters were missing.

  Rex glanced at his map. “We’re not far from Pitman, but still a ways off from Haven.”

  Lightning flickered and the ground shook with thunder. It was still late afternoon, but the clouds overhead were darkening dramatically. The wind swirled, picking up grit and bits of debris.

  Rex pointed at the sign. “If there’s an old mall, we could shelter in it.”

  We crossed the road, relieved finally to have a destination. Sly put his hand at the small of Pell’s back, helping to propel her along.

  Other than the sign, there didn’t seem to be any hint of a mall or anything else, but as the trees swayed in the wind, we could see metal light posts, spaced out evenly among them. It was an old parking lot. Beyond it was the mall itself. “There,” I said, pointing at a darkened jumble of glass, chrome, and concrete.

  The clouds lit up with lightning and we all flinched as the thunder echoed around in the valley. Then the rain came down.

  FORTY-NINE

  The parking lot was covered in mud and leaves. We were soaked in seconds, and halfway across the lot, the water was already ankle deep, cascading down the steep hills surrounding the mall.

  One wall of the glass atrium at the entrance had been shattered, and we picked our way past the shards that littered the pavement, making our way inside.

  A flash of lightning lit up the first twenty yards of the dark, musty, cavernous interior. A pair of benches faced each other, flanked by escalators on either side leading up to the next level.

  We stood there for a moment, dripping, then simultaneously dropped our backpacks and collapsed onto the benches.

  Pell and Sly were sitting together, and I wondered if there was something between them. Then I noticed Pell smiling at Rex and me, like she was assuming the same thing about us. She winked at me, then looked away.

  I opened my backpack for something to eat, but all that was in it was the flashlight and the binoculars. I was about to ask the others to pass around some food, but a noise made me pause. Behind the roar of the wind and the rain pounding on the roof, I heard a low rumble. A crash echoed through the mall, followed by the sound of moving furniture and a barely audible whoosh.

  “What is that?” I whispered.

  Rex gave his head a tiny shake. “I don’t know.”

  We were all staring into the dark interior of the mall when lightning flashed and I saw it, just at the edge of where the light reached.

  I grabbed my backpack and yelled, “Run!”

  A river of mud was surging through the building, dark and dangerous, glittering with broken glass, pushing large chunks of debris as it came at us fast.

  Between the mud and the rain and the mold covering everything, I could barely get any traction, running in place like a cartoon character. But I was still the first one moving, straight toward the way we came in.

  I opened my mouth to tell everyone to grab their stuff, but it was too late—the backpacks disappeared as the mud picked up the benches we had just been sitting on, snapping them into pieces and tumbling them toward us.

  Rex was just a few steps behind me and the others right behind him, when Pell tripped and let out a squeal of pain, grabbing her leg. Rex reached past Sly and yanked Pell by the jacket, jerking her away from the onrushing mud.

  As we stumbled back out into the rain, the mud exploded through the atrium, shattering more windows, twisting the metal skeleton. The roof groaned and sagged, raining more glass. The mud poured out into the parking lot, then it stopped.

  The rain slowed to a drizzle and the mud settled as we stood there stunned, trying to catch our breath. It was almost dark outside, but I could see the brown scar of exposed eart
h on the hillside behind the mall, where the mudslide had come from. The building shuddered. Some unseen section of roof collapsed with a crash, pushing out a gust of damp, moldy air, like a dying breath.

  I looked at the others, soaking wet and wide-eyed with shock—even Rex. I’m sure I looked just as shaken. “Is everyone okay?” I called out over the sound of the wind and rain.

  “Mostly,” said Pell.

  “She cut her leg,” Sly said. He looked worried. “It’s not too bad,” Pell said.

  Sly put his arm around her.

  I knelt down beside her and gingerly lifted her pant leg. It was a nasty gash, but it would probably be fine if we could get it cleaned and bandaged.

  “No, not too bad,” I repeated.

  Rex met my eye, a look that said he agreed with my unspoken assessment more than the one I’d said out loud. Then he stepped closer to me. “How about you? Are you okay?” His rumbling voice reverberated through my body.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m fine.”

  Soon the rain stopped entirely, and the evening sky started to clear. The air was turning crisp and dry, refreshing at first but with a slight chill. The thunderstorm had been intense, and it seemed like a cold front was coming through behind it.

  We were drenched and exhausted. We had nothing to eat and nowhere to stay. Pell needed medical attention.

  “So, now what?” Sly asked, pulling his jacket tighter around him. “I’m freaking starving.”

  I was, too.

  We all looked at Rex, and he actually took a step back. I felt bad for him. He hadn’t wanted us to come with him. He might have been fine on his own, just camping out in the woods.

  I looked around, at the mall we had just escaped, at the low, puffy clouds, drifting by under the rising moon and stars. As the clouds passed behind the hilltops, they glowed briefly, as if lit from below.

  “What’s that?” I said, pointing.

  Rex and Sly turned to look.

  Sly turned back. “I don’t see anything.”

  Rex squinted. “What, you mean the light?”

  “Yeah. Under the clouds.”

  “I don’t know. Actually, it could be Pitman. We’re pretty close.”

  “We still have our money, right?” I said. “Maybe we can get some food and supplies there.”

  All three of them looked at me like I was crazy and stupid. Rex shook his head sadly. “It’s not safe. Chimeras can’t just walk into a town in the middle of nowhere, definitely not these days.”

  “I know that,” I said. “But I can.”

  FIFTY

  Rex was against the idea, but he had to admit it made sense. I don’t think Sly or Pell were crazy about it, either, but they were hungry and thirsty and we were all worried about Pell’s leg.

  The plan was that I would go into town, buy food and water, some bandages and first aid cream, and bring it all back out to where they were waiting. It would still be a cold, uncomfortable night, but at least we’d have the essentials and we could take care of Pell.

  “Let’s get a little closer to the town, and reassess,” said Rex, apparently still unconvinced. “Maybe there’ll be a better option.”

  Pell’s limp was getting worse, probably aggravated by the steep incline we were climbing.

  “Is this a hill or a mountain?” Sly asked, breathing hard.

  “It would be a very small mountain,” Rex said.

  “Yeah, well, it’s a big-ass hill.”

  From the top of the hill, Pitman was clearly visible—a tall fence surrounding an irregular grid, all bathed in the soft blue glow of super-efficiency streetlights, with a few brighter orange and yellow lights sprinkled in. On the far side of town was a jumble of industrial buildings lit up in white and a tower topped off with an orange flame. Behind that was a patch of inky black.

  “It’s pretty,” Pell said. “Especially the flame.”

  “I guess,” said Sly. “What is that?”

  “It looks like a coal well,” I said. “Like that old one we saw. That flare burns off excess gases and impurities. It looks like they’re still operating it.” I turned to Rex. “But they couldn’t be, right?”

  Rex shook his head. “They shouldn’t be.”

  Below us a shattered road curved past an open gate set in the tall fence. Another road split off it and went through the gate, and the part inside looked newly paved.

  As we watched, a car came out through the gate, tiny in the distance. It turned away from us and sped off down the bumpy road in the opposite direction, disappearing quickly over the next hilltop.

  Rex grunted. “That way is probably the closest Smart-route.”

  We descended the hill but stayed in the woods, keeping our distance from the road. The trees were bare, except for the ones draped in vines, but they were dense enough that twenty feet in, they gave us some cover.

  We huddled behind a thick mat of kudzu.

  “I don’t like this,” Rex said. “I don’t know what happened to Ryan, but this could be where it happened. I don’t think you should go in there.”

  “I don’t, either,” Pell said, putting her hand on my arm. “I’ll be fine until tomorrow.”

  Sly was quiet. I got the sense he shared their concerns, but he was worried about Pell, too.

  I patted Rex on the shoulder. “I’ll be okay,” I said. “I’ll go in, find the store, and get out fast. I’m more worried about you guys. You need to make sure you aren’t seen.”

  “You need a story,” Sly said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “It’s a small town. They’re going to know you’re from the outside. You need a story as to why you’re there, alone at night.”

  “What do I say, I was out hiking and I got lost?”

  “The storm,” Sly said. “Tell them you lost your stuff in the storm. In a gully washer or whatever.”

  I nodded.

  “I still don’t like it,” Rex said. Even in the darkness, I could see the worry in his eyes.

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. I gave Rex the flashlight and the binoculars but kept the backpack with me, so I could fill it with food and medical supplies. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  I gave them a smile, then turned and left the woods.

  FIFTY-ONE

  As I crossed the road, I looked through the gate and saw people walking this way and that. A sign on the fence said WELCOME TO PITMAN, and below it were rules and regulations, a history of the town, and a list of things to do. I couldn’t imagine there was much since the place was tiny, but I wasn’t planning on staying anyway, so I didn’t read it.

  The streetlights were dimmer than the ones in the city, but after so long in the darkness, I could see just fine.

  The guardhouse by the gate was empty. Past it was a street lined with small, neat houses with little patches of grass out front, and fenced-in yards out back. A couple of larger homes were mixed in, too. Apart from the constant flame visible in the sky behind the houses, it was a lot like some of the neighborhoods near my house.

  I had expected it to be weirder.

  I seemed to be on the main street going straight through the heart of town. The utility poles had posters for Game Day, just like the one on the back of Ryan’s map. Several blocks ahead, the lights were brighter. I could see signs and storefronts and figured that must be the commercial district. There were plenty of people on the sidewalks, all headed toward the center of town.

  To be safe, I took off the pin Ruth had given me and slipped it in my back pocket. As I did, an older couple came out of the house I was walking past. They both looked at me.

  I smiled, and so did the woman. The man tipped his head and said, “Evening.”

  “Evening,” I said, thinking, This is going to be easier than I’d thought.

  I took a few more steps, and then the man called out, “Excuse me, young lady?”

  Or maybe not. I turned and smiled sweetly. “Yes?”

  “I believe you dropped this,” he s
aid, holding up my pin.

  I realized I must have dropped it when I tried to put it in my pocket.

  “It’s very pretty,” said the woman. “You wouldn’t want to lose that.”

  Both of their faces were open and sweet and seemed to be utterly devoid of suspicion or ill will. Either they didn’t realize it was a pro-chimera pin or they didn’t care.

  “Thank you,” I said, taking the pin and putting it in my backpack.

  “You’ll want to be careful,” he said conspiratorially. “Even in a nice town like this, not everyone is as honest as we are.”

  They both laughed as if he’d said something hilarious.

  I thanked them again, and we exchanged good-nights.

  Half a block after that I heard a screen door slam and seconds later a small voice behind me said, “Who are you?”

  I took a deep breath and turned, rehearsing my lines in my head. A little boy about seven years old was squinting up at me, like he was trying to place me and wondering why he couldn’t.

  “My name’s Jimi. Who are you?”

  “I’m Sam. Jimmy’s a boy’s name.”

  I nodded. “Usually it is, but not always, because I’m a girl.”

  “You’re not from Pitman, are you?”

  “Nope. Just visiting.”

  “Are you here for the Pregame Fair?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “We haven’t had a Game Day since I was a baby. They’re saying this year’s is going to be the best one yet.”

  “Wow. That sounds like fun. I’m actually looking for a store. Do you know where there’s a store?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Pratt’s Market is up there.” He pointed in the direction everyone was headed. “We missed the beginning of the fair because my mom said we had to do our chores.”

  “Okay, thanks,” I said. “Well, see you later.” I started walking, but so did he.

  “So where do you live?”

  “In Philadelphia,” I said.

  He stopped, wide-eyed. “I never been to the city.”

  “Well, I’d never been to Pitman before now,” I said over my shoulder.