Dust: Before and After

by S.E. Smith

  I will be hungry again by then, she decided, thinking that fear made the meal so much sweeter.

  Chapter 20

  Understanding Dawns:

  Dust glanced in the rear view mirror for the hundredth time. Sammy and Todd were sleeping in the back seat of the quad cab Toyota Tundra. It wasn’t a bad truck after he cleaned all the trash out of it and let it air out a bit.

  There was more room in it than he thought there would be. While it wouldn’t get as good of gas mileage as the car, it was higher and more powerful. The back of it had a hard top cover so they could put what few supplies they had left in it.

  They had stopped and picked up the other supplies from the cart that he had found as well. It was better having the truck for hauling the extra gas, too. They were heading more west than north now. They had tried to head due north, but a missing bridge had forced them to make a detour.

  “What is it with you and Sammy?” Josie asked in a quiet voice, turning her head to stare at him.

  “Nothing,” Dust replied in a clipped tone.

  He was still angry at Josie for the little stunt she had pulled earlier. It had flared up again when he caught a glimpse of white bandaging through the burn hole in Sammy’s pant leg. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel at the memory.

  “Yeah, right. You just wanted to kill all those men and me because you felt ‘nothing,” Josie replied sarcastically, using her fingers to emphasize the word nothing.

  “You hurt her, Josie,” Dust retort in a soft voice. “You scared her.”

  Josie snorted and turned to look out the passenger side window. “I was trying to help. If you’ve got new powers, we need to know what they are,” she muttered.

  “Not that way,” Dust finally replied. “I meant what I said, Josie. Don’t ever threaten Sammy or Todd again. I… I’m not sure I could stop myself from hurting you next time.”

  “What happened to you?” Josie asked in a quiet voice, turning her head to stare at him.

  Dust pursed his lips together. He didn’t know what was going on. What happened earlier had taken him by surprise as much as it had Sammy, Todd, and Josie. He’d been trying to figure it out since before they left the old farm house.

  “I don't know,” he finally admitted with a shrug.

  “It could have been because you were sick,” a soft voice from the back seat said.

  Dust’s gaze jerked back to the mirror. For a moment, his eyes and Sammy’s connected. He turned his attention back to the road when he heard the thump-y-thump of the reflectors when he started to run off of it.

  “I didn’t think of that,” Josie said, turning around in the seat so she could look back at Sammy with a frown. “But… How?”

  *.*.*

  Sammy briefly glanced at Dust again before she looked away. She had woken up a few minutes before. She listened as Dust and Josie talked, surprised by the feeling of warmth that swept through her when Dust warned Josie not to hurt her or Todd.

  If she wasn’t honest with herself, she’d admit that she was very confused. Yes, she thought Dust was cute and there had been something about his kiss that made her heart beat faster, but she was also just a little bit scared of him and Josie. How could she be attracted to Dust and scared of him at the same time? When Josie asked him what happened, it had been the same thing that had been bothering her. What had happened that could have changed Dust? The only thing she could think of was he had been sick and it had taken longer for him to heal than before.

  “I remember in one of my biology classes the teacher was talking about how your body changes when you get an infection. Once you’ve been sick, your body recognizes it. Maybe whatever happened to you and Dust… Well, maybe the fever that Dust had kicked his body into gear and changed him some more,” Sammy reasoned.

  “That actually makes a lot of sense,” Josie remarked in a thoughtful tone. “I remember hearing the same thing in school. Something about your white blood cells and stuff. There’s no telling what happened to our blood during the fallout. Whatever Dust had might have kicked it into high gear. What did it feel like when you pulled all that sand together? When you were sick, did you feel like you were changing?”

  Sammy watched a grimace cross Dust’s face before he stared moodily out the front windshield. A moment later, he pulled over into the remains of a what used to be a roadside rest stop. He pulled to a stop and turned off the truck.

  “I didn’t feel anything. I just felt a sudden need and it happened, but we saw that doesn’t always work. When I was sick, I just felt lousy. I hurt all over, especially my back.…” His voice faded and he bowed his head and rested his forehead against the steering wheel.

  “What is it?” Sammy asked softly, leaning forward and tentatively touching his shoulder.

  Dust lifted his head and glanced over his shoulder at Sammy. She could see a worried frown creasing his brow. He looked confused and… frustrated.

  “I felt the pain, but it was like it wasn’t mine,” he admitted in a reluctant voice. “For a little while, it felt like something was trying to rip through my skin, only... It wasn’t really my skin.”

  “That makes absolutely no sense,” Josie replied. “How can you feel pain, but it wasn’t your pain? Whose pain was it, then?”

  Dust scowled and stared out into the growing dusk. Sammy blinked in surprise when he suddenly vanished. One second he was there, the next second he was gone. He reappeared several feet in front of the truck. His shoulders were hunched and his hands were buried in the front pockets of his jeans.

  “Stay here,” Sammy ordered, releasing her seatbelt and pushing the back door open.

  Josie looked at Sammy with wide, startled eyes. “Since when did you get so bossy?” She muttered, but didn’t try to get out of the truck.

  Sammy ignored Josie’s comment and shut the door behind her. She pulled the jacket she was wearing closer around her. The air was definitely chillier. Sliding her hands into the pockets of her jacket, she walked quietly over to where Dust was standing. A light breeze blew his hair, making it even more disheveled than normal. A small, affectionate smile pulled at her lips.

  Without thinking about it, she slid her hand out of her jacket and threaded it through his arm. They stood close to each other, not saying anything out loud, but it seemed as if they had an entire conversation in those few minutes of solitude. Sammy released a sigh when Dust’s arm moved around her waist and he drew her closer when he felt her shiver.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder.

  His arm tightened for a moment before he turned her so that she was pressed against him. A shudder ran through his body, something that she felt sure had nothing to do with the cold. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly against her.

  “You don’t ever have to tell me that you’re sorry,” he murmured.

  Sammy leaned back far enough to look up at him. She gave him a weak, uncertain smile that faded as she stared into his eyes. Even though she was several months older than him, he was still taller than she was by almost an inch.

  “Yes, I do,” she whispered, staring intently at a him. “Ever since Todd and I met you, you’ve done nothing but protected us. You’ve put yourself in danger over and over. It is stupid of me to be afraid of you. I know you won’t hurt me or Todd.”

  Dust released a deep breath and glanced out over the barren landscape. She could see the hurt that flashed through his eyes in the growing twilight. Sliding her hand up, she touched his cheek. He turned his head and pressed a kiss into her palm. A small, mischievous grin curved his lips at her startled gasp.

  “You’re right, you were stupid if you thought I would ever hurt you or Todd.” The smile on his lips died and he looked young and confused again. “I don’t understand what is going on, but I just know that when I’m with you….” His voiced faded.

  “When you are with me…,” Sammy encouraged.

  Dust looked at her again, his lips tightened into a
straight line and he glanced over her head back at the truck. Sammy could feel him pulling away from her. She didn’t understand how or why, but she could physically feel him withdrawing from her.

  “I need to go for a walk,” he muttered. “I’ll be back in half an hour. You, Josie, and Todd stay in the truck. Tell Josie… Tell Josie that she better not let anything happen to you. I’ll be within hollering distance if you need anything.”

  “Dust,” Sammy started to say before her throat tightened when he dissolved in her arms. “Be safe,” she finished with a shake of her head.

  Turning, she walked slowly back to the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat. She would drive the next section of their journey. Her gaze moved to Todd when he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

  “Sammy, I’m hungry,” Todd murmured.

  “There’s some peanut butter and crackers in the bag and a bottle of water,” she replied.

  “I’m getting tired of peanut butter and crackers,” he grumbled. “I want something hot. I wish mom was still alive. I miss her fried chicken and macaroni and cheese.”

  Sammy’s throat tightened and tears burned her eyes. She started when Josie reached down into a bag by her feet and pulled out a can of Beanie Weenies. Her mouth dropped open when Josie popped the top, then rubbed her fingers together until a light blue flame appeared. She held it under the can for a few minutes before wrapping a paper towel around it and handing it to Todd.

  “Here you go, kid,” Josie said with a wink, pulling a plastic spoon out of the bag as well. “One hot dinner. It might not be fried chicken and Mac and Cheese, but that’s about the extent of my cooking abilities.”

  “Thank you, Josie!” Todd replied with glee. “This is good!”

  “Thank you,” Sammy whispered, watching as her little brother devoured his hot meal.

  Josie shrugged and turned to look back out at the darkness. “I owed you,” she muttered. “I… Aw, hell. I’m sorry for what I did earlier. I shouldn’t have done that. It was a pretty stupid thing to do.”

  Sammy reached over and touched Josie’s arm, waiting for the other girl to look at her. She couldn’t imagine going through everything that Josie had gone through over the last six months or so, especially from her own family. She swallowed when a new thought suddenly hit her hard. They were family now. None of them had anyone else.

  “It’s okay. I understand why you did it,” Sammy was saying when the back door suddenly opened and Dust slid into the truck. His face was pale and an almost desperate look glazed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’ve got to go,” he said in a slightly dazed voice. “Now! We’ve got to go as far as we can.”

  “Why?” Josie demanded, turning in her seat even as Sammy started the truck and turned on the lights. “What happened?”

  “I know why I felt the burning in my back,” Dust said, glancing at Todd before turning his attention back to Sammy and Josie. “I know whose pain I was feeling.”

  Josie frowned. Sammy glanced at Dust in the mirror. His face was still pale, but there was a new hardness to it that she hadn’t seen before. It was as if he had suddenly grown years older in the short time he was gone.

  “What’s going on, Dust? We need to know if we are going to fight it,” Sammy said, pulling out onto the highway and pressing down on the accelerator.

  “You can’t fight her,” he said, looking out at the darkness.

  “Her?” Josie asked in confusion. “What her?”

  “The devil dog from the town where I met Sammy and Todd,” Dust replied in a voice devoid of emotion. “The same one from the silo.”

  “What? That’s impossible,” Josie started to argue before she shook her head. “This is nuts! Why? How? None of this makes any sense.”

  *.*.*

  Dust turned to look at Josie. He hadn’t understood what was going on. He’d felt strange earlier. There was a feeling of growing restlessness and impending danger. When Josie had asked him about how he was changing, if he felt anything, it had taken a few minutes for him to realize that he was feeling something, but it wasn’t really him – it was her, the devil dog, that he was feeling.

  Nausea threatened to choke him when he remembered the brief connection he’d had with her a few minutes ago. The creature wasn’t aware of his presence. He was fairly sure of that. She had been too involved in what she was doing.

  “She’s changing,” Dust murmured, staring at his reflection in the window. “She’s different than she was before.”

  “What do you mean different?” Sammy asked in a worried voice.

  “She – The Devil dog can talk,” he said with a shake of his head. “She talked to me, back at the silo. She wants our powers.”

  “I’ll roast her ass if she tries to come near me,” Josie growled, turning sideways in her seat.

  Dust turned to stare coldly at Josie. “She’s more powerful than before. The pain I felt in my back – it was her. She has wings. Her body is changing as well. She stands up on two legs now.”

  “How do you know?” Sammy asked, peering at Dust over her shoulder for a brief second.

  “I saw her,” he replied in a soft, distant voice.

  “Where? Near the rest area?” Josie demanded.

  Dust shook his head. “No,” he whispered. “She was feeding. I don’t think she knows I can sense her. It is like you said, Josie. That one of our kind can sense another of our kind.”

  “Yeah, but we usually have to be pretty close together,” Josie said with a frown. “How far away was she?”

  “Several hundred miles,” Dust replied.

  “What was she doing?” Todd suddenly asked, looking at the other three. “You said she was feeding. What was she eating?”

  Dust grimaced. He didn’t want to frighten Todd. Swallowing down the nausea that rose in his throat when he remembered what he had seen, he tried to figure out a way to tell everyone so they could understand just how much danger they were all in.

  “Do you remember the men from this morning?” He suddenly asked.

  “Yes,” all three of them replied instantly.

  Dust stared grimly back out the window. “They’re dead,” he replied in a flat, emotionless voice. “She killed them, and enjoyed doing it.”

  “But, they were headed in the opposite direction!” Sammy exclaimed. “Surely that means she isn’t coming after us.”

  Dust shook his head. “No, she’s coming. They were a test for her. She wanted to see if she could kill them without them knowing,” he explained.

  “How can you be sure?” Sammy insisted, gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles were white.

  “Because she told me she was hunting us before we left the silo. I can feel it, as well,” he responded in a suddenly dull voice. “She wants me, but....”

  “But…?” Josie pressed.

  Dust’s gaze locked on Sammy. “She wants to kill Sammy first,” he said in a tight voice.

  Chapter 21

  Backtrack:

  Sammy focused on the road ahead of them. Dust’s words played in her head like a broken record. She fought against the growing panic inside her. Her gaze moved to Dust who was sitting quietly beside her. Josie had climbed into the back seat where, thankfully, she and Todd had fallen asleep.

  “Why?” She asked in a soft voice. “Why does she want to kill me first?”

  Dust turned to look at her. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I think it is because she knows I care about you.”

  “What about Todd and Josie?” Sammy asked with a frown. “Is she after them as well?”

  “No,” Dust replied quietly.

  Sammy gripped the steering wheel and scowled. “You care about them. I just don’t get why I’m on her hit list,” she said in frustration.

  Dust was silent for several minutes. Sammy glanced at him. He wasn’t looking at her again. She could feel he was holding something back, she just didn’t know what it was. She was just about to ask him when he started talking again in a b
arely audible voice.

  “She’s jealous of you,” he finally said.

  “Jealous? Of me? But… I don’t know how to do anything. I mean, look at me! I can’t do the things you or Josie can do. I’m not saying I want that creature to come after you and Josie, but still, why me? Why is she jealous of me?”

  “Because she knows I care about you in a different way than I care about Todd or Josie. I don’t want to kiss or hold them,” Dust murmured.

  Sammy felt the heat rise to her cheeks. She had been fighting her growing feelings for Dust as well. They were both too young to be thinking about things like that.

  “How old are you?” She suddenly asked.

  Dust gave her a crooked grin. “I’ll be sixteen in a couple of weeks,” he said.

  “Oh!” Sammy exclaimed with a frown. “You don’t kiss like a fifteen year old,” she added in a barely audible voice.

  Another long silence filled the air. That was one thing about Dust that she liked most of the time and found frustrating at others – his silence. He wasn’t one for idle conversation.

  “How old are you?” He suddenly asked.

  “I’ll be seventeen in four months,” she replied.

  “Oh,” Dust muttered. “You kiss pretty good for a sixteen year old.”

  An amused grin curved Sammy’s lips before it faded. She was almost a year older than him, not that it was all that great of an age gap. Her mind returned to their current situation.

  “So, what are we going to do?” She asked, glancing at him.

  “Run until I can find a safe place to hide you guys, then...,” he paused and drew in a deep breath. “Then, I’ll find her.”