building, they unloaded and stretched their legs. Clair could hear the train approaching from the west. The light of the morning sun caught it, making it shine. It pulled up to the platform in a cacophony of metal, grease, and glass.
Turner went to the front of the train to talk to the engineers or drivers or whatever they were called. Clair paced back and forth, wishing they could get moving. The station was surrounded by trees on two sides. There was plenty of cover for anyone wanting to sneak up on them.
Gemma joined her at one end of the platform, fidgeting restlessly with her cross. She had exchanged her sling for a bandage, allowing her injured arm greater movement. They stood together, staring out into the vegetation and seeing nothing.
“This is your plan,” said Gemma, “so why do you look nervous?”
“I never expected everyone to agree to it,” she said.
“Is that true?”
Clair shrugged. It was, if she was honest with herself. “We’ve never agreed on anything before.”
“Fair point.”
One of the drones swooped lower, as though trying to overhear their conversation.
“You think we’re out of our minds,” Gemma said to her.
“It goes both ways. Dylan Linwood called me a zombie.”
“That sounds like him.” She hung her head. “It’s not easy being in the minority. I mean, what are the odds that everyone else in the world is wrong, and you’re right? The moment you start to doubt, everything turns upside down and the world comes crashing down around you. . . .”
Clair understood that feeling well.
“Don’t tell me you’re starting to change your mind about d-mat.”
“Never. It gets in your brain and softens it. Stop using, and you get better fast. You can see that now, surely.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at yourself, Clair Hill. You were like everyone else before—weak, soft, compliant. Now you’ve changed. You’re strong. Look how you stood up to the dupes back there. Could you have done that a week ago? I don’t think so. D-mat was holding you back. Now you’re free.”
“Free to do what? Ruin my life?”
“If that’s what it takes to be yourself.”
Even when Gemma was staring straight at her, she seemed to be tilting her head, putting a question mark at the end of every sentence she said.
Turner called them from the other end of the platform, but before Clair could go, Gemma grabbed her tightly by the arm and pulled her close.
“Dylan made me promise to look after Jesse if anything ever happened to him,” she whispered. “You’ll have to do it for me.”
“Why?” Clair forces out. “Where are you going?”
“The world is turning upside down, Clair,” Gemma said. “Not everything—or everyone—is going to survive.”
“Don’t be crazy. Of course we’re going to survive. That’s what the plan is for, right?”
Gemma shook her head. Clair pulled free. There wasn’t time to deal with Gemma’s doubts on top of her own.
She turned to head toward where Turner, Ray, and Jesse stood, waiting.
“Promise me, Clair,” Gemma hissed after her. “Look after Jesse. Promise me!”
Clair kept walking, rubbing her arm where Gemma’s strong fingers had gripped her.
59
“IT’S STARTED,” SAID Turner. “See?”
Two people had appeared at the other end of the platform, a mother and young daughter, both dressed in patched clothes. They stood hand in hand and watched as the expedition prepared to move out.
“Abstainers,” Turner explained. “There’s a handful in every town, invisible, excluded, but very loyal. Put the word out, and they will come.”
“What are they doing here?” she asked him.
“They came to see you,” he said. “The girl who’s taking on VIA single-handed.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” she said. “It’s not.”
“I know. But it sounds better that way, doesn’t it?”
The girl, no more than five, waved shyly at Clair. Clair hesitated, then waved back. That was what Libby would’ve done, she told herself.
The freight car was open and ready for them. Jesse drove their four-wheeler inside. Clair was about to follow when the whine of tiny electric fans rose up behind her. She turned and saw a drone dropping down to head height. It flashed its lights in a complex sequence, spun once around its axis, and waited for her to react.
“Is that you, Q?”
“How did you know, Clair?” came the delighted response via the drone’s PA speakers.
She smiled. “A lucky guess.”
“It took me much longer than I expected to install my own command agents. The democratic algorithms are triple secure, with—”
“No need for the details, Q. Good thinking, though. I’m glad you’ll be here to keep an eye on us.”
Clair crossed into the car, and the drone went to follow.
“We’ll be Faraday shielded when the door is shut,” Turner said.
“Can the drone keep up with the train outside?” Clair asked Q.
“Not for long, but I can magnetically affix it to the car to stop the batteries from running low.”
“Great. Do that. And keep your eyes open. We don’t want anyone taking us by surprise.”
The floor shifted beneath them. Everyone put out a hand to steady themselves as the train began to move. Clair leaned on Jesse, who braced himself against the nearest wall.
“Out you go, Q. It’s time to shut the door.”
“Bon voyage,” said the drone as it zipped through the car door.
Turner pressed a button, and the door slid shut behind them with a metallic boom.
Lights came on inside, and presumably some kind of air circulation system too. Clair felt a puff of wind against her cheek.
The train accelerated, turning steadily to the right. Clair found it hard to stand, even with Jesse as a crutch.
“I suggest we all get some sleep,” said Turner, flipping open his backpack and pulling out his bedroll. No one had rested since the dupes had woken them all up in the middle of the night. “We’ve got hours to kill until we get there.”
There was a pair of chemical toilets at the far end of the car. Clair used one, then found an empty spot on the back of the four-wheeler and tried to rest. The rocking of the car beneath her was less soothing than she had imagined it would be. Jesse lay down next to her, bundled up tightly in a sleeping bag so little more than his nose was visible. She wanted to ask how he was doing but didn’t want to disturb him. Maybe she was the only one finding it hard to settle.
Libby’s body was just yards away, wrapped tightly in plastic. Or was it Mallory’s body, since that was the name of the last person to inhabit it?
She did drop off eventually and woke with her breath stopped in her throat as though someone were choking her. The interior of the car was lit only by power LEDs and static displays, a meaningless constellation of yellows, reds, greens, and blues. Jesse had moved closer in his sleep, but his face was as hidden as ever. Clair sat
