“Why are you here?” Peta asked, her voice almost as devoid of emotion as Eddy’s.
Tyler was glad he wasn’t sitting in between them, and felt kinda bad for Devon. He knew Peta well enough to realize how mad she was. She was the sort of person who always came off as in control and cool about things, but he’d seen enough glimpses into what was boiling just beneath the surface to have a healthy respect for her temper. Eddy didn’t have that advantage, but Tyler guessed he was about to get schooled.
“Excuse me?” Eddy replied, lowering his pepperoni stick and shifting to face her more directly. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Uh-oh
Peta’s hand came off Marty’s back and pressed into the floor as she leaned closer, causing Devon to duck back and out of the way. “Other than wanting a way out of that building, why are you still with us? I haven’t been able to figure you out.” Her voice was dangerously low as she glanced toward Jason in the cockpit. “Or him.”
“I’m a scientist, much like yourself—”
“You are nothing like me!” Peta spat, cutting him off.
Eddy hesitated, and Tyler figured he finally caught on to the underlying menace in Peta’s demeanor. He wasn’t sure what all Devon had told her about Eddy over the past couple of days, or if he’d said anything about what they’d seen and experienced while down in the CDC building. He was guessing she knew about how Eddy had killed the guard in order to get them out. And that it wasn’t necessary. At least, not according to how Jason reacted when it happened, and Tyler knew enough about military types to understand that Jason wasn’t the kind of guy to get squeamish. Not when it came to doing what you had to in the moment. But he was there. Tyler saw it all unfold, and it was the main reason why he’d never completely trust Eddy.
“I’m also a physician,” Eddy continued, choosing not to address the obvious tension. “The prions may have damaged the synapses in part of my brain, but it didn’t change who I am. At least, not the most important aspects of myself. We all need a reason to open our eyes in the morning, Peta.”
Peta sat back, and Tyler was relieved to see that she was at least temporarily calmed down by his reply. Her hand went back into Marty’s fur. The dog had been watching the exchange with as much tension in his body as Tyler felt, and he could see Marty relax under her touch. He felt a small twinge of jealousy and quickly pushed it aside. Dogs had a way of knowing who needed the most attention. It was probably a good sign that the dog wasn’t slobbering all over him.
“We’re all going to have to do things that we’ll question later, and leave people behind when they can’t keep up, or be carried.”
Tyler squirmed under the weight of the memories the comment brought up. He thought of Mikael back on Madagascar, the pilot, Roger, left out in the ocean, the people on the base under the eruption of Yellowstone, poor Doctor Schaeffer left comatose in her stinky bed, and…Tyler swallowed. His own father, buried four floors under the California desert, surrounded by strangers.
Eddy clasped his hands in his lap and continued to stare back at Peta, unflinching. “I imagine my purpose is similar to your own. I’m a scientist, and in the pursuit of science, I’m following the trail of this disease back to where it came from. In doing so, I hope to find some small filament to tug at and we’ll see what falls out.” He glanced toward the cockpit. “I won’t try to speak for Jason. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”
To Tyler’s surprise, Eddy then turned to look over at him. “How about you, Tyler? Why are you here?”
His first reaction was to become defensive and remind Eddy that he and Jason had talked him into it. But when he opened his mouth to say it, he was struck by how calm the other man was, and realized it was a legitimate question. Tyler paused, thinking about it. “Because I want to survive,” he said with sincerity. “Because I want to find a way to help my dad live.”
When the silence dragged out for an uncomfortable amount of time, Devon leaned forward to look at Marty, and attempted to lighten things up with the sort of humor that Tyler had come to appreciate about him. “Well, gee. Thanks for asking, Marty. I guess I’d have to say that for me, it’s the adventure. That, and because I got tired of being stuck in a lab where I had to play fetch for beautiful dictators. Well, I guess you’d be okay with that, wouldn’t you, bud?”
Peta actually grinned when Devon ruffled Marty’s fur, and the tension was instantly broken. Tyler was glad to have the focus shift to the dog, which was exactly why Devon had done it. He’d have to be sure and thank him later.
Eddy was the only one who didn’t smile, and as he stood to go back to his spot up front, he looked down at them with what seemed to be a permanent, serious expression. “You, Devon, are the only one who’s reason is beyond reproach.”
When Devon frowned and looked up, Eddy pointed at him much like a teacher to a student. “You’re the only one who’s here for everyone else but yourself.”
Watching the man who was considered to be a part of the up-and-coming strain of humans called The Cured, Tyler found himself thinking about how confusing and painful everything was. It might turn out that Eddy was actually the lucky one.
Chapter 6
JASON
Over Northwestern Venezuela
“I don’t know if we’re going to make it,” Hernandez
