“Ella?” Justin dug through the HAZMAT suits. “You okay?”
Ella answered with a tiny, “Uh-huh.”
“Which way?” Luther braked at the intersection.
Dean turned to Justin. “Son, you know Last State better than any of us. How do we get to Quinton’s?”
But they had driven to the Stanwycks under the cover of night. He didn’t know where they were. “Uh, uh . . .” Justin was stuck in a loop. How in the heck were they making it into the infamous Forbidden Zone? The spamming of negative thoughts corrupted his mental bandwidth.
Scarlett cleared her throat. “We’re fairly close to the Zhetto Market if that helps.”
“Use your rational brain,” Dean butted in. “If you were monitoring that open-air market in Zhetto, how would you get to the Forbidden Zone?” He made everything sound so easy.
“Ye-ah, okay. We’re still in Z-zone,” Justin mumbled to himself, defragging his thoughts for optimal performance.
“There’s a highway off in the distance,” Luther announced, looking through the binocs.
“That would be Interstate Twenty-seven,” Dean said without looking at the map.
The little lightbulb in Justin’s head suddenly flashed. In theory, he knew where they were. “Ye-ah, the west side of the interstate is Z-zone, and the east side is Y-zone,” he reasoned out loud, tuning out the fear holding him hostage. “So, we need to get to the interstate. Then we connect to three-eighty east. That’ll get us to the industrial sector. Which borders the Forbidden Zone.”
Luther didn’t wait for a unanimous decision. He peeled out and raced for the interstate.
Mateo’s whining turned into balling. On the verge of losing his cool, Justin nudged Ella. “Do something. Like, I can’t think!”
“It’s time for the tea,” she snapped back.
The distress in her voice didn’t help. But Justin didn’t have time to worry about Mateo. He was too busy worrying about everything else. He tried recalling everything he knew about the Forbidden Zone since he had studied the layout during his Zone training. If he could just envision it with his cool eidetic memory ability.
He was forgetting something. Something important. Mateo, please shut-up! He covered his ears. What am I missing . . . Holy crap—shit! “Guys, I just realized something.”
Luther braked hard. “Now what?” Their eyes locked in the rearview mirror.
“During a RedDead Alert—the Zones go into lockdown.”
“But you said we could take the van.” Ella’s voice wavered with despair.
“We can,” Justin quickly added. “But Luther and Dean need to play the part.” He eyed the utility cabinets lining the upper sides of the van. He banged open the cabinets and rummaged through packages of sanitized scrubs.
“Really, I’m trying to get mijo to sleep,” Ella griped.
“What are you looking for?” Scarlett asked.
“A triple-X for Luther.” Justin snagged a medium for Dean. “Found one. Dean, Luther, put on these el sicko powder-blue scrubs.”
Dean opened the door. “Good thinking.”
“Here.” Justin handed Luther a set. “Wear the tops and bottoms.” He grabbed one for him since his sweaty shirt clung to him like Saran Wrap. It wasn’t a typical Texan day if his shirt didn’t get all clingy and clammy.
“Bro, this shade of blue don’t accentuate my eyes,” Luther razzed.
“Ha-ha.” Justin fake-laughed. Luther often outwardly masked his fear with humor. Justin understood that all too well.
“And I should tag the guys with Zac’s CitChips.” Justin grabbed the bag Zac had given him. “It’s a simple injection,” he said calmly, knowing Ella fed off of his angst.
He pulled out a packaged syringe-device preloaded with a RFID chip while Dean and Luther put on the scrubs outside. Justin cleansed his hands with the sanitized pad included in the packet. “Easy-peasy.” He pressed the tip of the implant device to the webbed-skin between his thumb and forefinger.
Before Ella could say “Ew,” he injected it.
“Awesome, meet the new me, Marcus Stone.” He handed the ID card to Ella as a goof. “Next,” Justin quipped.
***
They drove down the I-27 corridor without any confrontations. Until a convoy of Humvees flew past them on the opposite side of the interstate. Probably on their way to contain another Infected Incident.
Luther looked like he was melting: sweat dribbled down his face. Justin realized they had been driving the entire time without the freaking air conditioner. “Dude, turn on the air.” He was surprised no one had noticed the heat. That’s how stressed they were.
“Son of a gun,” Dean exclaimed. “Didn’t even think of it.”
Dean hit the button to the air-conditioner and then fiddled through the glove compartment. He handed Luther a stack of napkins.
Luther patted his face and held his head to the air vent. “Much better.”
Scarlett gasped behind him. “I think we’re coming to a roadblock.”
“Yep, Junction Three-eighty, one mile,” Dean read with the help of binoculars.
“We want three-eighty east for the Y-zone.” Justin gave Ella a kissy face before covering them with the blue suits. She answered with her cute I’m-only-sorta-pissed fishy face.
As Luther followed the on-ramp’s curve, two Humvees blocked the entrance.
“Good God Almighty! How’d you know?” Luther Kumbaya’d in the background.
“Justin, ’bout time you took cover,” Dean husked under his breath.
Justin tunneled under the pile of HAZMAT suits. “Guys, remember that power of suggestion hack.” Although it didn’t always work. “If they hassle you, tell them you ran out of body bags. That’ll scare them off.”
“Think it in your mind until you believe it,” Twila insisted.
“Luther, you up to this?” Dean’s voice quivered.
“Boogity, boogity,” Luther chanted. “Beefing up my mojo.”
Through a gap between the suits, Justin barely breathed and watched Luther rub his juju beads before stopping at the roadblock. Using his brainwaves, Justin pleaded for the Enforcers to scan the vehicle. Not Luther and Dean. Their fake CitChips would reveal they weren’t HAZMAT Responders.
Luther rolled down his window. “Whut up?”
“Wrong way. HQ shows
