To Be A Champion

Chapter 9: On The Hunt

I sigh and swing my stiff arms, hoping to make the muscles a little more relaxed after yesterday's events. I look at the two beside me. I know they weren't with me, Paula, and Laird Reid when we were in the caves, but they were a part of the search parties and even helped with other work afterward. How are they not tired?

"We've reached the red barn beside the old gun emplacement, Jane," Tom says in a clipped tone–professional. "Where do we go now?"

"Laird Reid informs me that the owner of a cottage north of you spotted zombies in his herb garden," She replies through our headsets, and Jody's pale brows draw together.

"No sightings of Jones?"

"None. But I gather news of his murderous intentions has spread. There's a great deal of unease."

Somehow I'm both surprised and not surprised that word traveled so quickly within one day. This town is small, and the way people gossip here reminds me of how New Canton used to be, although they don't share as many eccentric rumors. I have heard a few people whispering as I went by the bakery this morning about how I was the one who found parts of the Edda, original and other, on the mainland.

It appears Shona didn't keep her mouth shut. Funny since she didn't want any of us telling her dad while she was out with us the night we arrived.

How lucky she is that I don't have the energy to be petty.

Jody's words bring my thoughts back to the present. "At least you know his timetable now. Whatever he's planning will happen at the festival next month."

Tom frowns. "Although we still don't know why."

"Luckily, should he succeed, I will not be around to see Jones crowned King of the Rocks," Janine murmurs. "My expiration date is fifteen days earlier."

I flinch at her words. "Expiration date? Janine, you shouldn't talk like that."

That's rich coming from someone who believed she saw her own death for years.

She doesn't argue as a fit of coughing overtakes her. "Excuse me."

Click.

Worry flickers across Jody's face as she taps her mic. "Janine?" She sighs. "She turned it off. How's she doin', Tom?"

"The nanites are doing something to her stomach," He replies, looking pained. He masks it quickly. "It's unpredictable. Yesterday, partial blindness. Today, nausea. Tomorrow? Who knows?"

I shudder. I never thought these things could be so horrible. I felt awful while they were inside me, but I was losing my immortality. I wouldn't expect it to be pleasant. But I didn't think of how they would have reacted to someone who was already mortal. I should have, but I didn't.

And Tom's right. They are unpredictable. Even though Paula has questioned me and Sam about how the nanites affected me, they don't seem to be targeting Janine the same way. Hers are all over the place, certain body parts being targeted out of nowhere; mine was more a movement from one place to the other. Some days were worse than others, but they were never like this.

"It's twenty-nine days left today, isn't it?" I ask.

"Jones can't keep hiding forever," Jody says. "After he killed the MacLeans, there can't be anyone on the island who'd shelter him."

I think she's right on that part, but then again I'm always surprised at how stupidly kind certain people can be.

"I hope he's been too clever for his own good," Tom says, which makes Jody and I both perk up in interest. "These zombie attraction devices could lead us to him."