The Evolution of Normal

Chapter 16

Soon we're on the interstate, miles flying past us. I check the rearview mirror every few seconds, paranoid AcriChem is following us, even though they didn't see us leave. But as more miles pass, the likelihood of that grows smaller and smaller, so I start to relax. But then Mona wakes up.

"Ugh," she groans, "my head."

"Hey, grumpy pants. How do you feel?"

"Awful. Where am I? What's going on?"

"My name is Chloe. Do you remember who I am? What's your name? Do you know what year this is?"

"Oh, shut up. I know what my name is."

"Just making sure. . . But in answer to your question, we're driving north, headed to Vancouver Island. We lost AcriChem back at the hospital."

"Why are we going there?" Her face wrinkles up as she remembers. "Oh my God! Now I remember. There was that accident, and you—" she gasps "—you injected me with that poison! I can't believe you! What cou—"

"Hey, hold on! I saved your life by doing that! You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you! Why on earth would I thank you for drastically altering my entire brain chemistry? Are you thick?" I hear in her voice that consuming rage I know so well, and I'm actually scared. I have no idea what she's capable of. If Elazar was any guide, I should be very worried.

"Okay, okay, just calm down a second! You're right, and I'm sorry. Really. But try and understand, it was the only thing I could do. I wasn't going to let AcriChem take anyone else I loved, I couldn't just leave you to be killed! It was my only option."

There's silence for a moment.

"No, you're right." She sighs. "Thanks, I guess. Why did you have the AVI-serum anyways? Where did you even get it? And why are we going to Vancouver Island?"

So I explain to her the game plan, how my parents risked their lives to give me the location of Jonadab Gibbins—she laughs almost as much as I did—and how they wanted me to take the AVI-serum, that it was possible it would fix me.

"Wow. I guess I shouldn't have been mad at all. That was a pretty selfless thing to do, Chloe. All your problems could've been solved with that one syringe. Yet you gave it to me to save my life. That's really—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You owe me one."

"Okay." She laughs. "I can't believe your parents helped you out so much. It must feel so good to know they still care about you."

Silence falls as I think about how kind they were to me. And how wrong I was for hating them, for wanting to kill them. Pangs of guilt stab into my belly, and knives of sorrow. I could never forgive myself for even considering that, even if it was just the AVI-serum's effects. And now I'll probably never see them again. I can only hope AcriChem spares them. If they do, there's a chance I'll be able to see them once more, hear their voices. This gives me incentive. As if the ever growing hate for AcriChem rooted deep in my core isn't enough.

"So," Mona says. "Now we're headed to Vancouver Island, to find Jonadab Gibbins and force him to tell us who and where the president of AcriChem is."

"Right, yes. Well, actually, he's on a smaller island northeast of that. Lanz Island. One of the Scott Islands."

"Isn't that some kind of ecological preserve?"

"Yeah, it is." I grab the manila folder from the door and hand it to her. "It was for migratory birds, I think. They don't nest there anymore, though."

Mona pages through the information. "Interesting," she mutters, reading more. "Looks like that whole area got hit with the ash almost as bad as Seattle. Not only Vancouver Island, but also the whole city. The ecological preserve included. Seems no one's stationed there these days, which makes Lanz Island a perfect hideout."