On the ride back to Loon Lake they passed clusters of the shambling infected. Tonya caught snatches of their thoughts inside her head.
Hungry! Feed me! were common themes. Those who had eaten themselves into a stupor were full of yearning. Must lie down in graveyard to decompose.
As they passed yet another clutch of these wanderers, Ducky asked: "What's wrong?"
She hated lying to him, but was afraid to admit she could hear their thoughts. "It's nothing. I'm just tired." How could she stop the Entity without her Aunt's powers or skills?
As they neared Loon Lake, another voice resonated clearly as if it were carried on the wind instead of sounding in her head.
Feel me rise!
The voice was accompanied by a strange sensation, like tunnelling up through gravel and clay. Tonya gasped. She was linked to the Entity! She could feel what it felt and hear It, one voice cutting through the cacophony in her head. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, desperate to keep It out.
In her mind's eye she saw a mosaic of bright and dark images, clustered together like a honeycomb. It was the view from a hundred eyes compressed into one compound vision. Among the multiplicity of images she saw headstones, hospital rooms, moonlit trees, and food. Loaded spoons and forks and fingers simultaneously stuffed a hundred frantic mouths as if they all belonged to her.
To banish this frightening sensation, she opened her eyes and looked out the window but everything had changed. She felt her body seated in a moving car. Out her window she saw silhouettes of passing trees, and the University lights ahead, but this image was superimposed onto another. Everywhere she looked compound vision confused her.
She also felt the hunger of multitudes, as if she had a hundred aching stomachs. Her mouth filled with conflicting flavours: liver and ice cream, cold French fries and hot Brussels sprouts, cupcakes and curry. She swallowed, hoping to clear her mouth but the onslaught increased. Somewhere in Loon Lake, someone was eating Limburger cheese. Yuck! Her mouth filled with bile. She opened her window and heaved, scattering sour fluid into the rushing air.
"Hey, watch the car!" Zain shouted. "It's a rental."
"Sorry. Dragonfly vision."
"What?"
"Time flies." She couldn't admit what was happening in her head. Her friends would think the Entity controlled her.
She sat back in her seat. "Sorry to put you boys through all this."
"It's okay," Ducky said. He leaned forward between the seats. "When I got up this morning they were rioting in the cafeteria."
"And he almost got eaten alive at the police station," said Zain.
"We've had a hell of a time, but this is the most fun we've had all day," said Ducky.
"Plus rescuing you from your Aunt was probably the least risky thing we've done in hours," Zain finished.
"So be straight with me Tonya," Ducky looked her in the eyes. "What's really wrong with you?"
"Did my Aunt seem weird to you?" Tonya asked.
"Yeah," said Ducky. "She makes the hair stand on the back of my neck."
"Me too!" said Zain.
"She has that effect on a lot of people," said Tonya. "So, where are we going?"
Wherever I like.
The single voice booming in her head was Zain's, just like she had heard the Farmer's voice. Zain was controlled by the Entity!
Tonya turned and whispered to Ducky: "We're in trouble."
"What?" Ducky put his face right up to hers and, despite her dragonfly vision, she could see his long lashes.
"Zain's infected. He's controlled by the Entity," she whispered.
"Not possible." He frowned.
"Trust me, I know. When I say 'go'..."
"What are you kids whispering about?" Zain asked.
"Jump out of the car!" Tonya yelled. She grabbed the lock button before Zain could engage it. The car sped up as she leaped into the ditch.
Tonya tucked and rolled over the pebbly shoulder and into the long grass, scratching her skin on thistles. She came to a hard stop against a bush. For a moment she lay still, her brain more confused than ever, until she remembered Ducky. Had he followed her? When she stood, everything felt bruised.
"Ducky?"
There were streetlights along the highway this close to campus, but the ditch was crammed with shadowy weeds. She couldn't see him anywhere. "Ducky!"
She stood on the frosty grass trying to isolate Waldock's sinister voice in her head. The Entity looked through hundreds of eyes. If It could see Ducky now, would It be gloating because It had him, or would there be regret because he got away? The cacophony faded to a murmur, as if It knew she were trying to listen in. At least she could think and see clearly again. Where was that boy?
If Ducky were in the car with Zain, the only way to save him was to attack the Entity. Waldock was ascending, on the verge of rebirth.
"Hey!" Ducky limped up to her, grimacing with every step. "You're wrong about Zain. He's my best friend."
"Are you okay?"
"Landed on my ankle. I'm fine." He shot her a crooked smile.
"Except you're with me," said Tonya. "Zain was the frying pan, I'm the fire."
"Huh?" Ducky shrugged.
"If I were under the Entity's control, could you tell?"
"How do you know I'm not slavishly following the master myself?" said Ducky.
When Ducky said 'master,' Tonya smiled with relief. "For starters there is no 'master.'"
"How would you know?"
"I hear the Entity's voice in my head."
"Entity? Is that the half-man, half-plant thing your Aunt was talking about?"
"Fat-absorbing telepathic fungus. Nobody's safe. Anybody could be under its control, especially me. Get out of town. Steal a car, anything! And don't talk to anyone until you're gone. Zain is infected, Lynette and Roberto, the swim team, students, professors."
"Crazies are wandering around chowing down on everything," said Ducky. "I'm not leaving you here by yourself."
"Waldock hates my family. Anyone with me is a target."
"You expect me to let some cannibal get you?"
"I'll be fine. What about Priya? She has a car and she needs your protection more than I do."
"We should all stick together."
Tonya argued until it became clear Ducky refused to listen.
"Let's call Priya." There was no other plan he would accept.
"All right." Tonya had no intention of staying with her friends, in case the Entity made her attack them, but Priya and Ducky could save each other. Tonya had an aggressive plan, although she was trying very hard to think about pink elephants instead. If she allowed her mind to dwell on it, the Entity might overhear what she was thinking and stop her.
Priya was in her car when Ducky called. She was searching for a way around the roadblocks, or at least a safe place to pull over for the night.
After Ducky explained where they were, Tonya asked for the phone.
"Do you have money?" she asked Priya.
"It's the freakin' apocalypse out there. Of course I went to the bank machine."
"Good. Fill gasoline cans, as many as you can fit in the trunk. I'll pay you back."
"Why?" Priya asked.
"I can't talk about it over the phone." Or think about it, Tonya reminded herself.
"Do we need water and food? Is this a road trip?"
"Just the gas, fast as you can, and don't talk about it. Anybody might be a spy."
"What?" asked Priya.
Ducky grabbed the phone. "She sounds crazy but she's not. I'll text you the coordinates."
They hid in the bushes to wait. Tonya figured her plan to save the town could work as long as nobody saw them, and Priya bought enough gas, and the Entity hadn't read her mind, and she could convince Ducky and Priya to leave her near the woods. Her plan was too dangerous with people nearby.
Tonya took a deep breath and tried to think of something calm, like the sun rising over Loon Lake. She inhaled through her nose and exhaled slowly, picturing the rocky shore and mist over the water. She remembered spotting a loon once, so large perspective made it seem close. Around it dove tiny chicks who were travelling under water, not just dunking their heads like ducklings. She was fascinated by the babies' jittery movements until they disappeared. The mother was still there, but the water around her was empty.
Tonya ran and got binoculars to see what happened. As soon as the mother came in focus she understood. The babies had climbed onto their mother's back. Tonya had seen loons many times since, but no more mothers ferrying their chicks. How privileged she felt to witness it.
Tonya closed her eyes. All was quiet in her head again. Her heart had stopped pounding and her mouth tasted clean. She loved Loon Lake with its jumping fish and hardscrabble seagulls. The beauty of moonlight rising over black water and the way sunset turned the trees gold, made her feel even guiltier about what she must do.
# # #
Tonya heard the rumble of a familiar clunker. Priya! She stepped out onto the side of the road, blinded by oncoming headlights.
"Wait," said Ducky. "What if it's Zain?"
"I'd know her knock, ping, and rumble anywhere."
Priya pulled up and leaned over the passenger seat to crank open the window.
"Get a muffler!" Tonya stood, arms akimbo.
"Get a life!" Priya grinned. "What have you two been up to in the bushes?"
"Nothing you couldn't play in prime time." Ducky got in the backseat.
"Did you get everything I needed?" Tonya asked.
"Right down to the wheelbarrow. Now tell me what this is about."
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Tanya got in the passenger's side. "Drop me near my Aunt's Shoppe then get yourself and Ducky out of here."
"We'll all go," said Priya.
Tonya decided to argue after they got to the Shoppe.
When they finished loading up the wheelbarrow she said: "Thanks. I'm all set. You two should drive as far from Loon Lake as you can."
"This plan of yours doesn't involve torching the store does it?" asked Priya.
"Of course not, but it does involve you guys leaving."
"No way," said Priya.
"You see?" Ducky nodded. "Don't be crazy. We're not going to Toronto without you."
"Montreal is nice in the fall," said Tonya. "Lots of culture and nightlife, and you can eat poutine without food riots."
"But..." Priya raised her eyebrows.
"Promise me you and Ducky will leave me and get out of Loon Lake," Tonya willed Priya's obedience.
Priya tilted her head. "You're sure that's what you want?"
Tonya could sense her wavering. "Absolutely," said Tonya, with a strength that came partly from inside her but also, she realized, from the Earth as it channelled up through her body. She could sense a shift inside her friend. That meant Priya was going to comply, and Tonya was turning bad like her Aunt.
********
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