Cured (33 page)

“Jonah?” she whispers.

“Yes. It's me.” He hangs his head. “I'm sorry, Mom. For everything. For Dad.”

“Oh, Jonah.” She sniffles. “I forgive you. I forgave you four years ago.” She throws her arms around him and squeezes. He buries his face in her shoulder and his body shakes with sobs. “I love you, son.”

Kevin and I walk into the town. Every log cabin has the remains of a massive vegetable garden in the yard, with cold-weather plants, like acorn squash and gourds, still in the dirt. Ears of corn and baskets filled to overflowing with potatoes are sitting out on front porches, as if no one is worried about them being stolen. And I guess no one is. If a person has enough to eat, he doesn't need to steal food.

One log cabin has tall wooden boxes in front of it, and I can hear the quiet vibration of bees when we pass them. “What are those?” I ask.

“Beehives,” Kevin explains. “My grandpa's.”

I can't help but smile. Bees! I stop walking for a minute and listen to them. “Where is your grandpa?” I ask.

“Zeke's wife says he's at the fortress.”

“The fortress?”

“You'll see.” He takes my hand in his and we keep walking to the other side of the town, to a huge, rectangular building made of weathered logs. The air changes, growing heavy with animal smells, and I am reminded of the zoo. I wrinkle my nose. “What is this place?”

“It's the fortress—where we keep the tainted ones. The beasts. It is where my sister is.”

My legs slow without my meaning to let them. “Wait. How do you keep them from attacking people?”

“If they're well fed, they're not as violent. We keep them in cages and feed them. Once a week or so, they're sedated and washed, and their cages are cleaned.” Kevin pulls me toward the building. He opens a thick wooden door, and I can't help but put my sleeve over my nose and mouth to try and dull the smell.

I am standing in a huge room with knot-covered wooden columns supporting the ceiling and metal bars blocking the windows. There are more metal bars, which rise from floor to ceiling. Behind these bars are individual rooms, divided with thick wooden walls that are covered with dents and scratches, and inside each room is a beast. I look from cage to cage, counting. There are twenty beasts.

A disheveled, white-haired man is standing in the room, pressing pieces of hard, flat bread into the cages. “Grandpa,” Kevin calls.

The old man turns and looks at us, and a grin wrinkles up his face. He strides over to Kevin and throws his arms around him. He looks at me over Kevin's shoulder, and his grin turns to wonder.

“Is this Jacqui?” he asks, letting go of Kevin. He puts his hands on my shoulders and takes a thorough look at me.

“Yes. This is Jacqui. And this”—Kevin takes his pack off—“this is the cure.”

The old man's hands fall from my shoulders. He and Kevin both walk over to a cage on my right. Inside is a girl with tangled auburn hair that reaches her shoulders. Her hands are wrapped around the bars of her cage, and there is no tattoo—no mark of the beast—on them … but she's staring at us with unblinking, wild eyes, and drool is dripping down her chin.

“Jack, meet my sister, Tessa,” Kevin says, and unzips the backpack.

I must first thank my four young children for going to bed by eight p.m. every night (not always by choice), because without my evenings free, there is no way I could write books! Now, if I could just get you to sleep past seven a.m. … And my husband, Jaime, who might as well have a wife who works nights even though I'm sitting in the house, typing and talking to people only I can see and hear. Thank you for your support!

Michelle, Bonny, and Kristin, thanks for being fast beta readers! You three are my go-to girls, and I couldn't do this without you.

Again, I must thank Marlene Stringer for being an agent who responds to my e-mails in mere minutes and knows exactly what to say.

All the wonderful people at Walker books, especially Emily Easton and Laura Whitaker, thank you for believing in me.

Thank you, Jonny at Silencerco, for teaching me about guns and ham radios, and how to make gasoline work even if it's been stagnant for four years. You're the guy I hope we have around if the world ever does come crashing down around us!

My incredible friends deserve a huge thank-you for everything they do for me, from baking bread for launch parties, to watching my kids so I can write, to feeding me lunch once a month. Jennifer, Kristin, Meggan, Tamara, and Sherstin, you guys are the best!

Last of all, thank you to my first fans—my parents, in-laws, and siblings—who read my manuscripts and love them.

Shifting
Stung

Copyright © 2014 by Bethany Wiggins

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published in the United States of America in March 2014
by Walker Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
E-book edition published in March 2014
www.bloomsbury.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Walker BFYR, 1385 Broadway, New York, New York 10018

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
Wiggins, Bethany.
Cured / by Bethany Wiggins.
pages     cm
Sequel to: Stung.

Summary: Now cured, Fiona Tarsis and her twin, Jonah, set out to find
their mother with the help of Bowen and former neighbor Jacqui, planning
to spread the cure along the way, but raiders will do anything to stop them,
and new ally Kevin may have ties to those raiders.
ISBN 978-0-8027-3420-4 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-0-8027-3421-1 (e-book)
[1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Twins—Fiction. 3. Voyages and travels—Fiction.
4. Survival—Fiction. 5. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.W6382Cur 2014     [Fic]—dc23     2013024935

ISBN 978-0-8027-3421-1 (e-book)

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