Infected: Die Like Supernovas (The Outlaw Book 2) (14 page)

My combined score earned fourth place. Perfect. No interviews. But probably good enough to keep college scouts interested in me. I grabbed my gear and went to wait in the car. Like all superheroes do.

“Did you see the riots?” my father asked when I arrived home. He was watching television, drinking a soda. I dumped all my bags on the stairs.

“No. There’s another one?”

“Yeah, closer this time,” he said. “I thought you might have seen it, driving home from Santa Monica.”

“Wow, it’s that close?”

“Yep.”

I dropped onto the couch beside him. I’d been spending as much time as possible with Dad ever since I found out about the disease. If I died, I didn’t want him to have any regrets. “How was work?”

He shrugged and said, “Boring. I miss my old job. Look. The Governor called in the National Guard, but that’ll take hours, if not the rest of the day. There,” he pointed at the screen. “A mob ten thousand strong is heading north from Huntington Park.”

“That’s south of downtown,” I said, scrolling through Twitter on my phone. “So like…fifteen miles from us?”

“About. Ten thousand people,” he whistled. “Glad I’m not a cop today.”

“People are going to get hurt. A lot of them are probably hopped up on drugs, too. I’m glad you worked the morning shift.”

My phone chimed.

I had THREE phones now. My personal line, which I paid for. The Outlaw’s phone, which Natalie paid for. Very few people knew that number. And the disposable phone that I used just once to call Beans and the FBI. I left that one upstairs under my mattress.

This was a new text message from Natalie North.

>>The Outlawyers have offered me $5,000 to come speak at their next meeting. LOL! Think I should go?

“The Outlawyers?” I said to myself. “What are the Outlawyers?”

“Outlawyers are fans of the Outlaw,” Dad answered, looking at his phone. His buddies from the police force always kept him updated. “S’what they call themselves.”

“How do you know?”

He shrugged and said, “Everyone knows.”

“I cannot believe Outlaw fan clubs actually exist. Outlawyers. That’s a stupid name.”

“Why do you hate the guy so much?”

“I don’t
hate
him,” I protested and stood up to get a better view of the screen. “I just have a more realistic impression of him than most people do, that’s all. Is that…? Are those protestors
burning
an Outlaw doll??”

“Yep. Burning him in effigy.”

“What? Why?! What’d he do? The world’s gone mad.”

All evening I monitored the television in my room with mounting trepidation. The mob had crossed the Santa Monica Freeway and was flooding into the Fashion District. The task force was slowing fragments of the tide but the full might of the National Guard hadn’t arrived yet. The ocean of angry humanity kept surging north. There appeared to be no rhyme or reason to the crowd; the police were hauling Blacks, Whites, Hispanics and Asians away in droves, young and old. Reports claimed drug use was obvious and rampant. None of the channels mentioned the Chemist, but that might be because he wasn’t public knowledge yet.

On a whim I texted Puckdaddy,
You heard of the Chemist?

>>of course dummy
, came the instant reply on the Outlaw’s phone.

Know anything about him?

>>nope. hes completely off the grid. well hidden.

Can’t the Shooter do anything about him? Shoot out his tires? Blow up his house?

>>cant find him, stoopid. just told u that. thats not really how the Shooter operates n e way not exactly a public defender

>>also carter wants u 2 stay out of the city 2nite

No problem. I was going to bed early. Nothing on earth could get me into the city.

But then Natalie North texted me an hour later.

>>Hey… I’m reluctant to bother you. But…could you come help? The mob has surrounded my building. They’re breaking in. Yelling something about the Outlaw. I’m really terrified…

“Thank you for tuning into Channel Four News, and our on-going coverage of tonight’s dramatic events. The mob’s retreat south continues, as you can see here live, but many of our callers are asking for an Outlaw update. There’s a lot we don’t know yet, but here’s what we do know. Police report last night that a man on a motorcycle broke through their barricade around 9:30pm, driving into the downtown area. The description of the rider fits that of the Outlaw. The cameras on our Channel 4 helicopter caught this fleeting glimpse of a figure leaping from the top of the a parking garage and landing on a hotel roof across Broadway. That bears repeating: this figure, which we presume is the infamous Outlaw, jumped
across
Broadway, a span of perhaps fifty feet, from several stories up. As you can see here, several minutes later our cameras spotted the same figure on top of the condominium building that should now be familiar to Outlaw enthusiasts. This is Natalie North’s building, the same roof on which the Outlaw fought for Katie Lopez’s safety. It’s also the location of the FBI’s famously unsuccessful attempt to arrest him.

What’s on your screen now is a collage of all the pictures and video footage we have. All the residents of this building, including Natalie North herself, had taken shelter on the roof and were waving their arms for help. We can clearly see the throngs of angry protestors below, breaking the windows and the doors of this building and surging inside.

From the information we’ve gathered, it appears this building was the ultimate target of the entire riot. Channel 4 news has no other reports of similar, concentrated attacks on any other building downtown. This apartment complex was the focal point, and hundreds of rioters swarmed it.

Regina Woods, an apartment owner in the building, offered us this insight. “
I don’t know why they attacked us. None of us do, do we? It has something to do with the Outlaw, we know that. They started knocking down our doors, like they were looking for him. It was scary…all the screaming. My husband and I live on the second floor so we ran up here to the roof as quickly as we could. It’s like the world was ending. The people…they were acting… inhuman, I guess is the right word.”

Our cameras had also been tracking the arrival of the National Guard. The combined might of local law enforcement was not enough to repel the riot. This panoramic shot from our helicopter illustrates how close the National Guard’s forces were. Those are the headlights of the incoming military jeeps you can see driving into the city off of Highway 10.

“We thought we could survive until help arrived. We saw their caravan lights a few blocks away. My husband thought so, anyway. I was having trouble thinking anything. But…oh yes, that was when the Outlaw jumped off the roof. He was talking with Ms. Natalie, and then he was gone. I still don’t know why he did that. I feel sure he’s dead, the poor man. I hope not, but…that’s a long fall.”

Those two figures centered on your screen are Natalie North and the Outlaw. Natalie hasn’t yet commented on what exactly happened, but we can see they are talking and pointing downwards. And then… well, just watch. We lose sight of the Outlaw because he simply jumps off the building into the street below. If there was any doubt before that this person, the Outlaw, is either a world-class athlete or using some form of unknown technology or….or something exceptional that we can’t explain yet…well, that doubt has been removed, at least in this reporter’s mind. These are not camera tricks.

Captain Luke Boas describes what he saw.

“Our company entered the city at approximately twenty-one hundred hours. We were boots on ground at the scene of the incident five minutes after that. We engaged the civilian protestors using non-lethal crowd dispersal techniques, and they proceeded south without offering resistance. No casualties. Few injuries. And no, we did not encounter any vigilantes.”

In other words, we don’t know why the Outlaw jumped into the streets and we don’t know where he went. There’s a lot we don’t know, to be frank. We don’t know why the rioters were attacking this building. Or perhaps I should rephrase. We can make an educated guess that the rioters were looking for the Outlaw in that apartment building, but we don’t know why they thought he would be there. Does he live there? Does he…

…wait. I’m just receiving an update. We’re about to put a graphic onto your screen. Apparently Natalie North has taken to twitter. There it is now. She tweets, ‘I’m fine. Scared, but fine. The Outlaw was rescuing people being dragged out of our building. I don’t know what happened to him.’

Okay, so there’s another piece to this puzzle. According to Natalie North, the protestors were dragging residents out into the streets and the Outlaw intervened. If anyone has pictures of this, Channel 4 news would like to see them. This story…”

Natalie North turned the screen off. We had been watching the news report on her iPad. Now everything was dark and silent. I could have been at the bottom of a well.

“Where am I?” I asked. I could see nothing but the vague outline of her face. I didn’t even remember waking up. Maybe I was dreaming.

“We’re alone. In my storage unit, under the apartment building,” she answered, stroking my hair. “I knew that if I took you to my apartment you’d be discovered. So we came down here to protect your anonymity.”

“Thank you,” I said. My voice came out in a croak. “What time is it?”

“Seven in the morning.”

“Do you have any water?”

“I do,” she responded hesitatingly. “But you’ll have to remove your mask.”

“You haven’t taken my mask off? Not even once? While I was asleep?”

“Well, the doctor did. He had to give you mouth to mouth,” she said, and she unscrewed the top of a water bottle.

“Mouth to…” I repeated, confused.

“But I never saw your face. It was too dark.”

“Why was a doctor giving me mouth to mouth?” I asked, feebly ripping off the loosely attached mask. My anonymity felt completely unimportant in this moment. Besides, it was suddenly stifling. If I could barely see her then should barely see me. She poured several gulps of succulent cold water into my mouth.

“I knew it,” she smiled in the dark.

“You knew what?”

“I knew you’d be gorgeous.”

“Hah. You’d say that even if I was an ogre,” I chuckled.

“Probably.”

“Why was a doctor giving me CPR?”

“What do you remember?” she asked.

“Nothing. I remember…I couldn’t reach you…I remember parking…a few blocks from here. And then… nothing.”

“You jumped off the roof, Outlaw,” she grinned and poked me gently in the ribs.

“I did? Why?”

“You and I were watching the mob below us. They captured a kid who lives in my building. The Wares’ son.”

“The Wares’ son,” I frowned. “Do you mean Tank? Why’d they capture him?”

“How do you know Tank?” she asked, clearly surprised.

“Oh. Well. Because. He’s a pretty well-known football player. Still in high school, right? I’ve heard of him.”

“Yeah, that’s him. There was a rumor going around that Tank was the Outlaw. I even wondered that myself once,” Natalie said. She was pressing a wet washcloth onto my face. I actually didn’t feel that bad, now that I was waking up. But having someone care about me was pleasant.

“So the mob grabbed Tank because…they thought he was the Outlaw?” I puzzled. “Is that right?”

“I believe so. That’s what it sounded like. Imagine their surprise,” she snickered, “when the real Outlaw landed in their midst. I hope someone got video of that.”

“What happened?”

“You freed Tank. I don’t know how you survived that fall. It’s five stories.”

“Nothing feels broken,” I commented, wiggling my feet.

“Tank was unconscious. You drove all the rioters back. You fought like a hundred guys. And that’s when the jeeps started rolling in.”

“Then what?” I asked. This was a fascinating story, especially because I participated in it.

“You found me in the lobby and then…” she paused.

“Then what?”

“Well, not to sound dramatic but then you died.”

“Then I died?!” I cried. “You just fell over,” she nodded. “You grabbed your head and collapsed. You had no pulse. One of my friends, the chief of medicine at General Hospital, helped me pull you down here, and he revived you. CPR.”

“Whoa,” I breathed.

“He did
not
want to leave you here. He’s checked on you three times, and I’m under strict orders to call him immediately if you act funny.”

“He should have let you die,” Carter said, his voice ringing out like a hammer, shattering our private conversation. Both Natalie and I jumped. Where’d
he
come from?? “Woulda saved me the trouble.” Carter stepped into our dim circle of light that came from an emergency bulb in the corner. Natalie started to scream but he calmly drew his pistol, thumbed the hammer back, and placed the muzzle against her jaw. “Not sure if you have to die yet, Ms. North,” he said gruffly. “So try not to give me ideas. Don’t get ambitious, kid,” he barked at me when I started to rise. “I’ll kill you both before you get halfway.”

“What are you doing here?” I demanded.

“Told you,” he snarled. “Told you to keep your head down. Go to bed early. No extra attention. Now you’re on every TV on the planet.”

“Let her go, Carter,” I warned.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” he said. He shoved Natalie and she fell onto the blanket beside me. And then to my surprise he sat down on a box, like weariness overtook him. He sighed and rubbed his face. Nobody spoke for over sixty seconds. Finally, “This whole thing is getting out of hand.”

“What whole thing?”

“There’s much you do not know, kid. So much. Shoulda trusted me. Now…now it’s gone to hell. The entire…all ruined.” He was talking into space, his eyes far off, thinking about things unseen. Natalie and I glanced at each other but kept quiet. I wanted him to keep talking. “What you don’t realize is that I’m protecting you. From yourself. From everyone.”