Sanctuary Bay (39 page)
Authors: Laura Burns
He tried to raise the gun again, but it was too late. Izzy snarled, tearing at him with one hand, stabbing him with the other. Dave shrieked and tried to fight her off, but she was freakishly strong. The scalpel plunged into him again and again, and Sarah stumbled away, Ethan by her side, as blood spurted into the air.
She refused to look back. The sounds alone were horrifying enough. With the screams and moans and cries filling her ears, she threw up on the grass.
“Izzy, stop.” Ethan's voice was steady, and when Sarah spun around she saw him holding the gun. It was pointed at Izzy, holding her at bay.
Izzy smiled. It was a wide, crazed grin, nothing like the pretty smile of the posh girl Sarah had first met. Blood dripped from the scalpel in her hand. Her cheek was slashed, but she didn't seem to notice. She just smiled ⦠then turned and headed for the stairs.
“Izzy, no,” Sarah cried. “It's on fire down there. You'll die.”
Izzy kept walking, straight toward the stairway. Black smoke billowed around her, and flames licked at the cement.
“Izzy!” Sarah screamed.
But Izzy was gone. She'd taken the only true escape possible.
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Sarah gripped the railing of the upper deck as the ferry plowed through the ocean, leaving firefighters behind to battle the flames that devoured Sanctuary Bay Academy. Soon there would be more ruins on the island. Added to the remains of an insane asylum and a POW camp would be the remnants of something that had appeared to be a school but wasn't, and a high-tech underground lab most of the world didn't know existed. She didn't want to think of what might be built there next.
In the distance, she heard a sound that reminded her of the centrifuge in the chem lab. “News helicopter,” Ethan said from beside her. “Fortitude won't be able to cover up what happened to the school. They can cover up a lot, but not the fire.”
She shivered, thinking of Izzy, thinking of Karina, thinking of Nate, and Ethan put his arm around her. At least Dr. Diaz had made it onto the boat. He was inside with an EMT who'd had to tranquilize him to get him on board. He had his supply of Bromcyan and Sarah had explained to the EMT that the medication was necessary to treat Dr. Diaz's schizophrenia.
“Parents will hear about the fire on the news,” Ethan continued. “They'll come to get their kids. At least we saved some of them, Sarah.”
“Yeah,” she murmured, but all she could think about was the ones they hadn't been able to save.
“My parents might even come,” Ethan said. “But I can'tâ” He shook his head. “I can't trust them. My mom might give me a hug, then turn me over to Fortitude. Same with my dad.”
“I can't believe my dad is alive,” Sarah said, wrapping one arm around Ethan's waist, wanting to be even closer to him. He pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. “But he works for Fortitude. How is that possible? What if he's⦔
“Like mine,” Ethan finished when she didn't continue.
“Like yours.” A head filled with nanites. No will of his own. “Or worse, like Dave.”
“You're going to look for him,” Ethan said, studying her face.
Sarah nodded. “I know he was a scientist, at MIT, I think. I remember we lived in Boston before all the hotels, all the rules. And Dave said my name was Johnson. My real name, I guess. So that's my father's name.”
“That's enough to start with,” Ethan said. “But Sarah, if he's one of them⦔
“I'll take him down,” she cut him off. “I'm going to take them all down.”
“Okay. Then we're agreed. Fortitude can't be allowed to rebuild.” Ethan turned toward shore. “We're getting close to the dock.” There were people waiting, more EMTs and locals eager to help, to offer thermoses of hot chocolate, blankets, beds for the night, phones that could call anywhere. “We can't trust anyone toâ”
“I know,” Sarah interrupted. A few houses dotted the shoreline, windows glowing with welcoming light. But behind them lay dark, dense woods. “We'll go to the forest.”
“Good,” Ethan agreed. “We've handled worse than mosquitoes and raccoons. Come on.” He took her hand and they headed for the gangplank. People were already gathering there.
When the gangplank lowered, she and Ethan walked off with the rest of the crowd. They headed down the dock, surrounded by their friends and classmates and teachers. But when they reached the end, they veered away from the group and let themselves disappear into the shadows, and then into the woods beyond.
Once they were shielded by the thick branches of the pines, Sarah turned back. In the distance, the island burned. But here, other figures were gliding into the shadows of the forest, melting into the darkness, following the last command she'd given them: Escape.
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LAURA J. BURNS
&
MELINDA METZ
have written many books for teens and middle-grade readers, including the Edgar-nominated mystery series Wright & Wong, and the young adult novels
Crave
and
Sacrifice
. They have also written for the television shows
Roswell, 1-800-Missing
, and
The Dead Zone
. Laura lives in New York and Melinda lives in North Carolina, but really they mostly live on e-mail, where they do most of their work together!. You can sign up for email updates
here
.
MELINDA METZ: You can sign up for email updates
here
.
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CONTENTS
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously.
SANCTUARY BAY.
Copyright © 2015 by St. Martin's Press. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by Kerri Resnick
Cover photographs: girl © Galya Ivanova/Arcangel; branches © apiguide/Shutterstock
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-05136-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-6917-2 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466869172
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
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First Edition: January 2016