Alpha

Chapter Thirty-one

There’s something really wrong with Joel.

He’s having trouble walking, and where Athena can see his eyes above the bandanna mask they’re making him wear, there are tears, and sweat is running down his face. She tries to hold his hand again, but the man walking between them, the one in the Pooch costume, he won’t let her. He keeps separating them. Athena tries signing to him, but Joel doesn’t even acknowledge her.

They’re about halfway through Wilson Town when Athena suddenly pushes forward, past Lynne in the Smooch costume, trying to get to Dana. She reaches out and catches Dana/Betsy’s arm, and then feels that hand again, grabbing the back of her trench coat, yanking her back. She’s still holding on to Dana’s costumed arm, and Athena won’t let go, pulls her around as she’s jerked back herself, and suddenly Pooch’s grip on her is gone, and the whole group comes to a stop.

Help him! Athena signs rapidly to Dana/Betsy, then points to Joel. Needs help!

Hands concealed within Betsy’s, Dana can’t answer. Her head inside Betsy’s, Dana can’t even look directly at Athena. Vladimir/Kurkur pushes Dana with his left hand, his right beneath his cloak and holding his gun, Athena is sure. Dana/Betsy turns around slowly, and Pooch pulls Athena back again, and she tries to shake off his grip, but he just tightens it around her arm.

They resume their march, coming out of the square, and Athena is watching everything, her eyes moving from Joel to the others and beyond them, flicking quickly. Using her vision to supply what her ears cannot. There’s a kiddie ride on their right, Rascal’s Tailspin; it’s like a teacup ride except instead of cups there’re bowls. The lights are flashing, even though nothing is moving, and Athena can feel a thrum coming from it, too, what she suspects is music. On her left, there’s Smooch’s FunHouse, which is like three different things all at once-a bounce house, and a ball pit, and something else she doesn’t even know what it is. It looks like it has something to do with skydiving, maybe, or blowing air, but she’s not sure.

The Terra Space ride is ahead of them, still a ways off, but the giant Clip Flashman Rocket is easy to spot, and she can see the little mock rocket sleds that run up on rails at one side of the ride, to Lunar Space, and then descend on the other, back to the Terra Pad. They were going to have lunch there, she remembers, down at the bottom, then ride up and maybe buy souvenirs. Thinking about it, she realizes how hungry she is, how thirsty.

She keeps looking for her dad, but she doesn’t see him anywhere. He’s coming, Athena knows he is, he has to come, because these are Bad Guys. He fights Bad Guys. All those nights and he wasn’t home, all those days he was gone, it was because he fights people like this. He has to come.

Almost directly ahead of them, there’s a group of people approaching. They’re in costumes, too, just like her own group. Eight or nine of them, she isn’t sure, they’re still too far away, but she can see one is a Flashman in shining armor, and maybe at the back there’s another one, a Clip Flashman in his space suit and helmet, the same costume that Oscar in their group is hiding inside. She glances to her right, still ahead, past the Race for Justice, and another group is coming from that direction, too. More costumes; she counts eight total, including two Gordos, a Soccer Betsy, and another Smooch like the one Lynne is wearing.

First group getting closer. Eight of them, she now sees, the two Flashmans and the first Lola that Athena’s seen all day. Second group, nine, and Athena wonders how many of them are Bad Guys, too. She can’t tell.

Vladimir/Kurkur is looking around, and so is Sonny/Gordo and Oscar/Clip Flashman. They stop, abruptly, and Athena thinks someone must have said something. Dana/Betsy turns in place, trying to look back at them, maybe to check on Joel, and Athena does the same. He’s looking down at the ground, both hands at his middle, like he’s going to throw up. Something past him moves, and Athena thinks it was one of the bowls on Rascal’s Tailspin, turning slightly like it’s been disturbed.

She glances behind her. Pooch is standing very still now, and one of his ungloved hands is at his middle, like he’s thinking about pulling his suit open. Athena looks at Dana/Betsy, sees she’s turned around again, back to her. Beyond, Athena sees that first group, still coming closer, all nine of them. Her eyes skip to the other ones approaching, and then, just as quickly, she’s looking back, past Dana again.

Nine getting closer?

There were eight. Athena knows there were eight of them, she is certain there were eight. Now there are nine, and she is trying to see what is different, what has changed. The Lola and the one Flashman in his shining armor and the other one at the back, the original one, wearing his space suit, his helmet on and his mirrored visor down, just like the one that Oscar in their own group is wearing.

There’s a Penny Starr, too. She’s almost next to Flashman, Athena thinks, just hanging back a little bit. Athena can see the shiny almost-purple black jumpsuit, the glint of the late afternoon sun bouncing just off the top of her silver space helmet.

Penny Starr wasn’t there before.

The horrible, angry, gnawing that feels like it’s been eating at her insides since they took Mom away starts to fade. She still can’t see her dad, but Athena knows now, she’s certain that he is nearby, and relief, apprehension, fear, joy, all of them mix, make her breathing catch. She glances quickly around once more, and nobody is watching her. For the first time, maybe, nobody is watching her. Whatever Pooch and Vladimir/Kurkur and Oscar/Flashman and Sonny/Gordo thought would happen, whatever they expected to see, Athena realizes that they’re not seeing it.

Their tension is sudden, palpable in the way they move, in the way they don’t, in their new stillness, despite their costumes.

Athena edges closer to Joel, and nobody grabs her, and nobody tries to stop her. She reaches out for him, like she wants to see how he’s doing, and they let her. She wonders if they’re talking to each other, if they’ve even noticed, but it doesn’t matter. Turned like this, Athena is facing Rascal’s Tailspin, where one of the bowls moved when it shouldn’t have. Keeping her hands close to her body, she signs as quickly as she can, spelling the names.

K-U-R-K-U-R G-O-R-D-O C–L-I-P P-O-O-C-H K-U-R-K-U-R G-O-R-

Movement, the corner of her eye. She starts to turn her head, but not before she sees the bowl that she thought was moving spin around, the door in its side open, and there’s Uncle Jorge sort of half inside, half out. He’s got his gun in both hands, coming forward already, and she sees the gun rocking, feels the vibration of the gunshots.

Athena twists, sees the first group across from them, sees Penny Starr with a gun all her own, and she sees her put it against the helmet of Clip Flashman and pull the trigger, just like that. The people on the bridge start to scatter, and Lola tries to turn around, to face Penny Starr, an arm rising beneath the floppy wing, one of the guns like Vladimir and Sonny and Oscar are carrying, but it never gets to come up. Penny Starr shoots the giant toucan, and Lola falls down, wings flopping.

Movement erupts all around her, the vibration in the air and her body, shots and more shots. Pooch shoves her aside, rushing forward, and Kurkur/Vladimir is sweeping his cloak back and bringing up his gun. Athena shouts, throws herself into Joel, knocking them both to the pavement. She sees Oscar/Clip is on his knees, hands moving to his helmet, like he wants to take it off, and then the helmet shatters and he falls sideways. Gail, Lynne, Miguel, Leon, all of them in their costumes, they’re still standing, and Athena pushes herself to her feet, launches herself at Lynne from behind. They tumble to the ground together, landing absorbed by the Smooch costume.

Sonny is turning toward them, yanking his big gun free from where he’s been hiding it inside Gordo’s baseball glove. Big, happy Gordo eyes seem to find her, and Athena sees a shower of color behind him, plastic spheres suddenly erupting from the ball pit, bouncing every which way. Uncle Freddie is there now, and he’s shooting, too. Gordo’s eyes stay big and happy, but he twists, falls to his side like someone let the air out of him.

Athena rolls off Lynne, sees the second group, to the side. There’s a S.E.E.K.E.R. Robot down on the ground, clutching at his leg, and there’s a Pooch facedown, not moving.

She sees her dad, watches as he fires the gun in his hand. Soccer Betsy jerks like she’s been punched in the face, and he shoots her again, and she falls. He steps over her like she’s not even there, that pistol in both hands, swinging it around. The look on his face is one she’s never seen before. It’s not a scary face, but it’s not a happy face, either. For that instant, she thinks her father is feeling nothing at all.

“Dad!” Athena shouts, shouts as loud as she can, not even certain what that is. Using all her air, making the words, “Dad! Dad! Dad!”

His head snaps in her direction, but his eyes don’t find her, skip past her. Athena remembers the stupid Agent Rose mask on her face, yanks it off, knocking the hat away at the same time.

“Dad!” She’s screaming it, now, feels her throat tearing, wonders if she has ever been this loud before, wonders if it matters. “Daddy! Daddy!”

He finds her, and the blank face isn’t blank any longer, and he’s shouting something, starting toward her, gesturing with one hand while the other still holds the pistol high. Swiping, telling her to get down, and Athena thinks that all of this, it’s almost over, it’s going to be all right.

Her dad is here, and it’s going to be all right.

She’s wrong.