Chapter 1

The old gym:

“Perhaps it’s for the best,” Randolph murmured, looking out across the empty landscape before he glanced at Sammy.

She turned on Josie’s brother so quickly that Randolph stumbled backwards several steps, her eyes blazing with fury. She didn’t give a damn what Randolph or any of the others thought. They were talking about Dust. Dust! The guy who had saved all of their lives more than once! The quiet, unassuming teen who had a huge heart and would never, ever have thought of leaving any one of them behind.

“Perhaps he should have left your sorry butt for the She-Devil and her pack,” Sammy angrily retorted, prodding Randolph’s chest with the end of her bow.

“Now, Sammy, there’s no need to get angry. Of course we won’t leave Dust behind,” Raymond calmly stated.

“I agree. That boy is a blessing to have on our side. We would have died back in our hometown if it hadn’t been for him,” Martha said with a firm nod.

“I second that,” Denise quietly said, shooting Randolph an accusing look.

Sammy turned when she felt a tug on her arm. Her little brother looked up at her. She instinctively wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders when tears filled his eyes.

“What if the She-Devil hurt him?” Todd asked with a worried expression.

Josie shook her head and crossed her arms. “I don’t think you need to worry about Dust, Todd. He is freakin’ awesome,” she reassured the young boy with a wink. “The question is: why are we waiting to go after him?”

“We’ll go in the morning. We need light to see him and it will be less dangerous,” Raymond said, looking at Sammy. “We can’t know for sure what happened. We need to do what we can to protect ourselves if we are to help Dust.”

Sammy reluctantly nodded. At the moment, they were in the girls’ locker room with the doors barred as best as they could manage. They would need to refill the old bus with diesel and pack up anything of use before they left. No one knew what lay ahead of them. Even with Randolph and Josie’s powers, their guns, and Sammy’s bow, there was no telling what else was out there waiting.

“First thing in the morning,” she agreed, pulling Todd closer when he yawned.

“I’ll take first watch,” Randolph quietly volunteered.

“Thank you,” Sammy murmured.

She turned and guided Todd over to where she had arranged several exercise mats earlier. The soft sounds of footsteps indicated that she and Todd were not alone. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Josie’s worried gaze on Todd.

Sammy blinked back the tears that were burning her eyes, and gave Josie an exhausted smile, then she returned her focus to her little brother, and helped him get ready for bed. Josie brought over pieces of paper and wood, and put them in a metal trash can.

Pulling the blanket over Todd, she nodded her approval when Josie started a small fire in the metal trash can. Despite being inside, there was a draft of cold air blowing through the room. The concrete floor wasn’t helping either, even though they had doubled the mats to help protect themselves from the chill.

“It should warm up a little. I found some old wooden pallets in a storage room. Raymond and Randolph broke them up so I could play with fire,” Josie explained.

Todd rolled over and looked at Josie with a tired grin. “I wish you had some marshmallows, Josie. You make the best ones ever.”

Sammy smiled when Josie laughed, reached over, and tousled Todd’s towheaded strands. “We’ll have to find some for you in the next town we go through,” Josie replied.

“I hope we find Dust. He likes your marshmallows, too,” Todd replied in a voice that faded as he fell into an exhausted sleep.

Sammy brushed her little brother’s hair back from his face. Her fingers trembled as she touched him. He was the last of her family, and she had almost lost him tonight. Tears burned her eyes again, and she bowed her head to hide them.

“You know you can cry. I won’t tell anyone,” Josie quietly said.

Sammy shook her head and looked at Josie. The other girl was sitting with her back against the wall, unconsciously rolling a ball of fire across her palm as if it were a marble. She gave Josie a wan smile and looked down at Todd’s peaceful face.

“I’m good,” she replied in a tight voice.

Despite their differences, the two girls had grown to like each other. There had been more than a few moments when Sammy wasn’t so sure they would be able to overcome their differences—namely the fact that they both liked Dust as more than a friend. Neither one had actually said that, but Sammy knew.

In the end, they had put their differences aside and focused on survival. The fact that Josie’s father, Beau, and her brother, Randolph, had located them made a difference. Sammy’s heart ached for the other girl. Josie’s dad had chained and almost starved Josie to death to keep his daughter from using the powers she received after the comet’s destruction.

Beau hadn’t known that Randolph had also changed. Randolph’s powers were unique. He could sense when someone else had been changed—most of the time. He hadn’t sensed it in Dust, though, which made Sammy worry. They would need Randolph’s talents if they were going to find Dust.

It was hard to believe that Beau had died less than forty-eight hours ago. He had saved Josie’s life when the She-Devil attacked her. While Sammy had not liked the man for what he did to the survivors under his care, both Changed and Unchanged, she never would have wished the man dead. In the end, she knew the man had realized that if humanity was going to survive, it would need people like Dust, Josie, and Randolph.

Sammy and the others in the group didn’t have any powers. She suspected it was because they had all been sealed away from the first strange clouds of dust that had swept over the planet. She and Todd had sought refuge in the tornado shelter behind their house. Their parents had been in town and did not survive the initial wave of destruction. She was pretty sure that Raymond, Martha, and Denise had locked themselves in the vault at the bank where they had worked, and that was what saved them. There had been other survivors in their town, but a swarm of mutated insects had killed them off, one at a time.

Sammy scooted over until she was leaning up against a set of lockers. She was exhausted after the night’s events but still too wired to sleep. She looked over at Josie. The other girl was staring blindly at the fire in the trash can. Every once in a while, a flame would rise up to form the faces of different people. Sammy was pretty sure that Josie wasn’t even aware of what she was doing. It was obvious that those people had meant something to Josie.

“Thank you,” Sammy quietly murmured.

Josie looked up at her with a wary expression. “For what?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sammy leaned her head back. “For saving Todd tonight,” she replied.

Josie shrugged her slender shoulders and looked at the sleeping boy. Sammy could see the other girl’s eyes soften before she hid her emotions. Once again, Sammy felt a wave of sympathy wash through her.

“It was teamwork. I had the easy part. You and Dust were the ones facing off against Zombie Dog,” Josie quipped.

Sammy softly chuckled. “Zombie Dog,” she repeated with a tired sigh. “That’s a good description.”

“We’re going to find him,” Josie suddenly said, not looking at her.

Sammy recognized the defiance in Josie’s tone. She looked at the other girl who turned and gave her a mutinous look. A slow, weary smile curved her lips.

“Yes, we will,” Sammy quietly replied before she yawned. “We’d better get some rest. I have a feeling the next few days are going to be tiring.”

“Yeah, goodnight, Sammy,” Josie murmured, closing her fist and extinguishing the flame in her hand.

“Goodnight, Josie,” Sammy replied.

Sammy slid down next to her brother and wrapped her arm around him. Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. She tenderly smiled when he murmured in his sleep and snuggled closer to her. She promised herself that she would never take the simple things in life for granted again.

Closing her eyes, she thought of Dust. His birthday was in a couple of weeks. Her tired mind was already thinking of how they could make it special for him.

Be safe, Dust. We’re going to find you and show you that you have a family—no matter what you turn into, Sammy vowed as the dark edges of exhaustion pulled her into a deep but restless sleep.