Chapter 403: Kunta Discovered
The road stayed empty as we approached the Boardwalk, with Maribel still walking ahead of me.
I kept enough distance that I was not right on her heels, but it still felt weird. From the outside, I probably looked like some damn stalker following her through the dark. We were heading in the same direction, though, and she clearly did not want me beside her.
Fair enough.
She was still uncomfortable around me. I could not blame her for that.
It had been the same, in different ways, with Rachel, Elena, and Cindy after I cured them.
Rachel had been the quickest to understand. She was awkward around me just briefly, but she did not need much time to figure out why I had threatened her. She understood that I had been trying to cure her, even if I had done it in the worst, most suspicious way possible.
Honestly, I still did not know why she had forgiven me.
Elena had adjusted faster because circumstances had not given her much choice.
Cindy had taken it the hardest.
That was understandable too.
Now there was Maribel.
She was strong-minded. Stronger than most people I knew. Part of me hoped that meant she would eventually understand why I did what I did. Not excuse it, maybe. I did not deserve that automatically. But understand that I had not wanted her to go through what Emily had gone through.
After seeing Emily broken down the way she had been, after hearing Tommy explain how badly she had spiraled when I left without stabilizing her, I could not take the risk of letting someone else suffer that way.
I did not want to force Maribel into accepting anything.
But I wanted her safe.
The thought sat in my head while I walked, tangled up with another one I had been trying to ignore all night.
I had been getting too close to death lately.
The two Hybrids. The fall from the seventh floor. The way my body had nearly shut down after using Time Freeze twice. The gunman who would have shot me if Maribel had not been there.
If I died, I wanted the people around me to be okay.
Safe.
Able to move on without more damage following behind me.
I stopped suddenly.
The air ahead of us shifted.
A sharp blue flash burst across the road.
Maribel stopped too, one hand already moving toward her weapon as the light faded.
I recognized the glow immediately.
"Found you. Finally."
Sydney stood in front of us, blue particles still flickering around her body.
"Sydney?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"
Her expression was serious.
"We have a huge problem, Ryan. Kunta got found out."
For a second, I only stared at her.
Then the words reached me properly.
My stomach dropped.
"That jerk Brad has been waiting for something like this," Sydney continued. "He’s making a whole thing out of it. We need to get back fast."
"Yeah," I said.
Damn it.
Keeping Kunta in the same hotel where everyone slept had always been risky. Sooner or later someone would discover her. I had known that.
I just had not expected it to happen this soon.
"Then let’s go," Sydney said.
Before I could take a step, she bent down, scooped me up in both arms, and lifted me off the ground.
I stared at her.
"Gosh," she complained, adjusting her grip. "You are heavy."
"What are you doing?"
"Getting us there faster, princess."
She grinned.
Then blue light flared around her.
The street disappeared.
The road, the dead storefronts, the wrecked cars, and the weak beam of my torch all became streaks of color rushing past too quickly for my eyes to follow. Wind tore at my hair and clothes. My stomach lurched as Sydney accelerated, carrying me through the night at a speed that made the world smear into blue-gray lines.
The last thing I saw before we vanished down the road was Maribel standing where we had left her, staring after us with an expression I could not make out.
This was the first time I had ever experienced Sydney’s speed like this.
It was insane.
I could not even understand how she avoided crashing into a wall, a wrecked vehicle, or an Infected at this pace. The road came and went in fragments beneath us, yet she moved through it without slowing, cutting around every obstacle as if she could see the whole route before it happened.
She had trained for this.
A lot for sure.
Within a couple of minutes, Sydney had brought us back to the Boardwalk.
The barricade rose ahead of us, tall enough that anyone normal would have needed to stop at the gate or find a way around it. Sydney did neither. Instead of slowing, she leaned forward and accelerated.
"Sydney..." I called, suddenly concerned.
"Just hold on."
She grinned, planted one foot hard against the ground, and jumped.
I widened my eyes.
She had started several meters from the barricade, but she cleared it easily, carrying both of us over the high wooden-and-metal barrier in one huge leap. For a second there was nothing under us except the dark street and the jagged top of the barricade passing below.
Then she landed inside.
Or almost landed.
Her boots scraped across the road as she slid forward, blue light fading around her body. She steadied herself without dropping me, took two more steps, and finally put me back on my feet.
"Liked it?" she asked, smiling.
"I feel like I’m going to throw up."
"You’ll get used to it."
I gave her a small smile despite myself.
Then my hearing caught shouting from the direction of the Whitesun Hotel.
Sydney noticed the change in my face and nodded once.
We ran.
The closer we got, the louder the voices became. It had to be past three in the morning, yet the whole area was awake. People had gathered outside the hotel in a thick crowd, pulled from their rooms by the noise. Battery lamps that were usually kept for emergencies and nighttime watches had been brought out and set around the entrance, casting harsh white light across frightened faces.
"You used our trust against us, Margaret!"
Brad’s voice carried over everyone else.
My stomach sank.
I pushed toward the crowd with Sydney beside me.
"Excuse me," I said, trying to get through. "Move, please."
People stepped aside reluctantly. Some recognized me and stared. Others stared at Sydney. The looks followed us as we moved deeper into the crowd, curious, angry, suspicious, scared.
Eventually we reached the center.
An open space had formed in front of the Whitesun entrance, a rough circle surrounded by people watching in complete attention.
Brad stood on one side with Kyle and Billy close behind him. The three of them looked furious, but Brad was the one controlling the whole scene. Kyle’s face was red with anger. Billy kept shifting his stance, watching the people around them as if he expected someone to intervene.
Across from them stood Margaret and Martin.
Christopher and Cindy were nearby, positioned closer to Margaret’s side. Christopher looked like he had arrived in the middle of it and already regretted everything. Cindy’s gaze kept moving between Brad and the people behind Margaret, tense and uncertain.
Rachel stood farther back.
Kunta was hiding partly behind her.
Sonny had taken up position next to Kunta, close enough to protect her if anyone tried anything. Kunta looked small in the glare of the lamps, shoulders pulled in, eyes lowered at first. But it was impossible for her to disappear when the entire crowd was focused on her.
People were seeing a Starakian for the first time.
Some watched with curiosity.
Others looked terrified.
A few looked at Kunta with the kind of distrust usually reserved for an Infected standing too close to the barricades. It did not matter that she looked young. It did not matter that she looked almost human.
To them, she was an alien.
And apparently, someone had decided that was enough.
As I entered the circle, Brad noticed me immediately much like his two companions.
His face split into a smug smile for a second before the anger returned.
"Well, look who finally showed up," he called out.
Every head turned toward me.
Brad pointed straight at my chest.
"The fucking traitor and liar himself."