Splintered boards, debris and shattered glass tilt and fade behind my eyelids all night. Dorian’s there. He walks along the road with me in the dark. We step over planks. Over fallen power lines. Through shreds of wood that used to be homes, lives and memories. It’s Evansburg. And it’s not. All of this is unrecognizable. I can’t make out a single street. A single landmark.
We walk in silence for a long time. Every time Dorian looks at me, his eyes are brown and black again. I don’t know how I can tell in the darkness.
He doesn’t smile.
Neither do I.
“Allie,” he says. “I didn’t really want you to go.”
“I know.” The scene snaps into reality and the fog clears. This is as clear as real life. So real that it can’t be a dream. We must really be walking through what used to be Evansburg.
No one else is here. Only debris, concrete slabs, and strange shapes take place in the dark. This isn’t a town. Not anymore, and I can’t imagine it ever being a town again.
Dorian folds his hands behind his back. “Something happened to us when we merged, Allie. I’m not sure what it is.”
I force my gaze to him, away from the destruction. “What?”
“Allie? Need to go to the bathroom? Now’s the time.”
I wake. I’m in Uncle Cassius’s car. The sky’s orange on the horizon.
I shake my head and blink, clearing away the scene. It’s as if I’ve switched realities, hopped from one life to another with a blink. The dream. I’m sure that if I close my eyes, Dorian will be there in the dark as clear as the dashboard and the glove compartment in front of me.
I breathe out. It was just a dream. That’s what I need to tell myself. Dorian’s gone. I’ll never see him again.
“Allie? You awake?”
We’re parked at the same stupid rest stop Tommy and I stopped at in Iowa. Uncle Cassius is next to me, sipping on coffee that’s still steaming. Tommy’s car is in the space next to us. He’s awake, but with huge bags under his eyes. He catches my gaze and smiles. It’s tired, but it’s a real smile, and for a second I believe that everything’s going to be all right.
“Good morning,” Uncle Cassius says. “We’ll be back in Williams Town at the end of the day. It’ll be good to be home, won’t it?”
“Yes.” I blurt it out on autopilot. Reality crashes down on me again.
I’m still a new Outbreaker. So is Uncle Cassius. We’re going home, defeated. We’re the losers. The biggest tornado ever might bear down on the Midwest if Madeline doesn’t find enough victims in time. “Do you think the Deathwind’s going to blow up like she said?”
Uncle Cassius stares ahead. “It’s not likely. Madeline’s smart. She’ll find enough people in time to turn. Not that I’m happy about that, of course. But she will. Don’t worry, Allie. I know this.”
“If she doesn’t, then we’re going to see something like the Tri-State tornado all over again.”
“That one that killed seven hundred people back in the twenties,” he says, tapping the wheel. “No, Allie. The Deathwind would be even worse than that. But that won’t happen, Allie.” Uncle Cassius swallows. “I promise.”
“How are you going to be sure of that?” I want to believe him.
“Trust me.” He nods. “Why don’t you go use the bathroom before we set off again? And you might want to grab a coffee for Tommy. It looks like he needs one. If you want to ride with him the rest of the way back, that might be a good idea. You can make sure he stays awake.”
“What about you?”
“I’m wired.” He taps his Styrofoam cup and turns on his phone.
Tommy follows me into the rest stop building. He walks in right when I finish filling up his coffee at the vending machine.
“For you,” I say, holding it up. I’m glad to be away from Uncle Cassius.
“Thanks.” He takes a greedy gulp and grimaces. “Hot.”
“I’m going to have guard duty,” I say. “To make sure you don’t fall asleep at the wheel and go off the expressway. As we both know, not even Monster can save you.”
We step outside into the fresh air and stop by the flowers to stretch our legs. Tommy takes a step closer. “When we get back to Williams Town, I’ll be there to give you a ride out of town whenever a storm’s coming,” he says. “Even if it’s at three in the morning, I don’t care. I’ll keep my phone with me at all times. We’ll just both have to check the weather a lot. Any night it’s supposed to storm, we can sleep in shifts. If you have to leave, I can drive you up to the state park. It won’t be hard. Only the trees will have to fear you.”
I breathe out and let my shoulders sag. I feel like a mountain’s lifting off my shoulders. Maybe I won’t destroy Williams Town after all. “Tommy, thanks.”
My heart’s pounding. We’re standing very close to each other. The parking lot’s very quiet all of a sudden and the traffic very distant.
The kiss comes from nowhere. Tommy tastes like life before Madeline, the life I left behind. I breathe in the woods of Wisconsin, the faint aroma of French fries that always fills his car. His lips caress mine, soft and forgiving. My blood flows and I’m warm, light in a way that has nothing to do with my transformations. I’m Allie again. I’m home.