Dekka left the clinic. Dekka missed the bus. Dekka talked to Sam.
Too much weird for one day. Too much.
Her hands shook and she looked down at them. They were the same hands that she had lifted the earth with. They were the hands that canceled gravity, above all odds.
She pointed them at a bush beside her. C'mon, she thought, rise, you stupid hedge!
But the hedge stayed rooted in the ground and the wind stirred the leaves.
She shook her head and tried to blink back her tears. Her stomach crawled like she still had bugs inside of her. Her skin was cold like she had been doused in ice.
The green eyes of Toto's drawing still haunted her eyelids.
She caught the next bus and rode it home. Sam had texted her and demanded that she pack what she needed and come as soon as possible to his house. It wasn't that far away. She could run the distance.
So she would. She strapped on her running shoes, filled two back packs full of supplies and food, and she began to run.
No music. She ran to the sound of her feet hitting the pavement, the song of her rapid breath intakes, the melody of the wind in her ears.
This was what she had left of Brianna.
Maybe that's why she didn't question Sam and she didn't even worry what they were doing. She had gone willingly. She needed a distraction.
Or maybe she needed a way to remember.
Either way, she was going back and she knew that much. She had been anticipating it. It couldn't have been long until they were haunted by more than just nightmares.
The FAYZ was alive. Caine's valiant effort had been in vain. He had not saved them. Pete had not destroyed the gaiaphage. They would never be free.
She ran harder, pumping her arms and gaining speed. A car honked at her. She flipped them off.
Her heart pounded, sweat beaded out of her pores. California heat weighed down on her and the packs on her shoulders grew heavier with every step she took.
The act of running cleared her mind. She was able to wonder how Toto had drawn the scene that taunted her nightmares. He hadn't been there. In fact, it had been assumed that he had been killed at the lake, like Justin. But, supposedly, like Roger, he had survived.
How had he known? He had been somewhere else completely. Even in the FAYZ, someone couldn't be in two places at once. Not even Gaia had been able to do that.
Dekka rounded the bend that would take her to Sam's street. About forty five minutes had passed and her nylon shirt was clinging to her back and sweat ran down her face and knees. The salt stung her eyes and the stagnant heat of California warmed her shoulders. She pressed harder.
If they were about to go into battle again, she was prepared this time. She would end it once and for all and never let someone she cared about die ever again.