“Now, now. No need to make things more difficult for the both of us,” he says.
“Mr. President, are you in danger?” asks Fyfe.
Jude gives me a pointed look. “We’re just having fun, aren’t we?”
“Yes. I’m fine, Fyfe,” I say.
TheFireflyflies true under the clouds, and I spend the next few hours devising ways to kill Jude.
It’s later in the day, when the sun is dropping behind the horizon, that we notice something walking the desert on six legs. Jude orders Fyfe to land on a rocky mountain top. We both get out of theFireflyto watch. It’s never a good idea to get noticed by an old god.
“Who is it?” Jude asks me, squinting.
“I don’t know.”
I might be a mutant, but my eyesight isn’t better than his. The old god I take my DNA from was blind. He gave me other abilities.
The giant creature disappears behind a cliff, then reappears seconds later. They’re getting closer. They have a green shell, and what looks like wings.
“Oh, it’s the Bug,” Jude says as a matter of fact.
“The Bug?”
I’ve never seen nor heard about an old god called the bug.
“It’s a machine.”
I frown. That can’t be right. It’s a giant beetle. “No…”
“I assure you,” Jude says. “TheHighwaymenhave been trying to get it for years. It’s inhabited by the Devil of the Wastes. Tough motherfucker. He’s a mutant like you.”
I go deathly still as I realize who that Devil is. And who is with him.
“Helios…” I whisper.
Jude frowns and watches me. “Helios?”
“He’s the Devil’s lover…”
“Oh, shit.” Jude smiles. “Good for him.”
Electricity rises from my skin again, and Jude takes a step back, smile fading. Helios is out there, living in the machine. So close…
“Don’t even think about it,” says Jude. His gun is once again pointed at me. There is no mercy on his face. “I’ll fucking kill you now, theFireflybe damned, if you even glance at Helios the wrong way.”
This overprotective streak… I had it for Helios for years. I understand it well. I know that his threat is serious. My rage deflates, leaving me hollow.
The six-legged machine is nowhere to be found. It has disappeared into thin air.
I walk back to theFireflywithout a second glance, hoping that Jude would shoot me in the back.
We land on the rooftop of a three-story high villa in the desert to spend the night. The only way up is by stairs that have been barricaded a long time ago. Tonight, we should be safe from nomads, at least. It used to be a rooftop garden, if the empty planters and rotted chairs are any indication. Below us, a wide pool is filled with dust. I’ve seen the pictures and movies from before the Rise. It’s hard to imagine such a lavish life.
Jude sets camp, and I watch him.
After a moment, he says, “Are you going to fucking help?”
He’s my captor, and yet he acts like we’re travel buddies. How the hell did that happen?
