Silver Part 10

2004

I slept poorly that night. I woke up when Erin rushed outside in the middle of the night, and then again when she came back in. Somebody shifted and bumped the wall and I woke again. Several times I found myself awake and had no idea why. I didn't seem to be able to sleep through anything. When Jonas stumbled over me on his way outside I decided to give up.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, then looked over to where Silver was sitting near the door. I'm not sure he slept at all. Most times I'd been awake enough to notice he'd been either by the door or standing by the window.

"Y'know," I commented to him, "if you thought we needed to keep a watch, we could've all taken turns." He only shrugged.

I sighed and leaned my elbows against my knees. If he wanted to lose a whole night of sleep that was his problem, but for some reason it irritated me. Probably because my own sleep had been so interrupted.

It was still dark outside. I wondered what the time was, but then remembered our watch had been in Surge's pocket. I found myself wondering if it had been broken when he'd been hit by the car.

I closed my eyes and rested my head in my hand. It seemed so petty to be worrying about a watch when my friend was in the hospital. I straightened and idly flexed my left wrist and tried to distract myself. I kept flashing on the look on his face when he saw the car a split second before it hit him.

A stab of pain in my shoulder broke through my thoughts. I stared at my arm where it lay in my lap, and then tried to bend my elbow. Nothing happened. I tried to bend it a slightly different direction and it moved about a half inch. I stared at it and rubbed my shoulder, which still ached. It has to be one of the weirdest, creepiest feelings to tell your body to do something and have it not respond. It's right up there with having a limb that's completely numb, so it doesn't even feel like part of you anymore, move when you tell it to.

"Maybe you shouldn't," Silver said.

I frowned at him. "Yeah, I figured that out." I knew that he said it out of concern, but his tone had been so neutral, almost matter-of-fact, that it got on my nerves (not that it took much at the moment). He looked at me with his characteristically emotionless expression for a moment, then turned his attention back to the door. I wondered if I should apologize. I decided I wasn't in a mood to bother.

I glanced around the room. Everyone else seemed to be sleeping soundly, which just irritated me even more. It even looked like Erin had gotten back to sleep. I noticed Tori's blanket wasn't as twisted up as it usually got. Then I remembered that one of the times I'd half-woken I'd glanced over and seen Silver bending over her, and realized he must've been straightening it.

I was about to say something about it when he suddenly got up and pulled open the door. Before I could even think to ask what was wrong he was outside. I got to my feet to follow.

Just as I got to the door there was a thump on the back wall of the garage. A few people stirred but I didn't wait to see who had woken up.

"Let him go," Silver was saying as I stepped outside. He was standing near the corner of the garage, talking to someone around the side. "He's not involved."

"He is now," Jake's voice responded. I groaned inwardly. "If you try anything, he's dead."

I heard a frightened sound that must've come from Jonas and a split second later Silver twisted and snatched something out of the air. Someone gasped what sounded like "holy shit." Silver flicked what he'd caught into the ground and I realized it was a knife.

Mary jostled me as she moved past and Tori stopped by my shoulder. In the second it took me to notice this Silver had disappeared around the corner.

"Shit!" I said as I ran after him. Tori was right behind me.

We rounded the corner just in time to see Silver slam Jake into the wall. Jonas was collapsed on the ground beside them with his arms over his head. One of the guys from the church—in the dark I couldn't tell which and I didn't really care—was a few feet away, looking back and forth between Jake and Silver. He started for something on the ground at their feet, but a look from Silver sent him backing away.

"Go join the others, Jonas," Silver said calmly. Jonas snapped his head up and gave the pair of them a frightened look and then scrambled toward us. Mary bent down to help him to his feet and then put her arms around him.

Silver had Jake pinned against the wall by the neck. Jake was clawing at his hand but Silver didn't seem to notice. If I hadn't been watching it I wouldn't have believed it possible for a boy to use that type of pin on someone who was so much larger. "I don't want to kill you," Silver said, "but I will if I think I must." It wasn't said with anger. It wasn't a threat. It was a statement of fact.

Jake's eyes were wide, and his breathing fast as he tried to pry Silver's hand from his throat. "No! I only—I mean—"

"Leave us alone."

I noticed the guy from the church starting to edge away and pulled my arm away from Tori and went to intercept him. "Going somewhere?"

He'd been so focused on Jake and Silver that he jumped. I punched him.

"You're in over your head," Silver was saying. "Get out while you can."

The guy backed away from me. "What do you think you're going to do?" he said as he wiped his lip. "You're freaky little friend is too busy to fight for you."

"I can't!" Jake pleaded. "You don't understand. . . ."

I moved between him and the street. "So try something, then."

"Get out," Silver repeated. "If you come after us again, I will probably kill you."

The guy looked behind him but that way was blocked by Mike and Aaron. It looked like everyone was outside by now. He looked back to me, back over his shoulder again, and then tried to rush past me.

Unfortunately for him he was on my right. I swung at him. He dodged and the punch didn't connect very solidly, but I kicked the back of his knee and he stumbled. Mike grabbed the guy's collar. He seemed to consider fighting back, but I guess he decided the odds were too much against him.

Jake was on his hands and knees now with one hand up to his throat. Silver was standing in front of him. Jake's gaze flicked over to something on the ground and Silver stepped on whatever it was. "Leave," Silver said. "Now." Jake looked up, then slowly got to his feet and edged around him. The rest of us let him pass as he ran for the sidewalk.

Silver turned, the streetlight reflecting in his cold, metallic eyes as he fixed his stare on the guy from the church. I saw Aaron take a step back, as if he didn't want to get caught between them. I couldn't blame him.

"You should not be involved," Silver said. "Get out now."

"Uh . . . uh-huh," was all the guy managed to say as he stared wide-eyed at Silver. Mike let him go and he glanced around at the rest of us.

"Leave," Silver told him. "Don't come after us again."

The guy made a choking sound, and then turned and ran after Jake.

"You think we should really just let them go like that?" Mike said as he watched the guy go.

"What do you think we should do?" I snapped. "Kill them?"

"Uh. . . ." Mike glanced over at Silver. Silver was standing with the palm of his left hand, the one that had caught the knife, against his mouth, not paying attention to the rest of us. You'd never know he'd just threatened to kill someone.

"What the hell is going on?" Mariah demanded. She had her arms around Jonas, who had his face pressed against her shoulder and was shaking.

"You sure you want to know?" Erin said. She had her hand on Jimmy's head, who was half hiding behind her.

"Don't worry, we're leaving," I said. "Their problem is with us, not you. They shouldn't bother you once we're gone."

Mary came up behind Silver and slid her arms around his shoulders, and muttered something I couldn't hear. Silver lowered his hand and licked a bit of blood off his lip, and looked back at her. The cold expression was gone, replaced by what looked like uncertainty. "M-Mary," he said, "I'm not an angel."

"Of course not," she said in a tone that made it clear she meant the opposite. She hugged him tighter and rested her cheek against his hair.

"I'm sorry," Jonas said. "I'm sorry. I told them about this place. They seemed so nice. He didn't even charge me or anything for the stuff he gave me. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Jonas, it's okay," Mariah said as she led him inside.

Aaron looked from me, to Mike, to Erin. "What was this about? How do we know it'll be over as soon as you guys leave?"

"We don't actually know what it's about," Erin said with a sigh. She turned with Jimmy to go back inside. "It has something to do with the place we were staying before, and the people who owned it."

The rest of us trailed after her. Silver pulled himself away from Mary and bent to pick up the object at his feet, and then retrieved the knife as well. I thought he was going to follow us, but he stopped just outside the doorway and leaned his back against the wall, and dug a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.

". . . I saw them when I was outside," Jonas was saying, "and so I said something to them but they got mad and one of 'em hit me and the other said he shouldn't've because it'd wake everyone else up and he grabbed me and that's when Silver came out and the guy pointed a gun at me and said he'd kill me if Silver tried anything and the other guy threw a knife at him and he caught it just caught it right out of the air and then he rushed the guy and twisted the gun out of his hand and slammed him into the wall. . . ." Jonas paused and wrapped his arms around himself. He was sitting with Mariah just inside the door, and he was still shaking. "Oh God, he said he'd kill me. He pointed a gun at me and he said he'd kill me."

Mary knelt down and hugged him. He turned into her shoulder and put his arms around her.

"Well, anyway, see, I guess these businessmen got tired of having us older ones around, or something, so they started trying to get rid of us," Erin continued once Jonas had subsided. "They were working with some other company who wanted people to do experiments on, and they thought we'd be really great for that. Only they didn't ask us what we thought about it, they just took us. So now that we got away they keep sending that loser after us."

"Experiments?" Mariah echoed as she rubbed Jonas' back. "You can't be serious."

"Uh—yeah, I'm afraid we are," I said. "So we'll be going now, I guess."

We collected what we had, along with an old backpack and several blankets Mary insisted on giving us. Jonas had finally stopped shaking, and was now sitting with his arms around his knees, staring at Silver with wide, frightened eyes. Mariah and Aaron kept looking at us as if there was more they wanted to ask, but they didn't say anything.

"Hey, um," Mariah finally said, "good luck, I guess. Just don't bring this mess around to us again, okay?"

"Yeah," I said. I wasn't sure if she had believed us or not. I figured it didn't matter.

Silver was about half done with his cigarette by the time we were ready to leave. I handed him his windbreaker and cap, since he hadn't come inside to get them. He put them on as he followed us out to the street.

We headed out without any real destination in mind. None of us felt like talking much, and we were all looking over our shoulders. Silver was walking a little apart from the rest of us. Tori kept staring at him. Mike and Erin seemed to be pretending he wasn't there. I didn't know what to do.

"Hey, um, Silver?" Tori said after a while. "Didn't you cut your hand?"

"It's fine," he answered without turning.

"But—"

He shifted his eyes to look at her and she fell silent. His expression wasn't cold, not like when he'd been dealing with Jake, but it made it clear that the subject was closed.

"Where are we going?" Jess finally asked, voicing something we'd all been wondering.

"We'll let you know when we get there," Mike said. Jess sighed.

Some minutes later we went around to the side of a small store to rest and consider our options. As soon as we were stopped I noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Silver?"

Mike shrugged. "Little freak took off about half a block ago. At least that was when I noticed he was gone."

I glared at him. "And you didn't say anything?"

He shrugged.

"I don't know why you bother trying to keep track of him," Erin said as she shifted Jimmy on her hip.

"He said he'd stick around," Tori muttered to herself.

"And you believed him?"

"Shut up, Erin," I snapped. I was more mad at myself for being too preoccupied to notice he'd left, but Erin was making herself a handy target.

"Whatever—let's just forget it for now, okay?" Mike said. "So where do we go from here? You guys were the ones out looking for places to stay."

I frowned at him and thought about not answering, but it as something we had to decide. "Yeah. There were a few other places, but. . . ." I trailed off when an SUV stopped at the mouth of the alley and someone got out.

A man in casual clothes walked around the car and started toward us. I was thinking he might be the owner of the store coming to yell at us for loitering when he grabbed Erin and yanked her almost off her feet. Jimmy fell out of her arms and started crying when he hit the ground. Erin seemed to be too scared to make a sound. The man had a gun against her side.

"Somebody get that kid quiet," the man said.

I quickly knelt down and pulled Jimmy toward me, but he had stopped crying on his own. A kid on the streets learns when to do as he's told. I backed up a few feet and took him with me.

"All of you in the car. This idiotic farce is over."

In the second before any of us responded something flew past my ear and lodged itself in the man's forearm, just above his wrist. He gasped and dropped the gun. Erin took advantage and stomped on his foot and twisted out of his grip. He grabbed the back of her shirt but it seemed to be out of reflex, because most of his attention was focused behind us.

"Let her go."

Erin pulled away and fell to her hands and knees next to Jimmy and me. Silver came forward and positioned himself between us and him. I couldn't be sure in the dark, but I thought I saw recognition on the man's face as he stared as Silver.

"Go," Silver said over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off of the man in front of him. "All of you. Get out of here."

Mike grabbed Erin and pulled her to her feet as she was picking up Jimmy. "You heard him—let's go!"

The three of them ran around the back of the store. Tori and Jess went after them. I got to my feet and backed up but didn't go far.

"Leave them alone," Silver said. He had his switchblade in his hand now.

The man didn't say anything. He kept his eyes on Silver, and he seemed to be calculating something. He started to reach for his jacket pocket but Silver flicked his wrist. The switchblade went through the fabric of the pocket and stuck in whatever object had been inside. The man swore.

"Go, Eddie," Silver said without turning. I started backing up again and finally turned when I got to the back corner of the store.

Right after I looked away I heard the unmistakable sounds of a physical fight. I'm not sure what happened but by the time I turned back they were both on the ground, Silver slumped against the wall and the man sprawled out in front of him.

Tori, who had been watching from the corner, let out a small scream and was right behind me as I ran back.

It looked like the man had been hit in the face, hard enough to knock him out and break his nose. That was all I took time to notice before I turned to Silver.

Tori gasped and knelt by Silver and pushed up his shirt. On his right side just under his ribs was a gash that must've been three inches long. The side of his shirt and the waist of his pants were already dark with blood. The switchblade lay on the ground next to him. Blood was smeared down more than half the length of the blade.

"Oh my God," was all I could say as I dropped to the ground next to them. Tori was already shaking him and calling his name. For all he responded, he could've been dead. The thought made my breath catch in my throat and I groped for his wrist to search for a pulse.

Tori cupped his face between her hands and tilted it toward her. She gasped again and froze. I could only stare.

Silver's expression was completely blank. His eyes were open, staring, and his pupils were no more than pinpoints, almost as if his eyes were solid silver-grey disks. If I hadn't been able to feel his pulse under my fingers I would have thought he really was dead. But his pulse was so slow it wasn't much reassurance.

He twitched suddenly, and his pulse sped up to something closer to normal. He twitched again, and blinked, and his eyes were back to normal, or as normal as they ever were. He pulled away from Tori.

"Silver . . . ?" Tori said.

He pulled his wrist away from me to bunch up the bottom of his shirt and press it against his side. With his other hand he picked up the switchblade, wiped it clean on his shirt, and then retracted the blade.

"Hey—Silver?" I tried. "You, um. . . ."

"I'll be fine," he said, his voice flat, emotionless. He pocketed the switchblade and shifted onto his knees. He picked up the man's gun—which I saw now wasn't really a gun, but a blaster, which made me wonder why Silver hadn't used his own blaster—and then searched through the man's pockets until he came up with a small set of keys.

Silver handed the keys to Tori, who took them reflexively, and pocketed the blaster. "We should go." He stood and started for the SUV.

Tori and I shared a stunned look, and then both of us stood and hurried after Silver.

"Silver—" I started just as Tori said "Wait a sec" and put her hand on his shoulder.

She shrieked and jumped back, snatching her hand away. Silver glanced back at her and for a split second he looked horrified. Then he turned away and continued to the car.

"What the hell was that?" I said.

Tori shook her head. "I dunno—it was like a big jolt of static electricity."

"We need to go," Silver reminded us, "before anyone sees us here."

"He's right," I said. "Go start that thing. Jess?" I called back to the corner of the building.

Jess was huddled against the wall, staring at us. I motioned her forward and she crept out, and then ran to me. I put my arm around her.

Tori was starting the engine as we climbed in. "We should really take you to the hospital," she was saying.

"No." Silver was sitting behind the driver's seat. As I sat down next to him he wedged himself into the corner between the seat and the wall and pulled his knees up.

"You need to at least have that looked at!"

"No. I'll be fine." He turned his face toward the window and closed his eyes.

"But—"

"No." He opened his eyes and fixed her with his stare. "I don't need to go to the hospital," he said in a tone that did not allow for arguments. He didn't wait for her to respond, just closed his eyes again.

Tori looked at me. I sighed. "Let's try to find Mike and Erin," I suggested. Tori looked again at Silver, then nodded. Jess buckled herself into the front seat and Tori pulled onto the street.

The SUV was a custom job; the back windows were tinted, there was no door handle on the inside of the back door, and there was a heavy screen that could be slid into place between the front seats and the back. Whoever had employed that man obviously had money to spare. The thought that it was used to come after us frightened me.

"This thing's gotta have an ID chip," I said.

"Oh, fuck. Yeah." We passed under a streetlight and I could see that Tori's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "How long do you think before somebody tries to track it?"

"Dunno."

I turned to watch Silver, to make sure he was still breathing. He was, slowly. As if he'd fallen asleep. I didn't know if that was good or bad. I kept thinking that he might be sitting there bleeding to death, but I couldn't imagine trying to force him to do something he didn't want to. Even if he was injured.

About twenty minutes later the sun was almost up, and we still hadn't seen Mike or Erin. Tori pulled over to the side of the road, near a streetlight.

"I gotta get rid of that ID chip," she said as she switched off the car. "This is bugging me." She got out and opened the hood.

Jess twisted around in her seat. "Hey, Eddie?" she said. "Is Silver okay?"

I shook my head.

Tori finally shut the hood and climbed back in with something in her hand. "I'm afraid somebody'll see me if I smash it out there," she explained as she tried to snap the chip between her fingers.

She looked over to Silver. "Is he . . . asleep?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "I dunno. I think so."

She worked at the chip as she watched him. "You saw that gash, Eddie," she said. "You saw what he looked like. We gotta take him to the hospital."

"No." Silver opened his eyes and looked at Tori—then suddenly gasped and lunged forward against his legs, his face twisting with pain for the first time since the fight.

"Oh, fucking hell, Silver!" Tori cried. "You can't tell me you're 'fine'!"

Still wincing, Silver sat back and looked at her again and said, carefully, "I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Bullshit!"

"Then what the fuck was that about just now?" I added.

"It hurts," he stated.

"You've been fucking stabbed and you're telling me you don't—need—to go—to the hospital?" Tori said, her voice rising toward the end.

His expression cleared—closed off, actually—as he stared at her. "I'll be fine."

"Bull—fucking—shit." Tori's fingers dug into the back of the seat. "Listen, freak-boy, I already have one friend who's seriously hurt, and I don't want another dying on me because he's too—fucking—stupid—to go to the hospital!" She glared at him for a second, then made a frustrated noise and turned around, resting her elbows on the steering wheel and putting her head in her hands.

I'd never seen Silver look so stunned. For a moment he didn't do anything. Then he said, tentatively, "I-I-I really will be fine." Tori just shook her head. Silver looked at me and I gave him a dubious look in return.

He sighed and, wincing again, lowered his feet to the floor. "Here," he said quietly as he pulled his shirt up, exposing his injured side. "Look."

I reached up and flicked on the overhead light. Then I stared. "Hey Tori," I said. "Look at this." She looked back, then twisted around and leaned closer, her mouth falling open as she stared.

The gash was still oozing blood, but it had already started to close. In fact more than half of it had closed, leaving a deep, raw looking, but definitely sealed, groove.

"How the hell . . .?" Tori said.

"I'll be f-fine," Silver repeated. He lowered his shirt and pressed it against the wound again. "I j-just need to rest."

Tori was looking at him with an amazed expression that probably matched mine. Silver was facing the floor, hiding behind the bill of his cap. "It's not just that you don't need to go," she said, slowly, "you're afraid to go to a hospital. 'Cause that's just not normal, and they'd know it. It that it?"

Silver didn't say anything.

"Oh my God," Tori continued. "Oh my fucking God. You really are some kinda freak."

He turned his face to the side. "I n-n-need to r-rest."

"Yeah," Tori said as she wiped her face on her sleeve and turned back around. "Yeah, okay."

I reached over and turned his left hand palm-up. Along with some blood from his side there was a fresh, raw scar near the base of his little finger, but no cut. I looked up and found him watching me, probably waiting to see my reaction. He didn't look wary or suspicious, as I expected. Just tired.

"Oh, geez," Tori said. "I forgot about this." She was looking at the ID chip.

"Let me have it," Silver said.

She looked startled but handed the chip back. I took it and passed it to Silver. He took it between his hands and, after a few seconds, snapped it in two. He handed me the pieces and then pressed his hands against his side and closed his eyes.

"Hey, um," I said after a few seconds, "I know the skin's healing, but that looked pretty deep—are you sure you'll be okay?"

He opened his eyes long enough to glance at me and nod.

"Guess you'd know better than the rest of us." I looked at Tori and shrugged. "Let's keep looking for Mike and Erin, then." I dropped the pieces of the ID chip on the seat next to me for lack of anything better to do with them.

"Yeah." She started the car and pulled back onto the street.

"Won't they freak if they see this car?" Jess pointed out. She was still twisted around, looking at Silver.

"Shit. Now what?"

"They're probably where we couldn't see from the street, anyway," I said. "Let's stop somewhere and I'll go look around for them."

"All right."

We stopped in front of some small shops a few blocks away from the store, but when I went to get out I noticed a small problem.

"Um. . . ."

"What now?" When Tori looked over I pointed to where the door handle should have been. "Oh, geez." She looked around the front panel and finally found a button that looked promising. "Maybe this," she said as she tried it. The door popped open.

"Thanks."

"What a fucked up car," she said as I climbed out.

I went to the first alley and looked around. There were a few people, but all strangers. I continued looking, and every now and then calling their names. I was starting to think I should look somewhere else.

"Ed-dieee!" Jimmy ran out of the alley I had just come to and collided with my hip.

"Jimmy!" I said with relief. I detached his arms from my waist so I could kneel down and hug him. "Are you guys okay?" I asked Mike over Jimmy's shoulder.

"Yeah, we're okay," he said. "But where are the others? What happened?"

"I'll explain it all later." I pulled away from Jimmy and stood. He took my hand and leaned against me. "We've got that guy's SUV—the others are there. Erin?" I looked past Mike to where Erin was sitting on some steps, leaning her arms against her thighs.

"I'm fine," she said quickly. She stood and walked over to us, folding her arms. "Did Silver take care of that guy, then?"

"Yeah . . . knocked him out. Come on."

I led everyone back around to where Tori had parked. I opened the side door and said to her, needlessly, "Found 'em."

Tori looked around with relief. "Sure took you a while."

Erin started to climb in but froze. "Holy shit!" she said. She pointed to Silver—or rather to the large patch of blood on his clothes. "Is that—is that his?"

"He says he'll be fine," I told her.

"But—"

"Erin, get in already!" Mike interrupted.

After a slight hesitation she did, and the rest of us followed. I was surprised to see her give Silver a worried look as she sat down behind him.

"So where now?" Tori asked me.

"Somewhere—anywhere—away from here," I said. "We'll figure it out as we go."

"M'kay."

As Tori turned onto the street Erin poked me in the back of the neck. "So spill already. How'd you guys get away and why's he sitting there bleeding—and not moving, I might add—with you saying he'll be fine?"

"He said he'll be fine," I corrected as I rubbed the back of my neck. "I . . . don't think it's as bad as it looks." I looked over at Silver as I said this. He was exactly as he'd been when I'd left, leaning against the side of the car with his hands resting against his side, his face even more pale than usual. "Anyway," I continued, turning to look back at Mike and Erin, "I wasn't watching when this happened, but I think that guy rushed Silver. Silver knocked him out, but the guy managed to get him in the side with a knife." I left out Silver's strange and disturbing reaction to being stabbed. "So then we left the guy and took his car. That's about it." I also decided to leave out Silver's miraculously fast healing. They thought he was enough of a freak as it was.

Erin sat back and folded her arms, muttering, "That's an awful lot of blood."

"He says he'll be fine," I repeated.

"I'd have a better time believing you if he didn't seem to be passed out."

"I don't think he's unconscious . . . he said he just needed to rest." I knew I didn't sound very convincing. Despite what I'd seen I was having doubts myself.

"Hey, if he doesn't want help, that's his problem," Mike said, mostly to Erin.

"I guess," Erin said with some hesitation.

She fell silent. I glanced back; Erin was slouched in her seat, looking out the window, and Mike was leaning on the arm rest, and didn't seem to be focused on anything in particular. Jimmy, sitting between them, was the only one who looked back at me.

"Hey, Tori?" Jess said after a few moments passed.

"Hm?"

"I'm hungry."

"Me too," Jimmy added.

"Yeah, me too," Tori said.

"Mike, you have our backpack," I pointed out.

"Oh yeah—here." He passed it up to me and I opened it.

"We've got a little food left, but not much," I said after going through it. "We're gonna want to stop somewhere soon and get more."

"Okay," Tori said, "but I'm going to stop and eat some of what we have first."

She pulled over the first opportunity she got and I passed the food out to everyone who wanted some. Erin claimed she wasn't hungry. Silver was still not responding.

"Do none of you know how to drive?" Tori said around a mouthful of food. I shook my head.

"Yeah," Mike said, "but it's not like I have a license or anything."

"You think I do? I only turned sixteen five months ago, y'know." Tori said.

Mike shrugged and stuffed the last of his food in his mouth, then traded places with Tori. Tori gave Silver a critical look as she passed by to sit behind me, but didn't say anything.

Mike started the car a few minutes later. "So . . . where are we going?"

"I was heading across town," Tori said.

"Okay, sure, why not." He pulled onto the street and continued in the direction Tori had been going.

A moment later Jimmy climbed onto my seat, squeezing himself in between me and the arm rest.

"Jimmy, you shouldn't be moving around the car."

"I wanna sit up here with you."

"There aren't enough seatbelts up here."

"I can still fit!"

"That's not the point—" Just then Mike took a sharp turn. I braced myself so I wouldn't smash Jimmy, but Silver slid sideways and came to rest against my shoulder. He started to push himself upright, but didn't get more than a few inches before he fell back, his hands shaking.

Then I realized it wasn't just his hands that were shaking; his whole body seemed to be shaking, very finely.

After about a minute he stopped. I reached over and put my hand on his shoulder, then carefully pushed him so he was leaning against the side of the car again. He reacted about as much as a rag doll might.

"Why'd he do that?" Jimmy asked.

"I dunno," I said. I watched Silver for a moment. He was no longer shaking, but he was so limp it worried me. There wasn't anything I could do, though, so I turned back to Jimmy. "But you need to get back to your seat."

"Why?"

"Now, Jimmy. I already told you why."

"Jimmy, get back here," Erin snapped.

He grumbled but slid off the seat.

A few minutes later we stopped by a gas station, to use their restrooms and get some more food. I wandered around some, checking out the area, before heading back to the car.

Erin and Jimmy had already come back, and Silver of course hadn't left. Jimmy was eating, and Erin was leaning against the side of the car with her eyes closed.

"Momma said she's going to sleep," Jimmy informed me.

"I see," I said as I sat down in front of him. "Did she eat anything?"

"Mm-hm," he said around a mouthful, nodding. Then he swallowed and pointed. "Silver's awake."

I jumped and turned. I had glanced at him when I came in, but he'd looked exactly like he had when I'd left. Now I noticed that his eyes were open.

"Oh geez—you could have said something," I told him. He just watched me. He looked, if anything, more tired now than he had before. "You hungry or anything?" I asked, before thinking that eating might be the last thing he'd want to do after being stabbed in the gut. I was going to say so when he nodded. "Really? I mean . . . you sure it's a good idea?"

He nodded again. "I n-n-need t' eat."

"Well . . . okay." I pulled a sandwich from the bag of food I'd gotten as he tried to wipe the blood off his hands with his shirt. After a moment he seemed to decide they were clean enough and took the sandwich.

Once he got the sandwich unwrapped he started eating so fast I was afraid he might choke. I could have sworn the sandwich was half gone in a matter of seconds. I wondered if I should tell him to slow down, or something, but instead I just stared.

Jimmy leaned over the back of the seat and tugged on my braid. "Hey Eddie?"

"Hm?" I half turned toward him but was still mostly focused on Silver eating.

"Where are we going now?"

"I dunno yet."

"Well, I'm tired of moving around so much. Why can't we just find a place and stay there?"

I looked back at him and smiled. "I'd like that too."

"So why don't we?"

I turned sideways in the seat. "Where do you think we should go, Jimmy?"

"I don't know."

That's for grown-ups to figure out, I could all but hear him thinking. I smiled at him again, wishing I could figure it out.

I noticed Silver had stopped eating and was staring intently at my bag of food. "You're still hungry?" I asked him. He nodded. I muttered "Geez" and found another sandwich for him. He at least ate this one a little more slowly.

Tori and Jess came back about then. The first thing out of Tori's mouth when she saw Silver awake was "Are you sure you should be eating?" He glanced at her, then dropped his eyes and nodded. She gave him a concerned look and then sat down in the front passenger seat, and Jess came to the back to sit next to Jimmy.

Mike came back a few minutes later. He gave Silver a brief glance, hardly enough to note that he was awake, and sat down in the driver's seat. "Hey, I was thinking," he said. "These guys wouldn't be expecting us to go back to somewhere we've already been, right? Why don't we go back to the old train station?"

"And y'know, even without the ID chip, somebody might recognize this thing," Tori pointed out. "It . . . might be a good idea to leave it somewhere."

"Whatever," Erin said without looking up. "Anywhere's fine."

"So?" Mike asked. "Are we going there or not?"

Both he and Tori were looking at me. I looked between them, then sighed. "You're probably right. I mean, that they would recognize the car and that they wouldn't be looking for us somewhere we've already been. I guess it would be safe enough, for a while."

Mike nodded and started the car. Silver shifted in his seat, wincing, then pressed his hands against his side and closed his eyes again.

I had some reservations about returning to the old train station, but everywhere else we'd looked at had been either too exposed or too crowded. The train station was on the edges of town, not ideal for anyone who wanted access to the downtown crowds.

Once there Mike let us out and then went to park the SUV somewhere. Silver had roused himself as soon as we'd stopped. He was moving slowly, but was perfectly steady. He followed us in and sat down on the floor near the doorway.

Erin stood for a moment with her arms crossed, looking tense, then headed for the far side of the room.

"Erin—" I started as she passed me.

"Before you ask, no, I'm not okay," she snapped. "I feel like shit, and I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay. . . ." That hadn't been what I'd been about to say, but I let it go. Jimmy ran to catch up with her.

Tori had handed Silver a can of soda and was squatting down next to him. He was nodding his head in response to something she asked him. I went over and sat down on his other side.

"Do you really not have a name?" she was asking him now. He glanced at her over the soda can and shook his head. "Well . . . I guess you could pick one, couldn't you?"

He shrugged. "I-I like 'Silver.'"

"But that's not really a name, it's . . . a color. Colors aren't names."

"Hey, my last name means 'red,'" I interrupted.

"It does?"

"In Chinese, yeah."

"Okay then—in this language, colors aren't names," Tori tried.

"What about 'Violet'? Or 'Rose'?"

"Those are flowers. . . ."

"How about 'Ruby' and 'Amber,' then?"

"They're gems—"

"And 'Silver' is a metal. What's your point?"

"Well, it's—those others have all been used as names for long time."

"They had to've been new at some point."

"And anyway, they're all girls' names," she added in an undertone.

"So?"

"So—so it's just strange, that's all."

We might have gone on, but Silver ducked his head, distracting us. He was smiling; almost grinning. It was such an unusual expression for him that I couldn't help but smile myself.

Tori smirked. "I suppose it's no big deal if you really want to be named after this." She lightly tugged on a handful of the silvery strands lying against his collar.

Silver ducked his head even further and turned slightly away from her, which gave me a good view of the pink tinge his cheeks had taken. I grinned.

I looked up when Mike came in the side door, and when I looked back Silver's cheeks were their usual pale color.

Tori sighed and sat back against the wall, her good mood suddenly gone. Silver finished off the soda and set the can on the floor, then folded his arms on top of his knees. He glanced at Tori and then leaned forward and rested his head against his arms. Jess came and sat down nearby.

Across the platform, Mike and Erin seemed to be having a heated discussion, but they were keeping their voices low enough that I could only catch snatches of their words. I debated for a few seconds, then finally gave in to curiosity and poked Silver's arm. He shifted his head a bit and looked at me.

I nodded toward Mike and Erin and asked, quietly, "Can you hear what they're arguing about?"

He nodded, and said, "M-M-Mike wanst'leaf."

"Come again?" Tori said, frowning.

He raised his head and said again, carefully, "Mike wants to leave."

I frowned and looked back across the platform. "And Erin?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Silver shake his head. "S-she's n'sure." He sighed, then added, "'M s-s-sorry, 'm too t-t-tired t'c'ntrol m'sp-peach."

"Don't worry about it," I said, still focused on Mike and Erin. Erin had just turned and walked away from Mike, shaking her head. Mike didn't seem to think the argument was over, and followed her. I heard him say ". . . think they found us?"

Silver abruptly sat up straight and I looked over in time to see his pupils shrink to pinpoints. A second later, before I had time to panic, he blinked and his pupils were back to normal. He pushed himself to his feet, one hand against the wall for support.

"Th-they did tr-tr-track us," he said. "Th-they are tracking us." He started across the platform without explanation.

"What the hell?" Tori said as we both got to our feet and followed after him.

Mike and Erin had stopped arguing and had turned to Silver.

"So you mean they are tracking you?" Mike said, his tone more surprised than he should've been based on his past statements.

Silver shook his head. "N-no. You."

"What?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Erin demanded.

Silver stepped around behind Mike and Mike whipped around to face him. "You're fucking crazy. How would I be—"

"That spot," Silver interrupted. "On the b-back of your neck."

"What?" Mike reached behind him and a confused look crossed his face.

Erin stepped behind him and moved his hand away. "Where'd you get that, Mike? It looks like something poked you."

"I dunno," He said, sounding bewildered. Then he gave Silver a sharp look and pulled away from Erin. "If you think I'm gonna let you cut into me, you little freak, or even touch me—"

Before Mike could finish Silver stepped forward and grabbed his arm, and yanked him around so fast Mike fell to his knees. Silver touched a spot at the base of Mike's neck and Mike suddenly let out a yelp and jumped.

Mike tried to wrench his arm away just as Silver let him go, and Mike fell to his hands and knees. He scrambled to his feet and backed away, his eyes wide as he rubbed the back of his neck. "What—the fuck—did you just do?"

Silver was standing with his head slightly bowed, his cap hiding his face. Then he looked up and pressed a hand against his side, wincing. "Th-that shou't-t-take care'f it."

"But what did you do?" I asked.

"That was the same thing you did to me earlier, wasn't it," Tori said.

"What'd he do?" Jimmy asked.

"Fucking freak—" Mike started.

"Shut up!" Erin said above all of us. "Everyone just shut up for a minute!"

Silver moved to a nearby bench and lowered himself down.

"Erin, you saw what—"

"Shut up, Mike." She marched over to Silver and jabbed a finger at him. "You. You start talking."

Silver looked up at her, but to my surprise his expression wasn't closed off. Instead he looked like he was trying to figure out what to say.

"Look," Erin continued. "I'm grateful to you, I really am, but I think you need to start explaining yourself. Maybe you could start with why you disappeared right before that guy showed up. Mike said it looked like he knew you."

Silver nodded, slowly. "He d-did." He paused. "I-I-I heard th'car, a-and . . . I p-panicked. I w-went around th-the back of th'b-building. I . . . d-di'n't wan' t'be s-seen."

"So you are connected to that lab."

He shook his head. "N-n-not th'one y-you were in."

"But that means there's some lab. Right?"

"Knew he was a freak," Mike muttered.

"It's that Bio-tech-something place," I said. "Is that it?"

Silver looked at me for a long moment, then nodded, reluctantly.

"The what place?" Erin asked.

"They were supplying stuff, like equipment and research. But you said they don't actually own that lab, right?"

He nodded again.

"So that guy was actually from the Bio-tech company?" I asked.

A slight hesitation, then another nod.

"So how do we know he wasn't actually tracking you?" Mike demanded. "Seems to me that would make more sense."

Silver looked at him. "I-if they c-could track me, th-they would've f-f-found me a l-long t-time ago."

"So you expect us to believe you were involved with some place like that and they didn't tag you with a homing chip?"

"Of c-course they did. I d-destroyed it."

"Are we just supposed to take your word for that?"

"Cool it, Mike," I said.

"I-I . . . h-haven't lied," Silver said, quietly. "N-nothing I-I've t-t-told you has b-been a lie."

Erin snorted. "Yeah, maybe, but you sure haven't been telling us the whole truth."

Silver looked at her, then sighed and shook his head.

"Okay then," I said just as Mike opened his mouth. "Let's start from the beginning. Those guys deciding to take us for their lab—did that have anything to do with you being there?"

He shook his head. "I-i-if they'd kn-known I w-was there, th-they'd've c-c-come after m-me, o-or they'd've t-t-tried t't-trap me. They d-did n-neither."

"What made the difference this time? Why'd that guy show up instead of some lackey from the other lab?"

Silver shrugged and shook his head. "I'm n-n-n'sure. I-i-it m-m—"

"Jake!" Tori interrupted. "Remember what Jake said when he was here? 'They told me about you' or something. He must've said something to them."

Silver nodded. "I-I th-th-think th-that might b-be it."

"But that was days ago," I pointed out. "Why did they wait so long?"

He shrugged again. "I-I d-d-d'know." He frowned. "The g-guard was th-there t'get you, b-b-but . . . h-he w-w-was n-not unpr-prepared t'find m-me."

"I can't believe he was able to nail you like that," Tori said. "He must be really good."

"Or was it that he knew what to expect from you?" I said.

He nodded. "A-and I . . . m-misc-calculated. I . . . d-didn't think he w-w-would risk d-damaging m-me."

"He tried to kill you!" Tori said.

Silver shook his head.

"And you're positive they have no way of finding you," Erin cut in as Tori opened her mouth.

An irritated look crossed his face when he glanced at her. "I-I r-r-ran away t-two years ag-go. I-i-if th-they c-could track me, th-they wouldn't've w-waited t-t-two y-years."

"So just what the hell are you?" Mike demanded.

"That's a stupid question," Tori said. "Just because they used him for experiments doesn't mean he's no longer human."

Something had flicked across Silver's face at Mike's question, but was gone by the time Tori finished.

"I'm not so sure about that," Mike said under his breath.

"Will you shut the fuck up already?" Erin snapped. Mike glared at her. She glared back.

"So . . . what was that you did just now?" Tori said. "And earlier?"

Silver pressed his hands against his side. "Earlier w-was a . . . r-reflex. Tr-triggered b-b-because you t-tried t'st-stop me. 'M s-sorry." He folded his hands beneath his arms, but not before I noticed they'd started shaking. "J-just n-n-now I-I-I h-had t'd-disable th't-tracking ch-chip."

"But how—"

I put my hand on Tori's shoulder to interrupt her. "Silver, are you—oh, shit!"

It suddenly wasn't just his hands. He doubled over, his entire body shaking. He sat slumped against his legs for several seconds before he was still again. It didn't last as long as before, but the shaking seemed much stronger.

"Silver . . .?" I tried after a couple seconds of him not moving. I squatted down in front of him. "Silver?"

He slowly brought one hand up to rub his face, knocking his cap onto the floor in the process. He pushed himself up and leaned his elbows against his knees, his head still bowed. "I-I-I'll be—"

"—Fine. Yeah, you keep saying that," I said.

"I n-n-need sleep." He pushed some hair out of his face and rested his head against his hand.

"Oh, geez," Tori said. "We're not being very considerate right now, are we?"

Silver tilted his head up enough to look at her.

"Why don't you get some rest?" she continued. "I think we've grilled you enough."

"Wait a minute, he hasn't—" Mike started.

"Do you really think you'll get anything more out of him right now?" Erin interrupted. "Christ, he can't even talk straight."

"Oh, so you're defending him now, too, Erin?" Mike snapped.

"I'm saying you're being an idiot!"

While they were arguing Silver pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to the wall. I picked up his cap and followed him.

"So what's the deal with the shaking?" I asked him as he sat down.

"I-i-it's a s-stress r-reaction."

He didn't explain further, so after a moment I handed him his cap and left him alone.

"This is crazy," Mike was saying. "It's fucking crazy."

"And what of it?" Erin said. "So what if it is?"

"Are you just going to go along with it?"

"Well, maybe I am. Do you see any better options here?"

"So you're going—" He glanced over to Silver then lowered his voice to a hiss. "You're going to take the word of a thirteen-year-old freak? How do we know he's even telling the truth?"

"How do you know he's not?" Erin surprised me by saying. "have you seen anything he's said turn out to be wrong?"

"That doesn't mean everything he says is true! He just admitted to being mixed up in this shit. Don't you think it's a little odd that he kept that to himself?"

I rolled my eyes "Of course he did. What was he supposed to do?"

"I just think it's the kind of thing he shoulda told us!"

"Why? What difference would it've made?" Mike started to retort but I talked over him. "Look. He put himself in danger to help us—he fucking got himself stabbed to let us get away. Do you really think he would have done that if he was working for them? Shit, Mike. Think a minute first."

Mike snapped his mouth shut and glared at me.

"Enough with this shit," Erin said. She headed over to one of the benches. "I'm fucking tired and I'm getting some sleep."

"Nobody's going to be getting any sleep if you all keep yelling like this," Tori snapped.

"Fine." Mike turned and stormed off. "Fuck you all, anyway." He struck the doorframe on his way out.

"Just give him some time to cool off," Erin said as she lay down on the bench.

"What? I'm not going after him." I moved to one of the other benches.

An hour or two passed by uneventfully. Mike came in once, but went back out again before I could say anything. Not that I had any idea what I would've said. Erin seemed to be asleep, and Jimmy had stretched out on the floor beneath her bench. Tori was lying down nearby, and Jess was playing with her cards. Silver was curled up under one of our blankets, which he had pulled over his head sometime in the last hour. All I could see of him was part of a hand and some metallic hair.

I was tired, but I figured somebody (besides Jess) should stay awake. I was working on my braid, having just about as much trouble as I had had the last time. If not more. After a few minutes of listening to me swearing under my breath Jess looked up from her solitaire game.

"Do you need some help?"

I glanced up and game her a half smile. "Not just yet."

"You sure?" She gathered up her cards and sat down next to me on the bench. "why don't you cut it if it's so much trouble?"

"I haven't cut my hair since I was eleven. I'm not going to start now. I just need to—oh, fucking hell."

Jess giggled behind her hand as she watched me try to sort out my hair. "Maybe it would be easier if you forgot about your left and learned to braid one-handed."

"Don't think I haven't thought about. . . ."

I was distracted by Silver abruptly sitting up and turning toward the side door. He stood and hurried out the door, toward the street.

"What the hell . . .?" I abandoned my braiding and rushed after him, with Jess right behind me.

"Silver, what—?" I started to ask when I caught up with him on the sidewalk. I stopped when he pointed to a familiar looking SUV driving away. "Fucking hell! Is that ours?"

Silver nodded, shading his eyes with one hand as he watched the car.

"But who's driving it?" Jess asked. "Mike?"

"He had the keys," I said. "That fucker—what's he thinking?"

"Maybe he decided he really does want to leave," Silver said. He turned and walked back to the train station. After a moment I followed.

Tori greeted us at the door. "What's going on?"

"The car's gone," was all Silver said. He walked to the nearest bench and sat down, wincing.

"What do you mean, 'gone'?"

"Meaning it's gone," I said. "It just drove off."

"But Mike had the keys—oh, fuck."

"Don't tell me he took off," Erin said as she sat up. "Fucking bastard. Shoulda known he'd pull something like this."

"Wait a minute." I turned to Silver. "How did you know the car was leaving? I thought you were asleep."

"I was asleep," he said. "The sound of the engine woke me."

Erin frowned at Silver. "You're what made him leave, y'know. You and that electric shock thing you did."

"I had to disable the tracking chip."

"Just how the fuck did you do that, anyway?"

Her question was met with silence as Silver stared at her.

"Never mind that right now, okay?" I finally said. "We've got other things to figure out."