Dead Zone Read Online Free PDF Page B

place.”
    Aubrey dabbed at her stew with a crust of bread. “I don’t think anyone wants war. But it’s here. And we can help. I told you what Jack and I did to help break up the terrorists’ plan. I really think we can make a difference.”
    “I hope you’re right,” Tabitha said. “Because I’m starting to wonder who the bad guys are: the people who are invading or the people who are using teenagers as human shields.”

SIX
    JACK LAY AWAKE IN BED, staring at the ceiling of the Quonset hut. Aubrey was outside. She’d been outside for ten minutes and he’d spent that whole time wishing she’d leave. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her. He wanted to see her more than anything. He just didn’t want her to get caught and not graduate tomorrow with the rest of her class. But she wasn’t going anywhere.
    Jack sat up in bed and pulled on his pants and jacket.
    “Everything okay?” Rich asked, rolling onto one side.
    “I think so,” Jack said. “I’m going out to get some air.”
    “Liar,” Rich said with a hushed laugh. “That’s just something people say in movies when they want an excuse to leave the building. There’s plenty of air in here.”
    Jack smiled. “The air in here smells like your dirty socks.”
    “Whatever, man. Ten bucks says you’re going to talk to Aubrey.”
    “You don’t have to be so loud about it,” Jack said.
    “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back. I’m good at pretending to be dumb.”
    “Don’t pretend to be anything,” Jack said, lacing his boots. “Just go to sleep.”
    “I’ll see what I can do.”
    Jack left the hut, entering the frosty November night. He shoved his hands into his pockets to ward off the cold and walked around to the back side of the building, to a spot where the floodlights created a shadow. He could see Aubrey plain as day, but knew that she’d be virtually invisible to anyone else. His heightened senses gave him almost perfect night vision. It was even better than night-vision goggles, because he could distinguish colors—not just the monochromatic green that the goggles gave.
    “Hey,” she said with a grin. “Took your sweet time.”
    “You shouldn’t be out here,” he answered. “Graduation is in the morning.”
    “That’s why I had to come. What if . . . what if we get split up?”
    He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She felt like ice. “If we get split up, then our job is to survive until this thing is over and we get to go home to be together.”
    “Have you heard anything more about our assignments?”
    “Not a word. My guess is that the decision is being made by some authority higher than here.”
    “That’s not fair. They won’t know how well we work together.”
    He shook his head. “That’s not true. They all know about us taking down the terrorists. They know what you did to get Dan and Laura to fight each other. And they know that you need to have some way of communicating back to the rest of your team.”
    Aubrey let go of Jack, and then took him by both hands.
    “You’ve heard about the rebellion, right?”
    “Has Tabitha been after you about it?”
    “Every minute of the day. She swears she’s just talking, but I think it’s more than that.”
    “You know what I want?” Jack said.
    Aubrey groaned. “Don’t tell me it’s to join a rebellion.”
    Jack grinned. “No. I want to watch a football game.”
    Aubrey laughed. “You don’t even like football.”
    “That’s not true. I was just always busy after school so I never got to go. But I’d love to go to one right now. Bundle up, sit on those cold metal benches, eat corn dogs. I don’t even care who’s playing.”
    “I’d go with you.”
    “It’s a date.”
    “When the war is over.”
    Jack smiled and pulled her in for another hug. “Then we have all the more incentive to win this stupid thing.”
    He could have stood there all night, holding her close, smelling the stringent army soap, his cheek touching her loose hair.