A flush of anger lit through me. “I don’t care if you believe me or not,” I said sharply, “but that virus is going to escape the school and get into the hospital. People are going to die.” I shifted my tone, pleading. “You’ve got to help me convince Shoe not to do it. He won’t listen to me, but you’re his friend.” Ace looked at me, his eyes holding a heady anger. “Screw you,” he said suddenly. “And screw Shoe. Why should I give a crap about him?”

Frustrated, I let go of the dash. Shoe was going to college, and Ace wasn’t. He was afraid he wasn’t good enough to keep up, and it was easier to hate Shoe than try and maybe fail.

“We’re not going to Shoe’s?” Nakita asked.

“I’d sooner go to hell,” Ace said, and Nakita moved.

“Hey!” Ace shouted as Nakita suddenly turned in her seat and grabbed his shirt.

“You are not going to hell. You are going to take us to Shoe’s house,” she demanded, and the truck swerved.

“Nakita! Let go!” I shouted as we crossed the yellow line, then swerved back, our tires going right off the road.

“Let go of me, you crazy chick!” Ace shouted, one wheel still off the road as we continued at a fast sixty miles an hour. Slowly he brought us back on the pavement, and only after all four wheels were on the road did he use his brakes and we lurched to a stop.

“Get out!” Ace was shouting. “Get out of my truck, you freaks!” I was more than ready to, and I shoved the door open and slid onto the hot pavement. I was shaking, sick almost, at the reminder of the car accident that had killed me.

“I told you to take us to Shoe,” Nakita said from inside the truck.

“And I told you to get out!” Her purse sailed into the air, landing by my feet. “I’ve never hit a girl, but you’re pushing it, babe. Why is it that the sexy ones are all nuts?”

Babe? Had he really called her babe?

Nakita was ready to lose it, and I reached in to pull on her arm. “Come on, let’s go.” I yanked her out right as Ace hit the gas, accelerating with his tires hiccuping on the pavement. The door wasn’t even shut.

“Crazy chicks!” he shouted, leaving a pall of oil smoke and the fading sound of his engine.

Nakita stood beside me, shaking in anger. “I am not crazy,” she said as she scooped up her empty little red purse, and I silently agreed with her. The sound of Ace’s truck quickly faded, and I looked up and down the deserted road, wondering where Barnabas was.

“That didn’t work out the way I wanted,” I said, starting to walk in the direction Ace had gone. The town couldn’t be too far ahead.