Sorrow's Gift

Chapter Seven: Karmen

"What is all this?"

Karmen picked herself up off the couch and walked over to Crash's computer setup. She'd never seen so many monitors and blinking lights. She had some friends who were gamer geeks, but no one she knew had a crazy setup like this. What was this guy's deal? Did he live here alone?

Crash leaned back in his chair and smiled up at her, his fingers laced behind his head. "This is my pride and joy," he said. "This is how I've been gathering all the information on the spread of the virus."

"I still don't understand," Karmen said. She grabbed her backpack off the floor and tossed it onto the couch. It was covered by two brown blankets and she shuddered to think what the upholstery looked like underneath. Did people really live like this? "How are you the only one in the city with power if you don't have a generator? And do you mind if I charge my phone?"

Crash swiveled in his chair and locked eyes with her, smiling. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but I don't actually know how it works," he said. "The city lost power, but mine stays on."

"Why?" Parrish asked.

Karmen rummaged through her pack, looking for her cell phone and charger. She knew the phone lines weren't really working these days, but all her music was on that phone. She might as well enjoy the power while they had it, no matter how they'd come by it.

Crash shrugged. "Because I tell it to?"

Karmen stopped, her arms erupting in goose-bumps. "Because you tell it to? What the hell do you mean by that? You're communicating with the electricity?"

Any other day, she might have rolled her eyes and thought he had a few screws loose, but the world was freaking upside down. Dead humans walking around biting people. Parrish's glowing sword. Noah's ability to lift those desks back in the office building as if they weighed nothing. Her voice somehow reaching inside the mind of those things and telling them what to do. None of it made sense.

"Maybe," he said. "I can't explain it, but I have some sort of connection with all things electrical. The same way I was able to talk to you through that walkie-talkie back at the rescue site."

"You're telling me that you're somehow powering this entire apartment with your, what? Your will?" Her voice came out more bitter and biting than she'd intended. She hated that tone of voice, even if it was her own. She hated the way she sounded, like she was better than everyone. But she couldn't control it.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying," Crash said. She expected him to be harsh in response to her questions, but instead he seemed amused. "After all you've seen, is it really so hard to believe?"

"What about these?" Noah asked, gesturing to the computers. He'd just come out of the shower and was drying his hair with a towel. Fortunately, he hadn't bothered to put his shirt back on. "Can you still get on the internet?"

"Yep," Crash said, turning to the computers and jiggling his mouse to wake them up. Six screens lit up, filled with everything from maps to pictures to some kind of running code Karmen couldn't understand. She felt like she'd walked into a scene from The Matrix. "I know it sounds crazy, but I've been able to hack into any security system in the world the past few days. Any information we need, I can get."

Karmen was going to ask him what he knew about the army and any safe zones, but Parrish cut her off.

"What do you know about New York?" she said.

Karmen's stomach twisted. It was sweet that Parrish was still thinking about her little sister in New York, but come on. They'd barely survived the trip to D.C. There's no way they were making it to New York City, even if Zoe was still alive by some miracle.