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Safe? thinks Lev. What could possibly be safe about this?
"H. . . h. . . hostage?" Lev gets out.
The boy looks to the girl, then back to Lev. "Kind of. I guess." These two talk in an easy tone of voice, like they're all friends. They're trying to lull me into a false sense of security', thinks Lev. They're trying to get me on their side, so I'll take part in whatever criminal activities they have planned. There's an expression for that, isn't there? When a hostage joins the kidnappers' cause? The Something syndrome.
The crazy kid looks to a pile of berries and nuts obviously foraged from the woods. "You hungry?"
Lev nods, but the act of nodding makes his head spin so much, he realizes that no matter how7 hungry he is, he'd better not eat, because it'll come right back up. "No," he says.
"You sound confused," says the girl. "Don't worry, it's just the tranqs. They should wear off pretty soon."
Stockholm syndrome! That's it! Well, Lev won't be won over by this pair of kidnappers. He'll never be on their side.
Pastor Dan told me to run.
What had he meant? Did he mean run from the kidnappers? Maybe, but he seemed to be saying something else entirely. Lev closes his eyes and chases the thought away.
"My parents will look for me," Lev says, his mouth finally able to put together whole sentences.
The kids don't answer because they probably know it's true.
"How much is the ransom?" Lev asks.
"Ransom? There's no ransom," says the crazy kid. "I took you to save you, idiot!"
To save him? Lev just stares at him in disbelief. "But . . . but my tithing . . ."
The crazy kid looks at him and shakes his head. "I've never seen a kid in such a hurry to be unwound."
It's no use trying to explain to this godless pair what tithing is all about. How giving of one's self is the ultimate blessing. They'd never understand or care. Save him? They haven't saved him, they've damned him.
Then Lev realizes something. He realizes that he can use this entire situation to his advantage. "My name's Lev," he says, trying to play it as cool as he can.
"Pleased to meet you, Lev," says the girl. "I'm Risa, and this is Connor."
Connor throws her a dirty look, making it clear that she gave him their real names. Not a good idea for hostage-takers, but then most criminals are stupid like that.
"Didn't mean for you to take the tranq bullet," Connor tells him. "But the cop was a bad shot."
"Not your fault," says Lev, even though every bit of it is Connor's fault. Lev thinks about what happened, and says, "I would never have run from my own tithing." That much, Lev knows, is true.
;Better you than me."
Bullets fly past them as they wind around swerving traffic. "Please—you don't understand—you can't take me now, I'm being tithed. I'll miss my harvest! You'll ruin everything!"
And finally, a hint of humanity comes to the maniac's eyes. "You're an Unwind?"
There are a million more things to be furious about, but Lev finds himself incensed by what he's just been called. "I'm a tithe!"
A blaring horn, and Lev turns to see a bus bearing down on them. Before either of them has a chance to scream, the bus careens off the road to avoid them and smashes head-on against the fat trunk of a huge oak, stopping the bus cold.
There's blood all over the smashed windshield. It's the bus driver's blood. He hangs halfway through, and he's not moving.
"Oh, crap!" says the maniac, a creepy whine in his voice. A girl has just stepped out of the bus. The crazy kid looks at her, and Lev realizes that now, while he's distracted, is the last chance he's going to have to get away. This kid is an animal. The only way to deal with him is for Lev to become an animal himself. So Lev grabs the arm that's locked around his neck and sinks his teeth in with the full force of his jaws until he tastes blood. The kid screams, letting go, and Lev bolts away, racing toward his father's car.
As he nears it, a back door opens. It's Pastor Dan opening the door to receive him, yet the expression on the man's face is anything but happy.
With his face already swelling from the crazy kid's brutal punch, Pastor Dan says with a hiss and strange warble to his voice, "Bun, Lev!"
