CHAPTER 70 RILEY

70

Riley

ROY BUXTON LEVELED THE shotgun on Mason, "I said, give me the bat."

Mason smirked and tightened his grip. "This is a DeMarini Zoa, cost me five hundred bucks. No way I'm giving it to you. You'll just have to shoot me."

Evelyn snatched the baseball bat from Mason's hand and tossed it across the ground over toward Buck. "Don't be an ass, Mason."

Buck kicked the bat off to the side, and it disappeared in the bushes.

"Oh, you better hope you didn't scratch it," Mason muttered.

Buck ignored him. "The four of you got about thirty seconds to tell me what you're doing out here before I fast-track you down the side of the mountain."

Evelyn nudged her brother. "Show him, Robby."

Robby removed his red backpack and fished out the test strips from the front pocket. He held them out to Buck. "This one is from the water tower, and this one is from a cave about half a mile from here."

Buck's eyes narrowed. "The water tower is locked. Want to tell me how you got in there?"

"That's not important," Evelyn replied. "How do you explain that? And I hope you can, because I drank that water," she added, tapping the second strip.

"It's probably just a bad test."

Robby took four more from his backpack. "All of these came out the same."

Mason edged closer, studied the test strips, and frowned. "What's the difference?"

"The water from the tower shows slightly high iron, normal fluoride, lead, nitrates, and nitrites. All within the normal range. The water from the cave shows nothing at all."

"Because the strips are bad," Buck insisted.

"If the strips were bad, they wouldn't show a pH, but they do," Robby replied. "They just don't show anything else. Because there is nothing else. No elements, no chemicals, no minerals or impurities."

"Water can't be that pure, it just ain't possible. That would make it the purest on the planet. There are always some minerals. You got bad strips."

Robby wasn't about to back down. "Or this water is coming from someplace deep below ground, someplace it's been for a very long time. Before the industrial revolution. Before pollution. Before everything. If it got trapped someplace like that and recently got out, that would explain it."

Buck rolled his eyes. "Yep, maybe you tapped Bigfoot's personal well. Who gives a shit? Nobody complains about clean water."

"I didn't say it was clean. I only said nothing in it showed up on the test strips," Robby told him. "I'm not so sure it's even water. I think it's something … older … something before water. It just looks the same."

Buck bit his lower lip and huffed. "I'm guessing you're supposed to be on some kind of medication and your SpongeBob alarm didn't go off this morning to remind you to take it."

"In 1911 a scientific expedition in Antarctica dug out a core sample that contained nearly a gallon of hydrogen peroxide. That's H 2 O 2 . It shouldn't have existed there in the ice. They had no explanation for how it got there, it just was. Same elements as water, different combination. I think that's what this is," Robby said pointing at the test strip. "Almost water, but not. Something is slightly off in its chemical makeup, and that something is enough to prevent the normal elements from accumulating."

"You're not gonna out-Robby Robby," Mason quickly told Buck. "If he says it, it's true. Best to believe and move on."

Robby said, "H 2 O is perfectly safe to drink. H 2 O 2 will kill you. So if this water is something else, there's no telling what it might do to a person."

Buck went quiet; he had no response to that.

"How does the water get to the tower?" Evelyn asked Buck, even though Robby had explained that on the walk out.

Buck scratched the side of his nose, then studied the tip of his finger before answering her. "Comes down off the mountain, mostly underground, hits the Saco River, runs through the filtration system out near the falls, then gets pumped to the tower." He added smugly, "You know, the place you kids entered illegally."

Evelyn tapped the test strips. "Well, right now, this stuff that looks like water is getting in there somewhere along the way, and people are drinking it. That's causing everyone to go bonkers."

Buck stared at her a moment, then groaned. "Got it all figured out, huh? Are you supposed to be Velma or Daphne?"

"Who?"

He shook his head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. The four of you need to go home to your folks and stay inside until this blows over. You shouldn't be running around out here. It ain't the water. You're chasing a ghost."

Mason kicked the dirt and frowned. "He smells like a distillery. I told you he'd be drunk. He won't help."

Buck turned on him. "Christ, kid, I bet you get the shit kicked out of you all the time. If not, maybe it's about time you did, 'cause that mouth of yours will be the end of you before you're old enough to drive a car." He looked back at Robby, Riley, and Evelyn. "Go home. All of you. Take Peckerwood here with you."

Evelyn planted her feet. "Show him your arm, Riley."

Riley didn't move. She just wanted to go home and be with her mom.

"You don't show him, you know I will." Evelyn glared. "Do it."

Riley bit her lower lip and edged closer to the man. Mason was right, he did smell. Not only did he smell like alcohol, but he smelled like he hadn't taken a bath in a week. His skin was covered in a thin layer of sweat flecked with dirt and grime, and his clothes were no better, stained and filthy. She turned her head away and breathed through her mouth as she tugged up her sleeve and showed him the writing. When he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, she tried to pull away, but he held her too tight.

"What the hell is that?"

"Your name just showed up on her arm," Evelyn told him. "I know it looks like it's written there, but it's not. The ink, or whatever that is, is below the skin. If you're not meant to help us, why would your name appear on her like that?"

The color drained from Buck's face, and his grip loosened on the shotgun. He nearly dropped it. "I don't give two shits about my name, how the hell do you kids know Emily Pridham?"