My limbs finally find the strength to move and I begin my ascent to the surface of the water. My head breaches and the cold air is even harsher than the water that soaks me. I can hear the screams of guards above me, shouting orders.
“There she is! Kill her! Kill her! Shoot her! Shoot her!”
The words push me forward. I don’t see the source of the orders, but they seem to surround me. Then, the gunshots blare out. Yellow flashes of rifle fire spit out above me in all directions, though none of the bullets come near me. When I turn my head to the right, all I see are shrubs and more water. When I turn my head to the left, I see a head bobbing up and down in the water. Splashes of mucky water shoot into the air all around Amber until her head goes back under the surface, never to to come back up.
I try to keep as still as possible as I huddle up next to the shrubs. It would seem that none of the guards actually saw me fall into the water and had been focused solely on Amber. For a second, I think to myself that she might not be dead. The bullets might have just passed her. I could have seen the whole vision wrong. But deep down I know it’s just wishful thinking. There was no way so many soldiers could have missed so many times.
I try to listen to the guards on the bank above me.
“There’s another one somewhere,” one of them shouts.
“She could still be in the tunnel,” another says.
“We’ll have to flush her out.”
When my eyes find the grate I see greyskins trying to get through the bars. Maybe the guards will just think that I got caught up in a group of them and was devoured completely.
The wind starts blowing and it’s everything I can do to keep my teeth from chattering. It’s too late in the fall to be in the water. It’s almost winter. If greyskins and guards won’t be the death of me, the weather is certainly a possibility. But I have to stay. The more I move, the likelier it is a guard will spot me. So, I wait.
Five minutes go by. Ten minutes. Some of the guards decide to blow off the grate with an explosive so they can gain easier access. Eventually, I can hear no commotion above me. The guards are looking everywhere but here. It’s time to move.
I start swimming slowly next to the bank, my eyes constantly scanning every direction for movement. I finally pull myself through the mud and onto dry ground. My legs and arms are numb. I’m afraid of things that happen to people in these situations. What about hypothermia? Is it cold enough outside to freeze to death?
I think about what Amber told me about the search and rescue vehicles. I can see where they are parked from here. I just have to get to one. Apparently the guards can’t imagine that I’ve gotten this far because there is no one around.
I get to the parking lot full of empty vehicles. Most of them are unmarked, but some are labeled. I find one that says search and rescue on it, having no idea if this particular truck will be used to look for me. The bed has a metal cover on it. I look all around me to see if anyone is watching, and from what I can tell I’m safe. I pull down the tailgate and slip in, cold and wet. When I’m inside, I lift the back window and pull up on the tailgate to shut it as quietly as possible. I have no way of knowing if someone will try to look in the back before they load up. I don’t even know if this is a good plan at all. It was good enough for Amber, but right now that’s not very reassuring. The plan failed her long before she would have gotten to a search and rescue truck.
I lay in the back and shiver, waiting to see if Amber’s plan will work for me.
Chapter 8 - Remi
Derek ran into a nail sticking out of a fencepost. That’s the story that everyone knows, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all anyone needs to know. It’s breakfast, and Ray and Nancy are none the wiser about my actions last night, though Gabe knows something is up. By the end of the interrogation, I was able to persuade Derek and Scott to keep our interaction to ourselves. At first, I didn’t think they would listen to me, but the fact that I knew Jeremiah meant something to them.
“I was with him,” I said to Derek as I lowered my gun. “You and I are on the same side.”
“You sure have a funny way of showing it,” he said.
I shook my head at him. “There were others. Mitch. Ashley. They brought us weapons to defend ourselves. But we were getting overrun by Shadowface’s soldiers.” I took a deep breath. “How do I know I can trust you two?”
“Why don’t you talk to Jeremiah yourself?” Scott said, nodding at the radio on the floor.
I walked over two it and snatched it up. I brought it to Scott and told him to call out.
“Boss, this is Scott.”
“What happened?” the voice said.
“We ran into a problem here,” Scott said. “We have a very inquisitive girl who took it upon herself to interrogate us. She’s here and wants to speak with you.”
“Put her on,” he said.
I stepped away from Scott, turning my back to them. I pressed the button on the side. “Is this Jeremiah?” I asked.
There was a long but of silence from the other end. “You aren’t supposed to use his name,” Derek said to me.
I pressed the button again. “Jeremiah, this is Remi. I was with you at Elkhorn. These two have some interesting things to say about you.”
“You don’t know who could be monitoring that signal,” Scott called out. “He’s not going to answer you.”
But just as Scott said the words, Jeremiah’s voice came out clear over the radio. “It’s good to hear that you’re alive,” he said. “I was afraid Paxton might have tried to kill you.”
“A warning you failed to mention,” I said.
“A possibility you should have thought of beforehand,” he came back. “Elkhorn is in shambles. Most of the people died.”
His words stung me as he said them.
“But retribution is coming. It would be wonderful to have you on my team. If you could, put Scott back on the radio.”
I walked over to Scott and pressed the button. “Go ahead,” Scott said.
“Bring the girl to the meeting place if she is willing,” he said. “Tell her the truth.”
“Understood,” Scott said, glaring at me.
I brought the radio up to my mouth. “I suppose I will see you soon then.” I could feel a lump in my throat beginning to form. Jeremiah said almost everyone had died. Did that mean Waverly too? “Jeremiah,” I said.
“Go ahead.”
“Is Waverly with you?”
There was a long silence from the other end. But finally he came back on. “She is not here. But we haven’t found her body, either. She could still be alive.”
“Ten-four,” I said, swallowing hard. I looked down at Derek and Scott. “Start talking.”
I sat and listened for the next few minutes as they told me about Elkhorn. The truth, apparently, was that Elkhorn had not been completely destroyed, and that there were a lot of survivors left. When I tried to ask them about Waverly, neither Scott nor Derek had heard of her. Of course, they hadn’t been there that day.
Derek told me that they had been working for Jeremiah for some time. They knew about Mitch, Ashley, and the other team members that had been killed previously, but they had never worked with them. Jeremiah had always been sure that the two parties never had contact with each other. But after the confrontation at Elkhorn, the only team member left was Mitch, though Jeremiah had seen nothing of him since then.
After the attack, Jeremiah called in all his resources and set up a base at Elkhorn, using survivors and people like Derek and Scott to form his small army. This was a good opportunity for me. It would give me a chance to try and find my sister, and Elkhorn was the best place to start.
I eventually broke the ties that bound Derek and Scott, and I found an old first aid kit for Derek to bandage his wounded leg. I trusted them not to come after me because now their boss wanted to see me. I didn’t exactly know why Jeremiah would want me there. Perhaps it was to talk about Paxton, or maybe even to use me to get to Waver
ly. Her ability could prove very useful for a person looking to start a war. In any case, Derek and Scott had no choice but to treat me as if I didn’t actually interrogate them and threaten their lives.
I feel awkward sitting at the breakfast table. Ray is talking loudly about noises he heard in the night, though he says he didn’t know if he was dreaming or if it was real. This doesn’t help to quell Gabe’s suspicion that I snuck out in the night. I can tell by the looks he gives me. But it’s not like I’m trying to keep it from him. I just can’t really say anything until we are away from Ray and Nancy.
Scott and Derek both sit at the table, each with dark circles under their eyes. Derek’s leg is set straight out, thick with bandages.
“I just can’t believe you were up so early without me hearing it,” Ray says with a laugh. “I must be getting tired.”
“Yeah, why were you up so early, Derek?” Gabe asks.
I try to nudge Gabe, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Or maybe he just ignores me.
Derek shakes his head. “When you’ve been out on the road as long as Scott and I have, it’s hard to trust people. I was out checking to make sure no one was messing with our truck. I wanted to see if our supplies were still there.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about the people here in Orick!” Ray belts out. “We have all the supplies we could want. In fact, I’m sure we will load you up when you’re ready to move on.”
“Yeah, about that,” I say.
Nancy comes into the room with a steaming pot of soup. She sets the pot in the center of the table and when she lifts the top, it looks like chicken and dumplings. We’ve had this for breakfast before, so I already know what to expect. Dough balls surrounded by undercooked chicken in a sour broth. It fills the stomach, but I nearly have to pinch my nose to eat it.
“About what, dear?” Nancy asks as she takes a seat on the other side.
“Leaving,” I say. “I haven’t talked with Gabe about this, but I think I’m ready to move on. Scott and Derek have agreed to help me look for my sister in Elkhorn.”
“Oh really?” Ray shouts. “That’s great.”
“Oh, I hope you find her,” Nancy says.
“What?” Gabe looks at me. His face is turning red and I can tell that I’ve done something stupid. I should have talked to him first.
“I’m doing much better now,” I say. “I can barely even tell that I was shot. Just a little discomfort every now and then.”
Gabe shakes his head. “You didn’t want to talk to me about it first before you announced it at the table?”
I roll my eyes at him and take a spoonful of broth and dough. I don’t have to get Gabe’s permission about everything I want to do. “It’s just something I’ve been thinking about.”
When breakfast is over, I walk out onto the porch with Gabe close behind me. He doesn’t say anything at first, but finally he lets out a deep, warm breath that sends vapor a foot out in front of him.
“You and I are supposed to be working together, Remi,” he says. “If I came across upset, it’s because I figured we would both talk about it before we decided to move out of here.”
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to you about last night,” I say. “I meant to, but I needed to make the announcement at breakfast, because we need to get out of here.”
“What’s going on?” he asks.
I tell him about last night. Everything from following Scott and Derek to the mechanic shop, to stabbing through Derek’s leg, to the radio conversation with Jeremiah. Throughout the entire explanation, Gabe’s expression never changes.
“What are you thinking?” I ask.
He simply shrugs. “We’ve obviously got to go if it means finding Waverly.”
“It’s no good that Scott and Derek have never heard of her,” I say. “That means no one has been looking for her. She could be anywhere.”
“Jeremiah might have some of those answers,” Gabe says.
“Except he said he hasn’t seen her either,” I say.
Gabe nods, thoughtfully. Then he looks up. “So, Scott and Derek are here to tell people about how great Shadowface is?”
“That’s what they said, though Jeremiah wants them to come back now. I kind of threw a monkey wrench into their plans for here. There’s no telling how many places they’ve hit over the past month.”
“I hope Jeremiah knows what he’s doing,” Gabe says.
“Me too.”
Nancy starts to cry and Ray holds her close as Gabe and I set our bags in the back of the truck. I can’t lie. It’s actually hard for me to hold back tears too. The two of them have been so good to Gabe and me that it’s difficult just to pack up and leave. For a small time, this place has been a good home for us. But I’ve always known that I wouldn’t be able to stay here forever.
Nancy hugs me tightly. “It’s so dangerous out there,” she says. “You two know that better than anyone. Won’t you stay a little longer?”
“I wish I could,” I say. “But my sister is still out there somewhere. I’ve got to make sure she’s okay.”
“When you find her, you should bring her here,” Ray says. “We’ll all have a fine meal together. Well, at least a meal, anyway.”
Nancy ignores him as she squeezes me tight again. “We will see you again, Remi. You just have to take care of yourself.” She wipes away another tear and looks up at Gabe. “And you too young man! You know where to go if something bad happens again.”
“Yes I do,” Gabe says with a smile.
Gabe and I get into the truck, and wave to Nancy and Ray. There are others here too, but I don’t really notice them as much. None of them offered to care for us the way these two have. When I turn away from them, I look forward at the truck in front of us. Scott is in the driver’s seat and Derek hobbles toward the open door of the passenger side. I’m not sure, but I think he scowls at me before he gets in. Finally, Gabe puts the truck in drive, and the tires roll forward.
For some reason, it’s hard to believe that we are going back to Elkhorn. It feels like an eternity since we were last there.
The morning turns into the afternoon. The afternoon turns into night. The darkness covers us, and this is where I become more alert and on edge. I hate traveling at night. All it takes is an engine problem or a blown tire—even a quick stop to fill up with gas reserves is a gamble. Because when we stop, we are vulnerable. We can’t see five feet away from us, much less shoot in the right direction. I’m always hyper-aware at night. How long have we been traveling? Eight hours? Ten? I don’t feel like we drove this far on the way here, though I was unconscious for some of the ride. We’ve had to make a few detours because of the threat of greyskins.
Once, we had to swerve out of the way to miss one that was in the middle of the road. There are few things more creepy than almost hitting a greyskin in the middle of the road at night. Gabe seems annoyed that I constantly ask him if we’re headed in the right direction. Sometimes he shrugs, other times he says that he is pretty sure.
Pretty sure isn’t good enough, I think.
“We’ve trusted people before,” I said at some point in the trip while the sun was still high. “How do we know they aren’t just taking us somewhere to be killed?”
Gabe lifted an eyebrow. “You’re the one that got us on the road, not me.”
I hate the blame game, but Gabe played it…and won. He was right. Why were we going out there? The chances of finding out where my sister is located are next to none.
“Look at it this way,” Gabe offered, “this is just one vehicle with two guys. One of them is injured, thanks to you.” He grins slightly when he says this. “You seriously stabbed him in the leg?”
I shrugged. “I wanted to know what they were up to.”
He shook his head. “Well, at least we know now. Anyway, I was just meaning to say that even if they did plan to try something, I think our chances are good against them.”
It was all I needed to feel reassured about following th
em. I needed that from him. Now, as the night has taken over and I start to recognize the area a little better, I could use more of that reassurance. The familiar landscape of Elkhorn is not a welcome one. In fact, my stomach feels like it’s twisting in knots. I’ve never liked to go back to this place that was once overrun with greyskins, but it would seem that Elkhorn keeps calling me back one way or another. It feels ironic to be where this all started.
The leader of Elkhorn, Stephen, once told me that the epicenter of the outbreak was the safest because of its reputation, but I now know that’s crap. Maybe it used to be. I can’t really look at Elkhorn without thinking about my sister. I can’t believe we met each other there. I want to think that our paths were somehow connected, but it seems that the only link between our coming together was Shadowface. If I hadn’t been kicked out of Crestwood under Shadowface’s orders, then I would have never gone to Elkhorn to look for Paxton’s daughter, Jessi. Of course, I never found Jessi. She’s dead. But I did find his granddaughter, Evie. The little three-year-old was an adorable child. But I also can’t think of her without being reminded of what my sister wrote down in the notepad.
She had written all these visions of the future that she had seen. For some reason, my future included giving Evie away to someone named Jenna. Apparently, I’m going to be really sad about it. It doesn’t make sense because I have no personal connection with Evie. I found her and tried to use her to get Paxton to help us. Instead, he tried to kill us.
It suddenly hits me that Gabe and I going to Elkhorn is no coincidence. That’s where Evie is—at least that is where she was. Evie wasn’t even part of my plan, but I bet she’s still there. That means that her caretaker, Lydia, is either dead, or will be soon. I can’t imagine another reason I would give Evie away to someone else. But most of all, I can’t imagine why I would be sad to do so. Taking care of a kid in this world would be such a burden. I just hope that giving her away doesn’t mean that I’m sending her to her grave.
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