Broken & Hunted

by Charissa Dufour

  “Shit!” Oden cursed as he swung the Mclaren to the side, tilting the roof toward the shooter.

  “Why don’t we have guns!” demanded Calen.

  “Because they’re illegal in Tifton,” said Randal as he gripped the handle of the door.

  “Tell that to them,” replied Calen as Oden spun the hover car around, giving them a chance to see who was shooting at them.

  They quickly spotted a hover bike with a driver and passenger riding it. The passenger fired again, the shots going wide as Oden swung the car to the side. Oden’s mind scrambled in an effort to think of a way to dispatch two pursuers. Oden glanced over his shoulder, finding the silver car in the process of turning around to chase after them.

  Ignoring the fact the bikers were firing at them, Oden pushed the Mclaren to its max and charged head-on at the hover bike.

  “Duck everyone,” he ordered as he hunched down in his seat.

  The bikers flinched as he powered into them. Their swift jerking movement sent them toppling sideways, nearly falling off their bike. Oden yanked the steering wheel up sending the vehicle vertical, knowing that the little silver car couldn’t match his move. He flipped his car over until he was once again in the position of the one doing the chasing.

  As the silver vehicle slammed on its brakes in an effort not to hit the stalled bike, Oden powered forward, pitting his front corner into the back tail-light of the silver car. The impact was hard, on him and the cars. He gripped the steering wheel, barely able to maintain control as the silver car slammed into the bike, sending both vehicles into the glass windows of the nearest building.

  Oden jerked the wheel around, barely keeping their own vehicle out of the side of a building. Acting as though nothing had happened, he reduced their speed, lowered their elevation, and eased into the highest lanes of traffic.

  A smile pulled at his lips as he listened the frantic panting of the men in the hover car. In truth, his own heart was bouncing circles around his rib cage, but he wasn’t about to tell them that.

  Oden was astonished he had pulled it off, having been years out of practice in a hover car, but it was “like riding a bike,” and it had all come back to him.

  He guided the vehicle into a lane of traffic that would take them onto a high speed freeway heading toward a different district.

  “Where to?” he asked.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Bit turned north, just as the baker had instructed and found a street comparably deserted after the last one. Only a few pedestrians walked the ground-level sidewalks. Bit glanced up at the sidewalks connecting the second stories of the various skyscrapers. They were empty save one man—one green windbreaker-clad man.

  He glared down at her, his hand on the railing of the stairs, while she stared back. Bit’s eyes ran down the length of the stairs, judging her ability to get ahead of him. It didn’t look good. Her ribs throbbed with the beat of her heart, reminding her of the injuries she had already sustained. Speed was not going to be her strong suit.

  The man kept his eyes on her as he began to make a slow descent of the staircase. Bit turned and tried to make a run for it, but three steps into a push for speed and her arm went to ribs, pressing into the fire burning across ribcage.

  She stumbled, the pain making it hard to put one foot in front of the other. Bit slowed her pace a little as she worked her way to the nearest intersection. As she had hoped, the crowd increased at the first intersection, most of the bodies working their way into one street packed with outside venders on both the ground level and the second story.

  Her eyes grew wide as she took in the sight of so many signs advertising this and that. She couldn’t read fast enough to catch what was for sale in a quick glance. In an arch over the entrance into the neighborhood, a brightly painted sign announced the street to be Rice Market Street. Stupidly, she took a moment to scan the other signs again, looking for the word rice in them. Not one of the booths or venders sold rice. The name of the street confounded her. She shook her head and pushed forward, throwing herself into the crowd.

  Bit felt the graze of another body against hers and nearly screamed. It was going to be painful to work her way through the crowd of bodies pressing against her, but it was better than trying to outrun Mr. Windbreaker in a clear street.

  She found the first set of stairs and took them, pressing around the other people trying to make their way up to the second story of outside merchants. The second story was made up of grating, much like the ship’s walkways, and Bit felt a new wave of thankfulness for Lexi and her hand-me-down boots.

  Bit pressed toward the inside of the walk way while keeping her eyes on the railing and beyond, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man chasing her. Through the mob, she spotted the tell-tale green windbreaker, a piece of her mind wondering why he didn’t wear something different.

  A pedestrian stepped between her and Mr. Windbreaker just in time, blocking her from his view. She turned down an elevated alleyway, expecting the crowds to be lessened. Instead it was just as packed with bodies, each person trying to find a shortcut between this elevated street and the next.

  She reached the end of the dark, narrow alleyway running between two enormous skyscrapers and nearly cursed when she found herself on another elevated market, nearly identical to the last. Venders and pedestrians alike crowded her, yelling their prices or pushing her out of their way.

  Bit pressed her arm protectively around her ribcage, trying to protect it from the jostling she was receiving.

  At least she had lost Mr. Windbreaker. Or so she thought.

  She glanced over her shoulder and felt her stomach drop into her knees.

  How? was all she could think as she turned back and plowed into the backs of the crowd around her. She ignored her pain and pushed harder, allowed the angry shouts to flow past her.

  Bit turned sideways to ease through a tiny gap and found herself on the brink of a staircase. Instead of fighting the flow of the crowd, she allowed it to guide her down the steps, hoping her small stature would hide her in the crowd. As she moved with the crowd down the stairs she removed her jacket, shivering in the brisk Martian wind.

  Once she reached the ground level again, Bit ducked under a woman’s decorative parasol, staying right on her tail. The crowd was thick enough that the unusually close proximity went unnoticed. She wanted to peak out from under it to see if Mr. Windbreaker was still on the upper level looking for her, but she didn’t dare risk it.

  Bit followed the woman, trying her best to look casual, but when the woman glanced back at her for a second time, she decided it was time to break off. She counted to thirty before seeing a booth that “caught her attention.” Bit ducked out from under the woman’s parasol and pushed through the crowd to get to the woman selling ugly silk scarves. She examined a few before slipping away, a dull blue scarf tucked under her crew jacket. She walked a half block before she pulled the scarf out and wrapped it around her head, hiding her tell-tail dread locks.

  Despite her urgency, Bit kept her pace at the rate of the crowd, letting them guide her this way and that, until she suddenly came to the end of the packed shopping district. The crowd curved away from a dead-end street that led to a railed view point. A sign indicated the view would be Kasei Harbor. Her curiosity got the best of her and she broke off from the crowd and walked down the half block to the sweeping edge.

  The railing rose six feet from the ground, protecting the viewer from the long drop to the choppy water below. Bit looked down upon the harbor running into the cave system hidden within the walls of the cliff. Ships came and went, heading out to the distant ocean, hidden by the islands dotting the wide canyon.

  Bit looked out on the island covered in lush greenery and wondered what it would be like to walk among tall trees instead of enormous skyscrapers. She had lived her entire life in Johannesburg on Earth before Calen came and turned her life upside down. Now it seemed her only time on solid ground would be spent in Tifton. She was doomed to
live among the crowded streets of a metropolis.

  Bit stifled the long sigh rising to her lips, saving herself the pain it would cause. Instead, she turned and rejoined the sweaty throng, allowing it to dictate where she would go. She weaved from one street to another, as much losing herself as keeping herself out of Mr. Windbreaker’s line of sight. She glanced over her shoulder from time to time, but after an hour of wandering, she felt certain she had lost him for good.

  Finally, she started to wonder where a train station might be.

  Bit wanted to break away from the crowd to increase her speed and her ability to see where she was going, but feared running into Mr. Windbreaker again. She began to strain her neck, trying to see past the heads of those taller than herself.

  “You look lost,” a friendly young man said from her side as he shuffled along.

  She eyed him cautiously, trying to judge whether he was to be trusted. Her current mood made her want to run from everyone, but she knew she needed information if she ever wanted to make it back to the strip club. She shuddered at the thought of asking for directions to that specific location.

  Bit gave him her best smile. “I’m afraid I’m a little turned around.”

  “Easy to be in this crowd. Where are you going?”

  “I just need to find a train station, really,” she said, trying to keep him from realizing she hadn’t specifically answered his question.

  “Oh, that’s easy. Keep going down this street until you reach 15th. It will be about four blocks I think. Then turn north. Can’t miss the station.”

  “Oh, thanks!” she said more enthusiastically than she felt. “You’ve been a life saver!”

  She tried to saunter away but the mob kept her at the same slow pace as her helper.

  “Actually, I’m going that way. I can show you,” he said, even more helpful.

  Bit kept her annoyance off her face, giving him a smile instead. “Okay.”

  “I don’t suppose you have time to grab a coffee?”

  This time, Bit had no hope of keep the shock off her features. “Umm… no, I’m sorry, I have somewhere to be.”

  “That’s too bad. Well let me get your frequency. Maybe we can meet up tomorrow.”

  Bit frantically tried to think up an excuse, but she had never been asked out before. She didn’t know how to turn a man down, other than turning down Blaine and Oden—that she was a professional at. Finally, she decided on just telling him a version of the truth.

  “Uh…”

  “Mike,” he provided helpfully.

  “Mike, I work on a space freighter. I fly out tomorrow and have no idea when I’ll be back on Mars.”

  “Oh, well, when you get back then.”

  Bit tried now to show her annoyance at his persistence. Finally, she grabbed the neckline of her shirt, wondering how many days she had been wearing it, and pulled it to the side so that she could show him the number tattooed to her shoulder indicating she was an indentured servant.

  “Don’t think you’re really interested,” she said when his face went pale.

  “Um… oh… I… uh….”

  “Thank you for the directions.”

  She pushed deeper into the flowing crowd, leaving the young man gawking at her back. Bit nudged her way to the northern edge of the crowd, ready to make the right turn once she reached 15th street. The crowd began to thin, allowing her to speed up.

  Two blocks later the street turned back into one with vehicle traffic. To her astonishment, she noticed two peace officers eyeing her as they listened to their comm. devices. It didn’t take her long to realize her mistake. Helpful Mike had notified the authorities of a “runaway indentured”.

  Bit casually slipped behind a group of bulky workers, their enormous shoulders blocking her from view, and quickly tore the scarf off her head. She pulled her jacket on, allowing the scarf to hide in the sleeve of the jacket.

  She stayed behind the large men as long as she could until they crossed her path to turn into a diner. Bit walked on, trying her best to look normal. She just had to walk two more blocks without them realizing she was the same woman as before.

  To her amazement, she made the turn and reached the train station. She got on the first train, not even bothering with where it was taking her. After a few minutes it came to a stop and she got off, feeling minimally safer. She examined the map and found the strip club was actually only a few stops in the opposite direction. Bit crossed the elevated walkway to the other side of the platform and waited for the train.

  In moments she was whisked away, finally on the last leg of her harrowing journey. She had never taken a moment to realize how much she depended on Oden, or any of her crew mates. Now, having been forced to depend solely on herself, she found just how much she needed them. She wasn’t equipped to be alone, and that needed to change.

  She needed to know how the city was laid out. She needed to read better. She needed to know how currency worked, and so much more.

  Bit suddenly felt very small and very alone. Tears pressed against her eyes. She willed them away, but the longer she sat on the rocking train, the more her various injuries made themselves known.

  Eventually it would all be over. It had to be.

  Jack watched as Oden carefully rewired the door controls to the Mclaren. Once again, Oden had earned his pay and then some. The second pilot had flown circles around their attackers, literally. Jacked wished he didn’t have money problems. He wished he could reward Oden for all his hard work and out-of-this-world flying, but he didn’t have the funds. He barely had the money to pay for the fuel they put into the sports car.

  They had all agreed to do everything they could to minimize the damage they had done to the sports car after stealing it. After all, they weren’t really thieves. At least…

  Jack pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. He didn’t want to consider the line they had just crossed.

  “All done,” Oden said as he dragged himself out from under the sports car and gave the panel one last wipe with a rag, clearing any remaining finger prints from the metal—just as they had done to the entire interior and exterior.

  Oden climbed to his feet and glanced down to the opening of the dead-end alley where Randal and Calen stood watch. Jack and Oden walked toward them, leaving the Mclaren to be discovered in time. Hopefully the owners would appreciate the full fuel cells and the new door control wires. There wasn’t much they could do about the millage they had put on the hover car or the rough handling, but maybe, just maybe, the owner wouldn’t seek an investigation.

  Jack snorted to himself. Like that’s gonna happen.

  “What?” Oden asked.

  “Nothing. Just thinking to myself. C’mon guys,” he said to their small group. “Let’s call the ship from the train station before we head back to where we lost Bit. Maybe she got lucky. Maybe she escaped.”

  “Maybe,” Calen said, a streak of depression obvious in his tone.

  They walked quickly, doing their best to put distance between themselves and the stolen sports car. It was only a few blocks to the train station. They found a comm.-for-rent within the same block and Jack stepped into the booth, leaving the three other men to huddle in the doorway. Within seconds, the screen snapped to life and Nathyn face appeared.

  “Cap!” he exclaimed before grabbing the ship’s comm. device. “Cap’s on, get Reese up here, and Forrest! Cap, we’ve heard from Bit. She’s escaped. She’s okay! Forrest took the call. He’s… here he is.”

  Nathyn jumped out of the seat, making space for Forrest.

  “Captain, where’s Oden?” Forrest asked without preamble.

  Oden shoved his way past Randal’s large shoulders until he was more or less inside the small box and visible to Forrest.

  “Bit said to tell you, and I quote, ‘I’m at the place I wasn’t just a friend.’ She said you’d know what that meant.”

  Jack glanced at Oden, his curiosity peaked. Oden’s brows were pulled down in confusion. Eve
r so slowly, a dark blush crept up his tattooed neck and into his cheeks as realization dawned. He turned to his captain.

  “I know where she’s going.”

  “Good,” Jack said before turning back to the screen just as Jeremiah and Vance appeared in the background, supporting a man swathed in bandages.

  Forrest and Nathyn stepped aside, giving the injured man the seat. Jack felt his stomach convulse as he took in the damage done. He motioned for Oden to step aside, giving Randal space. The security commander glanced at the screen and went pale.

  “I’m okay, sir,” Reese said, though he looked anything other than okay.

  Sterile bandages were taped to both cheeks, with more bandaging wound around his face to further secure them. Though he wore an infirmary gown over his shoulders, Jack could see the corners of more bandaging on his biceps. He wondered what else was hidden behind the fabric of the gown.

  “Of course you are, Soldier,” Randal said before Jack could speak.

  Reese’s eyes shifted to his commander. “They’re taking good care of me up here, sir, and we’ve not seen any signs of the ship being watched. We’re on full alert up here. Right now we need to worry about you guys, and there’s something you need to know… the men who…who attacked me…they were peace officers.”

  Jack’s stomach tied itself into another knot. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. I saw the badge as he holstered his weapon. Clear as day.”

  Jack nodded. “We’ll keep that in mind. Now go get rest. We’ve been on this call too long already. We need to move. Take care of yourself.”

  “You too, Cap.”

  “Let’s move,” Jack said as he switched off the line.

  They didn’t stop to discuss the disturbing information, but jogged to the train station.