Her fingers curled around the carbon handle as she nodded.
I continued dragging Freedom out the front door. As I left, I saw her rush to the back wall and start digging a hole. I had a feeling she’d use the blade sooner rather than later.
Once I was outside, I hefted Freedom toward the side of the house to keep out of sight of the road, where I planned to continue my chat with him when he awoke.
As I turned the corner, I almost smacked into Case, Daze just behind him. “What the hell are you two doing here?” I dumped Freedom on the ground, where he immediately started to groan. He’d come around in another thirty seconds or so.
Case stared at me blankly, then down at his sustainee brother. “I heard the shot and we decided to come. I thought…”
“You thought wrong.” I crouched by Freedom, wresting the Blaster out of his hand. His grip on it was impressive. I held the weapon out to Daze. “As long as you’re here, take this and get rid of it. Handle it carefully. Bury it somewhere he won’t find it. Go now.” Daze did as I asked as I checked the rest of Freedom’s pockets. They were clear. I stood, facing Case, who still had the same blank look on his face. “An SOS from me is when I actually say S-O-S, and most of the time I’ll swear. If you don’t hear me call explicitly for help, don’t come running. But now that you’re here, be useful and help me tie this creep up.” The prop noise was at maximum. The craft was landing nearby. “By my count, we have five minutes, max.” I placed my hands on my hips. “And you undersold your brother’s level of crazy. He’s not unstable, he’s a stone-cold psychopath.”
CHAPTER TEN
Freedom came to with a bellow of rage. I’d expected nothing less. Case and I had tied him up with my miracle cord, which I always had with me, vest or not. But for the first time ever, I wasn’t sure it was going to hold.
If he managed to break my magic rope, he was going to feel some serious pain. I loved that stuff.
He thrashed around until I squatted next to him, settling my Gem against his temple. The top of his head didn’t have a single speck of hair and was dipped in on one side. I guess Case’s explanation of falling debris in this situation meant a skull deformity. It actually explained a lot.
I got up close and personal. “All we need you to do is answer a few questions. Then we’ll disappear. No harm done,” I said. I wasn’t going to leave him conscious, but he didn’t have to know that right up front. “You remember your brother here, don’t you?” When he didn’t even pretend to look in Case’s direction, I forced his battered cranium to the side with the tip of my weapon. Stubborn bastard.
Freedom began to thrash once his eyes landed on Case. “You son of a bitch! You killed Branton!”
I settled my taser on his thigh and gave it a little juice. The jolt was instantaneous. It was enough to shut him up, and he knew it. Once he recovered, and his muscles stopped twitching, he gave me a look that rivaled how a murderer might look at his prey just before he carved them up. “Listen,” I said as my skin crawled, “I know you cherish the role of tough guy.” Violent psychopath. “And I’m sure you knock your family around”—I nodded toward the tin can he called home—“which I’m not a fan of, by the way.” My jaw became more set as I continued. “But nobody survives a laser blast to the temple, and I’m ready to give you one.” To exaggerate my point, I flicked the safety on and off, so it made a loud clicking sound right next to his ear. “And you already know your brother over there has no issue killing off family members.” I ignored Case’s indignant huff. “We just need some information, and you’re the guy who’s going to give it to us. Tandor, a zealot spouting his twisted teachings, was here a few months ago. Some of your family members went with him. We want to know where he came from. There had to be talk after he left.”
“I’m not giving you shit,” Freedom spat, spittle flying every which way. I brought a forearm up to wipe off my cheek. Without giving him any warning, I plowed my left fist into his jaw, my hand still wrapped around my taser.
When his head stopped moving, blood trickling from a loose tooth or a gash inside his mouth, I said, “Let’s try this again. Where did Tandor come from? This is a life-or-death question-and-answer situation. You being the one in danger of dying.”
“He’s not going to answer,” Case growled. “Just to spite me.”
“That’s right, motherfu—”
I tased Freedom in the leg with a bunch of juice. His body vibrated for four seconds straight before he went limp. He’d be out for another minute or two. I sighed as I stood to address Case. “Having you here is working pretty much the way I thought it would. That craft landed a minute ago. It’s not going to take them long to comb this area. Once your totally sweet and not-at-all-insane brother wakes, he’s going to be shouting from the hilltops that people who don’t belong here are harassing him, and since he can ID you, that’s going to be a problem. There’s no way the militia will back down in its pursuit of us now.”
A small sound came from behind us. A twig breaking.
I spun around, Gem raised.
My gun barrel was aimed at the chest of the woman I’d given the knife to, a boy who looked about four trailing behind her, gripping her skirts. He had blood running down the side of his face. Sampson. “I can help you,” she said softly, averting her eyes from my outstretched arm.
I lowered my weapon immediately, feeling sheepish having pointed it at her in the first place. I took a few steps forward. I didn’t want to startle her. “Did you hear the question I asked your husband?”
She nodded. “I will tell you, but you must leave quickly once I do. The militia has come to check on us, and nothing must seem amiss, or they will be angry.” She turned to Case and surprised me by inclining half her body in a slight bow. “I was never able to thank you for avenging Frankie. What you did was just and good. Did you make Carmen pay for her crime as well?”
He inclined his head right back at her. It must be a Sun Optimist thing. “I did.”
“Good.” She turned back to me. “Tandor came from a place called Florida. That’s the old name for it. We call it Bogland now. There’s nothing but water down there. When the seas rose, it covered almost the entire expanse of the peninsula. Only the northern portion is still viable. It’s not too far from here. If you follow the coast two hours by craft, you will find it. There’s a small tribe living there. The militia that has become our new rulers haven’t extended that far. Yet. But they are aggressively trying. Be aware, that tribe has their own protections in place.”
“New rulers?” I asked. She’d just confirmed what we’d been thinking. “So, this militia presence is a recent thing?”
“Yes, they came within days of Tandor and the others’ departure.”
“Do you know what protections this tribe has in place?” Case asked.
Sounds erupted nearby. Possibly a crowd gathering. Shouting followed. “We’ve heard they favor sonic blasters and bombs. Big ones. Now you must go.” She lifted her arms to shoo us backward.
I glanced at Freedom, who was still out cold.
Once he came to, he was going to alert everyone in the vicinity that we’d been here. “What do you want us to do with him?” I asked this nice, helpful woman.
Her face hardened. “I’ll take care of him.”
“Are you sure?” My voice reflected my intent. I’d do whatever she wanted me to do. Daze came to stand beside us, having completed his gun-disposal task. Sampson ducked around his mother’s skirts once he saw Daze and cracked a tentative smile.
“My husband will be out for the rest of the day,” she replied confidently. “When he wakes, we will convince him that it was all a dream.”
From what I’d just witnessed, Freedom didn’t handle many situations with less than full-on rage. Her face changed almost imperceptibly, but I recognized it. In that moment, I knew that even though Freedom was physically stronger, she had the upper hand. I bowed my head, because that’s what they did here. “If you need something in the future,
” I told her, “my name is Holly Danger. If you can get a message to me in the city, I’ll help.”
“That won’t be necessary.” She was firm. “When we reach the point of no return, I’ll know it.”
“And the militia?” I asked.
“We have plans in place to fight back,” she said. “We will do what it takes to defend our land and our way of life.”
More shouts, closer. It was time to move. I glanced at Case, then back at her. Case apparently didn’t have anything to add. “Okay,” I conceded. “If we can, we’ll try and check back here in a few months.” I bent down and smiled at the toddler. “I’ll come back and talk to you through the seam in the wall. Does that sound okay? That way, I won’t bother your daddy.”
The child seemed dismayed that I was addressing him directly. He nodded vigorously, in the way only a small child could, with his entire head, blood-smeared cheek and all. “Bring him back.” He pointed at Daze and giggled. “He’s my friend.”
From Daze’s pocket, Maisie said, “I detect fifteen humans within three meters, thirteen humans within twenty meters, and a craft within one kilometer with three occupants on board.”
That was our cue to get out. I ignored Sampson’s look of sheer confusion at the sound of the automated female voice. I settled my hand on Daze’s shoulder. “I hope we can come back someday. Now it’s time for us to go.” The woman had already started to head back inside, pulling the child along behind her.
I hadn’t even gotten her name. Next time. I hurried over to Freedom and jammed my taser into his thigh, giving him one more big dose. Why not help the family out? Then I undid my special rope as quickly as I could and stuffed it back in my pocket.
Case had his Pulse out and was positioned at the corner of the house, head angled to look down the road. “We need to move now.” His voice was harsh. Likely, memories of his past dealing with the militia were at the forefront.
“We’re right behind you.” I ushered Daze in front of me, and we all began to jog. We were lucky the militia had come in at the opposite end of town. They hadn’t seen Seven, or they would’ve gone to investigate, rather than land in town. It seemed Hidden Cove had been a good choice.
I hoped our luck held out.
We traversed the first two kilometers in silence, all of us keeping low, moving quickly, and staying alert. After a particularly sandy and hard-to-traverse hill, we finally stopped to take a short break. “If the rest of your siblings are like Freedom,” I said, bending over to brace my hands on my thighs as Daze dropped to the ground wheezing, “then I apologize for thinking that you killed indiscriminately. That guy is insane.” I stood and exhaled a few times. I was winded, but not fatigued. You had to be in shape to survive in this world. “And that couldn’t have just been from debris denting his head. The eyes say a lot, and his oscillated from vacant to hard-edged and back again in less than a second. If he could’ve gotten free, he would’ve inflicted the most pain possible without breaking a sweat.”
Case replied, “People lose their humanity out here a hell of a lot quicker than they do in the city.”
“My point exactly,” I said. “What was Freedom’s wife’s name, the one I was talking to?”
“Helena—”
Maisie interrupted from Daze’s pocket. “UAC with laser capacities detected, closing in quickly. Recommend evacuation immediately. Familiar craft in eight hundred meters. Six minutes until engagement.”
UAC with a laser was critically bad news. I had one of those, and it was deadly.
Case took off, shouting, “I’ll have her up and ready in five.”
I hauled Daze off the ground, pulling him behind me as we raced forward, my hand clasped around his. “Come on, kid, you can do it. When we get back to the city, I’m going to have you run circuits. Being in shape will save your scrawny hide. It’s one of the main reasons I’m still alive.”
“I…can do it,” he huffed, managing to keep up.
“I know…you can,” I replied between gasps. “But just to be sure…I’m not letting go.”
We were ten meters shy of Seven when I finally heard the props. The distinct thrumming was loud, indicating the size of the UAC.
I shoved Daze in front of me. “Get in!” Once he cleared the door, I dove into the passenger seat.
Right as a laser blast struck the ground where my feet had been.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Case had us airborne within ten seconds. There’d been no time to strap in as he jammed the levers, turning sharply to avoid laser fire. I tumbled into his lap. “Great,” I muttered, clawing my way back to my own seat.
“Hold on,” he ground out as he shot us straight up. Then he leveled out and hit the hydro-boost. My head flung back into the headrest as we rocketed away.
I took a moment to gather myself, taking a few deep breaths, trying to steady my heartbeat. I watched as Case inched us closer and closer to the clouds. My head whipped around. “You’re not going back in the clouds again, are you? We’re going too fast.”
“It’s the only way to lose our tail completely,” he said, his voice tight.
I arched my neck to look out the rear window. I couldn’t spot anything behind us, because we were moving too quickly. “You just boosted,” I argued. “There’s no way that thing can catch up to us.” Below, the landscape was a blur.
“I’m not heading into the clouds to get away from the UAC,” he said. “The dronecraft that landed in town will be chasing us as soon as they can.”
“I don’t think Helena is going to tell them we were there.”
“She won’t have to,” he answered as the front of the craft touched the wispy, white tendrils. “If that UAC shoots lasers that accurately, they have a live video feed. It might be spotty, but they know where we are and will send that craft after us.”
I sat back and tried to resign myself to my fate in the clouds. But this time I refused to pass out. “No hyperventilating,” I muttered to myself. “You can do this.”
“What?” Case asked, distracted.
“Nothing,” I said, trying to get my mind on something else—like the future. “Are you familiar with this place Helena was talking about? Florida?”
“A bit,” he said as the craft was consumed by white, our visibility down to nothing but a few meters in front of us. Once we were completely ensconced, he hit the radio-frequency button and the dash went dark. “My Sun Optimist family traveled there a couple of times over the years, but we never went into a town. Helena was right, there’s nothing but water down there, for the most part. Almost all the land that far south was at sea level. When the oceans rose, it was swallowed up.”
Maisie announced from the backseat, “There are no crafts or UACs in the area. Female, Holly, heart rate eighty-five beats per minute. Blood pressure one hundred sixty-eight systolic, eighty-nine diastolic. Rapid respiration. Hydration recommended.”
I turned around in my seat to where Daze held Maisie cradled in his lap. “Why only me? Huh, Maisie? What about the males in the craft? Surely their stats are just as necessary to broadcast. And I can’t possibly be the only one who needs to stay hydrated.”
She replied, “Child, Daze, and male, Case, heart rates elevated but stable, blood pressure within normal range. Hydration recommended.”
“See?” I grumbled, “I’m not the only one who needs water. But how about from now on we keep my stats private unless I ask, okay, Maisie?”
“Noted,” Maisie replied. “Holly vitals to be repeated only when necessary.”
“No,” I objected, trying to regulate my voice so as not to get into an argument with an inanimate object—however brilliant she was. “Holly’s vitals will only be announced upon request by Holly herself. That’s an order, Maisie. I mean it.” Man, this was getting strange. I was ordering her around like a real human being.
“Noted,” Maisie said. “Holly vitals repeated only upon request.”
Before I could object to the word repeated again, Daze interjected
, smiling, his voice excited. “See? She’s learning. It’s not perfect, but I mean, she’s over sixty years old. I think it’s impressive. She’ll get better at following directions. I know she will.”
I turned to face the front, crossing my arms. “If she learns to keep my stats to herself, I’ll consider it impressive,” I replied. Case chuckled, seeming to relax by a few degrees. I tried to follow suit, but the view in front of me, nothing but lightness as far as we could see, which was only a few meters in front of us, was unsettling. I leaned my head against the rest, tilting it toward Case. “Sure, you can laugh now, but wait until she calls you out for no reason.”
“She’s taken a liking to you,” Case said, humor still in his voice. “She’s trying to keep you safe. You should probably drink some water.”
I snorted. “She’s a robot. She shouldn’t have favorites. To her, we should all just be humans.”
He shrugged. “Maybe because she’s been programmed to be female, she has a soft spot for other females. There is a difference, you know.”
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