by Janean Worth
He reached over to run his hand down one of the columns near the entrance. “Smooth as the Sovereign’s glass, I’ll bet,” Mathew said. “Doesn’t seem damaged at all.”
Kara felt fear tingle along her nerve endings as a sense of foreboding seized her, but she reached out to grasp one of the door handles anyway. Hoping that she wouldn’t find anything evil waiting for her on the other side of the door, she turned slowly and pulled.
The door opened, and she didn’t know whether to be relieved that it hadn’t been locked or disappointed. If the door hadn’t opened, and Mathew hadn’t been able to gain entrance through nefarious means, they’d have been able to wait for Otto to finish gathering his energy from the sun before venturing inside. But since it had opened, they’d be able to go in and search for the device themselves. The sooner the ‘chips’ were deactivated, the better.
Kara glanced back to where Otto stood, gleaming in the rays of the sun. Gallant stood at his side, head down, chomping busily on the small pile of apples that Mathew had left there for the horse. Already, the sun was beginning to shift away from the round building’s position. The skyscrapers on the west side of the road were already beginning to block the rays, casting the faces of the buildings on that side of the Road back into gloomy gray shadows.
“It would be better to go in and search for the device, now, right? So that we can continue on our journey as soon as Otto is working again? Besides, I don’t really want to be here when the shadows cover this building again,” Kara said.
“Me neither. There’s something that’s just not right about this place. The tracken feels it too. Do you?”
Kara glanced out at the grounds surrounding the structure. Where the asphalt of the Road split into two separate paths, smaller walkways, made of smooth, white concrete, wove toward the structure in an intertwining pattern leading up to the opening in the portico in front of the wide double doors. The smaller walking paths wove amongst the greenery, and around the structure, unlike the noxious weeds and brambles that grew along the rest of the Road, the plants were different. The vines still grew, but they were interspersed with other plants in between the white paths. Some of the plants Kara recognized from the forest, and others she did not. Even a few flowers grew in the geometric areas between the walkways. As a whole, the grounds looked structured, and even cared for. The whole place looked as if it had been maintained by someone for the many years since The Fall. And that thought sent a fission of fear up Kara’s spine. In GateWide, she’d been taught that no other people had survived The Fall. So who had maintained this place with such care? And if someone had, then why had they not shown themselves yet?
Kara nodded. “Yes, I do. And, as pretty as this place is – because it is pretty – I can’t wait to leave it behind us.”
“Let’s go in and get this over with,” Mathew said, then gave a jaunty wink. “And just think, who better than a former thief to find something valuable inside a building they’ve never been inside before?”
Kara smiled, he did have a point. Perhaps, as it said in the Book, their Creator did turn all things to the good of those who loved him. Even something bad, like a history of thievery.
“I wish your father’s Old Tech wasn’t stuck inside Otto. I would feel safer if we had it with us,” she said.
“As would I,” Mathew agreed. “As soon as he’s done getting his energy from the sun, I hope I can get it back out again.”
Mathew surprised her by stepping forward and taking her hand.
“Let’s do this together,” he said as he led them into the dark interior of the structure. The tracken followed close behind, a warning growl rumbling in its throat.
Kara did not mistake the growl for the sound of purring. The tracken was obviously as apprehensive as she was about entering the strange building.
She wished that she knew what it was that just felt so wrong about the place. Maybe it was the scent? A musky, animal smell hung about the area, growing stronger as they stepped farther inside the structure. The odor niggled at her memory, but she could not recall where she’d smelled it before.
Perhaps it was the manicured look of the place? It was strange how everything seemed so well cared for and untouched by time around the small building. Kara could not fathom how that could be so, since there was no evidence of any living people being there, yet it was.
They slowly made their way deeper into the structure, and the smell became stronger. Soon they were surrounded by the strong scent of musk.
Just inside the door, faintly illuminated by a slice of sunlight that peeked in from outside, Kara could just make out the shapes of large piles of objects that seemed to be positioned purposefully near the curved walls. The objects were piled high, creating small, heaped mountains as they leaned against the interior walls of the structure.
Kara squinted her eyes, trying to make out what the collection of objects piled there were, but in the dimness she could not quite see well enough. It just looked like piles and piles of junk in the gloom.
Darkness enveloped them as they stepped farther into the building, effectively blinding them as they transitioned from brilliant noonday sun outside to complete and utter artificial night inside.
The only thing that she could see now was the multitude of green eyes that blinked at her from the darkness. And she suddenly remembered where she’d smelled that musky odor before. It had been in the forest. At the scene of the slaughtering of the doe.
Chapter Four
The tracken’s low growl split the silence inside the structure. Mathew gasped as he realized that they were not alone, then gasped again as the tracken jostled him, pushing in front of him to stand between him and Kara and the sea of green eyes blinking in the darkness ahead.
“Fidgets? Here?” Kara whispered.
The tracken roared, producing a fearsome sound that Mathew had never heard before. The fine hairs on his arms rose in response to the warning call and his spine tingled with gooseflesh as foreboding seized him.
“Back up slowly,” Mathew suggested.
Kara obeyed, still holding his hand and facing the darkness in front of them. They both backed slowly toward the door and Mathew hoped their slowness was enough not to trigger a chase response in the Fidgets.
The light at their backs illuminated the spotted and furred hindquarters of the tracken as it faced the threat in front of them. The animal’s flanks quivered with the need to flee, but it faced down the hidden horde of Fidgets instead. The beast was no longer growling low in its throat, and utter silence reigned for a moment longer inside the structure before the sound of hundreds of claws clacking upon the hard surface of the floor filled the space.
The tracken backed toward the door too. Quickly.
In seconds, Kara exited the doors, and Mathew ditched his efforts as slowness and hurriedly followed. The tracken was almost through the doorway too when something streaked out of the darkness toward it. Mathew could just barely see the glint of razor sharp claws as they were thrust forward toward the tracken’s muzzle.
The beast’s cat-like reflexes saved it. In a movement that was almost too quick to see, the tracken jerked its head back, then forward again, powerful jaws snapping. There was a spine-tingling squeal as the attacking Fidget was trapped between the tracken’s sharp teeth.
The tracken shook its head quickly, jerking from side to side, in the instinctive movement that every predator seemed to know. There was an audible crack as the Fidget’s thick neck snapped.
The tracken spat out the Fidget then turned and darted out of the open doors, scurrying quickly off of the covered portico and into the bright rays of sunshine. It yowled as it passed Mathew, as if to say hurry up, and Mathew quickly did. He leapt off the covered walkway after the tracken, surprising himself with the spryness of his injured leg. He still held Kara’s small hand in his own and he dragged her along with him as he lunged out into the sunlight.
Mere seconds later, the doorway was filled with hissing Fidgets.
They spilled out onto the covered walkway, viciously baring their sharp teeth, claws scraping against the stone floor menacingly. They abruptly stopped their pursuit at the shaded edge of the portico. Only the bright sunshine seemed to prevent the Fidgets from attacking them.
Mathew froze, staring at the creatures. He’d never seen one up close. And, in GateWide, he’d never known anyone else who had either. Before he’d ventured into the forest, this had seemed to indicate that the Fidgets were not real, only a story that his tutor had made up to scare him, but now he realized that it must mean that no one had ever before survived a close encounter with the creatures and lived to tell about it.
And he could see why. Their long-fingered hands and short stubby toes were tipped with three-inch claws. Their teeth, too large for their mouths, jutted from their gums at odd angles, almost like tusks on a boar, though there were many more than two teeth sprouting from their gums. Sharp and pointed, the snaggled yellow teeth gave the Fidgets a menacing appearance, as did their misshapen and unevenly furred facial features, stunted limbs and short, thick torsos.
The creatures continued to spill from the structure, now swarming the covered walkway, hissing in frustration at not being able to seize the fresh meat that stood right in front of them. Mathew thought there must be hundreds of the creatures living in the building.
Beside him, Kara shuddered.
“They really are afraid of the sun,” she said.
At the sound of her voice, some of the Fidgets began to make a noise; a weird garbled babbling, almost as if they were speaking to each other. One of the creatures nearest to them ventured closer to the line that marked the separation from shadow into sunlight.
It opened its mouth and hissed viciously, showing its wickedly long teeth to their best advantage.
Behind Mathew, the tracken growled in warning.
The Fidget shot out a hand, long claws reaching for Mathew’s throat, then immediately jerked back, squealing in pain as the sun touched its skin.
Mathew stared as the Fidget’s already dark skin darkened even more where the sun had touched it. The creature clutched its arm to its chest, glaring at Mathew accusingly.
It opened its mouth again, and Mathew waited for it to hiss at him in anger, but instead, it spoke.
“Hurts…” it hissed.
Behind it, the other Fidgets quieted into silence.
“It can talk,” Kara gasped, amazement coloring her words.
“Kill…” the Fidget said, its beady eyes glaring at Mathew, its voice nearly garbled beyond comprehension with so many teeth in the way of its tongue.
But Mathew understood the sibilant hiss clearly. It wanted to kill them.
Beside him, Kara sidled closer. “All this time, I thought they were just dumb animals. But they can talk.”
Sudden realization came to Mathew. He looked at the speaking Fidget, sizing it up. It seemed to be the leader of the others, because none of them had made a sound since it had spoken.
“Did you do this?” Mathew said, gesturing to their surroundings. “Did you keep the place from falling apart like this?”
“Yes…” the Fidget hissed. “Ours…”
“I can’t believe this,” Kara said from his side. “I can’t believe it. Not only do they talk but they can understand too.”
Mathew couldn’t take his eyes off of the ugly creatures in front of them. He was more scared than amazed. If the Fidgets could talk and understand, and they’d kept the structure in good repair since The Fall, that meant that they were intelligent too. They could think. And that did not bode well for their small group, because, to the Fidgets, they were nothing more than food. And that was not a good thing to be when faced with so many of them.
“We need to get out of here before the sun sets behind the buildings,” Mathew said. “They want to kill us.”
“I know,” Kara whispered. “And I’ve seen them kill before. They’re completely vicious.”
“Kill…” the Fidget said again, and Mathew thought that it might have smiled too. He couldn’t tell. The thing just had too many teeth to make a smile look like anything more than a snarl.
“Let’s wait by Otto,” Kara said, tugging on his arms.
The tracken yowled again, as if in agreement.
Still astounded by the realization that the Fidgets could think, Mathew now realized something else. An epiphany struck him, so strongly that it once again made the fine hairs on his forearms bristle, and he finally turned away from the Fidgets to face the tracken.
“And you can understand me too, can’t you?” Mathew asked the beast.
To his amazement, the tracken met his eyes and nodded once, slowly, mewling softy in its throat.
Mathew was struck speechless. Beside him, Kara gripped his arm tightly as if the shock was so great that she needed his arm to keep herself on her feet, her thin fingers digging into his bicep.
“Oh my…” Kara finally mumbled.
Mathew stared at the tracken for a long moment as it stared back at him. He now understood the bright intelligence in its gaze. And he understood something else too. The Sovereign must also know of the intelligence in these creatures. He knew, and he’d taken advantage of that intelligence, using Old Tech to cripple the beasts and bend them to his will.
“And the Sovereign knew, didn’t he? He knew and he still used you,” Mathew asked.
The tracken mewled again, a sorrowful sound this time, and it nodded once more, slowly.
“That’s horrible,” Kara whispered. “Just horrible.”
Kara let go of his arm and stepped over to the tracken, reaching out to wrap her arms around its neck.
“I’m so sorry,” Kara said as she buried her face in the soft fur at its neck. “So very sorry.”
The tracken nuzzled her check, and then began to purr.
Behind them, the lead Fidget hissed, the sound carrying a hint of derision, as if it found the scene in front of the portico completely contemptuous.
“Kill…” it said again, its voice filled with evil and malevolence.
Otto chose that moment to come back to life. His torso snapped back into a vertical position, and his eyes once again lit redly from within.
“…the structure,” Otto said, finishing the sentence that he’d left uncompleted earlier.
“We know,” Mathew called to the metal man. “We really know.”
Otto clomped over to them, leaving Gallant behind to chew the last apple core.
“These creatures are very dangerous,” Otto said, indicating the walkway filled with Fidgets. “They like to feast on the living.”
“We know this too,” Mathew said.
“Have you had enough sun to gain back your energy?” Kara asked the metal giant.
“Yes, Kara, I now have enough energy reserves to last for several more days,” Otto replied.
“That’s good then. Now, if I can get my father’s Old Tech from you, then I can go inside and find the other device. The Old Tech will light the way and keep the Fidgets away,” Mathew said.
“Fidgets?” Otto asked. “I do not know this word. My Creator did not give me this knowledge.”
“It is what we call these creatures,” Kara said helpfully, gesturing to the portico filled with Fidgets.
“My Creator did not know of these creatures. They came after The Fall. I only know of them because I have observed,” Otto said.
Then he looked closely at the lead Fidget and said, “Fidget.” As if he were committing the word to memory, which, Mathew thought, he probably was. The metal man was completely amazing. A giant, entirely made of the Old Tech that the Sovereign coveted. The same type of Old Tech that the Sovereign had made illegal for anyone else to possess in GateWide, intending to keep it all for himself, and convincing the people that it was evil. Mathew couldn’t bear to think of what would happen if the Sovereign ever got his hands on Otto. The metal giant was so incredibly powerful that if he were ever forced under the Sovereign’s control, as the Strays an
d tracken had been, he would be an unbeatable weapon. No once would dare to go against the Sovereign if he had Otto at his side. Not that anyone dared to go against the man now.
Mathew moved around behind Otto, putting his fingers against the spot where he had inserted his father’s Old Tech when Otto had run out of energy before they’d found the Narrow Road. His father’s Old Tech had fit inside the metal man as if it belonged there, as if it had been made to fit there, and had given Otto an extra boost of energy, allowing him to make it to the spot where the sun could recharge him. But now, Mathew desperately wanted his father’s Old Tech device back.
The thing was powerful. More powerful that he could even comprehend, and it made him feel better to have it in his pocket. Besides, he’d need it in order to keep the Fidgets away while he looked for the device that they needed. There was no way he was letting Kara look for the device inside the building and risk being near the Fidgets. He’d rather face death himself than allow her to be in danger. Somehow, over the course of the short time that he’d known her, her life had become more important to him than his own.
He marveled at this realization for a moment. No one, in his short life, had ever been more important to him than he himself was. Not his mother. Not his father. No one. But Kara was.
Mathew allowed the thought to sink in as pursed his lips together in determination and pressed against the seam of the compartment in Otto’s back, the one that held the Old Tech. Nothing happened.
“Do you know how to get it out?” Mathew asked the metal giant.
“No, I am sorry, I do not know. My Creator must have made that device, since it fits so neatly into my body, but I have no knowledge of it. I do not know how to remove it,” Otto said. “I will go in to the structure and retrieve the other device. These creatures will not harm me. I have no blood, flesh or bone, which they seek for food.”
Before Mathew could argue about it, Otto had stepped past the line that delineated between shadow and sunlight, his metal legs shoving through the clustered pack of creatures there.