“I frankly don’t care if you trust us,” Carlee said. “I could level your town, but that’s not what I want to do. I want to help you because there aren’t enough of us left to fight one another anymore.”
Susan pulled up next to her guards again and squinted her eyes as she studied Carlee. Jeff admired Susan for acting so carefree while the fortress loomed in the background. She didn’t mention anything about Darwin, which meant she likely didn’t have the promised protection of the Apostle.
“We can’t spare anyone, especially for vagrants,” Susan said.
“With the supplies we’re going to leave you, I think you’ll be safer than ever before,” Carlee said. “All we ask is that you spread our message and allow anyone who wants to join us to meet us tomorrow morning, right here.”
“Who in their right mind would want to join vagrants?”
“Carlee did,” Stefani said. “Jeff did, and he grew up only a few miles from here.”
“I lost my arm and my leg, Miss Mayor,” Jeff said, taking a moment from his search for Dane to contribute to the recruitment effort. Ross was hardly enough reinforcement, no matter how quickly the young man had made himself at home. “The vagrants showed up afterward and saved my life. It’s a dangerous life doing what we do, but we are making a difference.”
“I don’t know what to think,” Susan admitted. “Are the Apostles going to come for us if we accept your guns?”
The question was for Carlee, so Jeff continued his search. It was more important to him at the moment, and truthfully, it was frustrating that the leaders of the communities weren’t jumping at the opportunity they offered. His hood indicated another person staked out by a cobbled-together wall. Jeff let the hood enhance his vision, and his breath caught in his throat.
Dane was crouched there with a scoped hunting rifle pointed in their direction. Jeff tugged on his hood even though it was unlikely Dane would recognize him at this distance.
His heart started beating deeply at seeing the face of his longtime friend who had left him for dead at the feet of an Apostle. So many boyhood memories rushed over him at once, filling him with a mix of emotions. Nostalgia battled hatred, and love fought the still-fresh wounds of betrayal. They had vowed to stay together, no matter what, but Dane had broken his promise.
He almost pressed in a copy of Stefani’s sniper rifle into his hands, but he stopped himself. Carlee would be unforgiving of an execution, no matter the past between them, especially while she was trying to gain the trust of their first coalition community.
Instead, he closed his eyes and let his mind wander to a reality where they had come to Old Unity before Townend. They had been welcomed into the community in this time line, and they were treated like a trade envoy coming home from a mission. He had found Dane, and Stefani had followed after the man and placed a tracking beacon on his back, where it wouldn’t be noticed.
Jeff’s mind felt like it was in a deep sleep, and he forced his eyes open. But no tracking device registered with his hood. The pressing of realities hadn’t been successful, despite the connection he felt. The distance between them had proven to be a greater barrier than he had anticipated.
He didn’t close his eyes this time. Instead, he focused on Dane. He cleared his mind and let himself fill in more details about the reality he was seeking. It had been raining that day, a rarity for this time of the year, but Stefani hadn’t let that stop her. She had snuck up behind Dane and attached the tracker to the back of Dane’s wool shirt. It had lodged itself there. The tracker was small enough that it wasn’t noticeable unless a trained eye was looking for it.
Dane wasn’t a very detail-oriented person, so it had gone undiscovered. From experience, he also knew Dane wasn’t the most hygienic or fashionable, two traits that had always hurt his efforts with the ladies. He’d lied about his backstory, claiming that he had killed several leeches and fought until there was none left.
“Jeff, time to go,” Stefani said. He felt her hand on his side, pulling him in a direction, but he had a hard time breaking his sight away from Dane. “Snap out of it.”
He shook his head and blinked several times while his mind separated from the other reality that he had immersed himself in.
“You’re scaring the good mayor lady,” Stefani said out of the corner of her mouth. Carlee was already fifteen feet away, heading back toward the fortress, where Ross was pacing back and forth nervously on the deck.
“He’s here,” Jeff said. “Dane is here.”
“We can’t get him right now,” Stefani said. “We’ll come back for him tonight.”
“I pressed a tracker on him.”
“From this distance? Impressive. I knew I was smart to save you, but it explains the stupid look on your face. Just about scared Susan and her Mounties away from the deal.”
“Did they take it?”
“We need to work on your skills. You’ll never be any good in a fight if you have to ignore everything around you to press.”
“I couldn’t think of anything but him.”
“I’ll try not to take it personally.”
41 LIMITATIONS
“ONLY ONE COUNTRY, KNOWN AS Russia, didn’t submit to Bud’s guidance, and because of that decision, it fell far, far behind the rest of the world.” Carlee paused, with Ross at rapt attention, and looked up at Stefani and Jeff in their flight armor, curiosity written across her face.
“Sorry to interrupt the lesson,” Stefani said. “But we are going to do some scouting.”
“Wait, we can fly?” Ross asked.
Jeff chuckled at Ross’s reaction—it was hard to believe that his had been the same only a few weeks ago. But his sense of time had been thrown off since he’d joined the vagrants. And this evening had felt like a century as he watched the minutes tick by until dark.
“Sure can with the right accessories,” Stefani said.
“This is too cool!” Ross said. “When do I get to do that?”
“Soon enough,” Carlee said. “Isn’t it a little late for scouting?”
“Best time to scout,” Stefani said.
The two of them shared a look, and a knowing smile slowly spread across Carlee’s face. She looked from Stefani to Jeff, and her presumptuous eyes made him feel like he was Ross’s age. He didn’t want Carlee to get the wrong impression—they hadn’t even discussed matters fully—but he didn’t complain. He feared that if he talked, he would confess what he was about to do. Part of him wanted to tell her, to have her forbid him from going, to force him to leave it in the past. But the stronger part longed for resolution.
“Oh. Yes. Well, good luck with your scouting. Don’t stay out too late. Hopefully, we’ll have more recruits in the morning.”
“We won’t,” Stefani said. She apparently had no qualms with the pretenses of their mission.
He activated his armor and took off while Ross stared at him as if he wasn’t real. Stefani joined him in the air a few seconds later, and together they turned toward Old Unity, where the tracker marked the site of his vengeance. He hated the mayor and the braves for what they had done, but Dane was the one who kept him up at night. Jeff had saved his life, and his former friend had abandoned him even after Jeff assured him they could make it out alive. He had been a generous fool to sacrifice himself for Dane, and he wouldn’t make that mistake again, not for someone who didn’t deserve it.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Stefani asked.
“I have to.”
“You could try forgiveness.”
“Forgiveness died with the old world.” Maybe in a different time line, things might have been different—he might have been different—but this was his path.
“I’ll keep watch, then, but keep it quiet. We did arm them with all sorts of weapons today. Carl wouldn’t be happy if they turned them on us.”
“It won’t be messy.” He’d envisioned how he would do it a thousand times in his head. A punishment to fit the crime. He wouldn’t do anything that
Dane hadn’t done to him.
They slowed as they traveled through the clouds directly above where Dane was staying. They dropped out of the cover and floated to the roof of the house. Jeff checked the area and was relieved that no one had noticed, although he wasn’t surprised. Most communities only had enough resources to keep a watch on their borders. No one expected vagrants to rain from the sky.
“All clear, Jeff,” Stefani said. “I’ll wait in the clouds. Call me if you need me.”
“Thanks.”
“And, Jeff . . . don’t lose yourself in there, OK?”
He didn’t respond as he lowered himself to the ground and opened the door to the house. Jeff stepped inside to see Dane whittling a piece of wood with a knife; a small energy cell wired was into the lights of the room. Dane didn’t look up, so Jeff took another step forward, letting his armor thud against the floor.
“Back already?” Dane looked up and tumbled backward in his chair, hitting the wall. “What the . . . who are you?”
Jeff took another step forward, and Dane flipped his knife around, holding it out defensively for a moment, but Dane wasn’t going to fight him; Jeff already knew that. Jeff found the reality he was searching for, and in the blink of an eye, a laser beam appeared to Dane’s left, and the timed charges surrounded the house. He would leave Dane with the same disadvantages and give him the chance to drag himself to safety, just as Dane had done to him. Jeff took another step forward, and his old friend’s face went white with fear.
“Get out of here!” Dane lunged with his knife, and Jeff caught his arm and twisted it, wrenching the knife free and bending his former friend to his will.
Dane screamed as he tried to free himself, and the fear on his friend’s face gave Jeff pause. A lifetime of loyalty and memories overcame his rage, forcing him to face emotions and thoughts he had buried beneath hatred.
“Who are you?” Dane whimpered the question as his eyes kept shifting upward.
His upbringing demanded a penance, a repayment for the offense, but that was before his new life. Carlee and Stefani had shown him that life could be more. He had so much left to learn, and he could feel himself falling for Stefani. With the explosives ticking down, he knew he couldn’t think about this decision any longer. He took a deep breath, and with his free arm, he pulled his helmet free from his armor.
“Hello, Dane.” His voice sent chills down his own spine. It was brooding in a way he never thought possible.
“Jeff! Oh, my God, Jeff! You’re alive!” Dane’s face lit up in pure happiness; there wasn’t a hint of the fear that Jeff had expected. The series of emotions cut him worse than the laser from Horus’s wings ever had.
“I came back for you after . . . I looked for you for days . . .” Dane was choked up, and the flood of emotions was too much.
Jeff was shocked—he hadn’t expected this reaction. Clearly, Dane thought he had done no wrong. And Jeff wanted to believe him. The weeks of letting his hate drive him resurfaced, demanding a payment if the rage hadn’t been misplaced.
“I . . .” Jeff released his friend and took a step back. The world slowed as Dane stumbled back from the release of tension, falling into the trap that Jeff had prepared for him. Jeff watched in slow motion as the laser he had pressed severed Dane’s legs with a hiss that Jeff would never forget.
Jeff pressed the laser out of existence and rushed to his friend, who had collapsed on the stairs.
“My legs . . .” Dane whined. He looked to be entering a state of shock.
The gruesome scene ate away at Jeff’s heart. He landed next to Dane and grabbed his friend by the back of the head and the hand. Words poured from him, as he’d lost all control of himself.
“I thought you betrayed me! You left me! You left me, Dane. Why did you leave me? We have to get out of here. There are bombs. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry . . .” Jeff tried to help Dane up, but he resisted.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs drew his attention; there was another person inside in the house.
“Jeff . . . save him . . . I’m sorry.”
The sound of more footsteps led Jeff’s gaze to a young boy standing on the stairs above Dane. There, staring down at Jeff’s former best friend, was Everett, Chad’s oldest son.
Jeff screamed at the same time Everett did, but the horror he felt was worse than the fear written across the boy’s face. Dane had left him so that he could go for Chad’s children. It was exactly what he would have wanted Dane to do; he had been just as close to them as Jeff was.
Jeff tried to press in a shield, but he couldn’t get his mind to connect to another reality, as it was in a state of panic.
Dane looked up to Everett and smiled bravely.
The charges were about to explode, and he couldn’t stop the trap he had laid. He couldn’t press.
“Save him,” Dane said.
Jeff dove forward and wrapped himself around Everett just as the explosion hit the house. He used the force of the blast and the thrusters behind his calves to push him forward, crashing through the wall into the outside air.
They landed outside as splinters and embers filled the air around them. Jeff cradled Everett, unable to do anything else.
“Dane!” Everett pushed himself away from Jeff without looking at his face and ran toward the fire. Jeff almost thought the boy was going to throw himself inside after his fallen caretaker, but he stopped short, dropping to his knees and letting out an anguished scream.
Jeff closed his eyes and tried to press himself into a different reality.
42 RECRUITS
EVERETT WAS ALIVE. DANE HAD saved him. And Jeff had killed Dane for raising his nephew after all of Everett’s family had passed. He tried harder to press himself into a time line where this hadn’t happened. To somewhere where he could still live with himself.
“Jeff, time to go!” Stefani said urgently. He could feel her next to him, and he could hear the sounds of people rushing to tend to the fire, but he didn’t care.
He opened his eyes just to get Dane’s face out his head, but he saw only Everett crying in front of the burning house. All of his nights of brooding and dreaming solely of his revenge had brought him to this. He wanted to throw himself in the fire with his friend.
“Hello? Jeff?” Stefani was getting nervous now; he could hear it in her voice. She should leave.
“You should leave me,” Jeff said. “Go!”
“I thought we were over this,” Stefani said. He felt her picking him up, but he fought against her, pushing her away until he felt his feet and arms lock in place. “I don’t know what just happened, but you’re coming with me whether you like it or not.”
He didn’t fight her anymore as she lifted him into the air. The fire from the burning house lit up the scores of people rushing to Dane’s house. But Jeff cared only about one person, the young boy crying over the death of the man who had somehow saved his life.
Jeff started crying. The pain of regret and self-loathing was too much for him to bear. It was far more painful than any punch or wound had ever been. He didn’t stop crying when they arrived back on the sleepy fortress, and he didn’t stop until his body fell asleep from exhaustion hours later.
His throat burned in the morning, but he refused to drink anything. Easing the pain seemed cheap, like he was cheating Everett and Dane; he deserved to suffer. Stefani had sat next to him all night, not saying a word, and when he woke up, she was still there next to him. It made him hate himself even more.
“We’re going to pick up the recruits, if we have any, in a few minutes,” Stefani said. “Are you going to be OK if I leave you here?”
He nodded, fearing that if he spoke, he might gush out all of his shame to her. He didn’t deserve her care.
“Look, I don’t know what happened down there last night, and I don’t care. I’m here for you, so take as much time as you need, cry as many tears as you want, and when you’re done, I’ll be here to talk with you about it. Or not talk about it.”
It didn’t feel right. He wasn’t ready to be around more people. He left the room behind and stepped out into the daylight. Smoke rose from inside Old Unity, and Jeff’s heart reeled at seeing the aftermath of his murder.
Beneath the smoke, Jeff could see Carlee and Stefani in their vagrant uniforms meeting with a handful of men and women outside the borders of the community. Ross stood next to them; he was young, but he was already taller than both women by a foot. They would be coming back soon, all of them. He didn’t know how he would face them. How he would face Carlee.
But worse than that, he didn’t know how to face the reality that his plan had been to make life better for humans by arming them, but so far all he had done was make life worse for the only human alive who shared his blood. He owed Everett a debt that he knew he could never pay.
Then he realized there was something he could do. Something that would give him the chance to benefit Everett, honor Dane, and even redeem himself. Something that he knew now that only he could do. His mind cleared with the realization that this was the reason he was still alive. He rushed back to his room, not with a newfound sense of life, but of duty. He didn’t waste time in assembling his flight armor once again; instead, he pressed in a set around himself. It came naturally to him now. He now hated the reality he lived in, so forming a connection with a different—and therefore better—reality was easier than ever before.
Jeff rummaged through his small pack of belongings until he found what he was looking for. He turned it over in his hands and stepped outside. Stefani and Carlee were still meeting with the new recruits, and Jeff watched them for a minute, thankful that he had spent the time with them that he had. He cared for them both, differently, and he would miss them. Thinking of what might have been with Stefani in a different time line was too painful.
Vagrants (Vagrants Series Book 1) Page 27