The bearded man opens his mouth to ask another question, but Heinrich holds up a hand.
“There’s no more to discuss. Let’s ride.”
Everyone turns to get a seat in each of the vehicles. Heinrich motions me to follow him and we reach the SUV at the front of the caravan. I’m met with a wave from a nice-looking man, maybe in his forties, holding a shotgun.
“Nice to meet you, Mora. I’m the driver, Bret.” He extends a hand and I shake it as he motions his head to the right. “This is Rob. He’ll be going in our vehicle.” Rob nods as he messes with his rifle, barely acknowledging me. He wears the same dark uniforms of the Screven guards, which shows me that Krindle wants to keep these guys under his thumb.
Heinrich tells me to get in the SUV as he opens the door and Connor comes in behind me. The interior has been modified so that two bench seats sit facing each other in the back. Connor sits directly in front of me with his back to the passenger front seat. Heinrich stays outside of the vehicle to talk to Bret and Rob about something.
I look at Connor with pursed lips. “I don’t know if this has occurred to you, but I’m not going back to my village without some promise of help.”
“I know,” Connor says. “Heinrich just doesn’t want any more trouble. I think we’ll be able to talk him out of taking you back.”
“You’re going to help me with that?” I ask. “Couldn’t I just stay here? If I explain to Krindle that I’m trying to do business with Screven, then maybe they will even give me a ride there.”
“Krindle doesn’t care about business. Believe me, you don’t want to stay here and try to bargain with him.”
Rob gets into the back seat across from me behind the driver’s seat and closes the door firmly. Bret gets behind the wheel, and Heinrich slips into the front passenger seat.
“You’re going back home, Miss Mora,” Heinrich says. “I’m sorry. I know you want to help your village, but I can’t let you go out there alone. It’s too dangerous.”
I want to argue, but I know there is no use. I’ve got no gun, no food or water. No vehicle. I’d be as good as dead out there alone, and I can’t expect these people to provide me with everything I need. I’ll just have to go back to Springhill, restock, and try again.
The vehicles start to move as the Screven guards open the front gate for everyone to leave. Wristbands sound off as everyone tests the communication with the other vehicles. Once we reach a steady speed, Connor leans forward and I do the same.
“We won’t get to your village today,” he whispers. “We might have enough time to convince him to take you to Screven.”
I appreciate Connor’s willingness to help, even though I’m a stranger to him. He just wants to make sure I get the protection Springhill needs.
The drive is mostly dull. The flat plains seem to go on for an eternity. It’s not until we reach a hillier wooded area that chatter on the wristbands starts to pick up some.
I rest my head on the window as we drive for hours. When we stop for a bathroom and food break, I glance at Connor’s wristband. It’s one in the afternoon. I wonder how much farther we have to travel before we actually start looking for people, but I don’t want to come across as annoying. I’m already not supposed to be here. As the others get out of their vehicles, Bret tosses me a bottle of water and a small bag with a sandwich. The porridge this morning had been filling, but that had long worn off. I devour the meal before the others are even halfway finished with theirs.
I’m thankful for the cool bottle, as the sun’s heat is unrelenting. Bret looks down at his wristband and whistles as he shakes his head.
“Hundred degrees,” he says.
Heinrich wipes the sweat from his brow and takes a sip of his water. “We’ve got about an hour before we start the search on foot,” he says.
I want to ask what exactly they are expecting to find. I know they’re looking for Connor’s brother Aaron, and the others that were with him, but what were they doing out in the first place? I know this isn’t something that is my place to ask, but I do anyway.
After my question rings out into the open air, the others are silent. Connor is the first to answer me.
“They were looking for supplies,” he says. “Farming supplies.”
I wait for more of an explanation, but it’s clear that I’m not going to get one. Truthfully, it’s not really my business, but if I’m going into a potential greyskin-infested area, I’d like to know why.
We all pile back into the vehicles and begin to ride away again. We drive for another hour until it’s time to stop. Everyone knows the danger that lies ahead, being in the woods and all.
People in this world understand that the worst places to be are the old abandoned cities and forests. If you’re out on the plains, you can see the greyskins from miles away. That’s why so many of the villages and colonies have come to this area. Even so, a herd has an easier time of finding you if you’re out in the open. Really, you’re taking a chance no matter where you go.
But I hate the forests. One moment you can be walking through an area and become so swept away in its beauty, that before you can blink twice, you accidentally come up on a herd that wants you for dinner. All of a sudden, they surround you and you’re lucky to get out at all, much less without a scratch or bite.
And a scratch or a bite is all it takes.
The vehicles are parked at the edge of this place they call Garden’s Peak. It’s so hot out it’s difficult for me to enjoy the view, but my eyes can’t help but take it in.
The trees are full of big, green leaves and flowers bloom all over the place. Bees fly from one to another, collecting pollen for the hive. My eyes aren’t easily torn from this rare, untouched nature scene.
It’s late in the afternoon, almost three. Heinrich instructs each person to form teams and to meet back at the vehicles at eight o’clock sharp. He reminds them to keep the volume on the wristbands down, and not to fire a shot at anything unless a life depends on it. There’s no danger of that on my end. I feel for my knife on my left thigh, hoping nothing gets close enough to me that I have to use it.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Connor says when he notices that I’m following behind them.
“Why not?”
“Your leg, Mora. You can’t keep up with us.”
My leg hurts a little, but I’ll be fine. Whatever the salve was that Evelyn had given me to put on my leg has helped tremendously.
“It’s not that bad anymore,” I say.
“Connor’s right,” Heinrich says. “You need to stay with the vehicle.” He looks at his wristband. “We’ll be back in about five hours. Just stay here and you’ll be fine.”
Connor reaches behind him and pulls out a pistol from his belt. “Here,” he says. “Use it only if you have to.”
I say nothing as I take the gun. I’m thankful for it, but I don’t conceal my anger when I inspect the clip to make sure it’s loaded.
“What’s to keep me from leaving?” I ask.
“Do what you will,” Heinrich says as he turns to walk away. “You’ve got no keys to start the SUV, so it will be a long walk to wherever you’re going. We’ll be back at eight.”
Connor gives me a short shrug and turns to follow the others. I bite my fingernails, frustrated and feeling completely alone. If a herd came through here I’d be toast. That is, unless my newfound powers could really do the damage I think they’re capable of. I hope I don’t have to test them.
I leave the doors to the SUV open as I sit in the shade of the cab, my stitched right leg dangling out. I switch the safety of the pistol on and off as I sit here bored. Pretty much everyone knows how to shoot a gun. Even the small children in my village know where to aim when shooting at a greyskin. They usually start learning on a pistol like this one, and then move up to the larger rifles. The hope is that they never have to use these skills, but it’s a false hope. Everyone, even the children, have to use a gun at some point.
The hours drag o
n. Once or twice, I look through each vehicle, curious if anyone left something useful behind or keys in the ignition. There isn’t much. There’s food for the trip and a few extra medical supplies.
Heinrich and the others took a gamble assuming that I can’t hotwire a vehicle. One full of gas with food and medical supplies would be all I would need to make it to Screven from here, though I would have to stop somewhere and try to figure out the directions. I’ve never actually been near Garden’s Peak before, except for the town I was in yesterday. During the drive, Connor told me that the town where he had found me was two hours north of Garden’s Peak, making it two hours closer to Salem. He had hoped that maybe Aaron and his lost group had taken up shelter there, but Connor obviously never found anyone except me.
At some point during the wait, I start to drift off. I know better than this, but the hot sun and semi-comfortable seat do nothing to help me stay awake.
My eyes blast open at the sound of moving feet. The sun has faded out of the sky almost completely. How long have I been asleep? I grip the pistol firmly and step out of the SUV, but then I hear voices.
Greyskins don’t talk.
I ease my grip when I see Connor and Heinrich walking in front of a group of other men.
“I’m actually a little surprised you didn’t take off,” Heinrich says. “Smart girl.”
I ignore him as he walks past me, and I look at Connor. “Any luck on finding your brother?”
He shakes his head and walks to the SUV. I move near him. “Are you okay?” I ask.
Connor turns around to face me. He looks at Heinrich, probably to make sure he is out of earshot. “One more hour,” Connor says. “We found a trail, but it was time to come back. One more hour was all we needed.”
“You know it was Aaron’s trail?” I ask.
“No, but it was something to go on. Heinrich thinks it’s a bad idea to look while it’s dark. I’m afraid if we wait any longer, we won’t find him alive.” He rubs a hand through his short, brown hair. “We found a decent path that the vehicles can travel by, so it won’t take long to get there in the morning. But I don’t plan to wait that long.”
“What are you planning?”
“I’m going out tonight,” he whispers.
“You think that’s a good idea?”
“No, but I have to do it.”
“By foot?” I ask.
“Well, I can’t very well sneak out of here with the SUV. We had to turn back after two and a half hours, but I’ve got the rest of the night to get as far as I need.”
I can’t help but see the hope in Connor’s hazel eyes. I can’t help but admire his passion. He’s unconventional, but that’s not always a bad thing. “You really think he’s out there don’t you?” I ask.
“I really do,” he says, setting his rifle in the seat of the SUV.
“Let me go with you,” I say. “I got some sleep while you were gone. I’m not tired at all.”
“But your leg,” he says.
“It’s much better, I promise. I’m not even limping anymore.”
“It was a really deep cut,” he says. “Remember? You, no pants, bloody leg, sitting on the couch less than twenty-four hours ago?”
“Yeah, I remember. Evelyn gave me some ointment, some kind of fast-healing stuff. It’s not completely healed, of course, but it’s much better.”
Connor snorts. “She’s a strange one. I’d be careful of whatever medicine she gives me.”
I look down at my leg, suddenly unsure of whether I should be happy that I can’t feel the wound.
Connor sighs and looks in every direction. “I wouldn’t mind having company out there. Gets pretty creepy, even during the day.”
“Then let me go with you.”
“Why do you want to? What’s in it for you?”
“Honestly, I feel safer hiking in the forest all night than sleeping in a camp full of men, especially these men.”
“Ah, they’re not so bad, but I understand, I guess.”
We decide that Connor will volunteer for the first watch, and once everyone is asleep, we’ll slip out unnoticed.
After Connor volunteers, Heinrich agrees to take the second watch, then tells me that I can have the SUV to myself. He even offers me a blanket and tells me to keep warm. It’s a nice gesture that I’m surprised to receive from the Salem leader. He says something about wanting to sleep on the ground, then walks away silently.
During the wait, I get into the back of the SUV and lock the doors so I can take a minute to look at my cut thigh. It’s healing quickly. I put more of the ointment on it and wrap myself back up. I sit and wait with the door open so there won’t be much noise when Connor comes to get me.
I find that I’m actually a little more tired than I thought, even though I slept so long today. I don’t know how long I wait for Connor, but I’m pretty sure I’m asleep when he finally grabs my arm, startling me.
“You ready?” he asks.
I wipe my tired eyes and nod as I shove the pistol under my belt at my back and feel for the knife on my left thigh. In all actuality, I’m terrified to go into the forest at night, but for some reason I trust Connor. I’ve barely known him a day, and I don’t really know anything about him, but it’s just a feeling. For some reason, I want him to find his brother more than anything. I try to imagine how I’d feel if it was my little brother, Jake, stuck in the wilderness alone. I’d be worried sick. I would want someone near me who was willing to go into the forest at night too.
As we leave the camp, my first concern is that we are leaving with no one watching it. I voice this concern to Connor, but he tells me that there is a device on the dashboard of the SUV that he set to monitor the campsite for any unusual movements. If a greyskin comes through, it will wake everyone with an alarm.
“And I’ve got the wristband if they need to contact me,” Connor says.
“Those things seem pretty useful,” I say.
Connor shrugs. “They can help for a lot of things, but it’s Screven’s way of keeping an eye on everyone.”
“Aren’t we talking too loud?” I ask, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.
He shakes his head. “If greyskins were anywhere around, we would have spotted them earlier today.”
My thoughts instantly go to yesterday when I thought the town I was in was abandoned. Far from it. But I talk to him anyway.
For the next three hours, we talk about everything. I learn that his parents were also killed about six years ago. I learn that he is now twenty-two years old and his brother, Aaron, is two years younger.
I tell him a little about my life, my little brother, my grandma. I tell him about how we’ve needed some kind of protection for a long time now.
“I just feel like it’s worth giving up some liberties to save the village,” I say. “It’s either that or die.”
“Or move,” Connor says.
“Yeah, but where? No place is safe from the herds.”
“I guess you’re right about that. I wish I had answers for you. I know you can’t just sit by and do nothing. It’s an unfair world that we live in.”
I’m about to say something else, but he holds up a hand for me to keep silent, and then readies his gun. I pull out the pistol from my belt and switch the safety off.
“You hear that?” he asks.
It’s some distance away, but I do hear movement in front of us.
“Sounds like footsteps,” I whisper.
As I finish my sentence we both hear the familiar grunt of a greyskin coupled with shuffling leaves on the ground. My grip on to the pistol is tighter. In this light there will be no chance of knowing how many there are until they’re right on top of us.”
We both stand in cold silence waiting. My vision is decent, but the thickness of the trees covers up most of the moonlight. Still, I’m able to see a tree with low-hanging branches. I tap on Connor’s shoulder and he jumps a little before looking at my face. I point to the tree, then up and he nods
.
Putting the pistol back in the waist of my pants, I start to climb the tree with Connor directly below me. We try to make as little noise as possible and we make our way up the tree. Once we’re both about twenty feet in the air, we stop, still listening for any sign of the approaching greyskin.
At first I don’t hear anything, but then there’s more rustling. We can just make out the shape of the greyskin as it passes below us. I can tell that it has caught our scent, but it doesn’t have enough sense to know that we climbed up the tree. It stands below the tree for a few minutes, grunting. I can’t help but feel sick by it. Even though I’ve grown up my whole life with these terrible creatures, I still know that it was once a person like me.
Pretty soon, it isn’t interested in the spot where we previously stood and moves on. Connor breathes a sigh of relief and begins to climb back down, but I grab his arm. He looks at me with curiosity in his eyes, but I shake my head.
“Wait,” I say.
“What?”
“Wait.”
I don’t know what it is, but it’s as if I sense that there are more. It’s a new feeling, one that I haven’t really ever experienced before. It’s like I feel more of them coming. We both sit in the branches for a full minute before we hear the rustling of more leaves on the ground ahead of us.
Two greyskins. Four greyskins. Ten greyskins. A herd of greyskins crosses below us.
We absolutely cannot make a sound. Though most greyskins can’t climb, they also won’t leave us alone until we either fall out of the tree or they can knock it over. If even one of them notices we are in the tree, it’s over for us. We could shoot until we are out of ammunition, but with this many, it won’t take long before we’re on the ground, thrashing and stabbing until they devour us. That’s why we’re holding our breath. That’s why we can’t make a sound.
It feels like an eternity as they pass through. I lose count after about fifty of them. Why they are traveling through the middle of the forest like this is a mystery. I can tell they aren’t heading in the direction of the camp, so the others are safe for now.
Out Of Darkness (The Starborn Saga) Page 5