As I reached the bush, I looked for the tracks of my entry point. There weren’t any. I waded into the brambles, their prickles scratching my skin, and searched for the bike. It wasn’t there. Maybe I had the wrong bush.
I surveyed the landscape. There were other bushes around, but none of them large enough to hide a bike. Given the proximity to the cave, I was almost certain this was the right bush.
I retraced my path all the way back to the stream, but I couldn’t find tracks anywhere. The tree where I had broken a branch to mark my way was still there, but the branch was gone. I examined where it had been snapped off close to the trunk and found a dark substance smeared across the stump, darkening the exposed wood to make it blend with the bark. It was still wet.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and a shiver ran down my spine. Was someone watching me? I scanned the tree line for any sign of movement. There was none. I listened intently but only the sound of the stream skipping over rocks reached my ears. The sun still wasn’t up and the darkness gave me confidence—the bourge couldn’t see in the dark.
Moving deeper into the shadows of the trees, I continued along the stream to the place where it branched and looked for my other markers. Each rock I’d overturned was now back in its place. Each branch I had snapped had been removed and the fresh wood beneath camouflaged. I was pretty sure I could follow my path all the way back to town and find the same thing. Someone had covered my tracks. I wasn’t alone out here. I looked around again to see if I was being followed but didn’t see anyone.
I filled my empty flask from the stream, took a long drink, and filled it again. Then I began picking my way back to the cave, carefully placing my feet to avoid making noise. The pressure of Jack’s pistol in my waistband was reassuring, even if I forgot how to shoot. At least I could use the threat of it to buy me time to run.
Then I heard a twig snap.
I froze. Only my eyes moved as I searched the area where I’d heard the noise. Holding my breath, I strained to hear any other movements. Then I heard it again. A quick survey of the area told me there was nowhere to hide. I wrapped my hand around the pistol and aimed it at the noise.
“I’m armed,” I said.
“Geez, it’s a girl.” Two men walked out of the forest and approached me. It was Terran and Flint. “Oh, it’s Mrs. Kenner,” Flint said. Terran guffawed.
I lowered the gun. “Do I have you to thank?”
“For what?”
“Covering our tracks.”
Terran shook his head. “We’re just coming back from the corrals. Soldiers are tearing the place apart looking for you two.”
“Is it true President Kenner shot General Powell?” Flint asked.
Terran rolled his eyes. “He’s not the president, you idiot.”
I nodded at Flint. “I was in a bad situation and Jack didn’t see any other way out.”
“So all the stuff you told your mom was true?” Terran asked.
“The entire C Block heard me, didn’t they?”
“No, not everyone,” Flint said. “The ladies on the far side of the building didn’t. I had to fill them in.”
Terran closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, and looked at me. “The only reason we’re partners is because we’re not tagged.” Ignoring Flint, he kept his gaze on me. “So how come you’re out here alone?”
“Jack was shot when we escaped,” I said. My lower lip trembled and I bit down on it. “He’s not doing so well.”
“Hey, I’m sorry to hear that,” Terran said softly. Flint opened his mouth to speak, but Terran elbowed him. “If there’s anything we can do to help, let us know. In fact, I bet you’re hungry.” He dug into his bag and pulled out a food container, not so different from the ones we used in the Pit.
“Thank you,” I said. “But how did you get the food? I thought you said there were soldiers all over the corrals.”
“We hid in the woods until they cleared out. It took them hours, but there are hungry men on the range counting on us.”
I held the container out to him. “I don’t want to take someone’s food.”
Terran refused to take it back. “It’s okay, you’re one of us. And I do mean that literally—you realize the range is a stone’s throw that way, right?” He pointed in the same direction as our hideout.
It was alarming news. “No, I didn’t know that.” There was nothing I could do about it now. Even if I could physically pick Jack up and climb down to the ground with him, I couldn’t move him while he was hurt. It would kill him.
“We can pass by here again tomorrow before sunrise if you want to meet us and get more food.”
“I’d really appreciate that.”
Flint motioned to the rising sun, now peeking over the mountain. “We gotta go.”
“See you tomorrow,” Terran said.
The first rays of the morning sun streaked the sky as I entered the cave. I dropped down on my knees next to Jack and placed my hand over his heart. It was still beating. He wasn’t as cold.
“Jack?” I whispered hopefully. He didn’t respond.
I removed his bandage and checked the wound. It looked pinker than it had a few hours ago. I covered it with a new bandage and checked his IV.
“Jack?” I said again. This time I put my ear close to his mouth in case he only had the strength to whisper. All I heard was his breathing. Breathing was a good sign.
Leaning back against the cave wall, I opened the container of pieces of grilled meat and cooked vegetables. As I ate, I watched him. He looked so pale, but the rise and fall of his chest was reassuring.
“You’re not going to be happy about this, but I lost the bike,” I said, keeping my voice to a whisper. I didn’t expect him to respond so I wasn’t too disappointed when he didn’t. “The good news is someone covered our tracks. I ran into Terran and Flint—did I tell you about you them last night?—and they said it wasn’t them.” I ate some more. Jack breathed. “Do you have a bourge friend that would help us like that?” I licked my fingers clean and replaced the lid on the container, saving some for him in case he woke up. “Because if it wasn’t any of them, I wonder if it was…” I lowered my voice to an almost-inaudible whisper. “The heathens?” Not that I liked calling them heathens, but I knew Jack would understand who I meant.
I talked until it was time to change his IV. Maybe he could hear me. Maybe he couldn’t. I was going on hope.
Exhausted, I laid down beside him. His body was definitely warmer than it had been last night. I placed my hand over his heart and rested my head close to his, silently listening to him breathe.
The distant sound of voices jolted me from a light slumber. Startled, I looked around the cave. We were still alone. The voices were drifting in from outside. Jack remained on his back, unmoved. He was warm now and his heartbeat was steady.
Putting on my sunglasses, I crept closer to the entrance of our cave to better hear the men’s voices below.
“—women out soon because I’m tired of seeing your ugly mugs.”
Laughter.
“Like you could get a woman!”
More laughter.
Cautiously, I crept through the crevice and lay on my stomach close to the opening. Three soldiers were sitting on the ground using the trees as backrests, and a fourth was in the process of standing up. They weren’t far from our cave. I didn’t see any bikes with them, so I assumed they were on foot. That made me uneasy. Vehicles were louder and I could at least hear them coming.
The one standing pulled his zipper down and started peeing. “My feet are killing me. I hope they finish that friggin’ UAV soon.”
One of the men sitting looked up at him. “We have a drone? What the hell are we doing
wasting our time out here, then?”
Peeing man turned slightly toward him. “We don’t have it yet. Duncan said all the replicators were confiscated to make parts for one. I don’t know how long it takes to put it together.”
The man closest to the one peeing jumped up. “Jesus Christ, you’re pissing all over my pants!”
“Oh crap, sorry,” peeing man said.
More laughter.
“It’s not funny!” peed-on man said.
“He’s right, it’s not,” said one of the men still sitting. He stood up. “How’re we supposed to catch heathens when they can smell us coming?”
More laughter.
“You think it’s funny?” peed-on man said, pulling down his zipper. “Let’s see how much you like it.”
“Put that thing away,” said standing man. He was a lot bigger than peed-on man. “One drop of piss hits me and you won’t be able to dig my boot out of your ass for a year.”
“We should start heading back anyway,” the last man sitting said. He stood. “I don’t want to get stuck out here at night.”
They started walking away.
“Where’s the stream? I need to wash this stink off me,” peed-on man said.
“You gonna whine all the way home? I said I was sorry.”
Their voices were becoming more distant.
“You can both shut up now. We’re supposed to be trolling for heathens.”
Their voices were fading.
“We’re not catching any…” Their voices drifted away.
I didn’t know much about drones, other than they were some kind of aircraft that flew by remote. I didn’t know how far they could fly or if they had weapons. And I didn’t know why they were looking for heathens. I assumed they were looking for us.
Returning to the cave, I opened my flask of water and took a few gulps. A gurgling sound filled the room as the liquid hit my empty stomach. I ate a few more bites.
Jack’s IV was still half full, so I estimated I dozed off for about four hours. Removing the bandage, I inspected the wound. I was surprised to see it was almost healed. Did Doc’s nanorobots do that? Or was Jack just a fast healer? Either way, I was happy. He just needed to wake up. We were running out of time.
The idea that maybe he wasn’t going to wake up crept into my thoughts. Could he be brain-dead? I had watched a movie where one of the characters had been injured to the point where only minimal brain functions were possible. His body kept breathing, but there was nothing else going on in his head. What if Jack never woke up?
“Jack!” I whispered as loudly as I dared.
I went nose-to-nose with him, looking for any eye movement or recognition that I had spoken. His eyeballs moved back and forth under his lids; they were the only part of his body that was moving.
Gently, I shook him. “Jack!” Nothing.
Lying back down, I wrapped my arms around him and watched the little spot at the base of his throat beat in time with his heart.
I hung the second-to-last IV. Between this one and the one remaining, it gave him about sixteen hours. Would it be enough? If I remembered correctly, Doc said IVs were for fluids and antibiotics. I tried to remember how long the human body could go without water, just in case I ran out of IVs before he woke up. Three days? Less?
Growls erupted from my stomach, breaking the silence in the small cave. I had finished the food hours ago and my water flask was empty, too. Terran said they usually passed through just before sunrise. I had no idea what time it was, but the sun wasn’t up yet.
“I won’t be long.” I kissed his forehead and studied him for any sign that he felt my kiss. There was none.
Tucking the pistol into the back waistband of my shorts, I left the cave and returned to the spot where I had met the men yesterday. No one was there. A tree with low-hanging branches stood alongside the creek. I climbed it, using its height and foliage as cover, and waited to see if they would show.
My perch gave me a perfect view of the stream and surrounding area. I waited quietly, perking up when I saw movement in a bush. But it was only a small animal wanting a drink from the stream. I wondered what it would be like to hunt. If I couldn’t get food from the men, I would have to find it another way or starve. And if I starved, that meant Jack would too.
The animal raised its head, ears standing straight up, and scampered away.
“I’m sure it was right around here,” Terran said.
They walked directly under the tree, giving me a birds-eye view.
“I’m telling you, it was back there,” Flint said. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. She’s not here either.”
“Let’s give her a minute.”
“Why do you like her so much?”
Terran shrugged. “What if she’s telling the truth? Don’t you want to help free the Pit?”
“Yeah, like President Kenner is actually out here trying to free the Pit. You know how stupid that sounds, right?”
“He’s not the president!” Terran smacked Flint in the shoulder. “Besides, he shot Powell. The guy can’t be all bad.”
Flint rubbed his shoulder.
“Thanks for waiting,” I said from the tree.
Both men jumped at the sound of my voice and looked up at me. I climbed down.
“You were up there the whole time?” Terran asked.
“Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
“Sure you didn’t,” Flint said.
“Sorry,” I apologized again. “A group of soldiers passed through here earlier. I didn’t want to take any chances, so I hid in the tree.”
“Bourge don’t usually come into the woods at night, but if they do they always have lights with them. Easy to spot them coming,” Terran said.
“Do you ever see the, um, other people who live out here?”
“You mean the heathens?” Terran asked.
I nodded.
“We see them once in a while, but they keep their distance. Rumor has it they tried to make contact with the bourge when they first came out here, but it didn’t end well for them…the heathens, that is.” He set his backpack on the ground, took out a container and handed it to me.
“By the way, your mom sends her love,” Flint said. “And she said she wants you to ditch the bourge and run.”
His words felt like a blow. Had my mother really said that?
Terran shot him a dry look. “Did anyone ever tell you that you have the diplomatic skills of a sledgehammer?”
I understood my mother was worried about me, but I wasn’t about to ditch Jack. “You can tell my mother I can take care of myself and not to worry.”
“How is Mr. Kenner?” Terran asked.
“No change.”
“It’s just…you told some men that Kenner planned on turning off the tagging system and a lot of people have their hopes up.”
“That was the plan.” Closing my eyes, I rubbed the heel of my hand across my forehead. I was exhausted and wasn’t sure I could handle the weight of everybody counting on us. “Have you tried to get around the fence? You two dug a tunnel into the corral—can’t everyone get out that way?”
“We’re not stupid,” Flint said.
“We have thought of that,” Terran said. “But we don’t know how far down we’d have to dig to circumvent the tagging system—and even if we tried, who’s going to test it? Destroying it is out of the question because it’s in armored casing.”
Sparkles of light danced off the stream and I looked up to see the sun rising behind the mountain. My sunglasses were on top of my head and I pushed them down onto the bridge of my nose. I hadn’t even really noticed that it was getting light out—how
quickly I was becoming accustomed to it.
“If something happens and Jack—” I choked on my next words. I couldn’t bring myself to say them. “We’ll find another way to turn off the tagging system.”
Terran put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “We all want him to pull through. But if he doesn’t, you should leave here. Your mom is right.”
“Come on,” Flint said. “The sun’s up. There are going to be soldiers all over the place soon.” He looked at me. “Seems like the range is the safest place to be these days. Everyone’s out looking for you instead of hunting.”
“Glad I could help,” I said, dryly.
“Meet here tomorrow morning?” Terran asked.
I nodded and held up the container. “Thanks again.”
I waited until they were out of view before heading back to the cave. Terran seemed trustworthy, but Flint scared me a little bit.
The hairs on the back of my neck started to prickle, and a shiver went down my spine. I had the sensation that someone was watching me. Keeping my head straight, I scanned my periphery and strained my ears to listen for footsteps. I veered deeper into the forest and headed toward the back entrance to the cave.
Hiding in the bushes, I silently sat and observed the cave entrance. I listened intently for any signs of humans or animals. Silently I sneaked out and made my way through the crevice.
My breath stuck in my throat when I saw the empty bedroll.
Jack was gone.
Chapter Seventeen
The IV bag was still suspended from the makeshift hanger, but the needle lay discarded on the floor. The bedroll, blankets and medical supplies were still all here. The only thing missing was Jack.
I checked every nook and cranny of the small cave, which I knew was irrational. There was nowhere a grown man could hide.
The morning sun was hanging low in the sky when I slipped back out. I searched the ground for tracks and found some boot prints, but the soldiers that passed through yesterday could have easily made them.
The sound of a bird or animal startled me. I wasn’t sure what direction the sound came from. I listened intently but didn’t hear it again.
Worlds Collide: Sunset Rising, Book Two Page 17