ME2 (S.E.E.D.S. Book 1)

by J Peregrine

  “Wow.” My eyebrows went up. “I take it they're not your favorite people?” I had no idea what he was talking about, but I was pretty sure he was really just trying to scare me away from going to the city, and I had no intention of being dissuaded. “Be that as it may, I am searching for my father, I intend to find him, and I don’t have to defend myself to a total stranger.”

  “You see. Who talks like that? Be that as it may...?” he shouted and pointed at me, “I’ll tell you who, no one, which means you must work for the agency.” He stood up and stepped back. “I should have known, a girl on her own out here in the middle of nowhere. Do you work for The Agency? Well, you were looking for me, now you found me, congratulations! Where’s your birds to take us away? If you’re throwing me in chains, do it and let’s get it over with!” he said this, throwing his arms in a circle and looking up to the sky as if something was going to swoop down and grab us.

  I put my hands up, palms out, and crinkling my face I looked at him trying to sort out what was going on. Was he joking with me? Should I be amused? Finally, I took a breath. “I guess I didn’t know this was truth or dare,” I said, and waited.

  He scrunched his brow and squinted at me. Then he shook his head a little. “That...who says that?” he shouted and stared at me.

  “Me,” I said. "And you're crazy, did you know that?"

  “You’re not from The Agency?”

  I shook my head.

  He stared at me like he was boring a hole through my skull as though doing this would uncover who I really was. Then he sighed, and squinted and leaned back against the wall again. “You're really looking for your father?”

  I nodded and decided I needed to tell him my story, at least some of it so maybe he would help me. “My father went to the city when I was a baby and when my grandfather was dying, he made me promise to find my father. So that’s what I’m doing,” I said, and threw more stones onto the pile.

  “Is he the one who made the dog?” he said, pointing up.

  “Grandfather found Dog a long time ago so no, he didn’t invent him, but he did upgrade him for me. He was a scientist.”

  He sat down now and nodded, brushing the dirt off his hands.

  “My father’s also a scientist,” I said, and shrugged, “That’s about as much as I know.” I bent to gather more rocks.

  “Your father,” he said, with a tone I didn’t like, “is a scientist, and he lives in the city?”

  I stopped and looked at him, maybe he had brain damage. “Yes, the one I’ve been telling you I need to find.”

  “There is only one scientist I know of who lives in the city, and he is no one's father.”

  “Well, maybe you don’t know him then. I mean you can’t know every scientist that lives in the city.” I smiled at him, glad to have something to talk about.

  He looked confused again as if I wasn’t making any sense.

  “I don’t expect you to know him....” I said, trailing off.

  “You don‘t seem to understand, there is only one scientist in the city and his name is Mo...”

  “You know him!” My eyes shot wide.

  Chapter 18

  He glared at me for a long moment and then looked at the ground shaking his head back and forth. “Seriously? I'm in the middle of nowhere and I had to meet the only person in the world that WANTS to find the man the rest of us want to stay away from!”

  I was too excited to hear his incrimination of Mo. “You know where he is?” I said, as I jumped up. I was relieved and overwhelmed to have actually met someone, anyone who might know Mo’s whereabouts.

  He rubbed his face with both hands. “You can’t be serious?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You have to be mistaken; Mo is not anyone’s father. He is a traitor, a user, a monster, not a father. I wouldn’t go near him even with an army behind me, even if he was MY father.”

  “What do you mean? Of course, I’m serious, and he’s a scientist, not a monster.”

  “Ha! He may be a scientist, but do you have any idea what he has been doing the last eighteen years?”

  I paused trying to think what I really knew about Mo. “Maybe we’re talking about different people. I haven’t seen him since I was a baby but...” I had no defense. He was right, I had no idea what Mo had been doing or even what kind of person he truly was. Grandfather was the only person I knew, and I built my assumptions about Mo on who Grandfather was and what he had told me about him which was admittedly nothing. “You’re right, I don’t know him, but I do know that my grandfather’s last request was that I find him. So that’s what I’m doing.”

  He turned his back on me and dug at a large stone. “Well, you’ll have to find someone else to take you there, cause I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  He straightened up. “You want to get me killed so you can meet the man that walked out on you when you were a child? Great idea,” he said, as he threw his hands in the air.

  I stood there stunned. I had lived through a lot lately and now this. “You’re telling me that out of all the people I could have met in the world, I ran into someone in the middle of nowhere who knows my father and probably knows where he is but won’t take me to him?”

  “Yes,” he said, closing his eyes and squeezing his forehead with one hand.

  Now it was my turn to crinkle my brow and look confused and angry. “Yes, you know where he is or, yes, you won’t take me to him?”

  He nodded.

  “He’s my father, my family. I'd risk everything to find him." I sighed. "You don’t want to take me to him, fine, can you at least tell me how to find him?” I tried to think how else I could convince him.

  He slid his back down the wall and sat there and to be honest, he looked like he'd given up. “Look, I don’t know your story but I’m telling you, Mo is not your father. He’s not anybody's father, he’s a madman. I don’t know why your grandfather wants you to find him, but he cannot be your father. Think about it. Why would he send you with his dying breath to find a man you have never met?”

  “He had a good reason. He knew he was about to be killed and he wanted me to be taken care of.”

  “Wait, who killed him?"

  I realized I hadn't wanted to mention that. "Ah, bandits," I said, but this didn't seem to phase him.

  "Well, Mo will take care of you all right as long as you don't care about losing pieces of yourself." He'd gotten up again and was pacing back and forth now, waving his arms in the air. "Think about it, your dying grandfather sends you off to a city you’ve never been to, and maybe he's never been to either, to meet a man you don’t know and you don’t know how to find, alone, without food, and with only a robotic dog to help you, does that about sum it up?”

  “You make it sound ridiculous. He was dying, I was going to be alone, in the middle of nowhere, he wanted me to take...he wanted me to find my father, does that seem so far-fetched?” I didn’t want to mention the notebook. I didn’t need anyone else to know about that. “And I did know where I was going, I had a map, but it was in the car.”

  “You had a car?!” The look he gave me was too incredulous for words.

  “Yes...” I said, hesitantly.

  “What the hell happened to the car?” he demanded.

  “None of your business...and why are you so upset? It was my car.” I answered, defensive that he seemed to think I had lost it on purpose or something.

  “It’s not like there are cars laying around under every rock and tree. Where did it go?” he asked again with such excitement I thought he might throttle me if I didn’t tell him.

  “I had to abandon it in the river,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t press for details.

  “What!? Why?”

  I was saved from answering that question by sounds from above. Something was making its way towards us. We both scrambled for cover again. Glued up against the wall we watched and listened to the sounds coming from above. As I listened, I decided it had t
o be Dog and from the sound of it, he was dragging something large after him. I also knew he needed no encouragement. I had sent him on a task, and he would do whatever he needed to do to complete it, so I watched the edge and waited.

  When he got to the edge of the hole, we glimpsed his tail and then he disappeared again as he shot away around the branch. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him maneuvering the branch back and forth. We watched as the fat end of the branch got closer and closer to falling in the hole. Once it did it came with a salvo of smaller branches and leaves, dirt and rock, so we ducked back under the edge of the cave roof until it settled. Then I grabbed onto one of the branches and Jake grabbed the trunk as we worked together to wedge the heavier end of the branch into the pile of rocks and angle the branch across to the opposite wall making a ladder of sorts. We surveyed our work for a moment.

  “I’m lighter,” I said, as I stepped up onto the rocks and then the branch. “I’ll see if we can reach the top.” I steadied myself on the side branches as I started up then I put my arms out and moved along the branch. Luckily there were enough side branches that as the angle increased, I could grab onto them for balance. I moved as fast as possible along the branch to the end of the branch and the wall, but the edge was still above my head.

  “Can you jump for it?” Jake asked.

  I stretched up but the edge was beyond my fingertips.

  “Jump,” he shouted.

  I grimaced, annoyed at his pushiness. “Hold on, what if I jump for it and miss, I could lose my footing when I land. I looked around for hand holds or anything that would help. “Dog went to get something else,” I said, as I watched the top and waited.

  “Come down then and I’ll try,” he said.

  “Hold on,” I said. I wasn’t going to give up that easily. Dog was dragging something else above me, so I shaded my eyes to see. Fortunately, the limb I was on angled toward the narrow part of the hole. I watched as Dog pulled another branch past me along the top of the rim and then as he got past the narrow end, he continued to pull his end with him along the opposite side till it was bridging the two sides. The limb spanned the distance easily.

  “How did he...” he started to ask but then apparently it dawned on him that Dog’s computerized system could calculate many things. I was still amazed at what he could do, and I had known him all my life.

  With the branch there I could jump up and grab it, and I hoped I’d be able to pull myself up. Jumping, I grabbed the branch and pulled myself, groaning as I did, to where I could latch my elbow over the branch. Then something cracked. I paused, but the branch held firm, so I continued. Swinging my right leg up to catch on the edge of the hole then I readjusted my arms and as I did, I heard Dog growl. I broke into a sweat and held my breath. Dog growled again, low and soft. Fear shot straight through my spine and for a second I thought I was going to lose my grip. Then I forced myself up, pushing with my feet on the wall edge and pulling until I could roll onto the ground at the edge of the hole. Sticking my sweat covered head back over the edge of the hole I hissed at my erstwhile companion who was just preparing to jump for the branch.

  Jake froze. “What?”

  Chapter 19

  Dog growled again low in his throat his gaze fixed on the grove of trees across the grass in front of us. Leaning over the edge of the hole I whispered, “I think it’s the group of men that went past before.”

  “The cannibals,” he whispered, and I nodded. “Run!” he said, in a voice so deep I did not recognize it as his.

  “Well, come on then.”

  “Run!” he snapped at me.

  So, I ran. I had never tested it before but since Dog was programmed to keep me safe, I hoped a command of ‘Run’ would translate into running away from danger, and I was right. He turned and moved through the tallest of the grasses surrounding the hole. The grass was over my head, even so I crouched as we ran, the grass cutting at my hands and face and I hoped we were not making enough motion to give ourselves away. I hoped that Jake was following me, but I didn’t let myself stop or turn to look back.

  We kept moving until we were up the hill and into the trees and turned to check. When I didn’t see anyone following in my wake, my heart sank. “Should I go back?” I said to Dog, but Dog moved up the hill, so I followed.

  When we got to the top of the hill, I turned and looked back. Between the trees I could just see the three men standing at the edge of the hole. Was it empty? Had Jake gotten out? Then I realized they seemed to be laughing. Jake had to still be there. One of them jumped into the hole and my breath caught in my throat as I watched the others who were now shouting encouragement. Even if they weren‘t cannibals, which was obviously an exaggeration on Jake’s part, it made me cringe to consider the possibilities of what was happening now but what could I do?

  I ran again, up the hill and into the trees but after a short distance it occurred to me that I was going the wrong way. To correct my trajectory, I went back out to the edge of the tree line. I needed to go south, and as I looked at the sky I realized that south was towards the men. I couldn't go past the men. I was stuck. I decided I needed to wait and see what direction they were going to go. So, I looked for a tree to climb and went as far up as I needed in order to see but not to far as to be seen. Dog laid down at the base of the tree, his ears up and his nose in the air as if taking a tally of everything he found there but he didn’t move.

  I watched the two men as they watched the hole. They had thrown a rope down into the hole and slowly pulled someone to the surface. That person seemed to be unconscious. Then they helped the fourth man out. Then the unconscious form came to life and started kicking. This was obviously Jake and they must have tied his arms behind his back. As he fought, I expected someone to get knocked back into the hole and wished that it would be Jake and hoped that they would leave him alone but they didn’t. Eventually, they knocked Jake out again and he lay limp on the ground. After a little while, one man picked up Jake’s body, threw it over his shoulders and headed out through the grass followed by the other two in what I decided was a southwesterly direction.

  “Now what? They’re going our direction and they're taking him with,” I said this to Dog as I climbed down from the tree. There was a knot in my stomach the size of a large peach but what could I do? “I can't follow them, they're cannibals. Supposedly. I'd be crazy. But if they are cannibals no one would expect me to do something so stupid." I squatted there next to Dog touching his smooth side and trying to decide what I thought.

  "It’s better to keep them ahead of us, don’t you think? Even if they're not cannibals they might be dangerous, and what better place to have the enemy than where you can see them?" I looked at Dog but he made no comment. I sighed and stood up. "This is probably ridiculous and stupid.”

  Chapter 20

  Lucky for me, the moon rose full and bright so I could still see the men traveling below me as I followed the ridge that paralleled the path the band of travelers was taking. I realized this might make me more visible to them if they happened to look up, so I kicked up some dirt and spat into it and then rubbed it on my face. The ridge I had been on had eventually turned and gone west so I had to make my way down and follow behind them, letting Dog do the tracking. It was after dark when Dog stopped in my path and I almost tripped on him. I crept forward to see where they were. I figured once I knew they had settled for the night I could get around them and continue on my way. Except for the tiny bit of guilt that had risen within me about how I got away and he got caught, and what sort of person would I be if I just left him there. On the other hand, what could I do? There was three of them and one of me.

  Dog seemed to understand the need for caution, either that or he was feeding off my own trepidation. We moved forward slowly till we got to where I could see their fire in a clearing a little way past and below us and now, I could hear bits of their conversation. From the look of the camp they had been there for many days. It obviously wasn't permanent since they d
idn't even have a structure of any kind to take shelter in, not even tents. They did have a fire pit of sorts and boulders circling the fire far enough away that it looked like they used them to sit on to be near the fire. There was a piece of canvas tied to a tree that might give protection from inclement weather, but it looked unused as it was hanging only from one corner.

  They had tied Jake to a rock near the edge of the camp. I had planned on making sure they were staying put for the night and then I told myself I would keep going and get as far away from them as I could except for the guilt. Could I just abandon him? They might not be cannibals but what if they were slave traders like George? On the other hand, he hadn't done me any favors. He gave me a concussion and trapped me in a hole, that Dog had to get me out of. I sighed again. It didn't look like he was in immediate danger so I decided I could at least cut him loose after they went to sleep. The men were currently ignoring him, and if I waited until they went to sleep it would be easy, sneak in, cut the rope, sneak out. "Okay, we'll wait. I'll cut him loose and then we'll head to the city, with or without him," I looked at Dog, but he was intent on watching the men.

  We stayed where we were until the men were all busy on the far side of the fire. Then Dog and I snuck down to the camp behind Jake. One of the men added wood to the fire. Then he joined another man who drew water from a bucket at the side of the fire and threw water at Jake’s face. They laughed when he came to life throwing both feet into the air almost kicking one of the men in the crotch. They danced around to avoid his feet, cursing him, then seemingly done with tormenting him for the moment, they moved away laughing. They did chores around camp mostly sharpening knives for Jake’s enjoyment it seemed, but Jake sat straight faced, staring into the fire. This seemed to bore them, and they went back to the far side of the fire.