New Sight

by Jo Schneider

  “What?” Lys said.

  “How?” Inez asked.

  “He’s in a tribe, he can probably see in the dark,” Brady said with a tired grin.

  Well, Lys mused, if he could see in the dark, why did he almost crash into a pile of boards?

  “I have some skill as a tracker,” Kamau said. “And I have a few extra surprises up my sleeve.”

  “Can you follow us once we’re gone?” Inez asked.

  “Yes.”

  The two of them locked gazes, and Lys caught Kamau’s silver eyes out of her peripheral vision.

  “Do it,” Inez said.

  “Wait!” Lys said, turning to Kamau. “Don’t go off by yourself! Those guys might catch you.”

  “Do not worry, I am an excellent tracker. I will find you.”

  “Come on,” Inez said. She stepped over to Mark and pulled him to his feet with surprising strength. However, Mark stumbled, and even when Lys went to assist her, he almost fell back to the ground.

  “I can get him,” Brady said in an empty voice. He moved forward with purpose, gently pushing Lys aside and taking Mark under the arm. Lys stepped away, and Brady took all of Mark’s weight. He grinned as Inez gave him a reluctant shrug of thanks.

  “Where to?” he asked, a little of his bravado returning.

  “Follow Peter.”

  Lys turned to look at Kamau and found only empty air.

  “Where did he go?”

  Inez shook her head. “He’s good.”

  Lys continued to glance around, trying to figure out where Kamau could have disappeared to so quickly.

  “Come on, princess,” Inez said. “We can’t stay here.”

  Lys could see the outlines of three figures coming at them from across the street. She followed Inez out of the alley and around the corner.

  The sky to her left still pulsed with light. Not fire—she’d be able to smell it—so it must be a city. But which one?

  As they ran across another street, heading for a wall of concrete, Lys realized that they could be anywhere in the country. Maybe even the world, although this place didn’t smell foreign. She’d been to Mexico and England with her parents, and it was an entirely different experience. Everything looked, smelled, and tasted different. Even the air. They passed a street sign and Lys saw that she could read the words. Well, at least they were in the United States. Probably.

  Everyone else kept their eyes forward, but she couldn’t help herself; she kept looking over her shoulder for either Kamau or the guys in black.

  “Don’t worry, princess,” Inez said in a mocking tone after she’d caught Lys looking back. “Your boyfriend will be fine.”

  Lys turned her eyes forward. “He’s not my boyfriend,” she muttered, not even wanting to go there right now.

  Inez laughed.

  “And don’t call me princess,” Lys said.

  A huge mound loomed in front of them. Lys recognized it as the freeway. It must be the middle of the night because hardly any vehicles drove on the road above them.

  Brady stopped. He tilted his head to the side. “They’re coming.”

  Lys glanced around. It took her a moment, but then she saw them. Two figures headed their way.“There,” she whispered, pointing.

  “Peter,” Inez said, “you said you could find it.”

  “I can!” he said, turning a slow circle. “Just give me a minute.”

  “We don’t have a minute.”

  “They’re still coming,” Lys said. “Can we at least get out of the open?”

  Inez looked around. “Into the ditch,” she said, pointing at the sandy area at the bottom of the freeway. They didn’t have a lot of options; Lys followed the others, dropping to her knees, hiding behind the edge of the ditch.

  “Not that it will help,” Inez said. “They can see in the dark in those helmets.”

  “Do you have a flashlight?” Lys asked. She’d seen someone in a movie blind a guy who wore night vision goggles with a road flare. Then again, maybe the flashlight wouldn’t be enough.

  Inez didn’t bother to answer. Maybe she’d come to the same conclusion.

  “I can get rid of them,” Brady said. He’d set Mark on the ground and crawled over to Lys and Inez.

  “Not a good idea,” Inez said.

  The two figures got closer, coming down the road, moving their heads back and forth, searching.

  Lys’s breathing became ragged. Her hands began to shake—the world started to go gray.

  Her vision fuzzed out for a moment, just like in the basement of the hospital.

  Blinking, she shook her head. After a second the gray haze melted away, and her vision returned. Only what she saw didn’t match what she knew she should be looking at.

  Instead of seeing the two men coming down the road from the front, now she had a prime view of their backs. The perspective made Lys wonder if she was dreaming again—flying. The two men walked below her, not at eye level. The view swiveled from the backs of the men to the road beyond. Lys recognized the hill behind her, and when she noticed a shadow within a shadow she almost cried out. She could see herself crouched down in the ditch by the side of the road.

  Closing her eye, she wondered if this would ever stop.

  After a few seconds she opened her eye and found Inez watching her intently.

  “What?” Lys asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Inside she breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Just wondering if you’re going to join us.”

  Lys glanced back at the two figures. They were gone.

  “Where did they go?”

  “Away.” Inez jerked her head. “Peter found us our way under.”

  Lys followed Inez’s gaze and saw Peter crouched on the ground, looking at something.

  “Come on!” Peter waved them over.

  Inez stayed bent over as she ran the fifteen-or-so feet to where the others waited. Lys followed, trying to spot either the men or Kamau, but couldn’t see anyone.

  “Are you sure this is it?” Inez asked.

  “I’m sure.” Peter folded his arms across his chest and looked at Lys. “I hope you guys don’t mind the smell.”

  Chapter 12

  Lys stopped and stepped back. “The sewer?”

  “Storm drain.” Peter corrected her. “It’s different.”

  “I highly doubt that,” Lys said, eying the grate. The two foot square lattice of metal lay nestled in the ground, the rusted bars held down with an old padlock. Up here Lys could see pretty well, but beyond the grate she only saw darkness. The kind of dark that liked to swallow people whole and never let them leave—like her dreams. She shivered.

  “You’re not afraid of the dark, are you?” Peter asked with concern in his voice.

  “Uh, no,” Lys said quickly. “Not really.” She hated the dark.

  “Well it’s either the dark,” Inez said, pointing down the drain. “Or those guys.” She pointed back in the direction they had come.

  “Where will we go?” Lys asked. She refused to crawl down there if this didn’t lead to something helpful. Or at the very least, safe.

  “Our place,” Peter said before Inez could answer. He looked at Brady, who sat on the grass beside Mark and pulled on the grate. “Can you get it off?” “Sure.” Brady rose slowly to his feet, almost stumbling before he got up. Again it looked like he carried a heavy burden.

  Brady came forward and pulled the old padlock apart with his thumb and forefinger. The u-shaped loop slipped out of the body with nothing more than a flick of his wrist.

  “Wow,” Peter said, eyes wide.

  Inez grabbed the grate and pulled it up. “Come on, everyone in.”

  “But what about Kamau?” Lys asked. She would not leave him behind.

  “He said he was a tracker, he’ll find us,” Inez said.

  “I’m not leaving without him.”

  Inez raised her eyebrows. “You can do whatever you want, princess, but we’re leaving. He can probably follow us. Can you
?”

  Lys hesitated. Could she? Duh, no. There was no way she could track them or follow them. What was it like down there? Dark? A maze? Creepy—yes. Terrifying—absolutely. She could imagine the thick water, the dripping walls, the corroded ceilings, and the rats. There were always rats in the sewers. Storm drains. Whatever. It didn’t matter. Nothing could stop the pang of fear that twisted her stomach up in a knot. She did not like the dark.

  “He’ll catch up,” Brady said, rallying himself for a moment. “He’s in a tribe.”

  Lys didn’t like her options. She could stay and risk ending up alone, or she could go after Kamau herself, or she could go with them now, in the dark, and hope he found his way.

  Inez didn’t wait for Lys’s answer. She jumped down, landing with a small splash.

  “Peter,” she said, her voice closer than Lys had imagined it would be, “you’re next. Then lower that guy down and we’ll catch him.”

  Peter looked at Lys. “Come with us.” It was a plea, but he didn’t wait for an answer either. He jumped down after Inez.

  Brady pulled Mark over to the hole. He blinked a few times before he spoke. “Kamau can find us again. Go with them now.”

  “But . . .”

  “Just trust me.”

  Trust him? Lys didn’t think she wanted to hear that again. Ever. The dark hole gaped before her, ready to welcome her to her doom. She took a breath, hoping it might help. It didn’t. The warm, stale air caught in her throat and she had to stifle a coughing fit.

  Brady helped Mark to the hole. She forced herself to walk over and grab one of Mark’s arms. They lowered Mark down until Inez said to let him go.

  “You next,” Lys said, waving a hand at the hole.

  “You are coming, right?” Brady asked.

  “I don’t trust them to catch me,” she said.

  Brady smiled. “Right.” He stepped into the hole, also landing with a splash.

  “Come on down,” he said.

  Lys steeled herself. Every instinct she had screamed at her to run the other way. Dark hole, enclosed space, and getting lost—she did not want to go down. Her shaking hands could attest to that. However, the image of the men in the black body armor came to her mind and Lys knew that she didn’t want to stay either. So she sat on the dry grass and dangled her legs into the opening. A splash of light fell through the hole, and she could see the faint outlines of the people below.

  “Just jump,” Brady said. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”

  One deep breath didn’t steady her shaking hands, so she took another with the same result. She could do this. Nothing bad lived in the dark. Really. Hopefully.

  The soft footfall sounded on the grass nearby. Lys’s eye, which she’d closed at some point, shot open.

  “Come on!” Brady whispered.

  She scrambled to her feet. Maybe she could stall them while the others got away. A shadowy figure stood about ten feet away.

  “Who are you?” she asked, hoping to distract them.

  “Lys?” Kamau’s voice asked. “Is that you?”

  The tension in her clenched hands bled free, and she almost giggled. Almost, but she managed to hold it in.

  “Yes,” she said, able to see him clearly now that his silvery eyes were toward her.

  “What are you doing?” he asked in a whisper.

  “We’re, uh, escaping.” Lys stepped back, and pointed at the ground.

  Peter’s head popped up out of the grate. “What’s going—” He stopped when he spotted Kamau. “Oh, hey. Come on down.”

  Kamau looked at Lys. Lys shrugged. “Brady and Mark are already down there. They say this is the way to their place.”

  “It’s one way to our place,” Peter said.

  “They will circle back to this area in just a few minutes,” Kamau said. “Let’s go.” He held out his hands. Lys took them as he lowered her into the hole.

  “Let go, I’ve got her,” Brady said.

  It took every ounce of Lys’s courage to release her vise grip. She fell for a split second, then hands grabbed her around the waist and gently lowered her to the ground.

  Not ground. Water covered, mossy, slippery concrete. What she wouldn’t give for her hiking shoes about now.

  Brady pushed her over to where Mark was sitting on a ledge. He seemed more alert.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  “You’re asking me if I’m okay?” Lys laughed. This time the shrill giggle did come out, but she bit it off before hysteria could kick in. To distract herself, she looked around and found that she could see more than she had anticipated. This was both good and bad. The square-ish tunnel they stood in had stone ledges on each side. A rusted ladder hung down from the grate, and looked as if one step on it might break it in half. Ankle-deep water ran down the middle of the channel. Cool air brushed her face, a relief from the parching breeze above. Lys didn’t see any lurking rats. However, spiders were in rich supply.

  If she could see the spiders, then it wasn’t too dark, right? She returned her attention back to Mark as Kamau lowered himself down the hole.

  “What’s happening?” Lys asked. “What’s up with Brady? And those guys? And Kamau’s eyes?”

  Mark shook his head. “It’s a really long story.”

  “No time for stories,” Inez said, passing them. “We have to get moving.”

  Brady came to get Mark. Peter followed them.

  Lys really wanted some answers, but it didn’t seem like anyone else was interested in a Q & A session.

  “Come on,” Kamau said, moving up behind her. He placed a hand on her back and gently pushed her forward.

  “Sure,” Lys muttered. Why not follow these people down into the sewers so they could get away from the other people who were chasing them? Great idea. Wonderful day. What’s for dessert?

  Kamau looked like he wanted to talk, but Lys didn’t feel like voicing any of her thoughts. So she turned and followed Peter’s retreating form.

  The dim light faded the farther they got from the grate. Lys felt her anxiety level rising, but she could still see. The others held their hands out in front of them, like mummies, groping in the dark.

  “Peter,” Inez whispered. “Get up here and lead us.”

  Lys watched as Peter walked forward, straight toward a random pipe that hung from the ceiling. Everyone else had passed on the right side of the channel. Peter was on the left.

  “Whoa,” she said, surging forward and snatching his collar. “You’re going to run right into that.”

  “Right into what?” Peter asked, still searching with his arms.

  “That,” Lys said, taking his hand and resting it on the pipe.

  “How did you know that was there?”

  “I can see it.”

  Brady laughed. “You can see down here?”

  “Yeah, it’s not that dark,” Lys said.

  “It’s pitch black!” Brady said, holding his hand in front of his face. “I can’t even see my fingers.”

  Inez tilted her head. “You can see down here?”

  “Yes.” Hadn’t she just said that?

  “Get in front. Bring Peter, he can tell you which way to go if you tell him what you see.”

  “Uh, sure.” She hoped her wavering voice didn’t give her fear away. Why could she see when no one else could? She just hoped she wasn’t hallucinating. This trip could get very interesting if she was seeing things that weren’t there. Or not seeing things that were.

  Lys grabbed Peter’s hand as she went by and tugged him forward. They passed everyone else. “There’s a tunnel that goes off to the left up ahead.”

  “Take us to it. I can tell you if it’s the right way to go.”

  Lys led them slowly down the tunnel, warning everyone about stray pipes, cracks in the floor, or anything in their way. They made good progress and got to the tunnel quickly.

  “Here it is,” Lys said.

  Peter stopped, turned toward the opening and took a deep breath. He
exhaled, and then took another lungful of air. Then he snorted.

  “Nope. Keep going.”

  So they did. The cool air helped clear Lys’s head. A thousand smells surrounded them, none as bad as she had imagined. Lys’s feet were soggy, the slippers she’d woken up in just wet rags clinging to her toes and ankles. They finally found the rats. She stifled a shriek when the first one scuttled along the ledge and into a hole half its size.

  “What is it?” Inez demanded.

  Lys put her free hand on her chest, willing her pounding heart to slow. Fight or flight had kicked in. Maybe it had never left. “Sorry, just a rat.”

  “Afraid of the dark and rats?” Inez asked.

  Lys muttered, “Who’s up here leading?”

  “I think she likes you,” Peter whispered.

  “Yeah, right.” Lys didn’t much care if the other girl liked her. Not right now in this dark tunnel, being chased by some crazy guys in black body armor and trying not to think about her shattered life. Or what could be lurking around the next corner.

  “We’re almost to the strip,” Peter said, taking another deep breath.

  “The what?” Lys asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  She led them on. After what felt like thirty minutes, she began to see lights ahead.

  “There’s another tunnel leading off to the right,” she reported.

  “I bet that’s ours. I can almost see it,” Peter said.

  Lys could see everything getting brighter. They came around a bend, and found light shining down into the tunnel from a grate above, creating a crisscross pattern. A soggy slide of pamphlets cascaded down along the wall and filled the channel in front of them with what looked like a mound of old newspapers. “Where are we?” she asked.

  “Vegas,” Peter said, grinning and putting his hands above his head.

  Lys looked at a flier that had managed to make it away from the others. Sure enough, an ad for a fun-filled night with the lady of your choice. This was Las Vegas alright. Her mother had tried so hard not to let her see the pamphlets the last time they had come.

  Thinking about her mother caused an ache in her chest, and Lys pushed her thoughts back into the present.

  “We’re in Las Vegas?” Brady asked. The excitement in his voice was almost back to its usual level. “Can we go up and see?”