But they managed to trot the length of the hallway to the blast door and stood there gasping for breath. Eric waited until he could breathe a bit more easily and then took hold of the locking wheel on the door.
“Wait,” Sarah said sharply. “Not yet.”
“What? But you were the one who wanted us to get Caroline and her group in as soon as possible.”
“I know,” she told Eric. “But let's just be sure that we aren't opening the door to another doppelganger, hmm?”
His eye's widened and he nodded.
“Oh right, good idea. My bad.”
Sarah held up her stone in her right hand and laid her left palm against the massive steel door. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to get a feeling for whoever, or whatever, was waiting on the other side. She pushed against the door, feeling the metal give way to her powers as if it was an elastic membrane.
Outside, she could sense living beings; definitely people. There was no taint of goblin evil or of the insatiable hunger of a drake. She sighed with relief and opened her eyes.
“It's clear,” she told the others. “I don't know how many people are out there, but they're all human.”
“Well, that's a relief,” Eric told her. “Step back then, I'm going to open it up.”
Chapter 18
Sarah moved back to stand next to Bobby and Fani. She glanced at them and noticed that they were still a little unsteady on their feet. Fani was actually weaving back and forth drunkenly.
“Are you two okay?”
Bobby blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes, while Fani yawned widely.
“Yeah, we're good,” Bobby told her. “Hey, you know me. All I need is a solid thirty minutes of sleep a night and I'm good to go.”
Fani snickered and Sarah grinned at them both.
“Good to know,” she told Bobby. “I hope that's true, actually, because I have a feeling that we're all about to get very, very busy.”
The three of them focused on the blast door as Eric finished turning the wheel and began to pull it open.
As the opening became wide enough to squeeze through, there was a moment when everyone held their breath, before they could see who was really waiting beyond the portal. Was it friend or was it foe?
Sarah took a deep breath and moved around the blast door until she was able to look out into the building on the other side.
“Hey look, it's Sarah!”
“Woohoo! She really is here!”
She grinned as she saw the handful of people sitting on the floor in front of the entrance.
“Caroline! Hey, it really is you.”
Sarah exited the bunker with the three guys close behind her. Outside in the old office building, the sun was peeking through small holes in the roof. It was almost painfully bright after the darkness of the bunker and Sarah squinted as she put her stone away.
Caroline and her people were sitting on the dirty floor. To Sarah's surprise, every one of them was dressed in regular clothing instead of layers of rags. Caroline pushed herself to her feet and smiled wanly at them.
“Yep, it's me, and everybody else,” she said as she and Sarah pressed their palms together. “Everybody who survived, that is.”
Sarah looked at her bleakly, still squinting against the daylight. Caroline looked tired but just as strong and steady as she always did. Her blonde hair was braided and hung down her back and she had streaks of dirt crisscrossing her face.
“Who did you lose?” Sarah asked quietly.
Caroline looked back at her people.
“Danny, George and... Yvonne.”
Sarah felt a sharp pain, as if a jolt of electricity had shot down her spine.
Yvonne, dead. Always whining, always complaining and never accepting her own powers, such as they were. Somehow Sarah knew that one day it would come to this. She hadn't wished the woman ill, but she also hadn't like her very much. Still...
“I'm so sorry for your losses, Caroline,” she said.
“Yeah, me too. Damned goblins. They swarmed over our camp like locusts. It's amazing that any of us survived. Actually, we probably wouldn't have made it all the way here if we hadn't found some friends along the way.”
“Friends?”
Sarah peered past Caroline and saw more people sitting on the ground a dozen feet beyond the first group. She hadn't seen them as her eyes slowly adjusted to the brighter light outside of the bunker.
“Who did you find?”
The group pushed themselves to their feet and one of them walked slowly toward the blast door. As the person approached, she walked through a beam of sunlight that made her features glow in sharp relief. Sarah's jaw dropped in shock.
“Close your mouth before you swallow a fly,” Caroline said with amusement.
“Miesha?”
The woman joined Sarah and Caroline and grinned at her.
“You look like you've seen a ghost,” Miesha said. “Are you that disappointed to see us?”
In answer, Sarah stepped forward and hugged the woman tightly. Miesha returned her embrace and laughed gently.
“Easy there,” she said softly. “If you squeeze too hard, I might collapse. It's been a long night.”
Sarah moved back and wiped her eyes.
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered. “I thought that all of you were dead.”
Miesha raised an eyebrow.
“I told you the last time we spoke that only dear Jeremy was lost. Why would you think that the rest of us were dead? I mean, I lost the stone you gave me on the way here, but was that enough for you to think that we were killed?”
Sarah looked back at Bobby and the others. All three of them seemed to have been struck dumb by Miesha's appearance.
“It's not that. It's... it's a long story,” Sarah told her. “We can talk about it later, once everyone is safely inside.”
“She's right. Come on, everybody,” Caroline said loudly. “Let's get into the bunker. You can actually sleep on real beds for a change.”
There was a ragged cheer from the other Changlings and they began to move forward slowly, some helping others who were limping or exhausted.
Sarah and the three guys hurried forward to lend their aid and, a few minutes later, the last person had passed through the steel blast door and stood inside. Bobby had grabbed a few unlit torches when they left the rec room and he gave them out to some of the newcomers. Eric followed him and used his torch to light the others, greeting the arrivals warmly as he went.
“Did you see either Rachel or Alexa out there? Or Clara?” Sarah asked Caroline and Miesha.
“My group didn't,” Caroline replied as she glanced back through the open door. “Miesha?”
“No one. Why, are they close?”
“They both said they were. Guys,” she looked at Bobby, Eric and Fani. “Could two of you stay up here and wait for Rachel and Alexa and their friends? Don't take any chances, though. If you see anything dangerous, close the door immediately.”
“Why two of us?” Fani asked.
Sarah pointed at the blast door.
“Do you think that any one of you can close that thing quickly?” There was a pause and she grinned. “Yeah, didn't think so.”
“Fani and I will stay,” Eric told her. “No problem.”
“Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.”
Sarah looked at the bedraggled group of Changlings.
“Okay everybody, let's go.”
She led the way and Bobby waited until everyone had passed by him to bring up the rear. He waved at Eric and Fani as he turned away and they waved back.
There were a lot of groans and the sound of dragging feet as the group made its way down the corridor to the stairs, but Bobby didn't hear one complaint. Everyone seemed happy just be some place safe. He wondered how long that would last when they learned that there was no food.
Once they were back in the rec room, Sarah let Miesha and Caroline sort out their own people and set up a schedule for everyone
to fetch water and get washed up in the old shower room. It would be slow and crude, and the water would be cold, but Changlings were used to such things. They assigned everyone to a bed and there were more cheers and laughter as the newcomers lay down on actual mattresses for the first time in many years.
A few of the refugees were still wearing at least some of their old rags and Sarah told them all that the cupboards and cabinets along the walls were stuff with clothing and that they could help themselves.
That led to more laughter as people rushed to sort through the clothes.
“See what you started?” Caroline teased as she sat down next to Sarah and Miesha. They had drawn up three chairs near the door and watched, amused, as the others darted around the large room. Both she and Miesha were sipping from glasses of water that Sarah had given them and seemed to be slowly relaxing now that their people were safe.
“Yeah, they're like kids on Christmas morning,” Miesha agreed, smiling. “It's good to see them so happy. There were a few times over the last day or so that I was sure that we were all going to die.”
“Us too,” Caroline told her soberly. “I'm not one to believe in miracles, but this sure feels like one to me.”
“Not miraculous,” Sarah told them. “Just lucky. And while we may be safe for the moment, we have no food in here. Did you guys bring anything?”
The other two shook their heads.
“No time,” Miesha said as she looked down at her scarred hands streaked with dirt. “We scurried out of our camp through the back tunnel and had to literally dig through the last few feet of it to reach the surface.”
She chuckled humorlessly.
“We never thought to check it to be sure that it was in good repair. Almost got us killed along with poor Jeremy.”
Miesha looked at Sarah.
“Speaking of which, you looked like you saw a ghost when you saw me. What was up with that?”
Sarah stared at her for a moment and then turned to look around the room.
“Bobby?” she called.
He turned away from one of the Changlings that he was helping to sort through a pile of clothing.
“Yes?”
“Could you come over here for a second, please?”
He said something to the young woman and she giggled. Then he trotted over and stood looking at the three leaders.
“What's up?”
“Could I get that stone back now?” Sarah asked him.
Bobby darted a quick look at Miesha and nodded. He fished a small, smooth stone out of his pocket and handed it to Sarah.
“Thanks,” she said.
“No problem.”
Bobby hesitated for a moment, looked like he was about to say something, and then spun around and walked back toward the Changling he had been assisting.
“What was that about?” Miesha asked as Caroline frowned at the small stone in Sarah's hand.
“You made a stone for Bobby?” she wondered.
“No, I didn't. Although I will, once things settle down a bit.”
Sarah reached out, took Miesha's hand and dropped the stone into it.
“This is yours, actually.”
“What?”
Miesha held up the stone and turned it in her fingers. The etched writing on its surface began to glow as she concentrated on it.
“My God, it is mine. How the heck did you get it back?”
Sarah took a deep breath.
“It's a long story,” she said. “The short answer is that Jeremy brought it here.”
Miesha gasped and the blood drained from her face.
“Jeremy? He's here?”
She looked around the room frantically and Sarah had to grab her arm to get her attention.
“No, my friend,” she said sadly. “He was never here. We just thought he was.”
“I don't understand.”
“Me neither. Let me tell you both what happened and maybe you can help me figure it out.”
After telling Miesha and Caroline about Jeremy and her experience with his lookalike, Sarah left them to think about it for a bit while she got up and went around the room, checking on each of the newcomers.
Everyone had embraced wearing new clothing now and Sarah was delighted to see so many happy faces. It occurred to her that as a group, the Changlings were very attractive, mutations and all. Granted, some of them had an odd number of digits or fur instead of bare skin, and a couple had vestigial tails, but that did not take away from their good looks, at least as far as she was concerned.
And, considering what they'd been through, they all looked remarkably calm. Part of that was exhaustion, and some of the dozen or so had already drifted off to sleep in their new beds, but part was also the resilience that they had developed over years of self-reliance. They were a tough bunch and Sarah was proud of them. All of them.
She felt a brief stab of regret as the face of Yvonne floated through her mind. Of all the Changlings, she'd been the only one to constantly whine about her fate and the unfairness of the world. Sarah wondered what she would be saying if she had still been with them.
“Goodbye, Yvonne,” Sarah whispered. “I hope that you are finally at peace.”
“Are you okay?”
She turned around and saw Bobby standing there, watching her sympathetically.
“Yeah, I'm fine. You?”
He gestured at the Changlings scattered around the room.
“Fine. I mean, how can I not be, seeing so many of our friends again, right? I was afraid for a while there that we might be the only ones to survive. But this is a good start. Let's hope that Rachel and Alexa make it to the bunker too.” He hesitated a moment. “It must have been hard telling Miesha about that thing that looked like Jeremy.”
Both of them turned toward the doorway, where Miesha and Caroline were sitting side by side, speaking quietly.
“Not as hard for me as it was for her. I still can't wrap my head around it, Bobby. What was it? How did it get Miesha's stone? And more importantly, how did it use it? I can't figure it out and I have a feeling that it's something we need to know.”
“I agree. If you want my advice, for what it's worth, I'd say that you should discuss it with Magnus when he gets here. Maybe he can analyze the problem differently than the rest of us. He is older and wiser, after all.”
“Excellent idea. I'll definitely do that.”
Sarah stretched and rubbed her eyes. About half of the arrivals were lying down and a chorus of soft snoring was replacing the hum of conversation. She looked at them affectionately and then nodded toward the door.
“We'd better talk over there,” she said softly. “These guys need their rest.”
“For sure.”
They joined the two women sitting beside the doorway. Bobby smiled wistfully at Miesha and she reached out and squeezed his hand.
“It must have been terrible for you to have had to attack whatever it was that replaced Jeremy,” she said to him. “I know how close you two were.”
Bobby pulled up another folding chair and sat down. He adjusted his sword and stared at it glumly.
“It was, until I realized that it hadn't been him after all. But even if it had been Jeremy, I would have attacked him anyway. Sarah had to be defended and I just reacted automatically.”
“You did the right thing, Bobby,” Caroline reassured him. “Never doubt it. We'll need more defenders like you in the future, especially after we leave here to seek out a new, permanent home.”
Sarah took a seat as well and the four of them sat quietly for a time, each of them lost in their own thoughts.
“Looks like the old days are back, doesn't it?”
The group turned their heads as one to see someone standing in the doorway grinning at them.
“Rachel!” they exclaimed in unison.
There was no mistaking the abnormally tall and skinny woman with the blue hair and chalk-white skin. Strangely, Rachel was wearing a pair of baggy coveralls and rubber boots. S
he looked very odd and almost comical. At her side, holding her hand and standing no taller than her knee, was Rachel's son, Shane. His skin was as pale as his mother's, but his hair was bright orange. The boy stared silently at the people in the room, his eyes' wide.
Everybody stood up as Rachel and Shane entered the room. She began administering hugs to all of them while her son clung to her leg. Several other Changlings followed her into the rec room. One of them, a short young man with tight curly hair, knelt down and scooped Shane up in his arms.
The boy smiled and laid his head on the man's shoulder, closing his eyes.
“Hey, look,” Sarah exclaimed in delight. “Rachel, you got your people through the city.”
“Some of them,” the tall woman said in a thin voice.
Like all of the refugees, Rachel and her people were dirty and exhausted, but every one of them was smiling even so. Shane had already fallen asleep.
“Look at this place,” one of the newcomers, a young woman wearing a stained ball cap, exclaimed. “It looks almost like it did before we left ten years ago. And it has real beds too!”
“Yeah, it does look the same, torches and all,” someone else replied with a laugh.
“Go ahead and pick an empty bed,” Sarah told them all. “And feel free to rummage through the cupboards for clothes. I'm sure everyone remembers what room the well is in if you want water to wash up or drink, so help yourselves.”
The four newcomers that Rachel had brought with her walked away as a group, chatting happily but quietly as they noticed that others were sleeping.
Sarah watched as the young man carrying Shane gently laid him on one of the beds and sat down next to him, smoothing his hair. It was a touching scene and she felt her breath catch in her throat.
“Half of them,” Rachel said as she watched her son sleeping. “I lost half of them getting here.”
Bobby hurriedly carried over a chair and set it down for her. Rachel thanked him and sat down with a relieved sigh.
“Hey, you did well just to reach the bunker,” Caroline told her. “And with your child too, thank God. Unfortunately, we've all lost people over the past two days.”
The Changlings (The New Earth Chronicles Book 2) Page 27