The First Twenty

by Jennifer Lavoie

  “I can make it,” Static argued, but Jasper shushed him and made him lie back down.

  Peyton looked to Nixie. “Do you know of any Scavenger groups in this area?”

  Nixie shook her head. “Not this way, at least none that Faulkner is aware of. When I was out…foraging…we never came across any. It could have changed, so I can’t guarantee it.”

  The strange hesitation in her reply threw up a red flag in Peyton’s mind. When she said foraging, did she really mean stealing? She tried to quell the thoughts, but once on the surface they bubbled there, refusing to go away. She wanted to trust her, but her gut said to keep a cautious eye on her.

  “Okay,” she said, addressing the rest of the group. “We stick to the sides then. Hopefully we find a water source. Look for the signs, and speak up if you see anything.”

  Together they hauled Static to his feet and changed routes. Peyton led them down into the tree line that ran parallel to the old highway. Though the path wasn’t straight or clear of debris, they picked their way carefully around obstacles and still made good time. By the time the sun hit its peak, everyone was dragging even more than before. Peyton worried about taking too many breaks. She hadn’t planned for so many, but without them, they might be pushing themselves more than was wise. They’d reached Manchester by that point and were close to the old mall. A thick stand of trees ahead of them looked perfect for resting.

  “We’ll stop there for an hour,” she said.

  Static sighed with relief. He’d been dragging. His initial burst of energy had cut off hours earlier, and the rest of the group had slowed down to keep pace with him. When they reached the stand, he collapsed under a tree.

  “Drink your water,” Peyton insisted, picking up the canteen he’d dropped.

  He reached out and took it, his eyes half-closed. His face was a startling shade of red, his hair looked as if he’d dunked his head in water, and sweat drenched his shirt. Peyton frowned. He had already burned in the sun despite their time under the trees.

  “Jasper, give Static two tablets and make sure he eats something. Static, while we’re in the shade, take your shirt off and relax.”

  Nixie sidled up to her, her eyes wide. “Is he going to be okay?”

  Peyton offered her a small smile. “He never goes outside. We should have taken extra sun precautions for him but I didn’t think—” She cut herself off with a curse and stared at the ground. “Dad wouldn’t have made this mistake.”

  Nixie rested a small hand on her arm, squeezing lightly. A shock at the touch raced through Peyton’s body and she suppressed a shiver despite the heat. Her mind supplied her with images of Nixie’s exposed skin and she shook her head to clear it. Now was definitely not the time. Nixie was trying to talk to her. “We all make mistakes, right?”

  “Not when you’re supposed to be in charge, because those mistakes can hurt people.”

  “Hey. You’re doing the best you can, we know that,” Nixie said.

  Peyton looked down at her and saw a look of genuine concern and something else, something she couldn’t identify. “Thanks.”

  Nixie nodded without another word and took a seat by Static.

  Peyton paced off to the side, away from everyone else, and pretended to look through her bag, but really she was looking at Nixie out of the corner of her eye. At some point the girl had gotten under her skin. She couldn’t deny it—she was attracted to her. She wanted her. Part of her balked at the idea and didn’t want to trust her. She was a Scavenger. The other part, the part that sounded suspiciously like her father, whispered to give Nixie a chance, because she could be trusted. Peyton really wanted to listen to that second voice…but at what cost?

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Nixie sensed the water before everyone else. She breathed deeply, relishing the crisp, clean scent as it washed over her body. Her dry skin smoothed out, soaking in the moisture like a dying plant in a rainstorm. She couldn’t tell if it was truly clean or not yet, but for now, just knowing water was nearby felt like a blessing. She didn’t feel so lost anymore.

  “We should be coming up on the river soon,” Peyton said, confirming what Nixie already knew. She wanted to run toward it; her body practically screamed for it. Energy hummed within her, making it hard to concentrate.

  “I’m so thirsty,” Static gasped.

  “Don’t talk. Save your energy,” Jasper said, standing at Static’s side to support him if he dropped.

  Nixie worried about him. Cooper had taken off his shirt and draped it over Static’s head to shield him from the sun. His bronzed skin kept him protected from the strong rays—at least, more than Static’s pale skin protected him. Static had also long since drained his water. She had given him sips from hers, urging him to drink slowly. If she needed to, she could try to regulate her own body, but there was so little moisture in the air. At least with a water source nearby, they could solve this one problem.

  The sun had begun its descent in the sky, and though it was still light out, they would need time to find a place to sleep, set up shelter, and build a fire for the night. As they emerged from the wooded area by the highway, they were faced with a steep bank that led down to the river. Static let out a shout of joy, pulled away from Jasper, and stumbled down the hill.

  “Static, wait!” Peyton called, running after him. The rest followed behind her, scrambling to remain upright.

  The water level was incredibly low. Against the concrete pylons, the water level Before Collapse was clearly marked by dark lines. But what remained was hardly a trickle of the once wide river. Some of the ground that would have been underwater was now dried, with deep cracks on the surface.

  It smelled strange. Nixie followed the group down, picking her way carefully so as not to slip on the rocks. She sniffed the air and immediately wrinkled her nose.

  The water was tainted. What should have been a swiftly flowing river sat nearly stagnant before them. Her skin tightened as if to keep the dirty water from entering her body. But it was water, and it could be cleaned with filtration equipment and boiling. Bacteria floated invisibly in the murk, but they could make it safe with the right precautions, she was sure of it.

  Just as she reached the river’s edge, Static plunged his hands into the water and brought them up to his lips. Nixie screamed, “Stop! Don’t drink it!”

  Despite his thirst, Static froze and the water ran from his hands. “But it’s water,” he said, his voice quiet from her outburst.

  “It’s not safe. It needs to be cleaned. Filtered. Boiled.” Peyton stared at her, and Nixie felt as if the guard could see into her mind. She glanced down at the water, trying to get away from those eyes.

  “A little bit can’t hurt,” Peyton said. From the corner of her eye she could see Cooper nodding his agreement.

  “Looks fine to me. It’s clear. I don’t see any rainbows indicating oil. It might not be the best idea, but just a sip or two can’t kill him,” he added.

  When Nixie glanced at Static, he looked ready to cry. His hands twitched, his fingers glistening from the water they had once held.

  “It’s not safe,” she repeated.

  “How do you know?” Peyton’s voice had gone cold, and Nixie felt the chill. How could she explain what she knew without telling them about her ability? Would they understand? Would they even believe her? Part of her wanted to trust them and explain, but another part—with Faulkner’s voice attached—warned her not to. They could take advantage of her, bring her back to the Mill and lock her up. Use her. She looked around, frantically seeking some reasonable explanation, when her eyes lit on the carcass of a dog.

  “The dog.” She gestured to it. “It could have died from the water.”

  “It could have died from something else entirely. Besides, it wouldn’t happen that fast if it died from the water,” Peyton countered smoothly.

  “Maybe. But do you want to take that chance?”

  Peyton’s eyes bored into her, but she stood her ground and even ma
naged to straighten her shoulders. She held the gaze. Peyton was the one to break it.

  “Static, don’t you dare drink the water.”

  He cried out in frustration.

  “We’ll set up camp at the top of the bank and build a fire. Once we get the fire going, we filter and boil the water.”

  Nixie breathed a sigh of relief as she climbed the hill with the others to help set up camp. She felt Peyton watching her, but she didn’t turn to look back.

  *

  It wasn’t the dead dog that had tipped Nixie off. Peyton wasn’t an idiot. She’d yelled long before she could have seen the carcass at the water’s edge. So how had she known? Peyton eyed her as she followed everyone to the top of the hill. She didn’t turn around, but it didn’t matter. Judging by the stiffness in her back, she was fully aware that Peyton had watched her go.

  Once Nixie was out of sight, she turned back to the water. What had tipped her off? She leaned over a bit, extending the upper half of her body as far over the water as she dared without losing her balance, and breathed in deeply. No strange smell. Nothing unusual, anyway, for a low river. She looked out over the surface, scanning up and down the banks and as far across as she could see. Nothing out of the ordinary there, either. Did she have some sort of X-ray vision? Peyton crouched and looked closely at the water, but again, saw nothing weird. No little creatures wiggled around. She didn’t see any mosquito larvae.

  So what the hell made her yell at Static like that?

  Sure, the water didn’t move as swiftly as it once would have, and faster-moving water was preferable. But there were so many rivers just like this one that they’d encountered with no problems. Does she know something she isn’t telling us? But wouldn’t she have given something away long before reaching the river? She had seemed just as desperate to get to water as the rest of them. Maybe she was just overly cautious. Maybe something happened to one of her people, Peyton tried to rationalize.

  Doubt pushed its way into the recesses of her mind, chanting, Ask her. Trust her. It sounded like her dad. That was ridiculous. What would she say to her? “So, Nixie, what was up with you yelling at Static for trying to drink the water? You got some kind of power or something?” Yeah, because that sounded rational. She snorted to herself and stood, rubbing her hands on her jeans. She had started to turn back toward their path when she stopped.

  Power.

  The word triggered a memory…

  A few years ago a Traveler had passed through and told stories of people who could find water with just their senses. He said they had heightened awareness, like witches from the nineteenth century. Of course Peyton and everyone else had brushed it off as just another story they told for a meal and night’s sleep.

  But what if the Traveler’s stories were true?

  No. That was ridiculous. It was one thing for them to spin tales of rebuilt cities—something so very possible. Still, she fought to disbelieve those stories, despite wanting them to be true—or maybe because of that. It would crush her to find out they’d been fabricated simply to earn a place to sleep for a night, and she couldn’t bear that. But powers? Ridiculous. She wasn’t a child. Fairy tales were just make-believe and had no place in her world.

  Still…

  Peyton looked back up the hill where the others had the start of two tents set up—one for the girls and one for the boys, as if they were still little kids—and where Cooper was working on a fire. Small tendrils of smoke floated up as orange ribbons curled around the logs. They’d have clean water soon.

  Tonight, while the boys were sleeping, Peyton would ask.

  She’d make it casual and watch Nixie’s reactions.

  She couldn’t go very far, after all, while they were stuck together in a tent.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Cooper had to wrench the canteen away from Static to keep him from drinking too much water, too quickly. Nixie felt for him, she really did. It had to be terrible to be sunburned so badly on top of the dehydration. She wished Dr. Easton were with them, to help him.

  Jasper had applied a nasty smelling salve to his face, gently smoothing it across his skin in a tender way Nixie hadn’t realized he was capable of. If she hadn’t seen them interacting before, she would have thought they were lovers and turned away, but she knew better. While Jasper tended to his burns, Cooper kept feeding him small sips from the canteen.

  Peyton slipped behind her and sat on the ground, her shoulder brushing Nixie’s as she moved. “We should probably stay here for a day, let him recover. I don’t want to waste the time, but I worry about him.”

  “He probably won’t let that happen,” Nixie replied, trying not to focus on the heat radiating from Peyton.

  “Probably not.” She hesitated, opening her mouth to say something, then stopping.

  Nixie turned toward her, tilting her head to the side.

  “I worry I made the wrong decision.”

  “About what?”

  “Taking on this ridiculous mission and bringing him with us. He’s not built for this sort of thing.”

  “He wanted to do it. Besides, only he knows what he needs for the radios, right? Someone else would bring back the wrong thing and it would be a waste of time.”

  Why was Nixie trying to comfort her? Peyton shook her head. “I wonder if my dad would have made this mistake.”

  Every time she mentioned her father it felt like a stab in Nixie’s chest. “People aren’t perfect. No one is. I’m sure he made a lot of mistakes, too. No offense,” she added quickly when Peyton shot her a look. If she kept bringing him up, Nixie would be compelled to spill the truth. And she didn’t know how Peyton would react. She’d kept it a secret for too long to let it go casually now, but it was starting to feel wrong not to tell her. She gnawed on her lip as Peyton spoke.

  “Yeah, but he wouldn’t have done something like this. Taking someone who’s such a high risk on a mission.”

  Jasper had finished putting the salve on Static and helped him get comfortable. He’d finally had enough water for the moment and Cooper stirred a pot of food over the fire to keep it from burning.

  “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” he announced quietly. “I saw some berry bushes a little farther up. I’m going to check them out before it gets too dark.” He grabbed a collapsible basket from his bag. “Jazz, keep an eye on the food?”

  Jasper nodded and took his place. “It’s a good thing you came along, Nixie. We’d have been screwed if we drank that water.”

  Nixie ducked her head to hide the color she knew stained her cheeks and pretended to find something by her side that required her immediate attention. “I’m sure you would have stopped him anyway. I was just more vocal about it.”

  “I don’t know,” Jasper replied, stirring the pot. “I was pretty thirsty myself. I probably would have had a few sips, too.”

  “Thirst makes you do crazy things, I guess,” Nixie replied. She was conscious of Peyton’s eyes on her again, and she wanted to crawl away and hide. What if she had given away too much in that warning? Would they figure out her abilities? Could they? How many others like her were out there? She’d never met another, but that didn’t mean she was unique. They could be hiding their talents just like she was, and she would never know. No one would.

  Doubt crept into her mind again as Faulkner’s voice berated her for even considering revealing herself. But he was wrong about everything else, wasn’t he? He lied, and Nixie had seen firsthand just how easy their life could be if they changed their ways.

  The voice began to fade.

  “I think it’s done,” Jasper said after a moment, breaking the silence. He lifted the spoon from the pot and gave it a tentative lick. His lips pulled back into a grimace. “Ugh. Foragers might be able to find food, but they sure as shit can’t cook it.”

  “I heard that,” Cooper grumbled as he came back with his basket half-full of berries. “For that, you don’t get dessert.”

  Jasper pouted. “That’s no fair.”


  “It’s what you deserve.”

  Peyton cracked a smile and glanced at Nixie. “Boys,” she said simply with a shrug. “What are you gonna do?”

  *

  The sun faded from the sky and an amazing array of stars peeked out from the darkness while the moon shed ample light. Between that and the fire, Peyton could see everything in her surrounding area, even if it took on a muted, almost ghostly feel.

  Cooper and Jasper had put Static to bed, spreading more of the salve over his burned skin and making sure he was comfortable. A combination of that, cool water, and medication had him feeling much better, and he swore he’d be ready to go in the morning. Peyton still hadn’t decided whether or not they’d stay camped for another night. She’d check on him in the morning. No way was she going to push them and risk serious injury to one of the people under her care.

  After sitting out by the fire, finishing the berries—of which Jasper stole a few handfuls—and chatting mindlessly for a while, the boys turned in for the night. Peyton had insisted on taking the first watch. Jasper had helped Static through the last few hours and she knew he had to be exhausted. Her instincts proved correct when he argued only once before crawling into the tent after Cooper.

  “You should get some sleep, too,” she told Nixie as the girl remained by her side.

  Nixie shrugged. “It’s a nice night out. I don’t mind.”

  “I don’t need the company.” She realized how harsh that sounded after the words left her mouth and quickly backpedaled. “But I guess I wouldn’t mind it.” She was supposed to be finding out how she knew about the water.

  The Scavenger smiled and poked at the fire with a long stick, stirring the flames. Sparks leapt from the makeshift pit. Logs hissed and popped, adding music to the night.

  They sat in silence for some time while Peyton surveyed the land. Occasionally a dog barked in the distance or coyotes howled. After Collapse, animals moved back into territories that had been taken from them by humans. Dad had told her Mother Nature was restoring the balance.