“It better be good,” Melisa said.
She was right. We had ten of our people armed near the cavern entrance and ready to shoot anyone who invaded our home.
“It’s okay,” I said again. I raised a hand in greeting. “We’re sorry. We’re just scared. The Ranjers have killed so many of us.”
The leader was bigger than I’d thought. At least ten centimeters taller than me and with shoulders as wide as some of the bigger tree trunks in the forest. His red and gray beard stretched as he smiled at me.
“Children?” He glanced at his group. “We’re threatened by children?” A few of the adults offered irritatingly indulgent smiles. What was with Wanderers, anyway?
Children? Seriously? I bit back my first inclination to order this guy to get off my hill. “There are a couple more of us. We’re just up here resting and he’s doing his best to keep us safe.”
“Resting? A couple more of you?” Deep lines next to the man’s eyes stretched as he smiled. “I believe you mean more than a hundred of you, and you have been living here for more than two lunar cycles.”
My heart squeezed into my stomach. How does he know that?
Melisa laughed. It was obviously forced. “I wish we had that many. Sure would help keep us safe.”
The Wanderer man’s voice sounded sincere. Even with him knowing about our group, I still liked him more than Gabe. “Please. You’re much better at hiding than lying. You’ve left no trace for the Ranjers to find.”
If he was telling the truth about our leaving no trace for the Ranjers, that was good news. Why would he lie?
Then again, why would Wanderers betray me to the Ranjers after fixing my arm and feeding me my first bite of deer meat? Because Wanderers were irritating. We needed to get rid of these people.
“Well, it doesn’t matter,” I said. “You and your triune need to move on.”
“Triune?” Now the Wanderer man put all of his attention on me. It felt like having a mountain look your way. I didn’t feel threatened or anything, but this guy was intense. “That is a strange word for a refugee from New Frisko to know.”
Bugging spam. What didn’t this guy know? “So? Just keep going. If you know about us, you know we have a lot of weapons.”
“Yes, scavenged from the many Ranjers you’ve killed in your war with the Prime Perpetrator.” The man curled his tongue up and kind of tasted his mustache. He took a noisy breath. “And for that, we thank you.” He put out his hand.
I looked from his hand to his face and back. What did he want? “You’re welcome?”
Melisa nudged me. “Come on, Nik,” she whispered. “We learned about this in school. Shake his hand.”
Now I remembered. I put my hand out. It was swallowed in his enormous grip.
“I’m Scott, leader of the Ponderosa Triune.” He swept his other arm out.
This seemed a little formal. But why not humor the guy? “I’m Nik. Not the leader of—” I trailed off. Is that really our name? “Not the leader of the Pushers.”
“Not the leader?” Scott’s reddish gray eyebrows crawled up his forehead. He gave an amused smile.
“Nope.”
“And you’re called the Pushers?”
“That’s what I’m told,” I said. I pulled my hand free from his grip. “And I’m sorry, but really, if you don’t mind just continuing on…”
“Certainly, certainly,” Scott said.
“Can we trust you not to give away our location?” Melisa stepped up next to me, her question sounding maybe a little angry. One of her hands rested on the top of her keeper.
Now who was being rude? “Melisa,” I said.
“Hey, the other ones betrayed you,” Melisa said. “How do we know they won’t?”
“The other ones?” Scott had turned to gather up his group, but now he faced us again. “Other Wanderers you encountered, you mean?”
I sighed. “Yes. I asked them for help, and they kind of did help I guess. But then they led the Ranjers right to me.”
“Well, that is unacceptable. Tell me who it was and I will be sure to discuss this with other Triune leaders at the upcoming gathering.” Scott’s brow—I swear it was almost a living thing—drew down.
I heard a voice behind me, from the direction of the cavern entrance. Dyana was coming out, with several other people—all of them armed. “What’s going on?”
“It’s okay,” I said. “They’re not a threat.”
“And is this the leader of the Pushers?” Scott stepped closer to Dyana. The fighters around her, one of them Lexi, bristled and lifted their keepers.
“No,” Dyana said. “You’ve been talking to him.”
Oh come on. “Not really,” I said fast. “They’re Wanderers, Dyana, like Devera’s family. They were just about to go.”
“Then they should be on their way,” Dyana said.
“And we shall be,” Scott said. “But I was just asking our friend, the maybe leader of the Pushers, which triune betrayed him.”
“I don’t remember their name.” I put myself between Dyana’s guards and Scott. He was much different from Gabe. He talked weird and smiled a lot, but the smile always reached his eyes. And he kept doing that thing with his tongue, which was kind of funny. “But the leader was named Gabe. He had a lady named Wendy with him and—”
Scott’s face had darkened. His teeth clenched tightly. “Yes. Gabe’s triune. They were slaughtered some months ago.”
“I know.” I cringed at the memory of the bodies and burnt forest. “The Ranjers must have caught them after they helped me.”
“And betrayed you,” Melisa added.
Scott was silent for a moment. His clear blue eyes grew thoughtful, then they narrowed at me. “After they helped you?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes.” I tried to squeeze breath through my guilt-tightened throat. “It was my fault. I found them and they helped me, and the Ranjers must have homed in on them because of that.”
“It wasn’t your fault!” Melisa said.
“Not your fault,” Dyana said.
“This is not entirely your fault,” Scott said, a half second after the other two. “Gabe had a reputation for putting his triune’s safety ahead of anything. Which was understandable. But he forgot principle far too often—and far too often forgot it in favor of things that did not necessarily help his people stay safe.”
None of us had anything to say to that. He continued, studying the people gathered now and facing his group. “You said a name, a Wanderer name. The name of a girl who was with Gabe’s triune?”
“Yes, Devera,” I said.
“But she’s okay now. She lives with us,” Melisa said.
“She helped us stop the Prime Administrator,” I said. “At least in New Frisko. She was amazing.”
Scott put a huge hand on my shoulder. It was a warm gesture that felt good. He grabbed my gaze with his eyes. “You must give her the opportunity to come with us. Wanderers are her people. We must meet her.”
I exchanged a glance with Melisa and Dyana. “Why?”
“As I said, she is a Wanderer and must be given the opportunity to return to her people. This is our way. Freedom to choose your life, no matter how painful.”
Bug me, that sounded good. But what if Devera actually left?
Dyana opened her mouth. I could tell she was going to say no. I jumped in. “Okay. I’ll get her. But you have to wait down there.” I pointed down the hill.
“Fair enough. But we will wait over there,” Scott pointed across the rocky hill to the north side of the entrance, “since that is the direction we were going anyway.”
He was so calm and firm it almost didn’t feel like he was arguing with me all the time. “Fine.” I turned up the hill.
“My people and I will stay here,” Dyana said. “Just to be certain that everything . . . is in order.”
Scott smiled at her. “Certainly, dear lady.” He started across the wavy rocks, gesturing for his triune to follow.
I took a few steps be
fore something he’d said earlier bubbled up. “Wait, did you call him the Prime Perpetrator?”
Scott gave a dry laugh. “Indeed. Am I wrong?”
I shrugged. “No, but how did you know that?”
“When you wander as much as we do,” Scott said, “you learn very much about the world. Have you not visited the original Frisko?”
“What?” I felt myself stand taller in surprise. “I didn’t know it was still around.”
“It is, in all of its ruinous glory,” Scott said. He continued walking. “And there is much to be learned there.”
I stood there watching his broad back as he walked away. What was he—? Bug me gently. He found something in Old Frisko? About Adam Holland?
“Wait a second!” I ran and caught up to Scott. “What did you find there? What do you know about Holland?”
“Mr. Adam Holland is from San Francisco,” Scott said. He paused briefly. “And that is all I will say until you bring me my Wanderer girl.”
Chapter 9
It took very little urging to convince Devera to come out and meet Scott’s Ponderosa triune. I spared a moment to wonder what ‘Ponderosa’ meant, but let the question slide away as Devera and I ran back outside. The light had turned a little golden by the time she and I got to where the Wanderers had stopped to wait. They’d found a small clearing, with widely spaced pine trees and very little ground covering. Most of them sat on the ground in a small circle. Melisa and Dyana, along with Lexi and a couple of other armed Pushers, stood nearby.
As we arrived, I realized that I’d been talking to Scott in a wide-open space. If a Ranjer pod had come by, or even come anywhere near, we would have been found immediately. The Wanderers had been much smarter than me, finding a place where the wide, somewhat flat branches of the trees formed plenty of cover.
Devera gave a little shout, skipped, and ran right to Scott. I almost expected some kind of formal greeting, considering how formally Scott spoke. But this was nothing like that. Scott dropped to a knee and spread his arms wide. Devera ran full tilt into him, not even rocking him back a little.
He wrapped her in the biggest hug I’d ever seen. They stayed that way for a long time, Scott stroked her springy hair and whispered in her ear. Devera clung to him like she would never let go.
When they separated, Scott used his sleeve to wipe Devera’s face clean. She’d been crying.
Scott turned to me. “Not-the-leader Nik, thank you for caring for Devera after her family was taken from her. I can see she has been in good hands.”
I had no idea what to say, so I just nodded. “So, did you two know each other?”
“Only in passing. I believe I have seen Devera at a gathering or two,” Scott said. He patted the ground next to him as he sat. Devera joined him there.
Never met and they hug like that? The Wanderers, or at least Scott’s Wanderers, were far more open and affectionate than anyone I’d met. Getting a giant hug from him must feel like a mountain swallowing you whole. I looked from Devera to Scott, wondering what came next.
Devera piped up. “I told Scott I won’t be going with him.”
He nodded. “Yes. I don’t agree with her, but she is free to make her own choices.”
“I told him it’s because the Pushers are fighting back. The Wanderers don’t fight. They never fight. It feels like we’re always running, always trying to trick people.” She put a hand on Scott’s shoulder. “But Scott isn’t like Gabe or anything.”
“No, but she has a point. It’s against our way to fight. Our way is to stay out of sight in any way possible.”
“And the Pushers are fighting and I want to help,” Devera said.
“Okay,” I said. “Now tell me what you found in San Francisco.”
Scott’s brow raised again. “I suppose with a name like Pushers, it should be natural to be pushy.”
Nobody in the area laughed. There was a distinct lack of laughing.
“Puns,” Scott said. “Another lost art form, although my friend Rob would disagree.”
“Could we get on with it?” Melisa said. I hadn’t heard her approach. She sat down next to me.
“My apologies. And more apologies for leading you on. To be honest, I know very little.”
My heart sank. “But you know something, right?”
“Yes.” He touched his tongue to his mustache. Did he know he did that? “Some years ago, I was talking to another leader of a triune at a Gathering. He told me of a time when he was walking down a decrepit street in old San Francisco.” He paused. “Now remember this, he spoke of a sign nearby that said ‘Grove’ on it. I presume that was the street name.”
“Grove? Okay. So there’s a street called Grove. Is that it?” I leaned forward. I wanted to reach into his brain and yank out whatever he had heard.
“No. As is the Wanderer’s habit, he and his triune spread out among buildings.” Scott looked to the west. “I’ve been to San Francisco. It is a ruin full of collapsing buildings and flooded areas.” His attention turned back to us. “So this friend of mine spoke of a particular building that was surprisingly intact. It turns out that it was a government facility. Signs inside indicated it was dedicated to health concerns.” He paused for a noisy breath.
“Now this Wanderer—his name is Dustin—was telling this story to a full gathering of Wanderers. I believe I heard everything.” Scott tasted his mustache, then continued. “Dustin happened to be one that entered that building. Deep in the maze of the main floor, he found a wall that had been protected from the elements. There were pictures on it.” Now his eyes settled on me. Obviously he wanted me to make a connection.
“Pictures? Pictures of what?” I just about threw a kick his way. “Come on!”
“Pictures of people. Doctors, he gathered, from the information under them.” He raised his brows and compressed his lips, waiting.
It hit me. Doctors. Holland had been on a team of doctors and researchers. He’d never said what his team was doing, but I was willing to bet that the people in the pictures on that wall were the same people in the picture Holland had shown me in Prime One. I felt the air slide out of me.
“Bugging spam.”
“Bug me,” Melisa said. “One was of Holland?”
“Yes.”
“That was the place,” I said. “Holland told me—when he thought he was about to kill me—that he had been on a team of doctors. That was his office!”
“I presume so. Dustin recognized the face from having seen him on the Skreens in Mento, although truthfully, the face in the picture, according to Dustin, was somewhat different from Holland’s. I suppose it is possible the Holland we know is some kind of a descendant,” Scott said.
“Doesn’t matter. That was his office,” Melissa breathed. She grabbed my shoulder. “Nik, there might be some kind of clue there. Some way to figure out where he is, where he’s got everyone.”
“And what he is. Because a hundred years is a long time to live and all.” I had to get there. We had to get going. I jumped up. “We’re going.”
Melisa stood too. “Of course we are.”
New Frisko was north and east from here. I’d never gone back on foot, but in a pod it had taken us almost half a day to get here. How far was that? And old San Francisco had to be even farther away. I was going to bounce out of my skin—we had to go right now. We had to—
“Scott,” I said. He had a little smile as he watched me and Melisa. “So, where is San Francisco?”
Chapter 10
Two hours later, Scott and the Wanderers had made a camp a few hundred meters into the forest. There was plenty of space for them to spread out under the trees, but the branches were still big enough to shield them. I got James and a couple of other people to help me hang the thermal shield cloth over the area, though, since you never knew when Ranjers were going to come by.
The sun had just dipped below the horizon when I made it back to the cavern. I’d been running back and forth so much and had gotten so sweaty
that the cool temperature in there felt really good.
I hated this. I wanted to go right now. So did Melisa. According to Scott, all we had to do was go in a straight line west, get to the ocean, and then head north. When we saw a couple of corroded red square arches a few hundred meters out in a bay, we would know we’d arrived.
But Dyana had made us wait. She wanted to make a plan. “We have to be strategic about this,” she’d said.
I had to admit she had a point. If Holland found out that we were going after him, he would probably do something terrible, like he always did. So we had to find a way to keep the Ranjers after us, without finding us, while some of us went after Holland.
Fine. I trudged down the stairs carved in the stone just inside the cave entrance. But we’re leaving tomorrow.
Before I hit the cavern, a lot of loud voices poured out, echoing off the jagged stone walls. Great. What was going on now? I hated that I had to do it, but I hurried into the main cavern and jogged toward the voices. Here comes Nik, the not-leader of the Pushers.
I just wanted to go get my parents, stop Holland, and then live in peace. With Jan. And my friends.
But with Jan came all kinds of complications. We’d have her dad back sometime, so Jan came with two other people. And Dyana and Karl Stevens wouldn’t be very happy if I convinced Jan to leave the group and come with me—wherever I ended up.
This was nothing like I’d imagined. But a trip to San Francisco would be perfect. The rest of this other drek could wait.
I had to push through the outer edges of a crowd that had gathered near the edge of the big cavern. Dyana’s voice rang out over the shouts, but I couldn’t tell what she was saying. And was that Pol’s voice too? What was going on?
“That’s spam!” I caught sight of Pol as soon as I got through the crowd of people. “You were never involved. You believed everything, just like everyone else!”
Dyana put one hand up. “I understand that, Pol. Calm down.”
Mistake. Never tell Pol to calm down.
“I don’t need to calm down. You need to back off. You’re not in charge here.” Pol practically jumped up and down with every word.
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