by Lissa Trevor
“Do you think we can be together? Will your pack allow it?”
“If we save them, I don’t think they’ll hold you being a Tech against you.”
Bethany snorted. “You’d be surprised.”
“I think we’ll be fine. It’s only been a few days, and I’m not bored yet.” He flashed her an easy grin.
“I want a chance,” Bethany said. “I want to be in your life.”
Lucas rubbed her back. “We’ve got things to do first. We have to get to know each other when it’s not a crisis.”
“I know.” She laid her forehead on his. “I know.”
Lisa came in after a few hours. Bethany and Lucas hadn’t been sleeping, but Bethany jumped when the door opened. For a moment, she wished she could keep him safe in the train with her, but she realized Lucas wouldn’t be caged.
“Are you two decent?”
“Does it matter?” Lucas answered back.
“No, but we’ve got to go out with the rest of the Shifters. Half of us are going on the ground, the other half in the air.”
“Which one are you?”
“Ground.”
Lucas grunted. “I’ll go with you.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Lucas leaped from the bed and was in cougar form by the time Bethany had the blanket wrapped around her. The slowing of the train made getting down from the bunk less than graceful, but she was still able to open the door of the compartment for them and watch them leap from the train.
Bethany realized Lucas hadn’t said good-bye to her. She sighed and got dressed, feeling abandoned yet not really understanding why. It figured. She found the man of her dreams, and they might not live out the week.
Luckily, Lem had plenty of work for her to do to keep her mind off her love life. Even better, none of it involved her channeling energy through her body. She helped serve dinner to the remaining caravan members and clean up afterward. And in keeping busy, she almost missed the first attack on the train. What she thought was just railroad sounds turned out to be the first wave.
“Get down on the floor.” Vera’s voice compelled her to hit the deck without thinking. The tinkling of glass as rifle fire exploded into the kitchen car prompted Bethany to hide under the long prep table.
“What’s going on?” Bethany said.
The brakes on the train screeched, and anything that wasn’t bolted down—including Bethany—slid hard and fast into the front of the car. She banged her shoulder hard and twisted to avoid a falling shelving unit. Covered with cornmeal, Bethany dragged herself free.
“They blocked the tracks.”
“The Shifters were supposed to clear the way,” Bethany said. “Can you see Lucas?”
“I can’t see much of anything. But we’re here. At Bellevue station.”
“I don’t hear any more gunfire,” Bethany said. But she did hear running feet and shouted orders to hold ground.
“Want to go out and look around?” Vera asked.
“I’m not much in a fight.”
“If they can’t see you, they can’t shoot you.”
“I’ll stay here, thanks,” Bethany said, trying to hide among the debris.
“You may be able to see Lucas,” Vera taunted.
“That’s not playing fair.”
“All you have to do is concentrate on my voice. I’m going to direct you. Just follow me. I’ll pull you and then you pull me and then we’ll be free.”
“This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Come to me, now.”
Bethany closed her eyes as her arms and legs jerked.
“Not with your body. That’s just useless meat. See the waves? Like the radio waves?”
“No, I feel them, though.”
“Push into them. Be the music.”
Bethany thought about songs and which ones made her float free and away from her problems. Her portable media player flared up and started to shuffle through songs. “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” flitted up.
“Get serious,” Vera said. “Get angry. Get moving.”
“I can’t,” Bethany said.
“Focus. Concentrate.”
But Bethany couldn’t do it.
There was roaring, and the gunfire started up again. This time from inside the train.
“Are they boarding us?” Bethany said.
“Everyone’s leaving the train.”
The train rocked as an explosion hit. The briny smell of bleach hit her again. “Oh no,” Bethany said, scrambling up to her knees.
Lem pushed his way into the car. “We gotta get out of here.”
“What’s happening?” Bethany let him pull her to her feet and together they ran through the dining cars.
“They’re trying to blow up the train.”
When they got to the car connectors, Bethany saw a war going on. There were Shifters fighting nomads, and the hunters were trying to lay down covering fire.
“Where are we going?”
“To the station. Clark says we’ll be safe once we get inside the terminal.”
“I’m not sure I trust Clark.”
“What are your choices?”
Bethany sighed. “I’ve got to grab my things.”
“No time.” Lem started to strong-arm her off the train.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, twisting away and running through the compartments.
“What’s worth your life?”
“My daddy’s gun and bullets.”
Lem sighed. “Okay, I’ll go see if I can find Jesse and Karen. You get inside the terminal. Don’t make me come looking for you. We’ll be right behind you.”
Bethany put on a burst of speed and made it back to her compartment. She refused to look at the bodies in the corridor. There was blood, but no one was moving. The gunfire had stopped, and she was able to take all her gear and Lucas’s in quick movements. She jumped off the platform that she and Lucas had made love on and hit the rough cement. Concentrating on being as inconspicuous as possible, she ran for the terminal.
A woman with many piercings in her face whooped and tried to swipe her head off with a crude rock hammer. Bethany shot her in the chest and sidestepped around her. Reaching out with her senses, Bethany felt the station humming as Vera tried to push some power. With a grunt, she shot a load of power that lit up the night with floodlights and whooping alarms. The distraction was enough that she was able to shoot her way into the station.
The station was half of a building with a great crater leading down into tunnels. Wires, junked cars, and other debris piled to make a barrier. Bethany headed past rusted metal, leapt over piles of crates. Once she was behind cover, she cut off the energy, dropping everything into darkness. She hoped the Shifters could use the distraction to their advantage.
Running deeper into the terminal, she turned on the floor lights and the ventilation system. She saw her human friends enter the station. She, waved them into the tunnel she was in.
“Can you keep the lights on?” Karen asked.
Bethany nodded and sat down to get closer to the electronics. She felt Vera calling to her, but her voice was distant. The station was like a dormant volcano, and she was the catalyst. Freeing energy into the subterranean wires started the central air system and the power doors. More people flooded in from the train as new entrances came live.
“Don’t leave me,” Vera wailed.
Bethany’s body twitched, and she felt blood spurt out her nose. Then she was free, floating above the station. She looked down on her body, looking so still. Lem and Jesse were clutching each other. Karen guarding all of them with a nasty-looking crossbow. Drifting down the corridors humming with energy, Bethany fired up a few electric engines on rusted trucks. With a push, they spurted forth, and she gloried in the power as she piloted them through the main doors, surprising a group of nomads off their feet. Bethany lost control of the trucks, and they idled.
“Over here.”
Bethany d
arted toward the voice and saw Vera for the first time. She was chained to the train, a willowy blonde with hooded dark eyes and nightmarish scars all over her naked body.
“Free me.”
“How?”
“Pull. Break them.”
Bethany yanked them, but nothing happened.
“Not like that. Come closer.”
Bethany drifted so they were nose to nose.
“Like this.”
Vera attached her mouth to hers, and the world exploded. Chains flew everywhere, and in the bowels of the tunnel, an electric engine train fired its cylinders. Laughing, Vera grabbed her hand. “Let’s go into the trucks you’ve brought us.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
Vera gathered her energy around her, thrusting Bethany into the engine, and just like that Bethany was the engine.
“Drive!” Vera said and drove a tight, fast victory circle before speeding off.
Bethany flexed her mind. Felt the brake, the gas pedal, and the engine humming like her heart. She laughed and revved the engine. It was like riding her bike—no, it was like she was the bike. They frolicked around the battle, startling the nomads—chasing them away.
But then Bethany saw a familiar cougar. Lucas was lying on his side, bleeding, possibly dying. She beeped the horn until rescue came.
Chapter Ten
Bethany
Bethany launched herself out of the truck and traveled on the radio waves back to her body. At first she couldn’t figure out how to get back in. What if Vera tried to take over her body while she was out? Would she become the ghost haunting the train station? With that terrifying thought, Bethany crashed back into her body. She felt a thousand pounds heavier and slower than sap down a tree in January. With great effort, she got to her feet. She heard that Clark was going to blow up this place. It seemed like a damned waste just to be vindictive, but that was Clark for you.
People were milling around her, and she felt like a salmon swimming up river.
“Get out.” Bethany’s voice sounded thick to her own ears. “He’s going to bring the ceiling down.”
But no one seemed to be paying her any mind in their attempt at looting whatever they could get their hands on. God, she was tired. Her brain felt like scrambled eggs, and it was hard moving her arms and legs to get her outside where the tracks were.
“What happened to you?” Lisa gripped her arm and helping her sit down on the ground.
“What?” Bethany asked.
“Your face. It’s covered in blood.”
“Nosebleed. I get them all the time when I’ve been overdoing it.”
“That was you in the trucks then?” Karen double-checked the harnesses on her horses.
“One of them.”
“We’ve got two Techs?” Lisa smiled and did a little happy dance.
“Not exactly.” Bethany told them Vera’s story.
“That’s how you’re going to wind up, if you’re not careful,” Karen said.
“How’s Lucas?” Bethany suddenly remembered where she had left him and tried to push her way back to her feet.
“He’s healing,” Lisa steadied Bethany. “He’s out like a light. If he stays in the truck while you drive it, he should be fine by morning.”
“I don’t like traveling with the horses at night,” Karen settled into the driver’s seat of the wagon.
“We don’t have much choice. It’s either follow the trucks or fight the nomads on their turf,” Lisa told her, after steadying Bethany who was swaying on her feet. “You’ll light our way with those headlights, right?”
Bethany nodded and then winced as pain poured in from the gesture.
“It’ll be a miracle if the horses don’t step into a rut and break their legs.”
“Vera and I will keep the headlights on the ground and avoid any chewed-up areas.”
“Look on the bright side, if they do, we can eat real good for a few days.” Lisa smiled at her. “Besides, it’s only until the train catches up to us.”
“The train crew has to clear the blocked tracks, fight off the nomads and other ambushers, and fuel up the second steam engine. We’ll be at the Colorado station by that time, if the nomads don’t take us out first,” Karen grumbled.
Bethany hugged them both. “Stay safe. I’ll make sure Lucas is guarded until he’s better.”
“This will all look better in the morning,” Lisa promised.
“That’s easy for you to say. You can just turn into an owl and fly away,” Karen said.
“I won’t leave you.” Lisa gripped Karen’s hand until she nodded at her.
Bethany staggered back to her truck. Clark was nowhere around. He was probably setting the charges. She nodded to his two favorites, Flint and Lynn, and climbed in the back with them.
Lucas was still in his cougar form. When she rested her head on his chest, she could hear his heart beating and feel the rise and fall of his chest with each shallow breath that he took. She held his paw and whispered into his ear.
“Lisa and I are all right. We’re going to Colorado station and getting on a train. We just have to survive the night first.”
Clark poked his head in. “What the hell happened to your face? Lynn, get the Tech some water to clean up with. Flint, give her something to eat.”
Before she could protest, Lynn had doused a handkerchief with water and was scrubbing away at her nose and cheeks. Coughing, Bethany pushed her away.
“I’m okay,” she said, but the headache was starting. It felt like a train roaring into her head, and she was the mountain it was going to run into. She accepted the buttered bread Flint handed her, though, and crammed it in her mouth. Bethany couldn’t believe how empty she felt. It was if she was starving.
“We’re going to follow the train tracks into Colorado,” Clark said, cradling the detonators in his hands.
“No, we’ll follow the roads,” Vera’s voice came over the radio. Linda and Flint seemed a little spooked by it. But Clark just looked annoyed at being interrupted.
“I’ve been talking with the satellite that runs the global positioning system.”
“The what?” Flint said.
“Tech nonsense,” Lynn said.
“You mean to tell me there is still a satellite orbiting Earth?” Clark said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bethany asked.
Static sparked over the radio. “Earth is no longer listening. The satellites are out there, though. They plotted a route for us using the old highways and roads, as best as they could.”
“They’ll be torn-up.” Clark shook his head.
“Not as badly as the terrain. It would be safer for the horses,” Bethany said. She liked the idea of an eye in the sky, even if it would have visibility problems. If Vera could use the satellite to plot a course, they had the advantage of speed.
“I don’t like it,” Clark said. “We’ll be too predictable if we follow a road.”
“No more predictable than following the tracks. What are you really afraid of?” Bethany asked.
“Not afraid. Cautious. Those are toll roads out there.”
“Is this really about money?”
“Lady Tech, it’s always about money. Okay, have it your way. We’ll go by the roads until we either lose a horse, are attacked, or stopped for tolls.”
“And then what?”
“We take it from there.”
“Clark!” Jesse ran up to the electric truck.
“Get in,” he said to her. “We’ll make room.”
“I can’t,” she said, out of breath from her run. “I’m going with the Shifter caravan.”
“Don’t be stupid,” he said. “They’re here to guard our retreat. The Shifters are replaceable.”
“No, they’re not,” Bethany snapped.
“Don’t worry yourself, dear,” he said, then climbed out of the car to talk to Jesse. Bethany tried not to listen, but he wasn’t making an attempt to make the conversation private.
> “If I can’t persuade you to come with us”—he pressed a brutal kiss on Jesse’s mouth—”you have to promise me to stay out of danger. We haven’t finished our lessons, you and I.”
“Do you care for me at all?” Jesse asked in a tortured whisper.
Clark frowned at the question. “You have skills that I find useful. I’m not sure where you’re going with this conversation.”
Jesse shook her head as if mad she even asked the question. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”
Clark regarded her warily. “I value you.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a whistle made of bone or horn—Bethany couldn’t tell which. “If you need me, blow this.”
Snatching it out of his hand, she looked at it. “Is this some kind of joke? Blow it and you’ll come.”
“You’ll have to find that out for yourself.” Clark went for another kiss, but she dodged him. “You’ll pay for that later.”
Jesse shrugged. “Bye, Bethany. See you in Colorado.”
Bethany nodded. “Count on it.”
They watched her walk away. When Jesse was out of earshot, Clark turned to Bethany. “Let’s get going. We want to outdistance this mob as soon as possible.”
“But wait,” Lynn said. “Weren’t we supposed to stay close to the train so the rest of them can catch up?”
“Don’t think, Lynn. You’ll hurt yourself,” he said.
“Don’t patronize me. I’m the one who’s going to tell you that a pack of Shifters are swooping in.”
“We’re giving the nomads three targets. The train, the caravan, and us. I’m hoping that we will take the wind right out of them that they won’t bother with the caravan, and by the time they regroup, the train will barrel right by them. They won’t be expecting it, and their numbers will be lessened. We’ll board another of our trains in Colorado and take it straight through the mountains to California.”
“This is a crazy plan,” Lynn sighed.
“If you have a better idea?” Clark held her gaze. She dropped it. “When you’re ready, Lady Tech, we need to get going.”
Bethany nodded and stroked Lucas’s fur once. “He needs to be kept out of the fighting.”
“He looks pretty out of it,” Flint said.
Bethany cuddled down next to Lucas and let her mind open. It was almost a relief to be back in control of the electric truck. Her body had seemed too heavy and too solid. In here she felt ethereal and in control. A thin line headed up into the sky as Bethany turned over the electric engine. Vera’s voice spoke to her.