Green Jack
Page 28
Chapter 28
Jane
They walked for six miserable days.
Jane mostly limped, but it got the job done. Distracted by the fire, the Ferals couldn’t spare anyone to follow, or if they did, they never caught up. Saffron was good at covering their tracks until they came upon an old road. The concrete fissured, black stagnant water gleaming in the cracks. They found a stream and filled their water bags, plopping in Jane’s purification tablets. They fizzed so violently until Jane wondered if going thirsty was better. They ate squirrels and dandelion roots. It was so hot her hair tangled with dried salt.
The fields on the other side of the Badlands stretched on forever. The bite on her knee was healing, thanks to antibiotic ointment and some kind of leaf Saffron pulled from her leaf mask. It still ached, the skin pulling at the thick scab whenever she walked but it didn’t slow her down anymore. “It can’t be far now.” It was much a plea as a statement.
They talked until they’d run out of things to say. It was obvious that Saffron kept herself closed off from strangers but they weren’t strangers anymore, and anyway, after the second day she was so bored she started answering Jane’s questions. Jane knew about Killian and Oona, about Argent and the underground markets. Even about Saffron’s mother who had fancied herself a freedom fighter but had died before she’d made much of a difference. She talked about the leaf mask, but only in clipped uncomfortable tones and she never took it out of her bag, even when green tendrils escaped to touch her hair. Jane told her about her sisters, about her mother’s work for the Directorate which she still knew virtually nothing about, and how her mother had sold her to the Program. Saffron had the same things to say about Asher that Kiri had said. It made Jane miss her even more.
Jane felt the thrum of the forest in her spine, just before they crested a hill and everything was suddenly green. They exchanged a bright triumphant grin before breaking into a run. Pain nibbled at her leg but Jane didn’t care. They’d made it. They’d actually reached the Spirit Forest.
A wide river separated it from the fields. She remembered learning about the various ways the Directorate protected everyone from the Greencoats who lived inside.
Apparently Saffron hadn’t heard the same stories.
She didn’t see the dead horse that had stopped to drink now sprawled on the bank further down. She stepped forward, her foot skimming the clear water.
“Stop!”
Jane grabbed at a fallen branch and hit Saffron across the chest, just as electricity shivered on the surface of the water, arcing up towards her. The wood grounded the current and broke the connection. Saffron landed in the grass, her teeth chattering and the ends of her braids singed. She lay shivering and twitching for a long moment before lifting her head. “Why the hell do you keep saving my life?”
“You’re welcome.”
She sat up, wincing. “What the jacking hell was that?”
“The Directorate fills the river with electric eels,” Jane said. “Everyone knows that.”
“Electric eels?”
“It’s a precaution. They can’t spare soldiers to patrol, and since they don’t actually expect anyone to make it out of the City, they make do.”
Saffron shook her hands, as if they were tingling. “That was not fun. I hate everything and everyone right now.” She glared at the knife-bright water. “How do we get across? We don’t exactly have time to build a bridge.”
The trees were thick and tangled on the other side, but still out of reach. Vines dangled, temptingly close. Jane remembered hanging from the dryad tree. “I might be able to reach that.”
Saffron followed her gaze dubiously. “Because Enclave girls can fly now?”
“No, but I can run.” And if she ran fast enough, there was a chance.
There was also a chance she’d land in the water and be electrocuted.
She backed up, reminding herself that running was the one thing she could actually do really well. She pumped her legs hard, pushing off the ground with each step. She gave into the momentum, sprinting faster and faster until she had no other choice but to jump.
She grabbed at the vines desperately. They slipped through her damp fingers until she finally got a proper hold. The shadow of eels swan beneath her. She inched back up, until she could stretch out enough to grab another one. She swung gently, praying desperately that she wasn’t about to plummet. The water shivered. She threw the other vine as hard as she could and Saffron leapt to grasp it, screaming as she jumped over the water. The vines wrapped around each other, bumping them together.
Saffron exhaled sharply. “I had no idea they bred them so crazy in the Enclave.”
“We should be able to swing just a little and jump to the other side.” The vine tore a little, dropping her abruptly a foot closer to the water. Jane dangled, her shoulders popping as they held her weight. There was a buzz, like enormous insect wings.
“Shit, I know that sound,” Saffron hissed, freezing. “Drone cameras. They send them into the Core sometimes.”
Jane finally located the sound of the buzzing. A black drone camera hovered like a metal bird along the river, surveying the area. Everything it saw was transmitted directly to the nearest Protectorate outpost. “What do we do?” she whispered.
“Don’t move?” Saffron suggested.
The vines creaked warningly. Jane’s fingers were damp with sweat, cramping tightly. The drone passed beneath them, close enough that she could see the machinery whirling inside. She dropped another inch. The vine was going to snap. “Hold on,” Saffron muttered. “Don’t you dare fall. We have an alliance, remember?”
Jane’s palms chaffed raw, prickling and stinging. She swung lightly as the drone flew away. She couldn’t wait any longer. The tree creaked, twigs branching. Saffron kicked her feet, launching herself at Jane.
The vines snapped.