“You said I died. He didn’t kill me?”
“When you stood to leave, one of the MPs you saved mistook you for the sniper, and he shot you. I finally reached you and took you away before the MPs or Wardens found us. I got us to that safe house for the night, and then I needed to get you out of Portland—and that’s how we ended up with this crew.” He waved his hand toward the small group hiking seventy-five yards in front of them.
She glanced up at him. “What’s in Bangor?”
“More Brigands, fewer MPs, and no Wardens, so I’m told. Normally you and I avoid others. I train you on being a scavenger, how to survive, and how to hide in the shadows. You learn fast and are great at what you do, but—”
“But what?”
“You still die when you are in your mid-twenties, every time.”
“That’s a long way off.”
A shadow crossed Jace’s face. “Not as far as you think.”
“Have you died before?”
“No. I’m half Echo, so I’m not sure what will happen to me if I die; I may not come back.”
“Oh.” Dani frowned.
They walked in silence for several minutes before she spoke again.
“Jace, do you teach me how to fight too?”
“I teach you some basics, but that’s all. I don’t want you getting dragged into this war.”
“But we’re already in it.”
“Brigands are neutral. We don’t fight for the Commonwealth or for Wardens, Dani.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t stay neutral. I helped the MPs before, right?”
Jace stopped and turned to face her. “Yes, and you died for it too.”
“That was an accident. You said the Warden had me beat. Why was he going to win?”
“He was a better fighter than you.”
“Since teaching me how to sneak around and scavenge hasn’t kept me from dying, what if you teach me to fight too?” Dani asked.
He stared at her without answering.
“Jace?”
“Uh, yeah, I mean. …” He knelt again and took her hand. “I’m sorry. This part is new to me. This is different. You’ve never asked me to teach you to do anything other than scavenge before. Learning to fight will be new for you, since you haven’t done it before. It’ll be hard and won’t come to you as easily as scavenging. Are you sure you want this?”
Dani nodded.
“Okay. I’ll teach you the basics; you will likely remember most of it once we start. But we’ll need to find someone to teach you the more advanced stuff.”
Dani grinned. “When do we start?”
“I’ll show you a few things tonight when we stop to camp. Now, we need to catch up to the others before we lose them.”
She nodded and continued to smile. She took his hand again when they resumed walking, and Jace didn’t appear so surprised this time.
When they stopped for the night, after they started a fire and ate, Dani sat in front of her brother. He showed her how to apply joint locks to wrists and elbows.
“Why are you bothering to teach a child that stuff?” Dark Coat said. “She’s no match for a Warden and you know it, old man.”
Jace ignored the question, but Dani hopped up and approached him.
“His name is Jace, not old man,” she said. “You will address him by his name.”
The man laughed. “Or what?”
“You flinch when you see a spider,” Dani said. “I’ll put one in your blanket tonight while you’re sleeping. Eight hairy legs crawling on your neck. I tried to do it last night, but Jace wouldn’t let me. You should thank him. He’s nicer than me.”
The man chuckled nervously as his eyes flicked to Jace.
“She’s telling the truth,” Jace said. “I may not wake up in time to stop her tonight.”
The man’s face hardened, and he pointed his finger at Dani. “No spiders!”
“Stop calling him an old man,” Dani said.
“Fine,” he said to her before addressing Jace. “This one’s trouble.”
“You have no idea,” Jace said.
Dani returned to her brother to resume her lessons. Dark Coat was politer to Jace and avoided Dani the rest of the trip; she was fine with that arrangement.
CHAPTER
15
Jace kept his promise to teach Dani how to fight. For the next fifteen years, twice a day, she trained with those he hired to teach her. She only used her skills in real life a few times; twice to break up scuffles among Brigands, and once to end an attack from a Brigand who decided to try to take her pack. She broke his wrist, and he changed his mind.
As Dani grew up in their new location, Jace often told Dani how much easier their lives were in Bangor than they had been in Portland. Since Dani couldn’t remember anything about Portland, or her prior lives, she had to accept his words as truth. He also always grinned when he said, “Other than you stealing every other day from the MPs, this is different!” She didn’t understand that statement either, except for the stealing part. She was guilty as charged on theft.
Her brother’s happy demeanor took an abrupt turn into anger when she returned from scavenging one day with a dog in tow. She arrived at their small, two-room house—constructed by Jace out of rough-cut lumber—and placed her pack on the floor. “Jace! I made a great find in Orono today.”
Jace remained seated at the table, his back to her, cleaning his weapons. He didn’t bother turning around when he spoke. “What the hell were you doing there? Swiping books from the ghost town university instead of robbing the MPs blind of anything they don’t nail down?”
“Well, yeah, I did take one book I found. Look,” she said.
He turned his attention from cleaning his weapons to her. “Goddammit. No, no, no, no! Dani, no dog!”
Despite the yelling, the dog remained seated by Dani’s foot, tail swishing back and forth on the floor. His tongue lolled from his mouth as he looked up at her and back to Jace. Dani couldn’t help but smile at the dog. He was a bit thin from scavenging on his own, but at full weight, she guessed he would be around ninety pounds. He had a muscular build and was a mix of dark brown and black striping with a broad splash of white on his chest. She knelt and rubbed the top of his wide head, and he wiggled in response.
“Are you listening to me?”
She chuckled. “Not really. I’m keeping him.”
“No!”
“Jace, relax. It’s just a dog.”
“God, Dani, no. It’s not just a dog. This time was supposed to be different!”
Her temper flared, and she stood. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“Remember the part where you keep dying in your mid-twenties? The other part of that is you get a dog, the dog dies, and a few weeks later, you die too. Up until now you haven’t repeated anything from that old cycle. No dog!”
Dani rolled her eyes. “You’re overreacting.”
“I’m the one that takes care of your ass every time you die. I’m an old man now. I can’t do this again. It’s a miracle I’m still alive. The human, even half-human, life expectancy has plummeted since the war began.”
“And I’m grateful you’ve been there to care for me after each regen, but I’m keeping the dog. I’ve already named him.” Dani smiled.
Jace groaned and reached for his messenger bag. “Another Brody.”
Dani’s smile faded.
“Am I right?” Jace asked with a glance over his shoulder at her as he opened his bag. “Yeah, I’m right. Fucking dog. Here,” he said and turned.
She took the photos from his hand, one of a family and a dark-colored dog with a white chest and the other of a young woman with a dog next to her. The dog was dark with white on its chest, and the young woman was her. Dani tried to swallow the sudden lump in her throat, but her mouth was dry.
“Turn the family picture over. Read the writing on the back of it,” Jace said. He folded his arms across his chest and waited.
She did as instructed a
nd after a moment, she found her voice. “I don’t understand.”
Jace took the photos back and tucked them inside his notebook before stuffing the book into his bag. “The family photo is pre-war. Our father, your mother, you, me, and a damn dog named Brody. That was before you died the first time. Second picture—clearly you recognize yourself in that one, right?—that’s you and another mutt named Brody, about a month before he died and two months before you died, the second time. I never got a picture of you with the third Brody, and I sure as hell won’t get one of you with the fourth. No dog, Dani.”
“Why have I never seen those photos before? Why now?” Dani asked.
“Because this time things have been different. Well, up until now,” he said with a wave of his hand toward the dog.
“You told me I die from friendly fire. How did the other dogs die?”
Jace tightened his jaw.
“Answer me!”
“They died protecting you.”
“That’s just fucking great, Jace. Your arthritis is killing you, and you can’t scavenge like before. I need a new partner when I am out. I’m keeping him.”
Jace snarled at the animal still sitting next to Dani, and Brody wagged his tail.
“So you just whip out these photos now, when it suits your argument? You’ve had them all along? What else haven’t you told me, dearest brother?”
He returned her glare but didn’t speak.
Dani stomped back out of the house with Brody. She completed her evening training and stayed the night with a few Brigand friends near the old library in Bangor. Brody remained with her through it all.
She woke the next day and set off for her morning training, Brody walking next to her.
She walked along the Kenduskeag Stream for three-quarters of a mile, crossed the bridge over the stream, and took a left to cut across the steeper hills to reach the old water tower another four hundred yards away. She took a drink of water before dropping her pack on the ground. She knelt and gave Brody some of the water, too, and most of her food, though she knew she’d be starving by midday.
She’d always liked the hill near the Standpipe, a water tower that had been converted into an architectural piece of artwork instead of a standard, round reservoir mounted on metal posts. It was surrounded by bricks that made it look more like a giant turret that belonged on a castle. It had been equipped with spiral stairs with windows leading to the top to a 360-degree viewing platform. The roof had long ago collapsed, and most of the windows were broken. The interior of the Standpipe was a hazard after years of neglect and abuse following the start of the war.
Gavin emerged from the tree line twenty-five yards away, and Brody barked, but with a wagging tail. Dani stood and smiled as Gavin approached.
“Still smiling to see me even though I kick your ass twice a day,” Gavin said with a grin.
“Smiling for now. Though I will probably hate you like I always do in a couple of hours.”
“I see you brought your vicious Brody back.” Gavin patted the dog’s shoulder. Brody’s tail somehow managed to wag faster.
“Yeah.” Dani wondered if she should change his name.
“How’s Jace?”
Dani shrugged. “I didn’t go home last night.”
“Doesn’t sound good.”
“He’s pissed about the dog. No point going home to have a fight.”
Gavin laughed and gave Brody another pat. “Let’s get started.”
Two hours later, Dani lay in the grass on her back with a horrible throb in her right thigh, left ribs, and left flank. Her shirt was soaked with sweat, and she was out of water.
“I hate you,” she said, marveling at how a man almost twice her age could still have so much stamina.
“Right. See you this evening.” He wiped sweat from his face with one hand and headed for the forest. “The good news is you’re actually getting better, Dani.”
“I still hate you.”
Gavin’s laughter carried him into the trees, and he disappeared.
Dani managed to roll to her side and then to her rump on her second attempt. She rubbed her sore ribs and lower back. Gavin had a nasty right hand that showed little mercy when she left her side unprotected.
When she was younger, Dani had progressed quickly with her combat trainers, always moving beyond what they could teach her—and then Jace found Gavin. He was a marine veteran, and other than that, Dani knew little else but his political opinions. Gavin had never agreed with CNA policies and their Military Police tactics, so he lived among the Brigands. She always wanted to follow him to see where he lived, but after their sessions, she was too tired and battered to bother. He’d been her instructor for the last seven years, and she doubted she would ever progress beyond his training. He was the toughest man she’d ever seen, with Jace in a close second place.
A rank odor reached her nose, and Dani picked at her shirt and sniffed. She winced at the smell and forced herself to her feet. “Can’t meet Xan smelling like this.”
Brody stared at her pack.
“The food in there is mine. Okay? Hope you like mushrooms or know how to catch your own fish.”
She lifted her pack from the ground and shuffled back down the hill toward the stream with Brody at her side. She needed water and a quick bath. Her shirt should have enough time to dry during the walk back up the hill to the overgrown baseball field. Once she crossed Union Street to the west, the line almost splitting Bangor in half, she would be in MP territory. If caught she’d be forced into CNA ranks, but she didn’t mind taking the risk to see Xan.
CHAPTER
16
Dani stripped for a quick swim and washed her shirt in the stream. Brody splashed through the water and leapt into the deeper pool to join her. She wanted to swim longer, but she was hungry and thirsty. She left the stream still tired but less sore from Gavin’s punishment-disguised-as-training. Tonight’s session was ground fighting, and tomorrow was to be a mix of aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. He only gave her a day off when he decided she’d earned it. She was ready for a break, though if what Jace said was true about her dying not long after getting a dog, she didn’t want any time off—she wanted to be as prepared as possible for whatever was coming.
She dressed while Brody rolled his wet body in the grass, his tongue hanging out like he was smiling. She was already attached to the dog; she didn’t want him to get hurt for her sake.
She rummaged through her pack, which gained Brody’s attention, and he was back on his feet and beside her in an instant. She chuckled as she pushed his snout out of her bag.
She started a small fire and used her dented metal cup to start boiling water to refill her canteen. She foraged in the trees along the stream, picking a few plants to eat as she went along and collected mushrooms. She spotted a decent-sized fish, around ten inches long, in a shallow pool.
“Sit,” she said to Brody, and he complied. Dani hadn’t expected him to actually know what the word meant. “Wow. The person that had you before must be missing you, if they’re still alive.”
She snapped a thin limb from a tree and picked the twigs and leaves from it. She sharpened one end with her knife and moved along the rocks to the pool. The fish was still there. She waited, poised with her new weapon. With a quick thrust, she pierced the fish with the spear. She plunged her other hand into the water to grab the writhing creature. She looked over her shoulder at Brody. “Hope you like fish.”
She returned to the fire, poured the boiling water into her canteen, and put another cup of water on to boil. She cleaned the fish and cut fillets. After threading the slices of meat over thinner strips of wood she made from the spear, she cooked them over the fire. By the time she put the fire out, she had a full canteen again, and she and Brody had eaten.
Her shirt was almost dry as she headed back up the hill. On the trail through the trees, she noticed three Brigand men sitting together. They spotted her and Brody, and she altered her course to move off the tra
il to go around them. One of the men shifted his seat to watch her pass, and Brody growled in response. The men didn’t stand, and Dani glanced back a few times to make sure they weren’t trying to follow her.
She patted Brody. Again, he’d surprised her. She had feared his friendly nature might make him want to greet strangers, as he’d done with Jace, Gavin, and her friends yesterday, but he understood the difference between friends and strange Brigand men. Good. A starving Brigand wouldn’t hesitate to put a dog on the menu, and Brody was big enough that he could feed a few people.
Dani finished her hike back toward the water tower. She heard the voices before she saw the people, and she slipped through the trees to move closer to the field. Two women and four children walked in an open area. Three of the children were younger, around five or six years old. The fourth appeared older given his height. Their non-tattered clothing and groomed appearance concerned Dani the most. The women and children were Commonwealth families, and they were in Brigand territory.
Bangor’s MPs and Brigands didn’t tend to bother each other, except for Dani’s routine theft of their food rations. The CNA had little interest in Bangor, so their troop numbers continued to dwindle while the MPs remained at the base. She guessed the women and children were likely MP families instead of CNA ground troop families. It didn’t matter either way, but Dani found their presence unsettling. They were on the wrong side of the CNA–Brigand border. According to Jace, the Portland MPs often raided Brigand camps to capture CNA recruits, and Brigands returned the favor by stealing anything and everything they could from the MPs. Dani glanced down at Brody. He, too, watched the family, and his tail wagged as he did.
Dani made a hissing noise to get his attention. When he looked up, she shook her head and mouthed “No.” Brody stayed with her. The families were alone in the field and seemed to be enjoying themselves—except for the older boy. He appeared disinterested in the others, and stayed a few paces away from them.
Echoes of War Page 8