Before anyone had a chance to answer, there was a shout from the other side of the shelter. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Get your mask back on!”
Blue grabbed 62 by the arm. “Come on.” 00 followed as they jogged around the lean-to toward the commotion.
When they rounded the corner of the stick building, they found Chance standing over one of the refugees. His eyes seemed to burn holes through his yellow and black mask as he looked down on Man 38228’s bare face. The glare was returned with an angry, blotchy grimace. Chance pointed at the black mask held in the seated Man’s hands. “I said, put it back on. It isn’t safe.”
“We haven’t seen any sign of whoever you think is chasing us. I’m hot and tired.” 38228 wiped his face with a corner of his poncho. Chance leaped forward and knocked the stiff fabric away.
“Stop it! Stop touching your face!” The fury in Chance’s eyes brightened and his voice cracked with panic. He held 28’s hands tight as he scanned the group gathered around them. He found the person he was looking for and shouted, “Geiger, do you have a counter on you?”
A Man in a gray mask nodded and went over to open one of the crates that the group had been hauling along with them. He rushed back with a small box in one hand, and a long metal wand in the other. The two devices were the same color as Geiger’s covered face, and were connected by a thin red wire. “I can scan him, but with all the dust being kicked around, it’s going to be hard to pick out anything direct on the skin,” Geiger said.
Chance trembled beneath his poncho. “28, open your mouth.”
28 narrowed his eyes but did as he was told. Geiger nodded again at Chance when he picked up on the meaning of the exchange. He turned on the Machine in his hands and it ticked slowly. He raised the thick metal wand and moved closer to the bare-faced Man, the device ticking more quickly the closer it got to 28’s face. Geiger carefully inserted the thick metal wand into the seated Man’s mouth. The device squealed with intense activity.
“He got a bit of it in there,” Geiger said in a rough voice. He pulled the wand away and his sad eyes glistened. “28, you’ve got to spit whatever’s in your mouth out.”
28’s scowl shifted. The anger of seconds ago was replaced with creeping worry. “There’s nothing in my mouth. I already ate it.”
Chance shook his head. “There’s dust and dirt on everything. You wiped your face. I told you not to take off that mask.” He started to turn away. He stopped abruptly and then spun back around. “Wait; we ran out of meal tabs hours ago. What did you eat?”
“A meal tab. I saved one in my pocket from yesterday. When I pulled it out, I dropped it, but I wiped the dirt off before I ate it. It’s fine.”
“Get it out!” Chance threw himself at 28 and grabbed his face in his hand. He shoved his finger into 28’s mouth and poked it down his throat. 28 gagged and Chance danced to the side before thick, yellow bile flew out onto the ground.
28 leaned over and hacked, more spittle landing in the dust at his feet. Geiger poked the wet spot with the wand and his Machine wailed, the ticks so close together that the device seemed to scream in one continuous wave of panic.
“There’s no way of knowing if we got it all.” Geiger huffed. He set the device down and went back to the crates, pulling a black bag out of one of them. He unfolded it as he returned to his gear, a giant yellow word scrawled across one side. He unplugged the wand from the box and dropped it into the bag. When he zipped it up and pulled on the bag’s handles, the fabric smoothed. 62 caught sight of the word emblazoned across the fabric.
Contaminated.
“Everybody, back up!” Chance shouted at the curious group. He let go of 28 and snapped his fingers at Geiger. The second Man passed him a sealed envelope. A reeking smell of alcohol poured out of the packet when a white rag was removed from its packaging. Chance and Geiger wiped their hands with the towel and then handed it to 28. Chance stood up and addressed the startled refugees around him. “If anyone else takes off their masks during this trip...” Chance’s forehead was red above the edge of his mask and his eyes glistened with angry tears within it. He didn’t finish his sentence, just kicked the dirt at his feet and then pushed his way through the group before storming off.
Geiger stood up. He cleared his throat and continued Chance’s speech, his voice low, forceful, and clear. “There are areas in Hanford where the dust is poisonous. You never know which particle has the poison until you’ve breathed it in or licked if off your lips. Leave your masks on.”
28 wiped his face and hands with the towel and hurried to put his mask back on. The group dissipated, wandering away in the direction Chance had stormed off. Geiger emptied out the crate that the ticking Machine had come from, distributing its contents amongst the other boxes and placing the zipped up black bag into the newly empty crate. When 28 offered him the dirtied towel back, Geiger shook his head “no” and pointed to the box. Once the fabric dropped inside, he closed the lid and secured it. He waved at the Men assigned to carry the crates and shouted, “Nobody open this box.” They nodded their understanding and he got up to walk away. As he passed by, 62 heard him mutter, “... idiots. The lot of them.”
CHAPTER 4
THE SUN SET, ROSE, and began to set again, casting its rays across a landscape of even more dry land. A couple of small rises could be seen on the horizon. The wind had stopped for a brief time during the afternoon, but now it whipped through the landscape again, pushing a reddish-brown cloud toward the huddled group of bodies.
“I can’t take it anymore.” The words barely registered over the sound of the tattered ponchos flapping over the pedestrian caravan.
“What?” 62 leaned in close to the older Man. He was so caked with dirt that 62 could barely make out 37113’s eyes squinting through his mask’s crusty lens. “Did you say something?”
Man 13 shook his head from side to side. “I can’t take it anymore. I want to go back.”
“Back?” 62’s brain was fuzzy from lack of sleep and the distraction of a growling stomach. He thought about the scrub land that they’d hiked through and couldn’t comprehend where his brother would want to return to. He turned to look back at the footprints vanishing in the windblown dust behind them and he understood. “You want to go back to Adaline?”
13 nodded once and stopped walking. “I’m ready to face the consequences of my imperfections. I want to see the Head Machine.”
“Wait here. I’ll get help.” 62 hurried his shuffle, moving forward in the group as quickly as his tired legs would carry him. He found a familiar gray mask and rushed to ask for help “Geiger!”
“I’m Rex,” the tall male said through the filter of his grey mask. “What do you need, buddy?”
“Sorry, I thought you were Geiger.” 62 touched the fabric of his own mask instinctively.
“We’ve been on a lot of missions together,” Rex said with a tilt of his head. “So, we dress the same to mix Chance up a bit.”
“Oh, well you had me fooled.” 62 turned and pointed where he’d just come from. “Rex, someone back there at the end of the line doesn’t want to go to Hanford any more. He wants to go back to Adaline.”
A darkness passed over Rex’s eyes. “Stay put. I’ll get Chance.” He left 62 standing at the side of the slow-moving group and trotted ahead. When he returned, Chance was at his side.
“Take us to the guy who wants to go back,” Chance commanded.
It wasn’t hard to find Man 13. He hadn’t moved from where he’d stopped. 13 stood alone in the desert cloud that lifted from the pounding of feet against loose soil. 62 approached him first. “I brought help.”
13’s eyes focused on the lenses of Chance’s striped mask. “I can’t go on. I want to go back.”
Chance shook his head. “It’s too late for that now. You’ve come this far. Another day and we’ll be in Hanford.”
“That’s what you told me yesterday.” 13’s eyes squinted, mask drooping over his lowered brow in frustration.
“You’re leading us through this land of misery... to what? Is Hanford a magical place where the sun doesn’t fry you and the dirt doesn’t sting your eyes?”
Chance shook his head. “We got slowed down. It happens, especially making the hike with kids. I know it’s frustrating, but we need to keep moving.” Chance looked at the horizon ahead of them. “As for Hanford, no, it isn’t magic. It’s desert. But we have shelter. Meal tabs. Real food. Water. Come on, you’re almost home.” Chance gave 13 a reassuring slap on the shoulder and took a step back toward the line of plodding refugees.
“I am not!” The words rang out of 13’s mouth and made 62 jump with surprise. “Adaline is my home. I shouldn’t have ever left it.”
Chance’s eyes searched deep into the black mask of his charge. “They were going to kill you. For what? For making a mistake? For getting sick? Whatever it was they’d condemned you to that furnace for, it isn’t worth dying over.”
13 shook his head. “Who are you to judge?” His eyes narrowed and his hand came up, pointing at the Man he was refusing to follow. “You’re a criminal. How could you possibly know what’s right and what’s wrong? This ‘world’ we’re in. It’s what’s wrong. Horribly wrong.” His arm dropped, and his knees folded under him as he collapsed, a wailing cry puffing its way out of his mask. 13 rolled on the ground, tears causing the lenses to fog.
Chance kneeled beside the sobbing refugee. His voice was tender, almost pleading. “You can’t go back. If you do, you’ll die. Don’t you understand that?”
The head nodded emphatically. The poncho did nothing to quiet the racking sobs that gripped the fallen Man. “I can! I can go back. I can face the punishment set out for me by the Head Machine. It’s better to accept my fate than to crawl away like a coward through this place.”
“Fine.” Chance stood and turned to Rex. His voice was strained, as if he were holding back a cry of his own. “Take him. Give him the end he’s hoping for. Remember, he can’t tell them where we’ve gone.”
Rex nodded. He adjusted something under his poncho and a long, rigid bulge appeared across his belly. His dark eyes flickered toward 62. “Thanks for letting us know about this.”
“Do you need me to help? I can come with you a ways if you want.” 62 helped 13 up from the dirt and took a few steps back the way they’d come.
“No.” Rex shook his head slowly. He angled his head back toward the group shrinking in the distance. “You go on. The fewer of us that turn back, the better.” Rex pulled the hood of his poncho so low over his face that 62 could hardly see the grey mask underneath.
“Okay.” 62 sprinted through the dust cloud to catch up to the line of refugees. He turned back a couple of times to watch his brother as he and Rex headed west, back toward Adaline and the Head Machine, but he couldn’t watch them for long for fear that he’d trip over his own feet. It was hard to keep track of his footing on his own, and he couldn’t wait to get back to the group where he’d have footprints to follow and nearby hands to help him up when he tripped. The brown shapes ahead of him grew larger, and soon it looked like the group wasn’t moving at all. They were waiting for something. For him, he supposed.
62 was thirty yards from the last person in line when a loud crack filled the air. 62’s hands instinctively covered his ears, and he spun around to find the source of the sound. It had come from behind him, he was sure of it. He searched the desert for 13 and Rex. Had a patrol bot found them? After all these days of stomping through the desert, had Defense finally caught up?
Blue was suddenly at 62’s side. 00 ran toward them, skidding to a stop soon after. They stared in the same direction 62 was facing. Blue’s voice was breathless. “Gunshot.”
“What?” 62 asked.
“Once you’re out of Adaline, they don’t let you go back,” 00 said grimly. “Until you’ve been out long enough to be trusted to go on a mission.”
Blue nodded. “It’s too risky. If they let that guy go, the bots that patrol Adaline’s grounds would find him. If they didn’t kill him, they’d take him down to Defense and make him tell them all about us. Where we took him. How many of us there are.”
“I — I don’t understand.” The material against his face pinched in as 62 frowned. “What did the gunshot do?”
“It made it so that Man couldn’t go back to Adaline. It made it so he can’t go anywhere anymore.” Blue’s eyes were sorrowful.
“You mean Rex...” 62 couldn’t say the words. His mouth went dry. His eyes were wet. He hardly knew 13, but to lose a brother like this after days of fighting to stay alive pierced his heart like a knife.
“If he’d gotten to Adaline, they would have forced him to tell the bots where he was. He would have gotten us all killed.” Blue put his arm around 62. He pressed his body close until 62 pushed away.
62 turned around, facing the glare of the sun and the sting of the blowing wind once more. His tears mixed with the heat of his breath, fogging his lenses. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t see now. His friends would lead the way.
CHAPTER 5
THE GROUP CRESTED THE top of a small hill and paused. Spread out ahead of them was a cluster of structures surrounded by a high fence. The taller buildings stood motionless amongst rows and rows of lower structures. The few plants surrounding them bowed under the weight of the heavy breeze that pressed down on the travelers. A plume of dust twirled lazily across the landscape, pushed erratically here and there by the wind until it fell apart amongst the organized rows of buildings.
“Here we are,” Chance announced abruptly. “Home.”
Several of the rescuers whooped in excitement, picked up whatever gear they were in charge of, and ran toward a gap in the fence that surrounded the collection of buildings. Chance, 00, Blue, and a few others held back, waving Adaline’s refugees forward as they tramped down the far side of the hill with a spring in their step. 62 rushed to keep up.
“What is this place?”
“This is Hanford. The Motherland.” Blue’s mask lifted in what was probably a smile. He pointed at one of the buildings beyond the fence. “That’s the Men’s barracks, where I live. See that other large building just past it? That’s the hospital. That’s where you’re going.” Blue gave 62’s shoulder a squeeze when he noticed his friend’s sullen eyes.
00 offered, “Everyone who comes from Adaline has to go to medical first thing. The docs there make sure there’s nothing too wrong with you before they let you loose. I was in and out like a flash.”
“My anomaly —” 62 fell short a step and tripped over a rock.
“Everybody’s a little different here,” Blue said as he helped to steady his friend. “Our docs aren’t looking for that. They make sure that your body will survive living up top and give you a psych eval.” Blue tapped the side of his head. “They’ve gotta make sure you won’t go nuts when you see the Girls. It’s happened before. There was this one kid they let out of quarantine right away, and when he saw a lady walking through town, he went bonkers. He started following her around, telling everybody that she should be kicked outta Hanford because of everything that was wrong with her. It was crazy!”
“I didn’t know about females back then, okay?” 00 grumbled. He kicked the dirt at his feet and ducked his head. In a quiet, wavering tone he mumbled, “Plus, it was only that one time.”
Blue marched around 00 in circles, pointing at the air around them in a mocking tone. “The Girls! The Girls! They’re out to get us! Kill ‘em all!”
62 asked, “What’s a Girl?”
“They’re humans, like us. Well, sorta like us.” Blue’s teasing eyes shifted from 00 to 62. “You okay? You’re freezing up like you’re a little scared. That’s just what 00 looks like when he sees them!” He doubled over at the waist and slapped his knees. “It’s the dumb underground times two!”
00’s body went rigid. He pointed an accusing finger at Blue. “You look just the same as us, you jerk. And don’t pretend you know all about Girls. I’ve seen the wa
y you get tied up in knots, trying to talk to them.” 00 put his hands on his hips. He spun on his heel and shifted his shoulders with an exaggerated strut. “Hey, ladies. I’m Blue. I rescue refugees. Oh, you don’t like refugees? Well, I only brought about a thousand of them with me. You don’t think that’s great? You hate me? Oh, well, I guess I’ll keep bringing them here until you change your mind.”
Blue’s laughter stopped the second 00 started making fun of him. Now his forehead was flushed red over his mask. “They never can make up their minds,” he grumbled. “They tell us there’s room for more people, and then hate us when we bring more people to Hanford. It’s insanity having such wonky people in charge.”
“They’re in charge?” 62’s brain felt like it might explode. It was all so confusing. “Why would the Head Machine put a confused human in charge?”
Blue’s eyes shined once more. He snorted. “There’s no Head Machine up here. Just the Women, and whichever Men they decide they can put up with.”
The buildings loomed larger as the group made their final approach down a worn dirt path to the gate. Chance pulled the group to a stop and several of the rescuers joined him at the guard tower, handing over the weapons they’d had hidden in the folds of their ponchos. Chance waved to the guards when they were finished and then led the group through the opening and off to the right, skirting around the first set of buildings and heading toward the hospital. 62’s head swam. He had a sudden urge to run back through the gate, up the hill and into the thin brambles that they’d passed a few hours ago, but he knew that there was no way he’d survive out there on his own. Besides, if he turned around, one of the guards might shoot him. He ignored his instinct to flee and instead fell into line with his brothers.
Blue and 00 kept on, trying to show one another up by talking about Girls they knew, pointing out different buildings, and telling 62 about the people and things that they housed. 62 didn’t hear any of their competing chatter, though. He was too focused on convincing his feet to rise and fall in time with the person keeping pace on the path ahead of him, leading him toward a new medical center and another doctor who might decide he was broken beyond repair.
The Adaline Series Bundle 1 Page 37
