by Reagan Woods
For once, rather than jump Silex’s undeniably sexy ass, Fran’s inner teen wanted to poke out her tongue at his retreating back. She settled for shooting double-barrel middle fingers. That was how an adult handled conflict. He didn’t look back and that took some of the satisfaction out of her quiet rebellion.
She followed at a discreet distance. Today, she’d been so keyed up she hadn’t needed the respirator to keep her mind on task. Maybe it wasn’t her – or wasn’t just her – at all. Perhaps, he had to be feeling amorous to amp up his pheromone production enough to affect her. That would be an interesting turn of events. She filed the assumption away for further thought.
Not that any of this would matter after today, tomorrow at the latest, anyway. As soon as Margot was safely out of the camp, they would bid Silex adieu and head for the mountains. That seemed the safest place to hole up for the short-term. After that, the world was their oyster.
Once she and Silex dropped down the steep embankment where the ruined highway abruptly ended, Fran didn’t have the mental energy to think about anything other than survival. Wind howled through the gaping holes in the buildings. Here and there, tiny dust devils whirled making it prudent for both to pull out respirators, so they wouldn’t be gagged by flying dust. There were so many spots for an enemy to hide that it took all their combined focus to steadily work across the city.
They had to stick to the shadows to mitigate the possibility of alerting any possible surveillance teams to their presence. Being unable to travel in the open made progress nerve-wrackingly slow. Night had fallen by the time they were in view of the destroyed hover platform. Rather than risk being caught checking the debris over, they tacitly agreed to head north and seek a safe spot to rest in one of the ruined buildings.
Chapter 19
The best shelter they could find was an abandoned fuel stop. Some helpful soul had boarded up the holes where plate glass windows had once been.
Silex slid in through an opening in the back wall where a steel door had rusted from its hinges. Fran followed close on his heels. His helmet emitted a low-level light that allowed them to check the structure for safety.
The pungent odor of mold and rot that accompanied abandoned buildings hit her the moment she removed her respirator. She wiggled and pursed her lips, trying to force feeling back into the tender skin of her lower face. The respirator wasn’t getting any easier to wear, but it was helping her keep clear of the poisonous rot that littered the ruins. It was probably too little too late considering the number of runs she’d made into the old cities, but it made breathing easier.
“Watch your head,” she cautioned in a whisper as Silex ducked around a badly sagging section of ceiling tiles. The aluminum frame appeared to be propped up by nothing but the empty wire shelves beneath it. “We’ll be breathing black mold if you break that open. I don’t think these fancy respirators can save us from that.”
“Good to know,” he replied, ducking into the far corner, presumably to make certain it held no surprises. “You don’t think there are any of the small mammals, the bats, here do you?” An odd note in his voice alerted her to a potential problem.
“Um…if any bats live here, they probably went out to hunt at sunset.” Fran felt her eyebrows creep up her forehead. “You went into the cave without making a stink about bats. What’s the big deal?”
He scowled in her direction.
“Wait. Are you seriously afraid? Of bats? They’re like one-one-thousandth of your size.”
“No.”
Fran noticed he didn’t elaborate and filed that little bit of information away.
She squatted down and removed her pack as her back wept with relief. After so many weeks sleeping on the hard ground, she was feeling creaky.
Her canteen water was warm, but it felt good to moisten her cracked lips. It had been a hot, windy day. Now that the sun had set, there was a definite chill in the air. She was trying to conserve her water, but her canteen was already running low. The wind seemed to suck the moisture out through her pores.
Silex joined her on the dusty floor and pulled a ration bar from his bag. He broke it and offered half to her.
With a nod of thanks, she took it and chewed. It tasted like salt, chemical fat and potassium, not unlike the ull the CORANOS force fed everyone in the camps when they first started the reconditioning programs. The disgusting taste and horrid texture didn’t stop Fran from finishing every crumb. She’d eaten worse. Fuel was fuel – no matter how rank it tasted.
Silex closed his bag in preparation to leave. Fran wanted to press him on his plan of action, but she held her tongue. He was either deliberately testing to see how far he could push her – how far she was willing to trust him – or he was seriously whacked and flying by the seat of his pants.
Since she knew him to be a deliberate and conscientious Warrior, she decided to go along without complaint. For now.
She didn’t get the vibe that he’d betray her and lock her up with GoGo in the camp. That was as far as she was able to assess his motives. It was also her main concern, so he could keep his secrets until it was time to act on them. She wouldn’t whine and beg for information.
Though they could see the lights of the LA Camp when they exited the small cinder block building, Fran knew it to be a good three-mile hike to the base of the large hill the campus was built into - though it had been years since she’d been in that area. When she started forward, Silex grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back into the dark building.
“Hey!” She whisper-yelled. “What the hell?!?”
“There are things afoot, CGA business, that I cannot discuss with you,” he whispered. “Aiding you goes against everything I have sworn to do, but if your sister is in there, I will help you escape with her.”
Fran was taken aback. Some part of her had known that Silex hadn’t tracked her across the land for kicks. And, while she had been focused on getting to GoGo, she’d assumed he had other reasons for wanting into the LA Camp. She was fine (mostly) not knowing those reasons and even understood his reticence on the subject. Who knew better the dangers of a clandestine lifestyle than she? They’d already nearly died trying to enter this camp once.
“Since that’s the sole reason I’m here and not snuggled into a bed back in Texas, I appreciate it,” she told him with an eye roll to mask how much it unsettled her to think about the possibility that whatever took him in there might kill him.
“Francesca, if you have anything else you want to tell me, now is the time to do it,” he continued, ignoring her glib words.
“I’ve already told you more than I’ve ever told anyone else – Earther or alien – about my sister.”
He nodded. “If your sister is really your reason for going into the camp – a place where you might be imprisoned indefinitely no matter what I say or do, you do not have to come with me. You can wait here. I will send your sister out to you, or you can meet her at an egress. This doesn’t have to be any more dangerous for you.”
“I’m not going to sit here and wring my hands like some helpless heroine in a B movie,” Fran answered coldly. “GoGo doesn’t know you and she’s too delicate to be on her own. I’m going with you.”
“Your sister might not want to leave,” he pointed out in a reasonable tone.
Fran shot him a tight smile. “If it’s all the same, I’ll wait to hear that from her.”
“If – er – she’s as different from you as you’ve intimated, she might not be able to travel and adapt the way you do.”
“Margot is soft in a lot of ways, but I taught her the basics of survival. I just hoped she’d never have to use her skills.”
“Have you thought about where you’re going next?” He asked.
“Obviously, I have. We’re wasting time here.” For a quiet alien, Silex was suddenly very chatty. It was really starting to get on her nerves.
“The venison in the cave will hold the two of you over for a bit, but I wouldn’t put it past the scantil
y clad Tom to try and cozy up with the two of you.”
Fran snorted. “I’ll blow Tom’s balls off before I let him near my baby sister.”
Silex cringed, reflexively bending forward. “Well, that’s a bit extreme.”
“It’s not extreme to set reasonable boundaries.” She smirked at his wince.
“As long as you have a plan,” he muttered, straightening.
“Don’t I always?”
His jaw hardened to stone. “So it would seem.”
“Are we done here?” It was time to get with the program.
“We are.” He stiffly indicated she should precede him back into the chill night.
Chapter 20
Francesca was very thin and short. If she were CORANOS, these would be strikes against her, but she was ideal for sneaking into tight spots on Earth.
If she had chosen to stay behind, Silex would have taken a more direct route into the camp. Though he wasn’t sure he trusted her, he wouldn’t risk her safety more than he must.
Neither of them wore respirators now. The element of surprise might work in their favor, but it was just as likely that a timely warning could save one or both their lives.
The architecture of Camp Two was formed out of the skeleton of the once-great city formerly known as Los Angeles. The towering structure, cobbled together from a series of convenient old Earth buildings and CGA modular technology, was a veritable fortress.
Silex had studied the camp’s schematics using the data repository in his wrist bracer, and he’d found an exploitable weakness in the security. The entrance to the drainage system that filtered runoff down the side of the mountain wasn’t completely covered by the CGA energy field that arched over the camp. Francesca should be able to squeeze in.
Though he wanted to trust her, he didn’t intend to give her specifics until they were already in. He feared she would take off into the camp on her own if he shared too much information with her. She was tricky and unpredictable under the best of circumstances. The emotion driving her made her even more of a risk.
He would help her into the pipe so she could disable a small section of the energy field long enough to let him pass through. They could wait for an opportune time to collect her sister from the Earther dormitories, and then he would escort them back to the drain.
A lump formed in his throat when he thought about watching her flee into the unknown again. At least she would be safe from the fallout should his presence be discovered. As his mission included documenting exactly how many Earthers were in the camp and how they were being treated, he expected to do most of his reconnoitering in prohibited areas where sensitive data was kept.
It would be a miracle if he wasn’t caught and executed.
Francesca’s determination to find her sister had touched him in a way he hadn’t expected. He should have pushed harder, questioned her further, to ensure that her story was genuine, but when she spoke of her family, he’d felt the grief and raw emotion she suppressed. And he honored it.
He, who had abandoned his family and responsibilities because he refused to spend the rest of his life with an overbearing, spoiled female, found that kind of loyalty admirable and rare.
If, on the other hand, he was wrong and she’d lied about her motives for wanting into the camp, he wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.
It was a gamble. Yet, he was at peace with his decision.
Over the last few miles, they’d picked their way along another destroyed road. Instead of running along the top of a mountain, this cracked pavement snaked along the base of a hill.
With a silent gesture, Silex indicated they should abandon the pavement for the rocks.
Francesca’s nod was barely perceptible in the shadowed darkness. She followed his careful steps as he began to climb. Their footfalls were quiet but not silent. The hike was littered with invisible obstacles; loose scree, cracks in the surface and remnants of long-dead vegetation made each step treacherous.
Finally, they circled around to their entry point. Spotting the water management pipe, Francesca shot him a knowing look. Her quick mind pleased him.
The little jammer he’d rigged would have to be within the field to work, but it shouldn’t prove an issue for the clever Francesca to operate.
There was a rough drainage ditch lined with fist-size rocks directly beneath the pipe. She clambered into the ditch and crawled forward to inspect the half-shielded culvert.
“I can get in here easy,” she whispered, picking up one of the smaller pieces of gravel and tossing it beneath the blue glow of the energy field. There was a slight hiss and crackle as the rock flew close to the blue light, but it landed on the other side of the field without damage.
“It’s hot,” Silex warned, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it to her. “Leave your pack and wrap this over your head,” he advised. “Your camp uniform will protect your body, but your hair and skin might burn if you pass too close to the field.”
Silex withdrew the small black box from his pocket and cupped it in his palm like an offering. “Once you’re on the other side, press this button.” He carefully pointed out the tiny silver button protruding from one corner. “It will take the shield down in this area momentarily. Then, I will hand up your pack and follow you.”
“Um,” Francesca hummed, avaricious eyes caressing the jammer. “That’s a fun toy.” Her quick fingers snatched it from his hand as she leaned toward the light emitted by the field for a closer look. “How close do I have to be for it to work?”
“Within a few feet of the generation cells you wish to affect,” he answered.
“So, this is how the Doranos opened the door in the supposedly impenetrable energy field in Texas?” She tilted her head inquisitively.
“No. This is a simple jammer. It creates a slice of safety for a few seconds at most. That was…something else entirely.”
“What else can it do?” She ran a caressing finger over the lightweight black metal.
“I’ll show you when you hand it back to me on the other side.” He flattened his lips, effectively hiding his smile, and arched a brow to let her know he wouldn’t be looking the other way while she pilfered his equipment.
She shrugged. “Fine. Be that way.” Eyes going hard, she snugged the box down the vee of her top. “Time to get to work.” Next, she tucked her long braid into the back of her neckline and tied his shirt around her neck like a cowl, pulling the loose fabric over her head and face. As a hood, it would work. Not a speck of her golden skin showed in the deep shadows cast by his shirt.
“Wish me luck,” she muttered. Without hesitation, she pulled her fists inside the long sleeves of her shirt and extended her arms straight into the big concrete circle. Wriggling and shimmying, she inched the rest of her body beneath the humming blue light of the field; first her head and then her shoulders, hips and legs. Lastly, she pulled her boot-clad feet clear.
Silex could see her clearly through the bright blue film as she rose up onto her knees, pulled his shirt from her face, and fished the jammer from her cleavage. She walked backwards on her knees a few paces and he saw her brace her legs against the rounded sides to keep herself upright as the concrete tube bent to begin its ascent to the structure above.
“On three,” her voice seemed to vibrate out of the pipe. “One, two, three.”
The energy field gave a staticky whine that increased in volume indicating the feedback loop for the field was overcharging. A slender triangle of the dome went black from the middle of the arc, high above the camp, all the way down to the ground before the culvert. Silex didn’t hesitate, diving into the pipe and ripping the jammer from Francesca’s hand. He quickly reversed the polarity of the device and clicked the button again. The deafening whine cut off with a loud waomp as the blue glow filtered into the dark drainage pipe.
“We have to move. Now.” Silex slid her pack over her shoulders and grabbed up his shirt with decisive movements.
Francesca began working he
r way up the steep incline of pipe. “Do you think they saw it go down?”
“They’d have to be blind and deaf to have missed that,” he answered in a grim whisper, right on her tail. “Expect company at any moment. Move.”
Chapter 21
Fran moved as quickly as she could up the rotting old runoff culvert, stealth was a secondary concern now. Her feet scraped and slid over the detritus collected along the cracking bottom of the concrete tube. The stench of decay was overwhelming, so she tried to take shallow breaths through her mouth. It didn’t help much.
She heard a pained grunt from Silex as the tube narrowed and imagined it would be tough going for the big alien from here until they were out. They couldn’t be far from the runoff collection drains now.
She wanted no part of being trapped in the concrete pipe and gassed – or flash banged, or flamed, or whatever other method of execution these aliens might try to use on trespassers. If she and Silex had to fight for their lives, they needed to do it back to back and on their feet.
Light – the white/yellow of electric bulbs – filtered into the darkness just ahead and she slowed. Silex crowded close behind her and whispered, “Lie down so I can move up and take point.”
There was no way she was letting him block her out of the action. He was just macho enough to think protecting her by leading the charge was the way to go. That was cute and all, but he was wrong. She had a few tricks left up her metaphorical sleeves.
Plus, she hated not being able to see what was happening. Crawling through the fetid darkness was doable. Sitting back and waiting for trouble was a whole other ball of wax. She preferred to bring the trouble.
Slowly, she maneuvered one arm out of her pack and slid it around her body.
“Francesca.” He was breathing directly into her ear now. “Move.”
“It’s hella quiet. I don’t hear anything. Do you?” She asked. Nothing moved ahead. No shadows broke up the light. Surely, they would have sent people into this sector to check on the field outage? Maybe she and Silex managed to get ahead of security.
