“It’s been four weeks,” Javier said. “We were both going to leave within a few days, but we got caught up. They must have, too.”
“Their city is in a worse state than ours,” Fernando said. He folded his arms, his biceps bulging. “There’s been a war going on for at least a year.”
“I was worried about that,” President Brown said with a sigh. “I knew a war had started, but I was hoping they would still have a chance to get out. They were outnumbered, so the chances were slim.”
My heart sank at the thought of none of them surviving. I wanted to be optimistic, but since we hadn’t heard anything for so long, I could only think the worst had happened.
“How many members do you have?” Santiago asked. He finally tore his eyes away from Tina to tune into the conversation. Tina looked at me and rolled her eyes.
“Well, we originally started with twenty,” President Brown said. “With our two trips to Kingsland, we have been able to rescue a hundred and twenty members. The River Springs trip provided us with seventy more. We have another trip scheduled to leave tomorrow. Our contact there has a hundred and thirty people ready to go.”
I gasped. “One hundred and thirty?”
President Brown nodded. “That’s what Austin said the last time we talked a couple of days ago. Residents are getting fed up with President Randall and his lies. With those one hundred and thirty, our new group of one hundred, and everyone already here, we’ll be up to four hundred and forty. That’s not too bad for only a few months.”
“Don’t forget the other fifty on its way from Scorpion,” Santiago said, clasping his hands behind his head.
“Yes, that’s right,” President Brown said. “So almost five hundred.”
Mack stroked his beard. “We’ll still need a lot more if a war were to break out.”
“That’s true,” President Brown said. “I’m hoping with the number of people we’ll have soon, and hopefully with the other city joining us, we’ll be able to assign a group of people to be our resident city rescue team. That way we can just have them going back and forth between cities, constantly getting people out.”
Santiago dropped his hands. “Can we go with you tomorrow to River Springs?” His eyes bounced in excitement.
“I think that would be a good idea,” Terrance said, looking over at Mack. “We only have five going. With the current shape of River Springs and the tighter security, it would be good to have more heads.”
“I agree,” Mack said. “We should have Santiago, Javier, and Fernando go. Get them acquainted with the area and the way we run missions.”
“Sounds good,” President Brown said.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I need Emmie for a minute.” Marie had leaned her head in the door, looking at me. She’d grown her brown hair out since we’d left New Haven, so it now hung past her shoulders.
“No problem,” President Brown said. “We’ve finished with everything important.” He nodded for me to leave.
I hurried out of my seat and out the door. “Is it Dee?”
Marie shook her head, straightening out the shirt of her nurse’s uniform. “No, Dee’s fine. It’s Lou.”
Lou was a fourteen-year-old boy from Kingsland. He had come with the original group with his dad, James.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked as we walked toward the infirmary.
“He’s sick.” Marie took a deep breath. “Same symptoms as Dee.”
“Oh, no.” My stomach churned. He was so young, and all James had. “Does James know he’s with you?”
“No,” Marie said. “He knew he was coming down with something, but he thought it was just a cold. Lou brought himself to me. I’ve been trying to find James, but I couldn’t.”
“He’s out with Steven giving a tour of our city to the new residents,” I said, focusing on each step so I wouldn’t lose my balance. Two of our members sick with the disease in only three months of being there was not good.
“He seems worse than Dee,” Marie said as we stepped into the infirmary. She stopped outside a door. “He’s in there.”
“Worse?” I asked.
“I still don’t know much, Emmie,” Marie said, rubbing a finger over her eye like she was tired, “but it may affect some people more than others. Race could have a play in it, too.”
I nodded. “Have you told Dee?”
“Not yet,” Marie said. “I was waiting to tell James first.”
I pulled out my communicator. “James?”
After a few seconds, his voice came from the other end. “Yes?”
“We need you in the infirmary right now,” I said. “Just have Steven give the rest of the tour.”
“Is everything alright?” James asked.
“Just get here quick,” I said. There was no way I was telling him over an open communicator. I looked at Marie. “Maybe you should wait for him at the entrance to the infirmary. I’ll go talk with Lou for a moment.”
Marie nodded, turned and walked away. I took a deep breath before I entered Lou’s room. I was startled by his condition. He looked so thin and fragile. I was trying to remember the last time I’d seen him, but I would’ve remembered him being that skinny. His breathing was raspy and deep. He turned and looked at me, giving me a small smile.
I smiled back. “Hey, Lou.”
“Hi Emmie,” Lou said, his voice barely audible. “Marie told you?”
“Yes, I just heard.” I sat down on a chair next to his bed. His room was set up just like Dee’s, with an infirmary bed, two chairs, and a cabinet for medical equipment.
My favorite, though, were the paintings in the rooms. Vivica was an amazing artist. She had painted a bunch of pictures for each room in the infirmary. I loved looking at them. All the colors made my heart swell. They were nature paintings, some of the snowy mountains, some of flowers blooming in the spring, and some of rivers flowing through the valley. They gave you a feeling of hope.
“I love it, too,” Lou said, noticing me staring at the painting next to his bed. It was a field of wildflowers with butterflies flying about. I stroked my necklace.
“For as hardheaded as Vivica is,” I said, “she sure has a soft spot for nature.”
Lou let out a small laugh. “I know.”
I reached out and held Lou’s hand. “How are you holding up?”
Lou shrugged. “As well as I can. Not much I can do.”
“Marie’s very smart,” I said. “She’s getting closer and closer to figuring this all out.”
“I have faith in her,” Lou said.
I heard James’ voice in the hall. “Well, I better leave so you can spend some time with your dad. I’ll be back later.”
“Thanks, Emmie,” Lou said. “You’ve always been so nice to me.”
“Well, you’re easy to love.” I kissed him on the cheek and left the room.
When I stepped out, James and Marie were talking in the hall. The look of despair on James’ face tore at my heart. Marie needed to figure it out soon. We couldn’t lose Lou.
The next morning, we set off before dawn. We had a lot of ground to cover and wanted to get there as fast as we could. With everything we’d learned in the past few months and the strength we’d gained, our trips were faster. We had more energy, but most importantly, more hope. We had a home to return to.
We made it to the outskirts of River Springs in a week. There was an old highway that ran behind the city. Once we got to it, we followed it down. I hadn’t been that way before, but the others had. When we first escaped River Springs, we took a completely different route. They soon found that this way was faster.
Richie and his family were waiting in a bus full of supplies on the edge of the road. When Richie saw us approach, he jumped out of the bus and went to give Eric, his cousin, a hug. He hugged me after Eric.
“Nice to see you again,” I said to Richie. I had met him on my first day of Recruitment. Eric had given me a ride on Richie’s motorbike.
Richie smiled. “You
too. I’m just glad to get out of this hell hole.” He looked over at the bus, where his wife watched us from a window. “Annabelle is nervous. She’s afraid of something happening to the baby.”
“Did Annabelle already have the baby?” Eric asked.
“Yup, a big sucker at that.” Richie whistled. “He weighed eleven pounds two ounces.”
My eyes went wide. “Wow. Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Richie said.
“Well, things will be fine once we get going and get back to New Haven,” Eric said. “We desperately need you there. The couple of buses we have aren’t working anymore.”
Richie was a mechanic for Infinity Corp. He grinned at Eric. “Did you try putting some gas in them?”
Eric rolled his eyes. “You have to give me some credit, man. Of course, I tried putting more gas in them.”
“Just messing with you.” Richie laughed. “I’ll look at them first thing, I promise.” He stole a quick look at the bus. “We just finished loading up the bus and are ready to go. If you don’t mind, we’re going to take off. Austin already gave me a map.”
Eric nodded. “Have a safe trip. We’ll see you in a little over a week if everything goes okay.”
“Sounds good,” Richie said. He ran back to the bus, started it—the engine rumbling to life—and drove off down the highway.
We continued down the road for another five minutes. President Brown had given me the channel to communicate with Austin Oliver, so when we came to a stop, I called for him.
A few minutes later, he spoke. “That was fast.”
“We were in a hurry,” I said. “The trip home won’t be as fast, though.”
Austin gave a small laugh. “True. You’ll have a lot more people, including children.”
In all our trips, we hadn’t had a lot of children come with us. Those with kids didn’t want to risk it. I think most of them were starting to realize they didn’t have a choice. It was either now or never for them.
“That’s good,” I said. “Dee’s anxious to start up a school.” I tried not to think about the fact that she may never see one built.
“How’s she doing?” Austin asked, his tone laced with concern.
“She’s a little worse but still stable. We’ve had another in our city become sick and he’s weakening at a higher rate.”
“President Brown told me about him,” Austin said. “I have good news, though. I’m sending a doctor with you who’ll be able to help. Dr. Stacey’s already been researching the disease for years. I have some research notes for Alexander, too.”
Alexander was a researcher for Infinity Corp before he was taken and detained by Whit. His son, my boyfriend Eric, thought he’d been dead for years.
“That’s wonderful,” I said, relieved. “We need all the help we can get. I don’t think either of them has much time left.”
Austin sighed on the other end. “Where are you right now?”
“About fifty yards out, near the entrance to the cave,” I said. “This is where President Brown told us to come.”
“Yes, that’s good. I’ve already sent them through the underground tunnel. They’ve been waiting for my command to enter the cave. Hold tight while I give them the go-ahead.”
We waited a few minutes before Austin came back. “Head for the tunnel and try to keep cover. You need to get them out of there quickly. I would suggest running for as long as you can once you get out.”
“When will you be coming, Austin?” I asked.
“I hope on the next trip,” Austin said. “I need to find someone here I can trust to continue the movement in River Springs to free our people. Until then, I need to stay. Emmie, take good care of my family.”
“I will, Austin, I promise.” I would do anything to protect the Oliver family. They had already sacrificed their dad.
“I do have one surprise for you, though,” Austin said, his voice hesitant. The members who were with me had already started moving toward the cave, so I stood alone.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Joshua Randall is among the residents you’ll be taking back with you.”
My heart stopped. “What?”
“I know this is shocking news, but I trust him,” Austin said. “We’ve been friends since we were little. He’s never agreed with his dad about anything. I even did a lie detector test on him to see if he was lying about anything and he passed.”
“Are you positive?” I barely managed to get the question out. The shock hadn’t subsided.
“Positive. Emmie, you can trust him. I would bet my life on it.” Austin paused. “You two will have an interesting conversation, I’m sure.”
Total understatement. I’d found out a couple of months ago that Whit Randall was my real father, which made Joshua my half-brother. I’d been thinking for the past little while that all my half-siblings were terrible people. But maybe Joshua was going to turn out to be a good guy.
“Well, if you trust him, I guess I’ll have to.”
“Thanks, Emmie, and good luck. We’ll talk again soon. Oh, and send Dee my best."
“I will, Austin. Thanks for everything.”
I pulled myself together and went toward the cave. When I got close, I heard some commotion. My heart raced, the thought of them being caught coming to mind. When I entered the cave, it was something completely different.
“Don’t move!” Mack yelled. He pointed a gun at Joshua.
“Don’t shoot me!” Joshua shouted. His eyes were wide with panic. It was hard for me to look at him. With his suit and tie, plus the blond hair, he reminded me of his dad. Our dad.
All the River Springs residents glanced around in confusion and alarm. The Kingsland and Scorpion members looked confused, too, but they all had their weapons trained at Joshua.
“Stop!” I yelled. Everyone turned to look at me. “He’s with us. It’s okay. We need to go, now.”
“What are you talking about?” Mack asked me. “We can’t trust him. He’s a Randall!”
“Well, last time I checked, so am I,” I said, ignoring the shiver that went through my body at the thought of being a Randall. “We need to head out as quickly as we can. Is there anyone injured in any way?”
There were a few murmurs of no and some shaking of heads.
“Good,” I said. “We’ll have to run the first little bit. Just go as fast as you can. Mack, why don’t you take the lead and Eric and I will stay in back. Everyone else who came with us, scatter throughout the River Springs members and make sure they’re getting the help they need. Let’s head out.”
Mack hesitated for a second, but then nodded and took off. All the River Springs members hurried after him, eager to get out. I walked up to Joshua, who was still a little shook up.
“I’m sorry about that,” I said to him. “It’s hard to trust a Randall.”
Joshua gave me a small smile, the warmth showing in his blue eyes. “I understand that.” He paused for a second. “So, you and me, we’re, uh …”
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “Crazy, right? Life is just full of surprises.”
Eric came up next to me. “What’s going on?” He eyed Joshua.
“Austin told me he was coming and that we could trust him,” I said to Eric.
“You can trust me,” Joshua said. “I hate my father. I always have.”
“You never seemed to hate him before,” Eric said, his voice sharp. It would take a while before any of us could fully trust Joshua.
“Do you know how scary it is having that man for a father?” Joshua asked. “I never wanted to cross him or let him know I despised him.” His blond hair was the same shade as mine, something I’d never noticed before.
“We don’t have time to talk about this,” I said, taking Eric’s hand and squeezing it.
Eric stepped in close to Joshua, using his height to his advantage. He looked down at Joshua. “We’ll be keeping an eye on you. If you even take one step out of line, you’re finished. Do you understand?”
Joshua nodded. “Yes. I expected this reaction. I’m on your side, Eric, and I swear I’ll prove it to you.”
“Good.” Eric stepped back and looked at me. “Let’s get going.”
I grabbed Joshua’s arm and squeezed it. “You first.”
Joshua nodded and ran after the group.
Eric looked at me. “You sure about this?”
“I trust Austin, so I’m willing to give Joshua a chance. I think I’m living proof that we don’t always take after our parents.”
“But you didn’t grow up in the same house as President Randall.”
“I know,” I said, “but I was close enough.”
“Fine.” Eric leaned in and kissed me on the lips. “Let’s go.”
We only got twenty yards before we were ambushed.
At least twenty men came from behind us, the sounds from their guns ringing in the air. Eric and I dove to the ground and crawled to the nearest tree to take cover. Within a minute, Tina, Santiago, Javier, Fernando, and Gideon were near us, firing at our attackers. We needed Mack, who I had sent away first.
I took my communicator out of my pocket. "Mack! We need you. We're under fire!"
"I'm on my way back," Mack yelled. "Send Gideon to replace me and lead the citizens to safety."
Gideon was only a tree away from me.
I turned to Eric, who stood right behind me. “Cover me!”
“What?” Eric yelled. “Where are you going?”
“To Gideon.” I came away from the tree for a split second and saw someone coming out of the corner of my eye. I fired two shots, hitting the guy in the chest.
“Go when I say,” Eric said, letting out a few shots at another guy coming toward us. I readied myself for the move.
“Go!” Eric shouted.
I dove toward the ground, rolling until I was at Gideon’s tree. I stood, taking cover right next to him.
“Gideon,” I said, making sure he could hear me over the gun fire. “Mack's on his way back. You need to lead everyone else back home.” Gideon’s face pulled tight. “We need Mack, Gideon. He has the best military training of anyone here. We’re outnumbered. If we don’t hold them here, they’ll kill everyone we just rescued.”
Reckoning (New Haven Book 2) Page 4
