Evelyn didn’t know why she should be amazed by it. She had programmed the nanites, after all, and she knew what they could do. I guess when you’ve seen technology bring someone back from the edge of death, it puts life in perspective.
Evelyn marveled at the girl, speechless.
“Evie, what about your brother?” she said again, a note of irritation in her voice as she took a step toward her.
“Oh, sorry … We’re going to have to get him some more nanites.”
“Is he going to die?”
“No … I mean, not from not having nanites,” she added, realizing quickly that wasn’t exactly the most comforting thing she could have said. She blushed. “Sorry, I mean, no. But he’s not going to have the strength to do much until we get him more. As soon as we know you’re going to be okay, we need to leave.”
Tillie’s mouth was hanging open, and she turned her back to Evelyn.
“What?” Evelyn asked.
Tillie was quiet for a moment. “I … I just can’t believe he would do something like this for me.”
Evelyn didn’t know what to say. No doubt it was a lot to take in—the idea that someone would essentially give up their own health, maybe their life, for yours.
“I don’t deserve it.”
“It’s a gift, Tillie. It’s a waste for you to feel guilty about it.”
“I don’t know what to say. How can I ever repay him?”
“You don’t have to. Tate doesn’t do things like this because he expects to get something out of it. He does it because that’s who he is.”
Tillie turned and sat next to Evelyn in the dirt. She curled up with her arms around her legs. “Thanks, Evie.”
A moment passed as they listened to Tate gently breathing on the cot behind them. Evelyn smiled and nudged Tillie in the arm. “You know, on second thought, there is something you can do for us.”
“What? Anything,” Tillie said quickly.
“Know anyone with a truck we can borrow?”
DEFENDED
Stepping through the door of the mission after two days was a shock. Not only could Evelyn not see from the blindingly bright midday sun, but even the smell of the dust in the air made her realize how awful the stench was inside. Evelyn squinted and then gave up. She closed her eyes. It was going to take longer for her eyes to adjust than she thought.
“Are you comin’, Evie?”
“Yeah, just give me a second,” she said quickly. Despite not wanting to be blinded again, she squinted, her eyes aching from the light and watering a little but reluctantly adjusting anyway. Putting her hand up like a visor to shield her eyes, she looked at Ollie, his form shimmering into view.
“It’s really bright out here.”
“Well, that’s what you get for being a hermit … That’ll teach you to help people.”
Evelyn laughed. “Who’s helping who, Ollie? You’re the one who’s escorting me to the gas station.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not really helping you. This is actually a date.”
Evelyn laughed and skipped to catch Ollie, who was a couple steps ahead, and then felt the heat of foolishness in her chest as she realized how unintentionally twelve she had just behaved.
“That’s funny, I don’t remember being asked on a date.”
“That’s because you haven’t been listening, darlin’. I’ve been asking you on a date ever since you started flirting with me over that bone wall in the desert.”
“I’ve been flirting with you?” Evelyn asked incredulously.
“Yeah, and I figured since you weren’t taking no for an answer, I might as well do something to get you off my back.”
Evelyn could see the mischievous smirk edge across Ollie’s jaw, and she just caught the tail of his sidelong glance. “You just keep telling yourself that, Ollie,” she said, shaking her head.
Ollie shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, you can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“No, you can’t,” Evelyn agreed, and then she felt a little pinch in her chest. It had been over a week since she last saw Joseph. And it didn’t seem to matter what she thought about him, there was always an ache, like in knowing him she’d bruised herself, and it wasn’t a bruise that would heal. Whether she was thinking selfishly about being with him or thinking about him being with Misha, it led to more pain, ache, and torture, and so she felt her smiles for the green-eyed boy turn to frowns, knowing that with each day, any hope of things ever working out between them were getting further and further away.
She sighed, looking up from her shoes to the sidewalk ahead. The sun was beginning to set over the tops of the hills in the distance. The glow of the sun across the dust looked like it had scorched the tops of the adobe buildings. Probably true enough, she thought, putting her hands in her pockets, feeling a chill on her skin despite the heat coming off the broken asphalt.
“You have someone back home, don’t you?”
Evelyn looked at Ollie as he gave her elbow a nudge.
“That’s an easier question to ask than it is to answer.”
“I think you just answered it.”
Evelyn laughed. Whether he accepted it or not, her heart still belonged to a boy on the other side of the galaxy. “I’m sorry, Ollie.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I hope he knows what he has.”
He does … I’m the one who’s being stupid about it. “You know, Ollie, I don’t want this to sound weird, but you and your family could come with us if you want.”
“You mean I can come with you and watch the girl of my dreams run off with another guy?”
“Ollie,” Evelyn said, casting him a sterner look. The flirting had inflated her ego enough, and she was tiring of letting him down.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I appreciate the offer, Evie, but I don’t think we’re ready to race across the galaxy with you. Tanner has a wife and a kid somewhere. They got separated awhile back—war messes with people’s heads. I think he wants to find them, so we’re gonna make our way back to California. It may not be the U.S. anymore, but it’s still home.”
Evelyn nodded.
Home. It was something completely foreign to her. Can a space station be home … or a planet she found where she had spent less than a month … or Earth, where she had stayed less than a week? For all the knowledge she had, the idea of “home” seemed like something she would never understand.
They continued down the broken walk, enjoying the relief of the shadows as the sun set and the better-than-ten-degree drop in the temperature that came with it.
“What about Tillie … and Malcom?” she asked, feeling bad about wondering about the girl, maybe her first girlfriend, and almost forgetting about the quiet brother.
“Well, I’m sure Tillie will go back to raisin’ hell, just like she did before. She was always a little wild, you know, but she keeps us in line,” he added with a grin.
Evelyn smiled and laughed, only imagining the trouble that pretty girl must cause her brothers.
“And Malcolm? He’ll just keep on being Malcolm, I guess. He kind of does his own thing, but Evie, I’m telling you, he takes care of all the rest of us.”
Evelyn cocked her eyebrow, unsure she really heard him correctly. She hadn’t heard Malcolm say two words in the last two days and knew next to nothing about him. He seemed to keep to himself mostly, and other than a look at her every now and then, he usually seemed to be turning things over in his mind mechanically without focusing on much of anything.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really,” Ollie said with a grin.
Evelyn shook her head. “Your whole family is just full of surprises.”
“Look who’s talking, Evie.”
Evelyn laughed again. There was something about Ollie that put her at ease. Maybe it was his causal nature. Maybe his confidence. Maybe it was the fact that he seemed to know life on the streets, even though he hadn’t been on these streets before. She felt safe with him around.
They walked a
cross the dirt lot of the gas station, kicking up little swirls of dust as they went, and as they got close to the pumps, Ollie unslung the plastic gas can he had been carrying around his shoulders.
“Hey, pump … need a gallon,” he hollered into the dim service station office.
From out of the station, a man hobbled with enough skin and years to have covered two old men.
“Eh?” he shouted back, even though there couldn’t have been twenty feet between them.
“You the owner?”
“Yeah … what’s left of him anyway,” the old man said, grinning his toothless smile and standing straighter at his cleverness.
“Could use a few gallons for the lady here.”
“Son, if you’re trying to impress a pretty gal like that with gasoline, ya need ta learn a thing or two about women.”
Evelyn blushed. I like Texas.
“Yes, sir,” Ollie said, laughing and glancing at Evelyn.
“What d’ya have?” the old man asked.
Evelyn reached in her pocket and pulled out the two small silver coins she had taken from Tate’s pocket. He said one of them would be enough to fill the gas can, and she hoped he was right. She didn’t know what they’d be worth, but given the fact that currency was scarce, and the dollar wasn’t well respected south of the border any longer, it was all she had to bargain with.
Evelyn walked closer to the old man, not wanting to shout across the dirt what she had. “I have some silver, sir,” she said in a whisper, holding out one of the coins for him to see.
“Well, well, that ya do,” he said, taking the coin and turning it over in his gnarled fingers, feeling its weight. “I woulda filled it up for a smile, miss, but this’ll work too,” he said, winking at Evelyn and tucking the coin in his pocket.
Evelyn smiled again at the man. “My brother and I need to fill up a truck. Will you be open in the morning?”
The old man stood up after filling the plastic can and toggled his head between her and Ollie, a confused or amused look on his face. “Boy, did I have you two figured wrong.”
Ollie laughed again, and Evelyn looked at him, quickly realizing the mistake. “No, no,” she said, her face flushing with embarrassment. “This isn’t my brother. He’s down at the mission.”
The old man smiled and then lost it just as quickly as he looked over her shoulder at the street. “Well, ya best be gettin’ on back down there, miss. Looks like there’s some trouble comin’.”
Evelyn glanced over her shoulder. The sun was down, but the cloudless sky still had enough light trapped for them to see. The few people still outside seemed to be moving hurriedly, keeping to the shadows as they went. Just watching them gave Evelyn the jitters, and she turned quickly to Ollie. He was looking over the top of her head in the same direction.
“Son, you take good care of that girl there … now get on,” the old man said, turning and shuffling his way back to the service station.
“Time to go, Evie,” Ollie said, picking up the gas can and grabbing Evelyn by the elbow. They were heading out the side of the lot, Ollie obviously not wanting to go back onto the main street they had been on if there were people there they needed to avoid. They were still tucked too far back in the parking lot to see down the street, and even though she didn’t really want to look, Evelyn couldn’t help herself from taking peeks over her shoulder as they got further away.
Ollie was walking quickly, and Evelyn was having to jog to keep up with him. “We’ll cut over a block and then circle back to the mission,” he said. They crossed the street, and in the half minute they had been walking, Evelyn was shocked to see that whatever people had been out were gone. It was as if they had been made of smoke, given how quickly they had vanished. The old adobe buildings took on a decidedly ghostly appearance in the waning light.
Ollie pushed Evelyn along by the small of her back. They were just about to the corner.
“Hey!”
The guttural shout from behind them made her jump, her pulse quickening and skin crawling at the same time. The man’s yell may as well have been a bullet for all the force it carried. As they rounded the corner onto the back road, Evelyn caught a glimpse of their pursuers.
“Hey!” the man yelled again, even louder.
“Oh my God, it’s those NCG guys, Ollie,” she said, forcing the words from her mouth.
“Figures,” Ollie said. “Just keep walking and quit looking back, would you? You’re slowing us down.”
Evelyn felt her heart pound in her chest. She hadn’t turned her nanites on to receive signals, but she still felt the same horrid rage emanating from the two men stalking them from behind the corner. It was in the man’s voice, in their pounding footsteps, and it was all Evelyn could do to keep her breath steady.
They had only gone another twenty feet when she heard the rangers’ steps come around the corner.
“Stop!”
“Just stay behind me,” Ollie said, gently pushing Evelyn forward a few more steps. As they both turned around, Ollie set down the gas can and moved his body between her and the rangers.
Evelyn felt the panic well within her at the sight of the two men—the same two men she had seen a few days before. But while it was horrifying to see them at a distance, seeing them up close brought her to a whole different level of terror. They were both huge, and they were still wearing the same kinds of clothes: T-shirts and cargo pants with heavy-soled shoes. The taller of the two stood a foot taller than Evelyn and had a few inches and at least a hundred pounds on Ollie too. He seemed to be twitching, almost imperceptibly, but enough that Evelyn could tell the nanites in him were pushing his body beyond its natural limits, blowing enormous levels of adrenaline and testosterone through his veins. Even the veins in his neck were popping, and it was a wonder how he wasn’t having a heart attack, standing there with his blood pressure beyond the limits of sanity. But even as intimidating as this guy was, the shorter of the two was even scarier. He was still big, about the same height as Ollie, and outweighed him too, but it wasn’t his bulging muscles that made her short of breath. It was the look in his eyes. Evelyn knew what the nanites were doing to their bodies, and while the big guy seemed to be containing himself—barely—the leader seemed to be controlling it, relishing in the power, even if it was eating him alive from the inside.
He stared grimly, hardly taking his eyes off her, barely acknowledging Ollie’s presence. As Evelyn stared back, she realized there was no bottom to their blackness. If there was ever a place where there was a window from Earth into Hell, this man’s eyes were it.
The bigger goon pulled his tether out of his pocket and quickly glanced between the screen and Evelyn, his eyes jittery as they moved back and forth.
“It’s definitely her,” he said.
Without looking at his partner, the leader grinned and started to reach behind his back. “You’re coming with us.”
Evelyn saw the glint of his gun barrel, and then faster than she could blink, Ollie had two pistols trained on the rangers, hammers cocked. The look of surprise in the rangers’ eyes at having been outdrawn was only matched by the surprise Evelyn felt at the ranger’s earlier remark.
Who do they think I am? she wondered, and then she started to panic at the thought that maybe they knew, somehow, who she really was. The whole reason why they had to leave Earth as quickly as they did six years earlier, the reason Mr. and Mrs. Philips and Tate had been imprisoned and tortured, and the reason why Jane had broken into the prison was because President Coleson was after artificial intelligence. He wanted her—Evelyn—and the memories of the things Jane and her parents endured to protect her smothered her thoughts.
“That’s not gonna happen, range,” Ollie said, shifting his weight slightly onto the balls of his feet.
The ranger, obviously not used to having someone stand up to him, stopped, and for a split second, Evelyn saw the shadow of a flinch in his eye. Ollie and the ranger were just a few feet apart now, and they stared each other down
. Perhaps realizing he was about to get a fight out of someone, the ranger’s eyes steadied, and a malignant grin crept across his face as he stared down the barrels of Ollie’s twin slide-action pistols.
“Your girl here is wanted for questioning. She’s a fugitive. We’re bringing her in.”
“And I said that’s not gonna happen.”
The ranger’s arm hung by his side, holding the pistol. Evelyn couldn’t help but feel like she was watching a group of pit bulls size one another up, just seconds before they made a bloody mess of each other. She watched the ranger’s thumb move and then heard the telltale click of the hammer as he cocked his pistol. A second later, she heard another click from behind him, the sound of his partner cocking his pistol as well.
“Stand down, boy,” the ranger said, taking an easy step toward Ollie. “You don’t want to brush up with me. I’ll rip you inside out.”
Just then, Evelyn saw a shadow move from around the corner and heard two more hammers cock. It was Malcolm.
At the sound of the hammers, the rangers whipped their heads around.
“Gonna be damn hard for ya ta rip anyone when ye’re full of bullets,” Malcolm said as he pointed both his revolvers at the leader.
The ranger gritted his teeth. Even at fifteen feet away, Evelyn could see the muscles in his jaw straining under the pressure of his bite. His eyes seemed ready to burst into flames with the fury they held within them. But it was the bigger of the two who seemed like he was about to burst. He was groaning and twitching and starting to shake. It was obvious these guys never had anyone get the jump on them, and neither of them were handling the situation well.
Evelyn watched Ollie train both pistols on the leader. Refusing to take his eyes off them, he moved his head almost imperceptibly toward her.
Doppelganger Girl Page 20
