Drastic Times (Book 3): Fierce Freedom

by Rock, R. A.

  Feeling suddenly restless, I stood up and put another couple logs on the fire, making it blaze up brightly. Then I walked the perimeter of the camp again and after that I sat back down, leaning against a tree, my weapons at the ready. Soon a wave of heat hit me as the fire devoured the logs.

  I glanced around at everyone, looking so peaceful in their sleep. Grace and Shiv were curled up together. Audrey had pulled herself into a tight ball. We all knew she was cold but there wasn’t much that could be done about that. I decided I would hunt some rabbits and make her a cape or something like that. It wasn’t fair that she should be freezing all the time.

  Chad and Gracie’s father had taught me how to prepare rabbit skins when I was a teenager and Audrey wouldn’t be cold if she had a cape or coat of rabbit skin. She would finally be warm. Yes. It was a good idea. I would hunt some rabbits and make a fur cape for her as soon as I could. That decided, my eyes found Chad.

  He was sleeping with bare arms folded, his hands tucked in. He had given the stranger his coat because he’s always hot when he sleeps. I tried to keep away the memory of how his body had kept me warm all night, every night when we had been together but it was impossible. A sigh escaped me. I always needed more covers now that we were broken up than I had when he had been my human blanket warmer.

  There was a low moan and the woman stirred in her sleep. It was the first sign that she had shown of regaining consciousness and I went to her immediately.

  “Hello?” I said, softly not wanting to disturb the others. “Lady? Are you awake?”

  She moaned again, her face pallid in the firelight and I recognized the sound of intense pain. I knew what that felt like and compassion flared in me. I took a quick peek around — everyone was still sleeping.

  So, I put my hands over her abdomen where Grace had said all those nasty injuries were and closed my eyes. I sent my own life energy into her body, helping it heal. I’m no kinetic surgeon like Gracie but any person with mental abilities can direct energy into another person.

  Her body was so weakened, it just took and took, but soon I felt her spirit rallying. And without warning, there was a voice in my mind.

  “Enough.”

  It was Chad.

  My eyes popped open and I looked at him. He still seemed to be asleep but I knew that it had been his voice in my head and that he wanted me to stop healing her. I withdrew my energy at the same time as I pulled back my hands, feeling suddenly shaky.

  “Will you never learn to stop going off on your own and making decisions that could harm us all?”

  His mental voice was filled with disapproval, though his physical face still looked relaxed, as though he were sleeping. The firelight glanced off the planes of his face and I thought I saw his strong jaw clench for a moment and then relax. His tightly sprung curls were in disarray and I wanted to comb them down with my fingers.

  I thought about what he had said. As usual, Chad was right. I had made a decision by myself and if he hadn’t reminded me to stop, I might have continued healing her until I was too weak to travel, making things more difficult for everyone. I supposed he had felt me weakening through the soul bond and it had woken him up.

  I huffed out my breath in frustration at myself.

  When would I learn? During our time in New Winnipeg, I had made a vow to all of them that I would be a better friend. And here I was just going off and doing my own thing again, possibly endangering us all. I needed to stop doing that.

  I felt determination rise up in me.

  I would stop doing that. I would make better choices.

  I did not want my future to end up the way it had in my weird A Christmas Carol dream.

  “A Christmas Carol dream?” Chad’s mental voice sounded sleepy. I was shielding from him but he must have caught another thought through the soul bond.

  “Never mind,” I sent and felt his consciousness fade away into sleep.

  I hadn’t told anyone yet about the weird incident in New Winnipeg. While I had been tranquilized and the others were healing me I had experienced an extremely vivid and sobering dream — for want of a better word. I wasn’t sure I was going to tell anyone. Because I didn’t know quite what to make of the whole thing and I was still trying to sort it out in my own mind.

  And if I was going to tell anyone, it would be Chad.

  But not today.

  I picked up my stick and gave the fire a good poke, bringing it back to life once again and putting the unburned logs into the hot coals so that the flames once again lit the dim clearing. Then I stood and did the rounds. Hearing the woman moan again, I went over.

  Her extra coats had slipped off and I adjusted them to cover her. At the movement, her eyes opened. She was beautiful with lovely dark eyes and perfect skin that was a warm tan colour. I wondered again what her story was… and why she looked familiar if I had never seen her before.

  “Where am I?” she said.

  I shrugged, not knowing what to answer.

  “We found you at Sipwesk. You were injured. We were taking you to The Sanctuary like you asked us but you got too cold and we were worried about hypothermia.”

  Her cheeks seemed pink — indicating warmth - and the pain had faded from her eyes.

  “You said that we could make it to The Sanctuary in several hours walk but we had to stop to warm you up.”

  “Have you reached Wabowden yet?” she said and I nodded.

  “We passed it about an hour before we stopped.”

  “We’re nearly there, then,” she said.

  “I’m Yumi,” I said. “What’s your name?”

  “Madeline,” she said, and gazed at me with an almost affectionate look that I totally couldn’t interpret, so I focused on something else.

  “Can you give me more exact directions while you’re still conscious, then?” I said. “If you hadn’t woken up, how would we have got you there?”

  She sighed heavily.

  “I will tell you how to get to the Sanctuary but you must understand, this is the most heavily guarded secret in the country. If the wrong person found out about the Sanctuary, very bad things could happen.”

  “What sorts of bad things?” I said, feeling troubled.

  She stared into my eyes, completely lucid as she spoke her next words.

  “The end of our world.”

  “THE END OF the world?” I said, wanting to laugh but knowing that wouldn’t be respectful. “From you giving us directions?”

  “I didn’t say that,” she said, obviously realizing that I was not taking her seriously but she seemed unperturbed by the fact.

  She hadn’t said that? That’s sure what it sounded like.

  “Guys, you need to wake up,” I broadcast to everyone. “It’s morning. She’s going to give us directions to The Sanctuary. And… this conversation is getting a little weird.”

  One by one, the others began to stir and stretch. The clearing where we had camped was still warm from the fire and Grace kinetically heating it all night.

  “Anyways, if that won’t convince you then you should know that if I die, you will lose all chance of going home.”

  Everyone sat up straighter when she said that.

  How did she know about us going home?

  “How do you know we want to get home?” Grace said, covering her mouth as she yawned.

  Madeline lifted her eyebrows.

  “Come on. You guys clearly aren’t from around here.”

  Chad glanced at me, his blue eyes uneasy. He rubbed his thumb in circles over the spot where the Celtic knot marking was starting to show again on his hand.

  “I don’t see how…” I started but Shiv interrupted me.

  “We won’t tell anyone. You can trust us,” Shiv said, giving me a look. Then I heard his voice in my head.

  “What if she’s got people who could take us out? What if she’s threatening us? If we were dead, we certainly couldn’t go home.”

  He had a point.

  Madeline nodded as
if he were just confirming something she already knew in her bones.

  “I know you won’t tell anyone,” she said.

  “How could you…?” I started, then stopped myself this time.

  I glanced at Chad in confusion but pulled my gaze back to Madeline as she began to speak.

  “Go to the southern end of Sipwesk Lake and find the rock that looks like a starship. When you feel that you want to turn back, don’t. Go into the water directly below the warp drive and pull on the branch…”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up my hands. “Into the water? It’s December. That water is like liquid ice.”

  “I know,” she said, her face apologetic. “But that’s the only way to open the tunnel. It’s supposed to be hard to get to. You guys…”

  She suddenly stopped, looked guilty, and then continued on like she was trying to cover something up. I frowned and Chad gave me a what the fuck? look.

  “Only one person has to actually go into the water to pull on the branch that’s right below the rock. That will open the tunnel that leads into the Sanctuary. Everyone else can walk in without getting wet.”

  We all looked at each other.

  “Sounds kind of high tech,” Shiv said, his face not showing any trace of what he was thinking.

  “It is,” Madeline said without elaborating.

  I was bewildered. Something wasn’t adding up here. But I didn’t want to push her because she seemed to still be pretty weak, her voice feeble.

  “When we get to the door, it’s keyed with biometrics and I’ll use mine to get us in.”

  “What if you can’t?” Shiv said.

  “I will,” she said and her tone brooked no opposition. I supposed as the leader of the Sanctuary she was used to being obeyed without question. And for now, that was fine. I would go along with what she said in order to help her. And then we would get the hell out of here. Whatever her story was, I wanted no part of it.

  “Okay then,” Chad said. “Let’s get you home.”

  Yeah, so we can go home, I heard Shiv mutter in his mind.

  I agreed completely.

  The snow started again as we made our way to the southern edge of Sipwesk and began our search for the rock shaped like a starship. I thought it was an odd way to describe a rock in these times but figured she must be a fan of the space program or something. I remembered from my history that it had been a pretty big deal when they had first been developing space travel. And maybe she was one of those space buffs — or maybe the founder of the Sanctuary had been.

  AS WE arrived at the start of the beach I suddenly had a strong urge to go back, maybe come around the other side of the lake. I shook my head to clear out the thought. That was stupid. What was I thinking?

  “I feel uncomfortable,” Grace said. “Can we go back and rest?”

  “Me too,” Audrey said.

  “I’m feeling sort of sick to my stomach,” Shiv said. “A rest sounds good. Maybe we can find something to eat.”

  “I can hunt something,” I offered and we all turned away from the beach and headed towards the forest.

  “Wait,” Chad said.

  “What?” I demanded, turning to look at him but walking backwards because I really wanted to get hunting.

  “I want to rest too.”

  “So?” I said. “Let’s go rest, then.”

  “No,” he said, his eyes thoughtful. “Why are we all getting to urge to move away from here and go do something else? What about Madeline?”

  I blinked.

  I had sort of forgot that Madeline was critically injured and we needed to find The Sanctuary. Immediately.

  “What the hell?” Chad said.

  And I remembered Madeline’s instructions.

  “When you feel that you want to turn back, don’t, she said. This is part of how they protect The Sanctuary.”

  Everyone looked perplexed.

  “But how…?” Shiv said.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Chad said. “What matters is getting Madeline help.”

  “Let’s just keep going,” I said. “Let’s go down to the water’s edge.”

  About halfway across the beach, the urge to go back just went away.

  “Oh that is bizarre,” Grace said.

  “Or something,” Shiv agreed.

  The five of us stood for a moment on the beach, contemplating the… whatever it had been.

  The lake was as bleak as I had ever seen it. Clouds of white and light grey filled the sky. And below them the water was like the dreary granite blocks of a prison — still and dark and menacing. As I surveyed the area, looking for the rock, snow drifted down and a bitter wind blew across my cheeks — gnawing.

  It was easy to spot the rock that looked surprisingly like The Concordia — the ship we had used to get to Earth, on our misguided mission to test the time travel devices.

  Chad and I stood side by side on the frozen sand, both of us with arms crossed, staring at the lake. I was remembering the time I almost froze to death in this very water and he was probably thinking about when he fell in on the ice planet, Lood, and nearly drowned and froze.

  Yeah, we don’t have much luck with cold water.

  “So who’s going in?” I said, cutting my eyes across to him. He turned his head to look at me and with obvious reluctance answered.

  “I guess I will.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “I can just as well go.”

  “But I’m…”

  I gave him a look and cut in before he could say it.

  “The man? How does that make you more responsible?”

  He gave me an annoyed glance.

  “I was going to say I’m the better swimmer.”

  Oh.

  It was true. I couldn’t argue with that.

  “But…”

  “I’ll go,” Grace said from behind us.

  We both turned in surprise.

  “What?” she said, looking irritated. “You don’t think I can do it? I’m the best swimmer after Chad and you’ve both been through enough in freezing cold water. I can do it. And I’m going to.”

  Chad and I exchanged a doubtful look.

  “Stop that!” Grace said, getting mad now. She tore off her winter coat and ski pants along with her hat, mitts, and scarf. Then her pants, long underwear, shirt, and socks came off. Standing in her black bra and underwear, she shivered as the frigid wind hit her exposed skin.

  “Grace…” Shiv said.

  “What?” she snapped at him, her green eyes flashing.

  “Be careful,” he said, his tone mild, obviously not wanting to poke the bear. She smiled at him and with a determined look ran into the water and dove under.

  I cringed.

  God, that must be so cold.

  A second later, her head broke the surface and I could tell she was gasping for air — that always happens when you swim in cold water, unless you’re trained. She began taking deep breaths and soon, she ducked her head under again.

  “Glad it’s not me,” Chad sent and I gave him a half-smile.

  “Ditto.”

  We waited. I was almost holding my breath along with her. And still we waited.

  Then, like the parting of the red sea — or so I imagined — the lake waters split, starting at the shore where we stood and spreading in a four foot wide corridor until they reached a point in the lake about thirty feet out.

  A moment later, I spotted Grace striding out of the tunnel with water streaming off of her wet hair, looking like some sort of siren with her black underwear and bra plastered to her curvy body. I glanced over at Shiv and noticed he had a bit of a glazed look in his eyes.

  Yes, siren was exactly the word to describe her.

  She walked towards us, grinning — clearly pleased with herself.

  “Looks like I found The Sanctuary.”

  THE EARLY MORNING wind was freezing as we stood at the edge of Lake Sipwesk, trying to get into The Sanctuary.

  I averted my ey
es as my sister came out of the tunnel, looking like some sort of sexy super hero. I also elbowed Shiv, since he was practically drooling over Grace.

  He gave me a dirty look.

  “You don’t see me elbowing you when your tongue is hanging out over Yumi,” he muttered.

  He had a point. But Yumi wasn’t his little sister.

  Grace stepped on to the beach and closed her eyes. Instantly she was dry and she put her clothes back on. I felt relieved. That was better. I knew Gracie was attractive. She’s the prettiest woman I know. But I didn’t really think about how hot she was. That was just… ugh.

  Grace looked at the woman, who was unconscious once more. Then she looked up at Shiv.

  “How about you pick her up but I support her?” she said. “I don’t think we should walk up to the door with their leader floating in the air, that would encourage the sort of questions we’re trying to avoid.”

  Shiv frowned.

  “I can just carry her. I’m strong enough,” he said.

  “Of course you are,” Grace said, placating Shiv, though he would likely never know what she was doing. “I want you to be at full energy because we never know what we may meet in there.”

  “Fine,” he said, but still looking as though she had insulted his masculinity. I understood. If she had said the same thing to me, I would have been insulted too.

  “You should have just done it without telling him,” I sent.

  Grace’s mental snort came over our connection.

  “Men.”

  “Let’s go,” Yumi said, her tone impatient. “We don’t know how much time Madeline has.”

  Shiv picked up the woman up and we all entered the tunnel. I inspected the walls as we went in and was surprised to see that there wasn’t anything holding the water back. Well, nothing physical that could be seen, anyway.

  This confused me and I tried again to remember my history from this period, wishing I had been more interested. I was pretty sure that force fields had not been invented yet. But maybe I was wrong. Or maybe it was some sort of fancy glass that you could hardly see.