by Matt Ryan
“Whoa,” Joey said and put his hand on her to stabilize her. “Guess she’s sitting up now. Who has abs of steel? You do.” He poked her in the stomach and she giggled.
Poly took a step back. Good, she was already building up her physical side as quick as her mental. With Marcus on Ryjack, it was only a matter of time before he found them.
“Are we still moving today?” Poly asked.
“Yeah, and with Marcus’s appearance, that means we are moving to phase three.”
Poly rubbed the hilt of Compry’s dragon etched black throwing blade. “You think we have a chance?”
“Yes, or what is all this for?”
“I don’t know, ever since she was born I can’t stop thinking of what our parents went through. I mean what if we fail, Joey? What if he hurts Evelyn?”
“Look at all the people standing behind us, next to us, or even Hank and Gladius standing out in front of us, putting their lives on the line. We have a huge group of well-motivated mutants with some nasty abilities here to protect us as well. I think our chances are high, they have to be.”
“We thought we knew what we were doing with Samantha and look what happened then? And that wasn’t even Marcus, just some sick, bastard disciple of his. How are we going to get one up on the real Marcus?”
“I don’t know, but we have a plan and what else do we have to work with?”
Poly frowned and tapped her finger on her blade. She hated the plan. She hated the things she might have to give up in order for the plan to work. “There is always another option. The Alius stone, it took eighteen years for him to find us the first time, maybe if we can find a planet he doesn’t know about, we can hide there and start a life there. I don’t know how much longer I can take this running.”
It wasn’t the first time she had this discussion with Joey and each time she felt more agitated when he didn’t see her logic.
Joey set Evelyn back on the plank and took a small step to Poly and hugged her. He kissed the side of her quivering mouth and then grabbed her hands.
“We are not going to kill ourselves by showing up on an inhospitable planet. Remember how many Arrack’s were killed searching through the Alius stones?” He shook his head and squeezed her hands. “I won’t let anything bad happen to our girl. I don’t care what I have to do.”
Poly met his stare. “You’re planning on slowing down time, aren’t you?”
“As a last resort, yes. If it means risking my life to save our daughter, then I will use my ability and anything else I can to stop him.”
She took a deep breath and tried to find a way to argue with him about it, but she couldn’t. She knew she would do the same thing if it were in her power to do so. “You have my permission to do whatever you need to do to keep our daughter safe.”
Joey let out a long breath. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that.”
“Hey, H. R. Talk-a-lots,” Lucas said. “It’s not even freaking full daylight and you guys are already talking about how to kill yourselves? Our plan is solid, just give it a chance to work,” he muttered into his thin blanket.
Julie stirred next to him. “Plus, he will have to go through a hell of a lot of people to get to Evelyn. You’re going to have to wait in line to save her.” She stretched her arms and then rubbed her swollen, pregnant belly. “Look at Evelyn.”
Poly shot around and saw Evelyn sitting up on her make shift wooden crib. Her arms outstretched for Julie.
“Set her on the floor,” Julie said scooting to the edge of her bed.
Joey picked her up and set her on the floor. Poly moved to stop him but then didn’t, she didn’t know if she wanted to see what Evelyn would do.
Evelyn lifted herself up and crawled toward Julie. Julie picked her up and Evelyn giggled. “Ju-ju,” she called out.
“Yeah, Aunt Julie is here.”
Poly turned to the window. She didn’t want the others to see her face, especially Joey. It wasn’t that she wasn’t proud of her little miracle girl, it’s just it hurt her every time she hurdled over a milestone, or leaped past what anything normal might have been for a baby her age. She wanted to rejoice in her special child and she hated Marcus even more for taking her joy away from her.
“Think we’ll reach the stone today?” Lucas asked in a yawn.
Poly turned back and watched Julie one hand her Panavice. “No, maybe tomorrow.”
“I don’t know about you all, but I can’t wait to get into some dry clothes. I wonder if they’ve got the Chappy’s back up and running. Do you remember the freaking waffle stacks they made?”
She did indeed. Chappy’s had been one of their favorite places to go for breakfast back in Preston, but she didn’t like thinking about the places they couldn’t go to anymore. She would prefer to save those memories until after they got rid of a particular person.
A knock sounded on the door and then Edith entered. She held a tray of fruits and a stack of flat bread. It amazed Poly everyday what the mutants were doing for her and her family. She didn’t think she could ever repay them, but she would try her whole life to.
“Thought I heard you guys up. Brought you some breakfast,” she said with all smiles.
“Thanks, Edith.” Lucas jumped up and rushed to help her carry the tray. He stuffed one of the flat breads in his mouth as he carried the tray to the bench under the window.
Edith walked over to Julie. “And how’s Queen Eve this morning?” She shot a quick glance at Poly.
Poly didn’t say anything, even though she didn’t like them calling her that. She had too much respect for Edith. The woman had lost her husband and son while protecting Poly from MM troops, and there wasn’t a day that went by where she didn’t think of Hatch and Paul.
“Fine,” Julie said.
“Let me hold her while you eat, dear.”
Julie gave up Evelyn and walked to the bench buffet.
“Look at that kid,” Lucas pointed out the window.
A young man had his foot on the same branch that crashed down yesterday. It had almost killed Lucas. Poly took a deep breath and thought of Evelyn screaming Lucas’s name right before it happened. She’d no doubt saved his life, but it had to be a coincidence.
Poly hung out the window, looked up and saw a kid run by, laughing and chasing after another. It felt eerily similar to the first moments she had with these people. She’d begged them not to come and then again to leave their children and caretakers behind, but they all took it as a great insult and insisted on coming. She didn’t really think she had a choice in the matter. They were going, Edith had said.
Poly sighed. She didn’t like the idea of her daughter being part of them, yet she was. In a way, she was just as much as a mutant as the young man in the tree.
“You should eat something.” Joey pushed a plate of food near her.
“No thanks.” Poly crossed her arms and stared out the window.
“You didn’t eat anything yesterday. How can you protect our daughter without the energy to stand?”
She released her arms and took the plate. For the next ten minutes, she plucked at a few pieces of fruit. It might have been mango, or something similar. Who knew how close everything was on Ryjack.
A light tap sounded on the door and then Kris entered the hut. He wouldn’t make eye contact with Poly and she knew that was a bad sign; something was wrong. He nodded to Edith and she walked over to him, holding Evelyn. They shared some close words before Kris looked up.
“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked first.
“One of our runners didn’t come back this morning.”
Poly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her thoughts blazed with the idea of Marcus being close enough to get a runner.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Edith said, but she turned to Kris and spoke quietly. He nodded and left the hut. “You guys ready to move on from this place?” Edith asked.
“Yeah, I am,” Julie said, already folding her sheet.
“No,
no, don’t bother with this stuff, you get going ahead and we’ll take care of everything.”
Julie finished folding the sheet and pressed the creases. “Thank you for all you do, and tell the others as well. We really appreciate it.”
“You told me that a hundred times. Just stop it already,” Edith said.
“You deserve it, and more.” Julie rubbed her stomach and leaned against the wall.
“You doing okay?” Edith asked.
“Yeah, just a bit woozy when I first get up.” She smiled and stood straight. “See? All better.”
“If you get these woozies again, you best tell us,” Edith said. “We can carry you.”
“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.”
Edith walked over to Poly and held Evelyn out for her. Poly hesitated and then took her in her hands.
“Mama,” Evelyn said.
Poly brushed Evelyn’s thin hair back from her head. She remembered seeing a little baby bath setup for the kitchen sink, like a plastic lounge chair, and longed to use it. She couldn’t wait to get back to a civilized area. Her baby didn’t belong in a grinner infested world.
In an hour, they had traveled far away from the village. The mutants kept their distance and Poly had to search for their movement in the trees to maybe spot a glimpse of their tanned skin. They never strayed too far away from their queen.
With the thinning foliage, more light shone down on them; their perpetually damp clothes began to dry out for the first time since entering the jungle. The pace quickened as the underbrush diminished and the jungle loosened its grip.
By mid-sun, an open field of swaying grass and saplings appeared, fighting their way to regain the stripped land.
“Thank goodness,” Lucas said. “Another day in there and I’d go crazy. Look at the bow string on Prudence! It already has a few frays from all this jungle air.” Lucas inspected the minimal damage to his precious string. He rarely had a day where he didn’t mention something about Prudence not liking it here. For once, Poly agreed with Prudence.
“You want me to hold her for a while?” Joey offered.
“Sure.” Poly passed Evelyn over and took off the sling. She shook her arms and tried to loosen her muscles, feeling better with her arms free. She could use her blades at will.
Kris ran up to them. “There’s a town not far from here. They are clearing it out as we speak, but I think we can use it for the night. There’s even a hotel.”
“Sounds good, thanks,” Joey said.
The idea of a hotel washed over Poly like a clean, hot shower. She ached for it. But Ryjack was still a crap hole, where nothing worked and the things that remained grasped for their original purposes with the narrowest of holds. Much like the saplings reclaiming the farmed land, they too would reclaim the houses, churches, cars, and roads.
The last pockets of humanity would cling on, but nothing would ever be the same. She wondered what Ryjack would look like in twenty, or even a hundred years. Could those last pockets of humanity repossess the planet? Could the family from Cost Plus move on and start anew? They wanted a child for their daughter, but would they ever find a suitor?
“You ready?” Joey asked.
“Yeah.”
They walked across the field and onto a paved road, if you could call it that. More like patches of pavement. Another mile and they reached the town. A decent sized one as well, which encouraged Poly as much as it terrified her. Larger towns held more grinners. They had only run into a few in the jungle, but each city held its own surprise.
The mutants ran around the town, she saw them darting in and out of buildings and running across the few streets that made up the town. Poly pulled three knives from her side. She kept one in her throwing hand, ready to go as they walked down the main street. The town didn’t look as bad as she thought from far out. The buildings hadn’t collapsed and much of the concrete pavement still held its ground, housing only a few errant weeds in the cracks.
A small group of mutants stood around the front of the only two-story building in town. In black letters, the word Hotel was painted near the top. It gave her hope the insides would still be intact, and it gave her greater hope the hotel would be vacant of grinners. Even if the mutants had cleared it, the stench remained strong.
She nodded to two young men as they approached—brothers if she remembered right—Sergio and Juan.
“We cleared it for you, Poly,” Sergio said with a bright smile.
“Thank you. I can’t begin to tell you how much we appreciate it.”
Sergio glanced at Juan as they relished in the accolades.
Joey held Evelyn in the sling with one arm and a gun in the other. He better not even think of firing it near Evelyn. She glared from his gun to him, but he didn’t catch the warning. They all entered the hotel lobby.
“Pretty nice,” Lucas said, admiring the wood coffered ceiling. He jumped over the back of a couch and landed on the front, draping his arm over the back.
“I just can’t wait to sit down and put my feet up,” Julie said, holding her ever-growing stomach.
“You want me to take her?” Poly asked and looked at Evelyn and then to Joey’s gun.
“Nah, I got her,” Joey said.
Edith walked in behind them. “There are a couple of rooms up top. Good place for a family to spend the day.”
“Thanks,” Joey said.
Edith walked to Joey and pulled Evelyn from him; he didn’t resist. Walking to the stairs and pointing his gun, he looked back at them.
Poly sighed and walked behind Joey. She was happy to have Evelyn away from his gun, but why did he give her to Edith when he’d denied her a moment ago?
“Poly, you take the left, I’ll take the right,” Joey said.
“You guys need to relax,” Lucas called out. “Our mutant peeps cleared it.”
“Like they cleared the hut yesterday?” Poly spoke up. The incident still freaked her out. They’d just entered the hut, when a grinner came lunging at Joey and Evelyn. Thank goodness Lucas had been there with his Prudence.
Lucas huffed. “Fine.” He got off the couch. “I’ll take lead.” He rushed past Joey and Poly up the stairs.
“What an idiot.” Julie rolled her eyes.
“You married him. He’s your idiot now,” Joey said before running up the stairs after him.
“That he is,” she whispered.
Poly stayed below with Julie. “How are you doing?”
“This sucks. I can’t wait for our plan to be over. I can’t wait for it all to be over.” She looked at the ceiling and followed the sounds of stomping feet. “It’s so stupid what I fantasize about now.”
“Clean sheets?”
“No, nothing material. You know, all I really want is a place to call home again. You remember that feeling when you got home from school, went to your bedroom, and just fell on your own bed? Not a fear in the world?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what I fantasize about. Not for me, but for . . .” Julie pointed to her stomach.
Poly thought about the long-term effects of keeping Evelyn in such a horrible environment. She was just a baby, yet she saw her soaking in everything around her. For Evelyn, running and grinners were the norm. “What do you think, boy or girl?” she asked.
“I don’t know, I have a feeling it’s a boy.”
“Thought of a name yet?” It had become a major discussion point and Lucas played it up with as many ridiculous names as he could think of, from Felalfull to Gerridity. He also announced each of them with a finality that drove Julie crazy.
Julie looked to the ceiling and her bottom lip quivered before she covered it with her hand. “No.” She sniffled and turned from Poly. “Sorry,” she said and broke into a cry.
“Julie, what is it?” Poly rubbed her arm.
“I don’t want to have this child in this world. I want to be at a hospital . . . with an epidural. I want nurses and doctors, and those little juice cups.” She took deep breaths
and tried to collect herself. She glanced at Poly and let out a small laugh. “Stupid pregnancy hormones.”
“No matter what, we’ll be here with you.”
“You think what we’re doing is going to work?” Julie asked.
“It has to.”
MINTER LOOKED AT THE NUMBER texted to his phone from an unknown number. He held it up so Rick could read it.
“Yep, it’s time.” Rick nodded, looking at the numbers on the phone.
Minter cranked over the Mustang and shifted into drive. He peeled out on the dirt shoulder and let the tires grip and squeal on the blacktop. He thought about how much his in-laws hated when he did that down their driveway.
“At least we know everything is still in motion. The kids are alive,” Rick said.
“Yes, but we aren’t to the hard part yet. That text just tells us to move to phase three. There’s still a million things that could go wrong,” Minter said.
“Have a little faith.”
Minter sped up to around eighty miles per hour on the highway. He leaned against the window and rubbed his chin. He hadn’t seen his grandchild since the day she was born. He often thought about what she looked like now and when he’d get the chance to hold her, make her laugh, and spoil her rotten. “I have faith. It’s the only thing I’ve got.”
He watched as they passed a busted car on the side of the road. After the Cough, the whole world had changed. Wars raged in Eastern Europe and Southern Asia. Thankfully, the US was able to contain much of the Cough, keeping the fatalities to a minimum; nothing like the poor countries of the world. Those casualties were in the millions.
All thanks to a man who had plagued Minter for almost twenty years now, Marcus Malliden. A man he had never met had dominated his and his family’s lives, his friend’s lives. He gripped the steering wheel tight.
“What’s wrong?” Rick asked.
“Look at what he did to Earth.” Minter pointed to a burnt car as they passed it.
“As far as everyone else is concerned, he saved the planet. Look at what the man has done in the span of a couple years here,” Rick said.
