by Jackie D
“I believe it will,” Arrow said.
Arrow was thankful Kaelyn understood her methods. She wanted to discuss it further, but her shoulder was throbbing and she was getting more tired by the minute. “I’m going to take a shower.”
Arrow stood in the bedroom and struggled with her shirt. Excruciating pain shot through her shoulder as she undid her buttons. She was about ready to give up for the night when Kaelyn came through the door.
“Hey.” She crossed the room to her. “Let me help you.”
Arrow was going to protest, but the pain was too much. “It will be okay. I’ll put the reanimation unit on my shoulder as we drive tomorrow, and I’ll be good as new in a few hours.”
“Reanimation unit?” Kaelyn asked quietly as she undid Arrow’s buttons.
Arrow watched Kaelyn’s hands tremble as she worked her way down her shirt. “It’s a device that stimulates rejuvenation.”
Kaelyn carefully pulled the shirt off Arrow. “Your shoulder’s in really bad shape.” Kaelyn slid her hand over the bare skin. It was painful and wonderful at the same time. She put her fingertips on Arrow’s face. “You took a beating out there.”
Arrow remained as still as possible, afraid that any sudden movements would cause Kaelyn to remove her touch, and that was the last thing she wanted. “I dodged a bullet. I’ll be okay.”
“You probably have a concussion.” She used her fingertips to gently push Arrow’s head to the side. Kaelyn stepped closer to her under the pretense of examining her injuries. But her green eyes were showing another emotion besides concern.
Arrow allowed her mind to briefly flash an image of what it would be like to kiss Kaelyn. Her body hummed with excitement, and she moved closer. Kaelyn slid her hand down Arrow’s arm, leaving shivers where her fingers touched.
It would be so easy to give in, to fall into Kaelyn. It would be easy to get lost in this moment. A moment. That’s all it would be, and it would make their mission that much more difficult.
Arrow took a step back, moving away from Kaelyn. “I’m going to take a shower.” She walked into the bathroom before the closeness of Kaelyn changed her mind.
The water was hot and seared her skin in the best possible way. Dirt and blood drifted down the shower drain. She watched the colors combine in perfect harmony and then disappear. It was rather beautiful. She could cleanse her body of the misfortune of the evening while remaining whole. But that thought made her realize she wasn’t as complete as she’d always believed.
She could still feel Kaelyn’s hands on her face, her arm, her back. The way her eyes had grown dark because of their simple proximity to each other. Arrow wasn’t sure if this was normal, but she knew it was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She let the water strike her face, hoping the water would extinguish the heat she felt burning in her body for Kaelyn Trapp.
* * *
Kaelyn sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Arrow to come out of the bathroom. Her heart still hammered from their closeness. She wanted Arrow, that much was apparent. But it wasn’t just lust. She wanted to make sure she was okay; she was concerned about her health, and how hard she pushed herself. She didn’t care how far technology had come; concussions weren’t anything to mess around with, and she wasn’t going to let Arrow out of her sight for the next twelve hours.
The bathroom door opened, and a cloud of steam escaped. Arrow appeared a moment later, using her good hand to dry her short black hair with a towel. She wore sweatpants and a sports bra. Her stomach muscles flexed with each swipe of her arm. Kaelyn gripped the side of the bed tighter as Arrow walked over to her.
“I’m sleeping with you tonight,” Kaelyn blurted out.
Arrow’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What?”
“No, I mean, you have a concussion and need to be woken up every hour or so, to make sure you’re okay. That’s what I meant by sleeping with you. Not whatever you were thinking. What were you thinking?”
Arrow laughed and sat on the bed. “I’m not really sure what I was thinking. But you don’t have to do that. I can set the alert on my wristband to wake me up. It has a concussion protocol.”
“Of course it does.” Kaelyn wondered how anybody in this time managed to subtlety seduce anyone with all these damn advancements. Not that I was going to seduce her. Obviously.
Kaelyn was going to leave when Arrow lay back on the bed. “I meant, you can sleep in here if you’d like, but you don’t have to worry about staying awake. Or you can always go sleep with my mom and Lily.”
Kaelyn did her best casual walk toward the bathroom. “I guess I’ll just stay here with you. I’m going to shower.”
A dozen or so quick minutes later, Kaelyn came out of the bathroom to find Arrow asleep. She quietly crawled into the bed next to her. The warmth of Arrow’s body against her back brought her into a space of calm she shouldn’t have been experiencing in the middle of all the chaos. But it wasn’t until Arrow’s arm came around her waist and she pulled her closer that she was sure it was exactly where she was meant to be.
Throughout the night, Kaelyn felt the buzzer of Arrow’s wrist. It was a subtle reminder of the pain Arrow must be experiencing. Arrow would sit up for a moment, take a few deep breaths, and lie back down. Kaelyn wanted to wake with her each time, wanted to check to see if her pupils were dilated, if she was okay. She was far from a medical expert, but she’d spent four summers as a lifeguard at her community pool in high school. Doing basic first aid and identifying injuries such as a concussion were part of the job. Instead, she remained as still as possible until Arrow fell back into a rhythmic sleep pattern, so she didn’t keep her awake longer than necessary. Each time, Arrow would fall back asleep without touching her, and each time, her arm would inevitably find its place back around Kaelyn.
The morning came sooner and with more fury than Kaelyn was prepared to handle. She was awakened by a loud crash from somewhere in the house. Before she had time to figure out what was going on, Arrow was up and through the door, gun in hand.
Kaelyn followed but allowed several steps of distance between herself and Arrow. Arrow turned the corner and lowered her gun. Valor stood with his hand on the back of Johnson’s neck, pushing him into the table.
“What happened?” Arrow asked.
“He said he needed to take a piss. I was moving his restraints to the front so he could use his hands and he tried to take off.”
Arrow pulled out one of chairs at the table and sat down. She tapped him on top of the head a few times. “What were you thinking?”
His voice was muffled, undoubtedly from his mouth becoming one with the table. “I thought he’d kill me.”
“Is that what you want?”
“It’s better than being a prisoner.”
Arrow leaned back in her seat. She seemed to be unaware and unashamed that she was still in a sports bra and sweats. “I’ll make you a deal. You do what we asked. If you still feel like you want to die when we get to Eden, I’ll kill you myself.”
She motioned to Valor to let him up. Johnson’s face was beet red. There was fury in his eyes and in the way his chest heaved. He struggled against Valor as he put the restraints back in place.
He looked like he might scream. “Fine.”
Arrow stood and patted him on the arm. “Captain, we’ll leave in fifteen minutes.”
Valor nodded his understanding, and Arrow turned, heading back toward the bedroom. Kaelyn followed closely behind. She couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed. “Are you really going to kill him?”
Arrow carefully pulled on her uniform shirt and gingerly clasped the buttons. “I won’t need to kill him.”
Kaelyn was so caught off guard at the threat of violence that she didn’t want to help Arrow, but she gave in at the sight of her wincing. “But that’s not what you told him.”
Arrow grimaced when she tried to shrug. “He wants to die because the consequences for him if MacLeod finds out are much worse. But it won’t come to th
at. We’re going to show him there’s another way to live that he never knew existed before.”
“You’re very sure of yourself.” Kaelyn pulled on her own borrowed clothes. “It’s difficult to unlearn cultural norms. This world is the only one he knows, and he’s willing to kill without thought of consequence. What makes you think he’ll change?”
“Everyone deserves the opportunity to change. It’s just that people aren’t often given that opportunity. They’re bogged down with what people expect from them, what the world expects from them. I’m giving him the opportunity to be something else because I’m allowing for the space that’s necessary for growth.”
“And what if he is exactly who he says he is?” Understanding Arrow’s thought process on the matter felt incredibly important.
She pulled on her vest and checked her weapons. “Then I’ll let him go, but he won’t be able to do any damage to us at that point. If he wants to die, he’ll need to find another way of doing it.”
Kaelyn smiled. “So you’re capable of lying?”
Arrow smiled, and then her expression became serious. “Not to you.”
Kaelyn put her hand on Arrow’s cheek, and a feeling of warmth swept through her body. “I don’t know why, but I believe you.”
Kaelyn watched Arrow walk away and wondered how that kind of idealism bloomed in an environment of darkness. There was no reason to believe that this soldier would change his fundamental thinking after a brief stint with the four of them. Deprogramming could take months if not years, and it was even harder to do when your whole family was inculcated as well. But there was Arrow with her untarnished belief that good would always overcome evil. Admittedly, her optimism was contagious, if not intoxicating.
One thing was glaringly clear. She wanted more of Arrow.
Chapter Nineteen
Arrow entered the coordinates into the transport vehicle. They were at a disadvantage, unable to travel the most direct route since that’s exactly where they’d be looking. Taking the wrong route would be problematic, to say the least. She’d run through a thousand different scenarios for possible routes and was grateful she had, even if people had teased her at the time. They would need to head north and then east.
She adjusted the reanimation unit on her shoulder. It would only take a few hours and her shoulder would be good as new. The device fastened small pins into her shoulder and began to vibrate, reconstructing the afflicted areas. If she’d been back at base, she would be lying in a capsule while the technology worked its magic, and it would’ve taken half the time. But this was the best she could do at the moment.
She glanced in the rearview mirror to see a very uncomfortable looking mother, prisoner, and Phoenix all glaring in her direction. It wasn’t because of lack of space as much as it was about their forced proximity to each other. If looks could kill, she would be in the process of perishing in this moment.
They had released Corporal Clayton thirty minutes before, and Arrow wanted to wait longer to ensure he wouldn’t return to do harm to Lily or anyone else in the village. Valor had driven him out and left him about an hour from the village, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Keeping everyone in the transport in the meantime was her way of safeguarding against the myriad of circumstances that could possibly unfold without any warning.
“Do you have music in these things?” Kaelyn’s voice broke the silence.
Arrow glanced at Valor, who looked as confused as she felt. “What do you mean?”
Kaelyn seemed surprised by the answer. She leaned forward in her seat. “You know, like a radio that doesn’t just transmit signals to and from bases. A little box, that when turned to a specific station, spews out beats to dance along with.”
Of course, Arrow knew what she was referring to; she’d studied Kaelyn’s time ferociously. It just wasn’t an amenity her world had embraced. Or at least not her life back at Resistance headquarters. “No, we don’t have anything like that in our transports.”
Kaelyn’s eyes grew incredibly large and her mouth gaped open. “You have music, right?”
“Yes.” Arrow was feeling slightly defensive. “You heard them playing it last night. It might not be as sophisticated as what you’re used to, but we enjoy it. Most of our time resources are spent on survival. People aren’t looking to sign recording contracts out here, so the music they make is for themselves with whatever instruments they make or what they’ve inherited.”
“But that’s it?” Kaelyn asked.
Johnson spoke next. “We have Gospel music in Eden.”
Kaelyn turned slowly to look at him. “You guys can blow up an entire building with some sort of laser, but all you have is Gospel music?”
Johnson shrugged. “What your kind listened to was the devil’s work.”
Kaelyn pulled out her computer from her bag and pushed the screen open. “It’s rude to say ‘your kind.’ We’re the same species, whether you like it or not.” She pushed a couple of buttons, and sounds Arrow had never heard started to fill the car.
Arrow marveled at the flow of sounds. They seemed to encapsulate emotions, both good and bad. She could feel the thumping rhythm in her body, and it was almost magical. She knew the music of Kaelyn’s time. She’d even listened to it as a point of reference. But it wasn’t until right now that she ever really heard it. She was lost in thought when the transport began to roll forward. She hadn’t taken it off auto when she programmed in their destination and was about to switch to manual when she changed her mind. She wanted to enjoy this feeling and these sounds for a bit longer.
Maybe it was only a few minutes, or maybe several dozen. Arrow was caught in the beauty of the range of sounds and didn’t pay attention to the time passing. She didn’t understand why this practice had ever been abandoned. Music should have been kept like the treasure it was, built upon, spread around. She’d always been impressed with the guitars the villagers used, and at times they would pound on items they found to follow the different beats, but it was nothing like this. For a moment, she was mad at her mother for never exposing her to this simple pleasure. She was going to say something and looked in the rearview to catch her eyes. But her mother looked as transfixed on the moment as she was, lost in the words and the sounds.
The moment of magic was short-lived. Valor pulled the beeping transmitter from his side pocket. Apparently, it hadn’t taken Clayton twelve hours to be picked up. It only took two. There were alerts flashing on the screen, offering a bounty for their capture.
“That didn’t take long,” Valor said.
Arrow sat up straighter in the seat and switched to manual drive. “There must’ve been more drones out then we had anticipated. He said they’d been told to double patrols, so one must have been closer than we thought. Things are going to go south very quickly if they figure out our location.”
“We can take the tunnels,” Valor said.
The tunnels had been built long before the Resistance had formed, but they utilized them as a lifeline. It was a way out for people, a network of hope and possibility. But certain areas were anything but structurally sound. It would be a risk as well. But what was the other choice? Allow the drones to find them by remaining out in the open? Arrow didn’t like either of these options. But a choice was going to have to be made.
She looked at her mom. “What do you think, stay on the roads or head to the tunnels?”
Her mom stared out the window, undoubtedly turning over the different possibilities in her head. “We don’t want to take the tunnels from here. We need to switch direction and head toward Denver. The tunnel structure from there is sound. If we enter it from here, it might not hold up, and we’ll wind up dead.”
Arrow bristled at the suggestion. “If we head toward Denver we’ll wind up dead. We won’t make it through that area without being recognized.”
Valor rubbed his hand over his face, then rested it on his chin. “The president is right. The tunnels won’t do us any good if they don’t hold up. At least we
have some friendlies through the Denver path.”
“There has to be another way,” Arrow said.
Kaelyn leaned forward in her seat. She put her hand on Arrow’s arm. It didn’t seem intentional. It seemed an unconscious action that added to the haze in Arrow’s head. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to figure out. I’d like to help.”
Arrow thought about it for a minute. Kaelyn had just as much right to weigh in on the subject as the rest of them. If anyone would see reason, it would be Kaelyn. “There are ten entry points to the old military underground base system. The one we’d like to take is at what used to be the Denver International Airport.”
Kaelyn looked surprised by the information. “Bullshit. That’s just an old conspiracy theory.”
Valor shook his head. “No, it’s very real. When the older MacLeod started his takeover, the Resistance started to use those tunnels to funnel people out, before his army could round them up completely. The Resistance made several others, but the one we’re speaking of is the most structurally sound.”
Kaelyn leaned back in her seat looking as if she was trying to put pieces of a puzzle together that didn’t quite fit. “I still can’t believe that our military couldn’t isolate him to keep him from taking over that way.”
Her mom shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. It started slowly. First, he paid off a major media organization. Its sole purpose was to discredit the others until people who were loyal to him only tuned in to that outlet. Next, he used them to discredit all our intelligence branches. I know it seems ridiculous, but when people want to believe something, they’ll hang on to any little bit of information they receive that justifies what they already think. Next, he started to discredit our FBI. Once they fell, the other agencies went down like dominoes. About a quarter came over to the Resistance, the rest…well, you can see what happened.”
