Repatriate Protocol Box Set 3

by Kelli Kimble

  Neither spoke.

  I thrust the tablet towards them. “See? He’s your leader, right? This guy in the tank?”

  Their heads turned to look at the image on the tablet in unison, and recognition flitted across the boy’s face.

  Tikka remained impassive. “Where did you get that?” She said it like an accusation, rather than a question.

  “One of the women I was with had it.” I didn’t want to reveal the whole story, so I tried to explain vaguely. “She was in the city when Silver was there. The searchers took the tablets Silver and the others had, and my friend found it. We were using it to find him. Silver.”

  Tikka sniffed and crossed her arms. “I don’t believe you.”

  I shifted my gaze to the boy.

  “Look, all I know is we don’t know who you are or what you want,” he said.

  “I want to talk to Silver.”

  “Wait here,” Tikka said. She motioned for the boy to retreat with her, and they moved 10 or 15 feet away in the ditch. I sat down on the dirt hill and withdrew my canteen for a drink, while I pretended not to listen to what they said.

  “What harm could it do?” the boy whispered.

  “What harm?” Tikka elbowed him aggressively. “What if she’s a searcher? They’ll be on us like seagulls on a dead fish if we bring her home with us.”

  He ducked his head to look back at me. “But, she’s just a kid, like us.”

  “You’ve heard Silver go on and on about the searchers,” she said. “They’re relentless and crazy. They’ll do anything to catch us.”

  “Look,” I said. “If it’d make you feel better, maybe you could leave me here and bring him to me. Then, I won’t see your home.”

  The boy’s face brightened. “Yeah, we could do that.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Tikka turned and eyeballed me, her arms crossed. “She’d just follow us.”

  I shook my head. “No. I promise I’ll stay right here.” I held my wrists out. “You can tie me up if you want. To a tree or something.”

  “We don’t have any rope,” Tikka said.

  “I do.” I quickly pawed through my pack and held some out. “See?”

  The boy started to move forward to take it.

  “Wait,” Tikka said. “We can’t leave her here. Then, Silver will be asking all kinds of questions about the experiment.” She jerked her head towards the smoldering grass.

  “All right. We’ll move her somewhere else. But we can’t just leave her here.” He turned to me. “We’ll bring Silver to you, if that’s really what you want. Just not here. We’ll move in that direction.” He pointed northeast.

  I shouldered my pack. “Great. Let’s go.”

  The boy led the way up the dirt mound and over. Tikka remained, her arms still crossed, and a sour expression on her face. I followed the boy, and after some muttering under her breath, she followed, as well.

  “So, what do I call you?” I said to the boy.

  “You can call me Red,” he said. He pointed to his head. “See?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “It’s kind of hard to miss.”

  “Would you stop?” Tikka asked.

  “What? There’s nothing wrong with being polite,” Red said.

  Tikka harrumphed and stomped past him, into the lead. He glanced at me, but I just shrugged and followed. He brought up the rear behind me.

  We walked for three or four miles. Eventually, Tikka stopped and indicated a large tree. “Sit there,” she said.

  I took off my pack and sat at the base of the tree. In a huffy silence, she wrapped the rope around my wrists, and then threw the rope over a high branch. She looked at Red and nodded. He shimmied up the tree trunk and tied the rope securely to the branch, then again around the trunk itself, before descending.

  “That ought to hold you,” she said. She picked up my pack and threw it out of my reach, then turned to face me with her hands on her hips.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “We’ll be back in a few hours.” She gestured to Red, and they began to walk away.

  “Wait,” I said. “Could you leave me my canteen, at least? What if you get delayed, and you can’t come back today?”

  Red didn’t ask Tikka’s permission. He grabbed my canteen and handed me a small, leather bag out of his own pocket, his body blocking her view of what he was doing.

  “What’d you give her?” Tikka asked, craning her neck around him.

  “Just a little food. You’re hungry, right?” he asked me.

  “A little,” I said.

  “See?” He walked to her and guided her away. “Let’s go get Silver.”

  I listened to their footsteps fading.

  Then, I mentally began to follow.

  Chapter 14

  They only went a few miles west of where they’d left me. There were people clustered around the fire, eating and laughing. Red and Tikka skulked around the edges of the gathering.

  “What’re you going to say?” Red asked Tikka.

  She hunched her shoulders to her ears and held them there for a moment. “I don’t know. He’s gonna want to know what we were doing out there. He’ll make . . . assumptions.”

  Red’s face turned a muted shade of pink. “But we weren’t doing anything like that.”

  “Does it matter?” She rolled her eyes. “He always assumes I’m up to no good, no matter what I’m doing. I could find magic beans that kept us fed and happy for a millennium, and he’d still give me that look.”

  “It’s not fair.”

  She shook her head. She’d found Silver in the crowd, and her eyes were locked on him.

  “Maybe you should go alone,” Red suggested. “If he thinks I wasn’t with you, it’ll be all right.”

  “That’s even worse. You know how paranoid he is.”

  Silver wasn’t giving her any more time to strategize, though. He’d noticed her and Red, and he was making his way over, gracefully sweeping away the pleasantries of those who were trying to waylay him.

  “Here he comes,” Red whispered. His face was raging scarlet.

  “Where have you been all day?” Silver asked Tikka.

  “Um, we were in the woods. Exploring,” she said.

  “Really. Exploring?” He looked Red up and down. Red looked like a human pill bug.

  “Yeah, and we met someone. A stranger.”

  Silver’s eyes snapped back to Tikka, his body practically humming with tension. “A searcher?”

  “No, a stranger.”

  “I heard that. But, how do you know he’s not a searcher?”

  “It’s a girl,” Red blurted. “A teenage girl.”

  Silver’s stance relaxed somewhat. “But you don’t know her.”

  “No,” Red said. “But she knows you.”

  Silver’s expression melted, leaving his face slack. “You didn’t bring her here, did you?”

  “Of course not,” Tikka said. “We’re not stupid. We left her tied up in the woods.”

  “Where?”

  Then, they were on their way back to me. Silver let the kids lead the way, but he kept after them, pushing their pace faster. When they were close enough to my physical form for me to hear them, I snapped back into my body.

  “There she is.” Tikka broke out of the trees first, pointing at me. Red emerged beside her. Silver pushed between them and approached me warily.

  “Hello,” I said.

  “Who are you?” Silver asked.

  “My name’s Nimisila. I’m from the Great Salt Lake City. I’ve been sent to find you. Well, not you, specifically. I’m looking for Tabby. But I used your tablet to find you.”

  “Tabby?”

  “Yes. She’s your, um, mate, isn’t she?”

  Silver nodded, studying me. “Where did you get my tablet?”

  “My friend gave it to me. It was her idea to come find you. We left the city together.”

  Silver glanced around. “Where is this friend?”

  “Cats got her.” I bowed my
head, unwilling to let them see the tears welling in my eyes. “About a week ago.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Silver said. He squatted in front of me so that he was at eye level with me. “How did you find us?”

  “The tablet,” I said. I gestured towards my pack. “It’s in there.”

  Silver motioned for Tikka to bring him the pack. He rifled through it and quickly produced the tablet. He ran his fingers over it, and then turned it on. The last document I’d been looking at was the one with his notes in the margin; his handwriting seemed to give me the best connection to his mind. He ran his fingers over the words, just like I always did. Only, I knew he wouldn’t get the same result. “You found my notes,” he said.

  “Yes.”

  “What helped you find me?” He turned it off and tossed it to the ground. I thought he was going to crunch his boot heel into it, but he just looked at it with disdain.

  “It’s hard to explain,” I said. “I’d really like to see Tabby, though. It would mean a lot to me.”

  “Are you related to her?”

  “No.”

  “You’re not old enough to have known her.”

  “No.”

  “Then, why would meeting her mean a lot to you?”

  “It would’ve meant a lot to my friend. The one I left the city with. She knew Tabby.” I sniffled and swiped at my nose. “I miss her. I tried to save her, but I was too late.”

  Silver’s brow crumpled, and he frowned. “That must’ve been hard for you.”

  I nodded.

  His focus fell on the rope. “Go ahead and untie her.”

  Red withdrew a pocket knife and sawed the rope just above my wrist. When it released, I stretched my arms and alternated between clenching and unclenching my fists. Pins and needles were running from my elbows to the tips of my fingers.

  Silver lunged at me and grabbed me by the shirt. He twisted it to get leverage and lifted me off the ground. “Swear to me you aren’t a searcher.” He gave me a little shake.

  I grabbed onto his wrists and fought to stay calm. I couldn’t let them know about my ability. I shook my head. “I’m not a searcher. I swear.” I grunted against the effort of trying to breathe while he constricted my shirt.

  “How do I know a searcher isn’t following you?”

  “How could I have gotten all this way without getting caught?”

  “Because you’re working with the searchers,” he said. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “How do I know there isn’t a searcher just behind those trees, waiting for you to reel us in?”

  “There’s nobody there,” I said. “I’m all alone.”

  “How do I know you didn’t hurt the people you were with? Huh?”

  “You don’t, sir,” I said. “If you think I’m a threat, then just tie me back up and bring Tabby to me, like they brought you. I won’t know where you go; I won’t be able to follow. When I’ve spoken to her, if nobody believes me, then I’ll go.”

  He turned away from me and thrust his hands into his pockets. He took several deep breaths, then yelled out, “Goddammit!” as he pulled back his leg and kicked my pack, hard. It flew up into the air and struck a tree trunk before thumping to the ground. “You don’t get it,” he said. “If I bring Tabby here, and she isn’t convinced, then we’ll have to . . . eliminate you. We can’t let you leave. We won’t let you stay.”

  “She’ll just have to be convinced, then,” I said. A tiny pebble of anger was lodged in my throat, but I forced myself to talk around it. I couldn’t give up, not now, and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Gayle’s people.

  Not unless I had to.

  “Fine,” Silver said. “You.” He pointed at Red. “Tie her back up. “Stay here with her. Don’t get anywhere near her; keep your distance once she’s tied up.” He turned to Tikka. “And you. Come with me, young lady.”

  She nodded and fell in behind him as he stomped back towards their site.

  Red retied the rope — a little higher this time, since he’d cut length off it when he’d released me. “Sorry about this,” he said once they were out of earshot.

  “He’s just protecting his own,” I said. “Can’t blame him too much for that.”

  “Yeah, well. You’re just a kid. He thinks a kid is going to end it all, after so much time has passed?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “You really aren’t a searcher, right? You weren’t sent here for revenge or something?”

  “I wasn’t sent. I came because my friend thought it was best.”

  “The friend who died?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Best, how? Why would you leave a city to come to a dump like this?” He sat next to my pack and began to pull each item out to inspect it.

  “I wasn’t happy in the city. I lost my parents and friends, and . . . I’m not like the others.”

  “You thought you could find people like you here?”

  “The friend I left with did.”

  “You just said you didn’t have any friends.”

  “Friends my own age. She was more of a mom than a friend.” I smiled at the thought of her for a moment. Then, the sadness of her loss washed back in and faded the moment.

  He was silent for a while as he inspected my things. Then, he repacked the bag and picked up the discarded tablet. “This belonged to Silver?”

  “Yeah. Before he came to the city. I guess it came from the mountain.”

  “The mountain is real?”

  I nodded. “I saw it. Went inside.”

  “I thought that was just a story they made up to scare us kids.” He studied the tablet. “It doesn’t look like anything at all. How do you do anything with it?”

  “If you don’t know, then I probably shouldn’t show you,” I said.

  I heard a sound in the woods. They were returning.

  “I don’t understand what could be so important that you’d drag me away in the middle of cleaning up dinner,” a woman was saying from beyond the trees. Silver stepped into my field of vision, and he motioned to me. The woman saw me and started. “Oh,” she said. “Who’s this?”

  “I don’t know,” Silver said. “The kids found her in the woods. She asked for me, and I came out here. When she didn’t like what I had to say, she asked for you.”

  Tabby put her hands on her hips. “What’s wrong with you? Untie her; she’s just a girl.”

  Red stepped forward and cut the rope again. I rubbed at my wrists and eyed the ground.

  “Go on home, Red. We’ll be after you shortly,” Tabby said.

  Red ran off into the woods.

  Tabby turned to me. “Well, what’s the story?”

  “Gayle brought me here. From the city.”

  Tabby blinked, then her lower lip quivered for just a moment. “I beg your pardon?”

  “Your sister. Gayle? She and I left the city together to come here. She wanted to see you again; she missed you . . .” I trailed off. It’d been easy to admit to the others that Gayle was dead. They didn’t have any investment in it, one way or another. But, Tabby did.

  Tabby looked around. “Then, where is she?”

  “She passed. About a week ago,” I said. I swiped at the tear that escaped my eye. “The cats got her, and the other two I was with.”

  Tabby paled.

  “Who’s she talking about, Tab?” Silver prompted.

  “She’s talking about Abigayle. My sister.”

  Silver looked back at me. “You’d better start explaining.”

  I recited how I’d been introduced to Gayle, how I was different from the other kids, and how she’d kept me company. I didn’t tell them how I was different — at least, not the real reason. I admitted I didn’t have a chip but didn’t take it further than that. I told them how Gayle wanted to find her sister, and how she thought it would be a healing journey for both of us, and maybe we’d find acceptance with the group of people Tabby found a home with.

  Tabby responded with thoughtful nods. She made
a fist and held it against her cheek, almost as if she were trying to keep her words in check.

  Silver just looked angry. “How are we supposed to verify this story?” he said after I’d finished talking.

  “I guess you can’t,” I said. I glanced at Tabby.

  She looked skeptical. “Tell me something about Abigayle. Something to prove you knew her.”

  “You’re twins,” I said. “When you were small, you developed a brain tumor, and it broke your chip. You couldn’t talk telepathically anymore. She learned to talk when you did, and she learned it so well that she hardly ever used her chip herself. That’s why we got along so well. My parents were too poor for me to get a chip when I was born.”

  She nodded. “That’s just surface stuff. Anyone from my neighborhood could’ve told you that.”

  I continued, “I know you got into some trouble. Your punishment was having to keep watch on Silver and his friends, and you fell in love with him.”

  “Please, the whole city knew that,” Silver said.

  “Your dad was a searcher, and after you left, he quit. He didn’t want to have to search for his own daughter. That’s how she knew if the searchers found us, they’d kill us. Searchers did come looking. But, we hid, and they were attacked by the cats. The ones who survived left.”

  “These cats you keep talking about,” Silver countered. “Seems convenient the searchers and Abigayle would die the same way.”

  “The cats were hunting us. We’re easy prey. No claws? No teeth?” I faked a clawing motion. “We didn’t have weapons — though the searchers did. For all the good it did them.”

  “So, that’s it? That’s what you’ve got?” Silver asked.

  I shrugged. “I spent months with her. I think I knew her well. But you haven’t seen her in 20 years. People change.”

  Tabby’s brow furrowed. She stepped away from me and motioned for Silver to follow. “She’s fine,” Tabby said in a hushed voice. “If she really was with Abbey, then I’d like to hear about her.”