by Tina Chan
“Spill. Tell me what you learned,” said Jaiden.
Chelsa ripped open three packages of instant fried rice while Kristi boiled some water on the bio-fuel stove. Jaiden vigorously bounced his knees up and down with impatience. Chelsa shot him a sideways look and said, “I’ll tell you what I found out, if that makes you happy.”
The water came to a full boil and Chelsa dumped the rice into the pot.
“So?” Jaiden prompted.
“The government suspects there are actually two headquarters of the Revealers. One is located, as we already know, in South Union. However, their second headquarters are located in the West Region of the United Regions.”
“The West Region,” Kristi mumbled. “It seems like a good place to start looking for other spies. There’s bound to be spies there if that’s where the headquarters are located. Ow!”
Jaiden jerked up. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I just scalded my tongue.” She bashfully held up her bowl of steaming rice.
“Geez, Kristi. You really scared me for a second.”
“I’m sorry.” She exaggerated blowing on her spoonful of rice before swallowing it.
“You can apologize by telling me what you learned at Troll’s Tavern,” said Jaiden.
“Okay, okay. No need to be pushy. I found out that the Revealers are searching for new recruits. They have roughly fifty members stationed in the North Region. A bandit attacked one of their members named Kelvin. Last but not least, we need to find and contact a woman named Tiffany.”
“Who is she?” said Chelsa.
“She’s part of the Revealers and worked closely with Don and Maria—I mean Kyle and Shelly. Apparently she is now finishing whatever work they left behind.”
“Here’s what I think we should do,” Chelsa said. “We should travel to the West Region, searching for Tiffany at the same time. If we haven’t found Tiffany by the time we have reached the West Region, perhaps someone there who is part of the Revealers can help us find her.”
“Works for me,” said Jaiden. “When do you want to leave for the West Region? A week from today?”
Chelsa swallowed a spoonful of rice. “I was thinking of tomorrow.”
By the time everyone had finished packing for tomorrow’s trip, it was well past midnight. The sleeping bags would be rolled up nicely on top of the weatherproof backpacks in the morning. Food, medical supplies and other knick-knacks required for living in the wilderness were distributed among the three bags.
After a few minutes of debate, they settled on traveling by day rather than night; the risk of running into bandits outweighed the risk of Jaiden and Kristi being recognized on the roads. They would just have to do their best to stay beneath the radar. Chelsa was the ideal travel partner, as she was excellent at staying unnoticed.
“I can’t sleep,” Kristi said.
“Try to,” said Chelsa. “You’ll need all the energy you can get once we hit the roads.”
“Chelsa?” Kristi asked her new friend.
Chelsa answered with a yawn and slurred, “What?”
“Never mind.” She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling for what seemed like forever. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.
chapter eleven
[ Troop ]
“ Who’s coming over for a visit?” Troop asked, even though he had clearly heard what his mom said the first time.
“Your father.”
“Why now?” He stretched his mind to the last time he had seen his father. Does he really think he can abandon us for ten years and then come swinging back into our lives?
“Troop, be reasonable.” His mom stabbed at her chicken salad, conveying the opposite message of her words. “He’s only staying for three days.”
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
The fork pierced a piece of chicken and struck the plate so hard its tines bent backwards. Troop fetched a new fork from the kitchen and threw the old one into the incinerator.
“Your father is going through some tough times,” said Troop’s mom. “He just needs a place to stay for a few days until he secures a new living arrangement. His house was destroyed by a mudslide two days ago.”
“He could go die in a mudslide for all I care.”
“Troop.” His mom gave him a reproachful look.
“It’s the truth. What kind of person divorces his spouse behind her back, runs off and doesn’t visit his son for ten years and then expect them to take him in?”
“That is enough, Troop Mendax.” She never used his last name unless she was seriously pissed off.
Troop decided keeping his mouth shut was probably the smartest thing to do. His mother pushed her chair away from the table and said, “I don’t want to hear another negative word regarding your father from you.”
“Fine,” he grumbled under his breath. Then his voice rose so that his mom could hear him. “Fine. When is he coming?”
“Tomorrow.” She checked her to-do list on her electro-slate. “I don’t have enough time to prepare the guest room for your father. Can you do me a favor and do it for me? There should be fresh sheets in the dryer.”
“Alright.”
He threw open the door of the guest room and surveyed the interior. It was a basic room; there was only a twin bed, a wardrobe and a single window overlooking the streets. Troop retrieved the gray, microfiber sheets and fixed up the bedroom in no time. I wonder if we have any itching powder, Troop thought. Wouldn’t it be a tragedy if somehow some itching powder made its way into this comforter?
He shook his head to rid his malicious idea. I better watch my thoughts. I don’t want to become the person I pretend to be in school. The Troop Mandex who attended Ludus High wouldn’t have had a second thought about dumping itching powder onto the bed. But the real Troop Mandex would’ve actually given a damn.
“Why didn’t you answer any of my instafications?” Jennifer placed her hands on her hips and put on a little pout.
“I was going to, but never got around to it. Too much homework. Someone should tell Brunes to lay off the chemistry assignments a bit,” said Troop. In truth, he hadn’t even read the messages Jennifer had sent him.
A student exiting the library blundered into his path; Troop automatically shoved the offender out of his way. Then he inwardly recoiled at his actions the moment he realized what he had done. I’m growing into this Troop at Ludus High character more than I like.
Not even a year ago, the old Troop would’ve hesitated at the thought of pushing someone out of his way; now it had become second nature.
Jennifer babbled on, oblivious to the fact her words were going in one of his ears and out the other. “Anyways, Tompkins tipped me off Maya was the next VicDay person.” By this time, she had lost her pout. “You know you didn’t have to do that for me.”
Troop realized she was waiting for him to respond. “Do what?”
“You know, set Maya up for VicDay because I told you I didn’t like her. You spoil me too much.” Jennifer clung onto his arm like a burr.
He gently shook her off, ignoring the pout reappearing on her face. “The group voted for Maya,” he said. “I didn’t vote for her.”
“Oh.” The pout deepened and grew less cute. Then Jennifer spotted her friends gossiping in front of the vending machine. She twirled away from him and said, “See you later.”
Troop relaxed the moment Jennifer left his side; half the time he spent with her he felt like he was dealing with a three year-old who always got what she wanted. Lengthening his strides, he hurried to his math class. A Perfect was never late.
The bell rang a second after Troop crossed the threshold of the classroom. He slid into a seat beside Mason in the back corner of the room. Mason looked up in greeting and wordlessly passed Troop the answer key to tomorrow’s math quiz.
“Jack?” asked Troop.
Mason nodded.
“Thank him for me if you see him.”
Mason nodded again; his taciturn dem
eanor was a relief to Jennifer’s non-stop chatter. Mason brought out his electro-slate to take down some notes.
Troop didn’t bother to do so; he could always snitch the math notes off someone else.
chapter twelve
[ Kristi ]
She was the last to wake up. As usual. Jaiden was busy making breakfast and Chelsa was sitting on her bed, talking to him. Wait, Jaiden’s making breakfast? That’s my job!
Kristi bolted upright and said, “I didn’t mean to over sleep again. You should’ve woke me up; I promised to make breakfast today.”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Jaiden said. “What else is new? It’s okay—I got breakfast covered for you.”
“Did I ever mention how awesome of a brother you are?”
“No, but you can do so now.”
“Fine. Jaiden, you are an awesome brother. And now I’m going to brush my teeth because it feels like a rat had died in my mouth overnight.” By the time she had changed, brushed her teeth and braided her hair, Jaiden had finished making pancakes for everyone.
“Best pancakes ever,” Chelsa mumbled around a mouthful of pancakes. “Beats the instant oatmeal I normally have for breakfast.”
Kristi finished breakfast before Chelsa and Jaiden. She took a look around the room; nothing about the room hinted that its inhabitants were about to abandon it. The pictures and maps were still pinned up on the wall and all of Chelsa’s accessories were spread throughout.
“Is this one mine?” Kristi pointed to the dark green backpack.
“I think so. The lightest one is yours because, no offense…” Chelsa trailed off.
“I know. I’m just a soft city kid.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to say.”
“It’s true though. I’ve never left my town before.” She shouldered her backpack and her knees almost buckled. This is the lightest one? How much do the others weigh? This must be at least fifty pounds. Kristi resolved to at least be able to carry her own weight. She bit her bottom lip and allowed no sounds of complaint to escape her.
“You done?” Chelsa nodded to Jaiden’s plate. He handed the empty plate to her and she deposited it in a bin beneath the cot after washing it. “Let’s get going.”
The sky was still dark and the roads were almost empty. The slimmest rays of sunlight peeked out from behind the mountaintops, hinting at a spectacular sunrise to come.
The plan was to follow Route 56, which connects the North Region to the West Region. Route 56 was a decently maintained road; most of it was paved, though parts of it were little more than a dirt path. Much of the road wound through the countryside, where only animals dwelled. The vast majority of the travelers using the road traveled by solar or hydro-cars. Others traveled by foot, droid-horses or hydro-bikes.
Thanks to Chelsa’s shortcuts, it didn’t take long before they left the city where Kristi had grown up far behind. Soon, she was surrounded by open space on all four sides; her hometown became only a silhouette in the distance.
She looked up; the sky began to brighten like a flower blooming. The thin stream of traffic thickened on Route 56—the result of people commuting to work.
They Kristi shifted off to the sides of the road in order to avoid getting caught up in the flow of movement and risk being separated from each other. The sun broke through the clouds, painting the sky a gorgeous red-gold color.
No one spoke. The only sounds to be heard were the crunch, crunch, crunch from their boots grinding the gravel beneath their feet. Yet somehow, the silence didn’t feel awkward or forced.
Kristi squinted; there was something long and tall coming up ahead. The object spanned the entire road. She slid Chelsa a quick look to see if she’d noticed it as well.
“It’s a tollbooth,” Chelsa said. “I want both of you to keep your heads down and let me do the talking when we reach it.”
Both ends of the tollbooth were submerged in a large, rushing river. There was no way to avoid passing through it, unless one wanted to risk crossing the rapid-filled water. Kristi estimated the rivers to stretch the width of at least three hundred yards; the length was immeasurable—it gushed far out of sight off into the distance. She looked down at her feet when they got near the booths.
“How many people are traveling with you?” asked the tollbooth-collector.
“Two,” replied Chelsa.
“IDs, please.”
Chelsa handed him her electro-slate and two plastic cards. He matched Chelsa’s electronic ID to her face and grunted, “I need to see Kelly and Zach’s faces.”
Kristi looked at the tollbooth-collector for a millisecond before ducking her head again. Jaiden did so likewise.
“They’re both shy,” Chelsa said.
“I can tell. Nine points.”
Once Chelsa had transferred the points, they were on their way again. Kristi turned to Chelsa and asked, “Since when did you get Jaiden and me fake ID cards?”
“Since you decided you wanted to travel to West Region. How did you expect to pass through checkpoints without an ID?” Chelsa handed them each their cards. “You should probably keep this on you at all times. I forgot I still had them on me; I would’ve given them to you earlier.”
Kristi scrutinized her card. The girl in the picture did look a little bit like her. They shared the same hair and eye color, at any rate. Her full name was Kelly Harrison; she was seventeen years old, born in the North Region and had an ID number of 012935.
“Can I see your card, Jaiden?” Kristi asked.
“Sure.” He palmed her the thin piece of plastic.
Jaiden’s cover name was Zach Ware. He was nineteen years old and lived in the East Region, according to the ID card. Although Zach Ware didn’t resemble Jaiden, the card was better than nothing. She returned his card and tucked hers into her right boot.
Jaiden pointed to a patch of trees and suggested, “Let’s break for lunch. I could use some shade from the sun as well.”
Kristi set down her weighty backpack, barely suppressing a groan of relief. Stretching out her aching shoulders, she wondered how she was going to survive the rest of the journey. They didn’t have enough points to spend on air-train tickets and none of them owned a car. Even just thinking about carrying her backpack again after lunch made her back ache. Better get used to this. She allowed herself ten more seconds of self-pitying then snapped herself out of her misery.
“I’m going to refill my water bottle from the nearby stream,” Jaiden announced.
Chelsa diverted her attention from her lunch. “Don’t take too long.”
He extracted his water bottle from the bottle holder of his backpack and headed towards the stream about twenty-five yards away from the picnic area.
Ghost ambled in front of Kristi. He sat down for a few seconds, and when he got up there was a little pile of poo left behind. Kristi stared.
“Ghost pooped,” she stated the obvious.
Chelsa glanced over. “Yeah. I can tell.”
She repeated, “Ghost pooped.”
“So?” Chelsa asked nonchalantly.
“Ghost just pooped.”
Chelsa sighed. “Kristi, what goes in one end has to go out the other.” She sounded like she was explaining why one plus one equals two to a kindergartener.
“I have never seen a droid-pet poop before. Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of having a droid-pet instead of real animals?”
Chelsa suddenly let out a bark of laughter. She opened her mouth to say something, but then got overcome by a fit of laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Kristi asked.
“You thought Ghost was a droid?” Chelsa wheezed between waves of laughter. She was laughing pretty darn hard. “Ghost isn’t a droid! He’s an actual living, breathing, pooping leopard!”
“Oh.” Kristi didn’t know how else to respond.
“All those days you spent with Ghost and me,” Chelsa said, “and you honestly thought he was a droid-pet.”
“Well, yeah. I
’ve never seen a live animal before.”
“What’s so funny?” Jaiden asked, returning from the stream.
Chelsa and Kristi looked at each other, then both started cracking up at the same time.
“Ghost pooped,” Kristi managed to say to a confused looking Jaiden before breaking off into more laughter.
This caused Jaiden to furrow his eyebrows in bewilderment, which naturally caused the two girls to crack up even harder.
The weather was unusually warm for September and the sun was blazing hot. Sweat poured from the back of Kristi’s neck.
She trekked along the road, in front of Jaiden but behind Chelsa. Although the first three days of travel had left her completely exhausted by the end of each day, Kristi was pleased to find she could now survive twelve hours of hiking without feeling near death come dinner time.
Chelsa paused in her steps. “I see smoke. There’s probably a campfire nearby—chances are it’s a trader’s fire. We could use some more supplies.”
Kristi looked off to Chelsa’s gaze and noticed the thinnest wisp of smoke escaping the treetops. “The fire could also belong to a bandit camp.”
“That’s unlikely. Bandits wouldn’t make their camp so close to the road. Jaiden, how many water purifying tablets do we have left?”
“About two days’ worth.”
“Couldn’t we just stop by the next town we pass by to restock?” Kristi watched the fragile traces of smoke diminish in the bright sunlight.
“I still don’t want to risk going into an urban place,” said Chelsa. “Not until at least a week has passed since we broke Jaiden out of jail.”
“You could always enter the town by yourself. Jaiden and I are capable of waiting for you outside.”
“Hm,” said Chelsa. “All the same, it would be better if we could replenish our provisions with the traders rather than visiting a settlement.”
Kristi shrugged. “Your call.”
They followed the smoke and came upon an abandoned campfire that was partially put out. Someone had carelessly kicked some ash over the glowing embers, leaving a trail of footprints heading away from the fire and deeper into the woods.
