The Perfect Outcast

by Melissa O. Hansen

  Careful not to wake Jade, Alina stretched her neck to peer out the window. The sun dropped low on the horizon, an orb of gold glistening on a wide, lazy river, snaking through the grass. A gentle breeze combed through the tall stalks, rustling over mounds and hills to a dense forest in the distance. The sky glowed in a way she’d never seen in Pria; the orange and pink hues spreading like veins across the sky.

  Baylor parked the car on a bank overlooking the river and nudged Jade awake. “Go outside and use the restroom right now, both of you, before the sun goes down,” he commanded. “Return quickly to the car.”

  They obeyed, but after relieving himself, Rex lingered and stretched his limbs. The sun soothed them, and Alina feared when it would set. The darkness would be cold and hostile.

  Baylor kept muttering about their peculiarly benign trip. He yelled for Rex to get back in the car, and once inside, ordered them to recline and keep their heads below the windows. As they ate dinner in this position, the sky went dark.

  “These travel bars aren’t bad,” Rex tried to sound cheerful. “So fruity and crispy. Do you like them, Jade?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  After a short pause, Rex asked, “Are these, um, all we’ll be eating on the road?”

  “Pretty much, so I’m glad you like them,” said Baylor. Rex gave a small sigh.

  Alina spoke up. “Can’t we keep traveling through the night? You can teach me how to drive the car. I think I’ll go crazy sitting around waiting for something to happen.”

  Baylor set his jaw. “You’re right. Something will happen. The creatures are waiting for the night.”

  Alina cleared her throat. “That’s not what I meant. And you’re not very encouraging.”

  “You need to be aware of what’s out there.”

  “So why can’t I drive?”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  “And it’s not dangerous sitting here, waiting for something to find us?”

  “Traveling through the forest is worse. More creatures come out in the dark.”

  Alina rubbed her hand over her face. “So, what should I do if I hear something coming when all of you are asleep?”

  “Stay out of sight. The nocturnal creatures rely on their night vision to find victims. They use their sense of smell, too, but unless they see you, they won’t attack.”

  “But they’ll see the car and smell us in it.”

  “Yes, and this confuses them. We use this tactic every time we travel, and it works. If we stop and lie low while we sleep, creatures may come and sniff the car, some may even attempt attacking it, but once they see it’s not alive, they move on—unless they spy movement. Even a brief pop of the head will set them off, and they won’t stop until they’ve broken in and killed us all.”

  Rex coughed on his crispy fruit bar.

  “I don’t mean to scare all of you. Try not to worry. Like I said, this system works. We’ve had only one death at night in two years, when a man got out to urinate.”

  “So, we can’t get out to use the bathroom?” Rex asked.

  “Of course not!” Baylor exclaimed. “I told you to go earlier. No leaving the car at night, period. And no popping your head up to look out the window, no matter how curious you get.”

  “No worries there,” Rex said, shuddering.

  “But what if someone really has to go?” Alina asked.

  Baylor held up an empty water bottle. “Rex, I have one for you.”

  Alina rolled her eyes. “What about Jade?”

  “Sorry, Jade, it’s tough being a woman sometimes. But trust me, it’s better to wet your pants than to leave this car at night.”

  Jade laughed. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I apologize to you too, Alina.”

  “What for?”

  “You can’t do anything. No lights, no reading. You must stay as still as possible. This will be one of the most boring nights of your life.”

  “You know, I hope you’re right.”

  “Keep your gun close,” he said. “We’ll be sleeping with ours.”

  “Can the darts run out?”

  “Yes, but there’s plenty. You can shoot for hours.”

  “What about the human prisoners from Pria—you know, the ones Sampson experiments with. Can they find us?”

  Baylor paused before answering. “Yes,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to mention them because I want everyone to sleep soundly tonight.”

  “But we need to know how to defend ourselves!”

  “It’s the same—the dart guns. But humans are more intelligent and less instinctual than the animals, so keep that in mind.” Baylor settled back into his seat. “Call for me if you hear anything. But remember, don’t move.”

  Rex wasn’t sleepy; he made light conversation with all of them, but before long only Alina responded. She engaged with him, dreading the moment he fell asleep and left her to face the long night on her own.

  He shared some memories of Camden and J’koby, and then unexpectedly brought up Zaiden.

  “Did you know he tried to join the resistance not long before the Harvest Feast?”

  Alina forgot to stay still and cocked her head in surprise. “Really?”

  “Yeah. He approached someone in the resistance, and they referred him to Satina, the woman who accepts new members. It’s unusual for someone so young to know about the resistance, but apparently, he had connections. But many of us were concerned Sampson had his eye on him because of the incident with Chet and Lorenzo. They were his friends, and we can’t afford to take such risks.”

  “I remember them. Were they rebels too?”

  “No, they were too young. They had the rebel spirit, but were angry, zealous, and pretty stupid. They may have planted some of those seeds in Zaiden. Sampson took Chet’s caretaker away, and he ran away with Lorenzo before Sampson could bring him in for indoctrination.”

  “Where did they go?”

  “The Blue Forest. They tried to find the portal. I don’t know how they heard about it, but I think Lorenzo knew some people in the resistance who might’ve told him. He tried to talk Zaiden into going with them, but he refused. He was the smart one.”

  “They were looking for Carthem?”

  “Yes, but the portal in the Blue Forest is complicated.”

  Alina chewed on her lip. She mustered up the courage to ask Rex one more question.

  “Did Zaiden know I was mortal?”

  “Of course not,” Rex answered. “Your mission is top-secret information. But he must have known you were valuable somehow because he followed you all the way to Gordian after those men took you away.”

  “I see,” Alina said quietly.

  Rex heard the disappointment in her voice. “Oh! I don’t think that’s why he followed you, though. Seems like he was interested in you, too…” He trailed off, leaving an awkward silence.

  She didn’t feel like talking anymore. Rex sensed this, so he yawned and said good night. He tossed and turned for several minutes before settling down. Alina knew he felt bad, but she wasn’t angry. It was best to hear the truth from a friend.

  She blinked her tears back. It doesn’t matter how he looked at me in Sampson’s dungeon. I will no longer imagine he has feelings for me. But she’d take him in an instant if he found her and was whole and wanted her.

  She forced her mind to other things: to Trinee, Janet and Baylor and their happy marriage, to Rex and Jade, Jade and J’koby, J’koby and her mother. She didn’t even know her mother’s name. How nice it would be to hear the full story from her father’s lips. Her heart lifted, but the warm feeling lasted only a few minutes.

  A cold fear crept over her, and she wrinkled her brow, confused. Her instincts told her to flee, and as she opened her mouth to call Baylor’s name, a sound outside made her go rigid. She had felt this once before.

  She heard the noise again, footsteps crunching on grass and sticks, making no attempt to silence its approach. The steps stopped outside the vehicle. Alina lay still
and prayed the others wouldn’t shift in their sleep.

  She knew this creature but was unprepared when its beady red eyes blinked through the window, examining every corner of the car. Terrified, she couldn’t move even if she wished to. The nightstalk looked directly at her, then disappeared.

  She waited for her body to relax, indicating it had left, but when she tried to release her clenched fist, she didn’t budge.

  A slashing noise echoed outside, and with a whistle the car settled unevenly on the ground. She heard a rustling around the car, another slashing noise and whistle of escaped air. Alina panicked. The tires! They couldn’t get away!

  The nightstalk reached the last tire and the car sank to the ground. Alina needed to wake Baylor, but this creature had frozen every muscle in her body.

  She listened, but heard nothing, no sound of footsteps or sticks snapping. The silence frightened her more than anything else so far. She tried to speak, but her teeth fused together. She focused on separating them.

  A weak chatter, barely audible, escaped her teeth. “B-B-Baylor.”

  No answer.

  “Bay-Baylor!” she tried again, louder.

  Nothing. Maybe he was also frozen with fear.

  A sudden crash of glass shattered the silence. Screams filled the car, and Alina’s eyes widened in horror as long, thin fingers slid through the broken glass toward Jade. They grasped her ankle and pulled her up through the window shards, her frozen body unable to resist, her terrified eyes pleading for help.

  This roused Alina, and she gritted her teeth as she tried to move. The words of the guidebook came to her. Nightstalks prey on fear. If one can overcome the fear, one can overcome them. Why was she afraid? This creature couldn’t hurt her.

  Her hand found the dart gun and trembled as she lifted it. What if she hit Jade instead? The nightstalk raked Jade across the broken glass and she screamed, her legs and arms flailing. The pain had roused her.

  That was it! Pain could be stronger than fear!

  Alina focused all her energy on the thought of losing Jade, then stood up, aimed her gun at the red, beady eyes, and fired. The nightstalk dropped to the ground, bringing Jade with it. At the same moment, Rex and Baylor relaxed.

  “Jade!” Alina shrieked. “Are you okay?” She flung open the door and ran to her. She was moaning on the ground, blood dripping through her torn clothes.

  “You’re shaking so hard,” Alina said.

  “From fright, that’s all,” Jade said weakly.

  Alina looked at Baylor, who switched on a light and rummaged through the first aid kit. “Bring her inside and shut the door,” he ordered.

  Rex helped Alina, and once inside, they grabbed the bandages and ointment from Baylor and got to work. Baylor was trembling uncontrollably.

  He collapsed on the seat and released a breath that sounded like a cry. “A nightstalk,” he murmured. “I’ve never encountered one before. I’m sorry, I was so unprepared. I always thought I could defeat one, but I was completely helpless.”

  “Don’t worry, we all felt that way,” said Rex. For once, he seemed more adept than Baylor. The sight of Jade dissolved his fear, and he began cleaning her wounds. Alina held Jade’s hands as she groaned with pain.

  “I felt it, too,” Alina said. “It took a lot of concentration just to remember it couldn’t hurt me.”

  “I couldn’t have taken on that nightstalk,” said Rex. “I love you, Jade, but it controlled me, and you would’ve died had you been in my care.” He worked gently with her, but his jaw twitched with rage.

  “Don’t be hard on yourself. I don’t know how anyone overcomes them,” Baylor said as he worked on covering the window with heavy tape and plastic. Despite the weak shield, he assured them they would be safe if they stayed out of sight.

  Jade’s cuts were deep but not serious, and after Rex picked out the glass pieces and cleaned and bandaged the wounds, they settled uneasily back into their seats. Baylor administered medicine to Jade for the pain, and before long the car went quiet. Alina was again left to herself.

  In the excitement she’d forgotten to tell Baylor the tires had been slashed. Would they have to walk? How far was Millflower? The idea of traveling in the open was terrifying.

  The protective role she’d assumed pressed down on her. If harm happened to any of them, she would blame herself. She couldn’t die, so she must protect those who could.

  But so much was out of her control. She couldn’t die, and that was her only strength. Nothing more.

  The remainder of the night passed without incident, though Alina kept hearing noises outside that startled her. A low growl, a pitter-patter around the car, and a strange hiss kept her on alert, and she didn’t relax until the sun rose. The others slept on, exhausted from the events of the night. Alina, restless from holding still for hours, slipped outside to examine the car.

  The tires were in sad shape, the metal rims sitting in shreds of rubber. Baylor mentioned when they left Stormport they had two spares, but they needed four. It was a day’s travel to both Stormport and Millflower. They’d have to contact someone on the radio who could bring them new tires, or another car. Alina sighed. This would put them a day behind schedule, at least.

  She walked around the car and gasped. The ground was bare. Blood stains covered the dirt where Jade and the nightstalk fell in the night, but no corpse.

  She woke Baylor, and as she explained the slashed tires and missing nightstalk, he bolted upright, his eyes wide with terror.

  “The nightstalk is gone?”

  “Yes. And the tires—”

  Baylor flung open the door and jumped outside. He didn’t even look at the tires as he examined the ground.

  “What is it?” Alina asked.

  “We’re being tracked. Do you remember how nightstalks can signal each other? It usually takes a few days for one to find the corpse and summon the others. But this indicates one has come and retrieved it. There’s more of them, and they’re closer than we think.”

  “But in the night I didn’t sense another nightstalk. I didn’t feel scared or—”

  “They emit fear when they want to attack.” Baylor rubbed his face in his hands. “They use caution when one of them is killed, then band together to confront the enemy—us. It’s risky to walk but more dangerous to stay.”

  “How far away is Millflower?” Alina asked.

  “About a hundred and twenty miles. We’ll have to take our packs and start walking until they can meet us with a car.”

  Alina nodded. “I’ll wake the others.”

  “I need to contact Lance.” Baylor rummaged through his bag for the radio.

  Jade looked pale and exhausted. Alina woke Rex first, and after hearing the urgency of their situation, he turned his worried eyes on Jade.

  “I don’t think she’ll be able to walk easily, and carrying her might hurt her wounds.”

  “I know. I wish we could stay here until another vehicle arrives, but Baylor says it’s too dangerous.”

  Rex leaned over and rubbed Jade’s shoulder. “Wake up, Jade. We have to leave right away, and we have to walk.”

  Jade looked alarmed, but as Alina explained everything to her, she nodded and sat up, wincing. Jade did whatever was needed without complaint. Alina didn’t like pushing her, but if it could save their lives, she would do it for a day.

  Jade got out of the car and told Rex she felt fine, but Alina caught a grimace as she lifted her pack onto her back.

  “Um, no!” Rex shouted. He grabbed the bag from her and heaved it above his own pack on his back. He shifted for a few moments before relaxing under the weight. Jade started to protest, but Rex’s stern eyes silenced her.

  With ear shields in place and guns poised, they abandoned the car and started down the road on foot. Baylor urged them to eat as they walked. He and Alina took the lead.

  “Did you talk to Lance?” she asked.

  He nodded. “He wants to send someone from Stormport to help us, but they�
�re nearly as far as Millflower. It makes more sense to call Millflower since they’re on our way.”

  “How many miles did we travel yesterday?”

  “Almost a hundred.”

  “In all those hours of traveling? That’s all?”

  “Yes. Infuriating, isn’t it?” Baylor balled his fists. “I can barely hit ten miles per hour on this awful road. Every time we try to refine it, Sampson unleashes something new on us. It’s like he knows somehow. Then the death toll for workers gets so high we can’t spare anyone to do the work, and no one is willing to risk it, anyway.”

  “But, look, we’ve traveled this far without any deaths.”

  “You know that’s because you’ve killed what we could not. Plus, we’ve been in a car, which is much safer. Construction workers are always out in the open. Lance is building another factory for cars and machines. He’s hoping to construct an aircar if he can get the materials, which would solve everything—at least until Sampson finds a way to endanger the skies as well.”

  The topic clearly frustrated him, so Alina changed the subject. “Have you spoken to Janet or Trinee since yesterday?”

  “Yes. They have a radio, too. I spoke to them this morning, but I didn’t mention our situation. It never helps for them to worry.”

  Alina hoped to improve his mood. “How did you meet Janet?” she asked.

  He relaxed and smiled a little. “We grew up together, but she couldn’t stand me for a long time.” He chuckled. “Not that I blame her. I was pretty annoying. But after the awkward years passed and I became easier to look at, she decided to give me a chance. That’s what I tell Trinee when my usual speech of ‘looks don’t matter’ isn’t working. I tell her to be patient, and others will notice her true beauty.”

  “I would’ve liked to hear that in Pria, but I don’t know if I would’ve believed you.”