Vagrants (Vagrants Series Book 1)

by Jake Lingwall

  “Some people are able to form better connections with other realities. I think you know that already. You can do a little bit, unintentionally, while everyone else can do more. Same thing applies; some people are just better at making that connection. I’m better than the other vagrants, and Carlee is better than me. That answer your question?”

  “One of them.” The idea of talking openly about how someone might be more talented or gifted than another was strange to him. Inside the coalition, everyone was always supposed to be equal, all the time. It felt like he was breaking the rules by having the conversation, but he basked in it.

  “In Fifth Springs, we could never talk about people being better at anything than anyone else.”

  “You know why they do that, right?”

  “So that they can trick people into working harder, and they can keep the power?” It was his best guess, especially after pondering how the mayor had lied and manipulated everyone in order to keep the firepower of the community under his direct control.

  “Maybe. But think about it. When people learn to press, they become too dangerous to stay in one place, and exceptional people tend to figure out how to press. The coalition, in all its wisdom, is trying to prevent everyone from learning how to press and stop them from bringing an Apostle to visit.”

  The revelation would have knocked him to the ground if he hadn’t already been lying down. His mind raced over countless memories where the community had forced him to learn to never stand out, a lesson that he had never truly embraced. He had always wanted to be better than other people, and he had always felt guilty about it.

  “That makes so much sense! I had never thought about why.” The new information was startling, but his existing questions floated to the top of his mind anyway. “What about Jane not pressing?”

  “It’s getting late,” Stefani said.

  “It wasn’t late when you were telling me to find meaning in my life.”

  “The fire was brighter, and your pretty face made the conversation more interesting.”

  “I could toss a log on the fire. I’d press in a lantern, but I wouldn’t want to cause any alarm.”

  “Of course.” She actually sounded tired now, and he didn’t blame her for that. She had carried him out of the fray with great effort. They’d been pursued by several leeches at the start of their journey, and the rest of the flight had hardly been easier.

  “When you press realities together, there are certain side effects. One of those is that your mind gets a little confused about the reality it’s in. It makes it impossible—well, at least very difficult—to sense other time lines. That’s the main reason why Jane never pressed. She didn’t want to cloud her vision of the other paths.”

  “That’s why she always sounded so distant.”

  “It’s a good excuse, at least.”

  “You weren’t the fan that Carlee was?”

  “Sometimes you’re like a five-year-old with all the questions. How about we get some rest?”

  “I’m not ready to sleep yet,” Jeff said. “But I’ll let you rest if you let me practice my pressing skills.”

  “Have at it.”

  Jeff closed his eyes and tried to convince himself, with confidence, that another log was burning on the fire next to him. Occasionally, he opened his eyes to check the fire, but he never found anything more than the coals twinkling as they cooled.

  24 CHOSEN ONE

  Something hit his head.

  “Oh, good, you’re awake,” Stefani said. Her voice was back to its usual dry, sarcastic tone; the tenderness from last night was all but gone.

  “I am now . . .” He stretched and rubbed his short hair. It was a bit greasy but not to the point that he was dying to jump into the river.

  “Any luck pressing last night?” Stefani asked.

  “Yeah, lots. Fought off old Horus too when it stopped by for a midnight snack.”

  “Darn, I guess you aren’t the chosen one after all.”

  “Chosen one?”

  “Oh, yes, the chosen one. The most famous and important of all the vagrant prophecies. We hoped it would be you, but I guess we’ll just keep looking.”

  “Is that a real thing?” It was impossible to tell whether Stefani was telling the truth or not. And he didn’t know if vagrants could make prophecies. Compared with other things he’d seen them do, it didn’t sound farfetched.

  “Absolutely, it is very real.”

  Jeff shook his head as he finished connecting his armor. None of the advanced hood features worked anymore, but aside from that, it wasn’t in horrible shape. The worst part of it was the number of bug splatters from their low-elevation flight. He decided he didn’t believe Stefani. When things were real, she usually mocked him for questions.

  “Didn’t know you were such a morning person,” Jeff said. He wandered over to the small food reserves they had.

  “Oh, there’s so much you don’t know about me,” Stefani said ironically. “But the scanner kept going off last night.”

  “We’re good, though?”

  “It’s been clear for a few hours, and it never got too close.”

  “It?”

  “Yeah . . . this scanner isn’t exactly what we used to have with the caravan, but it’s pretty good about picking up nearby Apostles.”

  “There was an Apostle passing by here?” It was hard to overcome his natural reaction that he had spent his life feeling in regard to the Apostles.

  “Not too close.”

  “Which one? Was it Horus?”

  “I don’t know. It passed by twenty miles or so from here, stopped for a few hours, and then kept going.”

  “Twenty miles . . . was it at a community? Townend or Nula?” He wasn’t sure how far away from Fifth Springs they were, but he was certain they were close. The idea of Horus stopping by to destroy another community on its way home should have upset him more than it did.

  “I don’t know, Handsome. But I think we should go check it out.”

  “You want to follow after it? Aren’t we trying to run away from the Apostles?”

  “What we’re trying to do is keep a handle on things until we meet up with Carl.”

  “We saw that it passed by—isn’t that enough of a handle?”

  “You shouldn’t be complaining about sweeping through wreckage.”

  “I just—”

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure we won’t find half a person who’s better looking than you.”

  Jeff held his objections in. Stefani had saved his life on multiple occasions already, and his recent track record of decisions wasn’t his proudest accomplishment. But he was eager to find Carlee, and a dangerous detour wouldn’t help them reunite with her faster.

  “Whatever you think is best,” Jeff said.

  “You can always do your own thing if you’d like.”

  “No . . . it’s fine. I want to stay with you, and that means you’re in charge. I get it.”

  “We have a week until we have to meet her. This won’t be anything but a tiny detour.”

  Jeff grabbed a granola bar and bit into it. He didn’t want to comment on Stefani’s ability to know what he wanted even if he didn’t say it.

  “Can I have a flight suit this time? It’ll be easier for both of us.”

  “I thought you were a pressing master after last night.”

  “I just don’t want you to get rusty.”

  “We’re not flying,” Stefani said. She picked up her sniper rifle and slid it onto her back, where some magnets under her cloak caught the weapon and held it in place. “We’re walking.”

  “Twenty miles? I thought you hated that.”

  Stefani started walking away from their small camp.

  “Guess I’ll be carrying this . . .” Jeff said to himself as he picked up their supplies and started after her.

  Traveling twenty miles by foot was a new experience for him. Jeff had never been part of the trade missions that ventured to the neighboring communities i
n the coalition. And only the braves had accompanied the old semis and the mayor’s antigravity vehicle on the extended envoys to the far-off communities in the coalition, like the ones in the ruins of Cincinnati and the peach orchards of what use to be Georgia.

  The days the envoys would return were the only holidays that Jeff had ever appreciated. Different fruits, flavors, and treats from far away were enjoyed in feasts. Everett had gotten so excited one year he had wet himself, making Charlotte carry him back to their home while Chad had stayed with Jeff and Dane. It was a happy memory in a world that had offered so few of them.

  Stefani eased the gun off her back as they neared the mossy remains of a long river ferry. Only the letter R of the once-proud vessel remained visible, as time had reclaimed everything else distinctive about the boat. She flipped her hood up for a moment before relaxing.

  “It’s empty,” she said.

  “Lucky for whoever might have been in there.”

  Humans tended to take up residence in places like this; they provided shelter as well as a reminder that their species had once been a proud one. As they passed by three corpses, Jeff looked away; he’d seen enough moldering remains for one lifetime. From the looks of things, whoever had last lived in the ferry had died a few months ago.

  The sight of dead people had been more common when he was younger, but the bulk of the human race had long since turned into brittle bones. Their cars, roads, houses, and waste had a much longer shelf life than the humans who had created them, which Dane had insisted was ironic.

  Stefani was oddly nontalkative as they continued their journey to where the sensor had indicated that an Apostle had stopped. He assumed the device tracked temurim, but Stefani didn’t know how it worked. He wasn’t sure if she was focused on their trek or if he had done something to upset her. He ran their conversation over in his mind before giving up. She was acting more like Carlee, quiet and reserved, than like Stefani, who had always been boastful and fun.

  “How long did it take you to learn how to press?” Jeff asked, breaking the silence.

  “An afternoon,” Stefani said without bothering to look back at him.

  “Really? Wouldn’t that make you the chosen one?”

  She didn’t respond, so Jeff let it sit for a few minutes before trying again.

  “How long does it usually take? I’ve been trying for a while now, and I don’t feel like I’m getting any better at it.”

  “There is no average, at least not that I know of. Lots of people learn how to do it on their own without any help. Our last project took a couple of weeks. The twins took two days. Carlee didn’t press anything for about six months.”

  “Wow! Six months . . .”

  “Do you have some sort of deadline you’re trying to meet?” Stefani asked. “Or somewhere you need to be?”

  “No. I was just saying that I didn’t think it would take that long. But I guess that makes me feel a little bit better about not being a super-vagrant yet.”

  “What’s a super-vagrant?”

  “I think you’re super,” Jeff said. Stefani snorted and kept walking. He shrugged and gave up on holding a conversation with her.

  Before long, streams of smoke peeked out over the trees in front of them. Stefani held her gun in her hands again as they got closer to where the sensor had claimed an Apostle had been the night before. The smoke didn’t look like the kind that had filled the air around Fifth Springs after Horus had attacked; in fact, it looked entirely different. Stefani slid her sniper smoothly to her back, where it locked into place, just as they walked into a clearing.

  A barricade of rusting vehicles lay in front of them, and the sounds of a thriving community filled the air. Jeff searched the makeshift wall for signs of guards, but he didn’t find any.

  “Where are the watchmen?” Jeff asked.

  “That’s a good question . . .” Stefani sounded as perplexed as he was.

  They stood in place for a couple of minutes unsure of what to do. Fifth Springs was constantly guarded on all sides to prevent raids and leeches from getting into the community. As far as Jeff was aware, that was standard practice everywhere. He would have suggested that an Apostle killed them all by vaporizing the air or something, but he could hear humans not far away.

  “Well, I guess we should check it out.”

  “Hold up,” Stefani said. “I should have done this earlier.”

  He looked over just in time to see the air twist around a handful of dirt in her hand. A moment later, a glove popped into existence. She held it out for him.

  “What’s this for?”

  “We don’t want your metal hand attracting attention.”

  “Good thinking.” Jeff took the glove and slid it over his exposed metal hand. His new limbs now felt as natural as his old ones ever had, and he had already forgotten that the average coalition member would be shocked to see them—their uniforms would cause enough of a stir.

  “Keep your mouth shut in there, and stay close,” Stefani said as she started forward. Her voice was paranoid, implying danger. It was the tone she used when she was nervous. He’d heard it a number of times, including when they had first met.

  “Right.” He followed after her as they tediously climbed over the stacked cars, which had barbs and spears attached to slow any entrants. Jeff used his metal hand to clear several unavoidable deterrents from their path and made it to the top of the barricade before Stefani, who had been forced to follow his cleared path, which didn’t please her.

  People scurried around the waterfront and the community. Dozens of children were chasing one another in circles, while adults moved from circle to circle, chatting excitedly. The crops just below the wall were as unattended as their defenses. He didn’t even bother to duck or try to hide; something had completely distracted everyone from their duties.

  “What a bunch of fools,” Stefani said. “I could pick them off one by one, and they wouldn’t even notice.”

  “You could kill them all if they noticed anyway.”

  “Doesn’t excuse their carelessness.”

  Stefani jumped off the wall and landed on some wheat below. He took one last look at their community before jumping, noting that thousand or so people lived there, at best. Jeff jumped after her and regretted it. The fifteen-foot drop sent twangs of pain up his back. He groaned, and Stefani looked over to him with a smile. It was the first time she had looked even a little pleased since their conversation had ended this morning.

  “Careful, Handsome.” She took the gun off her back and set it at the bottom of the wall under a bent metal fender. “I don’t think I’ll be needing that.”

  “I’m pretty sure this is Nula. They were one of our sister cities in the coalition. They don’t like outsiders, but I don’t think they’ll harm us.”

  “Good to know we’ll be safe. Anyone here going to recognize you?”

  “No . . . I don’t think so. I’ve never been here before. Fought a couple of guys from here, though. But I doubt they are able to remember much of our fights.”

  “Well, if anyone asks, you’re just a wanderer searching for your long-lost family. You’ve been here for a couple of nights, but mostly you’ve been resting. And you’re willing to trade some meds for information. But, once again, try not to talk. It’s not your strong suit.”

  He shook off her insult and made a mental note to ask her what was wrong at some point in the future. It was clear he had done something to upset her, but he didn’t think now was the time for that conversation.

  “I don’t have any meds, though,” he said after they were a few steps into the small field separating them and the community.

  Stefani ripped off the head of a wheat plant and in a single motion handed it back to him. Before he could take it from her, the grain had been replaced with a medication bottle with small white pills inside of it. He took her willingness to press as a sign of confidence.

  “What are these good for?”

  “Everything and anythi
ng.”

  They made it out of the field and stood on the broken concrete and asphalt that covered most of the ground of Nula. The community looked larger from here. A teenage boy and girl strolled by them hastily, only sparing them a glance as they headed for the nearby river.

  “Is it some sort of miracle drug?” Jeff asked.

  “You could say that. It’s sugar pills.”

  “It’s fake?”

  “People have been pressing placebo pills into the actual medicine they need for centuries,” Stefani said in a hushed voice as she approached a circle of women dressed in shockingly clean clothes.

  Jeff wanted to laugh at the revelation that people could unwittingly press medicine, whereas he couldn’t even add a simple log to a fire, but it was too frustrating. And he was too distracted by a pair of men who were walking in their direction, coming from the river.

  “Morning!” Stefani said. The six women speaking in a circle went silent as they turned their attention to the newcomers.

  “Quite the day, huh?” Stefani said, sounding cheery and unconcerned. The women looked at one another before one of them took the lead.

  “Who are you?” the woman asked. She was the oldest of the bunch, but she didn’t look too much older than Jeff and Stefani. It was obvious that she had borne several children, one of them recently. Jeff looked away to the two men approaching them; both were armed with axes that looked to be primed for wood cutting, not fighting.

  “Patty Shwang,” Stefani said. “And this is my husband, Terrance Smallbrain.”

  Jeff looked back to the women and smiled briefly at their unconvinced faces before turning back to the men. There was something about them he didn’t like.

  “We’ve been resting here for a few days while we look for Terrance’s parents, but we had to come out on a day like this.”

  As the men came into focus, Jeff couldn’t help but stare at the larger man on the right. There was a burned patch on the left of the man’s head that sent shivers down Jeff’s spine.

  “Well . . . you picked the day to be here.” The woman sounded highly skeptical but seemed to warm up with each word. “We still can’t believe what happened with Darwin. Can you imagine? What a time to be alive!”