“Should my skin be tingling?” asked Blossom drowsily. She followed up her questions with a long stretch of coughing and a loud sneeze.
“Yeah, mine’s burning, too” said Jake. I could feel the itch on the exposed parts of my skin. I had to hope that it wasn’t going to get any worse than some minor discomfort, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Mine, too. It’s all the crap that was in the air.”
“What the hell was that?” asked Jake, rubbing his abused flesh.
“Smog storm,” I replied.
“Yeah, I got that, but where do they come from?” Jake’s scientific curiosity had been peaked and nothing less but a full explanation would satisfy him
“Okay, okay. So Asia had major problems with pollution early in the millennia. They had some luck with “weather management” meaning they could manipulate the smog for short amounts of time, but they couldn’t fix the problem for extended periods. Then some genius decided that if you could expel the smog into the upper atmosphere that the issue would be fixed. I guess she forgot one of Newton’s Laws of Motion.” I was rewarded by blanks stares and added “That for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
“Okay, but how did they do it?” Jake prodded.
“They used some sort of cyclone technology to suck the smog up past the thermosphere. They thought it couldn’t cause any trouble up there, but they were wrong.” I scratched my arms rigorously. “Obviously.”
“Can’t they fix it?” Blossom asked hopefully.
“They don’t know exactly what went wrong and the weather cycle was affected. To be honest, I don’t think that the Asian governments cared much. It’s not like they had a problem; all the storms hit other continents and besides, a lot of other countries had started siphoning off their pollution problems, too. The practice was banned by the United Ecological Federation, but it was too late. Look, I’m a history teacher not an atmospheric scientist, but it has something to do with solar winds and the weakening of the atmosphere.” I’d exhausted my knowledge of all things air related and Jake realized he wasn’t going to get the answer he was looking for. “Let’s try and dig ourselves out of here.” I suggested, signalling an end of the discussion.
We worked in the darkness for what felt like hours, tunnelling around the lower edges of the boulder that had saved us by trapping us like human sacrifices to an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. By the time we made a space large enough for Blossom to slither through, the sun was already setting. It was full dark when we finally managed to pull the rock out of the opening. We pushed the car outside and set the eco-sail at the mouth of the opening to catch the night breeze and charge up the battery. Under the comforting watch of the stars, we searched the vehicle for more supplies, found a few more canisters of air, plus a compartment under the mats that held a couple of sound blasters, tech bombs and a few other little defensive treats that didn’t really do us any good if we were battling Mother Nature instead of fragile human technology. The only other thing of interest was, what seemed to be, a treasure map with a big black X on it, which we found taped to the bottom of a rather incongruous metal ammunition box. Jake let out a groan.
“Great, just what we need; another mystery!” He kicked the dirt floor in disgust and sent a rock pinging across the cavern. It echoed slightly as we pondered the map. It used non-descript and very limited landmarks to indicate locations and as far as I could tell the “x” was just on the other side of Montreal; somewhere. What treasure might be there was beyond me and I didn’t have very high hopes about the whole venture. Blossom was the only one with stars shining in her eyes. I could tell that curiosity was getting the best of her and we’d likely have to at least try to find the spot on the map. I quickly crushed a strong instinct to tear the map to shreds as I listened to her thoughts on the matter.
“Maybe there’s actually something important there. I mean, it’s not like anything in our car is random. Maybe this was the break we needed; maybe it has a clue about the library and the stupid farmer.”
“Yeah, maybe” sighed Jake, reluctantly. I realized that it must be shocking to be as young as Jake and realize you could actually die. I’m sure the thought never crossed my mind, when I was their age, but now it was a vague familiar sensation that sat alright on my bones. I decided to let the two of them work through it without my guidance, besides what advice could I really have to offer?
Before we said goodnight we agreed to skirt the city and look for the place on the map, if we couldn’t find it right away, we’d try and sneak in to Montreal to find a library. The storm had obviously taken it out of the kids, as they drifted off immediately. It took me a long time to fall asleep, as every whisper of wind brought back the memory of the smog storm. It made me realize that this was only the first of possibly many dangers ahead of us. For what felt like the millionth time, I wondered what I’d gotten myself in to and why I’d been in such a rush to leave my old boring life behind.
Chapter 8 – Blast from the Past
I think I’d finally started to doze off when a small sound brought me back to wakefulness. I strained my ears and could hear some sort of scuffling near the entrance of the building. It sounded like something was outside, near the car as it recharged in the night wind. I tried to tell myself it was ridiculous, that there were no living things out in the Bee Zee, but curiosity got the best of me and I rose stealthily, making my way towards the opening. I was feeling superior about my ninja skills until I stepped on something sharp with my bare foot. I’d like to say that I let out a manly grunt, but, being completely honest, I think “muffled squeal” would be a better description. I reached down and pulled a barb of metal out of my instep and listened hard for more sounds from outside. I could feel the beads of sweat forming on my upper lip and the warm thick creep of blood dripping from my foot.
“What ya’ doing, man?” whispered Jake in my ear. I barely swallowed another girlish yelp and jammed my elbow back in to his stomach; merely a reflex, I swear, but I smiled with satisfaction at his breathless grunt. I leaned in as close as I could to make sure the sound of my voice didn’t travel.
“Shhh! I think there’s something outside.” I could just make out the pale glint of his eyes in the dim light as he nodded, trying to catch his breath. I broached the opening, keeping myself tucked in close to the wall, hiding in the shadow cast by the moon. I could feel the adrenaline shooting through my body and I tingled as every nerve and ounce of concentration focussed on the sounds outside. There was nothing. Maybe I hadn’t really heard anything and it was just the vestiges of a dream. Either way, I wasn’t willing to risk losing the vehicle, so I stepped out to make sure it was secure. The moon was just starting its descent to the horizon, but provided good light and I could see something sticking out of the driver side window. It waved slightly in the breeze, like it was beckoning me. I pulled it out to have a better look at whatever it was. The thin strip of heavy duty plastic had a bit of a rough finish and was narrower on the end that had been stuck in the window, but besides that it looked innocuous enough. My brain was just coming up with the fact that someone or something must have put it there when I felt a body press against me and a cold object jab into my neck.
“Open it or I’ll slit your throat” said a voice deep with menace. My mind immediately imagined a monstrously large guy with nothing to lose and then I heard the crackle. It was barely audible, but my adrenaline flooded senses picked it up right away; a voice adapter. I had a moment to marvel at how much my mind could process in the moments between hearing the voice and my next move. The likelihood that the person actually had a knife sharp enough to do damage was slim; they were pretty well useless in our age of gel packs and health bars, not to mention that crime had gone high tech, for the most part. The voice adapter meant that the person was hiding something and my body registered the soft press of telltale flesh against my shoulder blades. It took a second for me to react by bending forward and using my assailant’s weight against them. They saile
d neatly over my head and I thanked my passion for old martial arts movies for coming to my aid. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jake spring out of the opening and on to the body sprawled on the ground. There was a soft grunt and Jake found himself flipped over and pressed hard into the sand, before I could even take a step forward.
Whoever it was, was completely covered in some sort of camouflage and it was hard to tell anything about them, but parts of my body were still reacting to the feel of soft breasts against my back just moments before. I strode up behind her and wrapped both arms around her body, pinning her arms to her sides and lifting her off Jake, who was struggling ineffectually under her weight. It took every ounce of strength I had to lift her up and I was disconcerted to discover that her toes could still touch the ground when I rose to my full height. Now I’m not short, measuring in at a little over 6’1”, but this woman must have been around 5’10” or so. I’d never been that close to a woman that tall, as 5’8” was the preferred maximum height for girls when most parents engineered their kids. I didn’t get to keep the advantage for long as she gave me a swift kick in my shin. I almost dropped her, but satisfied myself with a loud “Fuck!”
“Jake, get her feet!” I yelled trying to squeeze her legs between my own to keep her from kicking again. “And for Christ’s sake, find something to tie her up with!”
Jake stopped mid grab and turned towards the car, then back again; the two commands obviously overwhelming him. I finally managed to corral her legs between mine, but the position was awkward making us both fall to our knees. At least she couldn’t kick me anymore, but my arms were starting to tire and she was wiggling like a wrestler, prying at my arms with her hands. I wasn’t exactly terrified, as I felt I had the upper hand; so her bottom wiggling against my crotch, in her bid to escape, was having a fairly noticeable affect on me.
“Stop! For Christ’s sake, stop. I’m not going to hurt you!” I think it was at that point that she realized what affect she was having on me and her body stilled. I could feel her heart thundering against my arm and feel the rigidness of her muscles as she tried to create as much distance between us as possible while I still held her pinned. I loosened my grip slightly, feeling like a creep. I was almost prepared for her elbow in my ribs and fortunately my arms contracted from the shock. Jake came back just in time to secure her hands and feet with some of the clothes we had stolen from the cleaners.
In my whole life, I never thought I’d be playing the tough guy, subduing attackers, running from the government and Asian triads, tying up helpless women and wrangling hapless teenagers, and yet, here I was. While I was engrossed in admiring myself for my manly pursuits, the stranger’s head came cracking back against my face and everything burst into a flame of pain and receded quickly to darkness.
I mustn’t have been out for long as the moon had only shifted slightly in the sky, but I could taste the copper saltiness of blood in the back of my throat and my vision was blurry. I blinked a couple of times and must have groaned, alerting Jake to the fact that I had regained consciousness.
“Hey, Dax! Thought you might be out for a while,” said Jake positioned on top of the car, with my gun pointed at something just out of my limited range of vision. I sat up quickly to look for the woman and was rewarded with a nauseating dizziness flooding my head. I brought my hands up to stem the spinning and to survey the damage. “Don’t worry, I got her covered.” He cracked his boyish grin, clearly enjoying the adventure. I suspected he also was laughing at my lack of defensive skills, but I’d let it slide. I wanted to know who this broad was. “Blossom’s looking for an ice pack” he added, as I clutched my head a bit tighter. I let my hands roam my face. The skin under my eyes was swollen and my lips and chin were sticky with blood and I thought my front tooth might be loose. I struggled to my feet and gratefully accepted the cold pack that Blossom found in the medi-pack. She pulled out a small scanner and passed it over my damaged face before she let me settle the chilled bag over my nose. I could feel the swelling receding from the scan, but the small unit could only do so much.
“Has she said anything?” I asked both the kids, walking over to the seated figure.
“Nah,” shrugged Jake, “she pretty well shut up when I fired the gun.”
“Jesus, you didn’t shoot her, did you?” I asked. My concern was genuine, as she hadn’t moved since I was able to focus my swollen eyes on her; she didn’t even look like she was breathing.
“No! Geez, what do you take me for?” replied Jake in a hurt tone. The “geez” made me smile. He was some kid. I stayed out of kicking range and stared at her intently. I could see the shallowest hint of breathing, but she sat hunched over with her knees pulled up tight against her chest. There was something touching about that pose of childish protectiveness that made me crouch down to be able to meet her eyes. Her face was concealed by a storm mask and goggles and she could have been eighteen or a hundred.
“Look, I’m not going to hurt you, but I’m going to take all that gear off your face. Jake, keep an eye on her, I don’t think I’ll survive another strike.” It was said half in jest, but I was glad to see the boy sit up straighter and brace the hand that held the gun. “And don’t shoot me, for Christ’s sake.” I pulled back her hood and unhooked the voice adapter. The goggles and storm mask followed and I could finally see her face clearly. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the clear, dark eyes or soft, slightly flushed skin that greeted me. I couldn’t tell exactly what colour her hair was, but it rippled darkly with some highlights of sable or chestnut. She was stunning. “Are you okay?” I asked stupidly. She gave me a shrug that was so reminiscent of Jake’s that it shook me up a little and I stared at her hard, trying to see if there were any other similarities. There was something about her face that seemed familiar and I suddenly regretted my missing glasses.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she snapped, clearly uncomfortable at my close scrutiny. The shock of coming across another living creature was slowly wearing off and the scan’s pain killing qualities were kicking in, letting me think a bit more clearly. The sun was just starting to make itself known on the horizon and I guessed we had about an hour before it would be too hot to bear without some sort of protection.
“Who the hell are you and what are you doing out here?” I demanded, making a big show of placing the ice pack across the bridge of my nose. The reminder must have softened her a bit.
“Sorry about that.” She did look a little repentant, but I wasn’t ready to buy anything that she was selling. “Look, it’s better if I don’t tell you anything about myself. I need your vehicle. The drones have been all over here looking for me and I have to get to the city.” Her voice was deeper than I would have guessed and had a gravely tone that made me think of a femme fatale from an old detective movie. I felt the affect in my gut and had to shake my head slightly to counteract my response. The action sent my nose to throbbing and I closed my eyes tightly, shutting out the dizziness.
“Uh, hi. I’m Blossom and that’s Jake, up on the car,” explained the girl with a careless gesture of her hand. “The one who looks like he’s about to puke is Dax.” I cracked open one eye and threw Blossom a dirty squint which was lost on her.
“Why are the drones looking for you?” I asked, wondering if that was why we’d seen so many. Maybe they weren’t after us, but her.
“Well, okay, maybe not looking for me, specifically, but they must have spotted me. Why else would there be so many out flying around?” Indeed, why? I thought to myself. She must have caught something in my expression. “What? Don’t tell me they’re after you?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and I felt a direct hit to my pride.
“Maybe they are.” I growled, before I could consider the consequences and turned to look at Jake as he cleared his throat loudly, trying to draw my attention.
“Ah, Dax?” interrupted Jake, “Maybe now isn’t the time.”
“Fine,” I turned back to the woman. “Who are you?
” My question only caused her to press her lips together, clearly highlighting a propensity towards stubbornness. “Okay, we’ll see what you have to say when the sun comes up.” I set my jaw firmly; I could be bull headed too and if she wanted to play games, I’d go along with it. I went to the Jeep and turned over the engine. The hum had a satisfying amount of power behind it. I reversed the vehicle back in to the cave and ordered the kids to pack up. They followed me into the darkness and we all waited for our eyes to adjust to the lack of light. It helped when I settled my glasses cautiously on the bridge of my nose.
“You’re not really going to leave her out in the sun, are you Dax?” asked Jake, hesitating to hand back my gun. That he wasn’t sure whether I would or not made me wonder what he really thought of me.
“No, of course not, but she can’t know that. We have to make sure that she’s not a tracker looking for you. She’s awfully well equipped for someone who just happens to be out wandering the Bee Zee.” I wasn’t proud of it, but I’d gone through her pockets, just to make sure she didn’t have anything that would help her escape. I couldn’t take the risk that she might be working for the government or the triads.
“What are we going to do with her?” prodded Blossom, clearly having more faith in my humanity than Jake.
“She’ll have to come with us. We can’t stay here much longer, especially if more drones are coming. We need to clear the area before the sun is fully up. We should have left at least an hour ago.” I took a quick look at my face in the side mirror of the car and winced. I’d never been traditionally good looking, lacking the smooth baby skin and boyishly hair free face that constituted such a look, but I was looking particularly rough. The three days of beard growth made me look shoddy and my quickly blackening eyes didn’t add to my over all look. That my hair was sticking up every which way only completed my dishevelled and slightly crazed appearance. I tried to smooth down my hair, but it was like trying to tame a scrubbing pad. I gave up and marched back outside. When I got through the opening, my eyes almost popped out of my head. She was gone. A quick look at the spot where I left her showed a clear trail which I followed with out preamble. I caught up with her on the other side of a large boulder that had once been part of the building that had sheltered us from the smog storm. She was inching her way along on her knees, hands still tied behind her back.
Last Farmer: Last Farmer Series - Book 1 Page 8
