“What’s going on?” He exits his house, then stops short. “Oh, wait!” He darts back in to grab a picture from a shelf, tucks it into the bag. “Can’t forget her; she’d never forgive me.” And he returns again, closing the door behind him. “What’s causing the flooding?”
“We don’t know, but we’re meeting at the Center. It’s time to plan our escape.”
Once we’ve evacuated everyone, we meet at the Children’s and Medical Center, where the townspeople and AOAIs are all gathered in a panicked frenzy. Smudge guides Cheyenne up the stairs and through the front door to wait on the couch in the entrance area while we plan.
“We have to get out of here, now!” a woman says. “There’s a secret transport harbor on the top floor of the Watchtower. It leads straight to Alzanei. We have to—”
An older woman shakes her head with a chuckle of disgust. “That’s the biggest load-a dung I ever heard.”
“Well, we gotta go there anyway,” the other woman says. “It’s the highest point in the city.”
“But we’ll all be trapped in there!” someone shouts.
An AOAI man steps forward. “The bunker’s our way out, and it’s about to be underwater.”
“You can’t go there,” says Mateo. “It’s already too submerged, and Teuridons are circling. Four of them, at least. So you definitely want to stay away from there.”
Smudge appears in the Center doorway. Johnny and Pedro exit behind her, alarmed, followed by the group of doctors and nurses.
Johnny removes Old Jonesy’s hat and squints into the distance. “Zentao’s flooding? You’re joking, right?”
“Where’s Doctor Sullivan?” a nurse asks. “I can’t find her anywhere.” They gather with the rest of the townspeople, where a heated discussion begins.
I move closer to Pedro and Johnny. “No, we’re not kidding. Zentao is flooding, and Jax and Vila are . . . gone.”
Johnny tugs his hat back into place. “What?”
“Gone where?” Pedro asks.
“Smudge thinks they’re in Alzanei, taken through some sort of secret transport tunnel.”
Johnny pounds a fist into his palm. “Then we have to follow them—”
“We can’t. We’d be walking right into their hands. Smudge knows of a refuge outside of Alzanei. They can help us. But we have to act fast. No more time for talking.”
Smudge surveys the chaos behind me, quiet, calm, calculating her thoughts.
“Do you want this?” I offer Pedro my spear. “I have a crossbow.”
“Looks like you got a few.” He grips the spear’s shaft and puffs out his chest. “Thanks, sis.”
“Yeah, we cleared what was left from the bunker. Here you go, Johnny.” I hand him one of my two and secure the second to my shoulder. Johnny inspects the weapon before strapping it over his own.
Smudge takes my arm. “We’ll be right back.”
“Where you going?” Johnny asks.
“To get Mr. Tanner. We’ll be back in a few minutes.” She whisks me away, down the path and toward the greenhouses.
“Mr. Tanner sleeps in a greenhouse?” I switch my crossbow to the other shoulder.
“Yes. Greenhouse A, with the flowers. It’s where he’s most comfortable.” She moves in closer. “We can’t all go, Joy. The ventilation shafts are old, the ground around them unstable. Too much weight could be hazardous.”
“So . . . what do we do?”
“We’ll go up with the children, Ms. Ruby, and Cheyenne, and the rest of the residents will go . . . the other way out.”
“There’s another way? A secret transport harbor or something, like that woman said?”
Smudge glances away. “Sort of.”
“What do you—?”
“I can’t explain it now, I’m sorry.”
“What about the animals?”
“They will die.”
“No. We can’t let that happen. We have to save some.”
“Joy—”
“What? I’m not going to let them all die. Are you serious? I’d never sleep again.”
With an understanding sigh of resignation, Smudge heads up the trail toward the greenhouses. We stop at Greenhouse A, and she leans inside the doorway. “Mr. Tanner?”
“Sadie? That you?”
“Yes, and Joy. You need to wake up. We have . . . terrible news.”
“Oh, my . . .” There’s some rustling and clanking, then his face is painted in liqui-lantern light. “What is it, Sadie?”
“The power is out completely, Raffai and his militia are gone, and . . . Zentao is flooding.”
“No . . .” He hurries to put on his shoes, then rushes past us, swinging the lantern high into the air. He squints into the darkness, shaking his head, muttering an array of curse words.
Smudge clears her throat. “Paul . . . we’re taking the children up the ventilation shafts—”
“Sadie, you know that’s not safe. The weight—”
“The bunker is flooded and Teuridons are in the water. To save the children, Cheyenne, and Ms. Ruby, we have to go into the shafts. I’ll need you . . . to take the residents . . . the other way out. According to Raffai’s protocol for evacuation, Section Twenty-C of Zentao’s Code of Sustainability.”
Mr. Tanner’s face blanches in the dark, bloodshot brown eyes glistening in the lantern light. He swallows hard and straightens his posture, summoning a strength that seems difficult to hold. Then he nods, turning back into the greenhouse. After some shuffling around in the shadows, he reappears, wiping tears from his cheeks. “Okay, Sadie. Lead the way.”
“Mr. Tanner?” I brush his arm. “Before we head to the Center, we need to go to the farm. I can’t leave here without saving what we can. Even if it’s two or three.”
“Other side of the animal stalls, in the storage shed, near the corral,” he says. “There’s a cage in there. Should be big enough to fit a few small ones.”
“I wish we could save them all.”
“Me, too, Joy.” He shakes his head, gazes at the ground in thought. “Me, too.”
“We’ll get them on the way out,” Smudge says. “We’ll be going through the gate in the far back left corner, at the top of the hill by the wall. We’ll stop at the corral first. Is there rope in there, too?”
“Yes,” says Mr. Tanner. “There should be plenty.”
“What do we need rope for?” I ask.
“I’ll explain everything soon.” Smudge plucks a flower from a nearby pot. She twirls it in her fingers for a moment, lost in a world I can only see the surface of. With a heaviness, she offers the red-petaled gem to him. “We should get back to the others, they’re probably worried.”
Mr. Tanner takes the flower—and her unseen weight—letting his hand drop to his side. He can’t even look at it. “As they should be, my dear . . . as they should be.”
When we get back to the Center, Ms. Ruby’s on the porch with Mateo and Emerson, in the same purple robe she wore when we first got here. Hard to believe that was a little over two weeks ago, when I thought we’d found our forever home, wrapped in her warmth and promises of light. Some of that still shines in her, but it’s fading fast. She drops her head into her hands—heartbroken, helpless. I’ve felt it, too. But there’s no time for weakness. I’ll have to be the light now. Again.
Cheyenne was right. I know where I belong. I’m Momma Joy, and I have lives to save. No matter what horrible things have happened, or what stupid decisions I’ve made, no matter how many poor souls we’ve lost, there’s no welcoming death. That’s not an option. I have children to care for, Ms. Ruby and Cheyenne, and my own unborn child. Yes, the enemy has upped the stakes, but we’ve upped the ante. Winner takes all.
I lean my crossbow against the Center’s stoop to give my shoulder a rest. “What’s next?” I ask Smudge.
She stares at her feet for a moment while Mr. Tanner takes Professor Al off to the side for a private word. I try to read his expression. He clutches his rainbow suspenders beneath the vest where he tucked away the woman’s picture. I suspect she was his late wife or lover in Alzanei. He hurries to the conglomeration of papers spilling from his bag onto the ground and digs through them, tossing pages aside after a second’s glance.
My gaze drifts to the townspeople in their varied states of fear and panic. The AOAIs who’ve gathered in a small group away from everyone else keep motioning toward the bunker. Devising a plan. Husbands and wives hold each other and sob, watching the huts that have been their homes for three years disappear forever into the watery darkness. Some say prayers on their knees, clutching the hands of those nearest them. My chest swells with heartache. The Treemakers and Saltminers aren’t the only ones who’ve had a bad beat. Life has dealt us all a shit hand.
After a few more minutes of frantic searching, Professor Al snatches one particular paper from the mess and holds it at arms’ length. He rises from the ground, and races up the hill, past us, up the steps to the Center, and through the door.
Mr. Tanner returns, exchanging a nod with Smudge.
“Listen up!” Smudge announces. “You’ll all need to follow Paul to the other exit in the Watchtower—”
“I told you there was a secret transport harbor,” says the same woman again.
“We’re not going,” the older male AOAI says. “We’ll take our chances with the bunker.”
I glance down the hill. “But it’s in five feet of water—”
“We’ll be fine, we can withstand worse.”
“Do what you want, then.” I shrug. “We can’t stop you.”
He waves for his group to follow, and the four of them saunter off without even a goodbye. Within minutes, they sink into the darkness, the tops of their shoulders sticking up out of the water’s surface. Halfway there, a shadow jumps from the water, jaws open, and dives for the wading AOAIs. Two of them, swallowed whole in one bite, while the others swim through the bunker doorway. A woman screams, children shriek, and I tremble at the Teuridons’ colossal size. They put the Reapers to shame, at least ten times more monstrous and spine-chilling. Luckily for the remaining stubborn AOAIs, they’re too behemoth to fit through the doorway.
Someone taps my shoulder. Mr. Tanner. “You’re going to do this.” He places something into my hand: a gold ring. “I can tell, just from the short time I’ve known you.”
“Why are you giving me this? We’ll be meeting up somewhere after we get out of here, right?”
“But, in case we don’t . . .” He hugs me, squeezes me tight. “I imagine my and Mary’s daughter would’ve been a lot like you. Strong, yet loving—a survivor. Qualities Mary had.” He turns his head, takes a deep breath, then looks back at me, teary-eyed. He chuckles, though it’s melancholy. “I gave her that ring when we were kids. It was too big, and they wouldn’t allow us Impures to have trinkets and things anyway, so I hid it in the caves. Carved our initials by the crevice so I’d be able to find it again. Fortunately, when I escaped, it was still there.”
“I don’t feel right taking this from you.” I try to hand it back.
“No, please, Joy, take it. Because I, well . . . because I was never able to give my own daughter a gift. So please, take it. For Mary. She’d want you to have it, in case we . . . we don’t make it . . . to the meeting place.”
A sickness sits in the pit of my stomach, one that clamors things I don’t want to acknowledge. He doesn’t believe they’ll make it out; he thinks we’ll never see each other again. I unclasp my necklace and add his ring to my parents’ two.
“You’ll make it.” I hug him, kiss his cheek, then back away to let Smudge say her goodbyes.
“Let’s meet where we planned.” She hugs him, too, face tight with grief. “We’ll all be okay in the end.”
“Of course.” He holds her, stifling an obvious sob, then mutters something in her ear and kisses her forehead. “You’re right about that, Sadie. We sure will be.” And with a quick half-smile, Mr. Tanner whips around to the townspeople, the barrel of a large gun poking up from his back waistband. “Okay, folks . . . to the Watchtower.”
“But what about the children?” Ms. Ruby asks.
“We’re taking them out the other way,” I say. “With you and Cheyenne.”
“What other way?” a woman shouts.
Smudge points at the ceiling. “Through the ventilation shafts. We can’t take everyone though, it won’t hold all the weight.”
Mr. Tanner tugs the bottom of his shirt down over his gun. “Come on now, we need to hurry. We don’t have much time, so please, come with me.”
Soon, Professor Al emerges from the Center. He hops down the stairs, jogs over and takes my hand to lead me away from everyone. Once we’re separated, he places a folded-up piece of handmade paper into my palm. “Don’t let this fall into the wrong hands.” He closes my fingers around it. “Memorize it, then destroy it. Let no AOAIs—even your friend—lay eyes on it. Promise me.”
“Okay, I promise, but you’ll be meeting—”
“No telling what the future holds for us, kiddo. We’ve lived a full life. Though full of sorrow, we’ve also seen a freedom we never dreamed would be ours. But you kids . . . your time for peace lies on the horizon. It’s within your grasp.” He gives my fist a meaningful squeeze, and winks. “The Universe is on your side. Don’t ever forget that. Your father will make damn sure of it.” Then he kisses my cheek and turns to join Mr. Tanner and the forty or so remaining townspeople headed toward the Watchtower.
Tallulah jumps into my arms, squeaks and twitches her whiskers, scaring the hell out of me. She’s never come to me before, but Vila’s gone and she knows something’s wrong. I stroke her striped fur, then start to unfold the paper from Professor Al. But Smudge heads toward me so I fold it back up again and stuff it into my pocket. I don’t understand why he’d tell me not to trust her, but something tells me I should trust him. I’ll have to check it out later, when I’m alone. When we get out of here.
“Everything okay?” Smudge asks.
“Yeah, fine. He had some nice words of encouragement.”
Johnny breaks from his conversation with Emerson and Pedro. “What was Al saying to you?” he calls over to me. “Looked serious.”
Smudge and I return to them. “That we’ll be free,” I say. “That the Universe is on our side.”
Pedro spits on the ground. “If one more person says anything uplifting, I’m gonna smack them. We’re about to drown, for cryin’ out loud.”
“No, we’re not,” she says.
“Did you say we’re climbing through a ventilation shaft?” asks Johnny.
“Yes.”
Something scurries past me, a long tail disappearing beneath a small bush.
“Was that a jumper?” I ask.
“Perhaps, though most likely it was just a rat. They’ll be escaping the same way we are.”
“This keeps getting better and better.” Johnny rubs his hands together. “At least we’ll have stuff to eat up there!”
Smudge chuckles. “We’ll get food from the kitchen.”
“Hey, that’s good, too.” Johnny shrugs, slides his fingers through her hair with a wink.
Tallulah has decided my neck and shoulders are a great place to seek refuge. They already pour sweat, but least she isn’t too heavy.
“We’ll need to get plenty of rope from the shed by the corral on our way out.” Smudge takes the last of her three crossbows from her shoulder and sets it on the ground with the rest. “The ladder leading up to the catwalk is narrow, and there’s no protective railing on either one. We’ll tie everyone together, alternating youngers and olders, so if a younger slips, they won’t fall.”
“Good plan,” Johnny says.
“Did you say . . . catwalk?” I could’ve gone the rest of my life without hearing that word again.
“Yes. The main ventilation shaft—the only one we’ll all fit through—is in the center of Zentao. We have to travel a short distance on the catwalk to get there.” She points.
I follow her finger, and peer up into the darkness above, surveying the narrow, black pathway beneath the rippling horizon screens. “There’s no railing on the catwalk?”
“I’m afraid there is not. We will have to be very careful.”
Adrenaline numbs me and my stomach flutters at the unbelievable feat ahead. “Wait, what about Ms. Ruby and Cheyenne?”
“I’ll put Cheyenne on my back,” says Johnny. “Em can carry Ms. Ruby.”
“I doubt Ms. Ruby will need any help. She is . . . stronger . . . than she appears. But, yes, Cheyenne will have to be carried.”
The Center door whooshes open to Serna and a wailing Baby Lou.
“Is she okay?” I hop up the steps, take her into my arms to rock her, shush her.
Serna gapes, scratching her head. “Well, I . . . I guess so. She had a bad dream and woke me up, and . . . now it seems none of us are okay. What’s happening?”
“Zentao’s flooding.”
“And we’re leaving,” says Smudge. “It’s time to wake up all of the children, and get everyone down here. Quickly.”
I scan the rising water level. The bunker’s gone, along with the first row of huts. In the Watchtower, a lantern lights up one window, and then another. Beyond them sit two large rooms. In one, the townspeople bang on the glass and the door, screaming, though I can’t hear them. In the other room, two shadows overlook Zentao: Mr. Tanner and Professor Al.
“Smudge, what—?”
“No time, Joy. The water level is rising faster and faster.”
I hand Baby Lou back over to Serna, and she starts her screaming again. But she’ll just have to scream for now.
The Soultakers (The Treemakers Trilogy Book 2) Page 8
