“But—but—” Sidney says. “Raiders are bad, Petra. They eat people. They hurt other Allendians.”
“This one has not,” Petra replies. “If he tries to hurt you, I will protect you. He is injured, dying. I must help him and try to heal him. This is my programming.”
Sidney shakes her head angrily as tears stream down her face. “Well I don’t want him with us. I can’t. I don’t want to get eaten. Just tell me where this place is with the food, I’ll find it by myself.”
“I can hardly protect you,” Petra says, “if you go without me. I can’t bring you to the southern dome if you’re not with me. That is not an option.”
Sidney sniffles and throws her hands up in the air. “Well when he tries to eat me, remember that then!”
She turns her back to Petra who can’t comprehend the girl’s reaction. Her job is clear: to protect Allendians who are not ill. Keep them safe until the re-emergence. Why does the child not understand that?
Still, she stays by Sidney’s side as she keeps her eyes on the raider. He will be hungry soon. She knows the child will not likely want to hunt a bird or critters for him, so she scans the vicinity for appropriate sustenance and hears the heartbeat of a large animal. It would do.
“Stay here,” she says to Sidney as she rises to her haunches and eyes the west where she heard the animal’s heart. “I will return in approximately thirty two minutes.”
“But—” Sidney says, her eyes large as she takes in the raider’s form. “You can’t leave me here with him. You can’t.” Her voice breaks on the last word.
“You will be fine,” Petra assures her. “I will listen in on your location in any case, but you will be fine. I have seen how you’ve learnt to survive out here on your own, child. You will be able to escape from an injured raider if you need to. Of this I am certain.”
Then Petra runs west before Sidney has a chance to respond.
Fifteen
Sidney
She stares after Petra’s retreating figure and still can’t believe she’d just up and leave her here, like that. What is she thinking? Maybe there’s something more wrong with that bot than just her scanner not working.
Then a sigh reaches her and her eyes rest on the raider again. He shifts and rolls until his dirty face stares into the sky. She breathes in and wills her everything to still. If this is a trap, Petra would have known, she tells herself. She would have heard any others around, she would have known he’s not really injured. Sidney hopes.
He rolls onto his side and doesn’t stop until he’s facing her hiding spot. She crawls further into the black, hoping he doesn’t see her.
She’s in a dark enclave, wearing dark gear. Still, he stares right at her spot as if he can see her just fine, thank you very much. They spend the next half hour staring at each other. She waits with shallow breaths, her haunches set to run if it comes to that. But he doesn’t move.
By the time her legs cramp and throb in this bizarre position, Petra’s back from—wherever. She has what looks like a dog hanging from her right hand, and she approaches the raider with it.
Sidney can’t hear the convo but knows that Petra means to feed him that... and she wonders if there would be any left for her. She’s never had meat larger than a big pigeon since Nayne died. It would be nice to chew on something different than bird for a change. Her jaws ache and she wipes a sliver of drool from her lip.
She watches as Petra deftly splits portions of the meat and places them on the ground to her left. Then she removes a long silver rod from her leg and creates a fire with it. Huh. It would be handy to have a lighter, Sidney thinks, as she eyes the bot placing it back into a hidden slot in her left leg. She wonders what other goodies this bot could carry. She wonders if she could manage to take them from her. They’d sure be handy to an orphan like her.
Then, after Petra skewers some of the meat and places it over the fire, she turns to Sidney and waves her forward with a hand as if to invite her to join them.
Is she nuts? I will not break bread with a raider. Sidney stays put, keeping her eyes on them as Petra hands him the skewered meat and he chomps into it as if the thing isn’t still hot.
She swipes another sliver of drool from her chin and tries to ignore the angry growls from her stomach, but it doesn’t relent.
When Petra waves her forward again, a whiff of the charred meat reaches her and she can’t fight the urge to get up. Finally she decides, fine, just for the food. She’s determined to not look at the raider, and she will eat in silence.
Petra hands her a stick of food and she drops to her haunches, chewing on the meat before she changes her mind. She scoots closer to Petra’s form, further away from the raider, and she doesn’t look up though she feels his eyes on her and shivers.
The meat’s actually good—a crispy slightly burnt outside, yet so tender and juicy on the inside, her stomach growls out loud again, appreciating the change of pace.
She chews and swallows so fast, some of the meat sticks in her throat. She reaches for her knapsack to chug some water when the raider speaks. “Is that water?”
She freezes, still not wanting to look up to him, still not sure what to make of all this—why Petra is helping him when he’s evil, he’s bad. He’s a raider!
She places the container of water down on the floor and the stick beside her.
Finally, her eyes reach his and she narrows hers.
From far, he looked like a mound of dirt. Up close, it’s not much better. He’s covered in dirt and muck from head to foot. His hair’s a dark brown with streaks of gold every now and then, all in clumps and dry bits, she wonders if he’s ever seen a shower. The beard is the worst part—she can hardly tell where his hair stops and the beard begins, but it’s a large mass of strangled strands, and moves in one big greasy pile as he chews, the meat’s juices falling into the nasty beard.
“Mmmm,” he says to Petra. “You are a guru-maaay cook. This is the best meal I’ve had in—well, a long time.”
“It is canine,” she states. “Hardly appropriate but it will have all the necessary proteins your body requires.”
“Well I’ve had much worse,” he answers. “Trust me, this is the best meat I’ve had in too long to count. Where did you find it?”
“I hunted it north west of here, near one of the parks. It will do until we reach the vault.”
Sidney glares at Petra, urging her with her eyes to stop talking. Of course it doesn’t translate, so she keeps going, telling him all their plans.
His chin pops. “What ‘vault’ are you talking about?”
“The vault in the south—filled with food. That will help us on our journey to the outer rim of the dome.”
“South, you say.” He places his stick on the ground. “I would strongly recommend you do not travel in that direction.” His eyes land on Sidney and she fidgets, not wanting his attention on her at all. “It is not a safe place for anyone, least of all young—women—like yourselves.”
There is so much more he’s not saying and she wonders why he’d feel the need to hold back. It’s not like a raider to not speak his mind, right? From what she knows about them, anyway. They have zero manners. “Uncivilized,” was the word Nayne used. Why would he care what she thinks about what’s out there?
“We’re going that way,” she blurts. “We’re not taking your word for anything.”
His eyes peer at her through his forest of hair, a dark greenish brown, crows’ feet at the edges mixing in with the lines on his face. She can’t tell if he’s young or old with all the lines—it’s a tan and dirt-streaked face. Not one she can look at for much longer.
In fact, as she watches the meat’s oils slide and drip on his beard, she loses her appetite. Still, she picks up the water and takes a long swig from it. She doesn’t answer his question though he eyes her expectantly.
Finally, Petra says, “He is thirsty, Sidney. Kindly offer him a sip of your water.”
Is she kidding?
&nb
sp; Sidney’s sneer turns to Petra and she stands, grabbing her knapsack and water as she walks back towards the building. She is NOT sharing her water with a raider. Who knows what sort of cannibal cooties he’s got? Yecch.
By the time she’s sat down in the doorway of the small building, Petra’s already by her side. “You are being selfish,” she says. “He is thirsty.”
Sidney feels a sudden pang of anger. It’s unfair, she thinks. Why is this bot treating him the same way? Are we actually the same to her?
“Well you can go and hunt him down some water if you want to help him so bad,” she says. “I’m not giving any of mine.”
“And why not?”
“Because he is a raider, Petra,” she spits. “He wouldn’t help me if I was in his place. He’d kill me and eat me. I’m not going to help you make him get better so that will happen. No way, not going to happen.”
Petra’s head tilts to the right, then she says, “My primary task is to help all Allendians who are not ill. Yet it’s strange. You Allendians hardly ever want to help each other. This is not consistent with the Allendian way.”
Sidney doesn’t know what that means. She hasn’t come across many Allendians out here—she’s only known her nayne’s stories about raiders. And though her nayne’s taught her a lot about the old Allendian ways, she’d definitely never treat a raider as such. That’s ridiculous!
Petra turns as if she’s about to go back to the raider, then she points down at Sidney’s book, which she’d placed on top of her knapsack.
She’d waited for evening before she could bring out what was left of her flashlight’s batts to read it in the dark—to try to read it, because she still hasn’t moved past the point her nayne had read to her. A stubborn part of her wants to finish the book, but it would be handy to be able to read the thing.
“Would you like me to help you?” Petra says, “Read you the rest of the story?”
Sidney wants to tell her to just go away, go take care of the raider since she cares so much about him, go read to him. She knows it would be rude, and a part of her really wants to know what happens to the characters.
But with what she has planned for tomorrow, she knows she can’t afford to be around Petra much more—she can’t let this bot read with her, make her need her, that’s not right.
So she says, “No, thank you. I can manage.”
The bot pauses, like she’s about to say something, then she turns and makes her way back to the raider.
Sidney continues to plan. She knows the general vicinity of this place where all the food is stored. She knows where she needs to go after that place, and she doesn’t need Petra to get there. She certainly doesn’t need the raider. So, come morning, while the bot’s recharging and he’s still asleep, she’s out of here.
Sixteen
Petra
Petra’s charger pings in the back of her head, and she opens her eyes. Today, the man should be healthy enough to travel—she’s scanned him. The wounds are healing well and he looks competent enough to walk.
She knows Sidney is not keen on the idea, but hopes the journey won’t be too problematic. After all, the goal is to get them to the rest of the healthy Allendians and make sure everything is set for the re-emergence.
Petra steps towards the building where Sidney’s cooped herself up overnight and finds it—empty.
She scans the vicinity, but hears no heartbeat other than the man’s. She looks on the ground, but Sidney’s clearly masked her footprints as she snuck away in the night.
Still, Petra concludes that the child will be motivated to find the vault of food and medicine she’d mentioned. That’s not a day’s walk away, less if she were to run.
With the man as her companion, with the occasional rests he’d have to take throughout the trip, Petra calculates that it will take approximately three days to reach the vault. Sidney may get there and be long gone by then. Still, it will be as good a place as any to keep tracking her.
So Petra approaches the man’s still form and says, “Will you be able to walk? It is time. Sidney has left so we need to find her and the vault of food on the south side before making our way to the outer limits of the dome.”
He watches her for a moment. “Why are you helping me?”
“It is my duty to help all Allendians,” she says as she pulls him up to a standing position.
He cringes then leans into her form as she holds him up without effort.
“How long will it take to get there?” he asks with another cringe.
“By my calculation,” Petra says, “three days. Unless you heal faster than I expect, in which case, even less time.”
He leans into her more, then pauses. “Wait, did you say she’s gone there? By herself? Why would she do that? Why wouldn’t she go with you?”
“I expect,” Petra says, “that she is not comfortable in your presence, so she’s opted to continue on her own.”
“Without you? Wait, how long had you been her companion?”
“Just a day,” Petra says. “I found her in the northern part of the city. I’d hunted her down but my primary scanner’s broken and so we need to bring her to the outer dome, get her tested.”
“I see—” the man says, “I see, and if you find that she is ill?”
“She would need to be eliminated.”
“Of course.”
They continue on their journey, only finding traces of Sidney every few kilometers, but the man notices that she’s determined to keep herself hidden. If he weren’t a tracker, he’d not know she was walking—or running more like it—through these parts.
“We need a vehicle,” he finally says to Petra. “To catch up to her before she gets—there.”
“What is ‘there’?” Petra asks, remembering he’d objected to their general plans the first night.
“It would be a community of—well—bad folks. Not people I’d want a little girl like her to come across. That’s where she’s running to. That vault you’re thinking of is no longer what you think it is.”
Petra tilts her head to the right. His words are incomplete—censored—but the meaning behind the unspoken words is dangerous. She doesn’t insist that he elaborates. “I’ve only known that Sidney for a short time, but I’m certain she’ll be able to take care of herself.”
“Sure,” he says, “sure… How long was she alone in the city, though? How long has it been since she’s been around other people?”
Petra doesn’t respond, unable to as she doesn’t know. Still, she scans for any sort of vehicle they can find to get them to Sidney sooner than she’ll get to the vault. Though the man doesn’t go into detail, she knows she needs to protect the girl and hastens her pace as she scans.
Seventeen
Sidney
She runs until she can’t anymore, then takes a breather, more water, snacks on some dried pigeon meat as she slows her pace and keeps moving forward.
She’s never been this far from the city before, but her stomach rumbling reminds her that this is all worth it, that she needs to get to the vault so she can eat something other than lizards and all their gizzards for a while. Hopefully a very long while.
She finds a tiny enclave that looks to be an old outpost of sorts—she knows that Allenda has several of these throughout the dome—some were fueling stations, some water porters, most were just portable toilet and shower enclaves that travelers could rent.
Once upon a time they had different colors, indicating exactly what they were, but years of rain and no maintenance has leeched away all color, leaving them merely grayed out metal versions of themselves.
She inches up to the enclave, on the off-chance that it was one with a vending machine on the inside. Who knows what’s still around, these days?
She approaches it quietly, keeping her ears and eyes peeled for any sound, any unnatural shadow. All’s quiet, peaceful, as she turns the corner and opens the door to the enclave.
Empty.
But for the baby on
the floor, cooing at Sidney as she plays with what looks like an old teddy bear. It’s dressed in a sky blue onesie, with small white frills on the edges.
What in the—
Then she hears it, a low hiss as a snake the size of her forearm slithers towards the baby from a hidden corner in the enclave.
Snakes don’t live inside the dome, she knows. They only exist in the dusty deserts in Allenda, but no matter how much her brain argues, the snake’s hiss increases in volume as the baby turns towards it, her arm outstretched as if to pet the thing. Her panic for the baby conflicts with her desire to run, but Sidney’s already inside, rushing to the snake.
It turns direction and, before she can grab its body, it abruptly pulls back and throws its head at her. She darts back, narrowly avoiding its fangs on her arm, but trips and falls on her back. Not a moment sooner, she scrambles backwards on her elbows and feet.
Not fast enough. The snake lurches forward at a speed far too fast for her to get away. Her heart speeds up as she realizes she’s about to be bitten.
It hits her, once, twice, three times on the leg, before finally slithering past her through the door.
The baby starts crying, and Sidney sits on her haunches, wanting to go to her to comfort her. “It’s—okay—” she croaks.
Despite the pain, the spreading wildfire in her leg, she keeps talking, trying to soothe the baby. She thinks the snake’s long gone, so she leans forward on to her hands and knees, and tries to crawl to her.
She keeps talking but now her voice echoes in her ears and she hears nothing but gibberish. When she finally sits back on her haunches, she says, “Who do you belong to, baby?” She’s cognizant enough to know she shouldn’t be in this enclave.
But her body stops moving despite her mind telling her to go pick the baby up and shush its incessant crying.
As the venom spreads through, she imagines it’s burning up her legs, her torso, her arms. Her ears burn. She panics again, wants to run, but can’t move as her body shuts down. Now everything goes numb. The pain’s gone at least.
Petra: Allendian Post-Apocalypse Page 4
