by Beth Reason
Chapter 4
Mornings after intimate discussions could be difficult. The light of day would make it impossible to hide from the dark confessions the night made it possible to share. Tenet knew that for a fact, and was very glad he woke first. He didn't want this morning to be hard for her. There was nothing said last night to regret, from either of them, and the last thing he wanted was any awkwardness when they were just starting to really understand each other.
Tenet slipped out from their little shelter in the thicket and was glad he had time to get the upper hand. As he learned weeks ago, he was the experienced one in terms of personal interactions. It was the only leg up he had on his wife, and he decided to embrace that responsibility. He changed into clean clothes, washed up in the river, and wanted to get a fire going. Since everything was soggy from the storm, that wasn't going to be easy. He had wanted to have breakfast all set for her to focus on. He swore and kicked at the sodden ashes, then ran a hand through his hair. It suddenly dawned on him how nervous he was, and he laughed at himself. Who was the experienced one, again?
He walked down the line of bushes until he found some with thick undergrowth similar to the bushes they'd slept in, and even though it scratched up his hands, he managed to pull enough dead growth from deep inside for a small fire. He went back to their camp and after a few failed attempts, finally got a spark to take. He fed the dry sticks into the growing flame. Once he was confident that it would stay ablaze, he dragged Scarab's pack over and fished out the coffee. There wasn't much left, but it would be enough to get the day going on a positive note. The pan held the last few eggs, and he dumped them out onto a clear patch of earth next to the fire. He rinsed the pan out in the river and filled it with water.
By the time Scarab woke and gained enough courage to face Tenet, she could smell hot coffee. She came out of their little shelter, then went behind bushes to take care of her morning business. She washed up in the river and made her way back to camp slowly, unsure of what to say or do. So much happened in the night, so much was said. The mud of the river bank felt like a fitting analogy for her current feelings as it shifted unsteadily under her feet.
Tenet watched her take her time, then hollered over. "I made coffee. Come on. Let's wake up and head out before we get too comfy in this place." She didn't look up, but took the coffee and squatted, staring into the fire.
Awkward. He was completely right about that. He cleared his throat. "I saw tracks over that way. I think it's another deer. It was something big, anyway. What else is there around here?"
"I don't know," she said, still staring at the fire but glad to have something to talk about to cut the tension. "I know that further north there are bears. There's some wild cattle." She tried to remember what else. As a child, she hadn't really bothered to take notice of the life around her. It simply was. Had she been older when they left, had she had to worry about protecting their land, or feeding children, she would have gained a better understanding. But since she was young, everything was just taken for granted.
"Do bears really attack people?"
She shrugged. "I...maybe. I know they can be mean." She sipped the coffee and almost choked. "What the hell did you do to my coffee?"
Tenet grimaced. "It's the water. All that crap churned up from the rain made it a little muddy. I boiled it good, though. Should be safe enough."
Scarab choked it down. She wasn't going to waste coffee, no matter how muddy it tasted. "Thanks for the coffee," she said, trying hard to mean it. She flashed him a wry smile.
Her smile lifted his spirits. It was the first time she looked at him that morning. He grinned back. "I told you I was a good cook."
She rolled her eyes and stood. "Great. Now you have a swelled head." She stretched in the morning light, then gave him an unsure look.
Tenet stood and started stamping out the fire. "You said yesterday we need to pick up the pace today, right?"
She was glad he didn't start the morning talking where they left off last night. In fact, he seemed hell bent on babbling about anything else, and she wondered if he felt as uncomfortable about the level of intimacy as she did. He was either ignoring it or moving on. She was happy to follow his lead. "Yeah. In fact...let's get a good look at those tracks."
He looked up and cocked his eyebrow. "You think they were made by a patrol?"
"Possibly."
Tenet nodded and pulled the blankets from their little nest. As he shook them out and rolled them up, Scarab cleaned out the dishes and got them situated in her pack. They worked quickly together, each knowing their own jobs, and were ready to roll out in less than five minutes. They ate the leftover eggs as they walked down the river towards the tracks.
Scarab squatted next to the clear line of disturbed grass. Whatever made the path through the grass came through after the storm had finished. She squinted down the line of crushed stalks, then followed it with her eyes to the river bank. She bent near the water and examined the tracks, then scanned the far bank, looking for where it came out. After a few minutes of consideration, she stood and wiped off her hands.
"So?"
"Animal. Maybe deer, but it would have to be a really big one."
"But you're sure it's not a patrol?"
She shook her head. "Wouldn't make sense for it to be. They patrol in lines. Whatever made these tracks crossed the river and drifted. The water's a little high in its banks from the rain, but not enough to throw anyone determined to get from point A to point B off course. Wouldn't be a bot, because they wouldn't deploy a walker in this environment. There's too much uneven terrain, too many creeks, too much wet. That leaves animal. Maybe cattle, though I think I'd see signs of meandering, or stopping to graze. I'm going with large deer. The one we observed yesterday moved with purpose, probably to get back to the cover of trees."
Tenet listened in wonder as she explained her reasoning to him. "You got all that figured out from a line in the grass?"
She laughed. "No. Not just the line in the grass. I've been doing this awhile, Tenet. I know how to track. It's what I do. And while I don't know for sure which animal made these signs, I can almost guarantee you that it wasn't human or bot."
He quirked an eyebrow and gave her one of his half smiles. "You're betting our lives on almost?"
"Yep. Always." She grinned at him and turned around. "Let's get going. Just because this one line wasn't a patrol doesn't mean they aren't here."
They traveled hard that day. Several times they crossed similar tracks, but didn't stop to investigate. They were entering a land with lots of wild life, and it made Scarab feel a little more secure to know that no matter what, if they couldn't find anything else to eat, she could easily hunt down game for them. It gave her hope for when they crossed. If nothing else, Tenet could work and she could feed them.
When the sun was starting to set and they finally stopped by a small stand of the white trees, Tenet opened his shirt and leaned back, letting the cool evening breeze take off the heat of the hard day. "You weren't kidding when you said we'd push," he said, rubbing his aching thigh.
Scarab shot him a concerned look. "Too much?"
He shook his head. "No. It'll be fine. Just have to rub out some of the sore."
Scarab felt the ache of the fast travel herself and wished they could have found another stream. A good soak in cold water would have felt amazing. The best they could do was find a bubbling spring, enough for drinking but not even close to enough for bathing. She cupped her hands and filled them, then splashed her face and head with the water. Not a bath, but it would have to do. She filled their canteens and rolled out their blankets under the largest tree, letting Tenet rest.
"They're actually getting closer," he said, nodding toward the mountains. "They've been taunting us for days."
"We'll reach them by mid morning tomorrow, I'd say." Scarab dug in her pack for the wild onions, eggs, and one snake they'd come across through the day. She skinned the snake, then stood and stret
ched. "Okay, your turn, chef."
Tenet pushed up and clenched his jaw to keep from grimacing. His thigh spasmed, and he wondered if he'd always have troubles with it. A few steps took out the worst of the stabbing pain, and he gathered up wood for a fire.
"Make it small," Scarab instructed, taking over his comfy spot at the base of the tree. She wished they didn't need a fire at all. She was sure they could choke down the onions and eggs without cooking them, but the snake was much needed protein. They were both losing weight and couldn't afford to pass up that meal, and she didn't know if that was safe to eat raw.
"Yes, ma'am." He snapped a salute and gave her a wink before he got to work. He decided to go all out and got some of the dried herbs from his medical kit. While some were strictly medicinal, some of them were also used as beneficial flavorings. They could both use some extra vitamins, and he selected a few that would give them the greatest boost. He hacked the snake into chunks and tossed it in the pot with some water and the herbs. He peeled the onions, then tossed them and the greens in the snake soup. While that bubbled, he took out one of the metal cups and cracked the eggs into it.
"Getting fancy over there," Scarab said.
Tenet smiled. "I told you I can cook." He added some herbs to the eggs, then whisked them up with the blade of his knife and set the cup on the side of the fire, stirring it once in awhile. After about a half hour, the onions were tender, the snake was cooked, and he declared it dinner time. He served half the eggs in each cup with onions and snake chunks. Out of the ingredients he had to use, he'd only cooked onions and herbs before, and was surprised at how good everything else tasted.
"Not a bad showing," Scarab said, her mouth full of snake. It was stringy, but tasty. "Could use a little salt."
Tenet looked up, then smiled after her face broke out in a teasing grin. They ate quickly, then got the fire stamped out and settled down for the night. Neither could sleep, so they stared up through the light covering of leaves far above as the stars twinkled between their gently swaying natural roof.
"Do you think we'll find a place as pretty as this?"
Scarab had to agree that it was nice in this valley. Like Tenet, she could see a way to survive here. Not just survive, she corrected. Live. Actually live. If it weren't for the fact that they were still in Southland, it would be damn near perfect. She sighed. "I don't know. I hope so." She was laying next to him, her head propped on his arm.
They watched the sky above them. Miles above, a meteor streaked across their view. To Tenet, it felt like his spring nights at home, right before they'd have to pack and leave. After the crops were in. After the staff was tallied, paid, and sent away. After Mother stopped her henpecking because there simply wasn't anything left to do but wait for the transports to arrive. After his father packed out ahead of them to set up their winter stead. It felt like that, only better. Not lonely.
His eyes caught sight of another meteor, but after a few seconds, he frowned. "That's a weird meteor."
Scarab watched the moving light. It was weird. It didn't streak across the sky and fade out. In fact, it seemed to move slowly. It seemed to grow a little, too.
"It almost looks like it's getting closer, doesn't it?"
And then the sound reached her trained ears. It was faint, but unmistakable, and the little voice in her head screamed the familiar warning. "Bot!" she whispered harshly, jumping up and looking around, her mind moving a mile a minute trying to make a plan.
Tenet didn't bother to ask if she was sure. He knew that look on her face by then. He jumped up and crouched like she was, scrambling to roll up their bedding and hastily throwing their supplies back into whatever pack was closest. "What's the plan?" he whispered, never doubting that she'd have one.
They were too open where they were. The bot was scanning high, but coming down. She didn't know whose side owned it, who was watching the other end of the projected camera image, but she didn't want to stick around to find out. Why the hell hadn't they just sucked it up and kept going through the night? Or at least to the mile or so of forest that appeared to be at the base of towering rocks. They could have pushed and gotten that far and had a little cover. Scarab frowned. There was no time for chastising, she told herself. A plan formed.
"We need to get back in the grass," she whispered firmly.
"Out in the open?" Tenet hissed.
"No. We'll crawl, then lay low and see what it does."
It wasn't much of a plan, but since he couldn't think of anything better, he dropped to all fours and followed her out of the stand of trees and back into wet, thick grass. He let her lead, and after a few minutes he, too, picked up the sound of the bot.
"Get down," she hissed over her shoulder.
Tenet went to his stomach flat on the ground and hoped the tall grass offered more cover than he felt like it did. He heard Scarab scramble ahead of him, but knew to do exactly what she said. He hoped the pounding of his heart in his throat didn't give them away as he tried to get his breathing to calm. The bot got louder and he bit his lip and closed his eyes, as if he could wish them invisible. The hum and faint beeps and buzzes from the bot filled his ears, and he was sure it was right over him. When the noise stayed the same level, he just hoped it was a recon bot, and not the kind that killed. He inched his hand slowly down his side, hoping the small movement would go undetected. After painfully tense seconds he was sure took years off his life, his hand was finally at his waist, gripping the butt of his gun.
"It's going away," Scarab whispered, her voice right by his ear making him jump. Tenet's hand tensed on his gun and for a fraction of a second he was sure he pulled the trigger. "Stay down, stay still," she said in his ear. "I'm going to watch it." He was too relieved to argue and lay panting in the dirt, thankful he hadn't gotten enough grip on the gun to shoot himself in his panic.
After about a minute, Scarab patted his back. "Come on. We're going to move." She stood hunched, her eyes toward the southern skyline. "Keep low in case we need to hit the dirt again."
He nodded and followed her lead. It was awkward, especially with the heavy pack on his back and his sore leg, but he didn't dare stand any taller than he absolutely had to. He had seen firsthand what the bots could do if they wanted. "What was it?"
"Recon bot, I'm sure of it."
"Looking for us?"
She sighed in exasperation. "Since it came in from the south and couldn't wait to go back there after catching our scent, I'd say that's a pretty safe bet."
Tenet knew her annoyed tone was mostly from the tension of the situation and not his questions. He also knew that it was time to follow her lead and keep his mouth shut. He had no problems complying. Besides, half-running over uneven ground while hunched down with fifty pounds of supplies strapped to his back was taking all of his concentration. It wasn't long before his legs and lower back were burning, and he was breathing very heavily. "How much more like this?"
Scarab kept looking behind them, above them, ahead of them, searching for any more signs. Stupid, she yelled at herself. Stupid, lazy, incompetent... She should have picked up on that bot way before she did. If she hadn't been so... Tenet's question interrupted her thoughts and she snapped at him. "I don't know, okay?" When he didn't snap back at her, she felt guilty. It wasn't his fault. She stopped and squinted in the dark behind them. He stood and gave a small moan when he stretched. "Shh," she hissed, straining to hear any more telltale hum. All was quiet. She noticed he was rubbing his thigh and frowned. There was nothing to do for it but push through. "You have any herbs that will help?"
He gave a nod. "Do we have time to get them out?"
"Hurry. I'll keep watch."
Tenet dropped his pack on the ground and shuffled around inside it, coming out with a pair of Scarab's underwear. "Um, I don't think this is my pack."
She took off the pack she was wearing, then grabbed up her own as he found the herbs. She watched him shove a large pinch of dry herbs into his mouth and tuck them into hi
s cheek. He cinched his pack shut, put it on his back, and gave a nod. "All set," he mumbled around the mouthful of leaves.
They set out again, this time standing erect, with Scarab in the rear. After an hour of tense, quick marching, they reached another small smattering of trees and Scarab called for a break. "We'll take ten minutes. How's the leg?"
Tenet sat heavily on his pack and gave her a half smile. "A-okay, boss lady." His eyes were funny.
"What did you take?"
Tenet waved off her concern. "What'll get me there. How far we gotta go tonight?" He was slurring his words, but asking the right questions. He was coherent enough, and Scarab didn't say anything else about his choice of pain killers.
"I don't know. I haven't seen any other signs." She gnawed at her bottom lip, staring south.
"What?"
"Nothing," she said absently.
He sighed. "Wife you tell me what's bothering you right now."
She shot him an annoyed look, but answered. "What do you know about recon bots?" He made a little noise and held his fingers in the shape of a zero. "They gather intel, of course. Lots of it. Everything from video to environmental conditions every second of their travel pattern."
"Why?"
"To track. To hunt. To watch. But mostly, to help the humans at the other end make the best possible plan."
Tenet was having a little trouble following her. "What kind of plan?"
"In this case, I have the sneaking suspicion we're the 'kind of plan'."
It took a few heartbeats before he understood. "Oh." It was all he could say through his drugged haze.
Scarab watched Tenet's face, saw him take it in, roll it around in his fuzzy head for a minute, then understand. And all he could say was, "Oh?" If her subconscious could take over, she'd be running around, waving her hands in the air and screaming that the end of the world was nigh. And he says, "Oh." Maybe he didn't fully understand what she was saying. "These recon bots are short range, Tenet. They gather too much intel to be able to travel long distances."
"How short?"
"A few miles. Maybe up to twenty, at the very outside and only the top priced models."
Tenet felt his eyes getting heavy and noticed his vision begin to blur. "Then we gotta go," he mumbled, lurching up suddenly.
Scarab jumped up and grabbed his arm to steady him. "Damn it, Tenet! How much did you take?"
"Enough," he said, giving his head a hard shake. He took the water she offered and the cool liquid helped him focus. "Let's go."
They had no choice. Scarab helped him get his pack on, wishing she was strong enough to carry both. He got it settled on his back, swayed, then put his hands out until he steadied. He took off without another word. Some part of his brain warned him that he'd pay for it later. The other part warned him if they didn't push hard, there wouldn't be a later. He listened to that part and began telling himself to take one more step.
Scarab heard his soft words, "One more step," over and over and really began to worry. They did not need him to be laid up another three days. They couldn't afford even one day. She weighed the options. If they stopped now for a few hours, maybe it would give him enough of a break. "We'll go an hour more, then stop for a rest."
"No," he said firmly.
"We can't have you laid up again."
"And we can't get caught by my father."
She sighed. "Don't decide to be stubborn now of all times."
"Don't decide I'm a baby now of all times."
"We can't risk you holding us up another three days." She was sorry for the words, but didn't take them back. It was the truth.
"That won't happen. It's muscle ache, not infection. Nothing to be done for it but ride it out." He was breathing hard, but sounding more sure and less drugged out.
"Fine. Be stubborn."
"I plan on it."
They walked in silence for another two hours before he couldn't be stubborn anymore. They needed a break. By now, they were out of the tall grass and the patches of trees grew more frequent and more dense. Any recon bot would have to move slower, giving much more warning if it came near. They set up under the branches of an enormous pine tree and exhaustion had them both sleeping before they could even bother with bedrolls.
Tenet woke to a dull throbbing in his head. He groaned and shifted, then was hard pressed to decide if the throb in his head was worse than the ache of his leg. He took a couple deep breaths and pushed himself up, waiting for the world to stop spinning around him. It was the end result of his hasty decision to down a palm full of carobina leaves. He squeezed his eyes tight and tried to keep his stomach calm, but the effort was for naught and he scrambled on hands and knees out from under the tree to be sick. He kept telling himself he'd feel better for it as he heaved and heaved until there was nothing left.
"I'd ask how you're feeling but that seems a little insensitive at the moment." He looked up at Scarab, then frowned at the grin on her face. She handed him water and he took it, squeezing his eyes tight and willing the liquid to stay in his stomach. He needed to rehydrate. Fortunately the water stayed put.
"Coffee?" he croaked.
"Sorry. Can't risk a fire."
That's not what Tenet meant. He crawled back under the tree and found her pack. He dug out the can of coffee and tipped a handful of grounds into his palm. He swallowed hard, then put them in his mouth and began to chew.
"I didn't know you were that much of a caffeine freak."
Scarab was still amused, and it irritated the hell out of him. He chewed the hideous mouth full, then choked it down with some of the water. "The caffeine will help the headache," he mumbled. "How long was I asleep?"
"Five or so hours. It's full light, but overcast. I think it's going to rain, which will suck to hike in, but it'll keep the bots at bay."
He closed his eyes and leaned against the trunk of the tree, waiting for the rush of caffeine to take the edge off the headache. "Have there been any more?"
"No. I was just about to climb up and have a look."
"Climb what?"
"This tree."
He opened his eyes and looked at her. "No. It's too dangerous."
Scarab shot him a look and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to take advice from the man who has to chew coffee grounds in a desperate attempt to get rid of the hangover he gave himself because he was too damn stubborn to wait an hour and give his leg a chance to rest?" She gave his good leg a few hard pats. "Don't think so, buddy." She jumped up and began climbing. "It's the best view we'll get without a helmet. God I wish I kept my suit!" A few bits of bark fell from where her feet dug into the old tree and got in Tenet's eyes.
"Be careful up there!" he barked, instantly sorry he yelled.
"Nag, nag," she called down in an almost happy voice. If Tenet didn't know better, he'd think she was enjoying herself. He would have been shocked to know she was. She always loved the thrill of bounty hunting, and as sick as it was, part of her thrilled at being hunted as well. It was the rush of outsmarting the opponent, the test of cleverness, the trial of fortitude and cunning. She scrambled up the tree branches, almost giddy. She was relieved they knew their enemy. The more she thought about it, the more sure she was that Tenet's father had his minions on them. Yes, they were a little too close for comfort. But at least now she knew her enemy. She knew where they were. She even knew what they were using to track, and that was a huge leg up.
She pulled herself up as high as she dared on the swiftly thinning, aged branches. Another shouted warning from Tenet reached her ears, but she ignored it. Scarab carefully anchored her feet on branches below her perch, and then took her time scanning the southern horizon. The view was breathtakingly beautiful in the gray morning. She looked across the wide valley they'd been traveling for days and marveled at how far they had come. She was very pleased to see that from any distance, their tracks looked like the same game paths that crisscrossed the prairie. From this distance, there was no way of telling human from deer, a
nd that was a major advantage.
The sun poked through the clouds for a moment, and Scarab shaded her eyes with her hand. She wished again she had the magnification of her Summer suit's visor, and was cursing herself again when a flash in the distance caught her eye. She concentrated on the spot and saw the flash again. Her heart raced. "Gotcha," she whispered. The clouds covered the sun again and a faint rumble of thunder rolled down the valley. She knew she had to get out of the tree before it rained, but she needed a better idea of distance, and a look at what lay ahead for them. She scanned the valley and mentally counted back stands of trees. She found the one she believed was where they had seen the bot, then thought about how long it took to get between there and the current cluster of trees. She estimated that the stand was five or so miles away. The flash of light looked to be at least twice as far, but she knew she couldn't risk making that assessment. To be safe, she would set her mind to believe the group hunting them was at the stand of trees already.
Turning in the tree, Scarab looked to the north. They'd be in thick tree cover within an hour if they could travel at a steady rate. Then they'd start moving up. That would be the hard part, especially with Tenet's leg. Hopefully his hangover would be lessened by the time they got into the real hiking. The rain began to fall in earnest, and Tenet was hollering constantly for her to get out of the tree. She sighed and called out for him to cool it with the shouting, then carefully made her way down the slick branches. When she hit the ground, Tenet was standing with his hands on his hips, his eyes brooding.
"You should have started down when you heard the thunder."
Scarab rolled her eyes. "How did I ever manage to keep myself alive before I met you?"
"I wonder that all the time," he muttered. He picked up his pack and settled it on his back.
"Feeling better yet?"
"As good as I'm going to. See anything interesting?"
"Yeah. Your pop's decided to come hunting."
His eyes turned darker, his jaw clenched. "How far back?" he asked after a moment, unable to keep anger from his voice.
"About where we started last night."
"Shit." He looked back, as if he could see through the trees. "Let's go, then."
Scarab put on her pack and clipped the strap in front of her. "We're looking at only about an hour, maybe a little more of this flat land, then we start to climb. Think you can handle it?"
"Do we have a choice?" When she didn't answer, Tenet nodded. "Go."
It was a horrible day. Tenet's leg killed him, the rain picked up from a light mist to a pounding downpour that didn't want to let up, and the terrain got steep and deep far sooner than Scarab expected. While the trees weren't very dense, the undergrowth, untouched for hundreds of years, was thick and thorny. They had to take turns hacking with a large knife just to make it through.
"Wish we didn't have to leave such an obvious trail," she lamented, mostly just to say something.
"This can't last forever," he replied, taking the knife and the lead for awhile.
He was right, of course. It didn't last forever. It only felt like it had. By the time the undergrowth thinned and the trees thickened, Tenet's arms were as sore as his leg. He was happy to see Scarab buckle the knife to her belt. It would be easier travel. It would have been, too, if it weren't so steep. There were several areas that required them to pull themselves up the slick, pine needle path by the trunks of smaller trees. They were too exhausted for words, and neither talked for hours.
The one good thing about the rain was that it kept any recon bots away. They couldn't travel in the heavy rains, and even if the people controlling them were narrowing the gap, they'd hit the steep, wet terrain, too. Sure, they would already have a path through the undergrowth, but only if they took the same line. Scarab felt confident that the odds on that were incredibly slim.
The long morning rolled slowly into late afternoon. They were soaked. Everything unsealed in their packs was probably soaked, too. They'd be stupid to have a fire, but they might be dead if they didn't. They had little in the way of food, and as they continued to travel every up, Scarab saw nothing that gave her hope they'd be able to forage, either. The dense canopy left little light to reach the floor and allow anything to grow, even if edibles could somehow gain purchase on the steep slope. It was too rainy to hear or see signs of animals, so she didn't even know if she could hunt anything. All in all, by the time Tenet had to call for a rest, their morale was at rock bottom.
Scarab looked around. They couldn't rest right where they were, on another steep, wet, pine needle patch. Bracing herself against the trunk of a tree, she scanned for a plan. "Okay," she said eventually. "We'll get to the top of this rise, then you can sit under that big tree up over there and I'll see if I can find something out of the rain."
Tenet gave a nod. One big push, he told himself. They lurched up the rise and over the top. To their relief, the ground leveled somewhat and he stumbled gratefully to the big tree trunk and flopped down. "Oh, god that feels good," he said.
Scarab removed her pack and leaned it against the tree trunk. The rain was slowing to a mist again. Either that or the canopy was so thick it was keeping it out. Whatever the reason, the constant barrage of pounding raindrops had stopped. She ran a hand through her wet hair to stop it's dripping in her eyes and looked around. "There are tons of rocks here," she muttered, half to herself. "I'll be right back." She set off toward a large outcropping.
Tenet closed his eyes and breathed deep and slow, calming his body down after the extreme exertion of the day. His leg was killing him, but the headache had eased. It was something, anyway. When he was breathing normally, he started to shiver and realized how wet he was. They needed to get warm and dry, and he hoped Scarab could come up with a plan to make that happen. He was just too exhausted to think.
"Hey." Tenet felt his shoulder being shaken and bolted up. He must have fallen asleep. "Think you can push another half mile or so?" At his unsure look, Scarab gave an encouraging smile. "I promise it'll be worth it."
He stood and wearily grabbed up his pack. "Lead on, wife."
It seemed to take forever to get where they were going. The woods around them darkened with the coming night. Had they really been through a whole day? It didn't seem like it. They sure didn't get very far. And yet it some ways, it felt like a week. He'd never traveled lands like this. The first mountain they had climbed was just a baby, a sad little hill in comparison. He'd felt so big, so great, so worthy when he climbed it. He gave a bitter little laugh at his naivety, waving off her questioning look. Some things weren't worth explaining.
"Here we are," she said, stopping at last.
All he saw were rocks. "Uh, okay."
Scarab sighed. "It's a cave, Tenet. Come on." She lead the way over some sharp rocks, and then all at once he could see the dark opening of a cave. He had to be right on top of it to notice, and knew if it was deep enough, they'd be safe from detection all night. Safe, and, most importantly, dry. He grinned in approval and the thought of a warm, dry night gave him a fresh boost of energy. He eagerly climbed the rocks behind Scarab, and soon they were several feet into complete darkness.
"Hold on," she muttered, then took out her flashlight. Shining it around them, she revealed a spacious, empty hole in the rocks, with a high ceiling and a mostly smooth floor. "I'll see if I can find anything dry to burn for a fire."
"I'll get the bedrolls set up."
Tenet worked in mostly darkness by touch. One bedroll was completely soggy. He got it out anyway and laid it flat on the cave floor, hoping it would dry. The other was mostly dry, with only a damp corner. It would have to do. He opened one pack, unsure of whose it was, and began taking out the clothing from inside. By the size of the garments, it was his pack. One shirt felt dry, but everything else was wet. He felt around for the seeds he was carrying, and a quick check on the plastic zippered bag reassured him they were still dry inside. The medicine container was also sealed and the conte
nts intact. He stumbled around and laid out the clothing as best he could, then went through the same process with Scarab's pack. The last few protein bars were soggy blobs, and her clothing was also drenched. The truly important things, the seeds and ammunition, were dry. Tenet decided that overall, it could have been worse.
Scarab returned with an armload of half dry wood. "I've got another pile out there waiting. See if you can get some of this started."
Tenet snapped some of the driest pieces into smaller kindling, then scooped up some old leaves and pine needles from the edges of the cave. He got the pine needles to light with the flint, but it took three tries, a lot of dried leaves, and even more swears before the kindling actually took. It was nearly a half hour before he felt confident the fire would stay blazing.
"Thank god that worked," Scarab said, her teeth chattering.
"You need to get out of your wet clothes."
"So do you," she stammered, holding her hands to the small fire. "Do we have anything dry?"
"I have one shirt, you've got zip. One blanket's not too bad."
It wasn't a good situation to be in. "Okay. We'll get our stuff off and lay the driest things close to the fire to be ready as soon as possible. We'll sit under the blanket and hope the fire stays lit."
It was the best plan they were going to get, and a few minutes later, huddled together trying to get warm, Tenet had to admit it did have some merits.
"I'm starving," Scarab said once her shivering had settled down.
"The protein bars are soggy lumps." Tenet picked them up from the wet blanket they were sitting on. "We'll have to pretend they're soup."
"Mmm. Cold protein soup. Don't you know by now that's my favorite?" Scarab asked with a grin. It was amazing how much better being in a dry place with a fire going made her feel. It always worked like a charm through the winters, no matter how bad the situation was. A warm fire and meal, no matter how bad the food was, made all the difference. They slurped the mushy protein in silence and stared into the life saving flames. Every once in awhile, one of them would check on the clothes, keeping the blanket around them as well as possible. When they each had a shirt completely dry, they put them on, still huddling under the blankets. The pants took forever to dry, but Tenet was amazed just how great each little upturn in their situation felt.
"I never thought I'd be so damn happy to be sitting in a shirt and underwear."
Scarab shrugged. "Being sprayed by a coonskunk is better than being stuck in shit."
Tenet snorted. "What do you mean by that?"
"Just something Hark used to say when he was training me. Basic survival. If you're in deep, your brain really doesn't need much at all to remember it can get better. We had one hell of a crappy day. I'm not going to lie. If we didn't find this cave, we'd be in trouble." Though Tenet already knew that, hearing a seasoned pro like her admit it freely made him shiver. "But, we did. We found it, and our brains went into euphoria because it's clear we'll survive."
"We're still in trouble."
She shrugged. "Yes, but less trouble than we were an hour ago."
Tenet added another small bundle of sticks to the fire. "Can we really afford to stay here tonight?"
It was a damn good question, and one she couldn't really answer. He deserved honesty, and she decided not to sugar coat it. "We made horrible time today."
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"Why? It's not your fault. I couldn't have pushed much harder if I was on my own." He knew she was lying, and was oddly touched. "That terrain was a lot steeper than I thought. And I had no idea we'd have to go through a mile of thicket first." She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top, staring into the fire. "The only plus is that whoever's following us had the same shitty conditions. I couldn't see them clearly, so I have no idea how many there are , or what else they have for advantages beyond recon bots."
"So we're basically easy pickings," he said flatly.
She shook her head. "No," she said firmly, hoping he'd believe it. She couldn't let his morale slip back down. "I know it feels like that, but we have a couple advantages ourselves, not the least of which being that we have shelter."
"They probably have tents."
"Not if they're serious hunters."
"Like you."
"Yes. A tent slows you down. Any mobile shelter would. And even if they're not that good, which I fail to believe, it would be impossible to pitch any kind of tent on the side of this mountain. I didn't notice any other signs of caves up to this point, and they can't go ahead in the dark in this kind of terrain. It would be beyond foolish to try."
Tenet thought about it and agreed that she had a point. They did have the slight advantage of a head start. "What did you mean when you said you didn't believe they weren't as good as you?"
"Your father paid top dollar for the very best to find you the first time," she said without a shred of false modesty. Tenet couldn't help but laugh at her conceit. She shrugged it off. "Laugh if you want, but it's true. My record speaks for itself. You are the one and only bounty I never completed."
Tenet poked at the fire with a damp stick. He was quiet so long, Scarab wondered if she said too much. It was the truth, though. She couldn't hide it and wouldn't deny it. When he did finally say something, it was to ask her a simple question.
"Why?"
She knew what he was asking, but had no idea how to answer. The panic she felt over getting too close began to rise up inside. "Why what?" she asked, scrambling for time.
He turned his head to look at her. "Why didn't you just turn me over and go on with your life?"
She couldn't tell him that she wondered that every second of every day since setting eyes on him lying there in the ashes, pathetically dehydrated and hopelessly lost in his own damn yard.
"You were the best, you said."
"Damn right," she whispered.
"How many bounties did you have over the years?"
Dozens. Too many to count. More than most, less than she wanted.
"Why me, Scarab?"
She was too tired. She had enough. She couldn't face another day of pushing, aching, hurting. She was lonely. She was sick of running and desperately wanted a life. Any of those answers would have been enough for him. But none of them were exactly true. Part of the story, maybe, but not the whole picture. The simple truth was that she didn't know what it was about him that got to her from the start.
"Why take the job at all if you weren't planning on seeing it through?" he asked when she didn't answer.
"I planned on completing it." Mostly. She never planned on killing him. She prided herself in bringing her bounties in alive, no matter how much more money was offered for delivering a body.
"Then why didn't you?"
She shook her head. "I just..."
"Why?" he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.
"I don't know," she whispered back.
He searched her face for a minute before giving a little nod. He didn't know what he had hoped for, what he wanted to hear. Some confession of love? He wondered if she even knew what that emotion was. No, he wasn't looking for that. He was simply looking for some sense in what had become a crazy, unfathomable situation. "I guess that's not the important part, hm?" He gave her a smile he hoped he pulled off.
"I couldn't turn you in to a man who'd pay more to have his own son brought back dead." It was as honest as she could be.
"Are you sorry?"
"No." Her quick reply let him know she was telling the truth. Not that she lied to him, he admitted to himself. She never did. She evaded the truth. She ignored parts of questions she didn't want to answer. But, so far, she hadn't lied to him. It struck him then that she was the only one in his life who didn't.
"Why won't he just stop?"
Scarab knew he was hurting. "The border. Once we cross, he'll have no choice."
Tenet shook his head. "I don't know about that."
"He wouldn't dare piss off the Bor
derlands."
Tenet gave a short laugh. "You've never met my father."
"Yes, I have. And I can tell you for a fact that he's smaller than he thinks." Tenet quirked an eyebrow in question, but she looked back into the fire and kept talking. "The Borderlands doesn't need any of the other governments. That's the point. That's why they exist, to be completely self sufficient. And they pull it off, have for hundreds of years. There's turmoil, sure. There's the same political crap that goes on everywhere else. Someone's always going to be crazy, someone else will always have to put him in his place, someone else thinks their idea is the best, while someone else knows for a fact theirs is better. Same world, same humans, same problems. The advantage the Borderlands has over the rest of the world is that they are united in their desire to be able to tell the rest of the world to piss off. The rest of the world, they don't have that. Nations still battle other nations because they all need each other."
"Great. So they're all rebels together. I don't get how that's an advantage."
"Because they don't need the rest of the world. The rest of the world, however, needs them."
He had to laugh at that. As someone so intimate with the upper levels of government, he knew she was wrong on that one and told her so.
"Laugh if you want. While you're laughing, though, why don't you stop and think about this. Who bailed you out when you had the nationwide drought a few years ago?"
He sighed. "We have an emergency fund for situations like that."
"Right. Money."
"Yes. Which people could use to buy food when their...crops..." his voice petered out and he frowned deeply. Where the hell had people bought food from if the crops failed? He wracked his brain, but couldn't remember even questioning it at the time. Stipends were distributed, people bought food from suppliers instead of trading their crops for others. The drought was the worst they'd seen in decades and affected most every agro group. Now that she brought it up, though, it never occurred to question why they still had a bountiful amount of their regular foods when there should have been major changes to the diet. Maybe he was remembering incorrectly? Maybe they did have to cut back and he just didn't pay attention.
"They rely on the Borderlands when they need to," Scarab answered for him. "Not just crops, but meat."
Tenet shook his head. "No. Now that I can't believe. We eat so little meat."
"Some of you. The bulk of your work force still eats meat, even if it's not a daily thing. Haven't you ever eaten in the lesser quarters before?"
Tenet didn't care for her insinuation. "Of course I did! And never once did I see a bit of meat in their homes."
"Maybe they were being nice and honoring your traditions while you were a guest." More like kissing his ass, but she didn't have the heart to say that.
Was that true? Did people like Mobi and Carla, people he considered childhood friends, people he played with, people he later treated and refused payments from...did they really think they had to change who they were around him? The idea made him feel sick, as if he couldn't even have that one, small scrap of pleasant memory. "Even if that's true," he said, steering the conversation back to the topic at hand. "We farm animals."
"Yes, and your government only allows them to be raised a certain way, and slaughtered only when their own natural end of life is near."
"It's the only humane way to do it. I see nothing wrong with it."
"You certainly had no problem eating the fish and snake." His face instantly turned red. "Now, I'm no expert, but I certainly didn't see any wrinkles on any of them."
"That's different," he insisted. "That's a matter of survival."
"And when your crops of corn sell for ten times the cost of a side of beef, it comes down to a matter of survival for anyone who isn't at the top!" She didn't mean to shout. Tenet had grown so much, changed so much. But in this one thing, he had to see, had to understand. He was no longer rich. He wouldn't be ever again. She knew he had a picture of getting to the Borderlands, and then having everything be right as rain. There was no fancy house waiting for them at the end of the journey. There wasn't a warm meal and a happy ending. Whatever they were going to have, they would have to struggle to get for themselves. He still thought in terms of "us" and "them", and she was afraid he wouldn't understand that he was now a "them" until it was too late.
"You have a certain view of the world," she said more kindly. "And that view is for the top ten percent of those living in your integrated nations. For most of the people, life is hard. Life here is hard, life in the Borderlands is harder. You grew up not eating animals because you were rich enough to be able to live without the nutrients meat provides. You could afford substitutes. Most people, your workers included, can't. You can't. You ate the fish and the snake to survive. Tenet, the people that have to buy cheap meat from the Borderlands every month, they are just doing it to survive. And your government allows it so they can pretend their system works." She waited for him to object, and was slightly surprised that he didn't. "Think about your friends, your colleagues, the people you've been raised around. What would happen if they knew that the majority of their people had to buy the very basics from a world they refuse to acknowledge exists? It would be earth shattering. Your whole system would crumble."
He rolled his eyes at that. "That's a little overly dramatic."
She shrugged. "I stand by it."
He wished he could write off what she was saying as anti-governmental propaganda. But he couldn't. Her words combined with everything else he had learned over the past two months. They rang with a truth that couldn't be denied. "So. We need the Borderlands."
"Since we are about to be citizens of the Borderlands, I think you should get used to saying, they need us."
He sighed heavily. "It still won't keep my father out."
"He'd be a moron to start something with the Borderlands. He doesn't strike me as a moron. Monster? Bastard? Slime ball of the century? Sure. But not a moron."
Tenet laughed at her attempt to lighten the mood. "I sure hope you're right." He took the blanket from around their shoulders and laid it on the ground. He lay on top, holding his arm out and waiting for her to join him. When she did, he pulled half the blanket over them and tucked her into his chest tightly. "How long can we sleep?"
She yawned, feeling the weight of the day swamp her all at once. "I guess until we wake up," she said. He mumbled something, then began to snore. In minutes, Scarab could no longer keep her eyes open and stopped trying, lulled to sleep by the feel of his arms around her and the soft snoring that was quickly becoming pleasantly familiar.
