The Saffron Malformation

by Walker, Bryan

  “Where are we going?” Amber asked. She was crying now. “Who was that man?”

  Natalie looked over at her daughter and saw the fear radiating off her. She’d neglected to realize that the girl would have been watching everything from the car, that she would have seen the man and the knife. She may have even heard a bit of the shouting from inside the house.

  “I don’t know,” she answered. “Someone bad.”

  “What did he want?”

  “I don’t know,” she felt inept when she had to say those words again.

  “What’s going on, where are we going?” Amber asked between sobs.

  Natalie felt better because she had an answer: “Far away from here,” she said, eyes darting left and right as she drove through the narrow streets at a speed greater than she should have. Quey had warned her and for that she was grateful because she’d done as he said. She’d had a plan. She had a way out.

  Hide and Seek

  The convoy was stopped in the middle of the road, between the rows of businesses lining Vernire’s main street. The stopped vehicles were longer than the strip of buildings itself. Quey and Dusty stood looking at it for a spell while Reggie distributed guns and ammunition.

  “This is it,” Dusty said and Quey looked at him. “No going back on it now, we roll out with them and we’re stuck with ‘em. There won’t be any convincing the Brood of anything else. They spot us with them now and they’re going to go ahead and assume we’re cohorts through and through, and that makes us cohorts who gave them the slip and played them as fools, which is the worst kind to be.”

  Quey smiled and nodded. “I reckon that ship’s already out to sea.”

  Dusty looked over his shoulder to the car where Rain was leaning in through the back passenger’s side door talking to Leone. He loved Rachel but that didn’t keep him from admiring her ass. It was well worth a gander. Quey smiled slightly and nudged him.

  “What?” Dusty asked. “I’m engaged, not dead.” He glanced back at her for a split then turned away. “’sides, she’s not really my style. You know I’ve always been more of a boob man.”

  Quey laughed.

  There was a brief moment where they stood listening to the wind pass through the tall grass in the surrounding fields. Then Dusty asked, “She worth it?”

  Quey took a long breath.

  “Because you know she’s been with Arnie for like four months and if things are going to get complicated-”

  “They won’t,” Quey interrupted and the hard gaze he gave the road below vanquished any remnants of a smile.

  “You sure you want to take this on?” Dusty asked looking down at the long line of vehicles.

  “All set,” Reggie called from the car. He’d given Rachel one of the rifles, her time practicing on the road had turned her into quite the markswoman and put some serious wear on Dusty’s prick, but you’d never hear him complain. He’d also handed her a pair of pistols and ammo for each of the guns.

  Looking back at the group in and around the blue four-door Quey said, “Are we ever sure of anything out here?” He looked at his friend and clarified, “They’re our crew. And they need us.”

  Dusty smiled at him, nodded, and clapped him on the back. “All right then. Lets get the fuck out of here.”

  Dusty was halfway to the car when his sheet began to buzz. He looked at it and saw Natalie was calling him and he answered, curiously. When she appeared in his screen she looked frantic. “Natalie? You okay?” he asked.

  “No,” she snapped. “I came home today and there was a man at my house. He asked me where you were and I told him you left days ago. I tried to call security but… this is all such a fucking mess,” she blurted.

  Quey sighed. He knew who’d found her. He took Dusty’s sheet and looked at her. “You got out though?”

  She nodded. “What the hell are you mixed in with?”

  “I told you it was heavy.”

  “Security was on its way and this guy wasn’t even nervous. He said no one would see me again.”

  “Yeah, he’s got a real hard on for the likes of us and the whereabouts of someone I’m helping.”

  “Who?”

  “People you haven’t met, doesn’t matter. Anyway, where are you now?”

  “The road. I just ran. Amber’s using the bathroom, I can’t even think what to tell her.”

  “The truth,” Quey replied. “She’ll handle it better than any story you make up.”

  Natalie was crying, not weeping, just draining water from her eyes.

  “Your sheet still have its UD chip?”

  Her expression faded into worry and she said, “Yeah.”

  “Then you need to ditch it now. Probably this guy let you go hoping to track you to me. Head southeast as best you can. We’ll meet up as soon as possible. I got an errand or two to run first. And either get a new device or borrow one.”

  She nodded.

  Quey thought for a moment then told her, “There’s a town you should come across, if you follow the sixty-one called Broge. Stop in at the thunder roof bar and ask for Kip. Drop my name and tell him you need a clean device, he’ll hook you up. Probably won’t be but a band or some other cheap shit but it’ll do in a pinch.”

  Natalie nodded then looked up at Amber returning from the restroom. “All right. I have to go.”

  “Natalie?” Quey said. She looked at him and he said, honestly, “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded and the signal cut. He tossed Dusty his sheet back and stood contemplative for a long moment before hurrying to the others.

  Rachel took to keeping an eye on the brood while Quey, Dusty and Reggie stood around the hood of the car searching for another road.

  “This has to lead somewhere,” Quey said, indicating the strip of pavement the house stood next to.

  “Arnie, you know the area at all?” Dusty shouted.

  The young man shook his head and told them, “We just arrived a few days ago. Hell, I was still half a day out when I sent you that message.”

  “Right, well there’s not much choice then. We have to just roll on out and hope it leads somewhere. The other option is head back toward town and I don’t like that even a bit.”

  “We don’t have a marked truck this time,” Reggie offered and Quey shook his head.

  “In Fen Quada that might fly, but a town this small they can afford to stop everyone and they mean to, bet my right nut on it. Not to mention if they do take to moving before we get back to the main road and start on out of here they’re likely to recognize me, her,” he said indicating Rain, “the boy. Hell,” he told Reggie, “They’ll probably even remember you and Dusty.”

  “So let’s call the matter settled and get rolling,” Dusty said and started for the driver’s side of the car.

  “Hold up,” Reggie injected. He was staring at Arnie. “He drives.”

  Arnie looked from Reggie to Quey to Dusty and replied, “Sure,” hesitantly.

  “I can drive,” Dusty told the big man.

  “I know you can,” he answered back. “But he can’t shoot.”

  The acknowledgement of this fact came in the form of silence as they took a moment to remember what had happened in Bravette. It was true, the last time Arnie had to hold a gun he’d freaked out so bad he’d vomited and set off on his own afterward. Driving, however, had been another story. During the first encounter with the brood he’d handled himself brilliantly behind the wheel of the very car he was being asked to drive now.

  Dusty slowly nodded and shouted to Arnie, “Let’s go.” He clapped twice and the young man climbed behind the wheel of the car while Dusty settled in behind him. Rachel hurried back from the edge of the driveway where she’d been keeping her watch and settled into the passenger’s seat with her rifle in hand. Quey and Reggie headed for the truck. Without discussion, Quey went to the driver’s side and Reggie took the passenger seat. The gun seat, in this case.

  They started down the road. This time it was the blue car leadin
g and the truck rolling behind. Reggie had a rifle across his lap and a pair of pistols sat on the seat between them. Quey glanced from the car ahead to the mirror beside him and his heart jumped when he saw the convoy begin to move. It skipped again when the car suddenly stopped.

  Quey slammed the breaks and was about to start cussing Arnie when he saw the sign. It was on the right hand side of the road and it read:

  !Danger!

  Lake Ariel ahead.

  There had been more words below that once but time and neglect had worn them away. Still, Quey was pretty sure what they’d find if they continued on to the lake. It would be a refuge for animals and the sorts of people that didn’t mind drinking from the ground.

  After rolling down his window Quey stuck his head out and looked behind him. He peered down the road and was sure he could see the convoy rolling toward them. Despite the discretion Rain and Arnie had used, Quey knew the town of Vernire was small enough that everyone in it was well aware of what house the new young couple was squatting in and it hadn’t taken the Brood long to convince them giving up the new strangers was in their best interests. Now they were moving to check the house and if they remained stopped in the middle of the road much longer they’d be spotted for sure.

  Looking ahead again Quey saw Arnie stick his head out of the window and look back at him. “Go,” he shouted and the car began moving forward again.

  “Keep a keen eye peeled,” Quey said to Reggie who was scanning the trees along his side of the road. “Might be Once Men in them thar hills.” The big man glanced at him and they exchanged a nervous smile.

  The road took them to the lake but what they found was not what Quey had expected, suggested most noticeably by the furrow of his brow. What they sped toward was a series of abandoned cabins surrounding a large glistening stretch of water, the surface of which crawled with subtle ripples the eastern wind pulled along with it. What surrounded the water wasn’t lush foliage, however. It was a waste. The grass that grew up from the cracked earth was brittle and colorless, the trees that had once grown tall and filled the area with a canopy of green had fallen over and dried up. Some had landed on the roofs of a few of the cabins, caving them in, while others simply lay across the dead surrounding yards.

  “Never heard of a waste this far north before,” Reggie grumbled.

  “Me either,” Quey replied.

  As they continued along the road that curved around the lake and cabins Quey looked out the window. They passed one of the decrepit structures and Quey spotted an object at the center of the lake that made him gape. Standing tall on a small island in the middle of the lake was a tower. They had seen one or two in their travels, usually near major cities or registered settlements and always guarded by fences and a slew of security officers. This one was out in the middle of nowhere, with no one around it.

  “We have to stop,” Quey said hastily.

  “You can’t be serious,” Reggie replied snapping his attention to the man in the driver’s seat, his big dark brow furrowed by disbelief.

  “We need to get into that tower.”

  “Why? It’s been abandoned. Probably don’t even work anymore.”

  Quey looked from the tower to Reggie and smirked, “Exactly.” Then he stepped on the brake, slowing the truck but not stopping it.

  “Quey they’re on our tail already-”

  “And checking the house’ll keep em for a good ten or fifteen.”

  The car in front of them gained ground then slowed to match their speed. Ahead the road split, one way wrapped around the lake and cabins while the other snaked down a slight hill and vanished into the trees a kilometer or two ahead. Quey stopped at the crossroads and the car did the same. After a moment Arnie shifted into reverse and drove backwards, switching lanes and stopping beside the truck.

  Staring at the road winding around the lake, Quey was lost to thought until the horn of the car beside him honked twice. He rolled down his window and Dusty yelled from the back seat, “What the hell are you up to now.”

  Quey pointed to the tower, “See that.”

  Everyone in the car glanced toward the lake then back to him. Dusty replied, “Yeah, so what?”

  “I need to have a look at it.”

  “Uh… In case you haven’t noticed we’ve got a whole mess of badies just a ways behind us and I don’t think they’re going to let us call ‘time out.’”

  Quey pointed toward a cabin near the other side of the lake. “See over there, between the cabin and the boathouse, I can park on the other side of something and chances are good they’ll just drive by.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Rain asked. She was ignored.

  “And if they don’t? If they decide to go once around the lake for good measure we’re going to find our dicks in quite the lions mouth now aren’t we.”

  “You can’t seriously be considering stopping here,” Rain protested, again to deaf ears.

  Quey looked at Dusty and shook his head once. “No. I didn’t say we, I said I. You guys go ahead. We’ll catch up.”

  “Quey this is crazy, you can’t,” Rachel began to protest.

  Quey interrupted her. “Look, it makes sense. They’ll be through the house any minute and they know we didn’t head back toward town. This is the only other way we could have gone and they’ll follow it a good while. They don’t know how many of us there are or that we have two vehicles.”

  Dusty looked at him, a touch of worry in his gaze and asked, “And if they do go around the lake…?”

  Quey tried to smile reassuringly but it was fake. “Been in tighter spots than this once or twice.”

  From the driver’s seat of the blue car Arnie spoke up. “They’ll be behind us any minute so what are we doing?”

  Quey looked at Dusty and told him. “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve had a look at that tower.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Rain demanded again. “What’s so important about this damn tower?” Her eyes shimmered with panic and confusion.

  Quey looked at her and told her, “It’s about that robot I had in my truck. The planet’s dying and I mean to know why and that tower might tell us more in a brief split than all these months of driving around letting the bot do its little studies can.”

  Dusty had known Quey long enough to understand there wasn’t going to be any changing his mind on this subject. He had it in his head this was important, had been looking for one of these towers he could get close to since they’d started and now he had one. He wasn’t going to be swayed by imminent danger.

  “Arnie,” Dusty said as he opened his door. “Drive ‘em out of here. Find the nearest place you feel you might be able to hunker for a spell and hide good.”

  “What are you doing?” Quey asked as Dusty stepped from the car and closed the door behind him.

  “I’m going with you.”

  “Dusty,” Rachel called, a slight bit of worry in her tone.

  He raced around the car to her opened window and touched her face. “We’ll be fine,” he assured her. “Like Quey said, we’ve been in tighter spots before.”

  She swallowed hard and nodded. “Then I want to stay too.” He shook his head and started to protest but she grabbed his hand. “Whatever happens, however it goes I want us to do it together. I go on and something happens…” she trailed off. “I’m not doing that.” She looked up at him and he knew he had another person with a case of stubbornness he wasn’t going to be able to reason with.

  “Whatever we’re doing,” Reggie said, “We need to do it now.”

  Rachel opened the door and stepped out of the car, carrying her rifle. Dusty nodded and closed the door.

  The couple ran to the back of the truck, opened its large cargo door and climbed inside. They were barely settled when Quey’s foot found the accelerator and the truck leapt forward. “Remember,” he told Arnie as he started away. Just find a place to hide out for a while. We’ll be in touch.”

  Arnie watched the truck turn down
the road that wrapped around the lake and the further away it got the more alone he felt. This was going to be the second time these people had saved him and he repaid their kindness by abandoning them.

  He looked in the rearview mirror at Rain, sitting behind the passenger’s seat and Leone, who’d moved behind his seat when Dusty stepped out. She was looking back at him.

  “This is crazy,” he muttered as he followed the truck down the road leading around the lake.

  “Arnie!” Rain yelped, “What the hell are you doing?”

  He looked at her in the mirror again and swallowed hard. Finally he understood what Quey and Reggie and Dusty had been saying since the brood attacked Fen Quada. He told it to Rain then with wide eyes and a racing heart. “They’re our crew.”

  She stared at him, “You know what’s going to happen if they find us?”

  He shifted his eyes to the road ahead and told her firmly, “They didn’t have to come.”

  Rain felt jittery but she settled back in her seat, slightly. He was right, of course and she felt like a bitch for forgetting. They didn’t have to come, but they had.

  Her hands trembled slightly. She looked over at Leone who was looking back at her with uncertainty. She smiled at him and he smiled back and she envied him because that was all it took to assure him everything was okay.

  Rain leaned forward and spoke into Arnie’s ear. “I hope these people know what they’re doing because I sure as hell don’t.” She settled back and took Leone’s hand while Arnie followed the truck.

  It was easier to hide the vehicles than they’d thought. They came across a cabin, halfway to the other side of the lake, mostly intact save the wear of time, and it had a garage. It was a tight fit; Quey thought it was meant to store a boat or something not so big as the truck, but still it fit. The car they parked in a shed near a cabin three doors down. Arnie had to park with the passenger’s side nearly touching the wall so he could open his door enough to get out and both Rain and Leone had to climb out the same side.