Ida looked at her. “I understand you care about Paul, but this isn’t going to help him. It’s only going to get you and others killed.”
“We can’t just do nothing. It’s not right. Paul could be getting tortured right now, for all we know,” said Lucy, her words fading off.
“We need to focus on our own survival. Right now, lying low is the best thing we can do.”
“And what—hope and pray Paul is ok? Screw that. Survival isn’t about being a chicken shit and hiding underground while one of our own dies. That’s no way to live.”
Ida opened her mouth as if to speak, but couldn’t find words.
Lucy went on, “You were the one who said we must keep moving to survive. I heard you saying it to Gatz, but now all it seems you want to do is stay here underground. That’s no plan.”
“It’s the best we can do right now. Survival is about cutting our losses and staying alive.”
“What?” Lucy was incredulous. “Have you heard nothing I’ve said? Have my words bounced off that thick skull of yours?” Lucy moved closer to Ida. “Survival is about doing what’s right. It’s about taking care of the people you love.”
Ida stood still with her arms crossed, looking down.
Lucy tried a new tactic. “Would you have left your fellow soldiers to die at the hands of Vance Drem?”
She had struck a nerve. Ida’s body tensed, and she locked onto Lucy’s face, their eyes a few inches apart. “Don’t talk about the war. About things you don’t know. I had to leave people behind every day, and they were left to fates far worse than Vance Drem. I’ll tell you someday when you’re old enough to hear about it.”
Lucy gave her a hard stare back, not wanting to be the first to flinch. She tried her best, but after twenty seconds, couldn’t keep up the tough facade. They went into separate corners of the small office to lick their wounds.
“This is too much,” Ida finally said. “I can’t even believe I’m having this argument with a seventeen-year-old. I’m out of here.” She walked toward the door leading back downstairs and entered the passcode.
Lucy followed her downstairs. “So that’s it? When the fight looks tough, you give up? Pack your bags and ship out because things are inconvenient? Is that what happened in the war?”
Ida turned and grabbed Lucy’s shoulders. She wanted to throw Lucy against the wall. Below, Vera looked up with concern. Ida slowly took her hands from Lucy and ran downstairs, past Vera, and into her small bedroom, where she slammed and locked the door.
She started packing.
Chapter 26
Ida would never have agreed to live in Gatz’s underground bunker if he hadn’t provided her with complete instructions on how to get out in case of emergency. Still, she was aware that he could lock them down there with no means of escape. Even so, she was slowly beginning to trust him.
He had shown her a secret back exit. That made all the difference in her decision to take up residence there. After her backpack with supplies was ready, she put on her leather jacket and boots, and slipped silently down the hall opposite from Vera and Lucy in the common room.
At the end of the hall was a dead end with a small closet door on the left wall. Inside were several old coats, brooms, and other cleaning supplies. Ida stole one last glance down the hall to make sure they didn’t see her. She pushed the coats to one side and stepped inside the closet, shutting the door behind her. In the darkness, she felt along the back wall corners, searched for the tiny crack she knew was there. Bingo. She felt it and slid her fingers further in to find the small pressure point. The side wall of the closet slid open, revealing a passageway.
She edged her way in and found the light switch Gatz had shown her. The lighting was dim—just enough to see your way around. It was an escape route, not a place to hang out.
Ida made her way through the hallway. The smell and the feel were different here. Unheated, the escape tunnel was damp and cold. The scent of standing water hit her, and maybe some sewer water smell mixed in too.
She continued down the long tunnel, jogging slightly to make better time. She wanted to be outside before Lucy figured out she was missing and raised the alarm to Gatz.
As she ran, drips of water from the tunnel’s ceiling splashed on her. Having been underground, she’d lost track of the weather. As she came to the end of the tunnel, she saw natural light.
She smiled as she sensed how close she was to being on her own again, the way she had intended to be all along. Her motorcycle stood at the very end of the tunnel next to the circular grate that hid the tunnel entrance, just as she had left it.
Gatz had shown her the trick—a handle that turned from the inside. It couldn’t be opened from the outside unless the intruder happened to be a welder.
She leaned beside her bike and ran her hand along the metal body.
Only something didn’t feel right. Was Lucy right? Was she a coward? Ida thought back to the words exchanged back in the bunker. Lucy was desperate to do anything, say something that would change Ida’s mind.
All along, Ida had been weighing various scenarios in her mind. If she and Gatz went after Paul at Vance’s headquarters, they were sure to die.
If Lucy or Gatz went together or by themselves, they were toast. Of this, Ida was sure.
But if she went by herself…
All Vance really wanted was her. He was obviously a sick man, and he was looking for a cure. If she gave in, turned herself into him, he might let Paul go. And if he didn’t, at least Lucy and Gatz would be alive.
What the hell have I gotten myself into? This was exactly the situation she had tried to avoid. She didn’t have any family left that she knew of, and her fellow soldiers were all going crazy or dead.
And now, this group of misfits had somehow glommed onto her: a teenage girl barely able to take care of herself, her junkie mom who had nearly overdosed two weeks ago, and a freak half-panda, half-human creature.
Then there was Paul, who had started this whole thing when he got shot. I should have left him to die. The thought had crossed her mind more than once.
Had she not intervened that day in the square with the soldier, and instead just gone on her way, she never would have met Paul and Gatz, and never would have found herself in this situation.
Still standing inside the grate next to her motorbike, recalling the events of the day in the square, it finally hit her. She knew what was happening to poison the soldiers and turn them violent.
Chapter 27
Lucy rapped quietly on Ida’s bedroom door. She spoke into the door softly, wanting some privacy from Vera. It wasn’t often Lucy found herself apologizing. She was a stubborn teenager after all.
“Ida, can you come out and talk? I’m sorry I said those things about the war.” The last word came out as more of a whisper.
No sound from inside the room. She must be really mad, thought Lucy. She knocked louder this time, more insistent. “Please,” she said into the wooden door.
Nothing. Now this was getting to be rude.
Lucy stood back from the door, and her hands went to her waist. “Ida?” She tried the doorknob, and to her surprise, it was unlocked.
She opened the door slowly, peeking in. The room was empty. “What the…?” she muttered to herself. She turned and walked quickly back to the common room, past her mom, who asked what was going on. “Ida’s gone,” Lucy said. She walked to the message box and typed:
G—
Come down. Urgent.
-L
Lucy started searching the dwelling for any signs of Ida. She thought maybe she could be hiding, but realized Ida was smarter than that. If she wanted to be gone, she’d have found a way out.
As she searched each room, closet, and cabinet, she lost any hope that Ida was there.
The green light appeared and the message box buzzed. Lucy ran over, and the message from Gatz told her he was on his way, and would be there in five minutes.
Lucy sat on the couch next to he
r mother. The forgotten jigsaw puzzle was spread out on the coffee table in front of them. Lucy stared at it for a few minutes. Then, in one heartsick, frustrated motion, she swept it from the table. Puzzle pieces flew everywhere. She picked up one of the pieces and held it in front of her, inspecting it.
Just as Vera asked what was wrong, Lucy ran over to the message box. Suddenly the door above opened and Gatz appeared. Lucy shouted at him, “The commercial! Can you bring it here?”
Gatz disappeared back into his office for a moment and then came downstairs with his tablet in hand. “What’s going on?”
Lucy said, “Ida’s gone,” then grabbed the tablet from his hands, ran to the couch, and started searching for the commercial.
Gatz stood and watched as she played it three times in a row. Then, she paused it just as it was about to end. She returned to the last scene with Paul and played it three more times.
“What are you looking for?” asked Gatz.
“He’s trying to say something. To leave a clue,” said Lucy, who stared at the screen, transfixed. “Sit down.” She motioned next to her, and Gatz took a seat.
Lucy went on. “You hear him at the end? His speech is odd—different from everything else he was saying. And it’s only when Paul is on screen.”
“The part about the ointment? I thought that sounded odd.”
Lucy finally broke away from the screen. “Not only odd, it’s creepy. This whole last part. It’s like he sounds ominous, scolding. I think he’s trying to send a message to Ida.”
Gatz leaned forward. “For they are the ointment to what ails us.” Gatz clapped his hands together loudly. “Healing—it’s meant to be about Ida!”
“Exactly. Now, what else is Drem trying to say?”
“Play it again,” said Gatz. Vera stood behind them on the couch, transfixed by what was going on.
Lucy replayed the commercial a few more times. The trio listened in silence.
“Look no further than the children for our rescue, for they are the ointment for what ails us. Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.”
Behind them, Vera quietly said something. Gatz and Lucy were engrossed in the commercial, and failed to hear her. She started kneading her hands together, getting anxious. She kept repeating something that sounded like gibberish.
Lucy finally heard her and glanced back behind her. “Mom, what’s up? You ok? We’re trying to figure out this clue.”
Gatz had gotten the idea to search for the quote online. Lucy turned her attention to her mom behind the couch.
Vera swayed back and forth, continuing to wring her hands. She was muttering something over and over.
Lucy was concerned now, and went over to her mom. “What are you trying to say?” She grabbed Vera’s hands and stopped her from swaying. “Mom, look at me! What is it?”
Vera’s eyes came to rest on her daughter’s face. Slowly, she said, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”
“She’s right,” Gatz piped up from the couch. “According to this, it’s an old biblical riddle. Vance said, ‘Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.’ It was a riddle posed by Samson after he had killed a lion with his bare hands. Later, when he returned, he found a swarm of bees had created a hive in the lion’s carcass.”
He continued reading silently. “And she’s right that the answer to the riddle is ‘What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?’”
“Yes,” Vera smiled.
“You did good, Mama!” Lucy still gripped Vera’s hands in hers. She led her mom to the couch and sat her down. “What is he trying to tell us about bees and lions?”
“So, he could be trying to give a location to Ida. If he thinks she cares enough to get Paul back, he’ll want to negotiate with her somewhere private. His own place draws too much suspicion—too many cameras and important people there. Might ruin Vance’s image as the visionary young mayor.”
“Try looking up lions and bees,” Lucy said to Gatz. “Maybe it’s a restaurant or a store somewhere.”
Gatz typed away on his tablet, searching for anything in Spark City that might be related.
Lucy busied herself in the kitchen and started pulling out supplies—knives, chemicals, and anything else useful to them as they went after Ida and Paul.
Vera leaned over, picked up a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, and started to put them back into the bottom of the box. She found the cover on the floor. She glanced at it as she put it to the side. Then, suddenly, she gasped and slammed a hand over her mouth in disbelief.
“Mom, what now?” Lucy said.
Vera turned the cover back over and slid it across the coffee table to Gatz. The full puzzle was revealed across the front. The scene was the city of Chicago from twenty years before. It was before the droughts and fires had thrown the U.S. and other nations into turmoil, before the city was renamed Spark City. When completed, the puzzle would show tall, sparkling buildings and crystal blue water with sandy shorelines and a large Ferris wheel.
It bore a slight resemblance to Spark City today—that is, if you squinted your eyes and tried to look past the dark, polluted water and the decaying, abandoned buildings that made up the current skyline.
The scene was idyllic. A bright and shiny gem of a city. It seemed a universe away.
Vera looked at Lucy and Gatz. “I used to go there as a little girl.” She pointed at a spot on the puzzle box cover. “The zoo.”
Just then, Gatz received a video text from Ida. She had sent it from just inside his escape tunnel; he could see the recognizable grate behind her. He pressed play, and Lucy joined him to watch.
They saw Ida speaking into the camera:
“Gatz, I know where Paul is. I’m going after him on my own. It’s me Vance wants. Don’t get any ideas. Absolutely no one is to follow me.”
She paused, and seemed to have chosen her next words carefully.
“Take care of Lucy and her mom. They need your help. Also…”
Lucy’s nails dug into Gatz’s arm.
“I know what’s happening to the soldiers. The city, government, whatever—they give the returning soldiers vaccinations. I refused mine. I’m sure many others don’t. That’s got to be it. I can’t think of anything else. Take care.”
Chapter 28
Ida had figured out Vance was talking about the zoo as soon as she’d had a minute to herself and run a search on her nanowatch. Hidden from the others, it gave Ida spotty connectivity to the outside world. She used it sparingly, in case Gatz was right and they really were at risk of being discovered.
Vance was brazen. If he had any clue to her whereabouts, he would have sent a surge of robots to attack.
The fact that he had shown Paul in his ad and mentioned ailing had told her that he was talking to her. She’d searched the phrase he had mentioned. There was plenty written about it, and it had to do with an old biblical reference to lions and bees. Where would lions be other than the long-deserted city zoo?
She made her way there on her motorbike and parked about half a mile away. Her house was not far from the zoo, and she had started to learn her way around the area. On foot, she was free to traverse the woods quietly. She walked and stopped, listening for sounds of activity. There was no doubt Vance would have droids guarding the perimeter.
She figured she might be safe from harm on the way in. He needed her alive after all. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t injure her first. Or trap her.
If Vance got his way and Ida cured his mystery illness, she wondered what he had in store for her. Would he keep her around and try to make her his bodyguard, like Gatz had? She had a feeling he would try. And if he did, he best put her in a straight jacket, because the first chance she had to kill him, he was gone.
She continued her careful progress toward the zoo. Whatever traps Vance had in place were silent. Nothing, man or machine, impeded her movement.
The main zoo entrance
had long been shuttered and blocked off with a tall fence, and bolted securely. Sections of the fence surrounding the zoo’s perimeter had been cut over the many years since it ceased operations. The abandoned zoo had long been a refuge for squatters and thrill-seeking teens.
On Ida’s one and only walk through the woods from home in this direction, she had chanced upon a second side entrance. She had a vague recollection of where it was. She went too far in the wrong direction, but luckily found it again on her second try.
It was an old chain-link fence, and the padlock that once secured it had rusted through and now hung off to the side, lazily swinging in the wind.
All Ida needed to do was to push the old fence slightly in to allow enough room for her body to pass.
She expected to be grabbed at any moment, or have several police droids show up and arrest her. She walked into the zoo cautiously, taking slow, steady steps and scanning from side to side to make sure nothing surprised her. She held Gatz’s gun in her left hand.
The quiet air was eerie. In winter, the sun set early. Being inside an abandoned zoo without lights was beyond creepy.
At least mother nature was cooperating. Ida could see by the light of the full moon.
She continued along a crumbling asphalt path that wound to the left. She assumed it must lead to the central area of the zoo. She passed an old billboard that had been graffiti sprayed many times over. It showed a close-up photo of a polar bear, and said, “NEW POLAR HABITAT COMING SPRING 2017.” That was nearly twenty years before, she realized.
She saw trash littered about the ground, and remnants of parties long past. Someone had built a bonfire in the old hippopotamus enclosure. They had burned all manner of objects pulled from nearby zoo buildings. She wondered what events had led to the destruction of the zoo, and what had happened to all the animals.
Before she had more time to consider, she noticed a light ahead. The path opened to what must have once been the zoo’s main gathering area. The light she had seen was a spotlight, and it shone into one of the enclosures. She edged along the wall of a nearby building, hoping to get a better view before she revealed herself.
Brink (Spark City Book 1) Page 13
