"Can't we stop at a fast food joint along the way?" She forced a laugh. The strange looks the others gave her said that her humor was neither understood nor appreciated. "Guess not."
Hernando handed her a large canteen, some containers of food, and a bedroll. "You're carrying your share of water, of course." He winked. "Go ahead and tell me how Earth women aren't all a helpless lot."
Olivia stuck out her tongue. "Very funny. I wouldn't give up your day job to work the comedy club circuit." She smiled. He frowned. He looked cute when he sported a puzzled expression, but there was no time for flirting. They had to get going.
"You two had best leave now." Byron placed a hand on their shoulders in the manner of a blessing. "Remember what I told you about Shadows Spires Cave, Hernando. If you can reach it before the sun becomes too unbearable, you will survive."
"Understood. We will rendezvous with the Delta Farm Resistance members there."
"That's only if they're still alive," Lucy interjected. "They haven't been heard from in many time periods. For all we know, they've all been killed or captured."
"If the tales about Caveman Charlie are true, they're alive." Hernando looked confident and hoisted his backpack higher onto his back. "He hasn't avoided capture for this long without having great survival skills."
Byron smiled. "That's the spirit! Good luck. We'll be awaiting your return—or news that it's time to strike."
Olivia followed Hernando a few steps into the grain field and then remembered her manners. She turned around to wave good-bye, and her jaw dropped open. "What? Where did they go?"
Her new friends had vanished.
They walked a straight line for over an hour from the Resistance meeting place without spotting any sign of habitation. The heat had increased slightly and the vegetation had lessened, but it still seemed a livable zone to Olivia. Odd. Didn't the Overseers police the fields along the fringes of their plantations?
"You're wondering why no one is following us, aren't you?" Hernando kept up a quick pace and had said little since they'd left the others.
"Yeah, I am. If it's so easy to simply walk away from the farm, then why aren't others doing it all the time?"
"Because of this." He halted and cast his gaze downward. Olivia stopped at his outstretched arm and did a double-take. She raised the protective goggles she'd borrowed and gazed over the edge of a cliff that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The abyss before them plunged at least thirty stories.
Wow! I could have walked right into that hole if Hernando hadn't stopped me.
"I almost fell into the Grand Canyon!" She edged herself back from the precipice. In the distance she spied endless sand dunes punctuated by tall spires of rock, carved into intricate twists and twirls by time, wind and sand. "How are we going to get to the land below?"
He turned and shrugged. "We could jump, but I don't recommend it."
"Ha, ha." She stuck her tongue out at him.
He furrowed his brow and considered her response. "Is that some sort of courting ritual where you come from—this tongue waggling business?"
"No, it means I don't care to be teased." She then discovered he was chuckling under his breath. "What's so funny?"
"You are." He grinned. "You're so easily teased. It's irresistible."
She rolled her eyes. "What can I say? You can't resist my charms."
Hernando blushed then cleared his throat. "Uh, there's a path that begins along the edge of the cliff that winds down onto the plains. It's very narrow and quite steep, but you're thin and light enough to make it."
"Thanks for the backhanded compliment." Olivia took a cautious step forward and peeked over the edge. "How do you know about the path?"
"I've heard stories about it since I was a child. Plus, Byron said he has scouted out this side of the expanse and assures me that once we've descended to the high plains, the Shadows Spires are easy to spot."
Byron acts quite mysterious. I have a feeling he's not all he appears, either. "Has he ever traveled to the Shadow Spires?"
Hernando tilted his head in thought. "Probably not. I doubt many currently on the farm have."
Olivia spied the cliff trail's opening and started toward it. "There's always a first time."
The first hundred yards were steep, but not entirely impassable. Olivia kept a close eye on her footing and on Hernando's balance. The weighty backpack encumbered his progress.
"You're going to have to take that thing off your back and drag it behind you. It's going to cause you to fall." Olivia held up a hand. "Don't argue with me. I won't think you're any less of a man just because you can't balance that heavy load on your back while descending a wall."
"Don't worry." He grimaced. "You're worse than my mother. Always nagging me to be safe and not take unnecessary risks. If I'd have listened to her, I wouldn't be here now, would I?"
"This is an unnecessary risk? Is that what you're saying?"
"No, of course not, but it's not that difficult to bal—"
Suddenly his feet went out from under him.
"Hernando!" Olivia dropped her load, fell to her stomach and reached over the trail's edge. "Take my hand!"
"I would, but I might pull you over. Besides," he said pulling himself up on his elbows at her level, "I didn't really fall that far."
Olivia looked over the trail's edge and saw that Hernando had dropped all of three feet to land on a slightly wider ledge. "Why, you!"
"Worried about my safety? I'm touched." He scrambled back onto the trail and dusted himself off.
"Yeah, you're touched in the head as my grandma says." Sighing, she picked up her dropped items and slung the canteen over her shoulder. "Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh?" Hernando turned around. "What's wrong?"
"The canteen—it's sprung a leak." Olivia pressed her hand onto the seam to keep the precious liquid from leaking away. "It must have hit a sharp rock or something. Can we fix it?"
"Quick, reach into the backpack and grab a bowl or cup to capture the water."
Olivia tried to stanch the flow by placing the canteen under her arm while Hernando lowered the pack to the ground. A pair of metal cups was all they had to catch the flow.
"If we only had something like plaster or glue to plug the hole." Hernando held a cup under Olivia's wet hand as she tried to slow the leak.
What could they have that could work as a plug? Suddenly it occurred to her that she had a stick of gum in her jeans. She motioned to her companion to hold the canteen so she could rummage around in her pockets.
"I found it! Ugh! This thing's positively ancient and been through the wash, but it should work."
Hernando watched her closely, fascinated as she made a pained face as she unpeeled the foil and stuffed the old stick of Juicy Fruit into her mouth.
"It's been laundered," she explained, chewing harder. "A bit tough, but still pretty gummy. There." She pulled the wad from her cheek and pushed it against the canteen seam before placing strips of the wrapper paper and foil over the sticky gum. "It's not perfect for sure, but it should help keep what's left of the water from seeping out too quickly."
"Amazing." He chuckled. "Are all glues chewable on Earth?"
Olivia grinned. "Most of them are, I guess."
They poured the water caught in the cups back into the canteen.
"We've lost half of it." Hernando frowned. "We're going to have to ration water more strictly than I planned."
Olivia licked the water off the rim of the mugs. "We're not that far away from this Shadows Spires cave, are we? You said it had an underground spring, right?"
"That's what Byron claims. It must be true, or else the other Resistance groups that have disappeared into the desert would have returned to the farms."
Or they could have died of thirst. Olivia did her best to keep a positive expression on her face. She pointed toward the horizon. "So, we're heading over that-away?"
"Towards the south and west. It's not as close as it looks. The clear air of t
he desert makes those spires in the distance look much closer than they really are."
"They can't be all that far away, can they?"
"You'd be surprised. Come on." He hoisted his backpack onto his back and began hiking.
For what seemed an eternity to Olivia, they slowly descended to the desert floor. Upon reaching the flat lands, she looked up and admired the towering rock structures looming in the distance. She realized Hernando's assessment was correct. The clear air deceived the senses. The spire formations may have stood ten miles or a hundred miles away. Who could tell?
"We'll make it." Hernando stopped and took a drink from the canteen and indicated for Olivia to do the same. "It will get hotter as we approach them, but once we're in their shelter, their shade will cool us off."
"We can't get there any faster to suit my tastes. It must be at least a hundred degrees already."
Hernando took off the backpack and reached inside to retrieve a couple of very large, off-white bandanas. "We definitely need to cover our heads." He wrapped the cloth about his head, allowing the extra to cover his neck. Olivia did likewise.
"These must be the height of fashion in these parts." She smiled. "How do I look?"
His eyes shone with admiration. "You look great in everything you wear."
Olivia blushed. "Thanks."
The hard-packed dirt of the cliff face gave way to loose, sandy soil that made them expend twice the energy with each step. Olivia followed along in Hernando's track, grateful his big feet broke through the dunes for her. Within a few miles of the trek, she thought her heart would give out.
"Can we stop for a rest?" she murmured. "I'm feeling...tired."
Hernando turned around. His face looked more than tanned and his lips parched. "We have to keep going. We will cook alive if we don't get to the spires and their shade soon."
"But I'm really, really, really tired." Olivia realized she was whining, but she couldn't help it.
"Take a sip of water—just a sip. You'll feel better."
She did as she was told. Her throat felt dryer than the sands beneath her feet, but she wouldn't admit it aloud since Hernando refused a drink. "All right. Let's go."
Right, left, right, left, right, left... Olivia turned off her brain and concentrated on keeping her feet moving behind Hernando's. Her mind started to drift to thoughts of her parents and her friends. What did they think happened to her? How long had she been gone now? Over a month? Her mom would be worried sick. She probably was lying in bed at this minute, nursing a stress migraine. And Dad? He probably had called every law enforcement agency in the known universe demanding results.
Where is my daughter? What do you mean you don't have any clues? It isn't like she was abducted by aliens and transported halfway across the galaxy to another world...
"Olivia?" Hernando's voice broke into her reverie. "We're almost there. You all right?"
She shook her head to clear the cobwebs. "Uh, yeah. We're at the spires?"
"Not yet. They're a few miles off. You need another sip?" He handed her the canteen.
"Only if you have a sip first."
He grimaced. "I don't think there's enough water for both of us."
"You have it. I can wait until we get to the caves." She handed him the canteen back. "Please drink."
Hernando grinned and took a quick swig. "Here you go."
"Did you actually swallow?" She crossed her arms and frowned. "I don't want any heroics from you. You need water, too."
He sighed. "I don't want us to stand here and argue in the middle of the desert, so please drink and let's get going."
Olivia drank the last drop of their water and nodded. They continued in silence, trudging slowly but deliberately toward the spires. She put her head down and followed Hernando without complaint. Within twenty minutes, a dark shadow passed over them. She looked up expecting to see a cloud, but only saw that the first of the towering crags had come closer into view. A slight breeze tickled her face.
"I feel a cool wind!" She laughed. "We're almost there?"
"We're close to the spring. There must be water nearby because the air seems damper."
They quickened their pace. The prospect of water excited Olivia more than anything had ever excited her in her life, even more than seeing her favorite local rock band she realized. Funny how hard times put what's important in life into perspective. You can't live without water, but you can live without seeing your favorite band from time to time. I must remember that when I'm home.
Just as the welcoming long shadows from the spires and their hidden water supply seemed within their grasp, Hernando halted in his tracks.
"What's wrong?" Olivia felt a frisson of electricity tingle up her spine. A familiar foreboding came over her. She gasped. "We're being watched."
"I thought I heard the sound of machinery coming from that short, squatty spire. It could be members of the other Resistance groups making sure we're not someone else or it could be..."
"It could be Murnau?"
He nodded. "Let's get away from that spire. Head toward that grouping on the right."
They only took a few steps before the source of their fear revealed itself. A massive contraption, akin to the steam-powered transport that had taken them to the farm, emerged from behind the short spire. Black as the sky over the city of BloodDark, it spouted steam from a wide stack behind a square compartment that had to be the driver's cabin. Four huge articulated tank treads helped it speed over the rolling sand dunes.
"A land engine." Hernando considered their options. "We've got to reach those spires. The engine is too wide and won't be able to follow us into the more narrow passages." He began to run.
Olivia picked up her pace and tried not to glance back at the menacing machine gaining on them, but she couldn't help herself. "That thing is as big as a Mac truck. It's an evil version of Thomas the Tank Engine."
"Don't watch it—just look ahead."
The grouping of spindly spires grew closer. Olivia's heart pounded hard in her chest. Even in the dampish, cooler air coming from the shadow spires area, she found herself gasping for breath. If only they could reach the forest of spires before the engine did... The panting of the great machine grew louder. The ground trembled. She lowered her gaze and ran faster toward safety. Was it a dragon or dinosaur following them? Something grabbed her ankle.
"Hernando!" She was yanked backward and upward.
Olivia forced her eyes opened. She dangled by her right ankle from the end of a long mechanical arm. The items she toted tumbled to the ground as she was raised from the desert floor. She twisted her body in the black machine's grasp and caught a glimpse of her captor's angular features, upside down, through the engine's smoke-tinted cab window.
Murnau.
"Olivia! Hang on!"
She heard Hernando yell from below her. Olivia pulled herself up and grabbed her knees. The land engine was still moving toward the grouping of spires. Obviously Murnau wasn't watching the road as he dangled her like a carrot in front of his vehicle. She dearly wanted to smack the smug, self-satisfied grin off his ugly face. She had to settle for sticking out her tongue at him and blowing a long raspberry instead.
"That's it. Distract him some more so he's not watching where his treads are going."
Distract him? How can I distract a maniac driving a train through a narrow passage while I hang like rag doll in its grip? She considered the suggestion for a moment. Yeah, that's it!
"Hey, Murnau! You wanna see my rag doll routine?" Olivia wildly waved one arm and kicked her loose leg about. "Pretty good, huh?"
The Pure Blood's puzzled look indicated that her ploy was working.
"What you looking at? Haven't you seen a girl doing a gymnastic routine upside down before?" Looking out of the corner of her eye, Olivia could see the avenue of rocky crags on either side of her becoming progressively narrower. She began to kick harder, wincing at the strain it put on her ankle. "Why haven't you dropped me yet, Demon Dude?"
The mechanical arm began to winch her closer toward the cab. Murnau seemed determined not to lose her, but he didn't seem overly familiar with operating the controls of the steam-powered engine. A sudden lurch caused Olivia to sway to and fro. Bile surged into her throat, and she swallowed hard. The forward motion halted.
"You're stuck!" She laughed, forgetting her moment of nausea. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that you can't do two things well at the same time?" The land engine began to pull backward.
"Rats! Didn't know this thing had a reverse gear," she muttered. Within seconds it stopped again.
"Hang on, Olivia," she heard Hernando call out from somewhere above her. "He's going to keep trying to back up, but he's going to find it a bit difficult with all the boulders in the path."
"Hernando? Did you start an avalanche?" She bit her lip and looked around trying to place where he was located. The blood surging into her head made spots appear before her eyes. "Don't let any of those rocks fall on me."
Through the dizzy blur of her vision, she spotted Hernando on a ridge behind the land engine. He wasn't alone. A ragtag bunch of desert rats stood on either side of him. Men and women alike wore lived-in leather clothing in shades of brown that camouflaged well with the scenery, their tools and crude weaponry hanging from chains slung about their hips. Some sported old-fashioned derbies and top hats and sun-goggles along with their head scarves.
"Don't worry," Hernando called out. "Our new friends have taken care of planting the obstacles. They've been prepared for just such an incursion."
"Do they happen to have a ladder so I can crawl down off this thing?"
"They do." A rope ladder rolled over the side of the ridge. "Grab hold of it as you go past."
The land engine backed up with a jerking motion, stopping as it hit another rock in its path. Olivia winced as the air filled with the shriek of metal grinding on stone. She reached out and grabbed the rope ladder. "Hernando, my ankle is stuck. How can I get it out of this contraption?"
Olivia's Escape Page 8
