by Rinelle Grey
Kerit quirked an eyebrow. “Higher? How?”
Even after she explained about the apartment buildings, Kerit was sceptical. “I don’t know. If the buildings are damaged, then they’re probably not safe to climb, especially not after that quake. And they’re not going to offer us much protection if the alien comes back either. Don’t forget, I can’t run very fast with my ankle injured.” Kerit hesitated. “Perhaps we’re better off staying underground.”
They were back to that again. “We can’t stay here forever. It might feel safe now, but we could get an aftershock at any moment,” Folly reminded him. “And this isn’t a bad point. We’re far enough from the spot where I dropped the cover, and not close enough to the place where we came in. This is probably the safest spot we’re going to find. And we might not find many more multi-story buildings. If we can get our bearings, we could head straight back to your shuttle and get out of here.”
Kerit’s eyes lit up at her last comment, but still, he didn’t agree right away. “How far from the exit were the buildings? And is there any cover on the way?”
“Maybe a hundred metres? And plenty of piles of rubble to hide behind. Not that we’re going to need them, there’s nothing up there.”
Kerit sighed. “I guess the only way to find out is to try.”
His words sent an unreasonable wave of relief through Folly. For all that she’d lived most of her life underground, the sewers made her feel uncomfortable and hemmed in. And the fear of another quake, trapped in the small space, sent chills up her spine. She couldn’t wait to get out. Jumping up, she said, “I’ll go first.”
Kerit pulled on his visor and gloves again, then followed her slowly as she climbed up the ladder.
She lifted the cover again, peering out, but all was still quiet. Shifting the cover to the side as carefully as she could, she climbed the last few steps, looking around, expecting to be pounced on at any minute. But nothing moved.
After checking one last time, she wrapped her scarf around her face and climbed out fully. She stared around at the piles of rubble one last time before turning back to the sewer entrance to offer a hand to Kerit.
He emerged more cautiously, stopping to look around before taking her hand. Not speaking, he pointed to the nearest pile of rubble, and Folly nodded and followed him over.
Bent double, they made their way slowly through the debris, keeping their eye on the apartment building in front of them.
Chapter 8
Folly climbed the last few steps to the fourth floor and turned around to wait for Kerit. His limp had grown more pronounced with each flight of stairs, and now he leaned on the rail heavily, though he didn’t utter a word of complaint. In fact, he looked up at where she was waiting and smiled.
A smile turned up the corners of her mouth, before she even had time to allow it, his expression sending warm tingles through her. Turning away, she berated herself. She couldn’t afford to fall for him. It wouldn’t end well.
She turned her attention back to the task at hand, shaking off the strange feeling.
Being internal, the hallway was mostly intact. Other than the blown out window at the end and a thick coating of dust, you could almost forget that large portions of the rest of the building were in ruins.
As Kerit reached the top of the stairs, she picked a door on the left and jangled the doorknob. It didn’t budge. Not surprising, most of these sort of doors locked automatically when they closed. Unfortunately, unlike the houses she usually broke into, there were no windows on the inside of the building.
Looked like she was going to have to do this the hard way.
“I didn’t even think about them being locked,” Kerit said. Pain leant extra frustration to his voice. “So much for that idea.”
“Don’t give up yet.” Folly reached into her backpack and pulled out a bobby pin and a screwdriver, and bent over the lock. She expected to have to fend off more questions, but Kerit instantly shut up, leaving her free to concentrate.
A few moments later, the lock clicked, and she pushed the door open.
“Impressive,” Kerit said. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Oh lots of things. But I’m pretty good at breaking into abandoned buildings and repairing pieces of rubbish.”
Why did sarcasm creep into her voice? Those two skills had helped her immeasurably in the last few years. And she was proud of the fact that she could repair almost anything.
So why was she putting herself down? She’d made a point not to do that, since everyone else in her life seemed to do it for her.
Kerit laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, those two skills could save our lives right now.”
For some reason, his comment started tears in the back of her eyes. She swiped them away, but nodded her head, not daring to speak. She would not cry. She stopped to put a hand over his to show she appreciated the comment, before pushing into the building.
Dust and sand coated everything, piling up against the walls, almost burying the piles of smashed furniture and rubble. Most of the roof and about half the walls were missing. If the alien turned up, the only protection would be to retreat back into the hallway. Folly paused to jam what looked like a broken table leg into the door to prevent it closing and possibly locking behind them.
Then she headed for the balcony with Kerit limping behind. Chicken scampered out of her pocket and down her leg, heading off to explore, as though this was a perfectly normal day. Folly wished her memory was as short as the skuttle’s.
Her eyes scanned for the edge of the city, finding it further away than she had expected. The shuttle should be easy to spot, it would be the only thing not coated in a thick layer of dust. Though it would have gained some in the last dust storm, it probably wouldn’t be as much as everything else.
But nothing stood out immediately. Folly squinted her eyes against the bright sun, and searched more thoroughly.
Kerit pulled a pair of binoculars out of his bag and held them up to his eyes. Since he could see distance better than she could, Folly took a moment to check out the surrounding area, just in a case they needed a quick escape.
Her eyes roamed over the lower houses, the apartment buildings, the yards, a playground, with its climbing frame at a strange angle, and the small line of local shops. If this was a normal visit, she’d be searching them for supplies. But this wasn’t a normal visit.
“That’s not good.” Kerit still held the binoculars up to his eyes, his face twisted in a frown.
“What?” Folly asked. She stared in the direction he was looking, shading her eyes with her hand. But she couldn’t make out anything out of the ordinary.
Wait, was that… movement?
“Here.” Kerit handed her the binoculars. “Look between those two buildings there.” He leaned closer to her and pointed.
His breath tickled her ear, and for a moment, she was tempted to lean into him, to take comfort in his closeness, as she had back in the tunnel. Then she looked where he’d indicated, and drew in her breath sharply. “The alien.”
“Yes and he’s beaten us to the shuttle,” Kerit said grimly.
Folly stared as the alien hovered over the shuttle, wincing as he swung his arm towards it. If that claw pierced the hull…
But he only hit it with his hand, repeatedly, testing each section of the shuttle systematically. “He’s looking for a way in.”
“Of course he is.” Kerit ran his hand through his hair. “What would you do if you were stuck on a strange planet? You’d be looking for a way off, right? He’s not stupid, he can recognise a spaceship when he sees one. He doesn’t know it has limited capabilities.”
Folly took the binoculars away from her eyes to look at Kerit. “Do you think he can get in?”
His brow furrowed. “I don’t think so. The door has a six digit combination lock. He’d have to spend a lot of time randomly hitting keys to get in that way. But we have no idea what sort of technology he has. I’m sure someone knowledgeable,”
he smiled at her, “like you, could probably bypass it.”
A jolt of electricity shot through her as her eyes met his. He really believed that? His confident words and smile confirmed it. She glanced back at his ship. “Maybe,” she allowed. “But I’ve never tried anything like that before.” Looking back towards the shuttle, she could see the alien’s movement now she knew where he was, if not make out exactly what he was doing. “But it does create a problem for us.”
“Yes, it does. He’s probably not going to leave the shuttle in a hurry.”
“Meaning we can’t get to it. We can’t even get to the radio. We’re completely cut off.”
Kerit’s shoulders slumped, and as though his ankle would hold him no longer, he leaned on the wall, and slid down it into a sitting position. “If only Ty was here, he’d know what to do.”
Really? That was his first thought? Folly put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “You’re brother isn’t here—you are. What would Kerit do?”
He stared at her. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
He threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know! We’re stuck in a ruined city, with an alien we have no hope of defeating hovering around our only way out. What can we possibly do other than hide for as long as we can and hope Tyris comes looking for us?”
“You just want to hide and wait?” He was just like all the others in the caves, happy to hide and do nothing, hoping someone else would come along and solve his problems. In this case, he even had someone who probably would, his brother.
“Have you got a better idea?” Kerit challenged.
“Not yet, but I’ll come up with something.” She turned away. She didn’t need him. He was just a deadweight, like all the others. “Come on Chicken,” she called.
“Look, that alien is dangerous, Folly. We can’t take it on with just the two of us. It makes more sense to wait for help. How about your people? Will they help us?”
Folly gave a harsh laugh, as Chicken came scrambling up her leg. “Put themselves in danger for someone else? Fat chance. They’ll just say we should hide in the caves, like they’ve always done.”
“Sometimes, that is all you can do,” Kerit said quietly. “Sometimes not rushing out into a dangerous situation is the most sensible option.”
“If you want to live your life being ‘sensible’, go ahead. I prefer to get up and do something with my life, not just sit around waiting.”
“I’m not sure you can call running away from an alien sitting around waiting,” Kerit said dryly. “If so, it’s the most exciting waiting I’ve ever done.”
Despite the fact that the content of his suggestion hadn’t changed, Folly could feel her annoyance softening. She fought it for a moment, wanting to continue to be annoyed, but she couldn’t. She gave an unwilling laugh. “Okay, you could have a point there.” She sat down cross-legged on the ground in front of him, settling Chicken, who was gnawing on something unrecognisable, into her lap. “But even so, we’re going to need a plan for running. Otherwise, we just go around in circles. I say if we’re going to run anyway, then we do so with a purpose.”
“Even if you’re people wouldn’t be able to help us, they might have a radio?”
“Yeah, I have a couple of them back in my home. But there’s a hundred kilometres of nothing but dust between us and them. Even if we could find our way there without the compass, it’s going to take days. Days in which that alien could possibly find us. There’s no cover out there.”
Kerit’s face fell as she talked, and his shoulders slumped
An idea came to her. Did she dare admit the truth to him? Would he believe her, or would he laugh like everyone else had?
His eyes met hers. “Whatever it is in the city that you’re looking for, it’s important to you, isn’t it?” Kerit’s voice was soft.
“It is,” Folly admitted, surprised that he’d realised. Well, maybe she shouldn’t be surprised at that. She had gone to great lengths to convince him to come after all. What surprised her was that he simply accepted it, even though she hadn’t even told him what it was. Or maybe it was because she hadn’t told him that he believed her? Once she told him, he’d probably be scathing, like everyone else was.
Did she dare take the risk? Folly stared at him, taking in the details of his face, looking at her seriously. His blond hair fell over his eyes, the cuteness at odds with his serious expression.
She still hadn’t made up her mind when he nodded, his jaw setting. “Well since the ship building yards…” He broke off and looked at her. “What you’re looking for is in the ship yards, isn’t it?” He paused, waiting for her nod in response, then continued. “Well, since they’re in the opposite direction to that alien, it seems as good a direction as any. And besides, since it was a Space Force base, we might be able to find a radio there.”
That idea hadn’t even occurred to her, but it had merit. She jumped up. “If we check an apartment on the other side of the hall, we should be able to get a direction on the yards. We can’t be that far away now.”
“Right. Let’s get going.” Kerit stood up and shouldered his backpack, hiding a wince.
Folly paused for a moment, staring at him. His sensible suggestion of looking for a radio had stolen any need to tell him about her father’s ship since they were going to the ship building yards regardless. It didn’t matter if he believed that her father had built a ship that could travel faster than light or not.
It saved her from finding out. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved, or disappointed, but she liked to think that he would have believed her.
Then again, perhaps it was better that she hadn’t told him. It would have sucked to have that belief shattered.
“What?”
Folly stared at him and shook her head. “What what?”
“You looked like you were thinking something. Something serious.”
Disconcerted, she stared at him. “Nothing. It was nothing.”
His eyes caught hers, and she couldn’t look away. Then he smiled. “Okay.”
He turned and limped towards the doorway.
She followed, not sure what to believe.
Chapter 9
Kerit let Folly run on ahead as they neared the huge concrete and steel building, slowing down to rest his ankle a little. The painkillers were starting to wear off, but the pain wasn’t as bad as it had been. He’d probably be right in a day or two.
Well, his ankle would be anyway. For him to be all right, he needed to get the alien away from his shuttle and get into the air. Failing that, finding some water would be nice. He’d emptied his last bottle about half way here. And he’d probably sweated half it out already.
Up close, the shipyards looked even larger than they had from the air. And the damage done by the meteor impact was more obvious. The concrete and steel still mostly stood, it had been built to last, but all the glass had been blown out, and the paint burnt off by the blast.
Personally, he doubted that they were going to find anything here. But he could see that it was important to Folly. He hoped she found whatever she was looking for.
He stared carefully in both directions before crossing the street, just in case the alien had come looking for someone to let him into the shuttle. By the time he’d limped across to the other side, Folly was already working at the fist sized padlock that held the double story sliding doors closed. He silently watched her work, not wanting to interrupt her. Her hands were so sure, and the way her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth was somehow adorable.
She was unlike anyone he’d ever met. So determined and confident one minute, then doubting herself the next. And she never stopped moving, doing something, fixing things, solving things. She fascinated him.
There was a loud click, and the lock flicked open. Folly turned to grin at him, her eyes bright. Then she slid back one door, the loud creak making Kerit wince.
Folly barely seemed to notice, just slipped through the gap and into the building
. Kerit followed, holding his breath.
Inside was as large as its exterior had suggested. This must have been the main hanger, it was certainly big enough to hold a decent sized ship. The row of doors along one wall were dwarfed by the height of the roof.
Their footsteps echoed off the bare walls. The cavernous space was practically empty, only some scaffolding and a few large metal machines, whose purpose he could only guess, remained. Everything else was gone, either taken by the Colonies when they withdrew, or by Nerris and those who escaped later.
Folly walked into the middle of the room, turning in a circle as she looked in all directions. “There’s nothing here.”
“Those doors must lead to other rooms,” Kerit pointed out. “They might have a radio there.”
Her slumped shoulders gave a half-hearted shrug. “I guess so.”
Kerit raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing whatever you were looking for is too big to be in the office?” he teased.
She seemed reluctant to tell him what it was she was after; why he wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to push her, but he had to admit to being more than a little curious.
After a long stare, she heaved a sigh. “Spaceships generally don’t fit in offices. Not any I’ve ever heard of anyway.”
Kerit stared at her. “You’re looking for a spaceship?”
He wasn’t sure what he had thought she was after, but there was no way he would have guessed a ship. Though it sure would be useful right about now.
“It does exist!” Her voice was defiant, and she folded her arms and stared at him, her bottom lip jutting out.
Kerit held up his hands in defence. “I didn’t say it didn’t. I just didn’t expect it, that’s all.” He looked around the empty space again, half wishing he could find a room big enough to hide such a treasure. But even if it had been here once… “Chances are, if it was here, someone used it to get off this planet before the meteor hit.”
