by Chris Babu
“What is it, Drayden?” Catrice asked.
He pointed.
Muddy footprints led down the road.
CHAPTER 19
Drayden studied the cracked asphalt.
The crew followed him down the road, their weapons out. The wet footprints faded with each step. Eventually, the vague hint of a shoe was all that remained before the footprints vanished, as if the Guardians had simply floated away.
He stopped at the end of the trail, squinting down Route 6.
“That’s good, the Guardians are in front of us,” Sidney said. “Right?”
Everyone appealed to Eugene.
He hesitated, clutching his rifle tight. “I’m not sure.”
The Guardians could be monitoring them right now, hunting them, watching from out of sight. They needed to get out of the middle of the street.
“Let’s eat and come up with a plan,” Drayden said. “Off the road.”
Three deer trotted across Route 6, a hundred feet ahead, including one with magnificent antlers.
“Whoa!” Charlie yelled.
Eugene raised his rifle and aimed.
Drayden shoved the barrel down. “What are you doing?”
Eugene flashed him an annoyed look. “There’s our food. Or a little target practice.”
“What? No, man.” The deer disappeared into the forest. “See how delicate they are, how graceful? There are so few living things left in the world, we can’t be killing stuff. Plus, the scientists said not to eat any animals.”
Eugene switched his rifle into safe mode, his expression more amused than irritated now. “Whatever you say, chief; you’re in charge. If you get hungry enough, I think you might change your mind.” He patted Drayden on the shoulder before heading off the road.
Following Eugene into the woods, Drayden made a mental note of the deer so he could report back to Kim on the state of the world outside the walls. He wondered how the insurrection plot was going. Surely the way most similar plots in history went—horribly.
The group sat in a circle, in a narrow clearing beneath some trees. The privates dug soggy food out of their backpacks, though Eugene didn’t have any.
Drayden felt a tinge of anxiety again at the sparse contents of his pack. About seventy miles to Boston.
“We need to ration,” he said. “Let’s each have an apple.” He finally made eye contact with Catrice. “You’ll probably share with Eugene, right?”
Before she could answer, Charlie and Sidney snickered.
Catrice glanced at them, and back at Drayden, a confused expression on her face. “Yeah, sure.”
Drayden tore into his apple, the sweet juice running down his chin. It was so delicious he ate everything except the stem.
Charlie burped. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m stuffed. I haven’t been this full since I ate that potato yesterday.”
“We clearly need more food,” Drayden said. “We’ll come pretty close to the coast in the next few miles. We could try fishing.”
“With what?” Sidney asked.
“We’ll have to wing it.”
They had little food, and the Guardians had none. Sure, the Guardians had superior survival training, and they were tougher guys, but they didn’t have what the privates did: the ability to improvise. While he couldn’t out-tough them, he could undeniably outsmart them. Particularly with their new secret weapon—a Guardian of their own.
“Eugene, we may have to stop to fish,” Drayden said. “Do we have time? You’re one of these guys, or used to be. We all need to reach Boston. Are they aiming to beat us there? Or will they follow us and kill us later? Or was Duarte only trying to scare us?”
Eugene contemplated it before answering, reloading his rifle’s magazine. “Just because I know these guys doesn’t mean I can predict what they would do in any given scenario. The fact that they crossed the bridge before us is irrelevant. They could be racing ahead of us. Or they could have cut way into the woods, they’re watching us right now, and intend on trailing us.”
Nobody could resist surveying the woods after that.
Eugene set his rifle down and checked the ammo in his Glock. “If you want my opinion, I think it would be impossible to find Boston without a map. I bet they’ll shadow us but stay out of sight. These guys are crafty.”
“How will they eat?” Catrice asked.
He waved his Glock at her. “Probably hunt. I’m just saying, after things calm down I think Captain Lindrick will make sure they can follow us. Heck, they might even protect us if necessary, to ensure we show them the way to Boston. Once we reach Boston…it’s a different story.”
“What if we head back to New America?” Sidney tossed her apple core behind her. “The whole mission is kind of blown now anyway. The Bureau wouldn’t really blame us considering what happened, would they?”
Eugene shook his head. “We’ve got to be close to two hundred miles away. Impossible to hike it without supplies. If the Guardians are watching us, I’m sure they’d kill us if we were heading home anyway. Given how this mission went down, they’d never be allowed back into New America if we got there first. And I hate to break it to you, but if you think the Bureau would give us a pass because the mission didn’t go as planned, then you don’t know the Bureau very well. Everyone on this expedition needs to reach Boston—period. Especially you guys.”
“Yeah,” Drayden said. “No discussion there. Our families are back to the Dorms if we don’t reach Boston.”
Eugene licked his lips. “Even though us Guardians don’t have to worry about that contingency, everyone wants the reward for reaching Boston. We talked about it. Boston or bust.”
Catrice asked the logical question. “What if they reach Boston first?”
“Depends,” Eugene said. “First of all, we don’t know if there is a Boston. If there’s nothing there, then it won’t matter. If there is…them beating us is a serious problem. If they’re trailing us, we need to lose them. If they’re ahead of us, we need to catch them.”
“Thanks, Eugene,” Drayden said. “Here’s the plan. We hike on Route 6, off the actual road. Let’s stick to the woods. Since it’s thicker with brush it’ll be slower, but it will make it harder to follow us, or attack us. Everyone keep an eye out for the Guardians. We search for the ocean to our south, so we can fish the first chance we get. We hike till sundown so we give ourselves the best chance of beating them to Boston. We should hit Bourne today.”
They threw on their gear, and Drayden scanned the thick woods. He touched his baseball hat, overcome with the sense that they were indeed being watched.
The air was pleasantly warm, but the sun was scorching.
After five hours of hiking, Drayden’s feet became numb again. All he wanted was his brown couch and a nap. Food and water would be nice too.
Most of the hike crossed flat, rural terrain. In some places, Route 6 was so overgrown it was impossible to distinguish from the woods. For the past hour, buildings popped up with increasing regularity. At first mostly houses appeared, giving way to rundown businesses and crumbling shopping centers.
“I think we’re almost in Wareham.” Drayden consulted his map as he walked. “More than halfway to Bourne. We’ve gone about thirteen miles.”
“Wareham, huh?” Charlie muttered to himself. “You bet I wear ‘em. To the harem. Yeah, I dare ‘em. Every time he goes to the harem in Wareham.”
“I think Charlie’s gone delirious from hunger,” Sidney said.
Charlie bellowed, “If they have any fish in Wareham, Charlie’ll snare ‘em!” He returned to mumbling. “…he’ll snare ‘em…snare ‘em…”
Drayden wiped sweat off his forehead. “We have to cross a bridge in Wareham. We can try fishing off it.” His stomach rumbled with hunger pains.
“Guardian check,” Eugene said.
Everyone stopped. Hands on weapons, they rotated around in silence. They searched in every direction for any sign of the Guardians, including sounds, like snapping branches. This had become part of their routine, roughly every half hour. So far, not a trace. If the Guardians were covertly following, they were exceptional at it.
Sidney lowered her rifle. “The more time that goes by without seeing them, the more nervous I get.”
Drayden holstered his pistol. Why had he bothered taking it out? He couldn’t hit Eugene three feet away. “It might be a good sign. If they were going to attack, they probably would have done it already.”
“Guys, quiet,” Eugene said. “You hear that?”
Running water.
It was faint, like a stream or small river.
“Where’s it coming from?” Drayden asked.
“There.” Catrice spun toward the woods.
They negotiated the thick bramble, rich with thorns. After about fifty feet, they reached a narrow stream, glistening with gentle, crystal-clear water.
“Nobody drink that,” Drayden ordered. They would need to boil it first.
“I just wanna splash my face.” Sidney tiptoed down the steep bank and knelt by the water’s edge. “Whoa, look! Fish!”
The stream was loaded with fish—big fish, around a foot long. Tiny white spots covered their brown skin. Some glided around while others remained motionless, hovering in the water. The privates watched in amazement. It was the first time they’d seen real live fish.
The way they moved in the water was so elegant, so dazzling, like they were flying. Drayden abhorred the idea of killing these graceful creatures. They’d done nothing other than survive the Confluence to deserve such a fate. Unfortunately, the privates needed to eat.
Sidney washed her face in the stream. “How do we catch them?”
Drayden tugged on his earlobe. They were carrying rope in their backpacks, but it was thick, not fishing wire. They had no hooks. Tie a knife to a stick to fashion a spear? Securing it with such thick rope would be impossible.
“How about this?” Eugene touched a massive rock on the river bank, one of many such rocks lying around. He squatted down, and with visible straining, hoisted the rock to waist level. His lips tightened into a pucker, his cheeks turned red, and tendons bulged in his neck. He stumbled to the edge of the river, and in a shocking display of strength, pressed the massive stone above his head. He paused, scanning the water. With a screech, he launched the boulder into the stream, resulting in an epic splash.
The privates waited till the disturbed sand and silt from the stream settled. When the water cleared, it revealed the fish were quite nimble. Eugene had missed.
“C’mon, Charlie,” Eugene said, wearing a stupid grin. “It’s kinda fun.” He giggled like a little kid.
Charlie picked up a rock. He and Eugene howled as they tried and failed over and over to smash the fish.
Observing them tossing stones he could never lift, Drayden considered his own strengths. They weren’t physical ones, and might never be, but he had something else. It was time to start being himself. He caught Catrice staring at him.
Her expression said what he was thinking. We can do better than this.
He examined the stream up and down.
It was ten or fifteen feet across. Downstream a bit it narrowed significantly, to a few feet, and the water rushed through that section.
Drayden had an idea. “Does anyone still have the fabric from their life vest?”
“I do,” Catrice said, digging it out of her backpack.
“Perfect. Sid, can you and Catrice poke holes in the vest with your knives? Lots of mini holes, enough for water to pass through, like a sieve.”
Sidney chewed on a nail. “Sure. Why?”
“You’ll see. Eugene, Charlie! Stop. You’re wasting your energy; the fish are too fast. And we need those rocks.”
Both glowed red and glistened with sweat. “Okay,” Charlie said. “What should we do?”
“You see that spot where the stream narrows?” Drayden flung a pebble at it. “Start piling the rocks up there. Make it even more narrow. Leave only a foot of space to pass through.”
Eugene put his hands on his hips. “Damn, kid. You are smart. This is like being in the Initiation with you guys. I love it!”
Catrice’s eyes widened. “So, we narrow the stream to a foot wide there, turn this vest into a net, and hold it in place. If we can force the fish that way, they’ll get trapped. Great idea, Drayden.”
“Thanks.” He turned away. “We’ll scare them in that direction with rocks, right into our trap.”
Sidney and Catrice savaged the vest, which looked like they’d used it for target practice. Charlie and Eugene piled up the rocks, making the water rocket through the narrow canal they’d built.
Drayden clapped his hands together. “Eugene, Charlie, you guys have to toss the stones, none of the rest of us are strong enough. Keep advancing toward the trap. Sid, Catrice, you guys hold the net. Everybody good?”
“The water’s racing through our canal,” Catrice said, fumbling with her side of the vest. “I’m not sure if I can hold onto the net.”
Sidney glared at her. “We need to eat, girl. C’mon.”
“You can do it.” Drayden nodded.
She and Sidney struggled but anchored the net in place, the force of the water’s flow bubbling it out. Catrice dropped her side and it deflated.
Sidney cursed under her breath, mumbling something about her sister. “Stick your fingers through the holes we cut. And use some damn muscle.”
Catrice flushed. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before securing the net per Sidney’s instruction. “Got it.”
Drayden gave Charlie and Eugene a thumbs-up and they hurled the rocks, one after another. The stream clouded up with sand, making it difficult to tell whether their scheme was working.
“How we doing?” Eugene grunted.
“I can’t tell; it’s too cloudy. Keep going. We’ll know soon enough.”
Charlie and Eugene were now ten feet from the trap.
“We got one!” Sidney yelled. “And another!”
Catrice turned her face away from the approaching splashes. “And another one!”
They caught five fish in total. Everyone crowded around to see when Sidney and Catrice held the net in the air.
Drayden couldn’t bear to watch the fish wiggling around, gasping for air. They were suffering, and he loathed watching any living thing suffer. In this case, the privates were the source of their pain, which made it even worse.
Eugene whooped. “Lunch is served!”
“We can’t let them suffocate.” Catrice averted her eyes. “It’s cruel.”
“Fine, gimme the bag ‘o fish.” Eugene carried the wriggling net up to flat ground, laid it down, and snatched up a rock. “You softies might want to look the other way.”
“Dear God,” Catrice said, walking off.
Drayden tried to think about his father and brother as a distraction, his stomach turning anyway.
Eugene guffawed as he smashed the fish’s heads with the rock, one by one.
Drayden sneered at Catrice, who crouched by the stream. This is the guy you’re ditching me for?
“Uh, I suggest you guys stay away for a bit,” Eugene said. “I’m going to slice the fish open—remove the guts and the bones. Can someone start a fire?”
“If we start a fire, we’ll give away our location from the smoke,” Sidney said.
Drayden hadn’t thought of that. “Great point, Sid.”
Charlie hovered over Eugene’s shoulder, watching him gut the fish. “We gotta eat. We can’t eat that raw. Can we?”
Drayden pondered it for a moment. “No idea. I’m pretty sure we need to cook it. We also need to figure out how. We don’t have a pan or
anything. I think we have to accept the risk of giving away our location to the Guardians. We need food. We’ll go on high alert. Someone will stand guard while the others cook.”
“I can start the fire,” Catrice said, taking out her magnifying glass and collecting some dry leaves and wood. She knelt and focused the sun’s rays into a laser beam of light. A burn hole appeared on the leaf, unleashing a tiny plume of smoke. It burst into flame.
Drayden picked up a long stick, thinking it might work for cooking. “Charlie, help me gather some sticks to skewer the fish. We’ll soak them in the stream for a few minutes so they don’t burn.”
Eugene left the fish intact minus the guts, skewering them through the tail and out the mouth. Each person supported the skewered fish from below with two additional sticks to prevent the fish from breaking off the skewer as it cooked.
The rich, savory smell of the roasting fish made Drayden’s mouth water. Eugene worked two skewers, allowing Sidney to scan the area with her rifle raised. In ten minutes, the fish were done.
Drayden ate like a wild animal. He devoured the tender white meat and even the crispy skin.
Charlie burped. “I want another one.”
It was the most satisfying meal Drayden had ever eaten. He thought of Wesley, who loved fish and would have gone crazy for this new type of fish that didn’t exist in New America.
“We gotta keep moving,” he said. “Let’s put this fire out, in case the Guardians haven’t seen the smoke yet.”
Sidney carried one of her empty water bottles toward the stream to retrieve water to douse the fire.
A gunshot rang out in the distance.
CHAPTER 20
Crouched in the bushes, in panic mode, Drayden examined the highway in both directions.
“Did anyone hear where the shot came from?” Catrice whispered.
Everyone answered at the same time. “Behind—ahead—behind us—over there.”
“Glad we got that settled,” Charlie muttered.
Drayden squinted, looking west. “I think it was behind us.”
