by Beth Martin
“We need to keep going.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why? Do you think the angry mob is chasing us?”
His brows pulled together as he frowned. “I don’t want to take any chances. I know you want to get back to your land, but that’s the first place they’ll look. There’s an abandoned town not too far from here where we could lay low for a while. I hope you ate well last night because it’s going to be a while before we get another proper meal.”
“Roemell!” she said, raising her voice. “You’re acting like the settlement is full of thieves and crooks. Sure, they may talk big, but they aren’t going to hunt me down.”
“You don’t know them nearly as well as I do!” he shouted. “You may not know this, having grown up with every convenience you could desire, but people who are desperate will do some pretty awful stuff to survive.”
“They aren’t desperate,” she retorted.
He stood up, then threw his hands in the air and paced away from her. “Didn’t it seem odd to you that you were invited back after what happened to Kelly?”
“That was an accident. Alisa understood after I explained everything.”
“The only reason you were allowed to stay was because you brought a vehicle filled with food.”
She crossed her arms. “But there’s already plenty of food in their storage tent.”
“Which has to be split among thirty people. Leona, I know you’re fond of Alisa and the rest of the settlers, but when push comes to shove, they’ll turn on someone in the blink of an eye.” He turned to her and sat in front of her, continuing in a gentle voice. “You didn’t hear them talking about you.”
“I refuse to believe they’re as awful as you say they are.”
He gave an exasperated sigh before getting back to his feet. “I know you don’t want to believe this, but those who are destitute will do whatever it takes to survive. I’ve spent most of my life squatting in abandoned buildings that didn’t have running water or power. Jo and I had to sleep out in the open for years. Almost every bite I’ve eaten was stolen. When I was a kid, my mother would trade her body for things my sister and I needed. The world is incredibly cruel to the poor, so yes, I completely believe that the settlers will chase you down and strip you of every shred of dignity.”
She didn’t respond, and instead stared down at her knees. Perhaps he had a point. Although she was thirsty, hungry, and tired, she hadn’t passed the point of desperation. But if she did, what would she do to take care of herself? She had already rebooted her estate’s computer system without a thought to what that meant for other people. If she wasn’t careful, she could end up like Tina, who had turned her position of desperation into a string of terrorism.
But even framing it like that didn’t excuse what she had done. In fact, Leona was wasting her time running away from an imaginary threat. What was more important was stopping Tina.
“You don’t need to protect me,” she said, trying to keep her voice level. “I know you miss your sister, but I’m not her. Keeping me safe isn’t going to bring her back.”
He crossed his arms. “I made a promise to your father—”
“And now he’s dead. You’re not responsible for me. I don’t need you.”
“Yes, you do. You don’t know how to survive on your own—”
“I don’t need you,” she repeated, her voice firm. “You should go back. Be with Ivan. If anyone needs your protection, it’s him.”
He gave her a pained look, like her words had stabbed him in the chest.
She stood up and continued, “The last thing I need is you telling me what to do. Instead, let me tell you what’s going to happen. I’m going to find Tina and stop her—by any means necessary—and then I’ll rebuild the Poole Estate. I’ll welcome anyone willing to work, and if no one comes, I’ll find a way to support myself.” She wanted to stomp away, but there wasn’t really anywhere to go. Instead, she turned toward the cliffs and walked up to the rocky wall. Tears stung at her eyes, but she didn’t want Roemell to see her cry, not while she was finally making a stand.
“At least let me help you find Tina.”
“Fine,” she said, trying her best to keep her voice from cracking. “But right now, I’m going to go back to sleep.” Making sure to avoid looking at him or even letting him see her face, she laid back down in the indentation her body had made in the sand. She closed her eyes and covered her face with her arm, effectively closing herself off from the world, at least for the moment.
• • •
There was nothing quite like taking a swim in the Pacific Ocean to temper an angry mood. The cold water sucked every sour thought from his mind, essentially washing them from his brain.
After his swim, he walked back to the beach and along the sand, his water-laden clothes dripping salty water onto the damp ground. There was kelp and little black hopping bugs all along the beach. With each step, bugs scattered away, afraid of getting crushed. He made his way to the dry patch of sand where he had left his shoes and picked them up, but didn’t put them on. They would just get soaked while his clothes were still sopping wet.
It wasn’t cool out, but there was a strong breeze, which made him shiver. He took off his shirt and wrung out as much of the water as he could before putting it back on. Checking first to make sure Leona wasn’t watching, he removed his pants and squeezed the moisture out of them. After slipping them back on, he checked again to make sure she hadn’t noticed. Whatever she was doing as she sat on the ground had her full attention.
Curiosity overwhelmed him, and he decided to see what she was up to. As he got closer, he could make out something she was drawing with her finger in the sand. “What’cha doing?” he asked casually.
She glanced up, squinting her eyes in the sun. “I’m making a map.” He squatted down to get a closer view, but still couldn’t discern anything from her diagram. “This,” she pointed at a smooth stone, “is the Cooper Estate—the first one Tina attacked. Then she moved on to the Patel Estate over here, Newton, and then here’s my estate.” She pointed at different stones, which denoted the approximate locations.
“Immediately after that, she moved on to the Evanko Estate.”
Leona nodded. “Yeah, I’ve marked it right there. What I’m trying to deduce is where she’ll go next.”
“From here, it looks like she’s just moving north.”
“Generally, yes. But she skipped the Grimmesey Estate which is between mine and the Newton’s, and she seems to skip from inland estates to coastal estates without any discernible pattern.”
Roemell stood back up and hugged his arms around him, trying to stay warm. “Maybe she’s targeting the people she doesn’t like.”
She shook her head. “I never met her or any of her family. Stella Newton got along with her pretty well and was pretty upset when Tina ran away.”
“Was there anything that the places targeted all had in common?”
“There must be something.” She glanced at him, this time holding her hand up to shield the sun from her eyes. “Why are you wet?”
“I, uh, took a swim.”
She shook her head like she should have expected him to do something that stupid. “I can’t remember if my mom was ever friends with Mrs. Patel. I think Ava’s dad got along with Tina’s older brother. Maybe that’s why her estate was targeted.”
“It could something other than her specific relationship with each family. She said she was trying to send a message—that the elite and the poor aren’t so different. How does destroying these families in particular help convey that point?” He wished he knew more about the local wealthy population so he could be a little more helpful.
She sat quietly, scratching her chin. Slowly, she traced the line which connected the burnt estates with her finger.
Shrugging his shoulders, Rommel said, “Maybe they all have a particular type of security robot, or they aren’t sympathetic to the unfortunate.”
“They all have daughters.”
“Half of children are daughters. I don’t think—”
“That’s it.” She stood and wiped the sand from her hands onto her shirt. “All the families which were targeted, including her own, have unmarried daughter. The ones that were skipped either don’t have children, only have sons, or their daughters have already married and moved away.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Sure it does. She’s taking away what she can’t have from exactly the people who could make the same choices she did. Generally, men inherit their family’s estate. Women don’t always have that security.”
He shook his head. “But you inherited the Poole Estate.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t say her logic was perfect.”
“Okay, so let’s say that is the case. Where would she go next?”
Squatting down, she added another connecting line to her map. “The VanStraten Estate. They have three girls.”
“I take it you want to go there.”
“Yes. But first, we need a plan.”
Although she had no idea what exactly they were doing, Leona did have a vague idea of how to handle things when they arrived at the VanStraten Estate. If it had already been terrorized, there wasn’t anything to do except move on. She hoped they’d get there before Tina, but deep down, she really wanted to catch the woman in the act.
They had already walked more than a dozen miles north of the settlement, but their new destination was a bit south of the settlement, so they were in for a few days of traveling. Leona suggested stopping by the community to grab some provisions, but Roemell insisted it was best to avoid returning for a while. Since Ivan was still there, she knew they would be going back eventually.
Although she had already picked the kitchen at her house clean, she recalled that the club room had still been stocked. Even though she wanted to hurry up and catch Tina, the delay of taking a detour of an extra few miles to get supplies would keep her from starving to death.
After booting up power just for the house, she led the way inside, through the charred doors, and down the stairs to the basement.
“What is this place?” Roemell asked.
She realized that she never brought him to this particular room before. While he worked at the house, she hadn’t had a reason to go down here. “My dad called it the club room. It used to be for family entertainment, but I updated it to a bar of sorts since Dad never used it.”
He got in the face of an android standing motionless at the bar. “What’s a bar?”
She smiled, then started rattling off commands. “House lights off, dance lights and music on.”
As the techno music started thumping, a few of the androids that still had power came to life as they danced along. Roemell stumbled back, trying to avoid a robot that was now attempting to dance with him.
“Is this supposed to be fun?” he shouted over the loud music.
She suppressed a laugh. “Yes. I used to come down here all the time to let off steam.”
“These lights are making me dizzy. Remind me why we’re here.”
“Provisions,” she said, smiling. She walked up to the bar and waited for the bartender bot to come to her.
“Hey, beautiful. What can I get for you?”
Roemell’s eyes widened as he looked from Leona to the robot and back. “Why is that robot naked?”
“Oh, I needed some clothes, so I took his.” She pulled the hem of her black shirt to indicate it had belonged to the bot. Then she turned her attention back to the android. “No drinks tonight. I need every food-like substance you have. All the olives, cherries, juice concentrates. All of it.”
It nodded, then disappeared through the door to where all the extras were stored.
“I wouldn’t mind a handle of something strong for the road,” Roemell said. Instead of waiting for the robot to return, he jumped over the bar and grabbed a bottle of clear liquid. He climbed back to the other side and held up his prize for Leona to inspect. “Is this any good?”
“Everclear?” She raised a brow. “It’s certainly strong.”
“Is there anything else here that might be useful?” he asked as he looked around the room.
She crossed her arms. “Unless you want to bring along one of the robots, not really.”
The naked robot returned with a box containing all sorts of edible odds and ends used to garnish drinks. “Here you are. Anything else I can help you with?”
“This is all,” she said as she lifted the box.
“Isn’t there something else we could carry it in other than a plastic carton?” he asked
She bit her lip as she thought, then recalled that one of the androids had a large handbag with straps that went over the shoulders. “Barkeep, tell Samantha to come over here. I need her bag.”
The bot nodded, and within a few seconds, a tall blond robot with sparkling blue eyes approached them and held out a handbag with its delicate, mechanical hand.
“Holy shit,” Roemell said as he took the bag. “This is the fanciest backpack I’ve ever seen. What is it made out of? Snake skin?”
“Alligator,” the bot corrected before sauntering off to join the dance floor.
Roemell exhaled sharply as he watched it walk away. He opened the bag and held it up while Leona dumped the contents of the box inside.
“I need to go grab one more thing,” she said as she set the box on the bar. “Meet me at the road on the northwest corner, all right?”
He nodded as he slipped the bottle of liquor in with the assortment of food and cinched the bag shut. “Don’t take too long.”
They left the club room and walked out of the house. “I’ll be just a minute,” she called as she broke off to go in another direction. Checking over her shoulder to make sure Roemell wasn’t watching, she slipped around to the side of the house. She followed the hedges, being careful to stay out of sight, all the way to the courtyard.
She crept inside the emergency shelter and spoke just above a whisper. “I need to send out a communication.” Only a single red light flashed on the otherwise dark computer panel. She hoped it would carry out her instructions.
“Send out a warning to all the other California estates. Antonia Patel is behind the recent terror attacks. Security should be on high alert, and any access she has should be revoked. She targets the emergency shelters, so tell everyone to make sure their shelters are guarded.”
She just needed one more thing. At the very back of the shelter, under the empty shelves, was a lock box. She pulled it out and examined it. There was a keypad on the top. After putting in her birthday—her father’s passcode for everything—it made a soft click and opened. Inside was a pistol, a weapon which could both knock out a person and disable a robot. She examined it for a moment. It was smaller than she had expected. Slipping it into her front pocket, she shoved the now empty box back under the shelf, then quickly left the emergency shelter and jogged away to go meet back up with Roemell.
• • •
“You got whatever it was you needed?” Roemell asked.
Leona’s face and neck were flushed already, but even more color came to her cheeks at the question. “Yeah, let’s go.”
He wasn’t sure what she’d needed to go back for, but he guessed from her apparent embarrassment, it must have been some sort of feminine hygiene product. Jovelyn used to go into gross detail about her cycle whenever he gave her a hard time for stopping for frequent toilet breaks. He knew better than to ask.
“I ate a couple of those yellow oranges while waiting.”
“Lemons?” She laughed at his mistaken fruit name. “You ate a straight lemon?”
“Yeah…” Honestly, it had been disgustingly sour. He had tried to wash out the taste with the bottle of liquor, but that was even stronger than Alisa’s jungle juice and made his throat burn much more than the fruit had. But after another swig of alcohol, he found the second lemon much more palatable. After drinking only a few ounces, he alrea
dy felt off balance and a bit tipsy. “What was I supposed to eat, then?”
She shrugged as she took the bag from his outstretched hand. “Something other than a lemon.” She pulled out the bottle of liquor and twisted off the cap, then took a long drink. Her features twisted in a disgusted face before taking another swig and replacing the bottle. Then she removed the jar of olives and handed the bag back. She popped a couple olives in her mouth as they continued to walk along.
“If you’re not too tired, I thought we could keep traveling through the night.” He turned his head and nodded toward the setting sun.
She plopped another olive in her mouth. “Sure. Let me know when you need a break.” She gave him a sly smile before eating another olive.
He smiled back. He was so glad she was finally being friendly with him again. Agreeing to help catch Tina certainly helped Leona forgive him.
The moon was just a sliver, only the stars lighting the pair’s path as the sun disappeared under the horizon. They decided to follow the road almost all the way to the settlement and cut through the adjacent fields when they got closer. He was concerned about trespassing, especially at night, but Leona assured him it would be fine. Sure enough, when a bot android saw them walking between two tall rows of corn, it paused once it identified Leona. “I’m just passing through with my companion,” she said. That was enough for the android to leave them alone. He realized Tina must have infiltrated all of the estates simply by being recognized. With such sophisticated technology, he was surprised every estate’s security had such a huge vulnerability.
Only once they had traveled a mile past the settlement did he recommend they take a break. While Leona had slept on the beach the previous afternoon, he hadn’t gotten any rest. His body became so weary, he kept stumbling over his own feet.
They found a cluster of trees which provided some shade. “I’ll keep a look out while you sleep,” she said as they took a seat next to one of the larger trees.
“If you want,” he said. He leaned back against the trunk and within moments had drifted off.
