by Beth Martin
• • •
It was midday by the time Roemell woke back up. He was slumped over with his head resting in Leona’s lap. When he sat up to stretch, he saw that she was leaning against the tree, fast asleep. He swept a lock of hair away from her face with his fingertips, the motion making her stir.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
She shook her head, then rubbed her fists against her eyes. “I must have nodded off for just a minute there.”
He smiled. “It’s okay.”
She picked up the bag and rifled through the contents. “Do we have anything to eat other than olives and limes?”
“What about those cherries?”
She kept her face down like she was still searching for more in the almost empty bag. “I ate them last night.” He grabbed the bag from her and pulled out a jar. Not sure what was inside, he opened the glass container only to be assaulted by a noxious smell. She frowned slightly, and said, “I was hungry. I still am. I hadn’t eaten for an entire day.”
Even though the human body could last quite a while without food, he needed to eat something to keep his mind alert. He took another sniff of the jar before looking at the label. Onions. Who put onions in their drinks? Still, he knew it could be a while before he would have another meal, so he did his best not to smell as he held the jar up to his lips and tipped a few of the potent vegetables into his mouth.
“Ew!” she squealed. “How can you eat those?”
He did his best not to make a face, but his eyes were already beginning to water. Holding up the jar again, he ate another mouthful before recapping the container and putting it back in the bag. “Eight days.”
“What?”
He looked her in the eyes. “Eight days. That’s the longest I’ve gone without food.”
She looked down at the ground. “Oh.”
Getting up from his spot under the tree, he walked over to the road and Leona followed close behind. He was about to ask her how far she thought they were from the VanStraten Estate, when suddenly she pushed him away.
“Oh my God, you smell terrible. Do me a favor and stay on the other side of the road.”
He sighed. Of course she had to eat all the good food first and still somehow get mad at him for consuming what she wouldn’t. “How about this. Next time, you eat the onions and let me have all the cherries.”
“Whatever. Just, don’t breathe on me.”
Although Leona had never actually visited the VanStraten Estate, she had driven past it several times with her mother. Donelle Poole loved visiting the historic bay. There were rows of Victorian-style homes which had been converted into businesses. Mrs. Poole owned one which she had re-purposed into a tea house. She’d bring friends or just her daughter there for an afternoon of shopping followed by sugary tea and delicate cookies. After the fire, Leona hadn’t heard anything from her mother, and hoped that she was all right.
Leona recognized the white fence surrounding the lush green hills. Gerald VanStraten enjoyed playing a game called golf, and her mom always voiced her disapproval of the sport each time they drove by.
She turned to Roemell. “This is it.”
“All right. What’s the plan?”
Everything looked as it should, which meant Tina hadn’t done her thing yet. “We sneak in, then check to make sure Tina’s not already stationed in the emergency shelter.”
“And if she’s not, we’ll be able to waltz in there and take over before she can.”
She stopped at the edge of the fence. “It’s not that simple. We can hide somewhere near the shelter entrance, but we won’t be able to get inside.”
“Why not? The one at Ava’s was easy to unlock.”
She shook her head, her messy curls bobbing up and down. “That can’t be right. You saw Tina go directly to the emergency shelter and then, what, it just opened for her?”
He leaned casually against the fence. “Well, I got there first. When I came up to the door, the computer recognized me and opened when I asked.”
Biting her lip, she said, “Weird. That’s not supposed to happen—shelters only unlock for the family and no one else.” Her father had skipped adding Roemell to their security’s authorized persons list. Apparently adding him would have been a lot of work, and Roemell was supposed to be with Leona at all times, so it would have been redundant. She decided not to share that detail with him.
“They don’t ever make an exception?”
“Maybe if there’s imminent danger? But usually, the programs are pretty strict. I’ve never seen one make an exception.”
He shrugged in response.
Since they didn’t know what to expect, she figured there was no point worrying, and started climbing over the fence.
“Whoa, what are you doing?” Roemell rushed over to her and grabbed her arm, preventing her from getting to the other side.
“We’re here. Let’s go find their emergency shelter.” She wiggled her arm, but he wasn’t letting go.
“We shouldn’t enter here. Wide-open spaces are easy to patrol. And I know from experience that security androids shoot before trying to verify identity.”
She stepped back down on the ground, and he released her arm. “They’ve never tried to shoot me.” She pouted, upset that Roemell kept contradicting everything she said.
“You’ve always used the main road and gone through the gates.”
She nodded. All the gates at her estate had had security checkpoints, but she never really thought too much about them. Since they were breaking in, taking the VanStraten driveway was out of the question.
“This way,” he said as he led the pair along the fence. “We’ll find a field or orchard to sneak through. The taller the plants, the better.”
The golf course stretched on for quite a while before they came to the first field. As far as she could see, vines grew on tresses which were low to the ground. They kept going past another field with small plants covered in arches of milky plastic, then short little trees.
After an hour of walking, they finally came to a field of tall plants. “This should do,” Roemell said. There was no longer an attractive white fence. Instead, a six-foot chain-link fence separated them from the VanStaten Estate.
Leona threaded her fingers high into the fence and tried to pull herself up, but wasn’t able to get herself high enough to swing her legs over the top. “How are we supposed to get in?”
She looked at Roemell, who was half smiling, half grimacing as he tried not to laugh. “Need some help?” He stood next to her and laced his fingers together into a foothold. “I’ll give you a boost.”
Placing her foot in his hands, she leapt up and gripped the top bar of the fence and swung her other foot over. Then, she lifted the first leg over the top and jumped down with a soft thud.
She turned to look at Roemell through the fence and was about to ask him how he planned on getting over. But before she could say a word, he took a few steps back then ran toward the fence. He stuck the front of his shoe high into the chain links, hoisted himself up, gripped the top bar with both hands, then effortlessly swung his lower body over the top, landing solidly on the ground next to her.
“Show off,” she said, crossing her arms.
He smiled and gave her a playful punch on the shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go this way.” He led her through the tall plants, keeping a look out for any androids as he whispered instructions. “If a security bot comes at us, I want you to duck. They target the tallest intruder first, so you should be safe.” She was about to point out that they were the same height, but he kept talking. “However, once one finds us, it alerts the rest, and we won’t stand a chance. It’s best to stay undetected.”
“What if we’re caught?” she asked, suddenly feeling her previous confidence completely slip away.
He stopped walking and turned to face her. “We get the hell out of here.”
She swallowed hard, and tried to stay close as they continued creeping along betw
een rows of crops. Once they cleared the field, she saw the storage facilities ahead. Some of the buildings would be abandoned while others were crawling with all sorts of robots. It was best to stay away from all structures since it was hard to tell which were in use.
They came to an orchard of large fruit trees. Without warning, Roemell climbed the branches of one of the trees, all the way to the top about fifteen feet up.
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
“Getting a better view.” All she could see through the thick foliage were his feet dangling down. After a moment, he came back down, taking a seat on one of the lower branches. “The houses are that way.” He pointed behind him. Then, he pulled a piece of fruit off the tree and tossed it to Leona before grabbing a second one and taking a big bite. Spewing bits from his mouth as he talked, he added, “Might as well eat while we’re surrounded by food.”
She examined the apple in her hands before taking a tentative bite. Usually produce was inspected, sorted, and washed before she ate it. Since the apple came straight from the tree and had never fallen on the ground, she guessed it didn’t need to get washed first.
When he finished his snack, he threw the core onto the ground and grabbed a second apple and ate it as well. “Have you ever climbed a tree before?”
“No.” She hadn’t even known people could climb them. The lowest branches weren’t too high, and Roemell had made it look easy. Grasping a limb which was chest height, she pulled herself up, climbing the branches like rungs on a ladder. It was almost like playing on the jungle gym she had as a child. She sat on a branch a bit higher than Roemell before ripping another apple off the tree and taking a big bite.
He chuckled. “Looks like you’ll adapt nicely to living off the land.”
“This is fun,” she admitted.
He jumped down, then used the bottom of his shirt to wipe off his face. “We should get moving. If we stay in one place for long, I guarantee the security bots on patrol will find us.”
She carefully climbed down, then wiped off her hands on her pants. “All right. Let’s go.”
They continued walking toward the houses. Although her estate had the emergency shelter in the courtyard, she knew not every residence was the same. But, it was a good place to start.
As they came to the end of the orchard where it bordered the lawn surrounding the houses, Roemell stuck his arm out to stop her from proceeding onto the grass. She shot him a dirty look, and he responded by slowly shaking his head. “Once we step onto the grass, we’re out in the open,” he whispered. “We need to see what sort of pattern the security bots make as they patrol so that we can avoid them.”
He barely breathed as they stood at the edge, watching for androids. A minute passed, and then another.
“Let’s just go,” she suggested.
“No. We wait.”
It felt like forever as they watched the green lawn, looking for any signs from the security system. “Maybe they just don’t have a patrol around the residences,” she said.
“Fuck. We’re too late.”
She placed a hand on his shoulder. “You think Tina’s already here?” She tried to sound serious and hide her excitement. This was it, her chance to take vengeance on the woman who had murdered her father.
“It has to be.”
“Then let’s go find her!” She tried to walk onto the lawn, but yet again Roemell held out an arm and blocked her.
“And what exactly do you plan to do when you find her?”
Leona stepped back and gave him a stern look. “Stop her, even if that means I have to do something untowered.”
“And how are we supposed to do that? She’ll have the robots and systems working for her now. She’s also incredibly sneaky and carries a knife.”
“I’ll figure out something.” Without thinking, she reached a hand to her pocket and felt for the pistol. Unfortunately, his eyes followed her hand.
Before she could react, he wrapped an arm around her waist and dug the gun out of her pocket. He held the weapon up in the air and took a step back from her. She gave him an angry look, but didn’t try to grab the weapon back.
“You weren’t going to try to stop her, were you,” he said. “You intend to go in there and kill her. There was no plan to negotiate or hand her over to the authorities. You were just going to take justice into your own hands.”
She balled her hands into tight fists. “She didn’t even think about it before killing my dad and coming after me. Who knows how many deaths she’s responsible for. She deserves to die.”
“Maybe, but she also deserves a fair trial.”
“A fair trial? Who are you?” She was raising her voice now, but if the androids weren’t on patrol, there wasn’t any danger of them being discovered. “You’re going to trust the government?” The federal government did little to protect the wealthy population and even less for the hordes of poor people. Disputes between wealthy people were commonly handled by mediators, while issues between those with means and those without were handled quietly, the landowners deciding the outcome.
“Maybe not the government, but some third party who isn’t so emotionally involved.”
“Just like you let a not-emotionally-involved party take care of the man who attacked your sister?”
He raised his voice as well as he said, “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret what happened. I want to save you from making the same mistake I did.”
“Stop trying to save me!”
They were both so consumed by their argument, they didn’t notice the black-clothed figure until it was too late.
“Having a little lover’s spat?” The pair turned quickly to see Tina standing on the green lawn just ten feet away with her hands on her hips. Her wavy hair hung loose, and her black bandanna draped around her neck instead of covering her face.
“Antonia Patel,” Leona said, her anger boiling over.
Roemell trained the gun at Tina’s chest. She shook her head, saying, “Tsk tsk tsk. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Two security bots stepped out from behind trees with their own taser guns aimed at the pair.
“Drop it,” Tina commanded. Roemell let go of his weapon, and it made a soft thunk as it hit the ground. “Kick it to me.” He did as she said, pushing it a couple feet away using his foot. He raised his hands in the air, and Leona copied the gesture. “Take them.”
The androids leapt forward. Leona screamed as one of the androids grasped her wrists and wrenched them down and behind her back. It produced a plastic circle, which it then tightened painfully around her wrists. Then the bot grasped her arm and led her toward the house. She kicked and screamed, but there was no escaping the machine’s metal grasp. “Let go of me!” she yelled. The two androids dragged the trespassers away as Tina stood and watched, laughing.
The security android that handled Roemell hadn’t been nearly as humane as the one that captured Leona. Roemell had tried to kick at the robot’s legs to get it off balance, and the bot had reacted by punching him solidly in the head, knocking him out cold.
He came to, lying on a cold concrete surface. The world around him was dark and blurry, and it took a minute for his eyes to focus. Mold and stale air greeted his nose while the metallic taste of blood lingered in his mouth. He was in an enclosed area made of iron bars contained in a large, otherwise empty room. There were several cells like his in a line, and the one adjacent to him held Leona. She sat on the floor with her back against the metal bars. Her clothes, skin, and hair were covered in dirt, and dried blood streaked her face from a gash on her forehead to her nose.
When he tried to move, he noticed the loops of metal around each of his ankles and wrists, all of which were connected by chains. He had to shimmy against the floor to move, and slowly made his way to the wall of bars which separated him from Leona.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
She barely moved her neck to look at him. Tears welled up and leaked from her eyes. “I though
t for sure you were dead.”
He was sore all over and was sure he had a nasty welt on his head. “Nah, I’m fine.”
She choked out what sounded like something between a laugh and a sob. “My plan didn’t really work.”
His chest ached. He figured he had broken a rib or two in his capture. “Then we make a new plan.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“We’ll have plenty of time later to apologize for all the dumb shit we’ve done. Let’s focus on how were going to get out of here.” He wasn’t even sure where they were. “Do all rich people have dungeons?”
She made another half laugh, half sob. “Just the really kinky ones.”
He pulled at his bindings to see if there were any weak points. There was a bit of chain between his feet and wrists, but not enough that he’d be able to stand up straight. The steel cuffs had a mechanism holding them tight. If he could find some way to get them to unclasp…
He knocked his wrists hard against the floor, hoping the impact would break the cuffs open. They made a solid crack against the surface, and the force transferred to his wrists, cutting into his flesh. He yelled out, holding his hands against his chest. Only after a minute did he look down to see the damage he had done. There were a few scratches and would probably be a bruise later.
Pulling again at the chain, he examined the shackles around his feet. They had enough slack for him to take small steps, unlike the lack of room between his wrists.
As he continued to struggle, the sound of footfalls echoing through the cavernous room made him stop. Leona’s breathing sped up as someone came closer. Looking up, he saw the source of her anxiety walking slowly down the aisle between rows of cells.
“Well, hello, my darlings,” Tina said as she approached. Roemell scooted to the wall, trying to get as far away as he could from her. “Don’t be scared. I won’t bite.”
“You’re a monster,” he spat. His voice sounded weaker and less menacing than he’d intended.
She laughed. “Funny from the man who was begging to join me just a few days ago.” She leaned against the bars to the cells across the hall and made a show of picking dirt from under her fingernails using her knife. “You know he wanted to team up with me, right, Leona?” She stared down Leona, who slouched down even further. “I heard about the arrangement you had. That your daddy hired a piece of street scum to be your protector.” She glanced back at Roemell. “Didn’t do a very good job, though, did he?”
