Beat (23 page)

The little girl moaned. Her entire back was covered in blood, but when I looked at Wendy, I wondered if any of the blood was the little girl’s. Wendy had saved the little girl, covered her with her own body.

Rage. That was the right word. I let the feeling settle deep inside me, enjoying the hot taste in my mouth.

The little girl couldn’t have been older than five or six, with long but tightly curled black hair and skin the color of tree bark. She’d been wearing a gray hood which had fallen away when I’d moved Wendy.

Melisa made it to the girl before I could, kneeling next to her and reaching for her shoulder and face. “Hey. Hey. It’s okay.”

The girl’s eyes flickered a little, then opened.

“Are you hurt?” Melisa gently passed her hands over the little girl’s blood soaked shirt, then her arms and legs.

The little girl moaned and squirmed, pushing Melisa’s hands away, her eyes opening suddenly and darting all over the place.

“Hey,” I said. I took a half-step closer, unsure of what I could do. “It’s okay.”

Melisa tossed a glance at me. I didn’t know what she wanted from me. “We’re not gonna hurt you. It’s okay.” She held the girl’s arm with both of her hands, then helped her sit up.

The little girl’s eyes were a brilliant green, so bright they almost glowed in the late-morning light filtering through the trees and leaves. She blinked a couple of times and looked around the forest. “What?” Her voice was high but rough. She yanked her arm out of Melisa’s hand.

“We’re not going to hurt you, I promise,” Melisa said, reaching for her again. “We want to help.” She looked up at me again.

I nodded. “We just want to help.”

The girl looked up at me. “You’re back.”

My heart skipped a beat at her direct tone and expression. I dropped to a crouch. “Yeah. I guess you remember me?” I thought I remembered her big shock of black hair above bright green eyes.

“You came to camp.” The girl looked around the forest again, her eyes widened when she saw Wendy. “They’re all dead?”

I tried to answer, but my voice got caught on something in my throat. I felt like the world was cracking apart—watching her realize what had happened, watching her face crumple. Melisa pulled the girl into a tight hug. “They’re all dead?” the girl repeated.

“I’m so sorry,” Melisa said, tears streaming down her face.

We stayed that way long enough for me to have to sit because my knees started to hurt. The little girl cried for a while, her heartbreaking sobs muffled by Melisa’s zip. I found myself wondering what kind of person could just murder a bunch of other people like this, wondering what the Ranjers were told that made them feel like it was okay to kill all of these people and just leave them here. After thinking about it for a while, I understood that I had no idea what would make people do this.

But I felt like I could do the same to them. If they heard this little girl crying, would they feel bad? I let the anger and grief that the crying girl was causing in me build the rage deep inside me. I was going to use that rage. Soon.

“We’re going to help you,” Melisa said. I didn’t know how we could do anything for her, but I agreed with Melisa. “What’s your name?”

“Devera.” She scrubbed her face on the sleeves of her pullover.

“That’s a pretty name,” Melisa said, helping Devera to her feet.

“My mom’s the midwife,” Devera said. I wondered why. I guessed Devera saw the confusion on our faces. “Devera was the goddess of midwives.”

“What’s a midwife?” I asked.

Devera laughed, surprise shining from her face. “You’re dumb! Everybody knows that!”

I wasn’t dumb. I traded glances with Melisa. She didn’t know either. “No, not everybody. We’re from the city.” I wasn’t dumb.

Devera gasped and stepped back, obviously afraid.
“No, it’s okay,” Melisa said. “We’re not like the Enforsers—”

“Or the Ranjers,” I said. “They don’t like us either.”

Devera didn’t move, but the fear left her posture. “Okay.” Only her eyes moved; she was probably looking for her family. “But what are you doing here?”

“Trying to end all of this,” I said.

“Figuring out how to stop them,” Melisa said.

“Who?”

“What?” I asked.

“Stop who?” Devera’s face, her wide cheekbones and round chin, seemed to deflate as her eyes settled on something. She started slowly, but was running after a few steps.

I ran after her. “Stop the city. The Enforsers and Ranjers.” I had to raise my voice as I tried to keep up with her.

“Stop her, Nik!” Melisa had reacted slower, but she guessed what Devera had seen.

Devera was way too fast for me. By the time I got to her, she was kneeling next to a dark-skinned woman who lay crumpled against a still-smoking tree. The woman’s body was so covered in burn marks and blood that I had to force myself to keep looking. I grabbed Devera, who was screaming, “Mom!” over and over again.

“Devera, come on, let’s go, come on,” I said, repeating it a few times and trying to drag her away. Melisa had to help me. When we got her about a meter away from her mother’s body, it was like a cable had broken and Devera collapsed against Melisa again.

I had to force myself to tune the little girl’s cries out. I felt like they were cutting me in half, then in half again. I couldn’t take it and found myself crying too. Embarrassed, I stepped around a tree and had to lean on it, gasping to catch my breath. When was this going to end? When would my heart stop feeling stomped on and shattered?

I got control of myself and helped Melisa guide Devera away from the body of her mother. The sights around me felt like fuel that I could use to add to the fire in my gut. This couldn’t stand. This couldn’t go on.

I wanted to do something for them. It didn’t seem right to just leave all the bodies here, untouched on the forest floor. I wondered what the Wanderers did when somebody died. I glanced down at Devera, whose sobs had subsided and was mostly sniffing now, as we kept walking toward the Pod. I could ask her, but that might make it worse for her. She seemed so little; her head didn’t even come up to my elbow. She was so young, but she was going to have to spend the rest of her life without her family, knowing who killed them.

Melisa and I exchanged a look above Devera’s head. I indicated the area around us with my head and mouthed, “What do we do?”

She shrugged and shook her head.

We had to leave them. There was nothing else we could do.

A few minutes later we came to the Pod; Melisa had to reassure Devera that we weren’t Enforsers, that we had stolen the Pod. I told Melisa the plan that had crystallized even more as we had walked. “We ditch the Pod and take my CyJet back to town, staying off the grid. We get Pol and Koner, see if they want to help, and find a way back into Prime One. Probably we use the uniforms.”

“Pol’s too small. You, Koner, and me could probably get away with that.”

“Okay, fine. We’ll figure that out.”

“What about Devera?” Melisa gave the girl a squeeze. Devera was clinging to Melisa as if she wouldn’t ever let go.

Melisa and I spoke at the same time. “We have to take her.”

“We’ll find somewhere safe,” I said.

“And when we’re back into Prime One?”

I stepped up the ramp into the Enforser Pod. “We’ll split up. One person does the analysis of the knockout, gets proof of what it really is, then sends it to your IM-box. Another person sends that and the video clips out to the whole city.”

“Do you know how to use broadcasting equipment?”

“No, but it can’t be that hard. Maybe Pol can do it.”

Melisa guided Devera to a bench. “It’s okay. Just strap in. You’re safe now.” She turned to me. “He probably can. Then we destroy the knockout, right?”

“Yes. I’m not sure how, but we’ll find a way.”

“We have to destroy it without getting anyone infected.”

“Of course.” I closed the ramp.

“And we do all this without getting caught.”

“Yeah.”

“What are the guards like in there?”

“Just Enforsers. Although there are some robots too. Creepy ones.” I described the machines that rolled on nearly silent treads and had attachments that unfolded from their arms.

“We should find a way to cut off Prime One from the outside. You know, so they can’t call for back-up.” Melisa made her way to the pilot’s chair.

“Great idea. Maybe we can bring Prime One’s power grid down.”

“That might even get rid of the robots.”

“Maybe.”

In a few moments, we were in the air. “Where’s the CyJet?”

I guided her, leaning on her seat and glancing back toward Devera now and again. What were we going to do with the little girl? We had to keep her safe. We had to succeed and get out alive so we could take Devera somewhere she could be safe from the New Chapter. Maybe we could find other Wanderers.

I checked the time on my Papa. No wonder I was hungry; I hadn’t eaten since some time the day before, even before being locked in that room, and it was nearly 12:00.

I could hardly believe I’d escaped Prime One twice in one morning. I looked through the glass on the Pod’s cockpit and found the road and the stream. The tree had to be somewhere near.

It took another half hour to find the tree, and we had to go back and forth a few times, but I finally spotted the dark fir tree. As Melisa landed the Pod, I headed into the back.

“Devera? I’m Nik. She’s Melisa. We’re so sorry.”

“You didn’t do it.”

The clarity of her voice set me back on my heels a little. “What?”

“It wasn’t you that killed my mom. The Ranjers did it.” Her green eyes flashed. “I want to kill them.”

I felt like I should tell her she shouldn’t talk that way, but that was stupid. I wanted to kill them too.

“All of them.” Devera looked down.

Hearing those words from a kid who couldn’t be older than seven was disturbing. But the blame wasn’t Devera’s. “How old are you?”

“Eight. Almost nine.”

So I was wrong. How was I supposed to know how old little kids were?

The Pod settled to the ground. Devera unstrapped and stood. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to go back and try to end all this. But we need to find a way to keep you safe.”

“I want to help.”

I stared at her, trying to imagine what an almost nine-year-old could do to help us. Probably not a lot. But she deserved a chance to get back at the people who had killed her family. She should be allowed to get justice, even if she was only eight years old. “I don’t know. We’ll try to find something you can do, but you’re . . . well . . . ”

“A kid. But I’m fast and I always won our wrestling matches.” She stood straight, her green eyes challenging me. Her chin moved up slightly, as if she were going to poke me with it. “I can help.”

I knew it was bad of me, but I couldn’t deny her the chance. “We’ll find something. I promise.”

“Don’t break promises.”

“I won’t.”

Melisa joined us. “Did I hear you say Devera was going to help us?”

I bit my tongue and stared hard at Melisa. She had to understand.

“I
am
going to help. He said.”

“Hey, I know why you want to,” Melisa said, “but we can’t put you in a dangerous situation.”

“I already was in one.” Devera glared at Melisa. “They killed my family. Did they kill yours too?”

Melisa opened her mouth, maybe to argue, but nothing came out. I was impressed; Devera was pretty convincing. “But you’re a little girl,” Melisa finally said.

“I’m almost nine.” Devera kept glaring. “I’m almost the same as you.”

Melisa’s face darkened. “No, you’re not. I’m almost sixteen. That’s a big difference.”

“It’s only seven years. That’s really small.” Devera’s nostrils flared, her face flushing.

“That’s practically your entire life!”

“I don’t care! They killed everyone and I’m gonna kill them!” Suddenly she was crying, but she didn’t move. She just stared at Melisa, tears running down her face.

I had no idea what to say or do. Melisa had no response. Long seconds passed.

Melisa finally ended the moment by going to Devera. “Okay. You’re right.” She wrapped the girl in a hug and pulled her close. I thought Devera would resist, but she squeezed Melisa back, scrubbing her face on Melisa’s zip. They stayed that way for long enough that I began grabbing things out of lockers and off shelves.

When I saw movement, I turned. “Melisa, is there a way to make this thing fly itself?”

“You mean auto-pilot?” She dug through a locker, looking for a uniform that would fit.

“Yeah, but I mean, without us in it?”

“Of course. When we’re ready, we’ll just send it in some direction, try to throw anybody who’s tracking it off our trail.”

She had to show me she’d thought of it too. Whatever. I thought of it first. “You should get on a uniform too. They should help us get to Koner and Pol.”