Half Lost (9 page)

Golden

I'm awake before dawn. The sky is brightening and Gabriel is asleep by me. The camp is still quiet. I've got the fire going. And I'm actually looking forward to the porridge when I feel a chill creeping into my bones and the grayness gradually slides over everything that I see. My vision, again.

The gold
en glow fills half t
he sky and the fores
t seems to glow with
it. I'm walking slo
wly through the tree
s. It's as if I'm ne
wborn and seeing the
world for the first
time. The air aroun
d me seems alive. It
's all amazing. All
beautiful. Every det
ail is amazing. And
the details go on an
d on. The colors, pa
tterns, shapes, soun
ds, temperature, air
. I turn and see Gab
riel. And he is beau
tiful too. He waves
at me to come. He ho
lds his gun loosely
at his side. Nesbitt
is the dark figure
disappearing beyond
him. I look back at
the beautiful meadow
and trees and sun a
nd then turn to go t
o Gabriel. And I'm f
lying backward throu
gh the air and the w
orld changes to nois
e and pain and chaos
and I land on the g
round and look up an
d see sky and then s
ee Gabriel's face. A
nd the pain in my st
omach is intense, bu
rning, and moving to
my heart. It's kill
ing me and I know it
.

I'm dying.

Camp One

Me, Gabriel, Nesbitt, Celia, Adele, Kirsty, and Donna are on the way to Camp One. Celia seems to have taken Adele on as her personal assistant. Donna is being brought so that Van can make up a special truth potion that will give an answer one way or the other as to Donna's loyalties. Her hands aren't tied but Kirsty is glued to her side and, as Kirsty is almost twice the size of Donna, I'm fairly sure Kirsty can deal with her if she tries anything. Not that I think that's going to happen.

We will have to go through two cuts to get to Camp One, with a bit of a run in between them, but even so it will only be a few hours before I see Annalise. I'm not sure how I feel, other than impatient.

At the first cut Gabriel grasps my left hand in his right and we interlock fingers while Celia guides Gabriel's left hand to the cut. I take a deep breath as Gabriel is sucked through and I'm pulled after him and I breathe out as we slide through the darkness. The cut is so short that a faint light appears ahead immediately and then we're out and on the forest floor at the other side. The others come through and Celia sets off again. We keep close to her. The pace is
slower than I'd like but we quickly settle into a rhythm. The woodland thins out to open meadows and there's snow on the ground.

I ask Celia, “How far to the next cut?”

“A mile, beyond the river.”

I'm about to ask how far to the river when the ground steepens and we're jumping down a riverbank into freezing- cold water. The current is strong. And then we're scrambling up the other bank and running through knee-deep wet snow to a stand of trees.

At the next cut, Celia guides everyone through, holding me back. She says, “Nathan, you wait and go with me.”

Once the others have gone through, Celia says, “I need you to be clear on what you'll do when you see Annalise.”

“Don't worry—I'm clear.”

“And what is it that you're clear about?”

“I told you: I want her to go to trial.”

Celia studies me. “Is that the full truth of it?”

“I won't kill her unless the trial fails to provide me with justice. If they let her go, then I'll . . . reestablish justice.”

“What if they say she should be imprisoned?”

“You want the full truth of it, Celia? I don't know what I'll do. But if they let her go then I will do something.”

“She won't go free. Not if the system works.”

Celia grabs hold of my jacket and slides her free hand through the cut.

At the other side of the cut it's raining a fine drizzle.
Celia says, “Nathan, stay close to me. It's a fifteen-minute run to the camp.” It's only when I say “OK” that she lets go of my arm. Then she sets off hard.

Soon I'll see Annalise. I want to see her. I hope she's chained up. I want her to see me looking at her.

We must be almost at Camp One when Celia slows the pace, then stops. She looks around and I know from the way she stands and moves that something's wrong.

“What?” I ask her.

“There should be a lookout here.”

The others join us and Nesbitt asks, “What's up?”

“I'm not sure,” Celia replies. “The camp's four hundred meters ahead. Nathan, use your invisibility and check out the camp. Nesbitt, Gabriel, you scout the perimeter to the left. I'll go to the right with Adele. Kirsty, you wait here with Donna. Meet back here in five minutes.”

I go invisible and set off cautiously. I've only gone about a hundred meters when I hear a faint hiss. It's the noise that mobile phones set off in my head. No one in the Alliance uses phones.
Shit!

I keep going, slowly. The hissing from the phones is barely there. But I creep onwards and it gets a little stronger. I'm still about two hundred meters from the camp. There have to be Hunters ahead. I move forward, not seeing any sign of them. Everything is still and quiet except for the faint hissing in my head.

Shit! It's too still, too quiet.

I run back to Kirsty and Donna. Gabriel is there as well but none of the others. I tell Gabriel, “I can hear a hissing. It must be Hunters, but I don't know how many. I think they might be on the far side of the camp, getting ready to attack. I need to get in there and warn them. You tell Celia.”

“No, Nathan, wait.”

But I've already turned invisible again and am running. I go fast, listening and looking all the time. I'm scanning for Hunters but see none. I slow at the edge of the camp. Camp One is not set in a clearing but the tents are dotted among the trees. There's no noise of people. No noise of birds or anything. The only sound is the electric hiss of mobile phones in my head. But it's very faint, fainter than before, as if the Hunters are moving away.

I go closer to the tents, slowly, looking around all the time.

Then I see someone. Her eyes are on me, wide open, but she's not seeing anything and as I get closer to her I see there are no glints in her eyes. But I don't need that to tell me she's dead: the way she lies, so still, so awkward, says it all. She's been shot in the head. I only see the wound when I move round her, neat and clean to the back of her skull. A few flies on it. I stare at her face, trying to remember if I've seen her before, but I'm not sure. She's a member of the Alliance, not a Hunter.

I move to a tent. Slowly, silently. I'm still invisible but I don't want to risk anything.

The tent seems to hold stores: cans, boxes, and blankets are scattered around its broken, collapsed frame. But then I spot someone I do recognize, his body half hidden by the tent canvas. Gus has a bullet hole in his chest. There are ants crawling across him.

And at the next tent I see another body.

And another.

They're all around.

My heart races. This happened recently, but not that recently. Maybe this morning.

But if it happened this morning and I can hear hissing then . . . I think the Hunters are leaving. They're leaving but they're not rushing. They don't know we've arrived. Maybe we can follow them . . .

I move through the camp, trying to locate where the hissing is coming from. Then I see a wooden building, a hut: the prison? I move closer, slow and steady. The door is broken down. Is Annalise in here?

I lean inside the hut.

Empty except for chains. They're unlocked. Annalise must have been kept here. Did she go invisible and escape? More likely they have her.

Then I hear a noise, footsteps behind me, and I turn to see Nesbitt racing through the camp, clearly not caring about the noise he makes. He looks panicked. Behind him in the distance are Gabriel and the others, fanning out through the trees.

I become visible and say to Nesbitt, “I think the Hunters have only just left.”

“Have you seen Van?”

“No.”

“She—”

An explosion fills the air behind Nesbitt. He cowers and as he goes down I see Kirsty fly through the air, her body cartwheeling high and then falling to the ground.

I've crouched down too.

The sudden noise slowly drifts away. I look around for Hunters. Listen for them. Nothing.

Celia shouts, “Booby traps! Don't touch anything.”

Donna is a pace or two from Kirsty's body and she looks toward me. Her face is pale. Gabriel joins them and bends down. He calls to Celia, “Kirsty's dead.”

Nesbitt is already moving again. The ground is bare here, and there are numerous footprints: Hunter boot prints.

I follow Nesbitt through the camp and into the trees beyond. I ask him, “How many?”

“Lots. Twenty, maybe more.” His voice is different, shaky as he adds, “They're dragging someone, maybe two people. Prisoners. Or wounded.”

We're moving away from the camp now, through the trees, and Nesbitt speeds up to a jog and then slows and he groans.

I see past him to the body lying on the ground. Her hair is glistening with fine raindrops. Her eyes are open, the
sapphire blue is still strong, but there are no glints in them. Her skin is pale. Her stomach is a mass of blood.

“Van!”

Nesbitt stumbles forward and I grab him in case he goes too close.

She's holding her cigarette case in her hand and I know he wants to take it but I say, “Don't touch her, Nesbitt. They might have booby-trapped her body too.”

He sits on the ground by her.

I can't hear hissing anymore. The Hunters are leaving but they still can't be too far ahead.

“Nesbitt, I think they have Annalise. We can still catch them if we keep going.”

Nesbitt lets out a faint groan that gets louder and louder as he gets to his feet, roaring. He sets off fast, his rage taking him over. And I can tell he's struggling to keep his breath, but on we go. He's panting and grunting as we reach a small stream, and he leaps over it and goes uphill, through thin trees until we reach an open scrubby area and he stops. He's panting hard and I realize he's crying too.

“That way,” he says, pointing.

I go fast, Nesbitt behind me. I don't think the Hunters will be invisible unless they're attacking or think they are in danger so I'm hoping to catch sight of them soon. My breathing is slow and controlled. Uphill now. It's hard, but we've got to be gaining on them, though Nesbitt has dropped well back.

Then I hear it: a hiss.

And over the next rise I see them. Distant black specks. Lots of them lined up at the edge of the bare rocks ahead. They're going through a cut.

I go invisible and run as hard as I can. Not thinking, just running. Eyes fixed on the line of black Hunters getting closer but also reducing in length.

I can see the figures clearly now: there are nine, then seven. All in black except one. Annalise!

I'm running hard. Breathing hard. Legs burning.

I'm staring at Annalise, but then one more Hunter disappears and so does she.

There're four figures . . . three . . . two . . .

One.

And I recognize her. Jessica. But I'm too far away to hit her with my lightning. She looks toward me but doesn't see me. I'm still invisible. Then she disappears.

I keep my eyes locked on the cleft in the rock where she was standing. My legs are giving out now but I push them on and on and then I'm there. I slide my hand through the air, feeling for the cut.

Nothing.

And again. Nothing.

And again.

And again.

Finding cuts is hard enough when you know exactly where they are. And I know it's been too long. They'll
have closed it by now. But I keep trying. Sliding my hand through the air.

I was so close to them. So close to Annalise.

“Shit, shit, and fuck!”

I try again and again.

Nesbitt drops beside me, breathing heavily.

It doesn't matter that we were right behind them. The cut is closed.

They're gone.