B018YDIXDK EBOK Read online

  “The Unders?” she whimpered.

  “Yeah, I’m, uh…” he wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m Ravi. Ravi Patel.”

  She nodded. “I’m Ary. I’m sorry I snuck up on you, I — I just wanted to get away.”

  Ravi looked out over the expanse of tents that stretched past every corner of his vision. “Yeah,” he replied. “Me too.”

  “You were there?” Ary asked, motioning toward the camp.

  “No, actually. There’s another camp — also Unders, but much smaller. Over this hill. I got away.”

  She smiled at him. Her eyes were clear, sharp. He was captivated by her suddenly, lost in the sweetness of her face, even through the bruising and blood. She was about a head shorter than Ravi, and thin. Probably starving, but he didn’t ask. Even still, she was a striking figure.

  She’s beautiful.

  He forced himself to focus. “So who did… this?”

  He didn’t point or motion toward her face, but she knew what he was talking about.

  “Someone down there. I got out when they were going to move me to another tent.”

  Ravi nodded. Not much more to know. Rage swelled inside him, but he had the sense to push it back down. There’s absolutely nothing I can do that will end in anything good.

  “We need to get out of here,” he said, now whispering. “Get you back to…” He paused. Should I tell her about Merrick? He made the decision, even against his better judgement. Can’t be a loner forever, I guess. “I — I’m with someone else. Someone who might be able to help us. Can you trust me?”

  Ary looked at him, turning her head slightly to get a better view of his eyes. He stared back, watching the gentle fade of moonlight dancing off the side of her jet-black hair, her eyes — swollen and injured — staring into him.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “I don’t have a choice.”

  Ravi felt a wave of relief. He was confused, then frightened, then calm, all in the same second, and then the wave of emotion passed. He felt the coldness of a hardened heart of a life spent in solitude and on the run wash back over him, and he turned and started up the hill, listening to the double set of footfalls as Ary followed close behind.

  RAVI

  “YOU’RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT?” SOL asked, his voice raising now to a little above a whisper.

  “Sol, stop and think about it,” Ravi said. He kept his back to the girl, but kept glancing over at her, both to make sure she didn’t try to make a run for it and to make sure she couldn’t hear their conversation.

  She — Ary — had followed him up the steep slope back to the top of the open section of land he and Solomon had used as a campsite during the night. Sol was awake when they returned, sitting on the ground. Ravi was surprised to see the man sitting calmly, but not surprised to see him awake. He knew I left, he’d thought, and he didn’t try to stop me. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

  Now they were arguing at the edge of the clearing, putting about twenty paces of distance between them and the girl, who was sitting quietly on a boulder with her arms around her knees.

  “I have stopped and thought about it,” Sol said. “I woke up, you were gone, and I was fine with that. I figured you’d try something stupid like that anyway, but I did not think you’d bring someone else into all of this.”

  “I’m not bringing her into any—“

  “What do you think you’re doing, then?” Sol snapped. “You think she’s just going to follow along wherever we go?”

  Ravi just stared at him, not moving.

  “You’re delusional.”

  “Maybe,” Ravi said, “but we can’t just leave her out here. She’s… she’s —“

  “She’s what?” Sol said. “Damaged? Vulnerable?”

  “She needs help. I helped you, remember?”

  Sol sighed, and Ravi saw the immediate change in the man’s eyes.

  “I know,” Sol said. “You did.” He paused and looked at the girl. She looked back over at them, but neither looked away. “I just thought I’d wake up and have to get back to the others myself. I figured you’d run off on your own.”

  Yeah, Ravi thought, me too.

  “So I’m surprised to see you back, and with her in tow.”

  “She’s coming with us.”

  “We can’t trust her. We’ll take her as far as —“

  “She’s coming all the way with us.”

  “Ravi,” Sol said, his voice rising again. Ravi noticed the man’s eyes narrow ever so slightly, signifying a sudden change to the serious and intense version of the man he’d picked up on. “You’re better than this. Think about it. Why should we trust her?”

  “Why should we trust anyone?” Ravi shot back. He knew Sol understood the hidden intent of his words. Why should I trust you? Or you me?

  Sol sighed again. “Fine. We get across the valley, then —“

  “No, that won’t work. The valley’s covered with Unders.”

  “Another camp?”

  “This one looks more like a city.”

  Sol rubbed a hand over his head and looked up at the stars. “Wow. Okay, then, what’s the move?”

  “I can get us through.”

  Ravi heard the voice from directly beside him, but he hadn’t heard the girl slip up next to him. They both turned, waiting for her to explain.

  “I told you I came from down there,” she said. “But I wasn’t a prisoner. I mean, I wasn’t really one. I, actually… my boyfriend. He’s down there.”

  “A not-really-a-prisoner as well?” Ravi asked.

  She shook her head. “No, sorry. Let me start over. He’s in charge of a small detachment of Grouse’s men, and he, uh, took me, back in a raid a few years ago. I’ve been with him ever since.”

  Both Sol and Ravi were visibly taken aback. Ravi sensed Sol reach for his rifle, tensing.

  She took a step back. “Listen, no, it’s not like that. I — I ran away.”

  “He do that to you?” Sol asked, pointing at the girl’s face.

  She nodded. “He’s not a bad person, but he… has his moments.”

  Sol sneered. “Sounds like a real stand-up guy. Can’t wait to meet him.”

  Ravi stared at her, open-mouthed. “I — I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I thought…”

  “You thought I was just a prisoner, like you were. It’s fine,” Ary said. “But no, I’ve been by his side for three years, and he only gets out of hand when he’s angry.”

  “How often is he angry?” Sol asked.

  A tiny, almost-hidden smile crept up on her face. “He’s not a happy person. Listen, that’s not the point. I was one of them, but not anymore. I ran away, got to the hills, and found you. But we can’t go back over, where you came from, since Grouse is there. If we go around, I can keep us out of sight of the watchmen and then over to the narrow section of the river a little farther west.”

  “After that?”

  “There are caves on the other side.”

  “I know them,” Ravi said.

  “But most of them are occupied. Watchmen, scouts, sometimes more. There are a few smaller ones that won’t have anyone inside.”

  “That’s where you’re offering to take us?” Sol asked. “A cave right next to the enemy?”

  She looked up at him, as if to ask, you have a better idea?

  He didn’t, so she kept going. “I promise you both that I can get you both there safely. Once we’re there, we can split up if you’d like, but the sea is just on the other side of that range. We’ll be out of sight and free to go wherever we want.”

  Ravi thought about it for a moment, waiting for Sol’s reaction. For some reason, he wanted to believe her. He also wanted Sol to make the decision. What’s happening to me? he thought. Am I going soft?

  Sol spoke first. “Fine,” he said. “You lead, then, followed by Ravi. I’ll take up the rear, and if there’s anything out of line, you’re not going to know about it until you’re facedown on the dirt.” He patted the high-powered EHM rifle slung
over his shoulder.

  She nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Ravi smiled as she turned to walk back down the hill. She doesn’t mess around. I like that. He popped a single pill of Asclezipan into his mouth and trudged forward.

  RAVI

  THE WALK TOOK FAR LESS time than Ravi had anticipated. The night turned into morning, and they reached the narrow section of river west of the camp by daybreak. Another few hours and the trio was entering the foothills in front of the mountain range.

  They didn’t talk much, each of them wary of the other, and Ravi still weak from the gunshot wounds. Sol’s medicine had helped, but he refused to take any three hours ago in order to conserve it for when it might really be needed.

  Ravi stumbled over a rock for the fourth time, catching himself by grabbing a thick branch that hung overhead. He was glad to be behind the girl, Ary, and not in front where she could see him tripping and stumbling over himself.

  For as small as she was, Ary was the most adept at navigating between the boulders and up the hills covered in slippery loose rock. She seemed to float from one rock to the next, her feet finding footholds Ravi hadn’t noticed after examined the route from ten feet behind.

  When they reached the top of the hill, the trees cleared enough to see beyond and up to the wide, flat-topped mountain directly on the other side. Their route would take them down the other side of this hill, into a narrow plain, and then up onto the side of the mountain.

  Ary stopped and pointed at the mountain.

  “There,” she said. “The caves are all along the base, from about ground level up to just below the tree line. Hundreds of them.”

  “We can get across the plain in an hour, but is there a better way that will keep us out of sight?”

  “No, but the grasses down there look shorter than they really are. They’ll be more than enough to cover us, and our tracks.”

  “You’d better hope so,” Sol said as he brushed past Ravi. “Take the lead again, and we’ll follow you down. Ravi, how are the wounds holding up?”

  Ravi grunted, but didn’t say anything. Sol must have taken it as a confirmation that Ravi was doing well enough, and the older man turned and started carefully down the opposite slope.

  The hour passed quickly, and Ravi found himself staring up at yet another incline on the other side of the stretch of plains. He groaned, but kept it soft enough to not bring any attention to himself, and they started up the hill.

  Ary called out from above in a rushed whisper. “Stay directly behind me. Where I go, you go.”

  Ravi nodded, saw Sol do the same, and both men instinctively ducked down a little further as they made the climb. He noticed at least three cave openings on either side of their route, but none seemed to be large enough to hide anything but a small mammal. He passed each with a wary eye, but no enemies popped out to shoot at him again.

  He loved caves, especially undiscovered and unexplored ones. The idea of a small hole widening into a network of massive underground caverns and tunnels, hidden below the earth or millennia out of sight and out of reach, had long been a favorite subject to him.

  As a young boy, probably around six or seven, Ravi’s father had taken them all to see the caverns at a park near his childhood home. He remembered the tour guide explaining how the caverns were a constant comfortable temperature year-round, and how the biggest open space beneath the ground was originally used as an underground dance floor a century ago.

  He remembered asking his father how they hung the lights on the “walls” and got the electricity down there, and his father — a round, jovial Indian man — had answered with something about a team of huge underground hamsters spinning on a giant wheel beneath their feet, generating electricity for everyone above. Ravi remembered laughing alongside his older sister while his mother scolded him and the tour guide just stared, wide-eyed.

  The rest of their time spent in the caves was filled with Ravi and his father taking turns embellishing fantastical accounts of the hamster species, like the time the smallest hamster — still larger than an elephant — escaped and found the human levels of the caverns, or the time before they had light when the hamster overlord accidentally ate his children, thinking they were food.

  Ravi laughed out loud at the memory. It was vivid, and thoroughly pulled him back to a much more pleasant time.

  Then the pain came — not just from the wounds, but from the memory of severe loss — and Ravi’s mind shifted itself back into the present, pushing the darker memories back down. That was the trouble with memories. You don’t get to choose which parts of them to remember.

  “You okay, kid?” Sol asked.

  Ravi looked up at Ary and Sol ahead of him on the trail and realized he had stopped. “Yeah, sorry, I…”

  “Need some meds?”

  “No,” Ravi said. “I still have some. Thanks.” Sol’s question reminded Ravi of the physical pain he was feeling, and he popped one of the blue diamond pills into his mouth and swallowed. It went down, roughly, but he forced a smile and quick nod.

  Sol nodded back and turned back to the hill. He whispered up to Ary, who’d already started climbing again. “How much longer?”

  “We’re here, actually.”

  “Here?” Sol and Ravi looked around. They were standing in a thick tangle of trees, bushes, and tall grass, and Ravi hadn’t seen anything resembling a cave or opening between rocks since the last ones they’d passed thirty minutes ago.

  Ravi was impressed. He’d spent a lot of time out in places like this, and he was usually pretty observant. He thought he’d be able to spot the opening of any cave or overhang quickly, as he had a knack for finding shelter and protection in the wild. Sol, too, should have been able to spot it, but neither of them had.

  Ravi looked around once more, examining each bent leaf and scraggly bush more closely.

  “Here,” Ary whispered, confirming. “Here.” Her voice rose as she repeated the word, her eyes darting to the left and right.

  Her eyes, tiny and sharp. Ravi watched her. Waiting, wondering why she’d repeated herself three times, as if —

  “Why are you —“ Sol started, then he cut himself off as he realized what had happened. “You —“

  Ravi looked at Ary and saw a quick flash of regret, then anger, in her eyes. It didn’t last, and was quickly replaced by the same bright, innocent expression she’d been wearing since they met her.

  “Ary,” he said, his voice reaching a state of panic. His nerves were on edge, and his spine was ramrod straight. His body knew something was nearby, even if his mind didn’t believe it. “What did you do?”

  The flash of anger came back, and Ravi felt a hard thud on the back of his head. He fell, the darkness around his eyes closing in. He was face down in the grass, but his right eye could still see Solomon Merrick in front of him, falling as well from the blunt end of a club or weapon, yelling at Ary the entire way down. He was hit again, and again, and —

  Everything went black.

  RAND

  RAND SAT NEXT TO DIANE at the large folding table that had been erected inside one of the “permanent” buildings, examining the inside of the room.

  The structure was built mostly from cinder blocks, but the blocks seemed to have been taken from all sorts of prior structures. Some were brown, some lighter sand-colored, and some were caked with mud and dirt. The effect was an interesting tapestry and design on the wall Jonathan was staring at, one he knew was accidental, yet seemed strangely comforting.

  It’s the simplicity of it all, he thought. The walls were stacked blocks, the ceiling was stretched fabric, and the “floors” were nothing but hard-packed dirt. Some areas of the floor had wooden boards placed down over them, meant to provide additional support for heavier objects like their table.

  They sat in folding chairs, and even those didn’t match. There were three green ones, four brown, and one black metal chair. Josiah Crane sat in the black one, at the head of the table, flanked by his two a
ssistants — or whatever they were — and then Diane and himself next to one of the men and Myers and Lansing on the other side of the table next to the second assistant.

  So far they hadn’t been interrupted. He’d seen a few people pass by the outside of the building, but no one came in to offer them anything to eat or drink.

  He tried to remember the last time he’d eaten. It was in his apartment, back in Umutsuz, but that was almost two days ago. Feels like a year.

  “Everyone get enough sleep?” Crane asked. Rand and the others nodded, but no one else spoke.

  Rand glanced around, looking for something to eat. Crane seemed to read his mind.

  “I’m sure you’re hungry,” the man said. Rand snapped around and looked at him. Even sitting down the man was menacingly tall, still almost a head taller than the rest at the table. “We have plenty of basic fruits and vegetables, but I’m afraid there’s not much else.”

  One of the men next to Crane stood and left the building, and Rand assumed he was fetching something to eat. Crane didn’t hesitate, and with Rand’s full attention, he dove into the explanation of why they had been redirected and force-landed here.

  “This town is called Relica.” He paused for effect, and Rand found himself wanting to laugh. “It’s not the best name in the world, but it describes who we are and why we’re here. All of us here were at one time in positions of leadership, so there wasn’t anything close to unanimity when it came to choosing one of our names for the name of our little city.”

  “Crane, this place is far from ‘little,’” Diane said. “I have intel that says there shouldn’t be anything out here — certainly not a city larger than Istanbul.”

  “Yes, well, we’re here. The city is geographically larger than many other in this region, but as you have no doubt seen — and for obvious reasons — we have little of the technology some of the larger cities enjoy. We are currently down in numbers as well, as our citizens come and go as they please.”

  “Relics?”

  “All of us, with the exception of passersby like yourselves.” He paused and looked up as the man returned to the room with a platter full of bananas, oranges, and kiwis. A loaf of bread sat next to the fruit, and he held a wineskin in his free hand, full of water. “I apologize again for the limited selection, but our farming and harvesting capabilities are limited in this region, and we only have a moderate amount of Superstrain.