Akasha 4 - Earth (5 page)

"Get away you bastard." I swatted at
the mosquito.

Bee smiled. "Bashterd."

Why is it always the bad
words they pick up?

Behind us, Alex moaned and sat
up.

"It was a fine spot you chose to pull
over," I told him.

"Bashterd!" Bee chimed in.

Alex looked at me. "And you are a fine
source of vocabulary, Katie."

I rolled my eyes. "We need to find
some netting. I got eaten alive last night, as did you."

Alex peered over the boat at his own
reflection in the water. "I can't see anything in this
muck."

"Susan awake yet?" I asked.

"Susan." Alex shook a lump next to
him. "Susan."

The lump stirred. "Five more
minutes."

"Nope – up and at 'em. You're rowing
today."

That got her moving. "What? But
I'm…freaking Pocahontas! The navigator – remember?"

"Yeah but another day of this and I
won't be able to move my arms. At all," I said, rolling out my
shoulders.

Alex nodded. "Me too. We
switch every day. Besides, we
all
need to learn how to steer the canoe. Your turn
to learn, Susan. Katie’s up front."

"Fine," Susan said, sitting up and
pulling back her hair.

I gasped. "Susan – your
face!"

"What?" She ran a panicked hand over
her smooth skin.

"It's…it's…perfect."

"Huh?"

"You have no bites."

Susan peered at me and Bee, then
looked at Alex. "You guys look terrible."

"Bashterd," said Bee.

Susan glared at me.

Alex sighed, "Come on, ladies. We need
to find a mosquito net today."

After a small breakfast of canned
peaches and beans, we lifted anchor – or battery – and began
rowing. That day we reached the tip of Bluestone Lake, then made
our way up New River. Paddling upstream, I was thankful that it
wasn't me with an oar.

An hour passed on New River when I
felt a trickle of energy behind me. I turned and glared at Susan.
"I thought you said no magic."

Her shirt was drenched in sweat.
"Believe me, I'd be the first to do it if I thought it was
safe."

"If it isn't you, who is it?" I looked
behind the canoe, toward Bluestone Lake. "Do you think someone is
following us?"

"I don't feel anything," said
Susan.

I furrowed my eyebrows, glancing down
at Bee. She hadn't had an incident since her fire at the Chakra.
Granted, we were very careful not to get her too excited, since
that was how the fireball had appeared. At the moment, she sat with
her back to me, decorating her leg with the Band-Aids out of one of
several first aid kits. She wasn't excited, or anxious, or mad –
none of the tell-tale emotions that sent my powers out of
whack.

I turned back to the water, guiding
Alex through a tame set of rapids. By the time we were through, the
energy was gone.

I'll have to pay more
attention to Bee.

Further upriver, homemade filtering
systems dotted the bank on one side.

"Should we check it out?" I asked
Alex.

He eyed them. "Those only filter
enough water for ten people or so, and that's if they don't use it
for growing food."

"We can handle that…" I said.
Approaching people was always tricky. Though most were helpful, we
had run into our fair share of undesirables.

Alex guided us over to the shore.
Instead of dropping anchor, he tied us off to a tree.

"Susan, stay here with
Bee."

"Gladly," she grumbled, stretching out
her arms.

Alex handed her a knife. "If you hear
our whistle, just cut the rope and get upstream as fast as you can.
They'll expect us to go down."

Alex bagged a few different types of
batteries and first aid items for trading. The canned food wouldn't
go far, by now people had learned to grow for themselves. Those who
hadn't were already dead.

Bee was napping again.

I threw a light blanket over her.
"Keep her covered."

Susan settled down next to her,
yawning. "We'll be fine. Take your time."

Alex and I disappeared into the woods,
walking quietly, listening for others. Before long we heard the
ominous sound of barking. Alex and I looked at each other, eyebrows
raised. We would've liked to observe the camp before our presence
became known.

I turned and let out a shrill whistle
in the direction of Susan and Bee. Alex transferred his hunting
knife to inside his boot and threw the sheath in the bushes just
before the dog came crashing through, with the owners right behind
him.

Chapter
8

The Captives

"Hands up. Turn around,
slowly."

Alex and I obeyed, following the same
protocol we might have ordered if strangers walked into our
camp.

"Have any weapons on you?" All three
men wore dirty overalls, no t-shirt underneath. The question was
directed at Alex.

"None," Alex answered
evenly.

"Search them."

The two that had yet to speak stepped
forward, and patted us down. They didn't check Alex's boots. They
never check the boots.

The first man didn't lower his guard.
"How did you get here?"

"Came from upriver, and we saw your
water filtration. We’re hoping to trade a few things."

The man eyed Alex. He was older, maybe
early fifties, but he was well built. Taller than all of us, with
wide shoulders. Two fingers were missing on his right hand, the
stumps smooth and healed over, which meant it probably happened
before Daybreak.

He turned to one of the men who had
the same nose and the same sandy blonde hair. "Check it
out."

I stepped toward the retreating man as
he headed in the direction we came, toward Susan and
Bee.

"Stop," the farmer commanded, reaching
behind his back and producing a bow and arrow. He nocked it and
took aim.

Alex stepped in front of
me.

The farmer's bow and arrow wavered,
then lowered. "We have to be careful, you understand."

I moved back to where I had been,
hoping Susan had heard my whistle, and wouldn't be caught napping
away. No matter what kind of men these were, if they saw our
stockpile it was unlikely we'd be leaving with all of
it.

The tension deflated, and Alex and I
lowered our arms.

"What do you have to trade?" the
farmer asked.

Alex gestured to our bags. "First aid
supplies and batteries."

The farmer didn't even glance at the
bag. "Got any food?"

Alex and I both looked at each other,
confused.

"You don't need any food," Alex
said.

The farmer's mouth tipped up in a
half-smile, but before he could respond, his son came crashing back
through. "No sign of more – and no boats." His chest heaved, out of
breath.

The farmer raised his eyebrow at
Alex.

"You understand," Alex said, "we have
to be careful."

"Who was it you whistled to, just
before we came?"

I rolled my eyes.
Let's get on with it, people.

I moved out from behind Alex and spoke
for the first time, "Something we need to protect – much as I
believe you are doing. Now – are you interested in trading or
not?"

The farmer snorted, that half-smile
lighting up his face again. He rubbed the back of his neck, and
looked at the two men behind him. "Well, come on then. Let me show
you what we got."

We followed the three men deeper into
the forest. Alex's knife still hidden in his boot, and my magic,
were our only weapons. After pushing aside an insanely thick amount
of foliage, we stepped into a clearing. There were five tents, some
reinforced by sheet metal on one side, some with duct tape patched
holes. Several gardens grew behind the tents, and behind that was
the thicker forest again. The entire clearing wasn't more than 50
paces across.

As they led us closer toward the
tents, women emerged. Ten in all; half had small children clinging
to their legs. They wore clothes made of the thicker jean material.
Cotton t-shirts didn't last very long in these
conditions.

"How long have you all been here?"
Alex asked, looking over the gardens and judging their growth with
a practiced eye. You could normally tell the productivity of a
commune by the health of their gardens.

"Long enough," the farmer answered. He
rooted through our bag of supplies. "What do you want in
exchange?"

"We need mosquito netting. And bug
spray, if you have it. Maybe something for bites," I
said.

He looked at me. "That's
it?"

Alex spoke, "Maybe one of those water
filtration systems, if you can spare it."

The farmer looked at us, eyebrows
furrowed. "Are there more of you? A child, maybe?"

My blood ran cold. "What?"

He shrugged. "Just seems like if it
were the two of you, you wouldn't be so concerned about bugs." He
walked over to a pile of supplies under a tarp and pulled out a
mosquito net. "We ran into someone a few weeks back. He traded some
things, then said to be on the lookout for another group coming
this way. Said they'd have a child with them. So I ask again, do
you have a child with you?"

I looked around at the women and
children. They looked back at me, eyebrows raised, hands fidgety.
They painted a picture of reserved excitement and
anticipation.

They must have Micah
somewhere,
I thought.

Alex came to the same conclusion more
quickly than I did. The knife appeared in his hand.

The three men backed away.

"Whoa, whoa – hey. It's not what you
think," the farmer said. He retrieved the bow on his
back.

I reached out for the wind, sending a
strong enough gust their way to throw them all on their backs. The
bow and arrows went flying. I disintegrated the bow with a
well-aimed fireball. Tightening my weaves around the arrows, I
managed to catch them mid-air. Carefully controlled, it took a lot
of energy. The arrows moved position, first up then down, settling
into place. They wavered in front of the men's faces. Out of the
corner of my eye, I watched Alex's shoulders sag. Properly
out-gunned, he put away his knife.

"Where is he?" I took a step forward,
fists clenched.

"He…he left. Safely – I swear!" the
farmer stuttered.

I released one of the arrows at the
farmer's son. It shot just past his head, nicking his ear. A
trickle of blood ran down his shoulder.

"I ask again, where is he?" Now I
aimed all my arrows at his son.

The farmer's eyes went wide, "He told
us to follow you. He said there would be a child named Bee. And
that there would be more allies, along the river. He went ahead,
recruiting for you." The words tumbled out of his mouth, "And he
said if you didn't believe me, to tell you…"

"What? Tell me what?" I wanted to
strangle it out of him.

"Dirty boots."

My eyes widened, and a small burst of
adrenaline shot through me, settling at the pit of my stomach like
a heavy weight. That phrase struck close to home; too
close.

I looked at Alex. "I think he's
telling the truth."

Alex stepped over to my arrows, still
hovering in the air. The longer lengths of his hair blew, giving
away what held the arrows in place. "Okay, but we're keeping the
weapons for now." He plucked them out of the air and I released the
energy.

Alex walked over to me, hissing in my
ear, "Where did you learn to do that?"

I glanced at him. "I've been
practicing." Truth was, I slept very little. Practice kept the
nightmares away. I turned to the farmer, who was picking himself up
off the ground. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Robert. And this is my son, Robert
Jr. – we call him Bobby. And this is my cousin, James." Each of the
men nodded as they were introduced. Bobby held his ear with a rag.
He avoided my gaze.

"What about all the women and
children? You have collected quite a few." I studied them again.
Their eyes were still wide, but not with shock or surprise. It
seemed more like…approval.

And then I noticed the higher levels
of energy that buzzed within the small clearing. "They have powers,
don't they?"

"So I've been told." Robert
grimaced.

I looked at the gardens behind the
tent again, growing with more intensity than I'd seen in the past
year.

"They're all Earths. This
here's my wife, Margie." The eldest of the women stepped forward
and nodded her head. "And her two cousins – and their kids." Robert
pointed down the line. "Micah brought the rest. Said he's
been
collecting
them along the way."