The Arrival (11 page)

“The senator?” He appeared shocked.

“Yeah, Senator Wesley Bosch.”

He snorted. “You think he can help you?”

“I don’t know.” Yes, it sounded
far-fetched. But what choice did I have? “I’m going to tell him what they’re
doing to us, and beg him to go to Congress and petition to overturn the
ruling.”

“Are you insane? They will track you.
You’re marching straight to your death. Aren’t you supposed to stay within
sixty miles of your house? They’ll be watching your every move.” He glanced
over his shoulder as a Locubot flew past. The Eslites used the small scanning
robots to make sure all girls had been to or were scheduled to go to Nidus.
“You won’t get far without being scanned and sent back.”

I reached into the pocket of my shorts
and pulled out one of the vials. “Not if I inject myself with this.” I held the
serum in front of him. Tiny shards of matter caught the light, reflecting a
rainbow of colors within the mixture.

He took the vial and examined it. After
shaking it a few times, he asked, “And this will work?”

Again, I shrugged. “Only one way to find
out.”

“You haven’t changed one bit.”  He gave
me back the vial. “You’re still the crazy girl I fell in love with in the
eighth grade.”

Now that made me smile and, for a second,
forget about the life-threatening serum in the palm of my hand. I didn’t want
to tell him about the risk. Not right now. I wanted to enjoy the hopeful moment.
“I may be crazy, but this is my only chance to succeed and be free of the
Eslites.”

“Can I come with you?”

“No.” I leaned my head against his.
“Kate and I have to go it alone.”

θ

After a couple of hours, Kate and I
managed to sneak away from my party, which sucked because only a few people
showed. But I knew why. Mom had figured it out, too, even though she wouldn’t
admit it. I think she was trying to protect me, but honestly no one could
protect me or any of the girls at Nidus. The time had come for us to get out.

We headed upstairs to my bathroom, since
that seemed to be the safest place for now. For all we knew, our houses were
bugged. Even though I checked every corner, crevice, and crack, I didn’t want
to take any chances.

I walked into my room just as Bryce
crawled through the window.

Surprised, Kate yelped, and I
immediately clamped my hand over her mouth.

“What the heck are you doing?” I asked,
closing my door.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you’d mind.” He
dusted his pants, brushing away pieces of dried ivy.

“Well, it’s not that I mind, it’s just
that you caught me off guard.” It reminded me of the times he had sneaked in
late at night, while Dad was out of town. Only now Dad was downstairs. Since it
was eight in the evening, I had to admit the guy was either gutsy or stupid.

“Yeah, what are you doing here?” Kate
flipped her hair. “You scared the crap out of me and almost made me swallow my
gum.” She sounded slightly agitated. I had told her about our conversation
under the gazebo, and even though we had sort of reconciled, she hadn’t moved
past her anger. She was still pissed about the breakup.

“Sorry, Kate, didn’t mean to frighten
you.” He reached into his back pocket and fished out a small box. He fidgeted,
as though unsure if he should give me the present. “I know this can’t make up
for everything, and I hated to miss your party but, my—”

“I know. It’s okay.”

“Happy birthday.”  He averted his gaze
as he offered me the gift.

“Thanks.” I accepted the shiny,
foil-wrapped box. “I’ll open it later, if that’s okay.”

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, that’s
fine.”

“Let’s talk in here.”  I motioned for
them to follow me to the bathroom, where I held the door open, and we piled into
the small room. Before I said anything, I turned on the shower and let the
faucet run.

“What are you doing?” Bryce arched his
brows in question.

“Drowning out our voices.” Kate smirked,
as she perched on the toilet seat. “Don’t you know anything?”

“This is what we do at Nidus,” I
informed him.

“Seriously?” He flipped on the exhaust
fan. “If I’d known I was stepping into a sauna, I would have worn my workout
clothes.”

At that moment, I checked him out. He
had on the same jeans from earlier but had changed into a tight fitting
polo-type shirt that hugged his upper body impeccably. I couldn’t get over how
muscular he had become. But in all honesty, Dimas’ body put Bryce’s to shame. I
shuddered, forcing Dimas from my mind, again.

“Well, I don’t want to take any chances.
The Eslites could be listening to our conversation.” I removed my jean jacket
and hung it on the back of the door.

“So, what’s the plan?” Bryce leaned
against the counter, crossing his arms.

“I have some bad news.” With an elbow to
her knee, Kate cradled her chin.

With my shoulders slumped, I considered
our situation. Since my dad refused to campaign against the Eslite order, we
had limited choices.

She hesitated for a second and then
continued. “My uncle’s leaving for vacation on Monday. He’s headed down to
Jacksonville, Florida for a week and then will be out of the country on
business.

“Crap. That’s doesn’t give us much
time.”

“I know.”

Resting hands on hips, I sighed.
Calculating the days in my head, I came to the conclusion that we had to act
now.

Tonight.

“We have to inject ourselves with the
serum, immediately. That gives the concoction twenty-four hours to take
effect.”

“What happens if it doesn’t work?” Kate
chewed on her thumbnail.

“Then we have to inject ourselves with
more serum and wait another twelve hours.”

“But what if he’s gone by then?” Kate
asked.

“We have to assume that we’ll succeed
the first time. So we need figure out how we are going to get to his office in
Columbia before he goes to Jacksonville.” I pulled a folded map and a bus schedule
from the pocket of my jean jacket and placed it on the counter. We studied the
oversized brochure, searching through the departures from the Myrtle Beach
station en route to Columbia. Using the computer would have been easier, but we
didn’t want to create evidence.

“If we catch the noon bus, then we
should arrive in Columbia by half past three. Do you know what hours he’s
working?”

“No.”  Kate shook her head. “All I know
is Monday.”

“See if you can find out an exact time.
I don’t want us risking our lives for nothing.”

“Sure.”  She nodded. “I’ll call his
secretary.”

“All right,” I muttered as I strategized.
If we wanted to make it to Columbia by Monday afternoon, we had to inject
ourselves within the next few hours. Even then, there was no guarantee that we’d
be nanobot free by nine o’clock tomorrow night. What if the senator was gone
when we arrived? All of our hard work would have been for nothing. Thinking of
what I had to do made my head hurt, and I covered my face with my hands.

“What’s wrong?”  Bryce grabbed my wrist.

I hesitated for a second and then opened
my eyes. Lost in the warmth of his caress, I forgot about everything but his
touch. Desperate for reassurance, I had to restrain myself. If Kate hadn’t been
in the bathroom with us, I don’t know what I would have done.

“Miranda?” Kate nudged me, redirecting
my focus.

“Nothing. I mean…” Was I ready to inject
myself with the serum? What about Kate? I hadn’t divulged all the details about
the possible side effects. I promised Gaby and Dr. Ridus that I’d explain
everything to Kate. A few days ago, I gave her a vial, along with the needles,
and showed her how to inject herself, but for whatever reason, I refrained from
telling her about the risk. Probably because I knew how she’d react, but I had
to be honest with her. She had to know in case anything happened. I guess now
was the right time.

I fanned myself, circulating the
stifling air that made it hard to breathe. “I remembered that it takes at least
twenty-four hours after we inject ourselves with the serum to make sure that
all the nanobots are deactivated.”

“We already know that.” Kate wore perplexed
expression.

Purposefully I repeated myself, but I
couldn’t flounder any longer. They looked at me with questioning glances. I
took a deep breath and exhaled quickly. “There’s a chance we could bleed out.”

“Oh, my God,” Kate blurted, before covering
her mouth with both hands. “Miranda, you never mentioned that to me.”

Bryce blinked and flinched. “Is it like
being on blood thinners?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”  I nodded. “We
have to be careful and not get injured or cut.”

He swallowed hard.  “How will you know
if it’s causing any problems?”

In my mind, I thought about what Dr.
Ridus had said, and that put me on edge. A narrow and crumbling edge. “If we experience
any dizziness, headaches, tiredness, or look pale, that could indicate
problems.”

Kate turned white as a sheet and
trembled visibly. “Miranda, why did wait until now to tell me?”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t want you to worry.” 
She had a right to be furious with me. “But relax, because we’re going to be
fine.” I managed a fake smile and waved it off as if it was no big deal. “Dr.
Ridus said there’s only a small chance of that happening. If we can handle all
the procedures they’ve put us through, I know we can handle this.” I patted her
thigh.

“Let’s say while you’re traveling, one
of you starts to experience some of these side effects,” Bryce inquired in a
serious tone. “What then?”

“We go to the hospital.”  I shrugged. “They
have medicine to stop the bleeding.”

Or so I hoped.

“Are you serious?”  He snorted
sarcastically.

“Of course, I’m being serious.”  The
truth was I had no idea what would happen.

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“Miranda, I don’t think I can do it.”
Kate stared at the floor.

“What?”  My mouth fell open, and I
dropped my hands to my sides in defeat. “You can’t bail on me. I need you.”

“No biggie.”  Bryce cleared his throat.
“If she doesn’t want to go, then I’ll go with you.”

“No.” I shook my head. “It’s too
dangerous. I can’t allow anything to happen to you.”

“Come on, Miranda, I can take care of
myself.”  He grinned.  “Besides, it will be safer if I’m with you.”

“Absolutely not. No.” I clutched
fistfuls of my hair and took a few deep breaths before relaxing my fingers.
“Bryce, you can’t help us. Don’t you get it? The Eslites will kill you if they
catch us.”

Standing upright, he rolled his
shoulders. “They won’t kill me, Miranda.”

“Look at me.”  I grabbed him by the
forearms.  “Don’t be stupid. You’ve heard the stories, and I’m here to tell
you, the truth is
worse than you can imagine.
You have nothing the
Eslites want. They won’t hesitate to end your life, and the authorities can’t
stop them.”

The tough, macho-man expression on his
face evaporated as he took a long, hard swallow. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“No.”  I lowered my voice to a whisper.
“I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

“Well I’d die if anything happened to
you,” he replied.

I choked back the threatening tears,
because now was not the time to cry. I pushed him away and said to Kate, “I
need you. You have to go with me. This is your uncle. You have to help me
convince him of what’s going on and that we’re telling the truth. He’ll listen
to you.”

She lifted her chin. “But you can do a
better job talking to him than I can.”

“That’s fine, but he has to hear it from
you, too. He needs to know about the suffering and the horrible things we’re
enduring. How they are changing us and endangering the future of the human
race. We have to show him the letters.”

“All of them?” Kate’s eyes widened.

“Well, not all of them, but enough to
make an impression.” From the pocket of my dress I pulled the pin she gave me.
I placed the red, white, and blue beaded peace sign in the palm of her hand.
“You wanted me to have this, so I could remember what our nation represented, not
only peace, but also freedom. Kate, the girls at Nidus are counting on us to
save them. We have to help them. We have to help ourselves.”

“I know.”  Tears streamed down her face,
and she quickly wiped them away. “I’m just scared that’s all. The serum has me
really freaked out.”

“I’ll be with you when you inject
yourself.”  I covered her hands with mine. “Nothing is going to happen to you.
I promise.”

“I don’t know.”  She shuffled her feet
and bit her lip.

Bryce knelt behind me. “Kate, you can do
this.”

“Don’t talk to me, Bryce.”  Kate
scowled.

“What did I do to you?”  He flinched in
surprise.

“Nothing.”  She narrowed her stare. “But
I’m not the one who dumped Miranda when she needed me most. You’re an ass.”

“What do you call what you’re doing
now?” he replied without hesitation.

Silence filled the air.

After a few tense minutes, I frowned. 
“Hey, guys, we’re fighting each other, and we’re not the enemy.”  As if I
didn’t have enough to deal with, now I had to play referee. “We need to focus
on the Eslites—they’re the enemy.”

“Well, if you’re too scared, then I’m
going.”  Bryce stood.  “I won’t let her go alone.”

“Miranda’s right.”  Kate peered at
Bryce.  “And so are you.”

“So we’ll both take the serum?” I asked
Kate.

With an expression of pure
determination, Kate smiled.  “I’m with you all the way, Mays.”

θ