The Renegades (The Superiors) (10 page)

Chapter 22

Draven
took a roundabout route to smuggle Cali from the town under the light of day.
He tried to find a seam between residential sectors, where people would be
passing on their way home or lingering late on porches. All morning he waited
with mounting impatience for the second bells, the ones that signaled the sun
had risen. As soon as they finished their final chimes, he gathered Cali, her baby, and their belongings, and bid his final adieus to the car lot. When they
reached the city’s outskirts, he approached a sapien supply store he had
scouted soon after he’d found Byron’s apartment. Now he stopped and pushed Cali behind a trash bin.

“Stay,”
he commanded.

“Where
are you going?” she asked, drawing her sleeping child to her chest as if for
protection.

“I
have to get some things.”

Draven
removed his sunshades before he entered the store. Although the morning was
cloudy and thunder-ridden, the muted light stung his eyes. He squinted and
pulled the door closed behind him. Most Superiors shopped at night, so only a
few stores stayed open in daylight hours when not much could be done about
theft, if it happened. Although most Superiors did not commit crimes,
occasionally one risked arrest, usually a paperless Third like Draven. He’d
scouted stores open during daylight hours, and this one lay closest to the edge
of town.

Scanning
the store with his senses, he confirmed that no one else shopped at such a late
hour this morning. He relaxed a bit. Still, he had yet to become adept at
criminal activity, and his gut clenched at the knowledge of what he had
planned. Careful to hold his hands steady and his eyes relaxed, he chose a
scanner bag that he could place on the counter to register its contents all at
once. But he would not be buying anything that day. He didn’t have an anya to
his name.

“Help
you with anything?” the clerk asked. Draven counted as good fortune that she
sounded as thoroughly bored as she looked.

“I
know what I need, thank you,” Draven said.

He
browsed the aisles of the store, which contained generic items saps might need
for daily life, but lacked some essential items he knew Cali would need, such
as food and clothing. He tried to neither hurry nor linger too long and bring
attention to himself. All the while, he forced his eyes not to dart towards the
counter or any place likely to house hidden security cameras. Instead, he
concentrated on the merchandise, on placing items in the bag—water-purification
tablets, a flashlight, sealable plastic bags saps used for holding food, four
spools of string, and packages of freeze-dried food, the only kind the store
carried. He could not guess what else he’d need, or if he’d use all the items
he’d chosen. Whatever looked useful went into the bag.

Each
moment in the store lasted an age. He could not prevent his mind from racing
with thoughts of Cali, with images of her running while he could not see her,
or of another Superior stumbling upon her as he had the first time they met.
Nerves tightened every muscle in his body as he prepared to make his escape.
Just then, however, he spotted a section of cheap sapien shoes. He chose two
pairs, estimating on the large side. When he’d filled his bag and could think
of nothing else they might need, he tossed in a treat for Cali.

As
he wandered towards the door, he glanced at the cashier, who stood chewing a
hangnail and staring with blank eyes at the window. The blinders had already
engaged, so he knew the store would close soon. He was likely her last customer.

Without
another glance towards the counter, he pushed the door open and ran.

It
sounded as if twenty alarms went off at once, one for each item he had stolen.
He did not stop. Daylight meant that only one cashier manned the store, and
though she would call the Enforcers, she would not leave the store unattended
to pursue him. If she had, she could have caught him two streets over when
Draven stopped to gather his live burden. A cumbersome load hindered him on
every side—the bag from the store, Cali, the sapling, a heavy backpack.
Although the weight did not prove much of an issue, the clumsiness it caused
might become one.

He
hurried towards the edge of town without any obvious followers, despite the
alarms. Daylight offered their best chance of escaping capture, despite the
active search for him and his cargo. Just as he reached the last building at
the city’s edge, he heard a car. A trash bin blocked his view of the street,
but it also blocked anyone from seeing him. He tightened his grip on Cali and
crouched beside the building.

Back
pressed to the wall, he waited. When the car had passed, he let out his breath
and relaxed his grip on the human. He stood and hefted the large camping pack
to his chest and laced his arms through the straps. The bottom of the pack hit
his thighs with every step, but his back provided a perch for Cali and the
baby, however uncomfortable for all of them. Draven could feel every splinter
in his back each time Cali or the baby pressed against them. Her baby began
fussing, but Cali shushed it so forcefully that it immediately fell silent.

“Who
was that?” Cali whispered.

“Light
watchmen,” he said. He checked the streets several times before slipping from
his hiding spot and setting out, the backpack bouncing against his legs as he
ran.

“Are
they looking for us?”

“Possibly.”

No
other cars passed, and no one ventured onto the streets in daylight. Draven
passed a house with two sapiens and a sapling bagging leaves in the yard. He
did not slow or acknowledge them, although the sapiens stopped working to watch
him pass with his burden. He hurried onwards through the deserted streets, out
of the city and along a road that wound into the mountains. They saw no one
else, and after a time, Draven began to have hope of succeeding in this mad
venture.

Sometime
during midmorning, the sky burst open, and although Cali made a few small
complaints and her baby many loud ones, Draven was glad for it. The rain would
give them an advantage by hiding their scent at nightfall when trackers began
hunting in earnest. He would also have to do something about her locator chip,
a task he dreaded almost as much as facing a tracking team. He did not mention
his concern to Cali. A small town like Princeton wouldn’t employ light watchmen
except in rare circumstances. Circumstances such as an Enforcer being robbed of
two very valuable pieces of livestock. Or perhaps something more dire still,
but if that was the case, Draven didn’t want to know of it.

Although
he wore his sunshades all day, raindrops constantly swam through his vision.
Still, he could see much better in the overcast conditions than he could have
on a clear day, and staying another day in Princeton was impossible. He’d
already taken a stupendous risk in staying as long as they had. Traveling during
daylight hours offered the best chance to continue evading Enforcers, and the
rain provided as much cover and comfort as he could hope for.

He
carried Cali until midday before stopping to rest. By then the rain had
slackened, and although the darkened sky kept a daylight headache at bay, he
had begun to weaken from daytime exhaustion. Adding to his discomfort, the baby
had wailed most of the morning, until Draven thought he’d go mad.

“Please
quiet your child,” he said, situating himself on a rotting log.

“He’s
cold,” Cali said. She cradled the baby protectively and glared at Draven. “I
know you’re doing all the walking, but it’s not that easy for us, either. I
feel like my arms are about to fall off.”

“Then
why don’t you walk for a while.”

“Fine,
I will. I never asked you to carry me.”

Draven
returned Cali’s glare. After a moment, she dropped her eyes. “I have to eat
something,” she said.

“Right.”
He took a packet of food from the bag he’d stolen and handed it to her.

She
took it, looked at it a moment and then turned to Draven. “What’s this?”

“Food.”

She
made a face, but opened the packet and went about eating. Draven realized he
hadn’t anything for her to drink. He removed a plastic bag from the pack and
set it out, propping it open with sticks. After they had rested a bit, the bag
had collected a mouthful of water.

“We’ll
be at a lake tonight,” he said. “We shouldn’t rest longer.”

“Okay.
Do you have food for the baby?”

“He
can eat as you do. I’ll carry the bags, and you can carry your water bag and
collect rain.” Draven dug through the soggy bag from the store, found a pair of
shoes and handed them to Cali. “I don’t know your size. They’re sapien shoes,
not of quality.”

Cali
took the shoes and ran her thumbs over the surface as if she’d never seen shoes
before. “Wow,” she said. “Thank you.”

“They’ll
do for a bit, and perhaps I can procure Superior clothing for you someplace
we’re not hunted.”

“How
long will that be?” Cali asked, slipping her feet into the shoes.

“I
don’t know. Let us go on. That wailing is driving me mad, but if you can’t stop
him, there’s no reason to wait here.”

They
rose and began walking. Draven switched the backpack to his back and carried
the baby in his arms. The backpack rubbed his skin in all the places Cali
hadn’t, and the splinters burned as if they were still on fire. He resisted the
urge to hold the baby’s mouth shut, and tried to ignore its screaming and the
pressure inside his head and the burning in his eyes and the pain in his back.
He hadn’t eaten and he was losing strength, but he didn’t want to weaken Cali
now that she walked. So they continued onwards, neither trying to speak over
the baby’s crying and the rain. After another hour, the baby quieted and fell
asleep. The rain had ceased, and Draven worried Cali would leave a trail. If he
used the garlic now, however, it would wear off in three or four watery steps.

So
they were forced to go on without it, scrambling up steep slopes and holding
onto trees to avoid sliding on the wet earth under their feet. By the time
daylight began to wane, mud coated them both. Cali’s hands had become raw and
scraped, and Draven worried more and more about the trail of scent she might
leave. He wished he’d thought to procure gloves for her. If she bled on a rock,
even a drop, it would signal the trackers like a flare. Fortunately, it
signaled him first.

“Stop,”
he said, and Cali stopped, breathing hard, and straightened. “You cut your
hand,” Draven said. “What did you touch last?”

She
pointed to a branch and he savored it, but her scent didn’t cling to it as it
would if she’d bled on it. The blood hadn’t reached the branch, only the
surface of her skin. Draven scented the area to make certain, and when he was
satisfied that she’d left no blood behind, he took her hand and turned it over,
palm up, and brought the wound to his mouth. His teeth throbbed for more, but
he didn’t draw from her. He closed the wound, examined her other hand, and ran
his tongue over her palms to help the scrapes heal more quickly.

She
made a strange sound, and when he looked at her, she smiled hugely.

“What
is it?” he asked, looking back at her curled fingers.

“Nothing.”
She pulled her hand away and scratched her palm with her fingernails. “That
tickles.”

“Let
us go on then.”

Her
smile faded. “Yeah, okay.”

He
felt a twinge of annoyance at himself for caring, for his absurd desire to put
the smile back on her face. But what matter? He needed to ensure their
survival, not find ways to make her smile.

“Just
a bit further,” he said. His head weighed on his shoulders, swollen and cloudy
inside, as if the pressure in his brain would burst his skull at the sutures.
He stumbled forward a few steps before he regained his stride and picked up the
pace. For a time it seemed as if they would never reach the lake before nightfall.
At last they came to a slight incline, however, and beyond that, the lake lay
silent under the gloomy sky. The water appeared white, reflecting the
overhanging clouds.

Cali
ran down the bank to the water, dropped to her knees and scooped up handful
after handful of water, sucking at her cupped hands. Draven stood watching,
cursing himself for already failing to provide for his sapien. She did not seem
to share his blame. When she stood, water dripped from her chin and cheeks and
smiling mouth. “What now?” she asked.

“Now
we swim across.”

She
gaped at him.

“It
will throw the trackers off our trail,” he said. “We’ll rest a bit on the other
side. I’m a bit weak.” While exploring during one of his lake visits, he had
found a small cave on the opposite side. Although he’d never used it, he had
marked it in his mind as a place he might one day have need for. If the rain
hadn’t submerged the floor of the shelter, he thought it would make a
sufficient resting spot for an evening or two.

“You
should eat,” Cali said.

“Eat
what?”

Cali
dropped her eyes and shrugged. Her hair, still wet from the day’s rain, stuck
to her skull and face and neck. Chill bumps covered her skin in the places
where her wet clothing did not.

“We
only have to cross,” Draven said. “I’ll take you first, and then the baby, and
then our things.”

“You
can’t leave him alone over here with just our stuff.”

“I
can take him first if you like, but I’ll have to leave him on that side with
nothing.”

“But
it’s so cold,” Cali said, hunching her shoulders. Her teeth chattered as she
spoke.

“Yes.
I’m sorry I’ve not kept you warmer. When we’ve crossed, we’ll stop walking and
I’ll warm you.”

Cali
stood hugging herself and shivering. But she didn’t speak again.

“Do
you trust me?” Draven asked.