Botanicaust (44 page)

Next to him, the girls followed with,
“
Amen.
”
Praying with Blattvolk. Although he
’
d determined he would protect these people in his care, he hadn
’
t actually hoped they could find salvation. He looked into two sets of sincere eyes and his heart swelled.
“
Suffer the little children to come unto me,
”
he whispered.

They hadn
’
t reached the base of the mountain when the cloudy sky parted enough to allow a flash of golden sunset above the snowy peaks. Tula could barely lift her feet off the ground. The girls insisted on helping her, stumbling under her weight. Levi worried they might lose their footing and tumble down the steep path.

Finally, he called a halt at a small plateau where the road leveled out. He
’
d hoped to reach another water source, but the dry mountainside yielded nothing. The few water bottles they had were nearly empty, with four of them drinking. A dry ditch pitched off the top edge of the pavement toward some overgrown footpaths cut into the hill. From his vantage, he detected the rectangular remnants of old buildings along the main trail. The way looked steep, and difficult, but perhaps they
’
d find water.

But he didn
’
t think Tula would be strong enough to keep going. Not in the darkness. Tonight they had to stop, to hide. In the morning they could veer from the main road. For tonight, he could construct a makeshift screen out of scrub oak and yuvee to hide them from sight while they rested.
“
We
’
ll stop here.
”

The twins seemed relieved. They let go of Tula and wandered to the nearby husk of an automobile to investigate.

Gasping for breath, Tula shook her head.
“
Not good.
”

“
It
’
s almost dark. We have to rest. To find shelter from the Fosselites.
”

“
Fosselites see
…
night like day.
”

“
Don
’
t worry, we
’
ll look like brush and rocks.
”
He started to hack at the limbs of the shrubs with the knife.

“
They see through!
”

“
Remember how we hid from the Blat
…
the Haldanian search party? We
’
ll do that again.
”

“
No.
”
Tula seemed on the verge of tears, her voice higher, the sentences choked off as if one word required too much effort.
“
Is different. Fosselites search night. Have
…
have
…
”
She struggled with the words.

“
Tula.
”
He clasped both her arms and looked into her teary eyes. The pupils were the size of dinner plates and could not focus on him. Her skin had exchanged burning heat for cold and clammy.
“
I will keep you safe.
”

She shook her head, gasping. Swaying in his grasp, she clutched his forearms for support.
“
Not safe.
Fosselites see hot.
Body hot.
You, me, children.
Need rock hide.
”

Levi thought of the red eyes of the Fosselites. How the lights were so dim inside the compound. Had the Fosselites so altered themselves they functioned differently?
“
We need a cave?
”
His heart hammered so hard his vision shook. He glanced around the plateau. There were no caves he could see. The light was fading fast.

In panic, he grabbed Tula
’
s arm and shouted to the girls.
“
Let
’
s move!
”

Since leaving the mountain, Tula had been fighting off hallucinations unlike any she
’
d had before. Chasms opened up before her feet, amorphous colors corkscrewed from the cloudy sky to skewer her, the rocks bulged with leering faces. Physical contact helped ground her, and she was thankful the girls anchored her on both sides.

When Levi announced they
’
d stop, the twins let go, and Tula had to scrape up every microgram of willpower to keep focused. Swaying in the brutal push of a non-existent gale, she fought for breath to speak. They could not stop until they found shelter. The Fosselites had night scopes, thermographic trackers, and who knew what else. Mo had used a few such devices on the rare night mission when cannibal bands ranged too close to the edges of the Burn.

They needed something dense to shield them. More than the leaves and twigs Levi proposed.

Once Levi understood, he dragged her down a steep cut through the brush. The dark landscape at her feet pulsed purple in spots where some mote of setting sun penetrated the shrubbery. She blinked the illusion away.
Stay alert
. A pounding in her ears reminded her of the helicopter blades, and she glanced behind her, up the direction they
’
d come.
Nothing but a yellow trail curling up the mountain like a cryptic word of warning.
The pounding was only the beating of her heart.

At her heels, the girls plowed through the brush. Levi stopped abruptly in front of her. Glad to stop, she rested her hands on her knees and half bent over. If she focused on the ground, things seemed more normal.

Then Levi was gone.
“
Levi?
”

The thunk of helicopter blades started in the distance. No mistaking it. The sound chopped against the side of the mountain as if the noise alone might shake the escapees loose.

The brush in front of her moved, and Levi poked his head up from a ditch or a hole.
“
Down here.
”

The twins pushed past her and over the edge of some sort of wall. She accepted Levi
’
s hand and lowered herself into a rectangular concrete area filled with old pipes, bits of corroded plastic, and other detritus. He led her to a huge rusty container. The hinged lid had fallen askew, leaving a metal cave.
“
Will this protect you?
”
he asked.

She touched the three-centimeter thick walls. The metal flaked a little, but seemed intact.
“
Yes.
”

“
Get in.
”
He urged her into the box. She sat with her hands wrapped around her knees. Both girls joined her, taking up the remaining room. Even so, she worried a hand or foot might show enough to alert the search parties.

Levi squatted in front of her, a solid spot against the shadows of full night. She tried to squeeze tighter, to make more room. The beating of the helicopter grew louder. Pressing his lips to hers, he caressed her face.
“
Don
’
t move, Tula. God keep you safe.
”

It took her a moment to realize he was gone.
“
Levi?
”
At first her voice was soft, a whisper to avoid detection. Then it rose to a wail.
“
Levi! Leeeeeviiiiiii!
”

A small hand covered her mouth, and Tula could only sob.

L
evi catapulted over the edge of the old foundation and crashed through the brush. He planned on being as far from Tula and the girls as possible when captured. Tula
’
s heart-wrenching wail cut off abruptly. He fumbled, reminded himself the girls had probably quieted her, and kept running. They
’
d keep each other safe.

In the sky, two disparate lights flashed on and off the hills. They
’
d doubled their efforts.

Levi doubled his.

He dropped into another rectangular hole. Clouds blocked most of the sky, allowing only a handful of stars to give light. His feet crunched over uneven bits of old plastic and metal, but nothing large enough to shield him. He swung up over the opposite edge and hurdled a row of boulders lining what had once been a driveway.

The searchlights reached the plateau. They circled the flat area, sometimes on, sometimes off, as if they might surprise their prey with sudden light. One light continued along the road while the other changed course toward the rotten foundations. Lowering his head, Levi plowed through the scrub oak and nearly sprawled face first on a tumble of bricks. In the darkness, the lumpy shape of a fallen chimney gave him a flare of hope.

He searched for the hearth opening, found the depression where a fire would be laid.
Only a shallow, metal-lined box.
Not a real fireplace. No way to fit.

He squinted into the darkness. Running blind would get him nowhere. But one direction was as good as another at this point. Turning left, he picked his way through the bricks. The ground beneath one foot flexed, making a metallic popping sound. Another step, and the metal popped again.

Crouching, he felt along the surface; his hands traced the regular pattern of corrugated aluminum. Several of the houses back home had roofs like this from before the Botanicaust. Skimming fingers over the metal, he located an edge buried in dirt. If he could only get under it
…

As he searched for a grip to pry the sheet loose, he watched the searchlight meander closer. How far away could they see him? One corner of the aluminum curled upward, out of the soil and Levi strained to pull it free with all his strength, all his hope. The metal had been buried a long time, and the earth did not want to give up its hold. Slipping his hand into a pocket in the backpack, he located the knife. He forced the blade between the sheet and the dirt, loosening the curl enough to get his fingers underneath. In a shower of sand, the sheet loosed halfway.

Glancing toward the dancing light in the sky, Levi shimmied out of the pack and dropped to the ground. He put his feet beneath the metal and kicked the plate up. The musty smell of earth and the tang of aluminum settled on him as he curled under the thin layer of aluminum. For extra coverage, he pulled the pack close to the gap at his head. An insect skittered up his calf and settled behind his knee.

It was going to be a long night.