Botanicaust (47 page)

Choking in great gulps, she tightened her arms around his neck.
“
I didn
’
t let go.
”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“
Thank you, God.
”

Together they slogged to shore and climbed free of the river
’
s grasp. As Levi led the way downstream, Tula regained her composure.
“
How do we find Eily and Ana?
”
she whispered. They could not call out to the twins. They could not stop. The cannibal hunters would surely swim over if they knew their prey had crossed. She hoped the girls managed to stay together. As self sufficient as they seemed to be, they were still just children and should not be alone.

“
They know we
’
re traveling this way. We
’
ll find each other.
”
Levi squeezed her hand in reassurance.

Tula wasn
’
t so sure. Were the girls ahead of or behind them? She didn
’
t know whether to drag her feet or break into a jog. Pressure built in her throat as she fought the urge to call out.

“
Don
’
t fret. They run ahead, fall behind, but always manage to catch up. They
’
re like dogs.
”

A shot of fear quickened her already racing pulse.
“
What
is dogs
?
”
Something about the word
“
dog
”
frightened her.

Levi let a laugh.
“
An animal. You
’
ll see when we reach the Holdout.
”

True to Levi
’
s prediction, the girls scampered down the trail behind Tula and Levi as dawn enveloped the morning star on the horizon. They flung themselves against the adults, jabbering with abandon.

“
We heard you crying in the water.
”

“
You passed us on the bank.
”

“
But the men hunters didn
’
t come.
”

“
We watched.
”

“
They
’
ll hunt the other side.
”

Tula pressed her cheeks against their hair, arms around their shoulders.
“
Thank you, girls. I
’
m so glad you
’
re safe.
”

Levi wrapped all three of them in a bear hug and grunted.
“
Safe.
”
He repeated the word in Cannibal and the twins beamed at him.

Haldanian Protectorate

Vitus blinked itchy eyes at the unfamiliar face on the monitor and leaned forward across his desk. The fiber optic light was off, leaving the room with only the dusky light from a single fluorescent bulb overhead.
“
I need those injections!
”

The woman who called herself Dr. Rice nodded, her black skin and red eyes even more disturbing than Kaneka
’
s.
“
We
’
re working on accessing the data, but his notes are encrypted.
”

Kaneka had missed his usual checkin, and Vitus had been forced to contact the Fosselites through official channels. He was overdue for his treatment by sixteen hours, and his skin had already begun to leach of color. Plus, his eyes had developed a light sensitivity he needed to talk to the doctor about. He snorted with disgust.
“
What good is immortality if you can be killed falling down the stairs?
”

Dr. Rice cleared her throat.
“
There were
…
circumstances.
”

He narrowed his eyes.
“
What do you mean?
”

“
I believe you know this woman?
”
An image of Tula Macoby appeared in the data stream at the base of the screen.

Vitus
’
s nostrils flared and he looked back up into Dr. Rice
’
s eyes.
“
Why?
”

“
She and her companion were involved in Dr. Kaneka
’
s death. We are not sure how to proceed.
”

“
She killed him? Where is she?
”
He slapped his hands against the desk, causing the screen
’
s image to flutter. A stabbing pain inserted itself through his right temple.

“
Escaped. We believe they are travelling back to the man
’
s settlement.
”

“
Well, find them!
”

“
We would like to. But we cannot travel by day, Dr. Dedecus. Perhaps your people would be willing to aid us, to return her to stand trial for murder
…
”
She stared at him expectantly through the camera.

He sat back in his chair and considered. The Board could not know he
’
d been aware of Tula at the Fosselite compound. But he wanted her dead.
“
Contact Councilwoman Arnica.
”
He gave her to
com
code to the woman
’
s office.
“
Tell her Dr. Macoby tried to steal telomerase. That she murdered Dr. Kaneka in the process, and you hold the Protectorate responsible. Do you know where they went?
”

“
We have a general map location. We hope an airborne search can locate the settlement.
”

“
Fine. Oh, and do
not
mention my name, do you understand?
”

Amarantox Plains

The sun had reached its zenith when Ana pointed to the sky behind him, her eyes wide and full of fear. Tula swiveled and jerked back with alarm. A fat plume of greasy yellow smoke billowed into the air, not far to the southwest.

“
Cannibals?
”
she asked.

One of the girls shook her head. The other child whispered,
“
Flame runnas.
”

Terror plucked Tula
’
s heart. Levi shook his head, looking up and down the river.
“
They caught me near here last time.
”

He hurried them around a bend where the stream had stacked driftwood into a tangled pile. Pulling on a trunk, he freed it from the mess.
“
Let
’
s hide here.
”

Tula yanked logs free and helped create a lean-to against the pile, while the girls scattered small sticks over the support beams. Soon the four of them sat beneath the cramped shelter with crossed legs.

“
How long should we wait?
”
Levi asked.

Tula pressed her lips together and shook her head.
“
They go back at sundown.
”

As a distraction, he pulled out a string he
’
d woven from cattail fibers.
“
Looks like we have some time, girls. Let me show you a trick.
”

With deft fingers, he twisted the string into a cat
’
s cradle. The girls leaned in, mesmerized, and soon started showing him string games of their own. Confined as they were, they played and laughed, and with Tula
’
s encouragement, the twins seemed eager to learn his language. He tried to tell a knock-knock joke, but the children didn
’
t understand the concept of knocking to enter a room, and they all ended up belly laughing at the confusion.

Levi was in the middle of another joke when a wild-eyed man appeared at the lean-to entrance. Wearing nothing but dripping fur leggings, the stranger grimaced and glanced at the sky before diving into the shelter. Eily and Ana squealed, pulling back to the rough walls. The logs shifted, threatening to collapse the structure as the man squeezed amidst their legs. He smelled like wet ashes, and each breath wheezed from him as if he
’
d just run a marathon
“
Flame runnas,
”
he gasped.
“
Keep the peace.
”

Tula quaked with fear, curling into a ball as far from the cannibal as she could get in the tiny space.

Levi looked from her to the twins.
“
What mean?
”

The twins watched the stranger with caution, but also glanced out to the sky and back. Ana wiped her hand across her nose and answered.
“
No fight. Safe until flame runna goes.
”

Levi glared at the man, then nodded once.

In the already overcrowded shelter, they could not sit without physical contact with the stranger. He reeked of smoke and wet fur and nervous sweat. The cannibal shifted to sit cross-legged. His braided beard dripped bloody river water onto his naked chest; a bone labret pierced one side of his lower lip, and a tear in the other side bled profusely. Small blisters stretched from shoulder to the back of his wrist, likely from a duster flash he
’
d escaped.

Thick silence filled the lean-to. Although the cannibal faced Levi, Tula could feel the stranger
’
s sidelong attention crawl over her and the twins. Every time he looked, she shuddered.
Be calm. Show no fear
. Like the implicit restriction against killing the Knowing, there was apparently a cannibal law regarding truce in the face of a greater enemy. After that, she assumed they were fair game.

And this was no man of Knowing, like Osula and Brin. This was a true cannibal, one who only hours before had been hunting them. Tula
’
s heart raced so fast she thought it might escape her chest.

They must prove to this man they were formidable opponents. Levi didn
’
t speak Cannibal. She had to take the lead.

“
How many hunters?
”
Her voice emerged too high. The stranger half turned from Levi to blatantly rake her up and down out of the corner of his eye.
“
You a flame runna.
”

Taking a steadying breath, she said,
“
I
’
ve got the Knowing. The Flame Runners don
’
t respect that.
”

His eyelids twitched, and he shifted to face her head on. He searched her again, looking for scars, she was sure.