Terra (31 page)

“I’m going with or without you, so you might as well come along. You know you can’t resist an opportunity to lecture me on my driving skills,” he goads.

The bike’s electric engine hums loudly, stirring another sense of strange familiarity in my mind. Inexplicably, I suddenly
want
to go for a ride. I hesitate, but eventually climb on behind Mica. As soon as my butt hits the seat, we take off.

“Want to try explaining this?” I yell over the wind.

“It was a gift,” he yells back.

I want to ask him exactly what he means by that, but it’s too hard to keep up conversation on the moving bike. I’ve just resigned myself to waiting until we reach whatever surprise destination he’s hauling me off to, when he starts to slow down. We putter to a stop in front of the North Gate.

“So you want to try explaining this monstrosity one more time?” I say as we wait for the guards to open the gate.

“There’s nothing to explain. It’s ours. It was a present.”

“I think I’d remember being gifted a transport.”

“Yeah, you’d think so, wouldn’t you?” he mutters.

“And just who was this alleged benefactor, may I ask?”

A gate guardsman interrupts us before Mica can answer.

“What is your purpose for leaving the settlement?” the guardsman asks sternly.

“Time for me to learn the family business,” Mica says casually. “My sister is taking me out scavenging.”

I’m half a second from protesting, when Mica digs his fingernails into my arm. I close my mouth as quickly as I opened it.

The guardsman gives us a thorough once-over before reluctantly opening the gate.

As soon as we’ve cleared the settlement, Mica turns the bike south. He drives straight through the fields and toward the Dead Woods.

“Where are we going?” I shout. He holds his hand up to his ear and points to indicate he can’t hear me. Finally, we reach the edge of the Dead Woods and Mica slows to a stop. He parks the motorbike against a large, misshapen tree.

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous, Mic. What are we doing out here?”

“I told you, there’s something you need to see.” He reaches under the seat of the transport and tucks something into the waist of his pants, but pulls the back of his sweatshirt down before I can see what it is. Without another word, he sets off into the woods.

“Enough is enough, Mica!” I theatrically stamp my foot on the ground. “You need to tell me where we are going right now!”

“God, he was right, your constant questioning really is annoying,” Mica says, stepping over a large tree root poking out of the ground.

“Who was right?”

Mica shoots me an exasperated look. “That’s not how you’re going to get answers.”

I press my lips together into a line, trying to determine the cause of my little brother’s newfound insolence.
Puberty
, I think sarcastically.

We walk through the forest in silence, and I wonder how Mica is so sure of where he’s going. I’ve only brought him out to the woods with me once before.

My breathing becomes labored and my leg twinges as we clamber over thick roots and fallen trunks. Eventually, the thick trunks begin to space out again, and I can see a small clearing in the distance. Mica seems to be heading straight for it.

As we get closer, I see the figures of three men sitting in an uneven triangle. It sounds like they’re laughing. I start to wonder if there’s some kind of scav meeting happening that I don’t know about. But if that was the case, why would we need to come all the way out here?

I lag a few yards behind Mica, squinting to see if I recognize Mal’s salt-and-pepper hair or Chrys’ telltale Mohawk, but there’s nothing familiar about any of the men. From here, their shaved heads and long, tattered jackets make them look almost indistinguishable from each other.

It’s not until we’ve almost reached the clearing that I realize exactly who they are.

Raiders.

Chapter 31

“Mica! What are you doing?” I call out in a whisper, reaching for him. He’s just a step too far ahead of me though, and he’s speeding up. The raiders haven’t seen us yet. If I can just get Mica to turn around, we could run. We’d have enough of a lead on them to get back to the bike, even if they decide to pursue us. But Mica doesn’t break his stride. He steps confidently into the clearing, unaffected by my panic.

All three raiders look up at the same time. They stand up defensively as Mica walks right up to them. Cursing under my breath, I ignore my instinct to run back into the cover of the trees, and I follow my brother into the clearing.

“Morning, gentlemen,” Mica says brightly.

“What do you want, shrimp?” The big guy in the middle cracks his knuckles threateningly.

“C’mon, Ryk, I thought you were expecting me.”

My mouth falls open in shock. Mica, on a first-name basis with raiders? I pinch myself to check if I’m dreaming, and am decidedly disappointed when it turns out I’m not.

Ryk grits his teeth but nods, releasing his fingers from the fists they’ve formed. “Right. Didn’t think he’d send someone like you. So what’s the deal?”

“I brought you something,” Mica says invitingly. He turns toward me and jerks his head, summoning me forward.

My body seizes up, rooting me to the spot. Mica sighs and walks over to me. I stare at him in alarm. Whatever game he thinks he’s playing, it’s a dangerous one. These raiders could crush both of us into pieces. I search my brother’s face, looking for a sign, for some kind of explanation for his apparent madness.

Mica winks at me, then grabs my wrist and drags me toward the raiders.

Ryk’s lips curl into a villainous smile as I approach. My body tenses up, my fight-or-flight response already starting to kick in. One of his lackeys starts to laugh, a dumbfounded sound, like he can’t believe what he’s seeing. The other just stares at me with wide, unblinking eyes.

“Hey there, firecracker. Didn’t think I’d be seeing your pretty face again.” Ryk runs his tongue slowly over his upper lip, instantly repulsing me.

“Do I know you?” I say coldly, my voice revealing equal parts disgust and confusion.

“What, no love for an old pal?”

“I’ve never seen you before in my life,” I say, though as the words leave my lips, I wonder if they’re true. There’s something familiar about the way the heavy golden chain around his neck bounces against his bare chest. Like something out of a dream—the kind of detail that’s gone within moments of waking.

He lumbers towards me. “I know you remember me.”

Regardless of whether we’ve met before, it’s clear this is a guy I don’t want to know. “Nope, sorry,” I say. I take a step back and collide with Mica, who’s standing right behind me.

Ryk grabs me by my shoulders and I brace to defend myself. Before I have a chance to, though, Mica knocks Ryk’s hands off of me and steps between us.

“What gives?” Ryk says angrily.

That’s exactly what I’d like to know,
I think, watching Mica with alarm.

“Don’t touch her,” Mica says sternly. The juxtaposition between the two of them is ludicrous. Ryk dwarfs Mica in both height and girth. The raider makes my brother look like even more of a child than he is.

“You don’t make the rules, kid. Me and her, we got unfinished business.”

“This is an experiment,” Mica says coolly. “We’re not here so you can regain your badassery after getting your butt kicked by a girl.”

Ryk’s eyes darken.

“Anything?” Mica asks, turning around to address me.

“I feel like I’m missing something kind of crucial,” I say through clenched teeth, “because I don’t have any idea what the hell we’re doing here.”

Mica frowns.

Ryk growls and his lackeys edge in closer to their boss. “I don’t have time for this. Move aside, shrimp, or you’re going down too.”

I gasp as Ryk pulls his fist back, aiming for the back of Mica’s head. I try to shove my brother out of the way, to take the blow myself, but Mica just sighs resignedly. He stays rooted to the spot, barely moving against the force of my desperate push; he’s a lot stronger than I realized. In a movement so quick it shocks me, he whips around and pulls a stun gun from his waistband. He fires off three successive shots before Ryk even has time to land the blow.

The three raiders fall to the ground, convulsing.

“Well, this was a huge waste of time,” Mica says unhappily.

“Give me that,” I shout, yanking the stun gun out of his hands. “Where the hell did you get this?”

Mica just looks at me, studying my face hopefully. A moment later, he looks away, his expression deflated. Infuriated, I stomp back into the woods, stepping cleanly over Ryk’s shuddering body, and I don’t speak again until we’ve arrived back home.

* * *

“What is your problem, Mic?” I’ve barely stepped inside the apartment before I let loose. “What was that? Is this some new thing you kids are playing at school? Seeing who’s brave enough to cross the quarantine line got old, so now you’ve all moved onto antagonizing raiders? You could’ve gotten us killed!”

Mica watches me with the edges of his mouth turned down. “I just don’t get it. I thought for sure that would trigger something.”

“What are you talking about?” I scream. I’m so frustrated I could pull my hair out. As it is, I settle for twisting it into a too-tight bun.

“Things didn’t go quite as planned, huh?” A voice echoes out from behind me. I spin around to find a stranger seated at our kitchen table. Even sitting, I can tell he’s tall. Blond hair peeks out from beneath a black cap, the brim low over his face, and he wears a gray windbreaker zipped all the way up to his neck.

I immediately push Mica behind me and raise the stun gun, pointing it directly at the intruder. The gun feels simultaneously foreign and familiar, confusing and alarming me further.

“Who are you?” I demand. He raises his hands in surrender.

“Uh, Terra?” Mica says, peeking out from behind me. He looks mildly amused. “It’s okay. He’s a friend.” He tugs the gun out of my grip and lays it on the table.

“How did he—,” I start to say, but Mica interrupts me before I can even finish my thought.

“Could you just give us a second?” he says to me.

My expression shifts instantly into one of indignation. I storm into the bathroom and slam the door. I wait a few moments, then turn the tap on and press my ear to the door. If I don’t breathe too loudly, I can just make out some of what they’re saying.

“What are you doing here?” Mica says gruffly, keeping his voice low.

“Did you expect me to stay away forever?” the stranger replies.

“This is suicide. If they find you here, we’re all—”

“They won’t. The tail followed you both the second you left the building. I watched them go.”

“That doesn’t mean nobody saw you.”

“If they thought for a second that I was here, we both know they’d already be breaking down the door.”

Mica falls silent for a few seconds.

“Besides,” the stranger continues, “I’m not the one we should be worried about here. You risked both of your lives today and it didn’t even work. Not to mention the suspicion it could have raised with the guardsmen.”

“Yeah, well let’s not forget whose idea this was in the first place!”

“You just have to be careful, Mic. We have to keep up appearances. They can’t ever know that you know.”

“I… I know,” Mica says, embarrassed.

“I guess we’re just lucky you’re a much better actor than your sister.”

They start to laugh, but quickly seem to realize how much their voices have risen. They quiet down and I jerk away from the door. I rip open the bathroom cabinet and then slam it closed to make a show of washing my hands and brushing my teeth. Hopefully it’s loud enough for them to think I haven’t been eavesdropping. By the time I return my ear to the door, their conversation is dying down.

“Fine. Have it your way. It’s your funeral.” I’ve never heard Mica speak so cavalierly to anyone, other than me.

I flush the toilet for good measure and they instantly shut up. A few seconds later, I saunter back out into the living room. They stand by the couch next to each other, having just turned to face me.

“So, Mic, who’s your friend?” I ask guardedly.

The stranger removes his cap, and I am shocked to see bright blue eyes gazing at me. His clothes are normal, and he’s missing the usual aura of superiority, but there’s no denying it: he must be a skydweller.

“Hello, Terra,” he says, his voice like velvet now that it’s no longer muffled by the bathroom door.

“Um, hi,” I say.

All signs of their argument have disappeared from their faces. The two of them watch me intently.

“Do I know you?” They’re the same words I said to the raider Ryk less than an hour ago, but the meaning behind them feels completely different. Somehow, impossibly, it feels like I do. Or at least, like I should. He looks too young to be a Collection Agent, and he certainly lacks the bored authority of a guardsman.

Where have I seen him before?

The skydweller smiles, but there’s so much sadness behind his eyes I almost want to run over and hug him. “I’m afraid not,” he says.

“Oh.” I hesitate. His conversation with Mica was bizarre, but I don’t feel any animosity coming from him. And at least it sounds like he knows what that whole raider thing was about. If Mica won’t tell me, maybe this stranger will. “Well, any friend of Mica’s and all that.”

“Thank you. Actually, if you don’t mind, I came here to talk to you.”

“To me?” I say, my confusion palpable. “Er, okay.” I walk over slowly and take a seat at the kitchen table. The skydweller follows me and occupies the same chair he had been waiting in when we arrived, shifting it so he faces me head-on. I expect him to start speaking, to ask whatever he means to ask, or say whatever he came here to say, but he just looks at me.

“So…” I say finally, breaking the awkward silence, “what can I do for you?” The words feel silly tumbling out of my mouth.

He smiles, a sort of lopsided smile, one side of his mouth higher than the other. It’s surprisingly endearing. “I have something to show you,” he says.

I shoot a quick, piercing glance at Mica as if to say,
Where have I heard that before?