Rush
Stalker was every bit as fierce as I’d first thought. But he was smarter too. When the three of us stepped out into his path, he stilled. He didn’t seem surprised to see me somehow. I’d guessed right about the test, but I couldn’t believe he had been willing to see so many of his own injured in order to assess my skills. It was certainly an honest challenge, but it carried such a high price that it told me a lot about his character.
Silk would’ve approved.
His pale gaze touched on Tegan and he shook his head. “You’re going to regret this.”
So he hadn’t foreseen her help. He’d thought I would best her and escape on my own. Good to know.
He winged a dagger at me and I dove wide. Instead of pressing the attack, as Fade charged toward him, he tapped his cub and they both took off running. I started to give chase, but Tegan snagged my arm.
“Don’t. He isn’t stupid.”
Deferring to her greater experience, I called to Fade, “Wait!”
After he returned, she added, “He won’t return until he has enough Wolves to deal with us. The hunt is over, and it’s a matter of pride now.”
My heart sank. “You mean there are more of them?”
“Those were just the cubs, who needed their first blood. The more experienced Wolves are guarding the den.”
Kind of like the naming day ritual, I guessed, except we didn’t hunt down some poor person to get our names. It came down to personal bravery instead. I didn’t like much of what I’d seen from the surface so far.
“Sounds like you have some experience with this,” he said.
She nodded. “We have one chance to get away. This is it.”
I glanced at Fade. “Can you find Pearl’s place from here?”
“I think so.”
Before we took off, I wrapped his arms; we didn’t want to leave a trail this time. It was a quick patch job, nothing more. Once we found a safe place to hide, he needed better care and some of Banner’s salve. But as usual, he didn’t show any pain.
It was dark again, thankfully, as we trekked through the city. I found the silence disconcerting. In the enclave, you could always hear human noises. Here, the buildings stood like dying sentinels, and I had the unnerving fear they could topple over at any second, crushing us in dust and rubble. Down below, I’d possessed the sense of being a valuable part of the community. Up here, I felt like nothing. The space filled me with disquiet, and I found it nearly impossible to believe this place had once been filled with people. I couldn’t imagine it.
At dawn, Fade found us shelter. The building bore no paint, and the front windows were shattered. That made it easy for us to enter, but I held myself ready in case we ran into trouble. Though the place smelled of animal musk, I saw no signs of human habitation. Whoever had broken in first, they were long gone.
“We’re far enough from the Wolves to risk a rest,” Tegan said. “With any luck, they’ve lost our trail in the time Stalker took getting the rest of them.”
“How much do we need to look over our shoulders?” I asked.
“He’s a good tracker, but we covered a lot of ground.”
My aching feet could attest to that. Walking Topside was nothing like traveling in the tunnels. Our cured-skin slippers worked down below, but here, we needed something heavier.
Fade said, “I hope it will be enough.”
After crawling carefully past the broken glass, we found a shop, similar to the one where we’d sheltered before, but bigger, with row after row of metal shelves. A huge blue and red sign hung sideways from the ceiling. Tilting my head, I read some of the letters: CAL’S MEGAMART. Wonderingly, I walked up and down between the shelves. Most had been picked clean, but I found a few tins. Those I slipped into my bag.
We split up by mutual consent to explore the place thoroughly. A few minutes later, when Tegan started yelling, I drew my daggers and sprinted in her direction. I stopped short when I realized she was excited, not scared. Clothing surrounded her. The styles and colors were bright and unfamiliar; the fabrics felt cool and slick. A few items tore when I picked them up, but others seemed to be in perfect condition.
“I haven’t had anything that was mine since the Wolves took me,” Tegan said, and her voice broke in a way that tugged at my heart.
“Find some that fit,” I suggested. “If these traders had food and clothes, then they probably have a bag around here for you too.”
Thanks to her work with the knife, I needed a spare outfit as well. Life in the enclave had taught me one didn’t need more than could be easily carried, but I didn’t like not owning anything to change into when what I wore got too dirty to bear. And I was getting there.
I prowled through the garments until I spotted a green combination of shirt and pants. The shirt had a metal strip running down the center; I yanked it up and down before deciding it was meant to make it easier to get dressed. The pants were as simple as I was used to with a simple string to tighten the waist. This would do; it was light, smooth and should be comfortable. The material was a little dusty, so I beat it against the wall; the slick, shiny stuff shook clean unlike any cloth I’d ever seen. That would come in handy.
I left Tegan searching for a bag to carry her stuff. In the next set of shelves, I saw a bunch of bottles, and they looked like they held water. Marveling at the luck, I took a couple with me. There might be a waste closet here, I thought. At the back of the shop, I found it, tucked into a dark hall. The shadows didn’t bother me. My ears were good and I’d hear movement.
Inside, it was dingy, but not disgusting at it had been on the platform. The mirror didn’t take me by surprise this time. I ignored the girl going about her business—even though with my brain, I knew she was me, I felt no connection to her, and every now and then, I looked up just to see if she would continue what she was doing, or stop and stare, as I did. Each time, her movements matched, but my sense of unease remained. It was like a doorway, I thought.
I cracked open a bottle. It didn’t smell like the water we boiled, but I didn’t intend to drink it. Instead I used it to wash off before putting on my clean clothes; they were warmer and lighter than I’d expected. When I’d done what I could to remove the bloodstains, I felt a little better.
“Deuce!” Fade called. “Come here.”
I expected more clothing, but he’d found another room, hidden behind a heavy metal door that read EMPLOYEES ONLY. This one was full of boxes and crates and beyond that, another space, this one smaller still, that held tables, chairs, tall storage units, and two dusty sofas. We pounded them until they looked clean enough to use.
“We can lock that door,” I said. “And hole up in here while it’s so bright out.”
“That wasn’t what I wanted you to see.”
I sat down beside him while he pulled the top off a tin. It contained a red substance that made me recoil. Surely that couldn’t be—then he lifted it to my nose so I could sniff it. It was the best thing I’d ever smelled, and my mouth watered.
“What is it?”
“Taste it.” Fade dipped his finger into the tin and offered it to me.
I couldn’t resist, though I knew better than to let him feed me like a brat. Sweetness exploded on my tongue, contrasting with the warmth of his skin. Shocked and pleased, I pulled back and dipped two of my fingers into the tin in a little scoop. This time I caught more than the sauce. A round little red thing sat in the curve of my fingertips. I ate it without hesitation, two, three more scoops until I was sure I had red all around my mouth, and I didn’t care. He watched me with amusement.
“How did you know it would be so good?” I asked
His smile slipped. “I had some with my dad, once.”
I turned the tin, which was covered in red things, and had a blue banner with white letters on it. They read, “Comstock,” and below that, it said, “More Fruit Cherry.” More new words. We were eating cherries, something I’d never had before, and they made my mouth water for more. I stopped because I wanted Tegan to taste them too.
“Do you miss him?”
Fade nodded and set the tin down. Hesitantly, I put my hand on his shoulder. I wasn’t a Breeder, so touching didn’t come naturally to me. If I was, I guessed I’d know how to comfort him. I might even have the right words instead of a throat full of silence. It was the first time I’d ever thought being a Breeder might come in handy.
For the first time, I looked at him and I didn’t see reflexes or muscles or fighting potential. I saw only a boy who had followed me from the tunnels, who had been a friend no matter what obstacles we faced. Even while the Wolves had been hunting him, he thought of saving me. My heart shifted a little in my chest; it seemed to swell and beat against my bones until I couldn’t hear.
“You were right, you know,” he said finally.
“About what?”
“Why I stayed. I didn’t have anything better waiting. The enclave was better than being alone.”
“You’re not alone,” I said. “And you never will be. We’re partners now.”
Fade smiled then. I didn’t know why. Until he said, “My dad had a partner. I don’t remember her.”
“Oh?” I wondered if his dad had been a Hunter too, some Topside variety I didn’t know about. The whole world couldn’t be populated with people like Stalker.
“She was my mother.”
The words struck me like a question, but I didn’t have an answer. “Come on. I found some water on the shelves. We need to clean your arms up.”
“The cuts aren’t that deep,” he protested.
“And if they get infected—”
“I know.” He followed me back into the shop, where I walked along the shelves finding things I might be able to use. Some of them even looked like they might be suitable for tending wounds.
Fade winced when I unwrapped the cloth strips. I tried to be careful, but the dried blood made it stick. With perfect gravity, I stared at the way they’d made the cuts run parallel to his Hunter marks. Now he bore twelve. Part of me wished I could seal them properly, so his arms would say to anyone, I’m twice the Hunter you are. But Topside such symbols were meaningless. They were just scars. Nobody would admire him for having more. I hated that loss too.
Head bent, I washed his wounds and applied the salve Banner had given me. The primitive part of me didn’t think I should use it—whatever power she had given to its making would fail because of her death. But it was all we had, and I wanted him to heal.
He didn’t show further signs of discomfort. I sliced up one of the shirts for bandages, and turned the soft white side to his cuts. The outside was slick like the clothing I wore, and should keep the rain out. It seemed like a very useful fabric. Too bad the making of it had been lost. But then, everything I knew was lost too. I felt like I must learn everything again, like a brat, or face painful consequences.
When I finished tying the cloth, I looked up to tell him he could go, only to find a steely, fixed expression on his face. He didn’t look away. His hands came up to frame my face, warm against my cheeks. Before he bent his head, I knew what he was going to do. Touch his lips to mine. Oh, and I wanted him to. He left me the chance to back away and break his hold. I stilled, hardly daring to breathe. The old refrain of can’t and shouldn’t sank beneath the weight of new words like, please and yes.
This time I did wrap my arms around his neck. I met him on raised toes and melted into him. I breathed his breath and tasted the essence of him. He was the heat of a fire and the sweetness of the moon I’d only just met. No wonder Breeders were so cheerful, I thought, breathless.
“I never belonged anywhere until I met you,” he said, resting his cheek against my hair.
“I thought I did.”
Remembering the enclave gave me a pang. I would always miss Stone and Thimble. I would worry about Twist and hope the brats were doing well, especially Girl26. But it wasn’t my place. I knew that now. There was a reason besides pity I had sacrificed myself for Stone.
“And now?”
I couldn’t lie to him. “I was born there. I expected to die there. If I’d never left, I think I would’ve been content. I believed what they told me about the surface. When we started climbing that day, I thought I’d die of fear.”
“Not you,” he said. “I’ve never seen you defeated. You were so determined to prove to everyone you deserved to be a Huntress, when nobody questioned it but you.”
That astonished me. “What do you mean?”
“You were among the best. If not for Crane’s physical strength, you would’ve been facing me in the finals. But I think you doubted it because from the beginning you didn’t have the same hardness as the rest of the Hunters. It’s not easy for you.”
“No,” I said softly, thinking of the blind brat we’d failed to save.
“And that’s why I—”
Before he could finish his thought, Tegan found us. “So this is where you two are hiding.”
The moment was broken, so I led the way back to the room with the sofas, where we’d left the can of cherries. I handed her the open tin. “Try it.”
“It looks—oh.” After one wary taste, like me, she dug in with hooked fingers.
I saw why Fade had enjoyed watching me eat. Her pleasure was contagious and it found its way to my face in a quiet smile. We let her finish the rest; I figured she deserved something sweet.
“I have a couple more in here. Why don’t you bolt us in for the night?” While Fade locked the door, I rummaged in my bag. “Let’s see what else is for dinner.”
The first can we popped open smelled fishy, but not rancid. Over the years, I’d grown fairly expert at detecting whether such food could be safely eaten. Judging by the color and texture, this actually was fish. The three of us divided it up. I knew we would need the energy, no telling how long before we’d eat so well again. I also had a tin that read, “Mixed Vegetables.” The multicolored stuff in there tasted none too good, and it was mushy, but it filled our bellies.
“Thanks for taking me with you,” Tegan said.
Fade sighed. “Don’t thank us yet. We’re heading north. By the time the journey’s done, you might wish you’d stayed with the Wolves. We don’t know what’s out there.”
“I’d like to find out.” Her look held a sweet kind of hunger, a longing that didn’t devour, only the need for truth.
I understood that look. Since I had let go of the possibility I could change everything for the brats, I had begun to throb with the desire to understand why things happened, why some people lived under the ground, like our enclave, the Freaks, and the Burrowers, and why some stayed Topside and turned into the greatest monsters of all.
“Do you still have that book?” Fade asked me.
Wordless, I laid hands on it in my bag and gave it to him. The light shining through the distant window was sufficient to see the pages. Without asking if we were interested, he opened it and began to read. I listened until my eyes grew heavy, and I slumped over onto his legs. I dreamed of boys who gleamed red-gold, and girls with shadows in their skin.