Son of Sun, page 11
“Sure,” Rebecca said. “I don’t think any of it will help you in the mountain, and it certainly won’t help the people dying on the highway.”
“Why not?” Nola asked.
“Because what we’ve got can’t be built with steel and glass, or by blasting through stone.” Rebecca walked to the side of the space. “You can’t remake it. You can’t demand it.”
“I don’t understand,” Jeremy said.
“You wouldn’t. The glass shattered that part of your soul before you learned to talk.” Rebecca slipped between two trees. “Keep up if you don’t want the twins to get you.”
Nola ran a few steps to slide between the trees before Rebecca could completely disappear.
“Nola, wait,” Jeremy said.
Nola reached back, taking Jeremy’s hand, but not letting her gaze slip from the heels of Rebecca’s leather shoes.
“If they wanted to kill us, they would have tried it already,” Nola said.
“Not necessarily true,” Rebecca said, “but I’m sure your man was about to warn you of the same thing.”
“I was,” Jeremy said.
“Ha.” Rebecca snaked sideways, twisting around a low bush with nobbles on the branches where berries would grow in spring.
“I’ve been around plenty of people who wanted me dead,” Nola said. “None of them ever turned their back to me when I was armed.”
“That makes me foolish, not peaceful.” Rebecca stopped at the edge of the trees.
The space in front of them cleared, leaving a patch of bright blue sky above. Weeds fought for life on the forest floor, and moss clung to the trunks of the trees.
“Do you hear that?” Rebecca said.
Nola took a slow breath and listened. The bright scent of the trees and the fresh chill morning air filled her lungs. Below the soft rustle of the wind through the leaves, a faint trickle of running water carried up from the ground.
“What is that?” Nola asked.
“Humans need air, water, food, and shelter to survive,” Rebecca said. “The trees helped us find shelter and purged the worst of the city’s filth from our air. Water took a lot longer to sort out.”
Rebecca pointed to a pile of rocks across the way.
Scanning the trees for the twins or whoever else might be watching, Nola crossed to the rocks, Jeremy keeping step beside her. As they neared the rocks, the sounds of the water became clearer. Not racing like an underground river, but running calmly, like a steady stream.
The rocks weren’t a pile as they had seemed from a distance, but a boundary surrounding an opening that led underground.
“Go on down,” Rebecca said. “Took long enough to build it, might as well show it off.”
Jeremy stepped in front of Nola, pulling out his flashlight and shining the beam into the darkness.
“Used to be a couple streams running through the woods,” Rebecca said. “They’d run clean, then the bad rain would drift northwest from the city and ruin all the water.”
A dirt path sloped down into the darkness. Nola stayed close behind Jeremy, testing each step as she went.
“Found a spring down here that runs pretty long.” Rebecca followed them into the darkness. “Didn’t have much water at the time. We dug out part of a stream to make it cut down to meet up with the spring. Dam that stream up and divert the water out of the woods when the rains get bad. Open it up and get as much water running down here as we can when the raindrops are clean.”
A spring ran through the rocks on the tunnel floor, the water bubbling and leaping as it cascaded downstream.
“Wow.” Nola knelt by the edge, letting her fingers sink into the chill water.
“We store water for the dry seasons,” Rebecca said. “That’s the hardest part. Boil it all before we drink it just in case.”
“It’s beautiful.” Nola tipped her hand, watching the water dripping from her palm sparkle in the beam of Jeremy’s flashlight.
“You spent too much time behind the glass.” Rebecca laughed. “If you think it’s pretty, good on you. All I care about is not having lost any of my people to bad water in ten seasons.”
“Very impressive,” Julian said. “I hadn’t imagined such a thing to be possible without filters and electricity.”
“That rot is what got all of us into this mess,” Rebecca said. “I was born in these woods, and I can promise you, we’ve never had one hint of electricity.”
“Can we see where you live?” Nola trailed her fingers through the water. “Are all your homes made of trees like the place with the candles? How do you farm? Do you store seeds for the cold months?”
“Leave it to Lenora Kent’s daughter to worry about the damned seeds,” a terribly familiar voice growled from the opening above.
Chapter Fourteen
Nola felt the impact of hitting the dirt before she registered Jeremy tossing her out of view of the opening to the clearing above. Julian’s sword cleared its sheath as she sprang to her feet to see Jeremy pointing his gun at the figure silhouetted by the sunlight.
“Back away,” Jeremy said. “You may have the high ground, but do you really think you’ll get out of this fight alive?”
“I’ve made it this far, Ridgeway. If that doesn’t prove there’s more to survival than contaminating your blood with chemicals, I don’t know what does.” Captain Stokes limped a step down the dirt path toward the spring.
Nola took a step forward, reaching for her weapon.
“You’ve even trained the botanist to shoot.” Stokes eyed Nola. “I’m surprised you let her move beyond a hot house flower.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Nola asked.
“Surviving,” Stokes said.
“Pardon me,” Julian said, his sword raised, “but I seem to be at a disadvantage. I have no idea who you are.”
Stokes’ brow furrowed, joining his eyebrows into one dark line. “Who the hell are you, and how did you get a sun suit?”
“Play nice,” Rebecca said. “I don’t like this sort of noise.”
“He’s going to kill you, Rebecca,” Jeremy said. “You’ve got to know that. Stokes will lead the domes here, and they will destroy everything you have.”
“A Domer then?” Julian said.
“Arthur Stokes, former Captain of the Dome Guard.” Stokes took another step forward, his heavy dome boots sinking into the dirt. The boots were the only bit of dome clothing he still wore. He’d traded his black uniform for the brown clothing of the Northerners.
“Captain of the Dome Guard hiding in the woods?” Julian said.
“Domes be damned,” Stokes said. “And I really don’t need some hopped up, self-righteous fool’s opinion on it.”
“Such judgment from someone who’s never seen my face,” Julian said.
“What are you doing here?” Nola said. “These people haven’t hurt the domes. You don’t have any right to—”
“I didn’t come here to hurt the Woodlands people,” Stokes said. “Hell, I didn’t know they existed when I left the domes.”
“Left the domes?” Nola took a step forward.
“Don’t trust him,” Jeremy said.
“Even out here the Ridgeways assume superiority.” Stokes walked down to the stream, stopping as close to Nola as Jeremy would allow. “I’d love to weave you some story of peace and tolerance, but the truth of the matter is the domes have gone to shit, and there are some kinds of hell no loyalty can bargain for.”
“What happened?” Nola asked.
“I don’t want to talk about this down here,” Rebecca said. “Give the water a hint of how ruined the world is and it might not run so pure.”
Stokes glared at Rebecca for a moment, then limped back up toward the clearing. One of the twins reached down, helping him up the last, steepest part of the incline.
“You can’t trust him,” Jeremy said.
“And I should trust a nightwalker and some runaways from the glass?” Rebecca said. “He’s given me a better reason to have faith than the three of you have offered.”
What happened in the domes?
Nola wanted to shout the question, but the sound of the stream stopped her.
“We need to get moving.” Another vaguely familiar voice came from above. “We’ve got five miles to cover, and we’ve got to be at the rendezvous point by noon.”
Jeremy stepped out into the clearing first, aiming his weapon, not at Stokes, but at another man. One with short hair and an angry sunburn on his forehead.
“You’re from the domes, too,” Jeremy said.
“Seems to be a theme,” the man said.
Nola narrowed her eyes at the man, trying to place his face away from the golden-green light of the glade. “You’re a Dome Guard.”
“Was,” the man said. “Stokes, we’ve got to get moving.”
Stokes. Not Captain Stokes.
“Let’s go.” Stokes headed east.
“Where are you going?” Jeremy said. “To lead Salinger here to murder these people?”
“Shove your pious drivel up your ass.” Stokes rounded on Jeremy, not seeming to care that Jeremy’s weapon was aimed at his heart. “You ran away from the domes like a love sick kid, chasing a girl who helped a bunch of strangers slip through the glass, and in that tiny Graylock-altered mind of yours, you can’t even imagine why anyone else would have to leave that tyrannical piece of shit prison after Salinger and his men arrived?”
“What are you doing here?” Jeremy said.
“I don’t answer to children.” Stokes glared at the bloody tear in Nola’s shirt and gave a growl of disgust before stalking off through the trees. He didn’t slip silently between the branches like the Northerners, or even try to mimic the gentle way Rebecca walked as Nola had. He stomped through the forest as though every tree were under his command and should leap out of his path or risk their captain’s wrath.
“If you want to witness this week’s count, you should follow him,” Rebecca said.
“What are you talking about?” Nola asked even as she followed Stokes and the other guard.
“You wanted to know what we’re doing about the domes creeping through our land,” Rebecca said. “We might not have the strength of the nightwalkers or the technology of the domes, but we’re far from helpless.”
“What are you doing?” Nola asked.
“Making a dent,” Rebecca said.
Stokes laughed.
“You can’t trust him,” Jeremy said.
“Coming from a glass child who lives with the nightwalkers, that means so much,” Rebecca said. “Stokes has proven his worth. Same can’t be said of you.”
Nola bit back her questions as Stokes led them through a glade where huts had been built around the trunks of the trees. A fire pit took up the center of the area. An older woman sat near the cold coals, mending a shirt in the shade of the leaves.
Sounds of life carried from a few of the dwellings. Low voices speaking. The scraping of metal against wood, as though someone carved new arrow shafts hidden behind the thin hut walls.
“Is this where all your people live?” Julian asked.
No more than thirty could fit in these homes.
“All the people in this glen live here,” Rebecca said.
“Fair enough,” Julian said.
Nola wanted to stop and peek inside one of the huts to see how the Northerners kept warm at night, how they made their beds, and what food they kept on hand, but Stokes stomped past the homes and back into the tangled woods.
“Everyone else dispersed as planned?” Stokes said.
“The unit is carrying out your orders, sir,” the guard said.
“Unit?” Jeremy said. “You have a whole unit out here?”
“And the rest?” Stokes ignored Jeremy.
“I personally checked last night. Everything is in place,” the guard said.
Stokes gave a sharp nod. “You children might as well put your weapons away. We’ve got a long walk ahead of us, but since you’re all hopped up on Graylock, I doubt you’ll care.”
Nola kept her weapon in her hand. Each leaf hid a person waiting to attack. Every patch of stone led to an underground tunnel filled with unknown enemies.
“What are you doing out here, Stokes?” Jeremy said when they reached a patch of low-lying bushes that left them a clear view of the sky.
The morning sun beat down on Nola’s face. The rays would damage her skin cells, but Graylock would heal her before the sun could move beyond causing simple discomfort.
“Had to get out,” Stokes said. “It was either that or lose my soul.”
“Soul,” Rebecca said.
Nola glanced over her shoulder to see Rebecca walking right behind Julian, carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows over her shoulder, though how she’d gotten the weapons, Nola didn’t know.
“Funny how glass people ponder things they don’t understand.” Rebecca looked up to the sky.
“Why were the domes going to make you lose your soul?” Nola asked.
“This coming from the girl the domes sent out onto a bridge they wanted to blow up,” Stokes said.
The other guard laughed.
“They used me to kill those people,” Nola said, “not you.”
“Things didn’t get better when you got out,” Stokes said.
They reached a creek that cut through the forest. The trunk of a tree lay across the water.
Stokes grimaced as he climbed onto the makeshift bridge. “When the capture or kill order came down on Magnolia, I thought we’d reached a new low.”
Jeremy shuddered.
Nola laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m okay.”
Stokes stopped and turned to watch as Jeremy took her hand, kissing her palm.
“Your father should have known you’d chase her,” Stokes said. “Maybe Graylock scrambled his brain.”
“That’s not how it works,” Jeremy said.
“Then I’m sorry you have such a shit for a father.” Stokes limped the rest of the way across the creek. “A father worth his salt would have known he was sacrificing his son by giving the kill order on his own child’s girlfriend, but Captain Ridgeway sent down the order anyway.”
“He was too afraid of the Incorporation to do anything else,” the guard said.
“What did the Incorporation have to do with the Outer Guard being ordered to kill me?” Nola jumped up onto the tree and ran across the creek in a few quick steps. She didn’t meet Stokes’ gaze as she leapt down on the other side.
“When your disappearance was reported, the Incorporation wanted the situation handled,” Stokes said. “By any means necessary.”
Jeremy jumped down next to Nola. He pressed his arm against hers, as though needing reassurance she was real.
“Sounds like the Incorporation,” Julian said.
“You’ve dealt with them?” Stokes said.
“Once upon a time, I worked in asset management in a set of domes far, far away from here,” Julian said.
“Good to know there are people who have made it long term on the outside,” the guard said.
“Well,” Julian said, “Vamp did greatly increase my lifespan.”
The guard flinched.
“Why would the Incorporation care so much about Nola?” Jeremy said.
“One of their own slipped out of their control,” Stokes said. “Those sorts of things can’t be allowed. They wanted it taken care of or else, so Ridgeway sent out the order. Didn’t go so well for him.”
“What do you mean?” Jeremy said.
“Instead of taking care of the escapee, he lost his own damned kid.” Stokes pointed into the trees, gesturing for them all to follow like they were Dome Guard under his command.
“Is my dad okay?” Jeremy asked.
The growth here wasn’t as healthy as it had been by the settlement. Brown spots took the place of orange and yellow on the leaves, and rot had eaten away patches of the bark on the trees.
“Last I saw him, he was as fine as an ass-licking buffoon can be,” Stokes said.
Rebecca laughed from the back of their group.
“Once the Incorporation heard Ridgeway had lost his own son, they decided the situation had gone on long enough,” Stokes said. “They decided to send in Salinger.”
“Because of us?” Nola stopped, swaying on the spot. “Salinger came because we left?”
Jeremy wrapped his arms around Nola, pressing his cheek to her hair. “Breathe, Nola.”
“Did Salinger order the burning of the city?” Nola said. “Did all those people—”
“Don’t,” Jeremy said. “You can’t think like that.”
“Salinger was called in because you ran,” Stokes said, “but the fire had already been started. You were just the first sparks to leap high enough to be noticed.”
Tears stung Nola’s eyes. “But the Incorporation sent Salinger because of us.”
“The second the bridge had to be blown, it was done,” Stokes said. “The Incorporation was looking for a gap. The orders were coming, all of them.”
“All?” Julian said.
Stokes opened his mouth, snapped it shut, and stomped off into the trees.
The guard looked at them for a moment before following his commander.
“What orders?” Nola chased after Stokes. Jeremy’s hand slipped into hers as she ducked between trees. “Stokes, what did the Incorporation do besides burn the city?”
Stokes punched a branch that hung in his path, breaking it and sending the stick crashing away.
Rebecca growled.
The scent of Stokes’ blood reached Nola’s nose.
“When Salinger came, he brought a hundred Incorporation Guard from different domes with him,” the guard said. “After two days, he sent a report back to Incorporation Headquarters, all about how our domes had no leadership. How we had failed to maintain control of the outsiders. How our population had been too damaged by casualties from the fighting.”
“But that’s why they let us use Graylock,” Jeremy said. “We’d already told them the Outer Guard were being slaughtered in the city.”
“They used that, too.” Stokes crashed through the trees, not bothering to shield himself from the sticks that tore at his skin.
