Authors: Gregg Rosenblum
“Go!” shouted Nick, and they began to run. The bot kept pace with them as they ran uphill, continuing to flash red and repeating “HALT! HALT!” over and over. They made it to the top of the hill, but Lexi and Amanda were nowhere to be found, and there were only two scoots.
“Kevin, with me!” said Nick, hopping onto one of the scoots. Kevin jumped on behind Nick, and Cass took the other scoot by herself. The bot hovered in front of them, still flashing red, still booming “HALT!” They took off, and the bot followed, but as they picked up speed they began to leave it behind. They continued straight, the sphere bot dropping back into the distance. Nick began to breathe evenly. If they just kept moving, they’d make it.
But then in front of them, in the distance but quickly growing larger, he saw two Peteys.
Cass hit her brakes, but Nick yelled, “No! Follow me!” He turned left. He and Kevin wobbled and almost fell off, but they managed to steady themselves. Cass gunned her scoot and followed. Nick took a hard right at the next intersection, not even slowing for the red light, veering wildly at the last moment to avoid hitting a woman riding slowly on her scoot. They skidded, then hit the sidewalk curb and went flying over the handlebars.
Nick hit the pavement with a thud. He felt his palms and knees scrape the sidewalk, and his wrist bent awkwardly underneath him. He pushed himself to his hands and knees, but a sharp, searing pain shot through his wrist and along his arm, and he had to sit back down on the pavement.
Cass rushed over to him. “I’m okay,” he said, trying to get up again. His wrist hurt like hell, and he could feel blood trickling down his cheek. “May have broken my wrist, but I’m okay.”
They turned back to the scoots. The front wheel of the one Nick and Kevin had been riding was bent sideways. The woman they had almost hit was standing next to her scoot, typing on her comm.
“Go,” said Nick. “Cass, take Kevin on your scoot. Get out of here.”
“Not gonna happen,” said Kevin, reading Nick’s thoughts. “Let’s move, pretty boy.”
The three began to run again, leaving the scoots in the street. Nick held his left wrist against his chest as he ran. It throbbed with pain. They went three blocks, taking a left, then a right, then another left, hoping to get far enough away from the scoot accident. They needed somewhere to hide, Nick decided, and on impulse he pushed Cass and Kevin into a doorway.
They found themselves in what appeared to be a small, three-aisle grocery store. They retreated to the back of the store, just twenty feet from the large floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out on the street. They crouched down behind a stack of lettuce.
“Looking for vegetables?” Behind them stood an elderly man with silver hair. He wore a white butcher smock. In his hand was a comm, flashing white. “Three kids on the run, the alert says,” said the man. “Dangerous freemen on the loose.”
“Sir, please,” said Cass.
The old man walked to the front of the store, typing on his comm.
“What do we do?” asked Kevin.
Nick began to stand—maybe to grab the comm out of the man’s hand, maybe just to plead with him, he wasn’t sure—then quickly crouched back down as a Petey rolled slowly into view. The old man stepped outside. The Petey dwarfed him.
“Oh, no,” said Cass. “No.”
Nick prepared himself to run. If he could get the Petey’s attention and lead it away, then he might be able to give Cass and Kevin a chance to escape …
The old man began gesturing down the street, pointing insistently and saying something to the Petey. After a few moments the Petey rolled past, and the old man came back into the store. He walked up to the kids.
“Sir, did you …?” began Nick, realizing what the man had done. “Thank you.”
“Back storage room,
now
,” said the man. “Wait there for an hour, then leave through the back alley.” He smiled grimly and held out a hand to help Cass to her feet. “Some of us remember. We were all freemen once.”
NICK FOUGHT DOWN THE WHISPER OF PANIC THAT HE ALWAYS FELT IN tight spaces as he, Cass, and Kevin wedged themselves into a small space behind a stack of empty wooden crates. They sat on the floor, knees to their chests, feet against the crates, their backs against the wall. The storeroom smelled like dust and cabbage, and the only light came from a single weak lightstrip, barely enough to see one another’s faces. Nobody spoke as they waited for the door to crash open and a Petey to come rumbling in.
Nick shifted to try to get more comfortable, and his injured wrist bumped against a crate, triggering a sharp flash of pain. He let out a groan that he quickly stifled, and he shut his eyes. His wrist was hurting more and more now that the initial adrenaline rush of the chase was wearing off.
“Let me see your wrist,” Cass whispered, holding out her hand.
“Nothing to see,” Nick said harshly, holding his arm tight against his chest. “It hurts. I’ll live.” She dropped her hand. Nick immediately felt guilty. “I’m sorry, Cass,” he said. “We’ll look at it when we get out of this mess.” He paused. “And I’m sorry for this. This is my fault. I blew it back at the center.”
“That’s fine by me,” said Kevin. “The more you guys screw up, the less guilty I feel about that beacon I picked up. I’m hoping Cass does something stupid, too.”
“Shut up, Kevin,” said Nick, with a small smile.
They sat in the silence and dimness for a while longer; they had no way of knowing how long, exactly. Finally Kevin asked, “Where now? Back to Lexi’s?”
“We still need to help Mom and Dad, and we can’t do that from the woods,” said Nick.
“Not that it’s going to be easy to do much in the City with every bot looking for your face,” said Cass. “But you wouldn’t do very well out in the woods with that wrist, and even if we could get out of the City now, I don’t know if it would be so easy for us to get back in again.”
“Lexi’s, then,” said Nick. “Wherever the hell that is.”
“Twenty-three-fifteen Third Street,” said Kevin. “Not too far.” Nick and Cass stared at him. He shrugged. “I was paying attention. The City’s laid out in a grid. Except for the bots trying to kill us, and all the people looking for three kids on the run, it would be easy to get back.”
“Yeah,” Nick muttered. “Except for that.”
They heard footsteps approaching the door, and Nick stood up, placing himself between his brother and sister and the door. A thin shaft of light appeared as the door opened a few inches, then stopped.
“It’s been an hour,” said the old grocer quietly. “Go out the back door. I don’t want to know where you’re going, I don’t want to hear ‘thank you,’ just go.” The door began to shut.
“Wait!” said Cass. “Sir, please.” The grocer said nothing, but the door opened back up a few inches. “It’s the middle of the day. We won’t last five minutes. At least let us stay here until it gets dark.”
“Can’t do that,” said the grocer. “The bots aren’t stupid. They’ll be back. They’ll probably search door to door long before dark, and I won’t be able to keep them out.”
“We should go,” said Nick. “He’s helped all he can. Staying here will just get him taken.” Nick turned toward the grocer. “Sir, thank you. Don’t worry, we’re leaving.” He turned back to his brother and sister. “We’ll split up, and go out five minutes apart. They’re looking for three kids, not one.”
“But they know your face, Nick,” said Cass. “The bots and every person in the City.”
“You’ll never make it, Nick,” said Kevin. “And Cass, neither will you. I’m the only one who knows how to get back.”
“We’ve got no choice,” said Nick. “Kevin, you go first, and then Cass. I’ll go last so if I’m caught, you two will have a head start.” He unbolted the back door, opened it a crack, and peered outside. “It’s clear. Kevin, you ready?”
“Wait, wait!” said the grocer. He opened the door and stepped in. “You won’t make it two blocks.” He stood with his hands on his hips, staring at them and scowling. Nobody spoke. Finally the old man sighed, shook his head, and said, “No point in my hiding you in the first place if you’re just going to get caught as soon as you leave. Where are you going?”
“Third Street,” said Nick quickly, jumping in to make sure Kevin didn’t give the exact address. “Somewhere around 2200, I think.”
Kevin opened his mouth, but Cass elbowed him in the ribs and he stayed quiet.
“Can you help?” asked Cass.
“You might fit in the trailer, but I’ve got no excuse for being out on the streets,” the grocer said to himself. He began pacing slowly. “Especially since they’ve probably CP’d the whole area looking for you. I suppose I could say the freezer unit is broken and I’m getting it fixed.... It’ll have to be turned off anyway, with you three inside …” He stopped pacing and looked up at the kids. “Okay, here’s the plan. Five minutes, I’ll be in the back alley with my trailer. Five minutes and ten seconds, you need to be in that trailer, with the hatch shut, or I’m leaving without you. Got it?”
They nodded. “Thank you,” said Cass. “We’re so grateful that …”
“Enough with the
thank you
s,” the grocer said, cutting her off. “Five minutes.” He left, shutting the door behind him.
“Can we trust him?” asked Kevin.
“Yes,” said Cass. “Definitely.”
Nick shrugged. He wasn’t so sure. “It doesn’t really matter, does it?” He went to the back door, opened it an inch, and began to keep watch. Kevin fished an apple out of a crate, offered it to Cass, who shook her head
no
, and then began eating it himself.
After a few minutes, Nick let out a small groan when he saw what the grocer was backing in to the alley. The trailer was a flimsy-looking metal box on wheels, attached by a rod to the back of a scoot. It was wide and long but only about four feet high—they’d have to crawl in and either crouch or lie down. It would be cramped and pitch black. Nick couldn’t help thinking that it was shaped like a really large coffin. “Get ready,” he said to Cass and Kevin. “He’s here.”
The old man opened the back doors of the trailer, and the lid slid upward on a hydraulic hinge. He took a quick look out at the street, then nodded and gave a small, quick wave.
Kevin jumped in first, followed by Cass and Nick. They sat down in a row, leaning against opposite walls. Cass and Kevin were able to rest their legs flat; Nick had to bend his knees. “Not one sound,” the grocer said. “No sliding around, no speaking. Don’t even breathe.” He shut the back doors, and the lid slid down, clicking into place a foot over their heads and leaving them in complete darkness. Nick felt his heart race, and he forced himself to take deep, slow breaths. Cass reached out, grabbed both her brothers’ ankles, and squeezed tightly.
The trailer began to slowly move. Nick could feel it turning onto the street, and then they were picking up speed. It was hot and stuffy. He couldn’t see an inch in front of his face, and he couldn’t hear anything from outside.
After just a few seconds—they couldn’t have traveled more than a block or two—he felt the trailer slow down, then stop, jostling them gently forward. A red light, Nick thought. It had to be a red light. They waited, and waited, and the trailer didn’t move. The red light had to have turned green by now, he thought, but still they waited, not moving. Were they at a checkpoint? Was the grocer talking to a bot right now? Nick carefully inched his back a bit higher against the wall, trying to be silent and not move his bad wrist. He wanted to get into a better position to move quickly if the doors opened. He could feel Cass and Kevin doing the same.
Finally, the trailer began to move again. Kevin heaved a loud sigh of relief, and Cass punched him in the leg. He cut his sigh short.
They drove on, stopping a few more times but only briefly each time. After about ten minutes, the trailer stopped again, and then Nick could feel it turn slowly to the right, climb carefully over a large bump, and settle to a stop. The doors swung open, and the lid began to lift. The sudden sunlight was blinding.
“Out, quickly, out,” said the grocer, gesturing urgently. They clambered out into an alleyway, blinking in the light and shading their eyes, and crouching down among the bricks. “That’s Third Street,” the man said, pointing behind them. Twenty-one-hundred block.” He shut the doors of the trailer, and the lid slid back down. “Wait here until I back out. And don’t say ‘thank you.’”
He climbed back onto his scoot and backed onto the street. Cass and Kevin waved, and Nick nodded, but the grocer just drove away.
“Cass, you first,” said Nick. “Walk fast, but don’t run. Go to Lexi’s back door, in the alley where she showed us how to ride the scoots.”
“But …” Cass began.
“No arguments,” Nick said. “Just go. We’ll see you at Lexi’s.” He gave Cass a little push, and she began walking quickly, glancing back only once and giving a tiny wave.
“Kevin …”
“Yeah, I know, I’m next, because if you get caught we’ll have a head start,” said Kevin. “You’re starting to get too comfortable with giving all these orders.”
“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Nick said. They waited a few more moments, and then he said, “Okay, go.”
NICK, NOW ALONE, WAITED THIRTY SECONDS. HE TOOK A DEEP BREATH and let it out slowly, then stepped out onto the sidewalk. The street was empty—no other pedestrians, no scoots, most importantly, no bots. He could see Kevin a block ahead, jogging, and Cass was out of sight, hopefully already at Lexi’s back door. “You’re supposed to be walking fast, not running, Kevin,” he muttered to himself, as he followed after him. He tried to swing his hurt wrist naturally, to look less conspicuous, but it hurt too much. He had to hold it tucked up to his chest.
The three-block walk was excruciating. Nick’s heart pounded, his wrist throbbed, and the back of his neck prickled in anticipation. He had to fight against the almost overwhelming urge to spin around and check if a bot was behind him. He ducked into the alley that cut behind Lexi’s house, letting himself start to relax, and then panicked.
Every house looked the same from the back. Was Lexi’s house 2315 or 2325? Was it 2355? His eyes flashed from door to door. If he chose the wrong one, the resident would comm him in immediately. Or maybe the Peteys were already there, waiting for him.