Away Read online

  They waited, everyone quiet as the light faded more and more.

  When it finally happened, it was less dramatic than Rachel had imagined it might be. Malgam began to nod, slowly at first, then rapidly. Nandy dropped down next to him, motioning Rachel over.

  “He saw Nipper.” Malgam was smiling. “It is Daniel, and he saw Nipper. I’m seeing . . . bars.” Malgam’s smile was replaced by a frown. “He’s looking at one place on them . . . wait, now he’s looking out through them. I see . . . ah, only one man.”

  “What man?” Rachel watched Malgam’s face, trying to solve the puzzle on it. Nandy shook her head and held a finger to her lips.

  “He’s got to concentrate. We’ll know soon enough. Just remember what he says even if it makes no sense. Sometimes it helps him later.”

  “Just one man, close by. The back of it is solid, rocks, maybe? But the front and the sides are the bars. Back to that place on the bars, he keeps going back to it . . . a lock! A lock of some sort.” Malgam paused. “The campfire is far off. He isn’t in the main camp. Somewhere off a ways. He . . .” Malgam grimaced. He was silent for a long time. When he spoke again, he looked at Nandy, not at Rachel.

  “It’s a dirt floor, where they keep him. He wrote in the dirt with a stick. His hands . . . he had a lot of trouble holding the stick. One of his hands is . . . broken.”

  Rachel tried not to think about what Malgam had just said. She took a deep breath, and another. She straightened her shoulders. She remembered in that moment how many times she had seen her mother do the same thing, how she would gather herself and face whatever was coming.

  “What did he write?”

  Malgam finally looked at her. His face was pale, drained.

  “He wrote Don’t try it.”

  Rachel stared back at Malgam. She felt herself slipping into a strange sort of numbness. Her father was somewhere out there, so close, so close. He was hurt. He would probably be killed. And then it would be as she thought it had been already for so many years. But she would have lost him all over again.

  “What else would he say?” Indigo’s voice brought Rachel back to the place she was, in a strange clearing by a huge rock. He smiled at Rachel. “I told you he was good man. He doesn’t want us to put ourselves at risk. But we will do what’s right.” He stood, slowly, as if his muscles were stiff. “You,” he said to Malgam, “need to rest. As soon as we have some food and make a plan, you need to sleep.”

  “Do you have a plan?” Malgam looked grim.

  Indigo smiled. “Not yet. But once we have some food in our bellies and we have all heard what you saw, we will. I’m going to fetch Pathik and Fisher, and we’ll eat.”

  They built no fire; they were too close to the Roberts’ camp to risk it. They made a dinner of dried meat and dried fruit. Malgam shared what he had seen.

  “You said he was in a cage?” Pathik looked thoughtful. “What kind of cage?”

  “Remember the book with the pictures of the old incarceration centers? Like that—the metal bars. But smaller, for some sort of animal, I think. And the back of it was solid, like they piled rocks against it.” Malgam ripped a shred of dried meat from his piece and chewed while he thought. “The campfire was far off, but not so far we’d have much time to dig under, assuming that the cage doesn’t have a bar floor under the dirt.”

  “First thing we’ll need to do is kill the guard.” Peter spoke quietly. Malgam scowled in Peter’s general direction. Pathik just shook his head. Rachel made a hmmph sound before she could stop herself.

  Indigo was the one who replied.

  “We don’t need to kill anyone, Peter, not unless they are trying to kill us.”

  “The Roberts would as soon kill you as look at you, from what you say about them.” Peter spat the words. He turned from Indigo to Rachel. “They tortured your father. As far as you know they plan to kill him, or worse, trade him to the government. Doesn’t that make you angry?”

  Rachel nodded, her eyes wide. She was angry. She could feel it, a hot, hard place in the back of her throat. It had been there, really, for as long as she could remember.

  “So we turn into them?” Indigo wasn’t addressing Peter any longer. He was asking Rachel. “We decide that we can kill them because what they do is wrong?”

  Rachel took her time, turning away from Peter to look at Indigo. She could not speak.

  “You know the answer in your heart, Rachel. Or maybe it’s in your head. I find it’s usually a combination of the two that leads me best.” Indigo smiled, that gentle, kind smile of his. Then he turned back to Peter.

  “Let’s hope nobody gets killed, Peter. Shall we?”

  “We can use Rachel’s cutter.” Pathik jumped up and got his pack. He dug through it, removing a blanket and a pair of socks, and then the laser saw. “It worked on the sheet metal back at camp. I bet it will work on the cage bars. We’ll need to knock the guard out.” Pathik gave Peter a pointed look. “Then we can cut through some bars and get Daniel and go.” Pathik bit his lip, thinking. “Best if we hit the camp as soon as it gets truly dark. That way they’ll all be inside and we’ll have less chance of being seen.” He looked around to see if the others agreed.

  “Here’s Nipper.” Nandy sounded relieved.

  The Woolly bounded out of the forest and into the center of the group. He stood for a moment, assessing the state of things, and then sat elegantly next to Nandy. He looked at her, clearly awaiting her gratitude, and Nandy gladly gave it.

  “So wonderful, Nipper. We thank you so much. And we are so sorry we ever said anything derogatory about your skills, aren’t we, Malgam?” Nandy stroked Nipper’s head. Malgam grumbled. Nipper growled.

  “Based on how long it took him to get back here, we should be able to get an hour’s rest, go get Daniel out, and head back to camp before the next dusk. While we’re gone, you’ll need to keep watch and pack up. We’ll want to be ready to move.” Malgam pointed at Rachel. “Maybe you can take first watch, and then Indigo, since you two will be staying here.”

  “I’m going,” said Rachel.

  “You’re too young for this, Rachel.”

  “Pathik’s going. We must be around the same age.” Rachel spoke calmly. She wasn’t going to let Malgam stop her from going.

  “You’ve no experience out here. You’ll be more trouble than good there.”

  “She did pretty well on the trek to camp from the Line.” Pathik wouldn’t look at Rachel. “I mean, just okay.” He snuck a sidelong glance at her, a ghost of a grin touching his mouth. “She did slow us down a day.”

  “I’m going—”

  “She should go.” Indigo decided it. “Daniel is her father. Whatever happens, she should have the chance to be a part of it. You, Malgam, are not going. You’re too weak yet to really be of help there. You and I will stay here. Peter, Pathik, Rachel, Nandy, and Fisher will go.”

  “Heemmmmmm.” Nipper made his sound, a cross between a hum and a growl.

  “Nipper’s in.” Nandy grinned. “Malgam, you should take first watch if you’re to be lazing about here.” She ducked to avoid the wadded-up cap Malgam threw at her.

  Soon all who were not on watch were asleep. Even Rachel, who felt so tense she couldn’t imagine sleeping when she lay down on her bedroll.

  CHAPTER 10

  PATHIK TOUCHED RACHEL’S cheek to wake her. She could barely see his face, floating ghostly pale, inches from hers. There was a heavy cloud cover, and the light from the moon was completely veiled. She rubbed at her eyes, and shook her head, trying to clear it. Pathik took her hand and led her through the murky dark to where the others stood together. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, Rachel could see that all were ready to go.

  “Does everyone understand?” Indigo looked around the group. Everyone else nodded. Rachel wondered what they were all supposed to understand.

  “But it won’t go that way.” Fisher spoke softly.

  “If it does go that way, you need to be ready to leave whoever gets tak
en.” Malgam sounded gruff. “That means any of you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rachel didn’t like the sound of it.

  Malgam turned toward her. “If something goes wrong, Rachel, the most important thing is to get as many of you as possible out of that camp alive. That might mean leaving someone behind.”

  “Oh.” Rachel thought about that.

  “We’ll be ready to move when you return. It won’t take us long to break camp.” Indigo nodded toward Malgam. “If there’s anything we need to know, Nandy, you can show Malgam.”

  “No.” Nandy looked at Malgam and even in the dark Rachel could see the love in her eyes. “You’re too worn out from last night. Don’t waste your strength waiting for me to show you anything. Either we come back fine or we don’t. And I say we’ll come back fine.”

  Malgam grinned at her. “You will, love. I know you will. But in case showing me something will help, you better show me. I’ll be tempted to look anyway.”

  “Did you learn nothing from Usage? That’s why there’re rules in place, so those such as you have to behave.” She singsonged her next words at him, shaking her finger in a mock scold. “No engagement without permission, unless a life’s at stake.”

  “Perhaps now is one of those times when lives are at stake.” Malgam reached out and grabbed her hand. He brought it to his lips and kissed it softly. “Come back to us.”

  Nandy smiled gently at him. “I will. We all will.”

  THEY WENT SINGLE file, with Pathik leading. Nandy and Rachel came next, then Peter, followed by Fisher. Nipper was somewhere off to their left, slipping silently through the trees. Rachel didn’t like having Peter behind her. She touched Nandy’s hand to let her know she was dropping back, and let Peter pass her.

  “All well?” Fisher’s voice was so low she barely heard it.

  “Just more comfortable with friendly eyes at my back.” Rachel adjusted the laser saw where it was tucked inside her jacket. Pathik had taken it from its case and handed it to her earlier.

  “You’ll be doing the cutting if it needs doing,” he’d said with a grin.

  They walked as quietly as they could. With no light it was slow going, and many times they all came to a complete halt while Pathik cut through branches with his knife or passed a warning down the line about a hole or a fallen tree. Peter held a bramble away for Rachel once, waiting for her to pass by it. Instead, she took hold of the branch and told him to go ahead. He started to speak, but Fisher shushed him. Finally he just shook his head and moved on.

  The stench from the Roberts’ camp intensified, filling the air, and once Rachel thought she might actually vomit. It was too dark to see well, and there were mounds of waste from the camp everywhere, it seemed. Rachel did her best to miss stepping in any of them. She wondered what kind of people would live like that. She had a bad feeling that she knew the answer.

  After what seemed like forever, Pathik held up his hand. Nandy echoed the gesture, as did the rest down the line, until they all halted. Pathik dropped back and gathered them all together.

  “It’s just ahead,” he whispered. “I came this far yesterday. There’s a rough wall, low, that they built around camp. I don’t know where the cage is—didn’t go any closer than this.”

  “First thing we need to do is scout for sentries.” Peter crouched down, gesturing for the others to join him. “The wall will be guarded.” He pointed east. “I can check that way. Fisher, you can go west. Pathik can stay here with Nandy and Rachel. Once we’ve checked as far as we can and knocked out any we find, we come back here.”

  Pathik nodded. Fisher and Peter vanished into the dark. Nandy, Rachel, and Pathik waited, crouched silent in the chill. Rachel strained to hear any noise, any indication that either Fisher or Peter had found a guard. All she could hear was Nandy’s soft breathing.

  Then, a shuffle of leaves on the forest floor, a twig snapping, and Fisher appeared, breathless.

  “One down,” he panted. “He never even saw me. I hit him on the head and stuffed his mouth with my scarf. Tied his wrists too.” Fisher looked around. “Where’s Peter?”

  As if in answer Peter returned, as breathless as Fisher had been.

  “Nothing.” He looked at Fisher. “Did you find one?”

  Fisher nodded. “Not too far.”

  “I went pretty far.” Peter shook his head. “No way to know if there was more than one on this side of the camp, but I’m betting not.”

  “We move in, then.” Pathik rose. “I just wish we knew where the cage was.”

  “We do.” Nandy pointed to the trees, where Nipper was emerging. “At least one of us does.”

  The Woolly slunk up to Nandy, rubbing against her knees briefly. Nandy leaned downed and scratched Nipper’s forehead.

  “Can you lead us, Nipper? Take us to Daniel?”

  Nipper reared up and batted at Nandy’s hair. He sat down and gazed up at her.

  “Hrrrmmmmmm.” Nipper sounded troubled.

  “I know.” Nandy stroked Nipper some more. “But we have to get him out.”

  The Woolly growled low in his throat. He snuffled at Nandy, nudging her hand. Finally he sighed, as if he knew he wouldn’t be able to change her mind. Then he leaped away, looking back once before moving slowly west toward the low wall.

  The group followed.

  The low wall was formed from what looked like mud bricks. They cleared it easily, after peeking over it to see what they could of the camp. There was little light, just the smoky embers from a large central fire pit. There were huts here, but they were nothing like the huts in Indigo’s camp. These were tiny, sloppily built, and ill-kempt. Some looked deserted. There was no sign of a cage.

  “Nipper?” Nandy whispered the Woolly’s name.

  Nipper strode back to her and rubbed her knees again. Then he walked away, toward the fire pit.

  “Malgam said he saw the fire at a distance.” Nandy stopped to think. “The cage must be on the other side of the fire pit, the other side of camp.”

  “Nipper may be able to walk right through their camp, but we stay low, next to the wall. We’ll skirt the camp as best we can to get to the other side.” Pathik began to move along the wall in the direction Nipper had gone.

  They edged along, trying to stay as low and stealthy as possible. The wall began to curve away from them, and as they rounded the bend, the cage rose before them. There was no sign of any guard.

  The cage was smaller than anything designed to hold a human, and divided into three cells. It looked like a picture Rachel had seen in a book—one of the old-fashioned, real books her mother liked so much—of a cage in a zoo. Like the zoo cage had been somehow set down in the middle of the clearing. Rachel wondered if there had been a zoo here once, long ago, long before the bombs and the Line and Away.

  The back wall of the cage was built up on the outside with rocks, just as Malgam had seen. Each cell was completely exposed to the weather; there was no roof besides the bars, and no shelter within the cells. As they drew near, a break in the clouds allowed the moon to shine through, and Rachel could make out a crumpled shape on a dirt floor in the first cell. It looked like a pile of old rags. She approached with a sense of dread, which quickly became horror.

  A skull gleamed in the pale moonlight. Its cheek rested on the perfectly preserved bones of a hand, in an oddly comfortable way, as though the former owner had curled up for a nap there. There was long, brown hair still attached to the skull. Rachel gasped when she saw it. For a moment she wondered if it belonged to her father. But the bones had been picked clean by some sort of scavenger long ago, and Malgam had seen through her father’s eyes only yesterday.

  “Nipper, old boy.” A whisper, scarcely louder than a breeze.

  Rachel saw Nipper at the third cell, poking his nose through the bars. A filthy, bloody hand reached out, trembling, and ruffled the fur on the Woolly’s head.

  Pathik motioned to Fisher and Peter to keep watch and scrambled to the cell. Rachel stay
ed where she was, suddenly frozen.

  “Daniel?” Pathik barely breathed the words.

  “Pathik.” The voice sounded so weary.

  “How do we open it?” Pathik ran his hand over the bars until he located a lock.

  There was no reply for the longest moment. When it finally came, it was bereft of hope.

  “You don’t. I’ve tried every way.” Daniel laughed softly, the sound colored with anguish. “They have a key somewhere for that lock, but who knows where. I told Malgam not to come.”

  Rachel saw his hand—her father’s hand—take hold of Pathik’s wrist.

  “You need to go, Pathik. You and whoever else came, get out of here as fast as you can. They have patrols out at night. If they find you . . . Just go.”

  His voice sounded so broken, nothing like the voice Rachel had so often imagined in her daydreams.

  “We’re not leaving you, Daniel.” Nandy crept forward so Daniel could see her. “How bad are you hurt?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I can’t get out of this cage, Nandy. The bars are steel—” Daniel fell silent and stared at the lowest corner of his cell, where a line of light traced its way across the bars. The light bloomed in the night.

  “That’s a laser saw!” Daniel forgot to whisper.

  “Shhh.” Pathik looked behind them, then turned back to Daniel. “Yes. We . . . we thought we might need it.”

  Daniel lowered his voice. “Where did you get a laser saw? Who’s the girl?” Daniel lowered his voice even more, to a confidential whisper meant for Pathik alone. “Is she from the Roberts? They’re . . . Pathik, they’re doing some things with the government, things we hadn’t even suspected.”

  Rachel looked up at that, and stared at her father. He was crouched in the cage, unable to stand. He looked back at her, the way a person looks at someone they don’t know, and don’t trust.

  He didn’t know her.

  But then, why should he. She wouldn’t have known him, not the way he looked now. She went back to work on the bars.