The Change: Episode one, page 14
Chapter Thirteen
Northern Kentucky
D
We traveled straight through to the Petrified Forests with only a single break. Fifteen hours all at once. I hadn’t ridden a bike before, and when I pried my aching body from it, I slid to my knees at the cramps. It was her Father who clued me in to finding relief.
“Walk around. It helps.”
Candice and Angelica were already securing what I assumed to be our campsite, and I did as Bruce suggested, trying not to groan.
A few of the trees that surrounded us were small and green enough to have been planted after the War, and I wondered who would have thought to do it in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. The petrified trees in comparison were enormous, staggering in their size, and so bland from death that they seemed more like walls left by man than a former part of nature.
“Why are there no animals?”
I saw Candice roll her eyes. Her Mother snorted.
Bruce answered me. “They won’t live where people do. They’ve gotten… smarter. They hide in the forests and jungles. Hunting fresh meat is a lot harder now than it was back in the days when I was a kid.”
That got a grin from me. Bruce and Mary, her parents, were very nice. “Around back then, were ya?”
Bruce snorted happily at the joking, telling me I’d pegged him right. He was lonely, too. “Ancient, that’s me.”
I turned back toward Candice, hiding a groan at the soreness. The bikes rode so easy I hadn’t expected this, but I had enjoyed the beauty of the areas we drove through. Nature was uncontrolled out here… Like the Pruetts, I realized. The Network had them compliant, but under control? Not with this family, and I wasn’t the only one to know it. The few homes we’d rolled by held people, but none of them had come out or even waved from a window at our passing. For some reason, I had thought the Pruetts were upstanding members of lower-Network society, but what I had seen so far suggested they were a dangerous necessity that was shunned unless needed… and feared then.
I looked around at the towering trees, the thick green underbrush that lined this secluded area. I had never camped outdoors before. Should I offer to help even though I didn’t know what to do? I chose to follow the lead of the other male here.
When her Father began unpacking his bike, I headed for ours. He flashed me an approving nod and the next half hour was gone before I knew it, as he showed me how to set up a temporary camp. It was sweaty work, but satisfying to see the results and know I had done it.
I looked up with a smile of welcome when Candice and Angelica returned from their sweep of the area, feeling good.
C
When he smiled at me like that, my heart opened up and became a gnashing pain that demanded I kill someone. He had been mine, and then he was taken, and no one had paid for that yet!
I watched his happiness fade at my anger, but I couldn’t explain that every smile, every tender moment we shared, was a reminder of all the years we had lost and would never have back. Even more, it was a slap in the face to have him so changed. He wasn’t the only one adjusting.
“The Trackers picked up his trail in Jericho.”
My Father immediately started to repack the camp. We always hunted without pause until we caught our man, but this time, my mate was along. “They’ll meet us here.”
My Mother and Angelica stared at me, but my Father’s pleased look was the one I cared for. Daniel and I would get close, no doubt, but my Father was the other male here, and he would be aware of Daniel’s needs (in some areas) before I was. “We’ll have a hot meal, too.”
I moved to where Daniel stood, seeing he was doing exactly what he’d been trained for – following a lead. Suddenly angry again, I grabbed his hand and tugged him away from their prying eyes.
I could feel his tension, his worry, but I stopped us out of earshot (of a conversation) and let go of his warm hand. I leaned against a brittle tree trunk, smelling the centuries of decay and wild growth. To me, it was heaven compared to the stench of New Network City, and I wondered suddenly if he missed it there at all. Had he held friendships to mourn? Sighing, I tried to let the serenity of the area soak into my concerns.
With a population of less than a thousand, Kentucky was untamed country, and I loved it here. Some day, this is where I would build a home and raise my own family. That thought had me turning to Daniel. If we were going to have a future, we had to get a few things straight.
I slid to the ground and waited for him to do the same. He didn’t speak, not sure what he’d done wrong, and I tried to comfort him before we really got into details. “We need to talk before you go any further with me.”
I winced, as he did, hearing how ominous it sounded. I grunted. “It’s just about our future, relax.”
Again, not the words I’d wanted, and I closed my eyes, realizing I was nervous. Why?
Because I needed something from him here, some sign that we had a future. The spark between us said Daniel could help me control the Changeling, but we were about to hunt down my former lover. I had to know where we stood, and the fact that it had been less than two weeks didn’t matter at this point. I would see Baker tomorrow or the next day, and the convict would know we weren’t fully bonded yet. Baker was perfectly content to just be my lover, and if he thought I held any doubt, he would do what he could to remain as such.
“Are you… unhappy with me?”
Daniel’s words had me staring stupidly. Was he kidding? “No.”
I could tell he wanted more, and the lump in my chest eased a bit. I hated emotional talks, but I was glad to see he was willing. “I find you very pleasing.”
His handsome face flushed, and I grinned, the soft one reserved only for him. “Not just in that way.”
Daniel smiled back, relaxing as he understood it wasn’t a bad talk I wanted, just an awkward one.
“And what of you? Are you… unhappy with me?”
He shook his head, eyes growing intense. “Just the opposite.”
There was a charged silence while we stared, exchanging slight grins. I felt so odd to be flirting! I had thought those things were gone for me. “You know I’d give you real freedom? If you ever want it.”
Daniel frowned, nodding quickly. “But I won’t.”
I shrugged, wanting to believe that would always be true, but hadn’t I hurt my own parent? Who was to say the same thing wouldn’t drive him from my arms? He was a trembling mass most moments, but I had my own fears to handle as well, and I conquered one of them now.
“Do you want kids… someday?”
D
That shocked me, and I could only nod my head, unable to speak. I’d been sure she didn’t after the way she’d yelled at my… sister. I couldn’t picture Candice as a mother, and the idea that she wanted children sent so many of my theories up in flames. She must like them, I thought stupidly, seeing a flash of her after she had won the final match. A mother with blood on her hands, murder on her soul.
She was watching me, evaluating my reaction, and I wondered why it mattered so much to her. Candice owned me. If she chose to register us for breeding, who was I to argue?
“Do you have children, Daniel?”
Raw Pain. “Yes.”
She was reading my face for what I didn’t say. I could tell she wanted me to open up, but that was a ghost I shared with no one, and I stayed silent, trying to mend the rift in my heart… again. I had to every time the thought of being a father and never seeing the child tore me apart from the inside.
“I might be able to find them for you… if you give me details on their mothers.”
Stunned into shock again, I gaped at her with my mouth open. Why would she do that?
“How many?”
I forced my mouth to work. “Two.”
“It was recorded?”
I nodded, not allowing myself to hope. “Through the Games.”
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
Her offer came easily, along with a tone that said maybe I’d misjudged this violent female in a lot of ways. It allowed me to form a question of my own.
“If you find them, will I… can I see them? Even if they don’t know I’m there?”
She studied me with those unreadable eyes, but after a week, I had picked up a bit about my new owner. I sensed she held a deep sympathy for the torment I‘d just revealed.
“If I can arrange it.”
She didn’t make a false promise or a claim she couldn’t back up. It sent that hope I‘d denied into my heart and spilling out of my mouth. “Please! I have to know if they’re…”
I stopped, about to let go of a secret I’d been guarding for years.
Candice raised a brow. “If they’re what?”
I dropped my eyes and hoped she missed the tremor in my voice. “If they’re suffering like you and all the others… or if they’re immune.”
C
I stared at him in shock, my turn to be speechless. Immune. To the Change. I’d never heard of anyone who was. The pain in Daniel’s voice, in those eyes, was more than I could take, and I instinctively knew how to ease it. That horror would only fade when he had a child he was allowed to keep. Mine, I thought with warmth running through my Changeling body that was stronger than the rest of the fire he drew from me.
His words slammed through my brain again. Immune. My children not having to face this agony, our future brighter, more productive and peaceful without the terrors of guiding my kids through the blood.
Was he lying? No. There was too much open hope in his eyes. How did he know of it anyway? Were there others? Questions started flying through my mind, and I took a minute to organize them into what mattered the most.
When I finally responded, I kept my voice even, not letting him see how much hope I also wanted to have. “Why do you think they might be?”
He was ready for me this time and gave the answer I instinctively knew the Network would guard at any cost.
“They experiment on the males they hold. When my tests came back, they put me into the breeding program. We were supposed to be so drugged that we wouldn’t remember most of it, but I have a high tolerance. They talked a lot.”
“You’ve remembered being taken.”
His eyes flamed with an anger he had every right to feel. “Yes. During the ride here.”
His eyes flashed again, this time with bitterness. “I remember what they did to me.”
I knew he was thinking of his family’s betrayal, but my own mind was on immunity. Was it possible? I had a hundred questions to ask, but Angelica’s light steps were moving our way. I pushed it back.
Angelica stepped into the clearing a second later, and Daniel stared at my cousin in a way that had me leaning toward him. “What are you thinking right now?”
His tone was unsteady, and his words stunned us both.
“They could have stopped her pain maybe, by now. They’ve had an experimental vaccine for half a decade.”
“We have company!”
My Mother’s excited call had me instantly moving toward the campsite, motioning Angelica to watch after Daniel. As I went, the word vaccine exploded in my head, over and over, like a bomb blast. The Network had a cure… and hadn’t told anyone. That might be enough to bring them down.
D
I followed Candice back to camp, able to feel the rage and the confusion of the younger Changeling trailing me. She wanted to question, I could feel it, but she kept silent as we entered camp.
Our company was the Trackers, and I stared in utter fascination. I’d heard of odd females, but this! Covered in scales that had to be from real snakes, they were vibrant shapes that flashed and glinted as they moved, a foreign mystery I studied without a thought of my rudeness… my lure to all these females, Snake Worshipers or not.
The three females were extremely tall and lanky, with cruel eyes that lit up in hunger at the sight of me. They wore animal fur for clothes, their weapons and gear strapped to their tattooed skin like shirts, and I stayed back as they entered the camp. Like the Snake women, their horses were also covered in the scales, even their manes and tails, and I realized they would blend perfectly into the natural surroundings. How clever! I continued to stare as Candice stepped forward to greet them.
“Congratulations are in order…sss.”
“Yes…sss. How does he taste?”
There was a round of nasty laughter from the serpent-tongued scouts, and I felt Angelica tense behind me. She didn’t like the females.
“Where’s Baker?”
The tone was hard, enough to snap my head to Candice, and the Tracker females bowed to it as well, turning to her.
“In Jericho.”
“And the others?”
“Nashville a week ago, but there have been storms. No traveling out of there when it floods. They’ll be trapped until the waters go down…sss.”
“You’re headed there now?”
‘Yes, with a quick sss…stop in Cumberland for supplies.”
“Good. Call when you make contact. If we have Baker by then, we’ll meet up, and you can ride in for the exchange.”
The three females immediately shook their heads, and the one I was sure lead them, spoke with fast words.
“We’ll take our cut from you, like always...sss. It’s a bad time to deal with the Network.”
“And why is that?”
“They have a new group coming in for training, and a lot of the old people have been executed. These new rulers are filling the top ranks…sss with their own choices.”
“Yes…sss… one of them is particularly loathsome. Rankin offers high bounties to hunters, and then sends in the Network Hounds to steal the prey from them.”
I froze at the name. I loathed Rankin more than any of those who had rented me, and that very old dream of killing her was still vivid.
The other Tracker’s words made Candice snort. “No need to pay for what you can take.”
The snake females waiting for the meeting to finish were feeding their mounts handfuls of something from pouches on their saddles and I could see the animals were well cared for. Horses were rare, no matter what land you were in.
“Exactly. Be careful that you don’t meet the same trouble.” their leader warned. The huge snake tattoo on her thigh revolved as her muscles flexed to lift her into the saddle. “We’ll still expect to be paid.”
“My coffers are not so low that I can’t cover my debts,” Candice stated evenly.
The Tracker female nodded. “Just so, it is good business to have it clear up front.”
The woman swung the big black horse like it was born to obey her and I flinched back when she stopped next to me instead of leaving.
Aware of Candice moving closer, I looked up at the Tracker’s weary face, and for a moment, was able to see the tired woman underneath. Courtesy had me opening my mouth even when I knew it wasn’t a good idea. “Would you like a drink?”
My offer, or maybe my voice, had her staring intently. I felt Angelica step up to flank me, but the Tracker only shook her scaled head.
“No, but you have my thanks for the asking…sss…” She looked at me for a moment longer, eyes going over the brand on my arm being revealed every time the gusting wind blew my cloak back.
“Perhap…sss I’ll return the favor.”
She kneed the horse and left our camp, all of them kicking up dust that coated me in a layer of grit. What was it with women and ruining my clothes?
The Pruetts all turned to look at me, and I felt my cheeks go red. “I’m sorr…”
“You did nothing wrong. In fact…”
Angelica finished Candy’s thought. “You might have gained an admirer. Trackers are shunned, even by their own kind. To be offered a drink is to show an acceptance of their mutations. Most people won’t.”
I looked to Candice to figure out if I had angered her and saw she was pleased.
“She’ll understand you didn’t know. If you don’t repeat the offer, she’ll also see you’ve changed your mind and withdrawn the acceptance.”
“I won’t do that. It’s not their fault their tongues are that way.”
Candice shrugged. “But they are responsible for their actions. Be careful, Daniel. There is much you don’t know.”
It was true, and I settled, with a slight frown, into the place she liked me. So much to learn. Where did I begin? Who did I ask? Not ready for the hard thoughts waiting, I tried to find a position on the Mopar that didn’t hurt, as I listened to Candice and her family talk about going into the city of Jericho. Back before the War of 2012, it had held a different name – St. Louis.
Now, it was the lion’s den, and heavily-controlled by Network bunkers and machine gun nests. Why would a convict go there? Candice and Angelica were talking like they knew this Baker person would be there. I tried to remember what they had said at dinner that first night. They’d hunted Baker before and knew where to look, then. Would he surrender, or would they have to fight?
I was assuming Baker had escaped from his owner, but if the Pruetts had brought him in before, that meant he had gotten away from the Network. They didn’t like that rare occurrence, and never stopped hunting a male fugitive. I had seen runaway men brought back five years later, beaten, and placed right into the very Game they had fled from. The Network forgave nothing.
Chapter Fourteen
The Tennessee Crossing
D
I knew when we passed out of Kentucky by the increase in homes… people.
It looked so much like the photos that I couldn’t stop staring, as we rolled by row after row of newly constructed log cabins. In New Network City, trees and lumber were rare, and everything was made of durable foam or plastic, then covered with concrete and rubber for extra protection from the storms. Out here, natural materials were used for building, and it was remarkably serene despite the long lines of homes.
