I think hes just making it up, whispered Marcus. He just likes making that little fist signal thingy and watching us all obey him.
Ive never been this wet in my life, said Kira. Even immersed in a bathtub I swear I was dryer than I am now.
Look on the bright side, said Marcus.
Kira waited.
This is the point, she said, at which you would traditionally suggest a bright side.
Ive never been a real traditional guy, said Marcus. Besides, Im not saying I know a bright side, I just think this would be a great time to look at one.
Jayden raised his fist, and the group stopped walking.
Jayden just heard a bright side, whispered Marcus. Theres an uplifting metaphor creeping through those bushes.
Kira snorted, and Jayden turned to glare at them. He turned back, flicked his fingers toward the side of the road, and walked toward a break in the trees.
Kira followed, surprised; even she could tell that the tracks continued straight ahead through the saplings on the ruined road. The trees on either side were dark and ominouswhat did Jayden hear in them?
The group picked their way carefully through a narrow gap that used to be a driveway, now cracked and broken by a decade of weeds. A large house loomed dark ahead, nearly as black as the night around it. Marcus crept forward to reach her, walking quietly beside her in a crouch. Kira leaned toward him to ask a question, then stopped abruptly as a flash of color caught her eye: orange light in the window, a tiny gleam here and gone in an instant. Fire. She froze in place, grabbing Marcuss arm and pulling his ear up to her lips.
Theres someone in there.
Kira gripped her shotgun tightly, hoping it hadnt grown so wet in the storm that it wouldnt fire properly. Even with five armed soldiers around them, she felt exposed. She lowered her body slowly to a crouch, pulling Marcus with her. Jayden stopped abruptly, raising his rifle to his cheek, and a voice called out from the darkened house.
Thats far enough.
The voice was thin and raw, a wraith in the darkness. Rain drummed on Kiras hood and back; she readied the safety on the riflea tiny button that turned it from a thick plastic club into a magic wand of death. Point and click, and watch the target explode. Water seeped down her collar, into her eyes, through the fabric of her gloves.
My name is Jayden Van Rijn, said Jayden, sergeant second class, Long Island Defense Grid. He kept his rifle trained on the same invisible target; he must have seen the man before he spoke. Kira still couldnt see anything. Identify yourself.
Im nobody you need to have a problem with, said the voice. And nobody who has a problem with you.
Identify yourself, Jayden repeated.
Kira imagined the trees around them full of Voicesmen in dark shadows, formless under rain ponchos, gripping their weapons as tightly as Kira was gripping hers. It was pitch-black under the trees, the moon and stars lost behind a thick layer of storm clouds. If anyone started shooting, she wondered if shed even dare to shoot backhow could she tell which shapes in the darkness were enemies, and which were friends?
They might not be from the Voice, Marcus whispered. His voice was nearly inaudible, his lips practically touching her ear. They could be merchants, drifters, even farmers. Just stay low.
You have a very pretty name, said the voice in the darkness. You can take it with you when you go.
Were on our way to East Meadow, said Jayden, just making sure the areas safe before we make camp. How many you got in there?
The voice laughed hoarsely. Thats a mighty dumb piece of intel for me to give you, not knowing your intentions. What if youre Voices?
Were from the Defense Grid, said Jayden. I told you already.
Wouldnt be the first time someone lied to me.
Kira heard a noise in the treesa rustle of leaves, a snap that could have been a twig or a cocking gun. She sank lower to the ground, hoping it was one of their own people.
Theres ten of us, said Jayden. The Voice is a lot more subtle than that . . . like maybe one old man hiding out in a ruined house.
I suppose youve got a point there, said the man. Doesnt seem likely were going to trust each other either way. The voice paused, silent. Rain beat down through the leaves. After a moment the voice returned. The names Owen Tovar. Im on my way to East Meadow myself, though, as it happens, and I could use the good word with the border guard. If you dont mind sharing the place with Dolly and me, youre welcome to come on in. Kira heard nothing, then the sound of a door swinging open. Jayden hesitated, just a heartbeat, then lowered his rifle to his hip.
Thanks for the offer.
Owen Tovar turned out to be a tall man, thin and weathered, waiting just inside the door with a black plastic shotgun propped up on his shoulder. He smiled at Kira and Gianna.
If that moron had told me you had women with you, Id have let you in a lot sooner.
Marcus stepped in front of Kira protectively, but Tovar chuckled and clapped him on the arm. Nothing unseemly, son, just good manners. Soldiers I can take or leave, but Im afraid my mama trained me a little too well to leave a lady outside in a storm like this. He shut the door behind the last soldier and pushed his way through the group toward the dark interior of the house. I gotta say, whichever one of you found me in here is a better tracker than most. Youre wasting your talents in the Grid. He opened another door to reveal a brightly lit rooman old living room, maybe, with no exterior windows and a cheery orange fire in a stonework fireplace. The room was tightly packed with old couches and blankets, and a small wooden cart sat against a set of closed double doors on the far side. Kira turned to the right as she walked in, sizing up the area, and jumped back in surprise when she found herself nose to nose with a camel.
Say hello, Dolly.
The camel groaned, and Tovar chuckled. Dont be rude, folks, answer back.
Marcus smiled and bowed to the camel. Pleased to meet you, Dolly. Mr. Tovar failed to mention how lovely his companion was.
I dont know if every camels as ornery as she is, said Tovar, but we get along more or less. I figure she must have escaped from a zoo or something; I found her a few years back, just wanderin around. He ushered the group through the doorway and closed it behind them. I went through a lot of trouble to keep this fire invisible from outside, he explained. Chimney still works, too, so with a storm like this to hide the smoke, you cant even tell Im here.
We followed the tracks, said Marcus, pulling off his coat.
The tracks dont lead here, said Tovar. At least not directly.
I heard you, said Jayden, a small smile creeping through the corner of his mouth. Dolly needs a few lessons in stealth.
Tovar shook his head. She wanted more sugar. Figures you folksd be passin by for the two seconds she decides to argue the point. Most folksmeanin those folks nosy enough to be lookinnever find this place at all. They just follow my tracks down around the next house, back through the woods, and then give up when they hit the creek. Turns out the bridge is fallen down, if youll believe it, and the planks I use to get across are pretty well hidden on the wrong side.
Youre a drifter, said Jayden.
Im a salesman. That makes me a target for all kinds of unsavories, but that doesnt mean I have to be a target of opportunity. He moved a pile of blankets from the couch nearest the fire. Best seats to the ladies, naturally. This place is pretty cozy with just me in it, but were going to get downright neighborly with this many people trying to sleep.
Kira watched the man as he sorted out the blankets, squeezing between the dusty couches to arrange sleeping space for ten people and a donkey. Is he a part of the Voice? There was no way to tell, not unless he tried to blow them up.
The drifter handed a blanket to Brown, who stared at him suspiciously before yanking it gruffly from his hands. Tovar smiled and stepped back.
This is going to be an awful long night if we keep not trusting each other. You really think Im a Voice?
Brown said nothing, and Tovar turned to Gianna. How about you? He turned again, stopping in front of Jayden and opening his arms. What about you, do you think Im a Voice? Is risking my own life and sharing my dry blankets all part of some larger plan to destroy the last human civilization?
I think youre ex-military, said Kira, inching closer to the fire.
Tovar cocked his head to the side. What makes you say that?
Some of the words you use, said Kira, like intel and target of opportunity. The way you stowed your gun when we came in. The way you and Jayden are standing with absolutely identical postures right now.
Jayden and Tovar looked at each other, then at themselves: feet shoulder-width apart, back straight, arms folded loosely behind them. They moved away from each other awkwardly, shifting their weight and shaking out their wrists.
Being ex-military doesnt mean hes not in the Voice, said Brown. A lot of them are soldiers, too.
If being a soldier is proof of guilt, said Tovar, seven out of ten people in this room are looking awfully guilty.
So tell us about yourself, said Marcus, settling into a couch. If Im going to spend the whole night waiting for you guys to stop flirting and shoot each other, I want to at least be entertained.
Owen Tovar, he repeated with a bow, born and raised in Macon, Georgia. I played varsity football for two years, graduated, joined the marines, and blew off four of my toes in the warthis would be the Iranian war, not the Isolation War, the one with the Chinese that you kids are probably thinking of, the one we sent the Partials to fight for us. Though I suppose most of you are what, late teens? Two or three years old when that war ended, five or six when the whole world ended a few years later? No, when I say war, youre probably thinking of the Partial War, things bein what they are, but I hate to break it to you that that wasnt no kind of war at all, just some fightin and some dyin and some thats all she wrote. War, see, is when two sides fight, maybe not evenly, but at least they both get a few swings in. What we call the Partial War was mankind gettin mugged in an alley.
I remember the Isolation War, said Gianna. Were not all plague babies here.
Not my place to speculate on a ladys age, said Tovar, sitting down by the fire. He looked relaxed, but Kira noticed that he was still in quick, easy reach of his shotgun. Jayden sat across from him, but most of the soldiers stayed standing. Kira sat by Marcus, pulling his arm over her shoulders. He was warm and reassuring.
Doesnt matter which war it was, I guess, said Tovar. I lost four toes, left the marines on medical leave, and went home to Georgia to play hockey.
They couldnt have played hockey in Georgia, said Sparks. That was one of the southern ones, right? Georgia? Hockey was an ice sport.
Hockey was ice-skating, said Jayden, nodding, and theres no way you could do that in Georgia. Especially with no toes.
Tovar smiled. This is where you plague babies start to show your ignorance. He turned to Gianna. You remember ice rinks?
A small grin crept into her face. I do.
An ice rink, said Tovar, was a giant room, like a whole basketball court, inside of a refrigerator. Just imaginea whole building so cold the ice stays frozen. And then you fill it up with people, hundreds of people sometimeswe were only the minor leaguesand theyd all start cheering and yelling and getting worked up, and that room would heat up like this one is now, all those bodies packed in there like logs in a fire, and that giant refrigerator would keep chugging away and cooling it down and that ice would stay so frozen that all they had to do was spray it with water between periods, and a few minutes later it was as smooth and as flat as a Tiger Sharks cheerleader. He grinned maliciously. I beg your pardon. Old rivalries.
That is the dumbest thing Ive ever heard, said Sparks. You could power a whole city for a year with the kind of electricity youre talking about.
A little place like East Meadow, sure, said Tovar, you could power that town on a good-size corporate air conditioner. For the old cities, and the old ways, even a tiny little place like Macon could swallow East Meadow whole, and with all those hundreds of thousands of people driving cars and watching movies and surfing the Internet eighty-seven hours a day, we still had enough juice left over to run an ice rink in the state of Georgiaone of the hot ones, like you said, where we didnt have no business freezing anything at all.
I still dont believe it, muttered Sparks.
Were talking about minor league hockey in Macon, Georgia, said Tovar. I didnt rightly believe it myself. You know what we called the team? If youre not believing anything else, youre sure not gonna believe me on this one: We called our team the Macon Whoopee. He cackled with laughter. That sounds like the biggest lie yet, but its true, the Macon Whoopee. He slapped his knee; several of the soldiers were laughing, and even Kira couldnt help but chuckle. We were a minor league team that didnt feed into any majors, in a town that loved just about every sport but ours. We were going nowhere and we knew it, so why not have fun? In the forties, when I was playing, we were officially the most violent team in the country, and that means probably the whole world, and by the way, thats why I could skate with no toes. A figure skater, a speed skater, an NHL forward, sure, you need your toes for control, but all that finesse takes a backseat when all youre trying to do is slam somebody into a wall and break all his teeth.
Hockey, mused Marcus. The sport of kings.
Tovar paused, his eyes focused on a distant memory. Sometimes I think thats what I miss most about the old days. The old times. We had so much of just about everything, we could waste it all on stupid junk that nobody needed. The Golden Age of Man. His smile returned, wry and sour. Pride cometh, as they say, before the fall.
Jayden nodded, smiling faintly. I cant say as that story makes me trust you any more than I did, but it does make me like you.
Tovar nodded back. Very kind of you, under the circumstances. He pulled a flask from his back pocket, took a drink, and offered it to Jayden. The soldier took a swig and passed it back.
I must admit, said Marcus, that as a medic I am still waiting to get to the good part of this story.