Sidewinder - Chapter Twelve

Katia found herself alone on the road when the fog finally cleared, though she’d been sure Jian was right behind her. She looked around, frowning a little and shifting her weight onto her left leg, then checked the GPS she’d been given before she set out. It confirmed her suspicion that she’d gone off-track somewhere and wandered onto old side streets leading in the wrong direction. She looked up at the darkening sky and decided to find somewhere to take shelter for the night, rather than risk being caught out by whatever still roamed these streets.

She set back towards the correct path, favouring her right leg slightly, and picked the first house she came across that looked sturdy. She checked it carefully, both inside and out, and finally settled down in the room closest to the back door, after using the broken junk scattered around to barricade everything else. It was still hard to relax and she jumped at every small sound of the house settling as night fell, her food tasteless in her mouth. She gave up after the first few bites and concentrated instead on stretching out the muscles in her legs to distract herself from her nervousness.

After a while she managed to doze, though only lightly, and came awake suddenly to the pitch black of night, her heart thumping in her chest. For a long moment she stayed where she was, breathing shallowly and listening intently, until she heard the soft scrape of footsteps on the stone path outside. Her heart leaped into her throat but she carefully got to her feet and grabbed the baseball bat she’d found while searching the house. Moving as silently as she was able, she went to the archway between the room she’d camped in and the outside hall and waited in the shadows as the back door eased open.

She could only make out the vague outline of whatever moved into the house, just enough to judge that it was only a little taller than her, and built along broad lines. She held her breath as it walked closer and waited until it was in range before stepping forward on her good leg and swinging the baseball bat at its head with all her strength.

It ducked, letting out a surprisingly human yelp, and came up again in almost the same movement, grabbing the baseball bat and shoving her backwards. She stumbled, struggling to keep her balance, but tripped over the edge of some debris and fell hard, letting out a yelp of her own as it fell on top of her. It flung the baseball bat across the room with one hand and flicked on a powerful flashlight with the other, dazzling her eyes before she threw her hands up to cover them.

“Aww, shit.” The voice was male and as human as she was. “It’s just some girl.”

The light turned away from her face and she gingerly dropped her hands, trying to blink the dazzle out of her eyes. A strong hand hauled her to her feet and held her in place as its owner played the flashlight around the room, pausing on her gear. She heard him grunt, then he walked her over to her pack and pushed at it with one toe. Katia risked a glance at him and saw a man around her own age, if not a little older, with shaggy black hair and stubble darkening his jaw. He was frowning, his eyebrows drawn down over his eyes, as he studied her pack and the skates lying beside it.

“Grab your stuff and let’s go,” he said after a moment.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Katia said sharply. “Let go of me.”

“Listen, I’ll carry you kicking and screaming if I have to. Let’s just make it easy on both of us.” He gave her false left leg a meaningful look.

“You don’t want me to start screaming. There’s things out there listening.” She saw his dark eyes narrow slightly and knew she’d scored a direct hit. “So how about instead of the he-man act, you tell me your name and what you’re doing here.” She twisted away from him and held out a hand. “I’m Katia.”

He eyed her hand then grudgingly took it. “Ezra. You tell me what you’re doing here.”

“A race.” Katia indicated her skates and blushed a little at the look he gave her. “I know. You think I want to be up here? I came because my little brother and my best friend wouldn’t believe me when I said it was dangerous, that there’s a reason we went underground. And then we got lost in the fog and I don’t know where they are.” She took a shaky breath, surprised to find herself near tears, then laughed despite herself at the way he awkwardly patted her arm. “So I need to find them if nothing else.”

“Underground?” he said in a musing tone. “And you’re having some sort of race? You’re all idiots.”

“Thanks?” Katia took a step away from him in case he tried to grab her again. “What are you doing up here?”

“I live up here. We didn’t all get to run and hide like you did.” He glanced at her, then in one swift movement scooped up her pack and her skates. “Now are you going to come with me, or are you going to stay here with just the clothes you’re wearing?”

She glared at him, fighting the urge to punch him right in his smug smile. “Why so eager?”

“It’s not for you, trust me. I just don’t want to wander across your half-eaten corpse in a few days.”

“We were told this area’s pretty clean,” Katia said, but uncertainty crept into her voice in the face of his amused smile.

“Somebody lied to you, girl. This is practically Ground Zero, and it stretches for miles. I promise, I’ll drop you off somewhere you can get back home.”

“Promise you’ll help me find my brother and my friend instead. And warn everyone else who came up here with me. Otherwise, yeah, I’ll stay here with just the clothes I’m wearing.” She crossed her arms, trying to sound tougher than she actually felt, and hoped it wouldn’t come to a physical fight; he was taller than her by a good few inches, and much broader.

“Fine,” he said after a moment, sticking a hand out again. “Shake on it. You can tell me about your precious underground while we look.”

She ignored the bitter tone in his voice and just shook his hand, then followed him out of the house, debating if she should ask for her pack and skates back. They walked down the road in silence for long enough that fear curled in the pit of her belly and she cast a quick glance back over her shoulder, wondering if she should make a run for it even if she lost all her gear. After a moment Ezra cut across a field spotted with gnarled trees, gesturing for her to keep up as he increased his pace. She gritted her teeth and lengthened her stride, keeping her eyes mostly on the dark ground to keep from tripping.

Finally they came to a jumble of huge boulders and a tall rock face, its top sparsely decorated with trees. She glanced up and for a moment saw something swoop across the stars, blocking their light with a wingspan wider than she was tall. She shivered and moved closer to Ezra, who was kicking about in the loose rocks at the base of the boulders. After a few muttered curse words, he made a soft ‘ah-ha’ noise and leaned down to scoop something up from the soft earth.

“Now watch this.” He grinned at her, looking suddenly boyish, and pressed the heel of his hand against the object he’d picked up.

For a long moment nothing happened and she felt her eyebrows beginning to draw down in annoyance; then, suddenly, the boulder nearest to her split apart like a cracked egg, expelling a rush of hot air. She spun towards it, automatically putting up her fists, and found herself looking into a metal hallway lit by dim blue lights. The effect was like looking into a spaceship and she felt her mouth drop open even as a chill ran up her spine.

“Go in, it won’t eat you.” Ezra placed a hand on her back and gave her a push forward. She stepped into the hallway, half-expecting something to greet her in a robotic voice, but instead she only heard the gentle humming of engines.

“What is this?” She touched the wall and found it to be plain steel, cool and unyielding under her hand. “It kinda...”

“Looks like a spaceship, I know. It’s not, just an airship. It’ll look more normal further in.” He propelled her along the hallway and up a short flight of steps to a heavy wooden door, which he unlocked with a key from his pocket.

She carefully stepped inside when he opened the door and relaxed a little when she saw how much it looked like a regular, if oversized, room. Both sides were blocked off by wood panelling but she saw what must be the cockpit to her left. The middle was taken up by a couch and a pair of armchairs, as well as a massive desk covered in papers and junk. A bookcase stood against one wall and there was a window beside it that she could just see the cliff through. To her right the door in the panelling was closed, but she guessed it probably contained a bedroom or two.

“Welcome to home.” Ezra dropped her pack on one of the armchairs and put her skates down beside it. “You can come up front if you want. There’s seatbelts up there.”

“Always a bonus,” she muttered, following him into the cockpit. She took the seat he indicated and pulled the seatbelt tight, her eyes widening as the shadows outside drew away like a curtain. Ezra settled into his own seat and began manipulating the controls, coaxing the engine up from a grumble to a steady roar. He checked gauges she couldn’t even begin to understand and then the ship began to shake underneath them. Katia gripped the armrests on her seat, trying to breathe in deep steady breaths, and felt the ship begin to slowly rise.

The mess of boulders dropped away beneath them and she glanced to the side in time to see them come even with the trees at the top of the cliff. Briefly she looked for the thing she’d seen up there before, then turned her attention back to the front, watching the stars as they moved forward into a steady pace. She didn’t realize she was grinning until she heard Ezra snort in amusement, but the look he gave her when she glanced over was friendly.

“Your friends have at least enough brain power to get under shelter for the night, I hope,” he said. “So I’m going to catch a nap. You can stay up here or go camp out on the couch, just don’t touch anything.”

“It’ll fly itself?”

“For a little while. I’ll be back up in an hour or two.” He got to his feet but paused at the door, giving her a questioning look.

“I’ll stay up here.” She smiled a little. “I want to watch. I won’t touch.”

“See you in a bit.” He gave half a wave and left the cockpit, leaving her to watch the stars.