Chapter 14 #2
The man frowns. “Well, you can be friends with a toy, I suppose.”
“He’s not a toy. He was my nanny.”
The man turns back to his food. “Now you’re just yanking my chain.”
When we get our orders, I try not to eat too fast, but everything tastes delicious.
River doesn’t eat much, but at least he has more appetite than he had in days.
When I finish eating, we walk outside to where Hank is selling his products next to a wooden shed.
It’s still early, so he’s only now setting up his racks of clothes.
He’s as big as I remembered, his beard reaching below his broad chest. He could be forty or sixty—it’s hard to tell.
He nods as we approach, and when he sees Timothy, his eyes grow wide. “What do we have here?”
Timothy introduces himself, and Hank leans down to shake one of his hands. “I have many questions for you, sir.”
“And I’ll be delighted to answer, but first, we need to speak with Unity. Can you help us?”
“You guys know the frequency?”
“Yes,” I say, though I don’t say it out loud since it’s classified.
Hank nods. “Follow me.”
Once we’re inside the crammed shed, Hank asks River, “You okay? Seems like you’re missing someone.”
“The Raiders took my Josh, but I’m taking him back.”
Hank sighs and shakes his head. “Fucking Raiders. You heard about their leader and those games in his arena? Damn insanity.”
“I’m going to kill him,” River says, sounding as though the matter is settled.
“That’s good to hear.” Hank places a dusty radio transceiver on the table. It seems like old military equipment. He connects it to a power source, and the device comes to life. I wait for Hank to give us privacy, then I sit on a creaking chair and turn the dial until I find the Hive’s frequency.
“This is Finn from Unity,” I say. “The line is secured. Is anyone there?”
We get static before we hear, “This is Unity. Where are you calling from, Finn?”
I think I recognize the one speaking, but I don’t remember his name. “I’m not sure about my location, but I’m no longer in High Hope. I need to speak with Dino urgently. Can you ask him to come up to the station?”
“It will take him some time to get here.”
“I’ll wait.”
It takes almost twenty minutes until we hear, “Finn?”
I immediately feel lighter hearing Dino’s voice. “I’m here, sir.”
“Are you alone?”
“I’m with River and Timothy.”
“Why aren’t Josh and Caden with you?”
I stall, an overwhelming sense of failure washing over me. My voice breaks when I try to speak, which is unprofessional, but I can’t help it.
“Josh and Caden were kidnapped by Raiders,” River says.
We fill Dino in about what happened, including Caden’s nightmares that have only gotten worse.
It seems that Unity has picked up on something strange happening in High Hope, though communication with the city is unstable.
The last they heard was that the king was missing, which I take as a positive sign that Lyla’s plan may have worked.
“Where are you heading now?” Dino asks.
“To Denver,” River says.
“The hell you are. Return to Unity so we can discuss our next steps.”
“I can’t wait that long. They have Josh!”
Dino takes a breath. “Listen to me, River. I cared about that boy years before you even met him, and I will do anything I can to bring him and Caden back safely. Unlike you, I know what is waiting in Denver and how prepared they are for an attack. Don’t be a hero just to end up as a corpse.”
River crosses his arms. “I’ll figure something out. My people know I need their help; they will come.”
“I’m glad we have your people’s support, but I won’t allow Finn and Timothy to join you on a suicide mission.”
River looks at me as if I’m about to betray him, but I understand the urgency, and I can’t do this without him.
“I won’t return to Unity without River,” I say, my stomach swirling.
“Finn, you work for the assembly and for me. I need you back here.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry, sir, but River saved my life before I was a part of Unity. I’ll keep you updated whenever I can and share anything we might discover. I’m also not looking for a suicide mission.”
“Goddamn your stubbornness. Timothy?”
“I will stay and protect Finn.”
“You do that. Finn, you better remember to think before you act. Taking action is always easier than planning, and people tend to forget that one needs the other to succeed.”
Not Hector, though. He’s been planning everything perfectly so far. “I understand, sir.”
I feel drained when we disconnect the call, hoping I won’t regret my decision.
River says, “If you want to leave and go back—”
“—I don’t, but I’m not letting you storm Denver. I agree with Dino—it’s all about planning.”
“I know how to plan.”
“Okay, then let’s find supplies for the road.”
We pick up things from Hank, and he doesn’t ask us to pay. Back in the diner, Roberta gives us bottles of water and some food for the road. She makes River swear to only return with Josh.
We step outside and begin walking, but we slow our steps at the sight of a man standing with his back to a tree, wearing a long coat and dark sunglasses. I noticed him earlier at the diner. He gestures for us to approach as if he’s been waiting for us.
I would have been more hesitant if I didn’t have River with me. We walk closer, and the stranger says, “I couldn’t help but hear you talking earlier. Seems like you lost two people.”
“Maybe,” I say. “You know anything?”
“Not of two, just the one who was saved by Buck and his team.”
River quickly moves in front of the stranger and grabs his shirt. “Buck the mutant?”
“That’s right.” The stranger raises his sunglasses, revealing a single eye right above his nose.
“Who’s the person Buck saved?” River asks.
“Don’t know. Just heard he rescued someone while he was out hunting Raiders. Big guy loves hunting.”
I remember Josh’s story about the help he’d gotten from Buck during their captivity in Las Vegas, but I also remember the Buck I knew when I was with the Raiders.
“It might not be either Caden or Josh,” I tell River, but if it is one of them, then what happened to the other one?
“Where’s Buck?” River asks, still holding the stranger’s shirt.
“Their settlement is northwest of here, in an old town called Florence. I’ve got a map if you need one.”
“Is this a trap?” River asks.
“No trap. I’ve nothing against your kind, Semi, and if I’m not mistaken, you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Did Buck tell you that?”
“He sure did, and quite the story it was. I clearly remember the part about the Semi they left buried in the desert.”
I feel ill, thinking of another River—the one I traveled with for months—now buried many miles from here in an unmarked grave. I shove the thought away because I can’t stomach it. River’s soul survived, and that is all that matters.
River lets go of the stranger’s shirt and says, “I did die in the desert, but Josh saved my soul before they buried my body. He brought me to the lab where I was born, and Nanny Spider raised my clone and gave it my soul.”
The stranger frowns. “Right…”
“Show us how to get to Florence,” I say, equally hopeful and worried about what we might discover. “It’s not like we have any better leads.”
*
We barely speak as we follow the map, our hopes tangled with fear.
When it’s close to dusk, we come across an old sign for the town of Florence.
We stop a few minutes later when we get close to the fence surrounding the town.
It doesn’t seem strong enough to hold back an attack, though it’s not like the wall in Rifle made much of a difference when they were invaded.
From out here, Florence seems like many other towns that survived Doomsday, though this one is clearly more maintained.
“Only two guards by the entrance,” River says. “Let’s go slowly with our weapons raised.”
It’s not a long walk, but by the time we reach the gate, my arms and back are sore.
One of the guards is clearly a mutant with pointy ears and a deformed jaw, but the other one seems like a regular human. I open my mouth to introduce ourselves, but the human guard says, “No need to hold your weapons up. Go ahead.” He looks down at Timothy. “The three of you.”
I exchange a wary look with River as I slide my weapon behind my back. “You’re just letting us in?”
“We were told you might come,” the mutant says, his words hard to understand.
Before I can wrap my head around the meaning of this, River shouts, “I feel him!”
He dashes past the gate, and Timothy holds my hand. “He feels Josh.”
I tell myself I’m happy because Josh was likely the one the Raiders would have gotten rid of, but I can’t stop the sob from slipping through my mouth.
I let go of Timothy and cover my face, telling myself to get my shit together.
I’m an official representative of Unity, even out here.
I wipe my eyes and mumble an apology, then we continue past the guards into town.
The farther we walk, the more mutants I see.
Some are sitting on the porches of old houses, while others tend to their gardens.
They all stop to watch us, but none seem hostile.
We reach the main square where people are sitting around a large bonfire.
River is standing with his back to us while hugging Josh, who looks at me with a mixture of relief and sadness.
His handsome face is bruised and scratched. I brace myself for terrible news.
Josh comes over and pulls me into a hug. “He’s alive.”
I let out a long breath and hug him tighter. “Did they take him to Denver?”
He lets go. “Yes. Hector wanted him there, but I don’t know why. We were on separate buggies, and when Buck and his men showed up, they could only go after one of us.”
That confirms what I figured out on my own—Hector’s plan is not about killing Caden, at least not for now. “You told the guards we’d come here.”
He tilts his head at River. “I knew he’d show up eventually.”
River smiles. “You had faith.”
“I did. Good to see you, Timothy. Where’s the rest?”