Chapter Thirteen
She isn’t happy to see me.
Rok’s spirits sagged, although he’d anticipated her reaction. Given the opportunity to leave, she’d grabbed it. She wanted nothing to do with him.
After they’d separated, he’d wandered around the deserted town, the impossibility of his task forcing a bitter acceptance.
If by an act of Zok, Grav was still alive—which he probably wasn’t—how would he find him without a means of communication?
Wander through town after town shouting his name?
That would alert vengeful humans a Progg was in the area.
He’d given away his vaporizer—for nothing.
The gesture had failed to soften the woman’s heart.
He hadn’t planned to follow her, but after wandering aimlessly, he found himself moving in her direction. She caused him to feel in ways he never had. He even kind of liked the dog.
He ended up in a vacant grassy quad surrounded by buildings, the purpose of which he couldn’t fathom.
It struck him that finding food would prove difficult since he couldn’t read the language.
Individual houses would have consumables—but identifying food he could digest would be hit or miss. He’d have to smell everything.
He scanned the area, but there was no sign of Chloe. Maybe she didn’t head this way after all. Or maybe she’s inside a building?
Strolling around the quad, he peered into windows. Inside one shop, he spotted a wet scrawny dog with short white fur running around. Kevin? He’d recalled the animal as having matted, almost-woolly brown fur. The animal scampered to the back and disappeared.
Minutes later, a smiling Chloe appeared.
As soon as she saw him, the smile fell off her face. She and the dog exited the shop. “Are you following me?”
“Not intentionally. I sort of ended up here, and then I saw Kevin. I wasn’t even sure if it was him. I remembered him as being brown.”
Tight lips relaxed into a slight smile. “I thought he was brown, too.”
The dog sat on his haunches, watching them.
“My brother is dead,” Rok stated.
“You found his remains?”
“No. But I’ve accepted the truth. I’ve been chasing a futile hope. There’s no sense searching.”
“So, what’s your plan?”
He shrugged. “I don’t have one.” He paused. “What’s your plan?”
“I don’t have one either.”
The air went perfectly still as they stared at each other. He could hear a squirrel chittering and a bird squawking. Hear his own blood rushing in his ears as his heart pounded. “Could we not have a plan…together?” A perilous, ridiculous request.
Perilous because Zok might strike him dead. A Progg did not plead. And to ask of the enemy? Ridiculous. The situation hadn’t changed since she’d told him no a short time ago.
She averted her gaze and let out a sigh of exasperation.
His shoulders slumped.
“For how long?” she asked.
“Until you don’t want to anymore.” He held his breath.
“What would we do?”
“I guess we’d have to find out together.”
“Why?” She lifted her shoulder. “Why me? You don’t need me.”
I do need you. A void in his being craved her company, her rare smiles, her conversation. Her scent enticed him; her voice entranced him.
“If we encounter other humans, what happens then?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Aren’t you bound by duty to kill them?”
“Yes. But I won’t,” he answered honestly.
Her eyebrows rose skeptically.
“I didn’t kill you,” he pointed out. “I guess you could call me a deserter.” A disgrace. “I can’t look another being in the face and kill them.”
“And here I thought I was special.”
“You are.” Because of her, he was coming to understand himself much better—and perversely, understand himself much less.
“What if we run into another Progg?”
“I’ll handle it. Where’s the vaporizer?” His gaze slid to the bag slung over her shoulder.
She tucked her arms close around her body and gripped the strap. “I, uh, threw it away.”
“You what?”
“I threw it away. It didn’t work!”
He couldn’t believe it. “I told you it wouldn’t work!”
“Yeah, well, you also said it would make me a target.”
“If you encounter another Progg, you are safer with me than without me, and we’re both safer if one of us is armed,” he said.
“You’d kill one of your people to save me?”
“Yes.” Without any hesitation, yes. “I want the vaporizer back.”
“It’s in a trash can across from the school. You passed it to get here.” She pointed.
“I didn’t come that way. Nor would I recognize a school.”
“You can’t miss it. It’s a big building. There’s a sign with the school name. Somebody scribbled graffiti all over the marquee, but you can still see the picture of the groundhog. Watch for that.”
“What’s a groundhog?”
“It’s an animal—the school mascot.”
“Different from that?” He pointed to the sign on the building where he’d found her. An animal sat in a basin surrounded by bubbles.
“That’s a dog!”
He compared the animal on the sign to Kevin. There was a rough resemblance.
She sighed. “I’ll take you there—after I stop at the bike shop.”
The bike shop turned out to be a store of two-wheeled vehicles like the one he’d tripped over in the house.
She squealed as she spotted a blue two-wheeler with a small trailer attached.
“Yes! This is perfect! Kevin can ride inside.” She swung a leg over and sat on the seat, feet on the floor.
“Perfect size. The other one was a little too big, but I was in a hurry and couldn’t see in the dark.
” She regarded him with an assessing eye. “I don’t suppose you can ride?”
“I’ve never done it.”
“We can go farther and faster on a bike than on foot.”
That sounded like they’d be together. If riding a bike meant they would be together, he’d do whatever it took.
“Kevin, c’mere!” She unzipped the mesh atop the trailer and peeled it back. “Can you sit in here, buddy?” She patted the inside. He climbed in. “Good boy!” His tail thumped. “Okay, you can get out. We’re not leaving yet. Rok needs a bike.”
She sized him up and then picked out a red two-wheeler. “Sit on it; let’s see how it fits. Your feet should be flat on the floor. We can raise or lower the seat and handlebars if it’s not right.”
He swung his leg over the bike like she had.
“That works.” She nodded. “The height is perfect. We’ll take these for a test spin. These are the brakes.” She pointed out the levers on the handlebars. “To stop or slow, you squeeze the brakes.” She propped open the shop door by sliding a wedge underneath. “Walk your bike outside,” she said.
He dismounted and tried to wheel the bike, but it didn’t move.
“Raise the kickstand.”
He looked at her blankly.
“The tiny leg keeping the bike upright.”
He tilted the bike and nudged the little metal leg with this foot. The bicycle tumbled into the bike next to it and knocked it over.
“This is going to be harder than I thought,” she said.
* * * *
“I’m guessing you’ve never seen anyone ride before,” she said when they’d assembled outside.
He shook his head.
“All right. You watch. I’ll ride to the end of the sidewalk. It will be a good test for Kevin, too. Then I’ll teach you how to ride.” After putting the dog in the trailer, she mounted the two-wheeler, pushed off, and pedaled down the street balancing on two wheels.
That looks easy enough! Fast, too. Not as swift as a ground crawler, but it beat walking.
She pulled up next to him and stopped. After dismounting, she lowered the kickstand and ushered Kevin out of the trailer.
Rok mounted his bike, eager to ride.
“Whoa, whoa. Wait a sec. Before you try riding, walk the bike first. Sit on it, but push yourself along with your feet and squeeze the brakes every so often to get the feel of how to slow and stop. Go to the end of the row and back.”
When he returned, she said, “Next, push along with your feet, get the bike moving, and then lift your feet and glide for as long as you can. This will help you learn how to balance. If you start to fall, put your feet down.”
He got the bike moving, but the instant he raised his feet, the handlebars wobbled, and the bike started to tip. Start, stop, start, stop. He did more walking and tipping than gliding.
“This could take a while. Let’s try pedaling,” she said. “The faster you go, the better the balance, and the bike is easier to control.
“Start with one foot on the ground, the other on the pedal in the top position. Then push down on it. When the bike moves, bring your other foot up and pedal faster. Keep your eyes on the distance. Don’t look down. The slower you go, the more you’ll wobble. Ready?”
“Yes!” He pushed with his right foot, lifted his left onto the now-upward pedal, and fell over, hitting the ground with a crash. Kevin darted around yipping.
“Are you all right?”
He’d skinned his arm and knee, but the injuries would heal before the day ended. “Yeah.” He untangled himself from the bicycle and got back on. When she’d done it, riding had looked easy.
“Remember, if you feel yourself falling, put your feet on the ground.”
Another fall and three near-misses later, he wobbled down the sidewalk.
“You got it! You’re doing it!” she yelled, her praise warming him until she shouted, “Pedal faster!”
Faster? He’d rather take a spill going slow than fast!
But he didn’t want to disappoint her, so he pedaled a little faster.
To his surprised relief, the bike rode straighter.
With a boost of confidence, he soloed around the entire quad, laughing the whole way.
By the time he returned to Chloe, his grin stretched from ear to ear.
She flashed two thumbs up. “You’re ready to sail.”
He dismounted, and she handed him a tool. “I’m going to the store over there to get some clothes. While I do that, take a look at my bike, see how the trailer is attached, and hook up the other one to your bike.” She’d brought out another carrier while he’d been cruising around the square.
“Why?”
“Extra storage.” She headed across the quad. The dog started to follow. “Kevin, stay.”
The dog’s tail drooped, but he lay down and watched the woman walk away.
Rok knelt and stroked the animal’s clean, dry, fluffy fur. “Don’t worry. She’s coming back. For you, she’ll come back.” Whether she’d return for him was iffy, but she wouldn’t leave the dog.
He examined her trailer and got to work on his. Attaching the carrier was easy—fit the shafts onto the bolts, add a nut, and tighten. Chloe still hadn’t returned, and Kevin looked dejected, so he asked the dog, “You want to go for a ride?”
He put him in the trailer and took him for a spin around the square. When he returned to the starting point, the dog’s tail wagged, and he would swear the animal was smiling.
Shortly after, Chloe emerged wearing different clothes and carrying a sack. But then she entered another store.
He looked at the dog and sighed.
* * * *
“Ready?” she asked. They were perched on their bikes, Kevin settled in his carrier. Rok’s trailer had his pack with Grav’s personal effects, the clothing she’d brought, as well as a bag of stuff she’d collected from the Sudsy Paws dog salon.
They rode single file on the walkway with Chloe leading. There were fewer crashed automobiles in Big Creek than other places, but the width of the trailers and his lack of skill made it better to avoid the road.
He didn’t know what would happen after he retrieved the vaporizer. She hadn’t said she’d stay with him. But the fact she’d fixed him up with a bike and mentioned they should find a store to get food for Kevin and them seemed promising.
They left the quad for a wider thoroughfare. Within a minute, he spotted a sprawling building set among tall grasses. She braked by a tall cylinder and pointed to the building across the street. “This is the school.”
Rok nearly fell off the bike at the sight of the school sign. He leaped off, letting the bike topple, and sprinted across the road.
“The vaporizer is in here,” Chloe was saying as she dug through the trash. “Found it! Rok? Rok? What are you doing?”
Heart pounding, he stared at the sign.
Chloe and Kevin came up beside him. “What are you looking at?”
“My brother’s alive!” He pointed to the writing scrawled over the marquee. “Grav wrote that.”