Three (Article 5 #3)(75)

We ran through down the narrow path lined by junk as if we could outrun any danger that might be watching, but when we turned into the orchard the rows of trees were still and quiet.

Just as I opened my mouth to call for Rebecca, a shot cracked through the air. Dirt sprayed up from the ground at Chase’s feet and he threw himself backward, stumbling before he slammed into me. I grabbed his navy uniform jacket and pushed him up.

My first thought was of the Lost Boys, and when I heard the hoof beats behind us, I braced to defend myself.

“Get out!” The command was shrill, the girl’s voice familiar. A coffee-colored horse with four white socks came barreling through the trees and pulled up short before us, snorting and pawing at the ground. Astride her was a skinny girl with a dirty face and a matted cap of golden hair. The fierce look on her face said she wasn’t afraid to use the gun she pointed straight at us.

“Get out or I swear to God, I’ll…”

“Rebecca!” I lurched forward as Rebecca dropped the weapon on the ground. She leaned forward on Junebug’s neck and scrambled off, clinging to the saddle for support. I’d already reached her by then and knocked her all the way to the ground. We landed in a heap, tears smearing the sweat and dirt on each other’s faces.

“You’re alive!” She sobbed. And then she was punching me in the shoulder. “I thought you were dead!”

“You thought I was dead?” I half laughed, half hiccupped, and wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand. “What happened? Where are the others? Where is Sean?”

She glanced over my shoulder and when I looked back I found Chase, reaching to help us both up. She slapped both hands on his chest, wobbling forward. He caught her before she fell while I pulled her crutch off the back of the saddle where it had been fastened. Junebug, no longer fearsome, nipped at my blouse.

“You almost got yourself shot wearing that stupid jacket,” Rebecca was telling Chase. “I thought you were a soldier!”

“I got that,” said Chase. He grinned at her and she gave up and hugged him.

I went to pick up the gun and only then realized we weren’t alone. Will had emerged from the grove behind us, along with Sarah. As the seconds passed, several of the children followed. They looked tired, frightened, and more than a little shocked. I could see more of them lurking back in the trees, along with a few of the women I recognized from the safe house survivors.

“Is this all that made it out?” Chase asked bleakly.

Rebecca adjusted her arm in the crutch and tucked the gun back in Junebug’s saddlebag. “We evacuated when we heard the soldiers were coming.”

“So much for being off the MM’s radar,” I mumbled.

She nodded grimly. “That’s when the doctor tore the place down.”

Chase had been counting the others, but at this he promptly turned back around. “DeWitt tore Endurance down?”

“With a tractor,” piped in Will. “Him and the other council members. They wrecked the whole place.”

I remembered seeing the bulldozer in the parking lot by the other cars.

“Why?” I asked.

“So the Bureau wouldn’t find anything worthwhile when they showed up.” Jesse had arrived, his shoulders laced back and a lethal look in his eyes. I found myself taking a step away.

“We were going to take the cars when they showed up,” Rebecca continued. “It was getting dark. Ms. Rita and the other council members took off to lead them off course. I don’t know if they made it. I don’t think they did.” Her voice had lowered to a whisper. “Rocklin and a few more that didn’t go to Charlotte stayed with the doctor. The soldiers came in through the back gates. They took them—all of them, women and some of the kids, too—in a blue bus with the windows blacked out. I didn’t know what else to do. We gathered who we could, snuck out the front, and came here.”

“You did good,” said Chase, his arm still around her waist for support.

“I been looking out for us,” said Will. He was looking at Jesse, who gave him a brief nod.

“The soldiers are gone now,” I said. “We just came from there and didn’t see anyone.”

“Ember,” she said, her voice wavering for the first time. “Sean never came back.”

Beside me, Chase exhaled. “He’s been gone almost two weeks. He could still be waiting for Tucker. With the radio silence…”

“Tucker called on the radio,” she said, leaning in close. “Just before we evacuated we got a message from him. He’d reached the meeting point but no one was there. Not even the people we left with the medic at the mini-mart.”

My pulse began to pick up speed again. “Did DeWitt say anything else? Did he send anyone after him?”

“The soldiers were already closing in,” said Rebecca. “There was no one to send.”

Frantically I tried to piece it all together. DeWitt had been captured, just as Felicity Bridewell had reported. He’d torn apart Endurance himself to hide what we’d done here. Now Tucker had arrived at the safe house wreckage but Sean and Jack were missing. We had to find him, find out what he knew, and somehow find Sean as well.

“What do we do now?” Sarah asked. Her face had rounded since we’d arrived, and apart from a scar through her right eyebrow, barely showed any signs of the beating she’d taken in Knoxville. My gaze automatically fell to her belly. She was getting bigger. I didn’t know how far along she was, but soon she would have to find a stable place to have the baby.