Flesh & Bone (Rot & Ruin, #3)(39)

“Uh-oh,” she said softly.

“Listen, much as I’d love to find out about those machines and where these people come from, somehow I don’t think now is the moment.”


“No,” she agreed. She checked all her pockets for bullets and found only two.

“That’s it?” Benny asked, a note of panic in his voice.

“The rest are in my backpack.”

She thumbed the two shells into the gun and closed the cylinder. They both looked at the pistol for a moment.

“Hope we don’t need more than two shots,” said Benny.

“No kidding.” As she holstered the pistol, she glanced back the way they’d come, indecision stamped on her face.

“Look,” Benny said, “Carter and those other people said they saw the jet. If we circle around to find Chong, we’ll probably find them. Even with everything that just happened on the field, I’d still rather talk to Eve’s folks than . . . these guys.”

“Yes.” Nix brushed a tangle of red hair away from her face. “Damn it.”

They rose silently and moved deeper into the forest, going as fast as caution would allow and sticking to paths that were heavy with fallen branches or uneven ground. Benny did not believe that “all-terrain” could possibly mean that.

With minds full of questions and hearts heavy with regrets, they fled from the angels and their impossible machines.





FROM NIX’S JOURNAL

Tom taught us that you can’t prepare for every emergency or every threat.

“The trick isn’t to practice too many specific danger scenarios, but to learn the skills that are common to all. A smart warrior is always observant, always aware of his surroundings, always aware of his resources, and always ready to adapt to situations as they change.”





30

“NIX,” PUFFED BENNY AS HE SLOWED TO A WALK, “MAYBE WE’RE DOING this wrong. Maybe we should go back and try to talk to those people.”

She made a face. “Really? That’s your plan?”

“I—”

“Or is that what you think Tom would do?”

That stung.

“Now wait a minute—” he began, but she shook her head.

“No,” she snapped, “don’t you have a clue as to how you’re behaving lately? You keep telling me and the others to back off so you can handle things. You were going to charge those lions and—”

“What does that have to do with Tom?” he demanded.

She peered up at him, her green eyes surrounded by a sea of freckles and wild red curls.

“Look,” she said, “I know you think that because you have Tom’s sword, you have to be the great warrior, but here’s a news flash, Benny: You’re not Tom. The sword doesn’t give you superpowers.”

Benny felt his face grow hot. “I never said—”

She pointed back toward the field. “You think Tom would have just waltzed in there and sorted this out?”

“I know he would. This is the sort of thing he was good at.”

“No, he wasn’t,” snapped Nix. “He was never out this far. He doesn’t know these people. We stepped into the middle of something big and nasty that doesn’t concern us. It wouldn’t have concerned Tom, either. He’d have steered us around this and left these people to sort out their own troubles.”

Benny seethed for a moment before he tried to speak. “Tom would never have walked away from that little girl.”

Nix’s eyes were as hard and cold as green glass. “Tom brought us out here to find that jet, not to solve the problems of everyone in the world.”

“So . . . what? Are you saying we should just walk away from Eve?”

“She’s with her parents,” she said, “and here’s another news flash: Eve’s parents tried to kill us back there. I’m going out on a limb here, but I pretty much think that means they don’t want our help.”

“That’s because they were looking for her and were probably scared out of their minds, Nix.”

“Doesn’t change anything.”

“And they thought we were reapers.”

Nix cocked her head to one side. “It’s that bald girl, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“You want to go back and talk to that bald girl with the slingshot.”

“Oh, for—”

Screams tore through the air behind them. A male voice, but high and filled with terrible pain. The sound was cut off in a way that suggested the worst.

The air was filled with screams and the roar of quad engines.

“Chong—?” Benny gasped. “We have to—”

“No, that’s not Chong,” Nix said with a firm shake of her head. “Chong made it to the woods before we did. I never saw him run that fast before. He’ll be okay.”

There were more screams and shouts, male and female voices; and every now and then the blast of a shotgun.

“Sounds like a full-out war,” said Benny.

“You still want to go back?” asked Nix.

Benny said nothing.

“Look,” Nix said, “Chong knows which direction Lilah took. He’ll head that way, and if those machines chase him, then Lilah will hear it. She’ll know what to do.”