Spanners - The Fountain of Youth (13 page)

“She’s not scared of us; she’s just worried about our safety,” said Mayfly. “She doesn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Tell her that she can’t hurt me, especially if she stays in her cold suit,” said Adam. “And tell her that you’re smart enough to keep your distance.”

Mayfly told her this and she spoke back.

“She asks what we’re doing,” said Mayfly.

“Tell her we’re freeing her,” said Adam.

Mayfly spoke to her and she unleashed a torrent of words.

“She doesn’t believe us,” said Mayfly.

She’s been kidnapped and put in a freezer,
thought Adam.
I don’t blame her for being wary.

“I have an idea,” said Adam. “Translate everything I say.”

Adam came up close to her and put his hands on hers. She tried to shrink back but he held on, letting her know that it was okay.

“I give you my word that you can trust us, but that’s all I can do,” said Adam, giving Mayfly time to translate. “We’ll attempt to free you, and I can’t promise you more than that. After this we’re hoping to take you north, to a man who will bring your true powers out
but doesn’t want to use them for his own gain. For right now though, we need to get you out of this compound. If you should choose to part ways with us as soon as you leave, there’s not much we can do. But for right now, if you follow us, we’ll do everything in our power to free you from this room and take you as far away from this place as we can.”

Adam took his hands off of hers and unshackled her wrists, and then her legs. She stood up and pointed to the cold suit in the far corner. Mayfly took it, handed it to Adam
, and they placed it on her, wrapping it around her shoulders like an oversized shawl. She waited for a moment and then spoke softly to Mayfly.

“She’ll go with us,” he said.

“The desire for freedom is universal,” said Adam. “Regardless of the circumstances, no one wants to stay in a prison.”

/***/

The three of them snuck out of the room with the cold suit draped over her; it was basically a form-fitting blanket, but it was large and fit her perfectly. Mayfly crept through the halls and served as a scout; he would peek around every corner and tell them if they were good to go or not. They walked quietly, then quickly, and then hid for five minutes while a retinue of guards passed. There was one guard who wouldn’t leave, so Mayfly snuck up behind him and delivered a hit that made him collapse to the ground like a bag of meat.

“It’s a nonlethal trick I’ve learned
: the one-punch knockout,” said Mayfly. “There are three people on earth who can make it work every time.”

“Sounds good,” said Adam
. “Perhaps we should—”

“Hands up!”

They looked ahead and saw three guards coming at them, all with guns. Adam couldn’t lead them the other way; it led deeper into the compound and they would be trapped. The only way out was through these guards, and Adam knew that they were outmatched. Two were nervous young recruits, but one was an experienced marksman. One of the young recruits would pull the trigger prematurely, and the experienced one would end it. Adam had to make a decision and had to make it now.

In
one motion, Adam grabbed Mayfly and gave him a look and a nod; Mayfly was sharp enough to intuit Adam’s plan from just that single glance. In another motion, Adam took the cold sheet off the Fountain and draped it onto Mayfly, who fell against the wall. The guards yelled as if blinded by an invisible blast, and then crumpled to the ground twenty feet away. Adam waited for them to stop moving, then in a flash took the cold cloak off Mayfly and covered the Fountain again.

“I told you she was dangerous,” said Adam.

“Radioactive,” said Mayfly. “A one-punch knockout.”

Mayfly inspected the guards and then looked up at Adam.

“They’re still alive,” said Mayfly, “but other guards must have heard it.”

“We need to go now,” said Adam.

“But we—” said Mayfly.

“There’s no time,” said Adam. “We need to go.”

/***/

They caught up with Trey and Brogg ten minutes later. Though Juan’s guards had locked Brogg in the dormitory
, he had punched the door open and then knocked the guards out. Cattaga was soon behind them, and her face had changed halfway from the guard she was impersonating back to her old self.

“One of my bodies snuck into this place and I’ve scouted a way out. The third is back in the car looking at a map,” said Trey. “Follow me down this hallway.”

“We should go this way,” said Mayfly, pointing at another hallway. “It’s shorter.”

“That path dead
-ends,” said Adam.

“True,” said Mayfly with a smile, “but Brogg will be able to go through it.”

“I agree with Mayfly,” said Trey. “Brogg can punch through anything.”

/***/

They met the second Trey at the dead end, which was next to a heavy metal door. Adam knew where Mayfly had led them.
This is where Juan keeps his mayflies,
thought Adam.

Mayfly first tried to open the lock with his pick, but it was no use; the door wa
s meant to hold mayflies
in
and couldn’t be broken by one of their own. The mayflies inside had assembled near the door and were clamoring to get out. Mayfly tried a few other tricks, but none of them worked.
There’s no fence to hop, no guard to charm, and no electric security system to override,
thought Adam.
This is perhaps the one door on earth that Mayfly can’t open
.

Brogg started to hit it as hard as he could, but he wasn’t making a dent in it. Adam held Brogg back and the
mayflies started to scream from the inside.
It became quiet for a moment, and Adam heard the sound of approaching guards.

“We need to go,” said Adam.

“We need to free these spanners,” said Mayfly.

“We have no time,” said Adam.

“Keep punching, Brogg,” said Mayfly.

Brogg went to punch the door again, but Adam held up his hand to stop him.

“It won’t work,” said Adam. “Brogg’s strong, but he can’t break down these doors. We’ll have to come back to rescue them.”

“They’ll be dead by the time we return,” said Mayfly. “Leave me here. I’ll find a way out of this.”

“If we leave you here, they’ll capture you and throw you in the cell too,” said Trey.

“I’ll find a way out.”

“No you won’t, because this prison is
built
for your kind,” said Cattaga. “We only have one option, which is to
leave now and come back for them later
.”

Mayfly stared inside the door and Adam heard the spanners inside scream back and pound the door to be let out. Mayfly nodded at Brogg, who punched a hole in the wall of the dead end. A few more punches cleared the bricks away, and soon they were looking at the RV with Trey revving the engine and staring outwards into the night.

“I promise I’ll come back here and free every one of you,” said Mayfly to his brethren behind the heavy door. “Stay alive until then.”

Mayfly left in a flash for the RV
, and the trapped mayflies’ screams increased to a high squeal. Adam caught up with him at the RV and for the first time in his life, Adam noted that his friend Mayfly had been crying.

/***/

Trey drove the RV and they sped through the night quietly, taking shortcuts and left turns wherever they could to ensure that Juan couldn’t follow them. Most of the crew slept, including the Fountain. Mayfly had converted a large storage freezer into a bed and had improved the cooler so that it could run on the RV’s limited electricity. He opened the freezer up with a smile and the Fountain willfully went inside; she was used to the cold and glad to be unshackled.
Mayfly worked on this freezer for twenty minutes and he’s already improved it tenfold,
thought Adam.
If he had a full lifetime to work, he’d solve all of our problems. Perhaps Mayfly is the key to our future and not the Fountain.

/***/

The next morning the crew was up and had gathered in the RV’s central area.

“We’re going to keep going north until we reach Santos de León,” said Adam. “Juan’s crew will keep at us and we have no other choice.”

“I’ll be sleeping at all times,” said Trey, pointing to one of his selves at rest. “We won’t need to stop.”

“Legend has it that Santos lives in a dark place,” said Cattaga. “They call it the
Wild Zone,
and it’s dangerous.”

“It’s more dangerous than you can possibly imagine,” said Adam. “The human government set out a plot of land for us to place all the spanners that couldn’t hide in normal society: violent spanners, insane ones and countless others. There
are no rules up there, and though the creatures of the Wild Zone won’t plot against us like Juan, they’re good at killing. Every bit of the land is dangerous, so keep your guard up at all times.”

Brogg shuddered and Adam wondered how much
the caveman had understood, and if someone with his size and strength could truly be afraid.

“I’ve heard of spanners going into the Wild Zone,” said Cattaga. “But I’ve never heard of one leaving.”

“That’s the way it goes up here, and some of us might not make it back either,” said Adam. “But we must bring the Fountain to her destiny because if Juan gets her, he’ll kill us all the same. We have no recourse but to go north.”

Adam heard a high-pitched howl from the distance, even over the sound of the RV’s engine. He listened for the sound again, and when he heard it
, he thought it was the sound of a wolf.

/***/

Balthasar had ordered one of his guards to whip him, and though the guard balked at first, Balthasar threatened to exile him from the compound if he refused. The session lasted ten minutes, and though he didn’t yell, the pain was enough to cause Balthasar to pass out. He awoke, thanked the guard and then took two drafts of tequila before walking into Juan’s office. Juan was drinking another glass of Malbec, and looked surprisingly upbeat considering the circumstances.

“Would you like another glass of
tequila, Balthasar?” asked Juan, pouring a shot. “In addition to the two you just drank?”

Balthasar didn’t bother to wonder how Juan knew he’d already had two glasses; he just nodded, drained the glass without tasting it and asked for another. Juan poured
a shot, sipped his own wine and then sighed deeply.

“The Arawak legends predicted this,” he said. “They alluded to a chase for the Fountain, followed by a great battle. I suppose we’re about to start with the chase, do you agree?”

“Of course, sir,” said Balthasar.

“The funny thing about these legends is that they don’t have an end,” said Juan. “I’ve done study; there’s a chase, and then a battle for the Fountain, but no prophecy for a clear victor. All they state is that the victor will control history, whoever the victor might be. This gives me confidence
; do you know why?”

“Please tell me, sir,” said Balthasar.

“First of all, because the legends state that after the chase we
will
find her. I believe that they’re headed to my brother Santos’s place, and though I know not where he lives, we will find her. As long as the Fountain exists on Earth, she is ours. All we need is time.”

“Very good, sir,” said Balthasar. “Why else do these prophecies give you confidence?”

“The second bit of confidence comes from my own experience. Though the prophecy doesn’t show a clear victor, I’m assured that we will win,” said Juan, “because we have purpose and they do not.
We
want to change the world, and they want only the status quo. The world wants change and favors those who want it too. Do you believe this?”

“Of course, sir,” said Balthasar.

“Good,” said Juan, walking behind Balthasar.

Juan took a sip of his Malbec and then slapped Balthasar on the back, right where his wounds from the whipping had been. Balthasar spat out his
tequila and screamed in agony, and then Juan put him in a headlock and dug his nails into Balthasar’s open wounds.

“Would you like me to stop, Balthasar?”

“P-please!” yelled Balthasar.

Juan immediately stopped, allowed Balthasar to sit back in his seat, and then poured him another glass of
tequila.

“I hated doing that, but I had to prove a point,” said Juan. “I understand you’ve been flagellating yourself like a monk for
this security failure, and I wanted to get it out of your system. If we’re to be successful, we can’t be like the humble friar, feasting on self-inflicted wounds and humility. If we’re to change history, we must take our anger and project it
outward
. Do you understand?”

“Of course, sir.”

Juan Ponce de León smiled at Balthasar.

“Now tell me, and be honest with no fear of being whipped again,” said Juan. “Do you fear Adam?”