Strange Skies (10 page)

My stomach sank. No one seemed to know Kale’s whereabouts. “But Kale was also rounding up other recruits. He must have some people loyal to him here in his camp.”

Reed nodded. “Some agree with Kale that all possible force should be used against the Consulate. Others agree with us that the weapons will only end up bringing more destruction. We
all
agree that we need to do something. We just can’t agree on what.”

I’d all but forgotten that I was supposed to be waiting for James when he came bursting through the door of the bar.

I stood up. “I’m right here. Sorry, I was just talking—”

“Hide,” he said. “Kale’s here.”

Chapter
NINE

I
BROKE OUT IN A COLD SWEAT
. M
Y MEMORIES OF
K
ALE
involved him trying to hurt me. That, and taking away my Infinity, which still ticked me off. I crouched down and Reed motioned for me to crawl behind the bar that was near our table. The guy tending bar waved me to the corner by his feet while he kept pouring moonshine.

I’d barely tucked myself underneath when the door crashed open again and I heard Kale’s booming voice. “Long time no see, my young soldiers. How the hell is everyone?”

A few men cheered boisterously. Aside from that, only a smattering of applause filled the room. Heavy steps approached the bar. I held my breath and pulled my legs up to my chin.

“How’s it going, sir? Get you a drink?” the bartender asked.

“Abso-fuckin-lutely,” Kale responded. He sounded like when he was on the pain meds back on Earth.

Kale guzzled the liquor. Seconds later, the glass slammed back down on the counter. “Damn, that’s good. I’ll take another. Been forever since I’ve had a good drink.”

Other footsteps came over. “Sir, what’s the news?” James asked.

The glass clinked on the counter again. “Give a guy a minute to relax,” Kale said. “One more,” he added as more moonshine splashed into his glass.

After the glass clinked down on the counter for the third time, he addressed everyone in a loud voice. “Let me fill you in. One, I’ve got people in other colonies willing to help us. Some of them set up shop on the planet Dais, and let me tell you, that’s one hellhole of a place. We need to fight for Caelia by taking down the Consulate once and for all.”

A few drunken cheers erupted from the other side of the bar.

My thighs burned and I didn’t know how long I could hold myself up. I tried to shift my legs and knocked my knee into the side of the bar. The bartender dropped a cup on the counter, and I knew he was trying to cover for me. “Here, have another drink,” he said to Kale.

“Don’t mind if I do.” I heard the sound of the liquid as he gulped it. “You know, I used to think we just needed to stop the Consulate and we’d be fine. I realize now that we need to be the ones in power—create our own
government—to stop burners like that from ever being in charge of anything again.”

Good thing he wasn’t on a power trip or anything.

“So what’s the plan?” James asked.

Kale smacked his lips. “Good news and bad news, James. The good is that I found the leader of the Resistance.”

Shocked gasps and whispers filled the room. Apparently more than a few people had bought into the theory that Kale had made this leader up.

“So, what’s the bad news?” James asked.

“He needs a medic. I need you to come with me. And you won’t believe who it is.”

“Okay,” James said quickly. “Show me the way.”

Kale stormed back across the bar and yelled to no one in particular on the way out the door: “The time has come, soldiers. As soon as our leader is back in shape, we’re taking down those Consulate bastards!”

With that, the door slammed shut. James leaned over the bar, whispering to me, “Get back to the huts and stay out of sight. I’ll come find you as soon as I can.”

Just like that, he was gone. I exhaled slowly and extended my legs. They’d started to cramp. The bartender helped me to my feet.

Reed was standing, looking out the window. She turned to me. “It’s all clear. They went the other way. Go before it’s full dark.”

She didn’t need to tell me twice. I stepped out of the bar
into the twilight. The only people in sight were the guards James had been speaking with earlier. They motioned me toward the woods, which was where I was planning to go anyway. Before I’d even run ten feet, huge drops of water splashed on my head. I froze in place and stared up.
What the hell was this?
Despite the darkening sky, I could easily make out huge swirling clouds. They looked like the white ones we’d flown through earlier, except black and angry. Wind whipped my hair around my face.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to the men.

“A big-ass storm from the looks of it,” one said. “The rain will only get worse.”

Rain
. I remembered the word from the Net but had never been able to imagine water just falling out of the sky like that. This was crazy.

“Better run faster,” the man said.

Run faster. Ha. They didn’t know they were already witnessing my max speed. I took off again and made it into the trees just as a huge flash of light filled the sky. It was followed by a deafening clap and I covered my ears. The rain pelted down and bit into my skin. I shivered as the cold water drenched my clothes, and my shirt began to stiffen. They were going to have to figure out some new clothing now that we didn’t need thermoplastic anymore because being wet in plastic sucked. The trees overhead did little to protect me, since it seemed as though the rain was coming at me sideways. The tops of the trees bent in the ferocious wind. I fought my way forward with every step. At least
the night storms on Earth hadn’t involved ice-cold rain.

On top of everything else, if it wasn’t full dark yet, it was pretty damn close. I shielded my eyes from the onslaught of rain and tried to locate the creek. Between the wind, blackness, and torrential downpour, I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of me. I started to panic and ran in what I thought was the direction of the huts. My feet slipped and caught on a tree root. I crashed to the ground, my ankle twisting as I fell.

I pushed myself up and took a tentative step. Sharp pains shot through my ankle, and I hoped it was a sprain and not broken. I limped along for several minutes but got turned around again, so I stopped to try and get my bearings. For all I knew, I was going in the wrong direction.

The lashing of the wind and rain had intensified and I couldn’t see anything aside from the occasional jagged flash of light. I shivered, beyond freezing in my clothes. I had no idea how long this would last but it already seemed longer than the sun storms on Earth. I felt my way to the nearest tree and crouched down, huddling against the base, trying in vain to shelter myself from the elements. My ankle throbbed.

After awhile, my thighs burned and I couldn’t crouch a minute longer. I lowered myself to the ground, which was so soaked with water that my butt sank right into it.
Perfect
. Between hiding under the bar and taking refuge under a tree, I’d been in that position enough for a lifetime.
Crouching and catheter removal were things I’d love to not repeat anytime soon.

About an hour later, the rain finally let up and the wind died down. I stood and stretched my legs out, while my ankle screamed in protest. Without the wind and clashing sounds in the sky, the night was quiet—too quiet—like someone had turned off the planet’s sound. I started walking, even though I had no idea which way to go. There was a hint of dull gray so it couldn’t be too long before another light break. The good news was that the clouds were starting to break up, and I caught occasional glimpses of the two moons. I could finally see a little bit around me, despite the light rain still falling. The bad news was that the creek was nowhere in sight.

Worse, my gun was soaked. When I tried to test it out, it wouldn’t fire. Since there was no water on Earth, the manufacturers hadn’t had to worry about designing waterproof weapons. Guns only had to be heatproof.

I sighed in frustration. Had Dad thought about that potential issue when he designed the super-weapons, or had he also been focused solely on Earth’s environment? What was I supposed to do now? Since I’d only ever lived in a pod city or bunker, I knew squat about surviving in the natural world. The two moons peeked through another break in the clouds, along with a smattering of stars, and created more light. Shame I didn’t understand the strange Caelia sky well enough to know how to follow them.

Wait. Alec had pointed out a constellation when we were standing outside the cave. Something about the crying boy and the stars being his teardrops. I found an open space between two trees, then squinted hard at the sky. Yes, there were the boy’s eyes with the trail of stars under them. It was as good as any direction to try, so I headed toward the Weeping Boy. Something near me moved in the darkness and I froze.

“Hello?” I whispered as my voice cracked.
Please don’t be the Consulate. Please don’t be Kale
.

There was total silence for a long moment before I got my answer. A long, shrill howl pierced the air. It was almost identical to the one that had belonged to the ferocious-looking animal we’d eaten earlier.

How ironic that now I’d be the one eaten.

Chapter
TEN

A
S IT GREW EVEN CLOSER, THE HOWL MORPHED INTO A SNARL
. I was so done for. My ankle felt like it had swelled to twice its normal size. Though I’d never be able to outrun the creature even in my best condition, I certainly couldn’t out-hobble it. I grabbed for my gun but it was still waterlogged and wouldn’t fire, so I reached down in a desperate attempt to find anything I could use to defend myself. My fingers curled around a broken tree branch that was just visible in the dark gray light, and I lifted it into the air.

I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time when I realized it was only about six inches long and the width of my pinkie finger. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, the creature charged. I registered its massive size and glowing red eyes before it lunged. I ducked and rolled on the mud-soaked ground, snapping my pathetic twig in the process.
Awesome
.

Something trickled down my face and I tasted blood in my mouth. I reached up and felt the jagged claw marks on my cheek. My face stung sharply as the light rain made contact with them.

The huge beast circled around to face me, teeth bared.
That is a whole lot of teeth. I’ll be shredded in one bite
. I scanned the ground again and saw nothing but equally sad twigs and one smallish rock.

The rock was slippery from the rain, but I grabbed hold and hurled it at the animal with as much force as I could muster. The beast was hit right in the face. It winced and shook its head back and forth before sizing me up again. Not quite the rapid retreat I’d been hoping for.

I pulled the gun out a second time but wasn’t surprised when nothing happened. It would be a miracle if the gun ever worked again. I looked around in a panic. The ground was rockless, the gun was useless, and I was about to die.

The creature snarled again but hesitated. Maybe the rock had thrown it off-kilter. I watched the animal and grew angrier. No way had I survived Earth and made it to another planet only to die like this.
Screw that
. I grabbed several more puny twigs and raised one over my head, then yelled at the top of my lungs. I didn’t care who heard me. I shouted and threw twigs as I moved toward the animal.

I’m not sure how threatening I looked—probably more crazy than scary. In any case, it snarled but backed up as I came toward it. My voice grew hoarse—my war cry would soon sound like a war whimper—so I jumped in the air
and threw the last stick with one last strong holler. When I landed on my hurt ankle, the holler turned into a raspy shriek.

The creature turned and ran off into the trees. I doubt I’d really scared it, but it must have thought I wasn’t worth the effort. Most of its prey was probably easier to catch and much less obnoxious.

I limped on for a while and wanted to shout for joy when I spotted the creek. The Weeping Boy had saved me. I glanced at the lightening sky in gratitude. Pink rays of sunshine sliced through the clouds. A slight drizzle started and stopped as I trudged through the wet ground, my shoes making sucking sounds in the mud. My ankle hurt, my cheek stung, and I was filthy, but I was alive.

I spotted our group of huts as the last clouds disappeared and streaks of golden sunlight filled the sky. Markus sat with his back to me and watched Alec throw a stick to Lucy. She bounded toward the twig, then turned and raced full throttle toward me. It reminded me of the first time I met her in the Consulate building where all the other animals had starved. She’d run toward me like she somehow knew I was a good guy. I patted her head and she trotted by my side.

“Tora!” Alec called when he saw me. “I’m glad you’re okay, that was some
loco
storm, huh?” His eyes widened in alarm as I got closer. “What happened to your face,
ángel
?”

“Just got into a little scuffle with one of those tooth monsters. Why, how bad does it look?”

Markus stood up and walked over. “It looks pretty impressive, if you ask me.”

Alec gaped. “I can’t believe you took on one of those
criaturas
by yourself.”

“Like I had a choice.”

“That’s my girl,” said Markus.

Alec’s brow furrowed. “Those cuts need to be treated or they could become infected. You need a medic.” His expression darkened. “Speaking of which, where is James? Wasn’t he supposed to be taking care of you?”

I straightened my shoulders. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. Anyway, he was needed to tend to someone else. Kale’s back.”

Markus looked pale. “Shit. Did he see you?”

I shook my head. “No, but his return is a good thing. Now you can both help me find out where he hid my guns.”

Markus sighed. “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.”