Wanderers (35 page)

Eli fingered the front of his denim jacket. He had liked it ever since Inna and Ramon had given it to him; and it was what he had been wearing when he danced with Esther. But he took it off and wrapped it around his right hand, to give him extra protection. Then he grabbed the cord and gave it a yank.

It was no good. The cord didn't budge. He would have to use two hands.

Eli took a deep breath. Then he threw aside the jacket and grabbed the line with both sweating hands. He braced one foot on the wall next to the machine.

Then he pulled as hard as he could.

As she ran, Esther saw a bullet whiz past her, going so fast it was a blur. Up ahead, there was the resounding crack of breaking marble as it struck the wall. Then it ricocheted off and smacked into the wall on the other side before bouncing off and hitting a display window, which shattered in a burst of broken glass.

Pulling the confused dog along, Esther veered first to her right and then her left, zigzagging as she continued her sprint toward the staircase. She hoped a moving target would be harder to hit than if she took a straight path. But she knew she was only buying herself a few precious seconds, and in her mind only one thought kept repeating itself again and again.

What was taking Eli so long?

Ahead, the staircase seemed impossibly far away. And even if she made it there, Esther realized she would be offering her unprotected back to the gunman as she raced toward more adults undoubtedly waiting on the floor above. Esther was running straight into a trap of her own making.

She heard a second shot. But she never saw the bullet.

The hall had been plunged into darkness.

The relief Esther felt was so great, it was like a physical shock. She heard the bullet ping off a wall in front of her and gutter out, as the first one had. She didn't think there would be a third.

In the distance, Esther heard one of the guards curse.

Esther called to Pilot under her breath, clicking her tongue in the way she had heard Aras do so many times. Obeying instantly, the dog began to lead her straight across the hall, quickening his pace. Within moments, Esther bumped her foot against something: It was the bottom step of the staircase. With one hand on the banister, she held on tight as Pilot headed up.

In blackness, they reached the third floor. Esther had a clear picture in her mind of its layout and, with the dog's help, was able to navigate back to the store full of children's clothing and toys. When they rounded a corner, Esther saw that she was right: Candles flickered in the distance and she could hear the murmur of faraway voices. As she drew closer, Esther melted into the shadows by the wall and listened, trying to identify them.

Outside the storefront marked
PRADA
, the older woman was pacing, agitated. Esther wasn't certain, but she thought she was holding something in her arms. Was it Kai? Next to her was an armed guard.

With the dog by her side, Esther moved forward as silently as she knew how. Yet Pilot's nails clicked on the hard tiles and the guard looked up.

“Who is it?”

Esther held her breath. Next to her, Pilot began to growl. It wasn't loud, but it sent a vibration rippling through the darkness.

The guard spun around, raising a rifle to his shoulder. “Who is it?” His voice was shaky now.

Pilot's snarl grew louder. Panicked, the guard fired at the sound, spraying bullets into the air. Esther ducked. The noise brought others racing from different parts of the hall. In the confusion, Esther saw the candles in Inna's room go out.

The noise seemed to madden the dog. He leaped forward and Esther, unprepared, let go of the lead.

The animal vanished into the darkness. Moments later, a man screamed; there were the sounds of struggle and loud growling. Then came a piercing yell, which echoed as it faded. An instant later, an explosion from the basement floor far below seemed to shake the entire building. It was followed by a deathly silence.

The lights went on, everywhere.

Esther had known it was only a matter of time. Still, the few precious moments of darkness had not only saved her life, but also allowed her to come this far. As the dog bounded back to her, wagging his tail with incongruous happiness, Esther slipped with him around a corner. She watched as Inna, carrying a lit torch, hurried into the hall. She headed for the stairs, her expression grim.

Kai wasn't with her.

Esther blinked, dismayed. Then she heard something else.

A baby's cry.

It was faint, emanating far from the level they were on. Is that where Inna was heading? It wasn't clear. Yet every minute she hesitated gave the older woman the chance to get farther away.

Esther tried to remember the commands Aras had given his dog. She tried a different one now, giving a low whistle and jangling his leash. “Go,” she whispered. “Follow her.” Pilot took off and Esther went with him. Within moments, they had crossed the wide hallway and caught up; she could hear footsteps on the staircase above them.

For all her craftiness, Inna knew nothing about tracking and stalking. Unlike Esther, she had never needed to hide from others or avoid detection. So her footsteps were giving her away as they clattered up the metal stairs.

Even without his dog,
Esther thought with disbelief,
Aras could track Inna by how much noise she made.

The woman's steps were slowing down and her breathing was loud and ragged; it was easy to put on speed and catch up. Yet by the time Esther reached the top, Inna had already disappeared. Esther hesitated. There were numerous stores Inna could have hidden in. But then the bang of the metal door at the far end of the hall once more gave Inna's location away.

She was heading to the roof.

As Esther and Pilot entered the airless cement stairwell, she could hear the clatter of Inna's footsteps several stories above. She doubted Inna was armed; in fact, the older woman seemed to be spooked and not thinking properly. By fleeing to the roof, Inna was in essence putting herself in a corner. Still, Esther knew it was foolish to underestimate her enemy; even the most cowardly animal could be vicious when trapped. As she mounted the final flight, Esther put herself on guard against a possible ambush.

Yet when she pushed open the door and stepped out into the suffocating humidity of the roof, she was stunned by what she saw.

Inna was gardening.

Halfway across the roof, the woman was leaning against a trellis dense with foliage, reaching up to prune it with a pair of shears. After trimming a branch, she would step closer to examine the vine before making another cut.

Esther stared at her. It would have been impossible for Inna not to have heard the door. Yet, other than a faint flush along her cheeks, the older female seemed perfectly at ease.

A whistle, so faint it was barely audible, arose from the open door behind them. Pilot jerked free. Even as Esther grabbed at his chain, the animal was escaping down the stairwell, as if he had been summoned below.

“Pilot!” she yelled, but he was already gone.

When she turned back, Bao was approaching from across the far end of the garden, Kai in her arms. The boy was holding a handful of grapes, stuffing them in his mouth. He smiled at Esther; yet when Bao set him down, it was toward Inna that the child stumbled. The older woman greeted him with a hug, then dismissed Bao with a nod of thanks.

Esther was alone on the roof with Inna and the little boy.

“Would you hand me that?” Inna said, indicating a flat wicker basket. After a moment's hesitation, Esther did.

Inna placed several withered vines in it. “You have to prune away the old growth,” she explained as she continued to trim. “Otherwise, it steals nutrients from the new. And you need to distribute the weight by making sure there are only so many buds on each vine.” She counted under her breath, then made another cut. “Did you know that?”

When Esther didn't answer, Inna smiled. Her expression was pinched. “No . . . I didn't think so.”

Esther started to speak, but Inna cut her off.

“You see, this didn't just happen by magic.” As she gestured at the roof, the flush on her face deepened to two red spots on her cheeks. “I suppose you think that we just walked in and found everything waiting for us. But believe me, everything— the water, this farm, our electricity, our standard of living—is here for a reason. And that's because we studied how to make it happen. And we worked hard.”

Inna was becoming agitated, punctuating her sentences with snips of her shears. “But you wouldn't understand,” she said. She was sweating now, her hair flopping forward into her face. She pushed it away with one hand and kept clipping. “You're just a child, and what we're doing here is grown-ups' work. And yet you have no problem coming here and judging us. As if you even know what we've had to do in order to survive.”

“I
do
know. The children—”

“There are sacrifices!” Inna exclaimed. “None of us want to do it . . . we
have
to! We have to do it in order to live!”

Something in the older woman seemed to break. Dropping the clippers to her side, she turned to Esther with a beseeching expression.

“Don't you see? You and your friends have spent years in the outside world. It's only a matter of time for you. All except for Kai, of course.” She had pulled the boy to her and now held him close. “And the baby, too.”

Esther blinked. “What baby?”

“Why, yours, naturally. The one you're carrying.”

Esther was struck silent.

Could it be true?
Although she now suspected everything the older woman said, Esther thought of her fatigue, the nausea. She tried to recall the last time she and Caleb had made love. Was it in Prin? No . . . it was while they were traveling with the others and they spent the night under the highway bridge. It was true she had not had her monthly blood in a while, but she had never paid it much attention.

Having a baby,
she now realized with the shock of a thousand emotions,
was completely possible.

Esther was trembling. “I thought it was something else.”

“That's why I had you separated from the others.” Inna was gazing at her with what seemed genuine warmth. “I'm going to take care of you . . . and then the two little ones. After you're gone.”

She rose and came closer. Esther was so stunned, she allowed Inna to wrap her arms around her. For a moment, she was amazed by the fleeting yet powerful sensation she once again had of security and trust within the soft embrace.

But a sound snapped her out of her reverie.

Across the roof the door opened, and several adults came spilling out, weapons drawn. Ramon was among them and, with a start, Esther noticed he was carrying her rifle.

More than fear, she was overcome by anger. She yanked free of the older woman.

Esther was furious at not only at Inna, but herself—for allowing herself once again to be so easily manipulated. She seized Kai, who let out a squawk of protest. Then she took a step backward, her eyes darting around.

There was no escape. She and Inna were against a wall. There was only one door, and it was crowded with armed adults. Esther was glad that all of her friends were most likely outside by now, safe and free. Yet she was outnumbered, unarmed, and alone.

The heel of her foot banged against something.

It was a bucket, one of the containers used to catch leaks. It sounded no more than half full of water, poisonous rainwater that hadn't yet been processed. Esther thought of the ending of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
and how Dorothy killed the wicked witch. Even as she heard the water slosh, Esther without thinking pushed Kai to the side. Then she grabbed the bucket by the handle and hoisted it up high.

Inna was staring at her, puzzled. She recoiled as realization struck of what Esther was threatening to do; and her expression changed to one of pure contempt, a patronizing smile on her face. She was about to say something, but Esther cut her off.

“Your weapons.” She was speaking to the others who now stood clustered around the door, confused and motionless. “Throw them away.”

The adults looked at Esther as if she were joking and then at Inna. She was standing close to Esther, much too close to escape; surely, the older woman had calculated the space between them and realized it was impossible to run.

Inna's lips were pinched together in a thin line. “Do as she says,” was all she said.

“Out there,” ordered Esther.

The adults exchanged a baffled look. Then one stepped forward and hurled his rifle at the transparent wall closest him with all his strength. Glass exploded as the weapon crashed through and sailed outside; moments later, they could hear it smashing on the pavement far below, along with the tinkling shower of broken fragments. Then Bao threw her handgun after it, and Tahir and the rest of them, in a noisy shower of flashing metal and shining splinters. The last to go was Ramon. Keeping his eyes on Inna the entire time, he tossed Esther's rifle off the roof and it disappeared.

Hot air gusted in through the shattered glass walls.

Esther and Inna stared at one another. The bucket had grown heavier; as Esther shifted it, her palms sweaty, the water sloshed again, nearly spilling, and Inna jumped back. Her face was now filled with terror.

The truth was Esther had no intention of killing anyone. But Inna didn't know that.

“Look,” said the older woman. She sounded desperate, even as she tried to project an air of calm. “No more guns. That means we're equal, now, you and I.” She licked her lips and swallowed hard, her eyes bright. “Maybe we can come to an agreement.”

In spite of herself, Esther almost laughed. “You mean if we live here with you? We already tried that.”

“No,” Inna shook her head. “I know that's over with. But there must be
something
we can do.”

Esther hesitated. She didn't trust Inna and realized the older woman was saying whatever she could think of just to stay alive. Yet what she said made a kind of sense. Esther thought about it a long moment. Then she spoke.