Deadly Designs (Design Series) (13 page)

His astonishment had her laughing. She spread her arms wide. "Look around. There's no sign of civilization. For some reason I thought there'd be a city here but why would there be? They haven't had time to build anything. For all I know, these people are hiding in caves or tents."

His strange look got even stranger and then his shoulders started to shake. Finally loud guffaws erupted, his beautiful voice rolling over the hills. Not the smartest thing, considering the circumstances. Herding Tammy toward a large group of fir trees at the edge of the meadow, she demanded, "Just what is so funny? Geesh. You guys travel through dimensions like you're taking a Sunday stroll. Is it so strange to see that I might wonder if you can throw together cities in a day or two?"

He tried to answer, but his chuckles prevented it. He did, however, follow them to the relatively hidden position behind the trees.

Storey peered through the trees in all directions. Satisfied that no one waited to pounce on them, she turned back to Eric who still had a big grin on his face.

"So. How quickly would the Louers have created shelters for themselves?"

His laughter stopped to be replaced with surprise as if he finally understood the basis for her earlier query. "I don't know. But that's a good question."

She sighed. "Do you think they could have something pulled together by now? I'm just trying to get an understanding of what they might be doing at this point."

"I would suspect they've hidden away somewhere to assess their new location. The landscape is so different from their old home, they have to be concerned. Probably sent out a party to look around, and left the others behind. Alternatively, if they have some technology, they could have thrown up a temporary center already."

"Not helpful. Let's go." Storey lifted her backpack then held her hand to Tammy. The two started walking forward.

"Hey, where are you going?" Eric followed along. "Do you know where they are?"

"Nope. But I hear water. That's where I'd set up camp first."

"Oh." They walked in silence until the sound of rushing water was loud enough to really hear. Tammy tried to pull her hand free and run closer, but Storey wasn't sure she knew how to swim. There'd been no evidence of water in her dimension at all. Although there had to have been as Tammy would still need fluids.

"Hold on Tammy." But Tammy wasn't happy with that. She pulled and tugged harder. Rather than taking the chance of her starting to scream and bring a pack of angry Louers down on her, Storey increased the pace until she was almost running.

They crashed through small bushes to arrive at the edge of a small river. A small waterfall was the cause of the noise. Up above, where the water poured over the rocks, she could see the river widened into a wide, lazy stream. They could probably cross it on foot. Tammy was fascinated. She ran her fingers in the water and tried to splash around. Storey hung on to her with one hand and in the other hand she held the leash for the rodent. He'd survived the misty crossing and now wanted to explore. The two of them could do all the exploring they wanted – as soon as they were someone else's responsibility.

Handing the leash to Eric, Storey bent and scooped up water in her one hand and took a drink. Eric gave a shocked gasp. The second sip tasted even better. Raised in a small town like she had been, she'd often drunk from rivers and streams. Most city people wouldn't. That was their problem.

"What?"

"Is that safe to drink?" He almost shouted. "Just like that. You don't test it or anything?"

"Yes, just like that. I created this dimension to be a replica of my dimension. The water on my side is safe to drink, at least in many parts of the world, and without people to mess it up, it should be lovely and fresh. And it is." She lifted her hand toward him. "Try it."

He looked doubtful, but Tammy needed no urging, she went down on her hands and knees and put her face in the water like a dog and drank. Then she dunked her face all the way in and came up laughing. She shook her head, sending water droplets flying in all directions.

Storey and Eric laughed at her antics.

"There is so much I wish I could ask her. Like if she had water like this in her old home? Did they have trees and sky there? We saw so little and what we saw wasn't the most welcoming."

"I know. Do her people know what's edible over here? Do they know how to grow their food? Their population is so small, do they know how to survive here?"

"There is so much we don't know. They made a mass exodus from their dimension, but did they come with food, animals, tools, or hunting skills even, so can they survive here? Or have we just changed the type of prison they live in?"

"Stop feeling guilty. You've done a lot for them. They'll have to learn to help themselves, too."

"I know. I just can't help but wonder how they are doing. To have found Tammy as we did, well, I just can't imagine her being left there all alone like that."

"Well, she isn't any longer. We've brought her this far. We'll get her home."

He turned to look around.

"Uh, Storey."

"Hmmm." She was busy scooping handfuls of fresh water and drinking from her hand. Most of the water ran away before she could. But she didn't dare release Tammy's hand so she could scoop with two hands. Tammy was liable to walk out into the middle of the water. Tammy was well on her way to being soaked just from the shore.

"Storey?" Eric shook her shoulder. Gently at first. Then roughly. "Storey!"

"What?" she said in exasperation. Only his silence and odd stance caught her attention.

His tone of voice was hushed and wary. "Company."

Oh shit.

From her crouched position, Storey studied Tammy's face. Only the girl didn't appear to have noticed the new arrivals. What did that mean? She tugged on Tammy's hand, hoping to get her attention too. As Storey straightened, Tammy was automatically tugged upwards, too.

Tammy's face puckered. She turned to face Storey, a cry about to come forth when she froze.

"Oh shit."

"More like double shit."

S
torey turned ever so slowly. She gasped. A quick scan of Tammy's face showed no joy either. Her bottom lip trembled. Not good. Her hand clenched Storey's and she snuggled tight against her side. Definitely not good. Were the strangers even Tammy's people?

The two people walking cautiously toward them were female and definitely made Tammy appear more childlike in comparison. Chunky, stocky, thick featured, they were similar to the males that Storey remembered shipping home to their dimension.

Did they know who Storey and Eric were?

They'd taken in Tammy's presence but their features in no way showed that they recognized her as one of their own people.

"Eric?" She kept her voice calm and quiet.

He answered in an equally low murmur, "Yeah. I'm here. Not sure what to do at this point."

Not liking the situation, she stepped closer to him. Tammy stayed glued to her side. "Tammy isn't liking this development."

"That's not good." He bent around her slightly to see for himself.

She waited, considering their options. The Louers were still a bit away. "Do we run?"

"Where?" he countered.

Damn. "Suggestions?"

"None."

"Aren't you the ranger here? Don't you speak multiple languages? Can't you communicate with them at least?" With a sharp motion, she tapped his codex. "Why are your codexes not translators, too?"

He lifted his arm. "That capability has never been needed before. I would have to ask Paxton about adding such a function."

"Right." The two were almost upon them. Storey stiffened at the stony looks on their faces. She tried smiling at them. No reaction. "Being friendly isn't helping."

"Pull out the message from your stylus."

"Oh right." Awkwardly, trying to keep an eye on the approaching women while working to open the pocket on her backpack, Storey finally managed to pull out the note. She straightened. Eric took it from her, unfolded it, then held it up in front of them.

The women stopped. Something flashed in their eyes. When they were still a good fifteen feet away, Storey called out, "Hello. It's nice to see you."

Both women had similar features, potentially making them siblings. Except one had short, dark hair and the hair on the other one was a lighter brown. The dark haired one glared at her.

"Great. Tammy doesn't speak verbally either. What's the chance they can communicate telepathically and sounds bother them?" she whispered.

"Noise didn't appear to bother Tammy. But telepathic communication might explain Tammy's lack of speech."

The women separated several feet as they approached. One came up on the outside of Eric and the other on the outside of Storey. Tammy freaked. Her mouth opened and the shrillest sound they'd heard yet came out of her mouth. Storey gasped and clapped her hands over her ears. From under her half closed lids, she could see the two women still strode forward. The noise didn't affect them.

"Maybe they're deaf."

"That would be wonderful right now."

Shuddering against the shrill tones, Storey bent to wrap her arms around Tammy. The shrieks reduced to whimpers. And Tammy locked her arms around Storey's neck – tight.

For a child, she was strong. Then she was going to grow into one of those Amazon women. Still, lifting her was out of the question. After a few moments, Tammy calmed enough to lift her face away from Storey's shirt.

Something poked her side. Storey turned to see one of the women had a long pole in her hand, and where that had come from she didn't know. Eric was receiving similar attention.

She frowned at the women and whispered, "What do they want?"

"To see how fat we are. To see if we're ready to eat."

Storey spun, horrified. "What?"

"Kidding," he muttered. "I think they want us to move."

He backed up closer to the water's edge, pulling Storey with him. Immediately the women poked them harder. Storey retreated more and the dark haired woman who'd been tormenting her, moved to the side and poked her more towards her back. "So do we go with them, or run across the water to the other side."

"I don't swim. Tammy probably doesn't swim. And we brought her here to find her people. How is running away going to help us?"

She hated when he was right. "Fine then."

Glaring at the woman poking her, Storey shifted her bag on her shoulders and grabbing Tammy's hand again, she nudged her in front so they could walk forward. Tammy walked but she wasn't happy. She kept an eye on the women and the tears looked like they'd fall at any time.

"Tammy is so not happy."

"And what can we learn from that?"

"That's she not overjoyed to see some of her people?"

Eric whispered, "I got that. The question is why?"

With the two women now bringing up the rear of their little group, they walked for close to fifteen minutes. She was itching to drag out one of her portals and escape to Paxton's lab. Except, Eric was right. They'd come here to find Tammy's people. And they'd found them.

Only no one appeared to be happy about it.

Eric's words echoed her thoughts. "We don't know for sure that Tammy is wanted here."

She gulped. "Surely, anyone would be devastated to lose a child."

They kept walking forward. Storey's eyes searched from one side to the other. There was no sign of other Louers. No possessions. No buildings. No activity.

"Maybe, maybe not. They can't have it easy yet and Tammy is just another mouth to feed."

"So do we take her home again?"

"Your home or my home? You know how my people feel. We only have to consider Jendron's face when he saw her to understand that. Fear does that to a society."

"I don't know how my people would treat her. But it would be almost impossible to keep her secret. I'd have the government down on me in days. I'm sure her DNA would prove to be very different. That alone would make the scientists want to keep her under observation. What kind of life is that for her?"

"Not much of one. So forward we go then. For better or worse."

***

Eric didn't like any of their options. How many Louers were actually here? He had no way of knowing. What bothered him was Tammy's reaction. It's obvious the women frightened her, but why? Had she bonded too long and too hard with Storey that she didn't want to go back to her old life? Was she afraid of being punished for having run off and being left behind?

As with everything of late, there were more questions than answers. Why did parents play such a prominent role in their current difficulties? He had no idea where his own father had gone or what he could be up to. Then there was the problem of Storey's parents. Maybe they could find Tammy's parents and solve at least one problem.

Of course not.

Shepherded as they were, Storey didn't realize they'd arrived at their destination until they were suddenly surrounded by a large group of Louers. She stiffened as a large, angry looking male approached.
Oh shit.
"Eric, look at his arm."

Eric stiffened. The Louer wore a series of numbers on his arm. "Not good."

Surreptitiously, she grabbed one of the sheets of paper with a portal on it to take them back to Paxton's lab. "I don't know about you, but escape is starting to look like a good idea."

"You and me both."

Some of the younger members of the group reached out to touch Storey's long hair. Her bag was grabbed. She jerked it free, glaring at the offenders. "That's enough."

She nudged Tammy forward so everyone could see she had a Louer child with her.

Silence.

Tammy stared at them, her fingers clenching hard on Storey's hand. "Why does no one seem happy to see her?"

"I don't know." Eric held the note and slowly pivoted, showing it to everyone in the group.

"We didn't consider that there could be several different groups of Louers from the one complex. It's possible her family is in another totally different area."

"Then what do we do?" She despaired of finding an answer.