Deadly Designs (Design Series) (14 page)

Just then a cry went up from the other side of the group. Tammy opened her mouth and an answering cry came from her.

Eric and Storey exchanged glances. "Now we're getting somewhere."

A smaller built Louer female squeezed in front of the crowd. She jumped up and down, her sturdy body vibrating in excitement. For the first time, Tammy dropped Storey's hand and ran over to the new arrival.

"Family or friend?" Storey asked in a low murmur.

"Don't know."

More Louers arrived from the same direction. What fascinated Storey was the sheer lack of expression on the faces of the others in the group. As if they were completely unaffected by the scene playing out in front of them. They continued to watch Storey and Eric. As if nothing else mattered. Storey also had the weird sensation of a low buzz going on in the ethers around them. Telepathic communication maybe?

Even the new arrivals failed to show any emotion. Storey hated it. Tammy had been through a lot and she'd done it with remarkable calm. Now she knew why. She'd learned from her elders.

Storey and Eric turned slowly as if to check out their surroundings, but were in fact wondering if they were knee deep in Louers on all sides. The answer was yes.

Storey sighed. "Suggestions?"

"We could run for it. Tammy has found someone to be with. Whether they are her parents isn't the issue. She's found someone who can help her more than we can at this point."

"So on the count of three, we run back toward the river and pop through a portal?"

Relief showed on his face. "Sounds good."

She grinned. "Can we find a way to get through this wall though? Or do we try to open a portal here and disappear without any of them jumping in too?"

Eric searched around. "We barely have room to open it. I say break through the line to the left."

Trying not to be too obvious, Storey checked out where Eric had mentioned. There were only a couple of Louers on that side with a space between them. She could go low and Eric could probably just bolt through.

"One, two and three…"

The blow came out of nowhere. Exploding on the side of her head like it did, she barely saw Eric crumpling to the ground as the ground rushed to meet her. A horrible cry erupted from Tammy.

Storey's cheek bounced twice on the ground then the world went black.

***

Eric woke slowly, his head pounding in agony. Bright sunlight beat down on his poor eyes, making it hard to open them. He gulped the fresh air, grateful it was not the stinky fumes of the Louers' old home.

After another moment, trying to remember where he was, he attempted to roll over. An explosion went off inside his head. He collapsed backwards. Getting his next breath became a challenge. Finally he succeeded, somewhere around the same time the pain became manageable.

He drew on his ranger training to try and assess the damage. Aching pain in the head, but…the rest of him appeared to be fine.

"Storey?"

No answer. With that the memories came rushing back.

Please let her be here.
He did not want to have to chase around this dimension looking for her. And he wouldn't leave without her. With one, then a second deep breath, he rolled over slightly, this time managing the movement with minimal pain. With his eyes out of the direct sun, he tried opening them again. All he could see was bare ground. Casting his gaze while lying immobile he saw a line of trees further out. No guard within sight. Was he contained in any way? Or had he been left for dead? Any minute now, he'd grab his courage and try to stand up.

Now.

With uncoordinated movements, he made it onto his butt. Immediately he buried his head in his hands as the pounding took over. A head injury wouldn't do this, would it? Had they injected him with something? A drug of some kind? He had no idea what weapons the Louers had at their disposal, but whatever they'd used, it had brutal side effects.

Taking several shallow breaths, he finally lifted his head and looked around. He was alone. Left behind? Left for dead? Unwanted? Of no value? Relief mixed with worry and both were ringed with unaccountable anger. They'd taken Storey with them and had dumped him where he'd stood.

Unimportant, irrelevant, discarded.

Well, he'd see about that. First though, he had to check out what shape he was in. Giving his body a quick going over, he realized he was uninjured. That was the good news. The bad news was his codex was gone. As were the portals that Storey had insisted he stash in his pockets in case she lost hers or in case they were separated.

He had no way to communicate. No way to go home. And no way to escape.

Crap.

The loss of his codex bothered him. It was a part of him. A tool, but one that was also a lifeline to his home.

He felt naked without it. And lost.

***

Storey came to full wakefulness in a flash. She didn't move, instinct telling her she was in a new, unknown place. Her brain struggled to sort out what her eyes were seeing. She appeared to be in a small cave.
Again a cave.
The fresh smell reassured her she hadn't ended up back in the Louers' dimension. The top of the small space rose less than a dozen feet above her head. Light shone from the side, but in pale, weak rays.

There wasn't a sound. No Louers, no running water, no wind whispering through the trees. Silence filled the space, making it uncomfortable as anxiety filled the emptiness. And what about Eric? Was Tammy okay?

What about her stylus? Her hand slapped against her chest. Panic threatened to cut off her airways. Then she found it. The stylus was caught against the band of her bra.
Oh thank God
.

With the stylus, she had hope.

She rolled to the right and pushed onto her elbow to look around. Nothing and no one. The back of the cave stretched only a few feet behind her, offering nothing but more dirt and rock. Light shone in from the mouth of the cave.

With that, she did a personal assessment. She felt no physical pain and although stiff, she could move everything. Still, her codex was missing. Her backpack was missing. And her pockets appeared to have been emptied. Damn, she could use a granola bar right about now. And paper. Crap. All her paper was gone. Every pocket she'd manage to stuff a piece of paper in had been cleaned out. She groaned. Her stylus and no paper. Figured.

Well, she'd been there before.

Or…maybe not. She checked her bra. A silent woot went through her brain. She had one piece of paper still hidden.

Now where the hell had Eric gotten to?

Damn.

The entrance of the cave beckoned. Was she a prisoner? Was she even still in the same dimension? She peered around the edge of the rock face. Another big meadow. Trees. Blue sky and sunshine.

And no sign of Eric or the Louers.

Bouncing on her toes, her breath caught and held. Her blood pulsing with fear, she mentally counted down. Three, two, one… She bolted for the trees.

And made it to the cover of the first couple of evergreens. She hid behind the largest trunk and caught her breath. Still, no sign of anyone.

She studied the geographical area. The trees made it difficult to get a decent look. She needed to get higher. A large spruce tree with huge hanging boughs offered both protection and height. Seconds later, she'd slipped under the waist high branches and had a leg up on the next branch. Ignoring the stinging in her palms as the bark scraped her hands, she climbed from one branch to the next. Finally she made it close to the top, or at least high enough that she could look over the meadow and valley.

Cliffs dotted a large mountain off to the left. Hollows on the side of the open faces reminded her of New Mexico and the cliff dwelling homes of the Anasazi people. She hadn't visited them herself but had studied it in school. A perfect spot for the Louers.

As she searched the area, she tried to find the river where they'd first met the female Louers. Maybe that was the shine off to the right. She was relatively safe up here and found herself relaxing to the point of taking her time and studying the area. It was almost familiar. Almost. Something about it though… Back home there'd been a place where she and her mom had often picnicked. She didn't have the same cliffs off to the side though so obviously it wasn't the exact location, yet it had the same effect of making her homesick.

Small towns like the one she'd grown up in, rivers, creeks and climbing trees were just a way of life. Being out here didn't make her nervous. It made her comfortable. Free in a way.

She hoped Eric felt the same way.

***

Eric stumbled forward, wishing his head would stop screaming at him. His stomach had already emptied once. His mouth would love a good rinse and his dry throat needed a drink.

He'd searched the area and there was no sign of anyone. The meadows and trees seemed to continue forever. Storey might struggle with all this openness being a small town girl. Unlike him. He was a ranger and was used to tough conditions. She was a schoolgirl without his training to fall back on. This couldn't be easy on her. On the other hand, she might be treated as a princess returning the lost daughter, enjoying a hot meal and a good rest.

Unlike him.

They'd emptied all his pockets. Too bad, he could use one of Storey's unending granola bars about now.

Why was there so much dratted country here? No buildings, no roads, no signs of civilization at all. How long would it take the Louers to build? Or would they live in caves? Make treehouses, or build structures of some kind? Was he to watch the ground for dugout type buildings, like into the side of a hill? Or could they throw up something instantly with a technology he had yet to hear about?

He had no idea. His people had technology that made building a relatively easy task. However, his people didn't do anything fast. They took, like Storey had once pointed out, a long time to make any decision. Therefore, although her people might need time to do the actual construction manually, they probably still completed their projects before his people, who could take years to determine and discuss the type, purpose, location, and size. It didn't take long once a decision was made, months maybe, but the decision making took years. Sad really.

And his people thought they were so advanced, so much better than the inhabitants of the other two dimensions. A thought that made him cringe as he remembered his dimensional lessons. Her world was always held up as an example of overpopulation, warmongering and power hungry politicians. Her world was theirs without controls, without regulations and with way too many people.

Everything was perspective.

S
torey leaned back against the trunk of the tree, grateful for the vantage point and somewhat safe position. Most people didn't think to look up when searching for something and she didn't think she could be seen from where she sat. All she needed now was Eric.

Settling back against the tree a little more securely, she pulled her stylus out from her shirt. Undoing the strap she'd used to tie it around her neck, she immediately felt the hum on her hand as the stylus woke.

"Hey, Stylus," she said, feeling a little odd without paper in her hand. "I have almost no paper to write your answers, so if there is another way to do this, now would be a good time to learn." Her hand slapped down on her jean leg. Immediately the words shone on her jean material.

Can write on anything.

"Good. That's excellent. Where is Eric?"

Walking.

"Alone?"

Yes.

"Close by?"

Yes.

"Where are the Louers?"

Hidden.

"Why?"

Scared.

"Is Tammy okay?"

Yes.

"Good. Then I can find Eric and go home. Right?"

Right.

Now she was feeling better. Except she didn't feel totally better. She stared down at her pant leg and realized she'd run out of space soon.

"Is Tammy with her family?"

No.

"No? Where is she then?"

With the Louers.

"Why not with her family?"

Her family isn't here.

Oh shit.
That wasn't good. "They will they take her to her family, right?"

No.

She closed her eyes, her stomach churning with fear. "Why not?"

Tammy is the daughter of the leader of the Louers, but has been taken prisoner by this small offshoot group.

Oh shit. "Is she hurt?"

She's unharmed.

Right, to the stylus it was the same thing. Not to her though. "Is Tammy close by?"

Yes.

"Do we need to help her get to her family?" No answer.

What was she to do with that? Then again, the stylus couldn't make decisions for her... "I don't understand what these Louers want with Tammy?"

She's to be sacrificed if her father won't step down. Not all the Louers are happy about being in this dimension. With the portal damaged, they are cut off from the others and their means to survive. They can't go home. They are scared.

Home. Back to that dark, cold place. Yuck, but then it's all they knew. "And Tammy's father? What does he want?"

He wants to stay and build here. Says it is a better place. The others want to force him to make a new portal so they can go back.

And this is where the problem lies. With a sinking heart, she said, "Only…he can't create a portal, can he?"

No.

So if he doesn't make one, they'd sacrifice Tammy. Not nice. "Why Tammy?"

Because they recognized her. As they hate him, they also hate her. So she's become a weapon to be used.

Double not nice. Who'd have thought the Louers would have dissident groups, too? "Why did the second group come over if they didn't like it?"

They thought it would be better, but to them it isn't.

"What do they want?"

Food, housing, the things they are used to.

That was understandable. Change was hard on everyone. Change without the means to adapt to their new place would be almost impossible. "So what can I do now?"