Erasing Time (29 page)

“We’ve already left,” Taylor said. “We just need to find somewhere safe to go.”

Echo waved a hand at the piles of wreckage. “Well, this isn’t it. We have no shelter, no food; and don’t think my laser box will be enough to protect us. If you stay in one spot too long, the vikers hurl concrete at you.” His eyes skimmed along the top of the rubble as he spoke. “The DW have a system for getting people out of the city and through the wilderness safely. Elise sent me a message saying she’d meet us in front of the Fairmore swimming center in two hours. We’ll probably miss her.”

Taylor glanced back at the door they’d come through. “Then why are we going this way?”

“That door is too close to the Dakine base. They’ll be looking for us now.”

Sheridan and Taylor exchanged an exasperated look. Echo admitted that they’d just left a Dakine base, and then was angry at them for thinking he was Dakine.

“Stay close to me,” he said. “We’ll come to another entrance in a few miles.”

For several minutes no one spoke. If anger had been visible, though, it would have been flowing off Echo’s shoulders in waves. He never checked behind him to see if they were keeping up.

Sheridan watched him and wondered why he’d saved their lives. Was it a sense of friendship, responsibility, or something else—perhaps because Taylor was a valuable commodity?

She had to stop thinking that way. He’d helped them in every situation. He’d kept Taylor’s identity from Lobo. He was leading them away from the Dakine base instead of taking them back. She could trust him, should have trusted him all along.

With this realization she felt miserable. If they missed their meeting with Elise, how would she ever make it up to him?

The minutes went by, and went by, and went by. Finally Sheridan took a few running steps so that she could walk by Echo’s side. She glanced at his profile. His features stood out, harsh and determined against the background wreckage of the city.

“So, what happened to those buildings?”

“War.”

“Oh.”

More walking. More silence.

“Echo, I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

He didn’t answer.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

He still didn’t answer.

“If we’re captured by the government, and they give me a memory wash, I hope you’ll visit me. Although, if you do, don’t tell me everything I did wrong. It would depress me to know about it.”

“If we’re captured by the government, I won’t be able to tell you anything because my memory will be erased too.”

If only mistakes could be erased as easily. If only she could erase time and start this day over at a better point. “Well, on the bright side, if our memories are gone, at least you won’t be able to blame me for everything.”

He didn’t comment.

She pushed herself to keep up with his pace. Bits of rubble spit from underneath her shoes. “Echo, if you were in my place, and the evidence pointed to the fact that I was Dakine, would you trust me?”

A flash of pain crossed his eyes. She thought he wouldn’t answer, that it was hopeless, then he spoke. “It’s been hard for me to trust people since my brother’s death. I’ve analyzed and scrutinized everyone’s motives. Are they with the Dakine? Are they watching me? Will I be safe tomorrow?”

His gaze slid over to her. “That was the nice thing about being with you. You had no connections to anyone. You hadn’t already judged me, my past, and who I should have been. I thought you saw me as I really am.” He looked away from her, staring at the broken pieces of civilization again. “It’s never that easy, though, is it? People see our mistakes like they were posted on our rank badges.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“The thing I liked about you,” he went on as though she hadn’t spoken, “was that you weren’t afraid of being you. You never hid your beliefs—well, except for your beliefs about me. When you acted like you cared about me, that was a lie, wasn’t it?”

“No.” She had tried not to care about him but had never managed it. Even now while he was angry, she wanted to reach over and take his hand.

“You thought I was Dakine and still cared for me?”

“I thought you were a reformed Dakine. I wasn’t sure, though—you wouldn’t admit to anything. If it was only a question of my life, then perhaps I would have stayed, but how could I leave Taylor at a Dakine base? I couldn’t endanger her life just because I thought you’d changed—at least I hoped you’d changed. Have you changed?”

“I’m not Dakine.”

She let out a sigh. He was determined to be angry with her.

They kept walking. The sun moved higher in the sky, but she had no idea how much time had passed. The dust on the ground thinned, then disappeared, replaced by rubble that slid beneath their feet. It made speed impossible.

Echo had said the next entrance was a few miles away. Did that mean three or ten?

Suddenly Echo stopped. “What’s that?”

Sheridan gripped her knife and looked left and right, expecting to see more vikers. Or Enforcers. Or Dakine. Then she noticed Echo was looking upward. She followed his gaze and a saw solitary dark figure gliding overhead, wings outstretched, lazily looking down at them. A hawk possibly, or maybe a vulture.

“That, Echo, is a bird.”

“A bird?” he repeated in disbelief.

“Yes,” Taylor said, joining them. “Why don’t you talk to it, and see if it answers.”

Echo, still unmoving, watched the bird, then called, “Hello!”

When the bird didn’t answer, he added, “We want to talk to you!”

The bird continued to circle, then glided off in the opposite direction. Taylor laughed, shook her head, and walked on ahead of them.

Echo turned to Sheridan. “Why did it leave?”

“Because it’s a bird, and it doesn’t understand you.” She started walking again, slower paced now. “You see, I didn’t lie to you about everything. Oh, and in case you’re worried, I have absolutely no desire to eat that thing.”

He stared up at the sky for a moment longer, then caught up with her. As he walked, he scanned the gray wreckage beside them. “Do you think there are other animals around?”

“The bird has to be eating something. Although if it’s a vulture, we may have supplied it with dinner.”

“What do you mean?”

“Vultures eat dead animals that are lying around. In this case, those friendly vikers who tried to kill me.”

Echo looked over his shoulder, checking behind them. “You’re making that up.”

“Nope,” Sheridan said, with more enthusiasm than the subject probably warranted. “Lots of animals ate people. Lions, sharks, wild dogs—pretty much any carnivore that was big enough. Oh, and the mosquitoes were terrible. I bet those are still around too.”

“Mosquitoes ate people?”

“Well, they tried.” She made a couple of mincing steps over a particularly jagged patch of rocks. “Mostly mosquitoes just sucked a bit of blood and gave you itchy welts. Piranhas, however, were these little fish that could skeletonize a person.”

Echo’s jaw went slack.

She wasn’t sure if he was amazed or horrified. “We can talk about something else.” She tilted her head, trying to gauge his thoughts from his expression. “Unless you want to hear about killer bees.”

“Total,” Echo said.

“Total?” Sheridan repeated.

“Wasn’t that a saying from your time?”

Sheridan shook her head. “It was a breakfast cereal, and something you did to a car.” Tiny pieces of broken glass were mixed into the rocks, which made the ground in front of them glitter. “You probably mean
totally
,” Sheridan added. “Which is only something you said if you also used the word
dude
frequently.”

“Dude,” Echo said, trying out the word.

She shook her head. “Don’t start saying
dude
. It wouldn’t become you.”

“Become me what?” Echo asked. “What would I become?”

Sheridan smiled at him. “Don’t become anything. I like you as you are.”

“Do you?” he said, and there was a smattering of anger back in his expression.

“Yes, I do.” She reached out and took his hand. She almost expected him to pull it away, but he didn’t. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you before, Echo.”

He squeezed her hand and smiled back. “From now on we’ll trust each other, right?”

“Totally,” she said.

By the time the next entrance came in sight, Sheridan’s spirits had risen. Her feet, however, ached and the soles of her shoes were in tatters. Gray dust covered the bottom of her skirt. She wiped off as much as she could. Taylor and Echo did the same, but mostly managed to smudge the dust around.

Then Echo stood in front of the door. “If we’re lucky, we won’t find any refuse handlers on the other side.” He fiddled with his laser box. “I’m lowering the voltage to stun level. Wait for me to come back and tell you the way is safe.”

Sheridan looked at him questioningly. “If you could have stunned the vikers who attacked me, why did you kill them?”

“Because they wouldn’t have run away if they’d seen my box was on stun. They know I can’t stun them all, so they would have attacked and killed me.”

“Oh,” Sheridan said with a sickening jolt. He was right, of course. She wasn’t used to dealing with people who killed each other, wasn’t used to thinking that way. She needed to get wise fast.

Echo took a deep breath. “I’ll be right back,” he said, then ran through the door, weapon outstretched.

Sheridan and Taylor waited. Seconds went by. Sheridan didn’t hear any sounds of laser fire. That at least was a good sign. Then she realized the electric hum would have covered the sound. Maybe Echo had been shot as soon as he went inside.

She was beginning to feel panicky about this possibility when Echo stepped back through the doorway. “Come,” he said.

Sheridan and Taylor left their knives on the ground. Knives would draw attention inside the city walls, and that was the last thing they wanted.

Echo disappeared through the orange light again, and Taylor and Sheridan followed. Sheridan nearly stepped on a sprawled man who lay on the ground in a colorful heap of metallic clothing. Echo took her arm and pulled her past him. “The Dakine were waiting for us. They must have suspected you went outside.”

It was only when Echo said the word
they
that Sheridan saw the second man. He lay farther off, his arms and legs stretched out like he was making a snow angel.

Echo motioned them on. “Hurry before any others come.” He took off at a slow run, and Sheridan and Taylor followed him, weaving between building-high refuse tanks. Every step brought sharp pain to Sheridan’s feet. Her legs ached. She pushed them forward, forcing them to keep going.

In the distance, a few people worked by various tanks, but no one paid attention to them. Once they reached a main street, Echo slowed to a walk. A couple of cars were parked in front of a cylindrical building not far away. The group headed toward the nearest one.

As Echo caught his breath, he said, “I should warn you that the government may have figured out how to track my crystal. If they come after me and we’re together, you’ll be caught too.”

Taylor gazed around nervously. “I thought you said the Dakine had ways to block their signal.”

“They do,” he answered, “but mine isn’t a Dakine block. I’m hoping the government won’t realize that and won’t even try to trace me, but,
pues
, you can only count on the government’s incompetence to bring you so much luck.”

Echo didn’t have a Dakine block. The knowledge lifted Sheridan with hope. Perhaps there were explanations for the other things too. Although the fact that Echo had taken them to a Dakine base was a bit harder to explain away. Still, she had decided to trust him. “We need to stick together,” she said. “We’ll just do the best we can.”

The three climbed into the car, each collapsing onto a seat. Sheridan’s feet throbbed to the rhythm of her heartbeat. Echo held his crystal to the car’s control panel and said, “Fairmore swimming center.”

The panel lit up, showing the digital clock. It had been two and a half hours.

Echo let out a groan and rested his head in his hands. “It will take another twenty minutes to get to Fairmore. We’re too late.”

“Won’t Elise wait for us?” Sheridan asked.

“Not this long. She’ll worry it’s a trap.”

“We have to try at least,” Taylor said.

Sheridan kicked off one shoe and examined her foot. Flecks of blood dotted the underside. “Could you track Elise’s crystal and see where she is?”

Echo lifted his head and shook it. Gray smudges marked where his hands had touched his face. “I can’t go to a location where there’s that sort of computer. We have to stay out in the open with the crowds. That’s the only way we’ll be safe.”

“Maybe she’ll wait for us,” Sheridan said again, and then no one spoke for the rest of the trip. Echo laid his head back against the seat and shut his eyes. Sheridan put her shoe on. She and Taylor tried to wipe the dust off their clothes again but mostly just created a small dust cloud in the car.