Lightning (27 page)

“I think you ladies should follow me to my place on the next block.” Conti held up both hands. “No funny business. Promise.”

The girls agreed and trotted behind him down the road and over to the next street. Conti didn't speak a word until he stopped in front of a sandstone single-story unit.

He wheeled around to face them. “What do you think you're doing? Three women, real nice-looking women I might add, have no business walking around here this late in the evening unescorted.”

“We don't have a choice,” Selah said. “We have to get to Duncan and Marrow.”

“Do you know how far that is from here? You're just asking for trouble.” Conti paced in front of his doorway.

“It's two miles, and we're three hours late as it is. Now that it's dark, I'm getting worried,” Treva said.

Conti threw his hands up. “Worried! You find the dark worrisome? So stay in my sister's room until daylight. Do you know what could've happened if I hadn't been leaving a friend's place down the street? You almost got . . .”

“We almost got what? I think we handled ourselves pretty well,” Mari said.

Selah understood what he meant. They'd have to be more vigilant. She was surprised that living inside the Mountain mirrored the outside world. The only difference was the air in here stank.

“We understand. Thank you for coming to our rescue, but getting to our destination is more important at the moment,” Selah said.

“You don't seem to understand,” Conti said. “Green Court is in a state of emergency. Our court security team is on its last legs. They took a big hit taking on Mountain security forces earlier this evening. But they did succeed in beating back a TF team trying to enter Green. The Mountain apparently panicked, and the Politicos are jamming all air communications in Green.”

Selah looked at Treva and frowned. “That's probably why we have no communications with them.”

“We may not have a
them
to meet,” Treva said. “Conti, we'd be grateful if we could get a few weapons, though I don't think we'll ever have the opportunity to give them back.”

Conti frowned and then sucked air between his gleaming white teeth.

“We'd be even more grateful if you could point us in the shortest direction.” Selah's hope had to stay on Bodhi. He said he'd be there when she got to the Green coordinates, and she believed him.

Selah strode along with the broad knife slapping the side of her leg. From hilt to tip it must have been twelve inches. All Conti could offer them were knives, and the girls were glad to get them, except now they resembled some of the scary people they were trying to avoid.

Treva looked at her ComTex. “I figure we'll be there in about fifteen or twenty minutes—”

A yelling echoed between the buildings. Selah motioned Treva and Mari to a hedgerow in front of a multistory building. They watched a hooded figure loping down the road, then the noise started—the running feet of cursing men. Selah's chest tightened. She recognized them, but there were only five this time. It sounded like they'd had too much mash.

“It's them again. What should we do?” Treva whispered.

“We do nothing. Let them go by so the way ahead is clear for us,” Mari said.

Selah pressed her lips together. “We should—”

The hooded figure ran back up the road. Something about the way he ran . . . He turned his head to look back.

Cleon!

He kept running.

“Cleon!” Selah yelled as she darted from behind the bush,
her legs pumping to catch her brother. Treva and Mari ran behind her.

“Selah, stop yelling. We'll get caught,” Treva warned.

Selah continued to run. “Cleon, stop! It's me, Selah.” Her voice echoed through the stone caverns the buildings created. The sound bounced three times before Cleon came to a complete stop.

Selah ran into his arms, crying. “Where are Mother and Dane?”

Treva piled on his other side. “How did you get away from Varro?”

“The guards watching me were distracted by their meal, and I took the opportunity to get away. We're not far from there,” Cleon said.

Mari stood guard for the reunion. “People, I think it's time to go,” she said. “We've got company coming.” She pointed down the road at the running group, but this time there were only four.

“Come on,” Cleon said. “I know the way back to where Mother and Dane are.”

They ran for a section and didn't hear shouting or footfalls for a few minutes.

“Can we walk for a little?” Mari breathed heavily through her nose. “I'm not used to this strange air or this much running. In our woods the pace is slower.”

Selah pulled up beside her and slowed to a fast walk. “Cleon, talk to us. What's going on?”

“Father brought Mother and Dane to the Mountain, and he hired Jaenen to grab Mari. Apparently he'd been trying
to find her long before we showed up in TicCity, and had stopped in her woods many times but could not lure her to show herself.”

“And I came out for you and Selah,” Mari said.

Cleon ran his hand through his hair and nodded. “Yeah, because of us, you and your people were found.”

Treva put her arm on Mari's shoulder. “Thank you for risking yourself for Cleon and Selah. They are my family.”

Selah felt her face flush. It hit her much deeper than she'd expected to hear those words from Treva. She rested her arm on Treva's shoulder, and the three girls kept their arm-to-shoulder link for at least ten steps before laughter overtook them.

Out of nowhere they were surrounded by seven militants brandishing weapons—knives, clubs, and a pulse disruptor with a TF insignia. Selah swallowed hard but her mouth had gone dry. That weapon had come from one of Mojica's TFs. Selah slipped her knife from its sheath.

The four of them stood in a square pattern—Mari positioned on Selah's right, Treva at her back, and Cleon to her left, where he kept them moving toward the hideout.

“Selah, do you see the disruptor?” Treva asked.

“I sure do,” Selah said. “I think we have a bunch of Green Court security here.”

“Should they be out this late at night without their mothers?” Mari waved her knife slowly in front of her, as if carving patterns in the men's chests.

“If you ladies wouldn't mind,” Cleon said, “I don't have a weapon. Let's not agitate the already agitated sea slugs.”

Selah snorted, bringing a hand to her mouth to cover her smile. Maybe it was nervous laughter or she was really tickled because her brother used her favorite descriptive phrase for annoying people.

The men moved closer. They were not the men from before.

Mari bounced from her place and rolled under one of the militants. His head hit the road, knocking him out. She snatched up his knife and jabbed at the guy trying to cut her off from Treva and Selah.

Mari rejoined the square. “Here, now you have a weapon. I hope you know how to use a knife for more than skinning rabbits.” She handed it to Cleon.

“Thanks, I think,” Cleon said.

Five of the militants charged, while the one carrying the pulse disruptor stood guard. One man with a club swung at Selah. She dodged the swing and stomped on his Achilles tendon as he turned. The man roared in pain and crashed to the road, clutching his leg.

Selah, confident of Mari's skills, turned to help Treva with the men holding knives. The man in front of Cleon had the other club. Selah thought about swinging around and trying to take that one out too, but it occurred to her . . . he was
allowing
them to move up the street.

Her pulse soared. “Stop! There has to be a trap up there. We fight here.”

The guy with the pulse disruptor was still just standing there, not joining the action. Wary of when he'd start firing, Selah thought of two ways to tackle him. At the moment she wanted the guy with the club gone. He had the least
damaging weapon, so if she took it out they could fight in teams of two against the three knives they were fending off.

She came up beside Cleon. The guy with the club swung it. They easily avoided it. He moved swiftly enough the second time that Selah misjudged his bouncing distance, and he hit her in the hip with a huge swing and a solid thud. She screamed out in pain and crumpled to the road. Cleon threw down his knife and went crazy on the man, knocking the club from his hand and beating him with his fists. Throwing punches was an apt description of Cleon's childhood.

Selah saw stars and felt lightning shoot from her head, down her torso, and out her toes. Fiery heat radiated from her hip. It felt like her pelvis had split in half. She pressed her hand to the pain, trying to will it away, begging her body to heal itself so she didn't die here.

Cleon and the club man were still throwing punches and occasionally rolling around on the ground without the pulse disruptor man getting involved.

Selah tried to get up from the ground, but her leg refused to hold her weight. It felt like her hip had been dislocated. She turned to crawl toward Treva. Maybe she could trip the guy for her.

One of the knife men knocked Treva to the ground. The one helping him turned his attention on assisting the last militant as he took down Mari.

Treva struggled with the man and knocked the knife from his hand. He rolled her over and straddled her with his knees pressing her to the road. Holding both her hands with one of his, he sought the dropped knife with his free hand.

Selah dragged herself toward them, trying to reach the knife first. She slumped from the separating pain wracking her hip.

The man grabbed up the knife. He let go of Treva's hands, clutched the knife in both hands, raised it over his head, and started to plunge it into Treva's chest.

Selah screamed. An arrow zipped through the air and landed in the center of the man's chest. His eyes widened. He looked down at the arrow protruding from his chest as though he didn't believe it. The barest dribble of blood spread out in an ever-growing circle around the arrow. His eyes closed and he slumped to the side.

Treva scrambled from underneath him. Arrows thumped the ground all around the attackers. Another militant was shot through the arm by the arrows raining from the nearby buildings. The other men dodged arrows for only a couple of seconds before they promptly ran away and left their dead friend. The one carrying the pulse disruptor dropped it in his escape from the road.

Selah still had her hands up covering her head. Later she would realize how useless an exercise that was. Cleon and Mari ran over to her while Treva retrieved the pulse disruptor. She hurried back.

“They're coming! I see a lot of people, guys and girls with crossbows coming out of those buildings over there,” Treva said.

Selah grabbed the pulse disruptor and aimed it at them as they strolled closer, crossbows slung over their shoulders. They casually walked right up to Selah despite her holding the weapon at the ready.

“Hello. Let me guess. You don't belong in Green Court.” The girl talking was fit and tall, with about a yard of black hair. Her tattoo was identical to the bird Selah had seen on Conti.

“No, we don't belong here. We're passing through to—”

“Yeah, I know, Duncan and Marrow,” the girl said.

Selah and the others exchanged startled glances.

“I noticed your tattoo. Are you related to Conti?” Selah asked as she winced in pain. Just trying to move in any position caused the stabbing rush to consume her thoughts till she wanted to scream.

“Yes, you can say we're related. He told us to get you to the station without incident. Our Trac ends right before your station but we're always itching for a fight, so we wouldn't be averse to taking on those boys for you if necessary. We were a little late catching up to you. Sorry you got hurt.” The girl leaned down and looked at Selah. “It looks like your hip is dislocated. I can put it back in, but it's going to hurt like all get-out.”

Selah didn't care about the pain. She needed to get to the rest of her family and find Bodhi. “Yes, please do it. Then it can heal,” she said.

The girl looked at her oddly for a second and then sat on the ground in front of her. “I need you to lie flat, and don't fight the way I'm going to turn you.”

Selah nodded.

“Someone give her something to bite on,” the girl said.

“I don't need anything.”

“Trust me, you do,” the girl said.

Cleon stripped off his jacket and gave her the rolled sleeve to bite on. Selah sniffed at the pungent aroma and made a face.

“Let's go, people. We don't have all night,” the girl said.

Selah held her nose and bit down on the sleeve. The girl positioned her feet on opposite sides of Selah's left hip, cradling her leg in between. She grabbed Selah by the foot, made her stiffen her leg, and rotated it back and forth. Sweat beads broke out on Selah's forehead as she moaned in pain.

Her hip clicked back in the socket with a sharp sound. Selah screamed a guttural cry that bounced from the buildings in such a fashion that the returning sound scared even her. She dropped her head to the ground in exhaustion.
Bodhi.