“Zan?” Levi yells back.
“Isn’t she with you?” Levi looks at me and the color drains from his face. “Go, go, go!” Alcide yells as a bullet whines over our heads.
“Watch for Pace!” Levi yells back, and we take off again. I keep my hands on my stomach. I can feel the blood seeping through the shawl and I am growing cold.
“Where is Zan?” I ask. I feel confused. Why did Alcide think Zan was with us? She was left behind on the roof of the dome. She should be with her family. Maybe Zan went into the village to find us. That sounds like something she would do. But wouldn’t James be with her? Surely her father would not let her go in alone.
I don’t know how he does it, but Levi keeps running, straight up the hill that shelters the rover village with Colm, Tobias, and the rest following behind. I hear gunshots ringing in the distance. Where is Pace?
We finally crest the ridge. James is there, with Jon, David, Harry, and the steam cycles. Behind us we hear the heavy thump-thump of the machine following us up the hill.
Confusion starts as everyone is talking at once. Somehow I wind up being held by David as Levi simply hands me to him and picks up a gun. Everything seems as if it is happening at a distance. I see the shadow of the big machine loom over us. I watch as James, Colm, and Tobias hug one another while Harry embraces Jilly, who finally bursts into tears. Jon gathers the children who escaped with us into a fierce hug. They all must be from the scarabs.
“We thought you were dead,” David says to me. “My God, Wren,” he exclaims when he sees the blood on my hands. “Please don’t die now.”
“I’ll try,” I think I say. My mind is having trouble taking everything in. Seeing everyone safe makes me wonder if I am dreaming, or, worse, if I’ve died. Maybe we are all dead. “Thank God you got out.” Even though he seems far away I can plainly see the concern on David’s face. “Lucy?”
“She’s fine,” David says. “Will be glad to see you.”
“Where’s Pace?” I hear shouting in the distance and more shooting.
“It’s Pace!” Jon exclaims. “He’s got a woman with him. Rovers are following them.”
“They’re friends,” I say. “David, please put me down.”
“Take cover,” James barks. “Get behind the cycles.” James and Harry kneel and aim their guns while Colm and Tobias lead the children and Jilly to crouch behind the cycles. David puts me down. My legs nearly buckle, but I am stubborn if nothing else. I brace an arm on a cycle and look down the hill while David picks up his rifle. Levi pounds on the leg of the machine, and Peter sticks his head out of a window. “Don’t shoot the people with Pace,” Levi yells up.
Pace and Ellen are running from the village. Ragnor, Janna, and Ragnor’s brother are with them.
“Don’t shoot them, they are friends,” I call out to the men. Ragnor’s brother pitches forward and falls on his face. Ragnor and Janna stop, while Pace and Ellen keep running. I see Wulf coming out of the shelter of the huts with two rifles in his hands and his men right behind him. He has a bandage wrapped around his stomach. How is it he is up running around and I can barely stand?
Because the bullet is still in you …
Ragnor’s brother must be dead. I watch as Janna pulls at Ragnor, and they once more start up the hill behind Pace and Ellen, who is faltering. She has her skirts gathered and Pace is nearly dragging her. Wulf drops to his knee and raises his rifle.
“Shoot him!” I yell. “Shoot the man with the gun. Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him!”
The men start shooting. But they are in the wrong place to get a line of sight and Wulf has made himself into a very small target. I am more worried about them hitting Pace and the rest.
“Shoot them!” Levi bangs on the machine and points down the hill. Where is the Quest? All they have to do is fly in between them. I search the skies but don’t see it. It must have circled behind us and is lost in the trees.
Levi moves to the other side of the machine and gets a better line. He shoots and dirt sprays up in front of Wulf. His men start shooting back at Levi’s position. I know their guns can’t shoot as far as ours, but it is still dangerous. Pace and Ellen, Ragnor and Janna are still well within Wulf’s range. Ellen falls and Pace is pulled backward and nearly falls himself. Ragnor bends to help Ellen up along with Pace, and Janna runs ahead. They pull Ellen to her feet.
Wulf shoots.
I scream for Pace.
Levi shoots again, and the men in the machine shoot at Wulf’s position.
Ellen falls between Pace and Ragnor, and Pace drops beside her.
And then I slide into darkness.
19
I am floating. Does this mean I’m dead? I can’t be dead, I hurt too much. “Jane?” I recognize the face looking down at me. For some reason she looks very sad.
“You’re safe now,” she says. “On the Quest.” I look up. I’m in a very soft bed beneath clean sheets in a very nice room.
“Zan?” I say. I meant to ask if I am in Zan’s room because that’s the only place I can think of that would be this nice.
“We don’t know where she is,” Jane says. She wipes her eyes and smiles tremulously.
I am confused. How could they not know where Zan is? “In the fight? Pace?” I ask as my last memory comes to me.
“He’s fine, dear,” Jane says. “Unfortunately his mother did not make it.”
“Ellen…” I screw my eyes shut. I am so confused. What happened to Zan? How is she lost? And Ellen is dead. I need to see Pace, but the thought of moving is more than I can handle at the moment.
“Get some rest,” Jane urges, and tucks the blankets up under my chin. I drift away, wondering which part of my life is real and which is a dream.
I wake the next morning to sunlight streaming through a window. I ache all over. I put a hand to my stomach where I was shot. There is a thick pad over my wound and a bandage wrapped around my torso. I am dressed in a short gown. Zan’s, I am certain. I am also remarkably clean, except for my hair, which is braided and wrapped around my head like a crown.
And I’m hungry, which I take as a sign that I am not going to die. I slowly and tentatively sit up, because I am also thirsty and there is a carafe of water on the table next to the bed.
“Good morning.” Levi leans in the doorway. He’s dressed in a white shirt and tan pants, and he looks absolutely wonderful. He also seems sad.
“What happened?” I ask.
“That’s my girl, straight for the throat,” he says as he comes into the room. “How are you feeling?”
I take a mental inventory of my body. Of course I am sore where I was shot, and I have more bruises than I can count, along with another scar on my temple. But I am alive and we are safe. That goes a long way to making me feel better. “Okay,” I say, and Levi smiles his glorious smile.
He comes in. “May I?” he asks, indicating the side of the bed.
“Yes.”
He pours me a glass of water and hands it to me as he sits. I drink it greedily, knowing that it is pure and clean. I hand him the empty glass, and he fills is again with a sweet smile.
“Tell me what’s happened.”
“First of all Dr. Stewart removed your bullet and said it did not hit any internal organs.” He picks up a small vial from the table and rattles it. The bullet is inside. He hands it to me and I hold it up to the light.
“It felt much bigger when it was in me,” I say.
“I’m so sorry, Wren. I never expected that to happen. That guy is so thick I never dreamed it would pass through.” He looks wretched as he apologizes, and I almost feel sorry for him.