She handed Jack the metal case she’d carried all the way from the lab, often hugging it close. “Get this to Colonel Mahana.”
Jack nodded. “You’re going to make it, Doc. You have to.”
“Just take it. Please.” She looked at Dee. “Everything is in there, all my research. I hope… I hope I’ve done enough to save everyone.”
“Okay, whatever you say. Let’s just concentrate on getting out of here first.”
Dee wrapped her arm around Katherine and held her up. She looked over at the warriors; they were dispatching the last of the Variants. Several were coated in blood and black gore. Dee couldn’t tell if it was theirs or the beasts’.
Ben jogged up clicking a fresh magazine into his rifle. He looked Katherine up and down. “Bad?”
Dee looked into his brown eyes and gave him a slight shake of her head. “Not too bad.”
“Okay. Let’s keep moving. That attack was just a taster.” He turned to the hulking tattooed warrior next to him. “How close are we to your Pa?”
The warrior pointed with his Taiaha. “Top of the mountain. If we hurry, about ten minutes.”
Ben nodded. “Let’s go. I want this bloody day to be over.”
Dee pushed on, holding Katherine up as they struggled up the mountain. One of the Maori dropped back and held Katherine on the other side. Dee nodded and smiled at him.
As they climbed higher, Dee caught whiffs of decay. The morning sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the mist swirling around the trees and rocks. The muscles in her arm and shoulder were straining under Katherine’s weight. Not only was she straining with the physical task, but she was also struggling to grasp the fact that Katherine knew her mother. And that her mother was apparently alive.
The stench of decay became stronger as the steep path plateaued out. Dee glanced to her left, seeking the source of the putrid smell. The swirling mist dissipated, revealing several Variant corpses tied to trees, all in different stages of putrefaction. The nearest one’s insides were spilling out, liquified, dripping to the ground in a black, oozy mess.
Dee turned to her helper and indicated with her head the corpses. “Why do you do that?”
He grinned at her, showing his teeth. “The Rewera don’t like their own dead. It keeps them away.”
Dee scrunched her eyebrows together. “Rewera?”
“Ummm… Demon. What do you white fellas call them?”
Dee paused and looked down at her feet, watching where she put them as she stepped over some gnarled roots. She looked back at her helper. “We call them Variants, sometimes beasts.”
“Variants? Who came up with that?”
Dee shook her head. “Some American, I think. That’s what we’ve been calling them since near the beginning. I’m Dee, by the way.”
He nodded at her. “Tama.”
Dee held his gaze, smiling.
Katherine whimpered something inaudible. Dee and Tama stopped and shifted their grips.
Tama glanced at Dee. “Not far now.”
Dee hooked her hand into the belt loop on Katherine’s waist, gave Tama a nod, and they carried on.
Dee gazed in awe at the intricate carvings surrounding the gateway to the Pa as the exhausted and bloodied Renegades passed under it. She could see the figures called Tekoteko and other shapes she couldn’t recall the names of. She made a mental note to ask Tama.
Several women and men stood on either side, letting them pass. Two older women ran forward and lifted Katherine away. They carefully helped the injured scientist towards a building to their right.
With Katherine’s weight gone, Dee took in her surroundings. Immediately in front of her stood a large wooden building, the meeting house. Surrounding the whole facade were more of the intricate carvings. Their names escaped her tired mind for now. To either side were four smaller buildings, with a large rectangular building directly behind the carved meeting house. Looking to her left, Dee could see gardens, with a raised kumara store perched on a pole above them. She glanced back, happy to see the other Renegades enter.
The gates slammed shut with a thud, and several of the inhabitants pushed thick, heavy logs into place. Jack handed back her Katana and she slid it back into its saya, savouring the swoosh as it slid home.
She pulled him into a hug. “That was too close.”
Jack nuzzled her ear. “So much for a simple pick up.” He pulled away slightly, grinning.
Dee rubbed her hands over his back. “I can’t believe they sent us. I don’t think I’m ready for this, Jack. I mean, we’re not soldiers.”
“I know, right? I guess we were all they had. I would’ve rather gone to Mayor and checked on the boys. Now we’re stuck here, and Katherine is injured.”
Dee shook her head at the craziness. “I guess so. I suppose I should go and check on her.” Dee paused, before adding, “I wonder if what she said about my mother is true.” Saying the word “mother” felt hollow to Dee. She was so used to not having a mother. But saying the word didn’t change anything.
Jack reached up and brushed some of her hair behind her ear. “Do you really think she is?”
Dee grimaced. “I don’t know why she would lie. She’d gain nothing from it.”
“True.”
“Yeah. I don’t recognise her, but then I was young when Mum died. Well, when I thought she had.”
Mother. A person she had long thought dead. Question after question flashed through her mind as she glanced around the Pa. Why had her mother abandoned her? Why had her father lied? A gnawing feeling ate away at her stomach as she tried to grasp the reasons. Since her father was no longer here, she vowed to ask Katherine what she knew.
Dee shook her head. She turned at footsteps and saw Ben approaching, the big warrior striding beside him.
“Jack, Dee, this is Hone.”
Jack reached out his hand to shake Hone’s. Hone pulled him closer and gave him a hongi◦— the Maori way of greeting, when the people greeting touch noses.
A fleeting memory of a school class flitted to the front of her mind. She recalled it was so you could feel the breath of life. Dee watched, smiling to herself, knowing Jack would struggle with that. She reached out her hand to Hone in turn. Grasping it, she went in for the hongi, but Hone moved his head and kissed her cheek.
“A real kiss for the lady,” he said, grinning.
Dee couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks for saving us back there.”
Hone grasped her shoulder. “You’re welcome. Couldn’t leave you to the Rewera. Even you white fellas. You guys certainly made a lot of noise. If we hadn’t been on a supply run, we’d never have found you. It’s always nice to save the pretty ones.”
He was grinning at her, his eyes glinting in the morning sun.
Blushing, Dee replied, “Well, thank you.”
Jack waved his hand out, indicating the Pa complex. “What is this place?”
Hone laughed and grasped Ben’s arm. “Always with the questions, you white fellas. First we eat, then we talk.” He pointed to the rectangular structure behind the building with the carvings. “Kai is in there.”
Dee felt Jack’s hand tighten in hers. She tugged on him, nodding her head slightly. “Thank you, we’ll meet you there. I want to check on Katherine first.”
Ben turned to Hone. “Thank you, Hone. We’ll attend to our injured and be right there.”
Hone strode away. Dee couldn’t help but admire his muscles and tattoos. Jack nudged her side. She squeezed his hand, smirking at him.