They traveled for another five minutes, until the sound of a distant vehicle reached them. A cloud of dust rose near the concrete structure, now more than a mile away.
Mike, his face red, wavered on his feet.
“Let’s get into the shade for a second,” Leon said, worried about the older man’s ability to handle the heat.
Mike nodded, making his way toward a scrub tree. They crouched in the meager semi-shade underneath.
Leon brought out a water bottle and they both drank.
“I thought it was supposed to be a dry heat.” Mike said after a long swig.
“Yeah, like the inside of an oven.”
“You’re sunburned already.”
Leon touched his forehead. Ouch. “We’ve been out in the sun for twenty minutes.” He shook his head, immediately regretted the dizziness that ensued. “I don’t think we’re going to make it across these mountains in the middle of the day.”
They’d gained a few hundred feet in elevation, and from the shade they made out a little movement around the concrete block house. The cloud of dust from the vehicle slowly drifted away.
“Emergency services?” Leon asked.
“No,” Mike said. “We’d be able to see fire trucks, even from here, and they’d send more vehicles. I suspect the AI came to look for us. Hopefully he’ll assume we went toward the highway because we’d be crazy to go across the desert.”
“Maybe we are. What if we can’t make it?”
“We’ll wait for night,” Mike said, “the temperature will drop.”
Leon’s legs extended out into the sun. The shelter of the scrub tree was not enough for both of them. “It’s not survivable, even in shade. I doubt we’ll last until tonight.”
Mike glanced at him. “You’re right. Can you hijack an aircar to pick us up?”
Leon tentatively touched the net and backed off. “Not without giving away our location. We’re under intense scrutiny.”
“If we stay here, they’ll discover us.”
“Let’s go further into the mountain,” Leon said. “Maybe we can find deeper shade under a rock and wait until night.”
Mike chuckled, then laughed out loud.
Leon thought he’d gone crazy, until his implant chimed and popped up a reminder. He snorted too.
“It’s Friday,” Mike said. “We’re supposed to have a double date tonight.”
“Under the circumstances, let’s reschedule.” Leon held up a hand up to shade his eyes. “Besides, I thought you didn’t want to go.”
“I was looking forward to a night out, actually.” Mike said, smiling. “I need some fun in my life.”
“The last week hasn’t been enough of an adventure?”
They continued east, away from the block house and whoever had come to investigate. They tried to stay out of view, keeping to crevasses and behind shrubs where they could. The sweat poured off Leon’s forehead and down his face, leaving salt trails behind as the moisture evaporated in the dry heat.
After ten minutes the egress building disappeared behind a ridge and they increased their pace, no longer worried about being spotted. Still, they needed to be careful of their footing to avoid the small, spiky cactus that erupted from random spots in the earth and the larger saguaro that loomed overhead.
After a quarter hour at the faster pace, they grew painfully hot and were forced to slow. Soon they found themselves pausing in the slim vertical shade of the tall cacti for a few seconds each time they passed one. They drank more water. Somehow they’d already finished two bottles.
“This.” Mike took a breath. “Is.” He paused again. “Hell.”
Leon nodded, too hot for speech. They kept marching, gaining more elevation now. The egress and any visible activity were long gone. They came to a false peak and stared dismally at the valley ahead of them. They’d need to scramble down and back up again, even higher.
He took out the third water bottle, sharing with Mike. They ate a few bites of energy bars, although neither had an appetite. Mike somehow appeared white and sunburnt at the same time. And he wasn’t saying much, not even cracking a joke.
Mike noticed, too. “I need shade.”
“There.” Leon pointed to the bottom of the canyon where eroded rock formations in the dry river bed created pockets of shelter and the scrub trees were thicker and larger.
“Water?”
Leon shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
They took off for the spot, a half mile distant, but before they’d reached it, the thump of approaching helicopters sounded. They quickened their pace, skidding on loose rocks, desperate to reach cover.
Leon risked a glance up, taking his eyes off the terrain for a moment. The valley floor was close. He tried to ignore the pounding in his skull, the rubbery weakness in his legs. The only good thing was that he wasn’t sweating any more.
He scrambled down the bank of the wash, swayed, and stumbled, falling down on all fours, scraping hands and arms on rocks and jamming his knee into a boulder. Slowly he climbed to his feet, blood running down his leg as the landscape wavered. He picked grit from his palms, searching for Mike, who was nowhere to be seen. Panicked, he finally spotted Mike up on the hillside he’d just descended, two hundred feet back up the route he’d taken, sprawled flat and unmoving.
The sound of the helicopters grew closer, echoing off the rock walls of the canyon. Leon vacillated, not sure if he should run for cover, but he couldn’t leave Mike.
He scrambled back up the hill again, tearing his hands on rocks, beyond caring. Mike lay face down, a spot of vomit below his head. Leon knew this was bad. His instinct was to research the symptoms, but he’d give away their location if he connected to the net now. Besides, the cause was obvious: serious heatstroke. Leon had never been this hot in his life.
He slung the backpack off and pulled out the last bottle. He struggled Mike up onto his side, had to stop to steady himself as the horizon swam. He poured precious water on Mike’s hair and face and chest, then took a long sip. He tipped a little into Mike’s mouth, who sputtered but didn’t open his eyes.
“We’ve got to get to some shade,” Leon said to no one, taking the final swig. “Right now.”
“We can’t wait for the sun to go down.” Leon looked around, puzzled. Who was he talking to?
“Come on, we can get to the shade over there.” He got up and walked a few steps toward the river bed, stopped. He was supposed to be doing something. Why did thinking hurt?
With a start, he remembered Mike. He staggered back, tried to lift the older man, but failed. Leon grabbed his arms instead, dragging Mike ten feet over the rough ground, until he found himself sitting down and couldn’t remember how he’d gotten that way.
Their situation was critical. If he didn’t do something, they were going to die. And yet, if he called for help over the net, he’d alert everyone to their location. The murderous AI and the violent People’s Party would descend on them, probably kill them.
He’d make one more attempt to get Mike to shelter. He struggled up, pulled Mike a few feet, and fell. Everything went dark. On the verge of passing out, he opened a net connection to broadcast a call for help.
His implant returned an error, NO SIGNAL AVAILABLE. He stared up at the tall valley walls on either side. The sun baked down on him. He tried to reach for the water bottle, but missed, getting only a handful of dry dust. That was the last thing he knew.
55
Cat spied on the bots five miles away, using their own sensors. Two drones rode the truck to the highway in case anyone tried to reach transportation, while the rest of the team spread out in a circle. Fire trucks and ambulances arrived, dispensing first responders into the building.