She turned and looked him in the eye. “We can’t stay here. We need to get very far away.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“They have initiated a dissolution protocol for this region. The Council has lost patience with the death of our… their Messenger.”
Rogers pointed at her. “Cut the bullshit. What does this mean in human?”
“They will leave and take the community with them.”
Jacob pushed forward. “No… we have to stop them.”
“That isn’t all,” Karina said in a lower tone. “They will release the wit—” She stopped, thinking of the human word. “They will release the Deltas on this area. Not only that, they will rapidly multiply the number of them. This region will be blocked off until nothing living remains. My people call this ‘the quell’.”
Rogers clenched his fist, looking at her then catching the fear in Jacob’s eyes. “When is this going to happen?”
“It’s already begun,” she said. “This patrol was out looking for survivors and recovering the dead; the last mission before the area is abandoned and moved to the south.”
Rogers turned and called to the pair of soldiers waiting at the bottom of the ramp. He removed a dog-eared notebook from his chest pocket and wrote a series of instructions then folded the paper and placed it into the palm of the nearest soldier. “I need you to get back to the tower and get on the radio, the same frequency they are using. The tower should have the power to override their transmission. I want you to call out to anyone and everyone in the area to converge on the community. The grid coordinates are on the paper. We have to attack and destroy it now, or everyone in this area will be killed.”
“Wait, I can do better,” Karina said. “This vehicle has the ability to change and rebroadcast the message. The community will not know that it’s happening.”
Rogers looked at her. “Why would you do that?”
“I told you… I am now one of you; I belong to your communal. It is our way.”
“Then get it done. Do it now,” Rogers said.
He turned back to the soldier. “I need you to get back to Meaford. According to our turncoat here, the area should be clear. You need to rally everyone and get them moving against the orb. We need to attack at dusk. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“Move… we’re counting on you,” Rogers said. He paused and turned to Karina. “Can you drive this hippie wagon?”
Chapter Eighty-One
Laura stumbled into the darkness of the backyard. There were no lights, only the moonlight reflecting off the high steel wall circling the communal. She moved along a clapboard fence, pulling Katy behind her and searching for a place to hide. She knew Francis would return soon, and she needed to be gone. When he found Taurine, he would report her, then the Deltas would come. She crept along the fence, wending her way through an overgrown garden, deeper into high grass and away from the homes along the street.
The tall and solid wall reflected back at her mockingly; she wouldn’t be able to escape this way. A noise in the house startled her. Someone was pounding on the locked door—they would find Taurine soon. She needed someplace to hide, to get as far from here as she could. She pressed against the clapboard fence, searching the boards. She found loose panels and pried at them with her bare hands, scraping her knuckles until they bled. A board came loose. She pulled it free and worked on the one next to it, finding it easier to pull away.
Laura stuck her head through the hole in the fence, searching until she was sure the way was clear. Quickly, she whirled back and guided Katy through the opening ahead of her. She scrambled through just before a beam of light began searching the backyard. She could hear Francis calling out for her, shouting her name, making promises she knew he wouldn’t be able to keep. Laura took one last chance, reached through, and was able to stack the loose boards back over the hole. They wouldn’t pass a close inspection, but right now, in the dark, it may be enough to conceal her route.
Straining her eyes, she searched the neighbor’s backyard. Less than fifty feet wide, covered with tall grass, and an overgrown garden at the back, it had a similar layout. She squinted, spotting a dark shadowed area in the corner—a large garden shed. Laura clenched her jaw; it could work… it had to work. She ran across the yard, dragging Katy behind her, imagining a swarm of Reds already storming the house, finding their dead witch, and releasing the hounds into the yard to search for her. There would be no sparing her now, no second chances.
She tried to think of the brief survival lessons on evasion they taught her back at the base—what to do if they were attacked, if the Deltas got into the base and she had to escape. Back then she had a rifle and they taught her to use it, but even the military instructor training them knew the rifle would be her last resort. It was drilled into her that her best defense was to hide, and that’s exactly what she would do now. She approached the garden shed and found the door locked with a pin. It was easily removed, but she would have no way to re-lock it from the inside. The door would open freely without it.
The door slid open like a barn; she dragged it just enough so that she could slip inside. She guided Katy in behind her and let the barn door slide shut. Moonlight shone in through a small skylight placed in the roof and a row of smaller windows in the front. She looked around the space, gasping and out of breath. Her eyes watered as she tried to focus on the room in front of her. Laura crept over the wooden floor of the small shed and past
