He nodded his head and looked indifferently at me. “Are you done?”
“Not even. I might throw up. I need to pee, and if I get any hotter, I'm going to crap all over this canyon floor.”
“Well, where to start, I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Noah,” he said, moving his backpack to the ground. “We can stop here for water and your personal needs.” Noah handed me a thick piece of salted meat. I smelled it and gnawed a bit from the end.
“If this is drugged, you're going to have to carry me. Better yet, just leave my corpse here in the dirt, but either way I will piss all over the place in a few minutes,” I yelled.
“I understand my options, now let's find you a private spot.” Noah led me to the edge of the cliff face, there was a narrow path to a sizeable landing with nowhere else to go but over the side. I was handed a bundle of fabric strips and left to my task.
“You can look away now. I can't go anywhere from here.” I yelled behind me.
“What if you fall over the edge?” The young man questioned while looking around at the vast open miles of sand.
“Are you going to fly down and save me? Turn around pervert.” This was not a dignified activity by any means, but it was made all the more frustrating by the total lack of privacy or usual accommodations.
“Fine! But I would save you if I could, and your information about us is totally wrong. We don't eat people, and we can't fly.” Noah turned his back to me grinding his heal sharply in the rock as he turned.
I found a shaded nook between the rock wall and the edge and squatted down.
SURVIVORS REMORSE
“In breaking news, a brawl broke out in the township of Mid Valley. Authorities were summoned to the East commerce square at half-past nine this evening with reports of multiple gunshots fired.
“Several witnesses reported the abduction of four young women. At the time, a small crowd celebrated the successful execution of the area’s most recently convicted murderer. Reports are still trickling in from the scene, but there are three citizens confirmed dead and twelve injured so far.”
“Jason. Jason, wake up.” Difference was in the ambulance with me. His frantic tone pulled me from my forced sleep, bringing along all the pain I was escaping. “They took her. They took Karine. We have to go after her, they have been gone for half an hour now.” Diff explained excitedly.
“Take my phone. Call my grandfather, tell him everything, then call Kar's parents. We have to get men out looking for her,” I explained.
“I’ve called your grandfather. He's on his way to the medical station now. He wanted to be the one to tell Kar's family.”
“She was in the car. I should have driven off. I stayed to fight them. I should have run.” This was my fault. “She would be safe at home if I didn't take her out tonight.”
“You did what you needed to do. The Reds only got away with four this time. In past years they took ten or more women,” Diff explained.
“Who else did they take? Was there any with lineage, we need men to overwhelm the Red encampments,” I asked, surveying the injuries I could feel.
“They took Blue Bell Tilley, and people are saying two other young girls are missing from the crowd.”
“That's good the Tilley's will pull in the Coopers and the Winslows. We need the most current air surveillance to find them. We need to get the local armies on the right encampment.” I could see the local military grid in my mind, the list of families that would band together to find Karine was large.
“Did you get a tracker on her commerce bracelet?” Diff asked, rubbing his bruised arm.
“No. Damn it, I opted for health information instead. Get it hacked. Tell Dredge what you need. He can give you access to my room. The packaging with all the device information is on my desk still.
“She traded herself for me Diff. She bargained with that animal for my life. I tried to shoot them, but I was out of bullets. I could have killed her. I could barely see to shoot straight before I passed out.”
“Keep that shit to yourself. Don't tell anyone else you fired even one round. People died and the authorities want a reason to take guns from the civilian class. We were drinking, and we were fired upon. That's all the story we have to tell.” I nodded in agreement. Diff brought up a touchy situation that I hadn't fully considered.
“Tell my grandfather what happened, all of it, he will know what to do.” We reached the medical station quickly. The main hospital was over twenty minutes away and government-run. My grandfather called in his private physicians and a plastic surgeon to meet me at the local facility for treatment.
The families pulled together and mobilized over a hundred men, including Kar's brother and father. Karine's mother, Rose, had to be sedated and occupied the room a few doors down from mine. Even the Tilly women were joining the rescue efforts. With the local government's help, the newly formed militia set out towards the closest Red stronghold.
We voted to remove the Red encampments from the area. This recent Red kidnapping gave the authorities the fuel needed to launch a full-scale removal. I hoped I would be released soon enough to use the public outrage to gain support for a large-scale attack on the last known encampment.
There was no reason for us to think any danger would be at the vendor square, let alone a Red hostage run on our women. I was going for the driver's seat. She was safe in the backseat. I choose to stay and
