Voices of Dragons

21

Kay was able to run faster and farther without carrying all the gear.

She was now west of Silver River and a good ten miles from where her mother had parked. Ten miles from where she had left Jon behind with the army, wondering what had happened. They must have seen the smoke from the crash, if not the entire battle. Not to mention all the showing off beforehand.

Digging in her backpack, she found her cell phone and gave it a try. She didn’t care if the military was listening in—she figured they’d find her sooner or later at this point. But she had to know if people were okay. She got reception, barely. She called Jon, but he didn’t answer. He’d probably been arrested, and it was her fault. But she’d warned him, she’d told him to stay away. But she wouldn’t blame him if he never spoke to her again. She left a message begging him to call back.

She called her mother. The phone rang and rang—

Her mother must have been talking as soon as she the saw the caller ID, before she even clicked talk.

“Oh my God! Kay, where are you? Are you all right? Kay!” The voice was scratchy, coming in and out of range.

“I’m okay, Mom. I’m fine. I’m heading south, I’m trying to figure out where I am.” She wasn’t sure she was getting through. She couldn’t hear a response. “Mom—”

The co

She hiked another mile, maybe two, exhausted but still moving quickly, determined to get across the creek. She could hear ru

Her phone rang—she must have been back in range. Looking, she expected it to be her mother, but it wasn’t. It was Tam.

Her friend didn’t even say hello. “Kay, what’s going on? What have you been doing? Was that even you? The news is saying it was you, but that couldn’t possibly have been you. Could it?”

For a moment, Kay debated about what tell her, how little she could get away with saying. Then she realized that Tam would know she was holding back, and Kay didn’t want to lie anymore.

“It was me,” she said, and felt a flush of relief to be talking with her friend again.

“Oh my God, you’re crazy. Are you out of your mind?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Kay said with a sigh. “I tried talking to my mom, but the phone cut out, and I can’t get ahold of Jon. What’s been happening? What are people saying?”

“The army’s everywhere. I mean everywhere. And the cops and the newspeople. The pictures of you and that thing are all over the TV, the internet—”

Artegal, Kay wanted to tell her. That thing’s name is Artegal.

“—someone told somebody I’m your best friend, and they’ve been camping out on my lawn!”

“I’m sorry,” Kay murmured.

“Kay, how long has this been going on? I saw the video—you’ve obviously been doing this a while. How long?” Kay didn’t answer, but Tam barely gave her time to. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”

“I was scared,” she said.

“Did you think you couldn’t trust me?”

If they’d been face-to-face, they both would have been crying. But right now, Tam sounded too angry for it, and Kay was too tired. Her shoulders and arms ached, the blisters on her hands had come back, and she still had a long way to hike.

“That’s not it,” Kay said with a sigh. “I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Where are you now?” Tam said. “Do you need a ride? I’ll come get you.”

“I can’t really say, I’m afraid they’re listening to my calls.”

“Oh my God!” Tam said, outraged.

“Hey, I think I figured out where I am. You know that picnic area where we had my birthday party a couple of years ago?” Maybe that was cryptic enough to confuse any eavesdroppers. “Can you meet me there? Tam, they may try to follow you.”

“What is this, some kind of spy movie?”

“Never mind, I don’t want to get you in trouble. You should stay out of it.”

“Hell no, I’m coming to get you.”

“Tam—”

“No arguing. I’m walking out of the house right now.”

“Okay. Thank you, Tam. Just—thanks.”

“You sound awful, Kay.”

“I’ll be okay. Have you heard from Jon?”

“No. But the news says the military has a ‘person of interest’ in custody. That couldn’t be him, could it?”

“Probably. Crap.”

“Hang in there. I’m on my way, okay?”

“Okay. Tam—thanks.”

“Just be careful, Kay.”

They clicked off, and Kay kept hiking.

She finally reached the stream—it was wider here, farther downstream than where she usually crossed. Without a bridge or even stepping stones within sight, she plunged into the freezing water and waded across, slogging against the current, gritting her teeth as her hiking boots soaked through and her legs grew cold. She just wanted to get to safety. Once she got to the main road, she could follow it the picnic area where she’d told Tam to meet her. She guessed it was just a mile or so away, and hoped she was right.

Her feet and legs were numb, and she was shivering, but she kept moving and it wasn’t so bad. She’d stay warm if she kept moving. Helicopters—news and military—passed overhead, but she pressed herself to a tree for cover, stayed still, and they didn’t see her.

She hoped Artegal was okay.

Kay heard sirens in the distance, coming closer.

She stayed in the trees, away from the road and trails, as she slogged on, as fast as she could. She was cold, wet, shivering; the faster she moved, the warmer she’d be, and that kept her going. The sooner she met Tam, the better.

After the sirens faded, the voices started. Men, shouting at one another in the woods. “This way…. She’s been here…. We’re getting close….” The voices seemed to surround her.

In a panic, she almost sat down and gave up. But no, if she were quick, if she kept to the trees, they wouldn’t find her. She’d been ru

Now she knew what it felt like to be hunted.

She tried to remember the rules of climbing: She had to keep breathing. She had to breathe, slow and steady, because that would keep her from getting even more scared. So she concentrated on breathing and on where she was putting her feet. One foot in front of the other, quick and careful. She kept an eye on the forest floor ahead of her, all the protruding branches, stones, and detritus waiting to trip her up, every place she could slip.

The cops or army guys or whoever they were made a lot of noise. They crashed through the trees, skidded on the ground, their heavy boots pounding, shouting at one another. Maybe there were just a lot of them.

They seemed to be moving along the river, downstream. They figured she had to cross somewhere, so that was where they concentrated their search. She never caught a glimpse of them, which she figured was a good thing—if she never saw them, maybe they never saw her. When the noises came close, she crouched low, close to a tree trunk, and didn’t move until they’d faded again. She wasn’t camouflaged, wearing jeans and her black parka. But she wasn’t brightly colored, and if she stayed still, she blended into shadows.

That was how she got past them.

She waited until the forest around her was quiet. Not even a breeze rattled the trees, although she could hear aircraft in the distance. For a long moment, she didn’t believe she was really safe—they were waiting to pounce as soon as she started moving again. But no one was there.

Carefully, she moved from the trees to an open meadow. She still had to work to keep from breathing in panicked gasps. Looking around, she recognized landmarks—the big hill that the highway curved around, a rocky crag that looked kind of like a hunched bear. The picnic area was a half mile south. Her parents had a pocket GPS tracker—it usually lived in the glove box of her mother’s car. She mostly used it for work, but sometimes they used it hiking. Kay wished she had it now—she’d have to think about taking it for next time. She felt a twinge at that—was there even going to be a next time?