Partials

Eventually even those woods thinned, and Kira looked out across a wide expanse of streets and cross streets and flat, empty parking lots. Squat buildings rose up like fat, sagging mushrooms, and the pavement was cracked and dotted with weeds and trees, but even so it was terrifyingly open.

“Another strip mall,” she whispered. “We can’t cross this.”

“You want to go around?” asked Marcus, crouching down to catch his breath. “Or just turn west? We’ve been walking north for miles now, surely we’re close to the bay Jayden was talking about.”

“That or we’ve gone too far,” said Jayden, “and we’re about to run straight into the farms.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can go,” said Xochi. Kira could barely see her face in the darkness, but her voice was starting to slur with exhaustion.

“We can’t stop,” Samm insisted.

“We don’t have your endurance,” said Jayden. “I’ve trained for this, but they could collapse at any moment. We’ve been running for what, nine miles? Ten?”

“Eight point four,” said Samm. He didn’t even seem tired.

“I’m fine,” wheezed Marcus, but Kira thought he looked ready to fall over. Xochi could barely even talk.

“We go west,” said Kira. “The sooner we get into a boat, the sooner we can rest.”

Xochi nodded and lurched forward, pained but determined. Samm jogged forward to take the lead, and the rest fell into a slow, limping line behind him.

The side road slanted west around the strip mall, then slowly curved south again. Samm gave another signal and then dropped into the bushes, waiting in tense, rasping silence as a pair of horses clopped past them. They waited longer, giving the horses time to get far ahead, then crawled to their feet and pressed forward, shambling painfully on legs too tired to move any faster. Kira’s burn was agonizing now, an unrelenting fire deep inside her leg. She curled her hands into tight fists, taking short breaths and trying not to think about it. I just need to make it to that tree. Just that one tree, and then I’ll be fine. Just a few more steps. Now that tree, just beyond. That’s all I have to do. One tree at a time.

“I can smell the ocean,” said Samm, and soon Kira could as well—salty and heavy, cool and bracing in the night air. They redoubled their efforts, panting loudly, no longer caring about stealth but simply trying not to stop. The trees gave way to another shopping center, and another beyond that. Marcus walked closer to Kira now, shaky as well but doing his best to support her. She clung to his arm and hobbled forward.

“This way,” said Samm, turning north on the next road. Moonlight glistened on a silver expanse of water, smooth as black glass, and Kira looked eagerly for a boat. There was nothing.

“It’s too shallow here,” she panted. “We have to keep going.”

“‘Boats all over the North Shore,’” Jayden muttered. Kira didn’t have the breath to respond.

Samm led them through a wide courtyard, wading through waist-high saplings with buildings on every side. They heard more hoofbeats on the road behind them, and they collapsed into the underbrush with abject exhaustion. This time the riders stopped, their horses slowly turning as they examined the area.

“Think it was them?” said one.

“That or a cat,” said the other. They eased their horses closer, still looking around. Moonlight glinted faintly off the long metal lines of their rifles.

“Too much noise for a cat,” said the first. “Give me the light.”

Kira didn’t dare to move or even breathe. The second rider pulled a flashlight from his saddlebag and handed it to the first, who clicked it on and shined it at the building on their left—a church of some kind, broken and leafy. Samm moved his rifle into position, sighting carefully at the first rider, but Kira shook her head: We can’t afford the noise.

We can’t kill our own people.

There was a soft knock on a far wall, and the riders looked up in unison. They shined the light on the building, but Kira couldn’t see anything. They led their horses toward it, and Xochi whispered softly.

“I threw a rock. Let’s get out of here before they come back.”

They crept backward through the brush, inch by inch, always keeping their eyes on the riders. Marcus stood and hurled another rock, farther this time, and the riders paused, listened, and finally followed it. Kira stood as well, leaning on Samm as she rose, and the group backed around the corner of the ruined church.

“There’s more over there,” Samm whispered, pointing west toward the bay. He looked at Kira, his eyes lost in shadow. “Sooner or later we’re going to have to shoot someone.”

Kira closed her eyes, trying to clear her head. “I know this is dangerous, and I know it might come to guns—that’s why we have them. But I don’t want to shoot anybody if we can get away with it.”

“We might not have a choice,” said Samm.