Sand Red

34

It had not occurred to me that on the route back, we would hit Syenins camp, too. I did a double take as I realized we might have driven past Syenin himself on our quick drive here!

I slowed to a stop and quickly shut off the engine to conserve fuel. If we had only just reached Syenin's camp, we were a rough hundred kilometers from home. Three hours' drive. We either sold the car or bought fuel or treated Aida here.

My mind was made in a fraction of a second. 'Get out,' I ordered Yul.

'We're not bloody stopping.'

I turned to look at him, ignoring the pain that bloomed in my side. 'She needs help NOW. We haven't got the fuel to get home. We stop here.' It was the first time I had ever truly made a decision for our group. It was tiring. I cannot emphasize enough that Yul is a goddamn child.

'Come on,' Aida said in a small voice. We both looked at her in surprise. We'd thought her unconscious.

Yul seemed to wake at the sound of her voice. He threw open the door.

I got out of the vehicle slowly, easing my sore skin out onto the burning sand. I scanned the horizon for Syenin suspiciously. What if his betrayal had been orchestrated?

The guards did not let us in. 'Haven' seen you b'fore,' a gruff red-headed man insisted.

'We just want a trade,' I said.

He shook his head stubbornly. 'Get out or you die.'

'Look at her!' Yul screamed. Aida lolled in his arms.

I pushed him back. I missed Jordan more than anything at that moment. It was his job to be leader. He was the father figure. I was just a boy. I wondered if he was alive, then realized my thoughts were wandering and forced my mind back to the present.

'En,' I forced myself to say. The words felt thick and heavy, and my tongue felt fat in my mouth. 'Syenin. Your leader, and the boy that came with us. Lars Johansen, scientist.'

He looked at me coldly. 'Where's Syenin, then?'

'Stole from us and ran away.'

His face hardened. 'That boy,' he growled. 'Came from the raider camp. It's in his blood.' He shook his head. 'Never liked him.' He squinted at me from under his thick brows. 'Alright. Nate, go fetch En.'

Yul's face broke into relief. 'Thank you.'

Nate returned a few minutes later, climbing over the large rocks that dotted this camp. I tensed. En was not with him.

'Says to kill 'em,' the boy half whispered. He looked at me, something like terror in his eyes.

Shit. Yul lurched back with Aida in his arms. I should have planned this part out. We were in no condition to fight. A getaway would have been appreciated. The giant of a man advanced.

'Sorry,' he said. He looked at me sympathetically. Bandaged, bleeding head, no weapon in sight. I crouched, deciding to play to my advantage that he didn't know I had a knife in my ankle.

I backed slowly away, sizing him up. He lumbered after me. Evidently not quick. He drew a wicked long blade from his waist. Thick like the raider minted blades. Built more for wild slashing than skill. I watched him like a hawk. My pain mounted on my back as I bent. He drew back towards the left, giving his move away. I leapt backwards as he jabbed towards me. Lightning quick, I drew my own blade and slammed into him as he recouped from the effort of his quick attack. In the moments before my blade buried itself in his massive chest, I noticed his hair was tinged with white.

I staggered back in pain and surprise as he tottered on his feet. The knife was buried up to its hilt in his ribcage, and my own panged in empathy. He was old. Old age was a rarity. Only the most ferocious fighters grew to be white haired men and women. He had white hair, and I had killed one of the old. He wailed as he pulled my dagger out of his chest and was brought to his knees.

Yul shoved past me. 'Come on!'

Aida whimpered in his arms. I started after him, tearing my eyes from the horror of what I had done.

There was yet another mistake to be made. Out of nowhere a shape jumped out at me from out behind a rock. Thank the sky I had no weapon. It was the boy, Nate. He moved violently with his knife, I barely just outsepped him, receiving a nick in my elbow as a result. I grabbed at his flailing wrists and elbows.

'Stop! Stop!' I yelled as he continued to struggle against my grip. What the hell were these people doing posting children as young as this on guard duty anyway? 'I don't want to hurt you!' I called. That scared him alright. He grew rigid.

'Let me go!' he snarled.

'Not until you give me that knife.'

He burst into a ball of vigour, trying to extricate himself from my grasp. I twisted his scrawny wrists. 'The knife and I let you go!' I shouted with an effort.

He screeched. I nearly loosened my fingers because of the absolute distress his voice carried. Unsettled by my reaction, I twisted his stick thin hands further back. He squealed and dropped the knife. I scrambled to pick it up, and fell back speedily in case he tried to launch himself on me again.

He didn't. We stood uneasily spaced apart. His sharp features were contorted in rage. 'You killed him!' he protested, sounding like he was about to cry. I looked around for Yul in alarm.

'He would have killed me,' I replied. I could hardly think. The landscape was empty but for us, the body, and the rocks. Had he been attacked or had he simply gone on without me? A different Yul, from a different time, would never have done that to me. But I could no longer be sure what Yul was.

'I hate you!' the child yowled. I winced as his voice rang in my ears. I had nearly forgotten about him. I probably had a concussion. I could hardly think straight. I moved forward, the boy's blade tightly in my grip.

'Where are you going?' he yelled.

I barely heard him. Tired out of my mind, half dead on my feet, in pain beyond imagination, I decided Yul had gone on, leaving me behind and I followed him like the faithful dog I was.