Lifeboat

34. The Beach

Shelter came in the form of a high sandbank a few metres away. The fading sun still hung on to the horizon, floating serenely over the sea.

"I'll take the first watch." Erica took position with her back to the sea.

I snorted, trying to ignore her solid, stable figure of power. Dante would never have made it this far without me. Why should she suddenly become the hero of the hour?

Dante let out a deep sigh and sank into the soft sand under the wall of protection. I envied his ability to relax. Was it something even necessary in my programming?

He slipped down into a curled foetal position and closed his eyes.

So simply. So easily.

The sea breeze flustered the mass of curls around my face. I strode up to Erica and took my place beside her. She continued to scan the landscape for signs of danger, her shoulders and jawline fixed upwards.

"Do you think they will come for us?" The question sounded ridiculous once I'd set it free.

She didn't bother to look at me when she replied.
"Of course. In fact, I expect them very soon."

"Then why did we waste our time to get him out?"

Erica glanced sideways at me.
"If we don't try we don't exist."

"That's a very profound statement this late in the day."

I wasn't sure if I wanted my crassness to lighten the mood or add sincerity to her words. I wasn't sure of a lot of things at that point.

Erica dropped to her knee and pressed her palm flat against the sand. She stared directly at me and shouted harshly.
"Can you feel that?"

A trembling of minute ripples washed underneath my feet.

Footsteps.

Several of them, and they were moving closer, rapidly.

"You have to get him out of here." Erica's voice wobbled and her eyes flicked quickly from the horizon to the dip of sand which held our precious sleeping cargo.

"What do you mean, 'You'?" The words quivered on my lips.

Erica straightened to her full height. Her large, lean hands gripped into powerful balls of fists beside her thighs. She focused her attention towards the edge of the line of trees to the right of the building we'd escaped from.
"There's not much time, Poll. I will try and hold them off. You need to get him to the Central Committee. They're the only ones who can change the course of the World Union State. Get him there and provide the evidence they need. The world is coming back to life. She's reborn and stronger than ever."

Throwing back her sculptured head, the young woman took long, purposeful steps away and over the expanse of sand drifts.

I had to make this count. Really, I had no idea what she was heading for, but I knew she was sacrificing her safety for ours. Or rather, for his.

Stumbling through the sand, I staggered back to Dante and slammed myself down into the base of the sand drift beside him.

"You have to get up, now." I spluttered in his sleeping face, etiquette be damned. "Dante! Move."

His eyelids flickered as he fought the strength of fatigue. Once he had triumphed, his deep brown eyes held mine.

I shook off the flicky emotional sensation his beautiful eyes gave me and grabbed hold of his hands.
"Get up. Time to make a move."

Groaning, he leaned against me and found his feet.

"People are approaching." I snapped into his ear. "We have to get out while Erica keeps them busy."

Dante wriggled weakly, a forlorn attempt at chivalry I supposed. I took a tighter grip of his elbow and led him away from the beach front and behind the line of concrete World Union building. The other side of the beach stretched on for miles without a hint of civilization.

I smiled.

Hanging onto me, Dante's weight began to wear me down after the first few hundred metres. No matter what, I owed it to Erica's brave sacrifice to continue this desperate journey.

Dante dragged his feet, his laboured breathing keeping time with our hurried paces. The swish of the incoming tide spaced out the pattern of our progress. A pale, embarrassed moon showed herself from behind dark, gloomy clouds.

We'd put a good distance between us and Erica's invaders. A dull squeal and a rapid chorus of gunfire rattled along the shoreline before it reached us.

Dante's hand grabbed mine. He squeezed and drew himself alongside me. Close enough to wheeze into my ear.
"She'll be okay. She's a tough one, that one."

I continued ploughing our path through the soft sand and turned my head back to face him. The smile I attempted to portray died on my lips. I prayed that the sincerity I felt would come across clearly in the words I wanted to say.
"Erica is everything. She believes in you, Dante. So do I. You can change the history of our world. Get in front of the Central Committee and tell them exactly what's going on. The lies, World Union's deception, nature's fight back."

I yanked his hand roughly and pulled him so close that I could feel his breath on my face.
"They don't own Nature. They don't own you and I'm coming to understand that they never did own me."

Dante's harsh grasps for breath subsided. Muffled angry voices ribboned their way across the sand. It seemed a lifetime away.

Taking my right hand into both of his large, sweaty palms, Dante stared deeply into my eyes, tears brimming along his eyelashes.
"If you are by my side, I think I could do anything."

I opened my mouth to give some kind of snarky backlash, but my train of thought was interrupted by one idea only.

He trusted me.

"You know," He whispered into my ear. "I can't remember a time without you, Tyke. Isn't that strange? I mean, for all of our battles and adventures, for the life of me, I find it hard to think back to a time without you. In one form or another."

He pulled away from me and we set off once more, he picked up the pace of our escape. His knees raising and lowering like pistons over the sand.
"Maybe you're the important piece of the puzzle here, Poll. It could be down to you to get the truth out there."

Turning and grinning at me, my charismatic Alessandro nearly brought me to my knees. I stumbled, smirked and kept up with his blazing pace, as he continued his monologue.

"You're closer to the roots of life than all of us. You were designed to be compassionate, ingenious and unfortunately, ruthless. I should know."

His delirious confession began to trouble me. I snapped my hand away from him and stopped to check on the distance we'd put behind us.
"How exactly would you know?"

A hint of aggravation must have come through in my tone. He took some seconds to respond. When he did, his voice throbbed out in a low hum. Careful and controlled.
"My wife designed you. She let me see the blueprints. I should have known they would use it. You're a miracle."