Mahingga

Chapter 25: Paingitan

Ako awoke early after another night of fitful sleep. He sat up and watched as the stars faded with the rising sun.

Melovi stirred and woke up Kita with a fit of fake coughs. Ako rolled his eyes at the gesture. Kita stood with a yawn. Even with her hair unwashed and a little matted, it still looked beautiful in the dim, morning light.

Ako diverted his eyes quickly as she glanced at him. The same thing had happened a dozen times while Ako had stared at her at the Leytrain station.

They had a quick meal of the food reserves that Melovi had brought from the Freedom Alliance hideout. "Here we go," Melovi said, clipping his pack on. Ako couldn't help but notice that, instead of slinging his gun over his shoulder like he normally did, Melovi held it in his hands instead. They started at a strong walking pace. Kita and Melovi were obviously more fit than Ako, but his determination made it easy for him to keep up.

Melovi led them through a tiny thicket, and Ako spared a glance at the distant town as if he expected somebody to be following their trail, but he saw nothing suspicious. They walked on for two more hours before they saw any other sign of civilization: another town that looked the same size as the last one. However, Melovi seemed to be leading them through the lower ground, avoiding hills, and he also stuck to the terrain that had more tree coverage, so Ako was only able to get glimpses of the surrounding landscape.

"Wait here," Melovi said after they'd walked yet another two hours. He strode off through a few trees ahead of them.

They'd stopped at the foot of a large hill, pockmarked with thick, yellow-leaved bushes. The going had gotten rougher as they had to dodge around the thicker underbrush. "It's interesting that the landscape can change so much just as we keep walking. In Dagatan, it's all the same," Ako commented.

"Except for Bato. That island's creepy. Nothing lives there."

"Not true," Ako said defensively, folding his arms.

"But I do agree about the scenery. The biological compound has shifted quite a bit. I feel like I should be keeping samples to take back to the university," Kita said, plucking a yellow leaf from one of the bushes and putting it in her pocket.

"Back to the university?"

"Yeah, when we go back home." Kita gave him a look that said he was an idiot. "It's not like I'm just gonna drop out of university. I've still got to be the first Pawid to graduate there of course. Someone needs to prove that Pawids are just as smart as you snobby Mahinggans." She gave him one of her rare, wicked grins.

"Right," Ako said, scratching the back of his head.

"What, you seem surprised."

"No, I just thought you were going to stay here with your people."

Kita gave him a cold look. "Ako, I was raised on Mahingga. My only experience with this place is the same as yours, and what I've heard in stories. I'm as much a Mahinggan as you are, just not in appearance. I would've thought you could tell that by now."

The words bit, and Ako felt equally reprimanded.

When Melovi came striding silently out of the trees, Ako half expected him to be holding some kind of lizard, but he wasn't. "Okay, we're almost to the city. There's a road that goes east and west up ahead. We'll walk in from there. Come on." He turned and led them back the way he'd come.

"Into the city? Aren't we going to the FA compound?" Ako asked.

Melovi laughed. "Yeah, we are. This one's not some hideout in the wilderness, it's staged at a computer repair shop in the city. Other FA members go in as employees or customers as a front, and some of them live in the apartments above the shop. It works as a good cover."