Lethal Love

Elise

Aaron and I ran through the woods, desperate to get away before Biggs caught us.

Correction, Aaron ran and carried me. I could walk for awhile but after a couple of hours I became weak, and Aaron had to work twice as hard to keep us moving.

We only stopped when it was pitch black. But one of us kept watch while the other slept. As soon as the sun came up, one of us woke up the other and we repeated the same day again.

I was used to being hungry when I lived with the Resistance, but Aaron needed time to adapt to the hunger. There were times where the hunger made him angry and he lashed out at me, blaming me for persuading him to help me.

It was during times like these when I reminded Aaron of his family. I reminded him of the safety the Resistance could give them when we reached the base. If we ever reached the base.

Aaron predicted that by car, it would take approximately an hour to get from Biggs' house to the Resistance base. But by foot, it would take longer. Especially in my condition.

Now we were resting. We knew that there was no way Biggs would find us this far. 

"Did you try the com again?" Aaron asked.

I tapped the earpiece. "Adam?"

Nothing. As expected. I tried everyday, praying to hear Adam's voice. Or better, Blake's. Adam was always on the coms, and there was a bigger chance of him hearing me than anyone else.

"It's not working." I mumbled. "They probably think I'm dead. Or stopped looking for me."

"Hey, don't say that. You believe in these people. A lot. They won't give up."

I looked up at the sky. The clear blue that kept me calm.

Way far off in the distance was the Square. I knew that the Resistance base was miles away from it.

I gazed at the rows of power poles surrounding the Square, powering the GKE's various devices.

"That's it." I murmured. "Frequencies."

Aaron scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. "Sorry, what?"

"Frequencies, Aaron! Remember that lecture at the lab on the electromagnetic field?"

"No...I fell asleep during the lecture and you took notes for me, remember?"

"Ugh, okay. The point is, the Resistance draws energy directly from the power poles and the alternating current is input to an antenna which creates an electromagnetic field suitable for wireless communication."

Aaron grabbed his head. "No, big words."

"Just listen. Their servers get energy from the power poles, right? Which means the Resistance radio has a specific frequency. The coms don't have a field since they don't have antenna. They pick up power from the Resistance's radio frequency!" 

"Okay. English?"

"When I was trapped at Biggs', my com was disabled because the Resistance servers block their communication devices if they show up in unknown locations, so Biggs wouldn't be able to use the com to track the Resistance signal. The antenna is where the signal comes from and the quickest way to reach it is by getting on the frequency."

"And how do we do that?"

"Simple. I'm gonna climb one of these trees and pray that it works."

I grabbed the tree trunk and didn't hesitate to move up the tree.

"Woah, okay. I don't understand what this has to do with frequency."

 I grabbed a branch to sit on so I could explain. "Electromagnetic frequency increases in altitude. Meaning, I have a better chance of reaching the Resistance radio if I climb this tree. Do you understand now?"