Salvage

Fifteen - Part 2

Aurora was running on fumes. She had started focused, angry, but now it felt like her feet were a throbbing mass of pain, her head was pounding, vision blurry from straining in the dark. The night was vast out here, scattered liberally with stars, and the beauty of it all had taken her breath away, at first. Now, she had no breath to spare on beauty, and she cursed the moonless sky.

It must be almost dawn by now, surely. She could swear she saw the horizon starting to lighten. They'd been going for hours, up the mountain, feeling their way, but no matter how fast they went, it seemed as if those pinpoints of light behind kept climbing a little faster. Aurora's heart was pounding, with both fear and effort, and their last rest felt so far behind, it was laughable.

"Do you hear that?" Adam's hushed, panting voice came from a little ways ahead, and Aurora blinked her bleary eyes, stopping before she ran into him.

"Hear what?" She swallowed hard around her dry throat. She'd probably be coughing up dust for a week after this damn hike.

"I hear it too." Chinook was up in front leading the way, now, and not limping so badly.

As Aurora's breathing calmed and her heartbeat slowed, she began to hear it too. The steady thump, fast approaching. "Copter," she said grimly. "We gotta find cover."

The helicopter had been making rounds overhead all night. They'd had to take cover at least three times so its spotlight beam didn't find them. It was slowing their progress and making it easier for those on foot to catch up, which was... probably the point.

Her limbs felt heavy as she followed the two dark shapes of her friends, trusting them to find cover this time. She was done. It was taking literally everything left in her to keep her legs moving, to plant her feet on the unforgiving rocks again. She blinked as she felt Adam's strong hand gripping her wrist, pulling her along, and down under a rocky overhang. She stumbled and dropped to the ground, rolling back under the rock and shrinking back. She felt Chinook's soft hair brushing her arm, and Adam's fingers sliding down to her palm, and closed her eyes, taking in their comforting presence. They were together. At least she wouldn't die alone.

Her eyes popped open as that thought flitted into her mind. They weren't going to freaking die. They had food, water. They were smart. Their pursuers were getting closer, gaining on them, probably going to find them in another pass, maybe even this one. But even if they got caught, they wouldn't die, just get taken back to that place.

Well. Not all of them. They wouldn't take Aurora. They'd probably kill her on sight. She did cause all this trouble, after all. She wasn't valuable to them. Better to get shot out here than dragged back into that cell to let the guards play with her.

The helicopter was closer, now, and the loud noise helped drown out her spiraling thoughts. She clasped Adam's hand tighter and risked peeping open one eye. She went pale as she saw the beam of a flashlight, small, flashing, back and forth, close. Too close. Maybe only a hundred feet back. They weren't hidden enough this time.

"Shit." Adam breathed the word in a breath of a whisper.

Aurora squeezed his hand hard, gritting her teeth, every muscle tense. She was tired, but a last surge of adrenaline was kicking in, and she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Dust stirred in the air wildly, whipping up into curling patterns highlighted by the bright spotlight beam. The helicopter was right above them, now, and it wasn't moving this time. The wide ray of light began to move, shifting back and forth, and Aurora felt like she had to scream to let the tension out.

She curled her fingernails into her own leg, the pain cutting through the panic. With a last flicker, the adjusting light found their hidey hole, and Aurora squinted from the brilliance of it. Shifting her body up into a squat, she glanced over at Adam. He was shaking, but clasping Chinook tightly, protectively. Their eyes met over the girl's head, and Aurora felt a sudden measure of peace. She knew what she had to do.

"Give me the tracker." She had to talk loudly over the sound of the helicopter hovering just above. They'd leave her body out in the desert for the animals. The tracker hadn't worked in that place, or close to it, but it worked out here. At least if Jane found her, they'd have a clue as to where the other kids might be. She just wished she could've said goodbye to Ros.

Adam stared at her, shaking his head. "No."

"Please." Aurora drew in a deep breath and held out her hand. "Trust me."

He hesitated only another moment, and Aurora glanced over, unable to see anything in the darkness outside the circle of light, now. She looked back to Adam and saw him reach into his pocket, and reluctantly hold out the plastic square. It was still beeping every few seconds. She grabbed it and thrust it into her pocket, nodding at him grimly, then turned towards the entrance. Scooting out from under the lowest part of the overhang, Aurora got to her feet, feeling her knees almost buckle before she straightened to her full height. Clenching her fists at her sides, she lifted her chin, and waited.

It was only a few seconds, but Aurora could feel everything clearly. The wind from the helicopter lifting her hair, whipping it around her face. The dust battering her skin, the dull relentless thudding of the blade, the circle of blinding light. Adam and Chinook, clasping each other behind her. It was all crystallized, suspended in time.

Then, she saw a figure she didn't expect, leaping into the light towards her. A huge, muscular dog, legs bunching and leaping forward across the open area, reaching her in two seconds. Terror dried her mouth and she drew back her foot, ready to fend him off.

"Wait!" It was Adam, shouting hoarsely. Aurora froze, as Adam stumbled forward towards the dog and fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around its neck and burying his face in its fur. "Vader... Good fucking boy Vader... You're the best dog in the whole universe... Where's Jane, boy? Did you bring her?"

Realization dawned, and the flood of relief weakened her knees to the point that she had to lean against the boulder above so she wouldn't fall. Another figure stepped into the light, and she almost fainted with relief when she recognized him. Jamison.

As his handsome grinning features came to light, she heard a screech from behind her and Chinook took off running towards him, stumbling in the boots that were a little too big for her, before wrapping her arms around him tight and burying her face in his chest, sobbing, body shaking with it. Jamison's arms wrapped around her and pulled her close.

"They found us." Aurora's lips felt numb as she whispered the words. She was unable to truly believe it, even as she watched a rope ladder dropping down into the pool of light. More figures came out of the darkness, some familiar, some strangers, and began to set up a protective perimeter around the area.

Two younger men wearing EMT uniforms came forward to gently pry Chinook away from Jamison, and began to give her a cursory check. The rope ladder swayed and shook as another familiar figure climbed down and landed in the dust, spinning to face them all. Jane Derrington. The woman's usually cold face was tired, ragged, and as her eyes swept over them, a myriad of emotions were clear. At first, pure joy. Then confusion, anger, fear. She stepped forward, clocking Adam's stooped form, Chinook's sobbing, shaking body, but her gaze fixed on Aurora.

Aurora drew up her chin as Jane approached. "You found us," she repeated again. Maybe if she said it aloud it would sink in.

"Yes." Jane paused and peered into the little overhang behind them, and her eyes grew even more dark and shadowed. "Where... Where are the rest?"

Aurora felt the tears begin to rise once more, and this time, she knew she didn't have the strength to stop them. She got the words out quickly. "Had to leave them. Couldn't get out with... so many." At the last word, her voice broke, and she lost the control she'd maintained. She dropped to the ground in a crouch, burying her face in her hands. Cool fingers softly brushed her cheek, the top of her head, and through her silent tears, she heard Jane's response.

"We're going to find them, too. Or we'll die trying."