Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 15 - SCARE-TACTICS

"We need to be further east," Ellis told me matter-of-factly. "That's what Nia said. We should be as close to the Riverside border as possible."

Bryn made a face. "Nah, nah, kiddo. If we run into him, he's gonna be all weirded out and get suspicious. Your book learning is useless out here, El. If anything, I say we go further west."

"What he said," Rhodri muttered. "No one's dumb enough to cross by Riverside, because then you've got both packs on your arse, and Lloyd knows that."

I stepped over the bone fence. One of my trainers snagged on a ribcage, and I had to lean down and tug it free, doing my absolute best not to touch it, because it looked human. There were shifter remains on every pack's bone fence, of course, but I did see one skull which was so rotten that only the teeth and some of the lower jaw remained. It must have been decades old — pre-dated the war, even, so that was weird.

"Quiet, the lot of you," I told them all when my feet were firmly planted on New Dawn land. "I'm leading the raid, and I say we cross here, so guess what? That's what we're bloody doing."

My little brother bounced on his toes. "But Nia said—"

"Shut up, El," the three of us said in unison.

Sam was next to cross the fence. He didn't want to be here. He thought he was doing a good job of hiding it, but he hadn't smiled once since we'd got out of the car, and he kept looking over his shoulder. Ellis didn't want to be here either. He was being bribed with the promise of some scientific journals or something along those lines.

Bryn and Rhodri and me — we did want to be here. Trespassing was always a laugh. It was the circumstances that made me uncomfortable.

"Do you hear that?" Rhodri asked as he stepped over to join us.

I didn't. Not at first. But when I cocked my head and concentrated, I could make out a low whining sound further down the fence.

"Bloody drones," he said. "Emmett was telling me about it. They fly them around the border a couple times a day."

"Dumbasses," I muttered. "Ain't gonna catch nobody."

Rhodri shrugged. "True, but that's not the point. If you cross the border and they work out where you are, they can use the drones to keep eyes on you. Outrun the flockies all you like — you can't race a bloody drone, and they've got infrared cameras on them so you can't hide, neither."

New Dawn would be the death of us. They already had miles of electric fence at the easiest crossing points, cameras hidden in trees and even a few infrared tripwires. There was a reason we didn't raid here without thorough planning and strength in numbers. Neither of which I had today.

I scratched the back of my neck and threw a nervous glance in the drone's direction. "Well ... shit, I guess. Wanna shake a leg, lads?"

Bryn decided to use a tree branch to swing himself over the bone fence because mediocracy was beneath him. Finally, Ellis picked his way gingerly between two deer carcasses. Screw strength in numbers and proper planning — I had a motley crew of children and civilians, and our only plan was to get real close to the Alpha and then get spectacularly busted.

Into the trees we went. We walked for nearly a mile before the patrol found us. We'd been sloppy deliberately, but my pride was smarting all the same. They would have found our scents not even a minute after we'd crossed the border, and they had followed it all the way to the fern-covered clearing where we had stopped to let Bryn tie his shoelaces.

"Surrender nicely, now, and we might just let you live," a voice drawled from the trees, and was the first I knew of it. All five of us turned fast enough to give ourselves whiplash.