Turncoat: Turncoat Trilogy Book 1

Chapter 20.5

The next morning, we packed up the gear we were taking with us, along with some medical supplies for myself and Nick, and said goodbye to Gran. She met us out by a small groundcar with a large weapons box at her feet. “Nick, I believe you can make better use of this than I can,” she said handing him the case. It was easily as long as she was tall. Nick set the case on the trunk of the car and opened it, revealing a scorched sniper rifle inside. “It was my sons, take care of it.”

“Thank you, I will,” Nick said.

“You better,” she said. “I’ve sent word ahead to the next house, they’re expecting you around this time tomorrow. Don’t stop for anything.”

“Of course,” Vicki nodded. “Tawny, you’re in the backseat again and make sure to keep your tags hidden and your bionics covered.”

I nodded and slipped in the back seat. Nick took the passenger seat and settled in.

“That car is registered to a dead man, so don’t get caught,” Gran said. “Good luck.”

“We’ll need more than luck,” Vicki muttered.

Gran narrowed her eyes.

“Thank you,” I said. “She means thank you.”

Gran nodded and Vicki started the car and we left the farmhouse. I watched it recede from view, the cloud of dirt kicked up by the ground cars wheels obscuring it sooner than it should have. If I had known what was to come, I would have stayed there, with Gran, for the rest of my life.

The next day, true to Gran’s word, we arrived at a small house about five miles from a small town. A man was waiting for us inside the one room cabin. “So, you’re the three idiots who tried to break into a maintenance bay?” he asked.

Nick and I looked down and he laughed. “Don’t worry about it. There’s a cabin, similar to this one up the mountain, it’s your for the night. You’re out by the time the sun comes up tomorrow, got it?”

“Got it,” we answered in unison.

“The last group that came through cleaned the place out of food, so you’ll need to go into town to get some more,” he said. “Just keep your head down and don’t make too much racket and nobody will notice you.”

“I’ll go,” Vicki said. Her voice rasped and she sounded as tired as she looked. She looked dead on her feet as she stood next to me, nearly resting her head on my shoulder.

“Absolutely not,” Nick said. “You are going up to that cabin and you are getting some sleep.”

She looked ready to object when I touched her shoulder. “Vicki, you’re falling asleep standing up. Nick can be low profile.”

She gave me a questioning look and then opened her mouth but seemed to think better of it. “Fine,” she muttered.

“Nick, in my duffle there is some paper kredit,” I said. “It’s nearly impossible to trace so they won’t know we are here. Use that.”

“Okay,” Nick said.

“Is there a place we can stash our gear so anyone who wanders by can’t find it?” I asked.

“There are some gear deposits out in the woods, put your stuff there and mark it inconspicuously,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said.

I took Vicki and the gear up to the cabin, a twenty minute trek through the woods. After getting Vicki in bed and waiting for her to fall asleep, I started searching for an empty gear stash. I earned myself several scratches on my forearms trying to force my way through brambles because apparently every single organic thing in the woods must have a thorn on it.

I found one of the gear stashes, or I think it was, a hollow the extended underneath a tree that was covered with a fair amount of briar and bramble. I sliced my hands up pretty good covering and uncovering the location. I took note of what was around me and returned to the cabin, cleaning my wounds quietly while Vicki slept.

Nick returned a few hours later with several bags of dehydrated meals. I started sorting through them, mostly for quality of food. I tossed the ones that would last longer in one pile and the ones we would have to eat right away in the front. Sadly, the latter greatly outnumbered the former.

“Next time, I am getting the food,” I said.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to waste your kredit,” Nick said.

“Don’t worry about it, just next time, less CryoFeed and more DehyFood,” I said.

I grabbed to packages of CryoFeed breakfast meals and got a pot of water boiling on the small stove. Both packages went in the water and the day progressed.

A knock at the door dragged me out of cleaning my bionics. Nick stood up from the small table. His second bionic knife slid out of its spot as he walked over to the door.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“My husband told me you were up here,” a voice shouted through. “I was told not to give my name.”

“What do you want?” Nick called back.

“I know two of you were injured, I was just wondering if you needed medical supplies,” she called.

Nick looked back to me and I shrugged. “The one’s Gran gave us won’t last forever,” I said.

He opened the door and the woman held a bag out. Her arms were shaking as she tried to keep a smile on her face. I could see something else in her eyes, fear? Nick seemed to sense it too as he took the bag. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Get out of he--” She cut off as three holes appeared in her chest. “--re...” she wheezed the end of her warning and collapsed. Nick grabbed her body and dragged her into the cabin.

And now after that cliffhanger that you're all probably going to hate me for, I have a favor to ask.  As most of the writers that use the main site know, there is this lovely stats area under create that provides us with a rather detailed break down of all our readers, including a demographics page in which we can actually see the breakdown by age, gender and location of all our readers. I would beg my readers to kindly switch their age and gender settings to not private. You don't have to display them on your page...but please. I would love to actually see my demographics so I know what kind of people are reading my story. So, I implore you to change your privacy settings. Thank you.