When All Else Fails (A Push of a Button Novella)

Chapter Six

He nodded and pressed it again.

A human-sized flower pot popped into existence, a sunflower crowning the top of a vibrant green stem. She moaned. Useless. As if it could hear her thoughts, the flower turned its head to face her and blew a stream of pollen in her direction. She also could have sworn she heard a giggle. Rubbing her eyes, she held in a tired laugh. She was going insane.

The door slammed open only to stop on the heavy base of the dirt-filled flower pot. The flower's head turned back toward the door, and it bent down to smack Dane in the face with an eruption of pollen. He spluttered and coughed, fighting with the giant sunflower for a way in. The dog started barking and growling, its tail still wagging, and if this wasn't such a dire situation, laughter would have been the only appropriate response.

Instead, she sighed. That wouldn't keep him busy for long, but it would have to be enough. Seb scrambled past the dog and out the window. The two of them hurried down the fire escape as fast as they could, but the adrenaline wasn't enough anymore. Her lungs burned, and her legs shook. How long before her body gave out entirely?

Too bad her ability wasn't one that only required brain power. Using it now to jump them to safety might kill her. Equally frustrating was the inconsistency of Seb's. Still, without his button and his ability to use it without draining his own stamina, who knew what Dane would be doing to them right now? He might still catch them, but if he didn't, it was only because of the miracle the Father had worked with Seb's button.

Her muscles spasmed in protest after half a block, and she stopped. A manic-sounding laugh bubbled out of her. A man-sized sentient plant and a dog that just wanted to play? That was the solution? Skies above, He had a sense of humor.

Seb slowed down and turned to face her with a frown. "You okay?"

She sucked in lungfuls of air and listened for any indication of pursuit. Sirens wailed nearby, but no one came charging down the back road they'd run down. Not yet, anyway. "Fine," she managed. "Just tired and out of breath."

He glanced back the way they'd come. "Can we jump from here?"

She shook her head. "We have to get closer to the West side. I'm fine though. Let's just go."

But she wasn't fine. At this rate, she'd collapse before they made it to the jump point. The sirens wailed, closer now, and Seb looked over his shoulder. She met his gaze and tried to smile, but the burn in her lungs and her trembling muscles made it difficult. He turned and knelt in front of her, back to her. "Get on. They'll catch us if we keep this pace."

She wanted to protest, but he was right. At this rate, they'd never make it. So, she climbed on and let him carry her. Shouts bounced off the walls, and she winced. How had they caught up so fast? Then she remembered. The tracker! How had she forgotten about that? Seb's, at least, had been disabled once the Supremacy decided he wasn't a flight risk, but they didn't need his. Hers was a beacon that screamed their location to anyone hunting them.

In her initial panic and heartbreak after Dane's revelation, she hadn't even thought about it. Now she couldn't believe she hadn't slowed down to plan and think long enough to realize the danger her GPS chip caused. Stupid. So very stupid. But there wasn't a way to block it, turn it off, or scramble it. Only removing it would work, and if she'd done that, then she and Seb would be doomed right now. Maybe the Father had kept it from her mind so that it could save them now, GPS or not.

Still, Seb needed to know, or they'd run right into a trap. "Seb?"

He grunted at her and kept running.

"They're going to be able to cut us off."

"What?" He puffed for air and stopped in the shadow of a high-rise apartment building.

"My button has an active GPS signal."

"So turn it off."

She laughed and slipped off his back. "The government installed it. You can't turn the button off, and you can't turn off the GPS tracker either."

He dragged his hands through his hair. "So now what?"

"I'll have to make the jump to the minefield from here. That'll buy you time to get us both to Mr. H."

"Me? Why am I going to get both of us there?"

The shouts grew closer. Not much time. "I'll probably black out after the jump. I'm not strong enough to handle it normally. You'll have to navigate us through the field."

"I can't!" The color drained from his face.

She knew now how prey must feel when being chased down by a hunter. Trapped. Scared. Alone. "You have to! If you don't, it's all over for us both."

An officer rounded the corner with a loud yell. "They're over here! This way, men!"

She grabbed Seb's arm. "Look for the white markers. Avoid the red. Got it?"

"Wait—"

"No time." She pressed her button, and everything exploded into blackness. SEB SHOOK OFF the wave of dizziness. Viv lay sprawled out on the cracked, dirty pavement beside him. To his left, the minefield waited. He hung his head in his hands. What had they gotten into? Not only had someone tried to kill him—someone still on the loose—but now he was a fugitive. This couldn't get much worse.

If they were caught, he was dead. And Viv? Who knew what would happen to her? Her own brother wanted to force her into marriage. The whole thing seemed like some sick, twisted nightmare, but it was horribly real. He pinched himself, praying he'd wake up and realize it was all a dream. But it only made his arm hurt, and he had to face reality. This wasn't a dream.

Dane, whoever he might be in reality, was someone who could override his security system and blow a hole through his door—he assumed that was what had happened, anyway—all with no fear of repercussion. Only Supremacy agents had that kind of power, and suddenly, the things Dane had said, the way he acted, and how scared Viv was of him made sense.

He shook off the tremor running down his spine and stood. Whoever Dane was, there wasn't time to speculate. If Viv's button used GPS, he had to get them through that field and underground before the police showed. At least in the tunnels they might be able to confuse the tracker, and no one would be able to link them to the minefield the Diexebels used to get to and from the tunnels.

If the worst-case scenario occurred and they were caught, at least they wouldn't give away the location of the tunnels by being caught running through the minefields. Besides, hiding underground ought to give the pursuers pause. They couldn't hide underground in an empty plot of land, so unless their pursuers knew where the tunnels were, they'd be hard-pressed to figure out where their quarry had gone. All the better for them.

Bending over, he managed to get Viv off the ground and maneuvered onto his back. Her head rested on his shoulder, and he sighed. He'd give anything right now for the two of them to be far away, taking a vacation somewhere romantic or to have her merely sleeping contentedly on his back instead of unconscious and weakened from shock and starvation. But no matter what he gave, it wouldn't change what was. Truth and hard, cold facts changed for no one's feelings or sensibilities. So he took a slow, steadying breath and headed into the minefield.