When They Were Gone

Where Are We Landing? - VI

Light had come over the horizon, breaking through the atmosphere and poking its head through the empty mass of buildings. Touching his curtain, it descended onto him, tracing the edge of his jaw, reaching his eyes.

He pressed his eyelids together, before opening them in a squint and sitting up. Aches bloomed through his back and ankle. A sigh as he stretched around, hearing cracks and clicks, before standing up and rubbing his lower back. "Certainly not the worst place I've slept... but it's not much of an improvement." He frowned. "Hey, Hermes... What's the time?"

A voice came from the strange pen that had changed from a black box the previous night on command, "Nine-fifteen."

Richard shot up straight, panic flickering across his face as he moved over to his clothes, pulling them on in a hurry. "Great Scott! You've got to be kidding me! How come you didn't wake me?!"

The voice reentered. "You turned all alarms off a week ago."

Sliding his shirt over his head and pushing his arms through, Richard grimaced, mumbling. "Right, forgot about that..." His mind turned back to his list of commands he'd given Hermes before heading out to avoid any unpleasant mishaps. "Any messages?"

Whirring came, then, "One. Hephaestus sent: six days, ten-fifteen."

Richard nodded. "Good, the cameras outside?"

"Following the set pattern. No reported difficulties or suspicion."

Richard sighed, "Except for Laura... and Pea..." He groaned, placing his head in his hands and sitting on the bed. Red heat drew up his face as he flopped back on the bed, muttering to himself. "How on earth am I supposed to keep doing this? If I stop, it'll be the end; if I keep going, it will be just as bad... and they said picking the happy medium was supposed to be easy... It's not like I can just-"

"One person approaching."

He jolted upright, rising swiftly to his feet. "Cameras back online; stay hidden!"

A few subtle clicks from the contraption and all went silent. Hearing confirmation, Richard slid his hand under the device, disposing it in his pocket and sitting back down on the bed.

Three knocks echoed through from outside.

"Just a minute!" He stood, walking calmly to the door and flicking back the locks before opening it. "Yes?"

Devin smiled back at him. "Took you long enough! We'll be leaving in about fifteen minutes, so shove everything back into the bags and get ready to head out."

He frowned. "What happened? I thought we didn't know our heading yet...?"

Sticking his hands in his pockets, Devin sauntered past Richard, dumping himself on the bed. "We didn't... But this morning, whilst you were fast asleep, we all went through the village getting information and we found the direction the vigilante was headed." A bright grin leeched onto his face. "Guess what?! We found quite some juicy pieces of information! Turns out Miss Fortbec's suspicions were correct: it is a singular vigilante. And, even juicier, apparently whoever they were must have come with Jeremy's team of soldiers two weeks ago because the villagers said they saw a soldier wearing the State uniform going to the field directly before its reported disappearance. Then, they took an Aerocraft and headed west."

A light brightened Richard's eyes. West. That was in the direction of the Fourth Ghost City! He calculations had been correct - travelling from this village and especially via the aerocrafts, the most convenient direction was West. Not only that, but anyone attempting to escape the State would have to begin treading somewhere close to the Sovereign's border. That meant...