“You and your friend came from the other side of the border,” the Enforcer behind the steering wheel growled at me as he reached down and started the truck’s engine. “I saw you coming from that direction. How did you get across?”
Lie again? I thought. Tell him his vision was bad?
How was I supposed to convince him he couldn’t trust his own eyes?
“Border? What border?” I asked, hoping I sounded just as I always did to my Fred-parents when I whined, Cookie? What cookie? Why are you accusing me of eating the last cookie? Or to my Fred-teachers, Homework? What homework? I think you forgot to make the assignment. It’s not fair to blame me!
No, scratch that. My Fred-parents and my Fred-teachers never really believed me. I had to make the Enforcers think I was just stupid and ignorant enough to not even know I’d crossed the border.
“Do you mean . . . oh, there was this kind of weird flash of red light,” I said. “But I thought it was an optical illusion, because there was a flock of birds flying above me, kind of making weird patterns in the sunlight. . . .”
“I thought we killed all the birds,” the second Enforcer grumbled.
I shrugged.
“I’m just telling you what I saw,” I said, as if I didn’t understand why it would matter.
“So tell us where you saw the patroller,” the first Enforcer said as he put the truck into gear.
“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “I think I’d do better showing you. Turn around and go that way.” I pointed behind us, back toward the border.
The Enforcer grunted. The truck shivered and the engine sputtered, as if he’d shifted gears too quickly.
“Curses on the humans’ primitive technology,” he muttered.
“We do the best we can,” I said, adding belatedly, “sir.”
Would it help to make him think I was totally in awe of his superiority and power?
I was totally in awe of his superiority and power. And of the gun the second Enforcer held, pinning me against the seat. It made my brain numb.
“Perhaps humans and Enforcers can work their way toward getting along a little bit better,” I said, sounding as prim and foolishly optimistic as a Fred. “Perhaps one day we’ll even share our technology, back and forth, each helping the other. Perhaps we just got off on the wrong foot, and the longer we’re around each other, the more we’ll—”
The Enforcer on my right jabbed the end of his gun into my ribs.
“We have no desire to get along with humans,” he said. “Or to share anything. We’re not Freds. We know your limitations. We don’t like you. You are not even worthy opponents to hunt.”
To hunt? No, no, no, no . . . , my brain screamed.
I had to think about something else. Surely there was a way out of this. Surely I’d find it soon. Surely there was enough time. . . .
The truck was going fast enough now that the Enforcer driving it wouldn’t have to worry about shifting gears anymore. We were almost to the border. Without moving my head, I glanced around for Enu and Zeba. Would they still be there waiting to throw rocks at the border, letting Kiandra and me back through?
They were nowhere in sight. I told myself that was good—it was better for them if they’d hidden somewhere. But I also felt lonely. Abandoned.
“So, this border you were talking about,” I said, turning toward the Enforcer on my left. “Is it something you worry about crossing too?”
“Enforcers never worry about anything,” he growled. “We’ve got nothing to worry about.”
We were close enough to the border now that I could see it shimmer. Was this some kind of test? Was he waiting for me to point it out?
What would happen to a human trying to speed through the border in a truck without birds overhead? What if going through the border like this was something that could hurt or kill a human, but have no effect whatsoever on an Enforcer?
I didn’t actually know for sure. I didn’t know much of anything. Why hadn’t I asked Kiandra more questions when I had the chance?
I was almost out of time. The front bumper of the truck was about to hit the shimmering border. But just then the Enforcer on my right pulled out the same kind of small electronic device the other man had used as a lie detector. He hit some button on the device, and we sped right through the border as if it weren’t even there.
As soon as we were on the other side, he hit the button again.
I have to get my hands on one of those devices, I thought.
The Enforcer slipped it back into his pocket and went back to sticking his gun in my side.
“Where to?” the other Enforcer growled at me.
“Th-there,” I said, pointing toward the rock formation where we’d left Udans.
If I couldn’t think of anything better, maybe I could tell them I’d thought Udans was the missing patroller. Maybe the Enforcers wouldn’t punish him—or me—too severely for that.
But that still didn’t save Rosi, Bobo, or Cana from the Enforcers.
Or Kiandra, I reminded myself. Or me. You’ve just added to the number of people in danger. . . .
Directing the Enforcers toward Udans would at least buy some time. Right now, that was the best I could do.
The Enforcer sped up, covering the distance back to the rock formation in no time at all. We rounded the corner, and the signpost where we’d left Udans came into sight.
The sign still pointed toward Refuge City. And a rope still dangled from the post, right where Enu had tied it. But the other end of the rope trailed off into the dust.
Udans was nowhere to be seen.