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“The quality of life plummeted. Our measurements were cast aside. We no longer spoke of owning homes, good jobs and promotions or buying a new car. Now we hoped for safety and food to last through the winter.”
History of a Changed World, Angus T. Moss
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NICK WATCHED AS TED shooed the children into the woods behind the shelter. They vanished into the shadows like leaves on a forest floor. Ted helped Nixie limp over to a clump of brambles where they could hide from view, but still have a line of sight. Once they were settled, Nick could barely see a vague outline through the foliage.
“Will they stay hidden?” he asked Wisp.
Wisp crouched in the tall weeds at the corner of the building watching the access road. “They are survivors,” he said without turning.
Nick scanned the tree line. Without a tracker’s skill, he didn’t think he’d be able to find any of them. Weather and wind had rumpled the tall grass between the shelter and the woods. No sign that over a dozen small bodies had passed. He wondered if it was instinctive for them to scatter, not travel in a line that would leave more evidence of their passage.
Wisp lurched to his feet. “There is a band of men, three, maybe four. I sense several others, frightened or angry with them.”
“It’s the pressgang,” Nick said with conviction. He’d had a plan forming in the back of his mind for just such an occasion.
“Possibly.”
Nick handed his gun back to Wisp. “Let them take me.”
Wisp’s mouth flattened in a disapproving line. “Why?”
“I’ll go undercover,” Nick said. A small thrill ran up his spine at the sound of the word. He felt a more solid sense of purpose than he had in years. This was what he excelled at. What he’d been trained for in the other life, before Zero Year. “I can find out where they’re taking people, and you can come find me.”
Wisp pointedly looked over his shoulder to where the children were hiding. “And I take all these kids to High Meadow without you?”
Nick ignored his concerns. “You can find me, right?”
Wisp cocked his head, thoughtfully before giving a grudging assent.
The sound of a heavy vehicle coming up the driveway interrupted them. Nick took Wisp’s place in the weeds, peering around the corner of the building. A truck, more paddy wagon than delivery van, lumbered up to the building. Both cab doors opened and three people spilled out, seemingly in the middle of an argument.
“I told you it was here.”
“If you had filled the jugs in town like I told you we wouldn’t have to stop.”
“It’s fine!” A beefy man in jeans and a flannel shirt opened a side compartment in the truck and started dropping water jugs on the ground. They continued bickering over who should do what with some shoving and cursing thrown in, a disorganized, undisciplined bunch. That gave Nick confidence that he could escape their clutches easily.
Nick moved back to where Wisp stood. “I’m going out there,” he whispered.
“What if they kill you?” Wisp asked.
“Then you don’t need to come find me.”
Wisp looked at him, then back to the woods. “This is not the sort of situation I am comfortable with.”
“I am,” Nick asserted. “Before Zero Year, I was an FBI field agent. I’ve been undercover before. I know how to deal with this kind of idiot. I’ll let them take me, lay low and wait for you to bring the cavalry.”
“I do not have cavalry.”
“Martin will find some for you,” Nick said with a wink. “Take care of them,” he said as he started away.
“Wait.” Wisp looked uneasy, in a way that Nick hadn’t seen before.
“It has to be me,” Nick said. “I can’t track you the way you can track me.”
Wisp took a breath and laid his hand against Nick’s sternum. A ghost’s hand brushed against Nick’s soul making the hair stand up all over his body. Nick took a shuddering breath. Wisp withdrew his hand. “I can find you anywhere now.”
“What did you do?” Nick asked in a shaky whisper.
“Something that helps me locate you. It’s hard to explain and you probably wouldn’t understand.”
Nick shivered, feeling his body righting itself. “Okay. Good.” He felt the slightest tug in his mind that he couldn’t identify, but if it acted as a flare for Wisp, all the better. He looked down at his worn pants and shirt, patted his pockets for anything precious. Normally on a trip, he’d leave anything important or sentimental safe at home. Sure that he didn’t have anything suspicious on his person, he walked into the trees, bushwhacking his way down the side to come in from the front. He didn’t want the pressgang to think about who else might be hiding behind the building.
“Hey guys,” Nick drawled, shambling out of the woods along the driveway. That was all it took before the guns and ultimatums arrived.