I input the saved route into the GPS and then pressed the start button. Lights flashed across the panel and, as the barge trundled forward once again, I went back into the log and bought up the Longborne record. While it made me none the wiser as to where it was actually located, I nevertheless manually entered its coordinates into the geo-locater.
After that, with Raela asleep, there was nothing I could do but eat some protein bars and watch the landscape roll by. Somewhere along the line I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, it was not only night but there were red lights flashing across the control board, Raela was crying, and a proximity alarm was going off.
I muted the alarm, then picked up Raela to comfort her and peered out the front windows. The desert had given away to a thickly treed forest, and the vehicle was barely scraping through an in
creasingly narrow roadway. I glanced across at the GPS and realized we’d somehow gotten off course. I knew some of the more modern vehicles were programmed to detour around potential hazards, but the barge could never be described as modern. Besides, I doubted there’d be a hazard much worse than a forest this vehicle was ill equipped to traverse.
I hit the kill switch but the barge didn’t stop. It just kept trundling deeper and deeper into the forest. I frowned and hit the switch again.
Still no response.
Foreboding stirred. I ran a full system check and soon realized what was going on—an external force had taken control of the vehicle. It didn’t take much effort to guess who that might be.
I swore and bought up the terrain map. The reason for the proximity alarms immediately became obvious. It wasn’t because we were bashing our way through a forest, but rather because we were drawing ever closer to what looked like a goddamn cliff.
I immediately swung around and hit the door open switch. Once again, nothing happened. The bastards were remotely controlling everything.
Another light flashed up on the control screen. This time, it was warning of approaching vehicles. What it didn’t tell me was who the vehicles belonged to. It was always possible that they weren’t from the sand base, but I really couldn’t afford to take that chance.
Besides, even if they were friendly, they were still a couple of miles behind us, and wouldn’t reach us before we hit the cliff.
Which was now altogether too close.
I ignored the thick thrust of fear and looked around for another means of escape. The front windows were too thick to shoot out with any of the weapons I had on hand. There were no side windows in the barge’s cab, but there was a rear-facing window, which I guessed was used to check whatever cargo was being hauled. It was little more than porthole barely bigger than my fist, but that was all my shadowed form needed.
Thankfully, the porthole’s glass didn’t appear to be as sturdy as the front windows. I glanced around, spotted a tool kit secured in a storage space to the left of the door, and pulled it out. Inside was the usual assortment of tools, including one rather large wrench.
I covered Raela’s face to protect her from flying glass then grabbed the wrench and swung it, as hard as I could, at the small window. It took three blows before the glass shattered.
By that time, it wasn’t just the flashing red lights telling me we were closing in on the cliff. I could actually see its edge.
I had to get out of here, and fast.
I dumped the spanner and then properly secured Raela’s sling around my body. Once she was safely tucked close, I grabbed the body armor and the pack, and then called to the darkness. Even as the power of it tore through the two of us, the barge’s treads rolled into emptiness and the vehicle’s front end tilted alarmingly.
Once again panic surged, threatening to overwhelm my control and halt the change. I braced my body against the ever-increasing decline, then closed my eyes and concentrated on nothing but becoming shadow. The second I was, I surged through the shattered porthole.
Just as the rear of the barge went over the edge and began a tumbling descent down the cliff face.
I got out of its way and then hovered in midair for several seconds, watching it crash through the treetops and come to a sudden stop upside down on the rocky ground below. The barge’s treads were still in motion and there was steam and smoke coming from the engine bay, but it didn’t erupt into flame. Maybe it wouldn’t—I guess it depended on whether the fuel tank had ruptured or not.
A light speared the darkness, almost catching me in its beam. I thrust away and glanced up. There were figures lining the cliff top, but the spotlights they were holding were so bright that they were little more than silhouettes behind it. It was impossible to tell whether they were friend or foe—although I seriously doubted they were the former. Even though I wouldn’t exactly call some of Nuri’s people friends, I doubted any of them would simply stand there if they’d thought I was in the vehicle.
And if Jonas had been up there, he certainly would have been scrambling down to check for survivors.
I surged upwards and discovered my instincts were right. They weren’t friends—they were wearing the sand base’s uniform. There was also at least thirty of them here—either Dream was overestimating my combat abilities or she was absolutely determined that I would not escape this time.
I rose higher to get above the cliff top’s tree line and slowly turned around. Given I’d been traveling for some time before I’d woken off course and in the middle of this forest, there was a good chance I was a whole lot closer to Central than I had been. If that were the case, then her lights should be visible, even from a distance.
And they were.
Or, at least, the night sky was lit by a glowing sphere of light some distance away to my left. Even if it wasn’t Central, I’d be able to find a means of contacting Nuri there, as well as a source of nourishment for Raela. Aside from the one bout of crying, she’d been amazingly quiet, but that wasn’t likely to last once her belly started to rumble. Even déchet babes had made it thoroughly clear when they were hungry.
Between those lights and us was a wide, wooded valley that swept up the foothills of another mountain range. The only mountains I could think of anywhere near Central were the Broken Mountains, where the few remaining nomadic shifter clans lived, and where the other military base we’d invaded was located. That would certainly explain why this entire area—and the desert I’d woken up in—was unfamiliar. I’d never been stationed beyond the Broken Mountains during the war, and I certainly hadn’t ventured very far from Central after it.
Movement caught my attention—the soldiers had begun to rappel down the cliff. It wouldn’t be long before they realized I’d escaped. Time to get moving.
I dropped to treetop level and arrowed forward as fast as I was able, desperate to put distance between those soldiers and us. Time passed, but the spherical glow of the city didn’t seem to be getting any closer. It was obviously a whole lot farther away than I’d initially thought.