She made eye contact with each member in the room before she spoke again. “When someone joins our group, they take a solemn oath to live by the terms and conditions as outlined by the Nirvana Code of Conduct. To achieve peace and harmony, each of us must respect not only our neighbors, but also the NCC. If any provision is breeched, each member agrees to accept summary judgement as ruled by The Council.”
Krista took a sip of water from a glass on the podium before continuing. “Today, I bring formal charges against one Summer Lane, an adult we all know and love, but a young woman who has repeatedly broken rules and shirked her responsibilities. This, my fellow council members, can no longer be tolerated. For too long, we have turned a blind eye as her transgressions continued. It is my opinion as Security Chief that Summer has now exceeded the overindulging tolerance of our good nature. She is putting all of us at great risk. It is therefore imperative that we act now to preserve that which we all hold dear—the safety and security of our community. By the end of this testimony, it is my firm belief that you will agree with me on all counts. The defendant, Summer Lane, must be banished from Nirvana. Without delay.”
CHAPTER 8
Summer ducked in behind a deteriorating brick fence to catch her breath after giving Slayer and his band of miscreants the slip, at least temporarily, thanks to the massive pile of rubble from a collapsed movie multiplex blocking the path for their vehicles. She knew eventually they’d abandon their rides and come at her on foot. It was their only option, assuming they were still hungry for her ass, as Slayer had mentioned.
The masonry fence marked the exterior of an old apartment complex that had burned long ago. Portions of the multi-story housing had fallen in on itself, piling in clumps, leaving whole sections of the building’s foundation exposed. A network of exposed water pipes stood vertically where a wall used to be, looking more like the framework of metal scaffolding than plumbing.
She figured she only had a few minutes to rest, despite her cleverness. Eventually, they’d find the crawl space she’d used to get through the wreckage of the destroyed theater. The passageway was small and partially hidden, but they might stumble across it like she’d done several months earlier.
Home Field Advantage was an old term she’d heard Security Chief Krista use a few months ago, and now Summer understood what it meant. It was all part of a Seeker’s skill set, identifying secret tunnels and hidden rooms, then remembering their location in a time of panic.
Before her next breath, four men entered her field of vision at the far end of the alley, about five hundred yards from the farthest end of the apartment complex. They were headed her way, walking in standard two-by-two formation, sweeping the area from left to right with their rifles in firing position.
Damn it! Already?
Summer couldn’t believe her luck, all of it bad lately, as she kept low and moved in the opposite direction. She worked her way along the inside of a fence, her feet sinking into the slush, compliments of the thaw turning the earth into mud.
The sucking sounds made by her shoes each time they penetrated the muck and came out again might get her caught. A different plan was needed—one that wouldn’t alert Slayer’s patrol to her position as they drew closer.
A spray of 2x4 studs with nails sticking out of the wood held promise since the lumber was mostly intact, except for the sections that had been burned.
She stepped onto the end of the first board, tip-toeing with her arms out for balance against the uneven wind as she navigated the sharp tips of the nails. The boards weren’t parallel to each other, nor were they connected end-to-end like railroad tracks, but they were close enough to allow her to hop from one to another and keep moving.
A minute later, she worked herself up a pile of crumpled drywall, broken furniture, and rusty appliances, where she spotted a long section of sheet metal. It was dead ahead, at the bottom. The obstacle was shiny and rectangular, maybe six feet wide on each side, with a snake-like twist along its length.
She figured it was ductwork that used to supply air to the gaggle of apartments. There didn’t appear to be a way around it since it stretched across her path, covering every inch of width from the brick fence to the base of the housing structure.
There were only two choices: traverse the mess on her right to see if she could navigate through the remnants of the destroyed building, or she could climb over the ductwork.
Her eyes went into survey mode, calculating the odds of safely entering the remains of the apartment building. Some of its towering walls were badly burned. Yet somehow, they remained standing, even with the wind pushing at them. Maybe it meant they were stout enough to let her pass.
However, if she was wrong and she disturbed their delicate balance, they’d collapse and she’d be crushed. There’d be no way to run fast enough to avoid the cave-in with all the crap in the way.
That left only option two: the sheet metal ahead. It wasn’t a better option, but at least she wouldn’t be buried if something went wrong. Plus, it would take her in the right direction—away from Slayer and his men.
A shadow came out of nowhere and washed over her from above. She stopped and knelt down, her neck craning up in panic. She saw a man three stories up on a wooden beam atop the wreckage like a cat without fear, wearing a leather coat and standing on a beam. It was the Nomad, his pair of swords together and pointing ahead. He wanted Summer to choose the second option, so she did.
Summer waved him a quick thank you, then finished her trek forward before putting her hands on the metal obstacle. A sting of cold shot through the exposed tips of her fingers, but she didn’t stop. She hopped up and crawled across, feeling the unstable ductwork below her knees.
Just then, her hands felt the metal give way near its midpoint, sagging downward at an angle. She froze after the ductwork groaned, wondering if it might continue to fatigue under her weight and end up creasing down the middle into a deep bend. If that happened, it would make a much louder sound that might give away her position.
Summer turned her head and looked up, hoping for more guidance from the Nomad.
He wasn’t there. Only her memory of him remained.
Summer ran the options through her mind. She couldn’t turn back, not with the patrol hot on her trail, nor could she move, not without the metal alerting Slayer to her position.
Either way, she was screwed, leaving her only one choice: go for it. She crawled forward in a flash, making a horrible racket as the ductwork popped and pinged a hollow, metallic tune from impacts of her hands and knees.
When her feet hit the ground, she took off at top speed, hoping it would take Slayer some time to figure out what he just heard and where.
“That way!” one of the men chasing her said, his words pushing through the gusts of wind.
Summer wasn’t about to look back. She kept her eyes locked on the path ahead—a path filled with boards, drywall, junk, and other debris.
There wasn’t time to be careful, so she’d just have to guess where her feet needed to land to avoid a messed-up ankle. Stride after stride, she pushed her legs, praying she could put some distance between her and the patrol.
A path opened up twenty feet ahead. She took it, angling left, not stopping to think. Clear ground was good enough, she thought. It didn’t matter where it led. She’d just have to make up the rest on the fly.