The second watch had just started, and Mae had them help her wake up the others. The girls were groggy and grumpy and not happy about another trek after so little sleep, but Mae’s stern tone soon brought them in order. “This is it,” she told them. “Move quickly and quietly, and soon you’ll have all the food and clean clothes you could want.”
She shepherded them over the fields, shushing any questions that came along. She kept away from the outpost’s borders but knew they were within a range where they might encounter a patrol. Even in the night, the border fence was a formidable sight for the girls, with its wicked spikes and scattered red lights warning of electric shock. Mae settled the girls into a small group near a patch of darkness and ordered them to silence before taking Monica aside.
“Don’t move. Say nothing, even if you hear someone approaching—on this side. If you see soldiers on the other side, call to them in a whisper. Tell them you’re seeking asylum, that you’re kidnapped Gemman citizens and have a chipped Gemman with you that way.” Mae pointed to the direction she intended to go. “Do you understand?”
“I-I think so.” Monica’s eyes were large and fearful in the moonlight, as though she understood just how high the stakes were. “What if soldiers on this side find us?”
“They won’t,” Mae lied.
She left them and walked along the fence toward the outposts, hoping to run into a Gemman patrol. She was placing a bet that either she or the girls would encounter friendly soldiers, a bet that might very well backfire if she ran into Arcadians first.
Ten minutes into her walk, that fear was realized.
There were two of them, and she saw them a fraction of a second before they saw her. Using her gun as a bludgeoning weapon again, she leapt out with praetorian speed and knocked out one of them before he could attack. The other immediately started firing, forcing Mae to drop to the ground to dodge the barrage. Grabbing hold of his comrade’s rifle, she swung out and slammed the gun into the man’s legs, forcing him to stumble and briefly stop shooting. She used the lull to spring up and take him down, incapacitating him with a blow to the head as well. It was all done neatly and efficiently—except for the gunfire which had alerted both sides to her presence.
Mae set off at a hard run, hoping the Gemmans were faster. She knew if she got close enough to the outpost, a sensor would pick up her chip and identify her. Otherwise, she’d have to talk her way in. Luck held with her part of the way, and her heart leapt as she saw a group of Gemman soldiers come charging in her direction down the other side of the fence.
“Stop!” she yelled. “Stop, I’m a Gemman citizen!”
Two flashlights and five guns pointed at her. “Put down your weapon,” barked one of the soldiers.
Mae immediately complied, slowly raising her hands in the air. “Where’s your chip sensor? I’m a citizen, and I have a group of citizens with me, a mile east down the fence.”
One of the soldiers, a middle aged woman bearing a sergeant’s rank, stepped forward, her gun still fixed on Mae. “The main sensor’s a mile west. The nearest one’s a portable one out with another patrol.”
“Get them here,” exclaimed Mae. “And send someone east. Those are Gemman children. Bring them behind the fence and sort out the details later.”
The woman hesitated and then said something into a headset that Mae couldn’t make out. Shouts sounded behind her, and she turned, catching sight of approaching flashlights in the hands of individuals who were probably carrying guns and wearing Arcadian uniforms.
“Where’s the nearest access point?” demanded Mae. The outposts themselves held the greatest points of entry, but smaller doors, only large enough for one person were scattered all along the border, controlled by both sides for maintenance. Admittedly, that meant someone could walk right over from the other side if they had the proper codes, but they couldn’t do it without triggering alarms. Since Mae’s cover was already blown, secrecy no longer mattered.
“Come on!” she cried, when no one answered right away. “Your Arcadian counterparts are on their way, and when you find out I am a citizen—and that I outrank you, sergeant—you’re going to wish you’d made this easier!”
The woman in charge studied Mae a few moments and then glanced at the rapidly approaching figures. Mae wasn’t entirely unsympathetic to her plight. There were probably Arcadians constantly trying to jump the border, and Mae knew she looked pretty bedraggled. That being said, her accent had to at least give them pause, as did her demands for a chip reader.
“One click east,” the sergeant said.
Mae swore under her breath. She’d passed it leaving the girls—in fact, it might not be that far from the girls at all. “Well, shoot me, or keep up then.”
She took off down the fence line, the Gemman soldiers keeping pace with her as the Arcadians shouted and grew closer. The sergeant gave a half-hearted order for her to stop, but Mae knew she wouldn’t shoot yet, not unless she tried to enter Gemman territory without authorization. Studying the fence, she saw a subtle shift in the pattern of red lights and realized she had indeed passed the door on her earlier trip. She was contemplating overshooting it to retrieve the girls when she saw dark silhouettes approaching and realized they were coming toward her. Opposite them on the fence, two Gemman soldiers paced the girls, and Mae saw relief cross the soldiers’ features in the erratic light.
“Sergeant,” said one. “We found them where you said.”
A quick headcount assured Mae all her charges were there. “Open the door before the Arcadians get here!” she said.
The sergeant looked the new soldiers over. “Where’s your chip reader?”
One of them pulled out a small handheld device and Mae held her hand up as close to the fence as she dared, hoping her chip’s signal would be close enough for the scanner to read. Some of the Gemman soldiers turned away and focused their guns on something behind her, which didn’t bode well for how close the Arcadians were getting.
“Got it,” said the soldier. “She’s Gemman, and—sergeant, she’s a praetorian!”
The sergeant began entering in the codes on her side that would open the door as her other soldiers began shouting for the Arcadians to stand down. Mae didn’t dare look behind but instead began herding the girls toward the small door. The soldier with the scanner looked around uncertainly.
“None of them are chipped.”
The sergeant finished the codes, and there was an audible click as the door opened. She met Mae’s eyes briefly and said, “Let them in.”
The girls entered, and Mae herself stepped through just as a line of Arcadian soldiers arranged themselves on their side and began making their own threats back at the Gemmans. Mae staggered forward several feet, and then sank to the ground, not realizing until that moment just how weak and dizzy she was from exertion, lack of food, and the apple tree incident. She didn’t worry so much about the altercation behind her. Scuffles and shouting matches probably happened all the time. So long as no one was shot—which she had to imagine they had a lot of practice in self-control with—she would be all right until the next batch of red tape. All that mattered now was that she had done it. She’d crossed over.