“Well, that’s not the worst news I’ve ever received,” Jeff said.
“What’s a brain of mush to losing an arm and a leg?” She forced a laugh, but it seemed too close to home to joke about.
“It doesn’t change my mind at all.” Jeff winced at the unintended pun, but Stefani didn’t punish him for it. “I still want to be a vagrant. I’m still going to be a vagrant.”
“I’m not sure you actually do. You’ve got the part about getting chased out of every town you visit down. You’ve got a knack for that. In fact, you could be the chosen one in that regard. I can’t—”
“I’ve always wanted to be the best at something.”
“Well, you’re off to a good start. Anyway, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I don’t think you want to be a vagrant. I think you want to use our little magic trick to kill everyone and everything that has wronged you. And die trying.”
“It’s not about killing them.”
“What is it about?”
The question gave him pause.
“Justice. If there were a way to give them a trial or put them in jail, I would do that. But there’s not anymore.”
“I see. Well, I’m all for killing bad guys—trust me—but that doesn’t jive too well with Carl’s way of doing things. I have a hard enough time sticking to the rules, and I haven’t murdered anyone in a long, long time.”
They passed through a heavy rainstorm that surprisingly didn’t affect his vision, which he believed was because his vision was constructed from a variety of sensors that weren’t so easily blinded. He wanted to pick the suit apart and tinker with it to discover how it worked, but then he realized he might be able to press in a sort of instruction manual or guide instead. The thought of being able to learn anything he wanted about how things work was tempered by the knowledge that every time he pressed something to learn from it, that act of pressing might detract from his ability to learn.
“Well, there aren’t many people left on my list,” Jeff said. “Horus and that white Apostle, I’ve given up on them. I’ve learned that lesson. The world is theirs; we just try not to get squished.” He hated to say it, but it was the truth. There was no way for humans, even vagrants, to kill Apostles.
“How many?” Stefani asked.
“The mayor of Fifth Springs,” Jeff said. “He lied and hid while the rest of us died. Any of his braves I might find.”
“Is that it?”
“And Dane.”
“Who’s that?”
He hesitated; it felt like too much personal information to share with her. They were growing closer every day, but Dane had been his best friend for over a decade. In many ways, he had been more of a brother to him than Chad ever had. But Stefani and Carlee were his new family. They had saved him, protected him, and given him another life.
“He was my best friend. He was the man I pushed out of the way of the leech that sliced me in two.”
“Three. Technically. Sorry. Go on.”
“That’s it. I did everything for him, and he left me to die after I saved his life. We could have made it out—I sensed it. Must have been a glimpse from another reality, but I knew it. But he didn’t listen. He was a coward and left me to die alone after we swore to stay with each other until the end. I will find him.”
They slowed just as the ocean took Jeff’s breath away. The last rays of the setting sun behind them glistened on the endless body of water. He’d read about the ocean, heard piners talk about it, and even seen it himself a number of times in the old movies they occasionally watched, but nothing had prepared him for seeing it in real life. After the violence of the morning, the serenity of the ocean was almost spiritual to behold.
“If I help you find this mayor and Dane, will you promise that will be the end of it?”
“You’ll help me?”
“They sound like they deserve it. Besides, if I don’t help you, you’ll do it anyway and get yourself killed.”
Jeff couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had half expected for Stefani to leave him stranded on the coast so that he wouldn’t ever be able to find justice; instead, she practically guaranteed he could avenge his brother, his community, and himself.
“Yes.”
“If you’re lying to me . . .”
“I always lived for my family and my community. When they were taken from me, I had nothing else. But I could live for the vagrants. I know I can. After this, I’m done. I can be a vagrant, help people, defend people, and stay with you and Carlee until my mind turns into a puddle of mud. That’s a better life than I ever envisioned for myself.”
He wanted it now, to just do as Carlee and Stefani urged him to do, forget the past and start living for something more. But he couldn’t. Inside, he knew it would haunt him forever if he didn’t have closure. As much as he wanted to move on, he didn’t want to live his life like that.
“Very well,” Stefani said. “We have a deal. But don’t mention a word about it to her.” They slowed down dramatically and hovered close to the ground next to where an energy cell illuminated a small island on the Atlantic coast.
27 FALLEN FRIENDS
“IT WAS PURE CHAOS . . . The carriers went down quickly. I had to press in some flight suits for a bunch of people, but I couldn’t get everyone in time. Shannon, Mark, the Slipps, and a few others didn’t make it out,” Carlee said.
Jeff frowned to show his sympathy, although he didn’t know any of the vagrants who had died while they trying to escape the battle. It was news to him that a number of vagrants weren’t even powerful enough to press in their own flight suits.
“After that, there was just so much going on that we all lost track of one another. We knew that Horus was bringing an army—it was part of the reason we were continuously forced south—but we weren’t ready for anything like that.”
“There’s no way we could have been. The Apostles haven’t fought like that in a generation. I assumed they all had a play-nice pact,” Stefani said.
The reunion between the two friends had been understated but emotional. Jeff had just been happy to see Carlee again. He apologized immediately for abandoning her, but Carlee had brushed it off. He was sure they’d discuss it at a more appropriate time in the future, which he was not looking forward to.
“And after Jane split off to help those people, we had no direction . . . I was the only one of the vagrants who had lingered behind to make it out. And I was lucky at that. If it weren’t for Drew . . .” Tears swelled in Carlee’s eyes, and Jeff looked away. That was a name he knew.
“Carlee . . .” Stefani said. Jeff looked over to her, and he knew what Stefani was about to say. They hadn’t told Carlee all the details about their journey, leaving out the details about Jane’s demise and Jeff’s murder of Sean. The two made eye contact for a moment before Carlee’s head sunk.
“You saw her, then?” Carlee asked, her voice quavering.
Jeff didn’t know many details about Carlee or her life, but he knew that she was fiercely loyal to the former leader of the vagrants. Stefani shook her head and looked at Jeff with a level of emotion he’d never seen from her. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew Carlee deserved to know what happened.
“I ran into her after I was retreating from the battle. She was with Talon, and together, they were saving hundreds of humans by pressing in giant carriers and escorts. They destroyed well over a hundred leeches—they were piled high, practically formed an arena . . .” Carlee stared at him with her deep brown eyes, and Jeff felt naked as he searched for the right words before continuing.
“Talon got hit from behind by something that sent him flying, and at that point, she just knew that . . . She looked at me, calm as a . . . really calm. Told me to go, and I ran. Ran as fast as I could before Petra’s tentacle came down.”