We find a couple of discreet bushes far from the water's edge and then wash up with a bit of water from our homemade canteen. My pack is open, and it looks like Salvotor has already found our stored food. The few plas-packs we had left from the crashed ship have been opened up, one by one, and there's nothing but crumbs in most of the bags. I try not to get too mad, and hand Alice a few strips of homemade jerky. "When our buddy comes back, we're going to have to have a talk with him about supplies."
She just chuckles and takes a bite. "Be nice. He's practically feral." She holds half the jerky out to me. "You need to eat, too."
I push it back toward her. "I'd rather make sure you eat."
"And I'd rather you be strong enough to kick everyone's asses if we get in a fight," she points out, holding it back out to me. "Because the sooner we get off this planet, the better, and you need your strength more than anyone else." She tilts her head, looking up at me. "You know if you have to depend on me and Gloom—excuse me, Salvotor—fighting our way out of things, we're doomed."
"Not true." But I take the jerky from her anyhow. "I have it on very good authority that you tried to hit a moden in the balls with a rock."
"Yeah, and he had a damn shell," she grouses. She glances over my shoulder, and then waves. "There's Salvotor. Come here. Did you eat all of these packs of food?"
He immediately looks panicked. "Me? Uh…"
"It's fine," I say. "Just get us off this planet and I'll feed you a dozen packs of stale noodles and wafers."
Salvotor runs a hand through his hair, sheepish. "I just got a little hungry while I was scouting. I thought there were more food supplies in the other pack. And then I realized there wasn't another pack."
Alice purses her lips.
"The good news is that I found a trail," Salvotor says. "I'm pretty sure it heads back toward Lord Sir's compound. And there are no smells of anyone else around. We can follow it and be there by nightfall."
Alice looks over at me, eyes wide. I know what she's thinking before she even says it. Do we trust a trail out in the open? Do we trust Salvotor to lead us? But at this point, I'm ready to try anything. I just want off this damned moon and into the safety of open space.
"Let's head out, then," I say, and find my makeshift spear.
76
KASPAR
After everything that's happened, the path that winds its way along the river at the edge of the jungle is surprisingly uneventful. Nothing ambushes us. Nothing attacks us. The ground doesn't open up to swallow Alice. Killer birds don't attack from overhead. There's nothing. It's just quiet, the path well-trodden enough to follow easily. It doesn't even rain on us.
Almost feels like a trap.
The outside wall of the compound comes into view late afternoon, and we immediately take to jungle, hiding amidst the thick ferns and watching from afar to plot our next move.
"You don't know how many guards?" I ask Salvotor again.
He shakes his head, frustration on his face as he stares at the walls. "I mean, there's a lot of clones, but I don't know how many are kept on the walls."
"Three?" I prompt. "Thirty? Three hundred? Give me a number to start with."
"Maybe…three?" Salvotor shrugs. "There's a lot of guards in the cellblock compounds to watch over the gladiators, but I don't know that there are many on the walls. There's really not anywhere to go, right?"
That doesn't make sense to me, though. If the walls aren't guarded, it's probably because he doesn't need the manpower. That means something else is at play. "You think he's got tracking sensors out here in the jungle? Motion sensors? Heat sensors?"
"I…guess?" Salvotor blinks at me, utterly clueless.
"A motion sensor won't be any good if there's a lot of wildlife," Alice says suddenly. "It'd be going off constantly the moment a bird or a deer or whatever got near the sensors." She thinks for a moment, tapping her chin. "So either he doesn't have them, or nobody's paying attention to them…or the walls are armed and he doesn't give a fuck."
Well, I don't like that thought, considering all I've got is a keffing spear and a couple of glass shards. The danger-loving part of me wants to race up to the wall—twice as high as I am tall—and scale it to see what's on the other side. The rest of me knows that's an incredibly stupid idea and Alice won't be able to do the same, so it's not even a question.
I'm not leaving Alice's side.
She nudges my arm. "Let's move along the wall and see if we can count guards."