“Maybe one of the bounty hunters killed Annie, or maybe she died in the Z-Games and Lilah’s fixated on the image of the man who put her into one of the pits. Finding that out is one of the reasons I want to find her. ”
Benny digested this as they came out from under the shade of the trees into a gorgeous field in which wildflowers ran rampant and proclaimed their freedom in shouts of colors. The sky was a distant blue, and massive white clouds sailed across it. The image was so lovely that Benny’s mind saw but discounted the abandoned cars that were covered with weeds and probably filled with old bones.
“It’s hard to imagine that there is so much hurt and harm out here, isn’t it?” said Tom softly.
All Benny could do was nod. He took the Lost Girl card out of his pocket and stared at it. Such a beautiful, proud, tragic face. “Lilah,” he murmured, but the breeze through the tall grass answered him in Nix’s voice.
They reached the creek and turned north; riding in silence for several miles till Tom swung out of the saddle and squatted down by a rusted metal footbridge. Benny watched his brother’s face as he examined a series of overlapping footprints and turned his head to see which direction their prey went.
33
THEY CAME DOWN ANOTHER SLOPE AND THERE, NESTLED BETWEEN A LONG tumble of boulders left over from a glacier thousands of years ago, was a stream that glimmered like a blue ribbon through the forest. They dismounted and led the horses as they followed a crooked path that kept trees between them and whoever might be down there—bounty hunters or zoms. Chief clearly did not want to go that way and tugged on the reins; Apache looked equally nervous.
Tom picked up some loose bits of dirt and leaf debris and threw it into the air, watching where the wind took it. “Wind’s blowing toward us. If we stay on this side of the creek, we should be okay. But we’ll need to keep our voices low. ”
The path along the creek had once been a scenic country road, and it was wide enough for them to walk side-by-side, leading the horses.
“Tom?”
“Yeah. ”
“We’re going to find her, aren’t we?”
“Lilah? I—”
“No,” Benny said, “Nix. We’re going to find her, right?”
“We’re going to try. ”
“That’s not good enough, man. We’ve got to find her. She’s lost everything. Everyone. We can’t … abandon her. ”
“We won’t. ”
“Swear it. ”
Tom looked at him.
“Swear that no matter what happens, we’ll find her. That we’ll never stop looking for her. ”
In another place, under other circumstances, what Tom did next might have seemed silly or corny, but out here in the Rot and Ruin it had a strange sense of grandeur, perhaps of nobility. Tom placed his hand over his heart.
“I swear to you, my brother, that we will find Nix Riley. I swear that we will never stop looking for her. ”
Benny nodded.
They walked on, entering the thickest part of the forest that ran alongside the creek. Under the roof of leaves the air was cooler, but it was as damp as a cave. There were so many songbirds singing in the branches that it was impossible to pick out a particular voice.
Half a mile in, Tom knelt and ran his fingers over the damp grass. “Got you, you bastard!”
“What is it?”
“Footprints. Big, have to be Charlie’s. Grass hasn’t even had time to unbend all the way. ”
“How long?”
“Half an hour. We’re close now, kiddo. Time to move quick and quiet. ”
“The horses make a lot of noise. ”