Night Alone

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Night Alone

Croy arrived a few minutes later, without warning, he and his board hurtling through the waterfall in a sudden explosion of splashing and cursing. He tumbled into the darkness, his body rolling across the stone floor with a series of sickening thuds.

Tally looked at the entrance of the cave, the sheet of water a solid curtain against the night. " I hope so. Where's everybody else? "

" Don't know. Maddy told us all to go different ways. Since I was flying solo, I went all the way around the greenbelt first to get them off track." He laid his head back, still panting. A position-finder fell from one of his hands.

" Been there. At least you had shoes on, " Tally said. " Did anyone chase you? "

He nodded. " I held on to my tracker as long as I could. Got most of the Specials to follow me. But there were a whole bunch of hoverboard riders in the belt. You know, city kids.

" I wouldn't know about okay, " he said softly. " But they got off right after you, and it didn't look like anyone was following them.

Maddy said they were heading straight for the ruins. We're supposed to meet them there tomorrow night."

Tally nodded, but her heart wrenched inside her. David needed her. At least, she hoped he did. The thought of him dealing with Az's death without her made the icy feeling in her stomach drop a few more degrees.

Of course, Maddy was there. Az had been her husband, after all, and Tally had only met the man once.

She sighed. Tally tried to remember the last words she'd said to David, and wished they'd been more comforting. There hadn't even been time to hold him. Since the invasion of the Smoke, Tally hadn't been separated from David for longer than that hour in the storm, and now she wouldn't see him for a whole day.

Astrix and Ryde showed up a half hour later, coming into the cave more gracefully than Croy, but with their own stories of running from hovercars. The pursuit had been confused, the Specials overwhelmed by everything that had happened that night.

" It's like we won a battle, you know? " Croy said. " We beat them in their own city. Made them look like fools."

" Maybe we don't have to hide in the wild anymore, " Ryde said. " It could be like when we were uglies, playing tricks. But telling the whole city the truth."

Tally tried to smile at their cheers, but knew she wouldn't feel good about anything until she saw David again. Not until tomorrow night. She felt exiled, shut out from the one thing that really mattered.

Shay had fallen asleep in a small crevice after complaining about the dampness and her hair, asking when they were going to take her home. Tally crawled back to where her friend lay and snuggled up next to her, trying to forget the damage that had been done to Shay's mind. At least Shay's new body wasn't as painfully skinny; she felt soft and warm in the damp cold of the cave.

Croy had found the food packets and purifier in her knapsack and was making food with water from the fall, apparently trying to placate Shay.

" A little escape was one thing, but I didn't know you guys were going to drag me all the way out here.

I'm through with this whole rebellion thing, I've got a wicked hangover, and I really need to wash my hair."

Tally crawled out into the big part of the cave, every muscle stiff, every rock she'd slept on imprinted on her. Through the curtain of the waterfall, dusk was falling. She wondered if she'd ever be able to sleep at night again.

Shay was squatting on a rock, digging into the PadThai, complaining that it wasn't spicy enough.

Bedraggled, in dirty party clothes, her hair stuck to her face, she was still stunning. Ryde and Astrix watched her silently, a bit awestruck by her looks.

They were two of Shay's old friends who'd run away to the Smoke the time she'd chickened out, so it must have been months since they'd seen a pretty face.

" Whatever's faster." Tally stretched her muscles. She wanted to get to the ruins as soon as possible.

When darkness fell, Tally and Croy crept out from behind the waterfall. There was no sign of Specials in the sky. She doubted anyone was searching this far out. Forty minutes from the city on a fast board was a long way.

They gave the all-clear, and everyone rode farther upriver, to a place where the river's course twisted closer to the ruins. A long hike followed, the four uglies sharing the load of boards and supplies.

Shay had stopped complaining, settling into a pouty, hungover silence. The walk seemed easy for her. Her wiry fitness from hard work at the Smoke hadn't faded in two weeks, and the operation actually firmed up a new pretty's muscles, at least for a while. Although Shay announced once that she wanted to go home, heading back on her own didn't seem to have entered her mind.

Tally wondered what they were going to do with her. She knew there was no simple fix.

Maddy and Az had worked for twenty years to no avail. But they couldn't leave Shay like this.

They reached the edge of the ruins after midnight, and boarded down to the abandoned building where Tally and David had camped.

He looked exhausted, the dark lines under his eyes visible even in starlight. But he embraced Tally the moment she stepped from the board, his arms tight around her, and she hugged him back hard.

What was he supposed to say to that? " Oh, David, of course you're not. I'm sorry, I-" " Shhh. I know." He pulled away and smiled.

Relief flowed through Tally, and she squeezed David's hands, confirming the realness of him. " I missed you, " she said.

" You two are just so cute, " Shay said, combing her hair with her fingers after the windy ride.

Shay groaned and pushed past him into the crumbling building. His eyes followed her, but without any of the awe still in Ryde's and Astrix's faces. It was as if David didn't see her beauty.

" We got that tablet working, the one Dr. Cable was carrying. Mom was yanking the phone part out so they couldn't track us through it, and she got it to display Cable's work data."

" All her notes on making pretties into Specials. Not just the physical part" -he pulled her closer-" but also how the brain lesions work. It's everything my parents weren't told when they were doctors! "