Chapter 12
The girl explained to me, in my unconscious state, that the bubbles had hovered near the entrance for a time and then wandered off. She said she’d watched them float away. She figured they calculated their weapons weren’t able to catch concrete on fire and there were only two souls to shish kabob, so why bother? There were easy fixings in the field beyond, anyway.
That gave me an idea. We weren’t worth their time or effort. It’s not likely we can get to San Diego in this underground concrete tunnel, but it does give us another refuge to avoid them if we can manage to find:
Cow herds ✔️
Concrete tunnels ✔️
A street manhole with nowhere to go is not the answer. That’s an easy human stewpot. One drop and we’re chowder. But a concrete tunnel is a different idea. It’s lateral and the drones are likely not able to connect to their mother unit down here. It’s at least an advantage a weak spot for whoever’s driving those things. Noted, I think to myself.
And then my eyes scan the girl in front of me for the first time since I woke. She’s filthy. I mean, so am I but when my eyes reach her bare feet, I realize, she’s just as cut up as I am.
I glance at my feet then, in a comparison that I can’t help, and see my toes swollen and bloody. I count them, just in case. “We need shoes,” I say.
“We need to get out of here,” she says.
“Right.” I try to stand, wobbly on one foot, sparing my toes, but then she takes a step and braces my elbow.
“Do you think we should just try to ride it out in here?” she asks me.
I let out a fast breath and glance at the dim exit. “I think we’d starve before they leave.”
“Could buy us some time.”
“We still have the truck, kid. Let’s monitor the situation from here for a couple of hours and then if we don’t see them for a while, we can take off.”
“We’ll run out of gas. What if they’re hovering right above us where we can’t see them, just waiting for us to come…out?”
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