Escaping
***
Dorsey sat in the hospital bed, unwillingly, itching to get up. I loved that she could be here without us having to sneak her in, pretend she was dead, or any other hare-brained scheme. She could be treated as a real patient. An equal. And walk free again at the end.
I was keeping her company, keeping her talking to keep her in bed.
"Souls aren't supposed to be revengeful, remember?" Dorsey was saying, teasing me.
"Well she can't just get away with it," I was saying, thinking of Kelly, again. "What kind of a message does that send?"
"What are you gonna do if we catch her? Who decides?"
"I don't know," I said softly.
"Where would you even start to look?"
"I know where I'd go if I were her," I said, musing aloud, "I'd go to ground."
"Go home? Isn't that a bit obvious?"
"But you'd know that country. You'd have the best chance of hiding out there. Your people will be sympathetic to you, you could string some sob story together…"
"You are spending way too much time with the humans," Dorsey grinned.
Falling Smoke came in, pulling Bhask along behind him.
"Boy can come into surgery anytime. Bhask cannot," he said firmly, dumping him next to me. I raised my eyebrows at him.
"I was just trying to help," he said sheepishly, "Shep lets me help."
"Grabbing the scissors and trying to cut the muscle is not helpful." Falling Smoke said.
"You see, he needs Boy to keep him in check," Dorsey said to me. I glared at her over Bhask's head.
"So where do you think Kelly would have high-tailed it to?" she asked Falling Smoke.
"Hell, hopefully," he shrugged.
"No, I'm sure she'd have gone home," I said, picturing routes and distances in my head. "We would have had sightings by now from one of the other groups otherwise."
"It's no concern of ours, anyway," Falling Smoke said, watching me, "No vigilantism, remember?" I pretended to scowl at him. But we hadn't got around to working out who would police laws, I thought to myself. At the moment, we are still in a vacuum. And with the moratorium, the Seekers wouldn't be allowed to take her. They would be looking for her, but they wouldn't look at a place the way humans did… what if they missed her? What if she went onto to bigger and worse things? I couldn't get rid of the feeling that this would be somehow my fault. I was on watch when she had set the place alight. I had even watched her do it. I had even organized for everyone to be there, defenceless…
"Come on, let's go find Alex," I said, pulling Bhask up, "Let Dorsey sleep in peace."
"I'm not sleeping!!" she called as we left. A nurse gave us a frown as we hurried away.
Alex would be at Melts Blue Ice's office, talking over the congress, the moratorium, the future. The office was just close enough to walk. I was surprised at how many Souls smiled at us as we walked down the street. Had Souls come to accept humans so quickly? And then I remembered again that Bhask was a Soul now. Well, sort of. It was funny to see Boy take over when there were Souls about, and then see Bhask come out of his shell when surrounded by humans. But I was still uncomfortable with Boy. I wanted Bhask all to myself. And I didn't want to him to have to share his life with another. But, true to my promise, I kept silent. I knew Boy had found the fire at the congress deeply troubling, and I doubted that he would fit into life at home, with the humans. But I knew Bhask was aching to get back home. I crossed my fingers that Boy would see there was no future for him there, and leave.
***
We met Alex halfway there, on his way back to see Dorsey. I marvelled at the sight of a lone, adult human walking through a city. I could see the Souls were uncomfortable around him, keeping their distance, but no one was running screaming. That was a start.
"Alex!" Bhask said, running up to him. Alex grinned, caught his arms and twisted them into a headlock. A nearby Soul gasped and hurried away.
"Have a good session with Melts Blue Ice?" I said as we turned and walked back towards the Healing Centre.
"It's slow, but we've made progress," he replied, "That fire sure didn't help any though."
"That's not fair!" Bhask was saying, as I said,
"That was all Kelly! One person shouldn't be allowed to wreck the progress we'd made."
"The stick in the mud's are all saying I-told-you-so, the humans are completely irretrievable."
"They don't say that to your face, surely?"
"No," he smiled, "That's Melts Blue Ice's genius. He gets me sitting there serenely, and they get all tongue tied, and Melts Blue Ice gets full sway."
I grinned, picturing Alex sitting, eyebrows raised, quietly menacing, in a room full of confounded Souls.
"If we brought Kelly in, if she confessed what she'd done-" I started, but he stopped immediately and held my shoulders tightly.
"Not a chance in hell," he said, staring me straight in the eyes.
"But-"
"No, Flame. You keep away from this, do you hear me?" he said. I was stunned.
"You've done enough," he said. True enough, I thought. I only organized a hundred people to be sitting ducks for her to slaughter.
"You have Bhask back now," he said. "You don't need to be doing anything that could keep you guys apart again, now do you?" Bhask put his arm round my waist. I smiled at them and we kept walking. Dorsey was asleep when we stuck our heads in, so we caught a cab back to Falling Smoke's hotel.
Bhask. Alex had a point. I listened to him babble about finally being allowed to go to training school because of Boy, getting his driving license, aceing Earth Studies. He babbled through dinner, and kept it up while we pretended to watch the bland, crushingly cheery Soul television.
I felt I had to go after Kelly. But what if something went wrong? Even if the humans didn't do something, I could twist my ankle, fall down a cliff… but these things could happen any time. The difference is, this time you'll have no back up, I thought. No Alex, no Dorsey, no Falling Smoke. I could die. What would happen then?
Alex would look after Bhask. But how would Alex cope? He would be upset. Really upset. Was it fair to put him through that? I didn't want to think about it. I watched Bhask chatter away to Alex, having long since given up trying to make me join the conversation. It was all things he had told me about in the desert anyway. I felt the long warm curve of his body leaning on mine, and ached to think of losing that contact so soon.
But Alex's words from long ago came back to me: Who here is happy with the life we can offer him?
Could I really turn my back on Kelly? Kelly could destroy all the progress we had made. She threatened the future, not just individuals. I went to sleep decided.
Fires were springing up everywhere, bursting into tiny devouring lifes. I tried to slap them out, but everything I touched got covered in flames, burning. Alex, Bhask, Dorsey. Everything I touched.
I woke up sweating. I concentrated on my plan, pushing all other thoughts away. This was the only way to stop her. I hugged Bhask gently and tried to go back to sleep.
***
We drove back into the city next morning. Dorsey was hovering by the entrance and ran up when we arrived
"You're here! Finally! They're letting me go!" she crowed.
"Fantastic!" I said, hugging her, "where's you medication?" She rolled her eyes impatiently.
"We're going home, now?" Bhask asked, eyes alive at the thought. I drank in his beautiful face.
"As soon as we get Dorsey's medication. Take her down to the pharmacy, you know where that is?"
"I know where that is!" Dorsey said, glaring at me and hurrying after him. I turned to Alex.
"Take Dorsey and Bhask back home. Show Edie and George their grandson," I said winningly, "I've got a few things to sort out here first."
"You'll stay with Falling Smoke?" Alex asked, looking at me sadly.
"You're a chump," I grinned, squeezing his hand, "I'll be right on your heels."
"Well, we'll wait a few days then-"
""No! They'll repeal the moratorium if Bhask spends one more minute in this place."
"Hey, I've already been implanted," Bhask complained, returning at a sprint with Dorsey not far behind.
"Yes, you're perfect," I told him, rolling my eyes.
Finally they were safely away.
I left a note for Falling Smoke, buckled on my holster, and headed for the desert.
***
The next day I was in desert country, the road cutting through flat dry plains and weaving around the occasional rocky massif, hiding deep, shady canyons, lengthy cave systems. And humans, I thought.
I pulled into a petrol station and filled up.
"Morning, Seeker," the store attendant said. "Out hunting?"
"Following a runaway," I replied, smiling at him and leaning on the counter, "Don't know of any places round here that might be good for humans to hide?"
"Ooh well, they'd be headed for Hamersly Range, I'd say" he said, pulling out a map, "known human haunt. No Soul can go in there without disappearing. Everyone stays clear of that. You'd be advised to do the same. The local Seekers'll tell you all about it." I thanked him and drove off, one part terrified to two parts excited. I was close to Kelly now and I knew it.
My phone rang and I answered it automatically, lost in thought.
"Flame, are you on your way?" Alex asked, a hint of worry in his voice. I hit my forehead silently.
"I'm still with Falling Smoke," I lied bluntly, "Hold your horses, I'll be on my way soon. You don't have to worry, I'm leaving him any minute." There was a silence on the other end of the line.
"But I just called him-"
Shit, I thought, and hung up. Busted! I turned my phone off. Ok, so Alex knew I wasn't with Falling Smoke. So, he still doesn't know where I am exactly, what I'm doing. Alright, so he probably does know what I'm doing.
Then the familiar skyline I had been looking for rose up from the horizon.
But he can't stop me now, I thought.