Disclaimer: I'm a poor beggar woman. Ask no more of me.

Zack's Penny

By Be Boring

Chapter 9: Captured

*~* Penny

Ok, can you say uncomfortable? Honestly, I thought that with the fact that I was so uncomfortable, my heat cycle would pretty much go into hibernation. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. It doesn't matter who I'm with, my hormones don't let me get away with a thing. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Don't get me wrong, I never thought it was a first rate idea in the first place, but it would help me accomplish what I wanted to. Now I was getting worried that my heat cycle would make me do something I'd regret for the rest of my life, not to mention letting Lydecker know what I was. I couldn't imagine going back to Manticore now, not when I'd changed so much in the outside world.

"What's your name?" Lydecker asked. He kept looking at me strangely for some reason. Relax, there's no way he could know what you are just yet.

I figured it was probably best if I stuck with the name I had come up with back at the gas station. "Mandy."

"You weren't by any chance ever related to Caroline Philips, were you?"

Now he had me completely confused. "No, who is she?"

That seemed to make him uncomfortable. "Nobody important, but you look a lot like her." Then he gave me another one of those looks. It sent a chill down my spine; he was checking me out. He was looking at me almost like you'd look at a long lost lover, it was like he was seeing something I didn't know was there that he did.

"Do I have something on my face or anything like that?"

That seemed to snap him out of his daze. "Um..sorry. I didn't mean to stare, but you really do look like Caroline."

Who was Caroline? That was going to drive me nuts if my heat cycle didn't pull it off first. "Did something happen to her?"

"She's been gone for a while." I got the sense from his tone of voice that I wasn't going to get anymore out of him. Not on this topic anyway.

I turned to stare out the window, struggling to keep my mind off my raging hormones. Why was I so stupid? What drove me to get into a vehicle with Lydecker? It struck me just how close I was to him, maybe two feet between us. I hoped to God that he didn't reach out and touch my arm, that just might send me over the edge. That would be something to tell Zack. First I fucked our brother, then I went after our worst enemy! Aren't you so proud of me? Just the thought of the look on his face made me shake slightly where I sat.

"Are you alright?" The concern in Lydecker's voice caught me a little by surprise, but not as much as when he laid his hand on my knee. If it wasn't for the fact that I was in heat, this would have seemed to be a moment between father and daughter. I bit my lip to hold back the low groan of frustration that was threatening to come from me. I also balled my hands into fists so tightly that my nails dug into the palms of my hands. It wasn't until I felt a heavy wetness in my hands that I realized I had cut into my skin deeply enough to bleed.

"I-I'm fine," I stammered helplessly. I felt like a rat in a trap, I had nowhere to go. If he came any closer, I was done for. Literally.

"Are you sure? Your face is completely flushed."

"Just warm," I said quickly, struggling to fight off the feeling that was rising in me. I barely managed to hold back my sigh of relief when Lydecker finally put his hand back on the steering wheel.

"Crack open a window if you want. I don't mind." Wasn't he being awfully nice when I was only a stranger to him? It must have had something to do with the fact that I looked like that Caroline Philips woman he was talking about. Either way, I was more than happy to open my window. I made sure not to open it too far, but I did open it enough for the blast of chilly air to send several chills down my spine. It wasn't quite as good as a cold shower, but it would have to do for now.

*~* Zane

It probably wasn't the best idea to talk to Zack, but I never usually listen to what the best idea is anyway. "Where are we going to go?"

Like I thought, he wasn't so happy to have the silence interrupted. Thankfully he didn't say anything about it. "Tinga most likely would have been heading up the interstate, so that's probably where she dropped Penny off. If we're lucky, Manticore isn't looking that far out of town yet."

"Wouldn't Penny let you know if she's okay?"

"Not necessarily. She might be ashamed of what happened with you, so she won't want to face me. Not while she's in heat by any means."

"Why would her heat cycle make her think any differently?"

"An X5's hormones go through the roof when they're in heat, and not just sexual ones. Her emotions will be on a roller coaster ride, so she won't be thinking clearly. It might just make her do something she'd really regret."

I didn't have time to think about that one for too long, seeing as how the door swung open and Tinga walked into the room. Her eyes said everything, she really was sorry.

"You guys, you have no idea..." Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke, so she had to break off.

Zack waved it off. "Don't worry about it right now. At the moment our first priority is to find Penny. Where did you drop her off?"

Five minutes later we were outside of town, speeding down the interstate. When Tinga finally pulled over to the side of the road, I pulled over my car as well. I was glad Zack had gone with her, he was too negative for me. I wanted to at least be slightly optimistic at a time like this. "Is this where you left her?"

Tinga nodded, then she crouched down to examine the barely noticeable footprints that had been left in the thin layer of dust at the side of the road. "She went that way." She stood up and pointed to her left, towards what appeared to be a gas station.

Zack frowned thoughtfully. "If she went there, she could have easily called me. There's only a couple reasons she wouldn't." Seeing the look on my face, he made his point a little clearer. "Either her heat cycle got the better of her and she's with a man somewhere, or she's decided not to come back. I don't know which one I prefer."

I could see what he meant. If Penny was with another man, at least the chances were that she was still nearby. If she had decided to run away, at least she wouldn't be feeling any worse than she was already. Of course, she could be doing both. As my eyes studied the gas station from our distance, I noticed something. "The lights are on, but there's no people moving around. I just see two vehicles out there."

Zack and Tinga turned to take a closer look as well. "You're right," Zack muttered thoughtfully. "I can see a red car, but what's the other one? It's in a shadow, from this distance I can't make it out."

Tinga frowned and squinted until I wasn't sure her eyes were open anymore. Then they popped back open so fast that I nearly jumped. "It's a humvee. Manticore's already been there." I saw the look on Zack's face at that piece of news, and I only had a split second to prepare myself for what was coming next. He was going to blame Tinga.

"How could you be so fucking stupid? She's never been on her own, Manticore knows all of our original locations, yet you leave her on the side of the interstate!"

Tinga shrank back slightly, but that didn't hold for long. "I didn't know Manticore was here! This is Ludlow, and even though it's close to LA, it's not part of it! Not to mention they're not looking for Penny here, they're looking for Zane! They have no clue she's even here."

"It's not like that's much comfort right now," Zack growled, moving his face dangerously close to hers. For one strange second he looked like he was going to head-butt her, but then he backed off. It was only then that I saw the pained frustration in his eyes. He really cares about her. This is tearing him apart. I just wished I could do something.

"Where do you think she would have headed?" I asked finally, trying to take Zack's mind off the image of Penny in Manticore.

He bit his lip for a moment, then looked up the interstate. "She would have hitched a ride with someone, and most people who travel by interstate will stick to it as long as possible. She also would have just asked to be dropped off in a big place, so she can go off in any direction she wants."

"Ok, so let's just stick with the interstate thing for now. What possible routes could she have taken?"

"Even if she kept going east, there's a lot of choices she had. There would be no way to pinpoint where she is."

I could feel a strange helplessness washing over me. Penny had lived with Zack for so long that she would know her way around the country and exactly how to hide herself to the point where even Zack might not be able to find her. "You said she would probably go to a big city and move on from there. What big cities could she get to by going eastward on interstates?"

"If they connect directly off this, then the closest ones for her to get to would be Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Denver, but they're all capitals, so that wouldn't be the best idea. Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and Colorado Springs are a couple others. But that's just in the next few states, she could go anywhere in the country if she finds the right person to hitch along with."

Tinga studied the many vehicles passing us by. "If she hitched with a truck driver from here, then she'd probably end up in Albuquerque, there's a lot of business between here and there."

I sighed. "I don't know about you guys, but that's where I'm headed. It's as good as we've got."

*~* Penny

"We're here," came Lydecker's voice quietly as he shook my leg gently to wake me up. I groaned and twisted in my spot, making a show of being tired and wanting to stay sleeping. I couldn't just snap awake and be ready to go, that wouldn't seem natural. I hadn't meant to doze off, but I wasn't able to help myself. I was so relaxed with the cool breeze blowing over my face that I let myself fall off.

"I guess this is goodbye then. Thanks for the ride, you have no idea how much I appreciate it." Before he could say anything, I slid out of the truck and walked away across the parking lot. He had parked by a mall, so I'm guessing he just didn't want me to know where he was going. Not that it bothered me, I was just happy to be away from him. It didn't take me five minutes to pick out the nearest hotel and head to it. If I could just get myself into a room alone, I'd be just fine.

"Are there any rooms available?" I asked breathlessly as I ran up to the desk. The teenage boy behind the desk raised an eyebrow at my hectic behavior, but he nodded.

"Yeah, there's a couple rooms. It's twenty bucks."

I couldn't help thinking that was kind of cheap, but people had been forced to cut prices drastically after the Pulse. I just shoved a twenty into his hand and took the key he offered me before my body could change my mind, then I took off down the hallway. I glanced down at my key as I ran. Ok, room 25. Once I make it there, I'll be fine.

I had just turned the corner when I came to a crashing halt. I had run smack dab into a tall young man, one who was particularly well built. I couldn't help but gape as I stepped back. Black hair, rich brown eyes, and dimples. What girl could ask for more? The problem was that he was looking at me funny. In fact, he was starting to back away from me.

"You weren't supposed to be along on this mission. Why are you here?"

I froze in my tracks. What was that supposed to mean? That's when a young woman stepped out from behind him. She looked to be of Asian descent, with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and shrewd brown eyes that seemed to burn through me. I was so shocked to see her that I wasn't prepared for her when she tackled me.

"State your designation, soldier!"

I couldn't help but get a dig in. She knew what I was, so why hold back? "C'mon Brin, you know better than that. We don't go by designations anymore out here."

Her eyes widened slightly, but the look of shock faded so that anyone who had blinked wouldn't have been able to tell you that she'd shown a shred of emotion. Her eyes searched deep into mine but they didn't appear to find anything. Then she grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head forward. I felt her body tense up as she read the barcode, then I saw her gesture to one of the other X5s that had walked out of the room. I couldn't see what she had motioned for her to do, but I pretty much guessed what it was when my world went black.