JUNE
2347 hours
Wyoming
The gentle rocking of the train car has lulled me into a dreamlike state. I had every detail of this thirty-three sq. ft. car catalogued less than a minute after we boarded so thirty-six hours and eighteen minutes into our forty-two hour trip with nothing else to focus on I am watching Day sleep.
He is beautiful when he sleeps. One arm hangs off the tiny bed and the other is tossed across his face. I can't see his eyes but every so often his absurdly perfect lips twitch and I suspect he dreams. I sit on the end of the small bed with my knees pulled into my chest and my head resting against the wall, my hands ache to reach out and trace the line of exposed skin where his shirt has inched up his torso but I don't touch him. I don't want to wake him. Sometimes I have this foolish notion that if I disturb moments like these the thin bubble of this world where the two of us exist together will burst and he will simply cease to be. So instead I sit here content to match my breath to his and count the passage of time in the beats of his pulse against the skin of his neck.
At first I was opposed to the train, frustrated that we would waste nearly two days in transit alone. However air travel in the Republic is controlled by the military and all passengers are rigorously documented and far too easy to track. By taking the train Day and I were easily able to slip out of the city unnoticed and book passage under an alias. The forty-two hour delay may not be ideal for the mission but it has given my hip time to heal enough to be functional.
Day flat out refused to go anywhere until I checked in at the Hospital with Tess. I don't know what she said to him but whatever it was must have struck a nerve because I could see from the way his eyes flashed that it wasn't worth putting up and argument. Ultimately it was a good decision since I had already managed to tear out some of the original sutures and without antibiotic an infection had begun to set in. Tess re-closed the wound and loaded us up with meds and supplies. Our bag is more cumbersome now than I'd like but Day and Tess both looked more relaxed when we left.
I smile to myself when I remember Tess describing her run in with Day. I can picture the look on his face as clearly as if I had been there myself. I wish I had been there it must have been priceless. I hadn't known about her and Eden either but I knew she was seeing someone and that she was being unusually tight lipped about it so Eden had been right at the top of my list. Maybe it was because I like the idea of her and Eden together. They seem to fit, both of them gentle and vibrant, miraculously untainted by the trauma of their childhood.
Outside snow has begun to fall fast and hard in icy sheets that cling to the tiny window. A flash of lightning blazes across the sky and a crack of thunder follows. I have never heard thunder during a snowstorm and the sound draws me of my thoughts. Carefully I rise from the bed stretching my cramped limbs as I go and press my hand against the window gazing out into the darkness at the barely discernible landscape. We are in Wyoming now; this part of the country is vastly different from Los Angeles, wilder with an uncontrolled sort of beauty.
"June?" behind me Day is awake, his blonde hair messier than usual. "How long have I been asleep? Are we close?"
"One hour, twelve minutes, nine seconds and three thousand eight hundred and fifty seven heartbeats." I reply automatically. "We have five hours and forty two minutes to go."
"Heartbeats?" He asks confused and my cheeks go warm, I hadn't intended to mention that bit.
"Yes well, I couldn't sleep and there isn't much else to do in here."
"Hmmmm… you're right." His eyelids are still heavy but he gives me a mischievous grin. "You must be so bored. I wonder what we could do to fix that?" He rises from the bed and takes a single step in my direction. In the cramped space one step is enough to bring him close enough that I can see the tiny imperfection in his eye as he scans the length of my body. His hands reach out and grasp my waist pulling my hips gently into his own. Heat rolls off of him filling my chest with warmth. The air behind me seems suddenly frigid and shiver runs through me.
"June, are you ok?" His flirtatious tone is abruptly replaced with one of concern.
"I'm fine." I nudge his chin with my forehead and press myself in closer trying to direct his thoughts back to their previous objective.
"Are you sure? I don't want you to get sick. Are you taking the meds Tess gave you?" He grabs the faded green fleece blanket from off the bed and begins tucking it around my shoulders like he's afraid I might shatter.
"Daniel" I sigh "Are you going to treat me like a wounded bird for the next six and a half months?"
"Probably." He gives me a wry grin but I can see anxiety in his eyes as he reaches a hand up to my cheek. I won't survive all those months if this sort of thing continues so without warning I block the trajectory of his hand and sweep a leg beneath his sending him stumbling back onto the bed where I pin his arms above his head and immobilize his body beneath mine.
"Then I'll have no choice but to defend myself against your ministrations and we both know you'll lose." I lower my head so that my lips brush against his ear. "I'm very dangerous you know."
"Mmmm… Oh I know." He frees his hands and they trail across my cheek, my neck and down along my waist where they grip the hem of my shirt and begin to guide it up my back, "If you weren't so goddy dangerous we wouldn't be having this conversation."
I sit back sliding out of the shirt as I go. I run a finger down the lines of his chest and lift an eyebrow at him. "I thought it was a joint effort." My hands begin methodically picking apart the buttons at his chest.
"Hm. So clever." Suddenly he sits up and slips a rough hand under my hair to grasp at the back of my neck. He pulls my mouth down parting my lips with his own and kisses me with such intensity that I feel lightheaded. As much as I was trying to steer him back to this place the sudden hunger of his hands against my skin catches me off guard. He lifts me up and flips us around, pressing me into the mattress. His hands glide along my legs and I give up on the buttons and simply tear the shirt up over his head weaving my hands into his hair and pulling him back down. He moves against me and he is all fire and emotion. My thoughts run together as my breath becomes uneven and I begin to lose track of the passing time. My last clear thought is that Day was right about this being a better way to combat boredom.
In the early hours of dawn I wake tangled up against him, cocooned in warmth on the tiny bed. For just an instant I wish I could stay in this moment, that we could simply spend the rest of our lives isolated from the world and it's troubles traveling back and forth on the train. I shake the thought from my mind and unwrap myself from Day. Evil will persist whether we stand against it or not but the choice to hope and fight for a better world makes us who we are.
DAY
June and I are crouched in the shadows on the third floor balcony of a darkened building. We're watching the ally below and the scene is so similar to my dream a few nights ago that when I remember the way it ended I can't help but feel a sense of foreboding. A bitter gust of wind tears through the night and the cold claws it's way through my layers of dark clothing. I shoot a quick glance to my left at June trying to assess her without being obvious. Her lips have gone a little blue and they've begun to tremble but she doesn't seem to notice, her concentration is fully directed on the three men we followed here. I want to reach out and put an arm around her but I think better of it. Besides I'm not any warmer than she is right now.
Instead I watch the men and wish for the millionth time that we had managed to snag a pair of the glasses that would've allowed us to see all of the virtual information that is everywhere, even in this pioneer city. But we had to jump the train just before we reached our destination to avoid border patrol and we haven't come across anyone with a pair we could easily lift. I never had the chip implanted myself. By the time Eden and I moved to Ross City I'd had enough surgery to last a lifetime and I refused any more, even if it would've made life a lot easier. I did ok with the glasses and it was nice to be able to unplug from the constant stream of data sometimes. Right now though a little extra information would be extremely helpful. The Antarcticans would never admit it but it's plenty easy for people with the right set of skills to hack the system and cheat the game, or hide from it. Undoubtedly that's what these trots and anyone tied up in this dirty mess are doing... but sometimes the lies people tell are just as revealing as the truth.
I glance over at June again and this time I can't help it, I scoot a little closer to her and try in vain to shield her from the wind. She must be colder than I thought because she gives me a small grateful smile and angles her body into mine. It's been a long cold day since June and I arrived in this small border city. After orientating ourselves we decided the best place to start looking for information was at the restaurant where the gunman had met his contact. We got lucky pretty quickly coming across this trio of trots who spent all day loading sketchy looking merchandise from the basement into a delivery truck. The real kicker came when just after nightfall three girls, barely teenagers, decked out in heels and tiny skirts without a coat in sight were lead out of the building and shut up in the back seat of a car that drove away behind the truck. Even June looked like she wanted to just shoot the guys instead of following them when she saw the way the men touched those girls.
I'm glad we did follow them though because this place looks promising. Situated on the outskirts of the city, we followed the men in the truck to a nondescript warehouse that is clearly more than it seems. First off there are guards at every entrance and exit, they wear street clothes and their weapons are concealed but it's completely goddy obvious what they are. Secondly the doors and windows have a high tech security system that places like this wouldn't bother with, you know, in case someone managed to get past those big guys and their guns. Of course that's exactly what June and I want to do. In the last three hours we've staked out the place from different vantage points, getting the layout of the building and watching people come and go. We've seen four other deliveries both of women and products. I'm pretty sure June's even memorized the complex security code the guards use to let people enter the building...although I don't think going in the front would be a great idea even if she had.
Another gust of wind howls past us sending icy snow swirling into the relative shelter of the balcony. June's body goes ridged beside me and I'm done, I can't stand to watch her freeze anymore. We got what we came for tonight and we accomplished more today than I'd hoped. Those trots aren't going to give us anything else. It's time to get back inside thaw out and decide what our next move will be.
I nudge her and set two fingers against my brow in the signal I've been using for years that it's time to stop. When I suggested it to June earlier she looked stunned for a moment before she started laughing. I'm not really sure why? Maybe it is a little simple but it's nice and subtle and it's always worked for me. June doesn't laugh now though, she just nods in agreement and the two of us begin scaling our way over to the next building, out of the line of site and then down to street level. When we're a few blocks away and heading in the direction of our hotel it's finally safe to talk.
"We have to get inside the warehouse." She states. I sigh because I know she's right I just wish there'd been a good way in… and fewer guns.
"Yeah. Not tonight though ok? We should rest and regroup, figure out what the best point of entry is and what we're gonna do once we're in. You saw those basement windows?"
"Of course. Reinforced, impact resistant glass, with homeostatic air regulation features. Whatever was down there is important and protected, probably a great place to start looking for Alisha."
"She might not even be at this warehouse you know. There could be dozens of others." I don't know what's got me so pessimistic tonight maybe it's that nagging feeling that this is all about to blow up in our faces and the fear that something terrible will happen to June when it does.
"That's true, but in a city this size I think it's unlikely. The operation here already looks too big to stay under the radar for much longer with the Antarctican government. Didn't you tell me this organization has places like this all over the world so that no one country would be able to shut them down? Statistically our chances of finding Alisha at that location seem pretty high."
"Ok then, we break in." I loop my arm around her waist and pull her close, "Got a plan?"
"Not exactly. I've got the security code they're using for the door. Obviously we won't be walking in the front but I'm hoping they'll use the same code or a derivative of it on the locks inside. I think our best bet is to go in the morning after the deliveries are complete but before sunrise and try for one of those fourth floor windows, they had normal glass and the rooms up there looked unused. "
That's pretty much what I'd thought too. Except for the part about the door code…. which I'm not sure I understood. We reach the small rundown motel where we've rented out a room and the wind chases us inside. I've been to Dakota a few times and stayed here before. The withered old women who owns the place is a former republic citizen with no love for Antarcticans, or anyone really, which is good because she asks no questions and doesn't much care who comes and goes as long as they pay up front.
Our limbs are still frozen like blocks of ice and we climb the three flights of creaky stairs up to our room slowly. When we reach our door I fumble around looking for the key until June reaches out and plucks it from the shirt pocket I dropped it into earlier. When she hands it to me I trap her icy hand trying to warm it in mine and push the strands of dark glossy hair that have escaped her ponytail back from her forehead. Her endless eyes are soft in the faded light of this lonely hallway and when she rolls up on her toes to kiss me her lips are surprisingly warm. I stand here for a moment drinking her in and wondering if it would be completely cracked of me to scoop her up and carry her over the threshold of this dusty little hotel room. Maybe she would think it was romantic….or maybe she would punch me. I settle for grasping her around the waist careful to avoid her sore hip and opening the door with one hand while I pull her small frame inside with the other and kick the door shut. I unravel her black scarf and my lips work their way eagerly down her neck as I hold her closer and direct us both further into the darkened room.
But we are not alone…
The woman steps smoothly out from the shadows behind the door calmly pointing her gun at us. Her golden blonde hair shines like a halo around her shoulders in the dim light from the window and her full red lips are lifted in a deadly smile. Jessalyn.
"Hello Blue." She purrs at me, her own blue eyes flashing dangerously, "Fancy running into you here."
Goddy Hell.
Aside: Not gonna lie. I struggled a bit with this chapter… it didn't go exactly where I planned and there were a lot of nitpicky rewrites but I hope it was still worth reading! I'd love to hear what you thought.
Have a lovely week!