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DAISY LAZARUS
The clouds Daisywalked on evaporated when they arrived via motorcycle at the shipping container yard being used as a Faithful meeting point. They’d stopped at a burrito place brave enough to remain open and grabbed a quick bite, then headed straight here. Now it was twilight.
She’d hoped to be early to scope out the place and find the best vantage point to spy, but they’d spent longer than planned eating… and at her place. Their lateness gave her a trickle of unease.
She didn’t like being unprepared.
But as it turned out, they were right on time. They pulled into a parking lot and noticed Faithful in white robes converging—disappearing through the gap between two towers of containers. Some wore the Halloween mask, some wore casual clothing with their faces exposed.
No one policed entry. There was no yard security—probably paid to look the other way, or even perhaps part of the curfew. No workers operated the cranes. As far as the eye could see, it was a ghost city made of primary-colored containers stacked on top of each other like children’s building blocks. Flashes of white, the ghosts.
Daisy shook her head. Once she would have been happy with this turnout. Now the food she’d recently eaten made her feel sick. She did her best to avoid the incoming crowd and drove the motorcycle behind a container at the back of the yard. As she checked her weapons—katana strapped, bullwhip at her belt, bat in her hand—her inner alarm bells triggered. What if Julius had now warned everyone about her defection?
They could be walking into a trap.
Best to spy on proceedings from a safe spot. She wished she’d brought her sniper rifle. But if she had brought it, it would have been too easy to pull the trigger. She clutched the baseball bat tighter.
No one even cared that they walked into the yard. Were they fools? Or just overconfident?
Regardless of no one glancing their way in the parking lot, Daisy and Axel went in the opposite direction to where they saw the Faithful headed, took a long route around and backtracked to the meeting spot between a collection of containers.
Daisy used the bat like a walking stick and crouched as she heard voices. They were getting closer. There were no lookouts here. She glanced at Axel, also crouching and wary.
“I’ll give you a boost,” she whispered and pointed up the uneven container stack they stood by. There was an edge between the containers. It would make a climb easier here than other more evenly stacked containers near where the voices were coming from.
He gestured at her. “Shouldn’t I boost you first?”
“I’m stronger.”
He stared blankly for a moment but then must have realized the logic of her words. She held the bat like a step. He planted a boot on the wood. She heaved him up.
Axel wasn’t a small man. Slabs of hard muscle covered his body. Being a fireman meant he needed a strong core and the ability to lift bodies out of buildings. Sometimes that extra bulk made a man less limber, but Axel swung his long legs up and over the first container with little effort. Instantly, he rolled onto his stomach and reached over the edge for her.
She didn’t take his hand. She tossed him the bat and smiled.
There were two ways she could get up. Simply jump or use her bullwhip to lever herself up. At this height, option one was the easiest. She took a running leap and launched herself into the air, easily making the distance to the container roof, parkouring up, and latching on with her hands. Within seconds she was on top, then leaned down to lever him up to her level.
Axel made a low whistle in his teeth. “You’re incredible.”
Daisy was grateful for the cover of darkness, because her cheeks heated in what she was sure was a blush. Which was ridiculous. She’d never cared what anyone thought about her modified abilities. Would she ever get used to having someone praise her the way Axel did? Genuine and not for selfish reasons?
On the ride over, she’d stewed over her reaction to him after waking. Her nightmare had rocked her foundations, yet he’d soothed her. More than that, he’d looked at the evidence of her pain and vowed to keep her safe.
No one will ever hurt you again.
Someone else had said that to her once and it had been a lie. There were things in this world he had no control over. No one did.
Axel pointed at another container stack next to them. “That way,” he whispered.
They stayed low and hurried along until they climbed two more containers. Approaching the area where the main group congregated, Daisy crouched as they arrived at the lip of the container closest to the meeting.
Two barrels of fire burned brightly. A spark combusted in one of them, letting off a loud crack. The flickering flames sucked Daisy into a vortex of memory.
Smoke singed her nostrils. It rasped in her throat. It burned her eyes. But she didn’t need to see. She could feel her way there.
Follow the sadness. Make it stop.
There. Toward the end of the room, tossing computers off desks. It was the woman behind the mirrored window. Daisy knew because she’d always felt her despair, just like she’d felt her joy every time another of Daisy’s siblings was born.
