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I decided then. I was going to find out what happened to her.
I went to find Kaela. I knew she’d be in her garden. I needed to talk this out with her. Now that we had traveled a fair distance to the caves, the journey to one of Kira’s command stations would be much farther away. I’d have to go away for a few days at a time to analyze the footage, to see if there was any data regarding Kira’s whereabouts.
She’d likely think it was a bad idea, but I felt like I didn’t have any choice. I had to do this, for Kira’s sake. For my own sanity.
The sun was high overhead, warm and inviting as I walked through the woods toward the plot of land she was working. When I saw her, I stopped, admiring the way the sunlight made her reddish-brown hair shine like strands of fire. I took a deep breath. She’d be okay without me for a few days. I knew it. She was the sort of quiet strength that all of us loved.
The leaves ruffled overhead, and she looked up, catching sight of me as she did so.
“Alaina,” she exclaimed, smiling. Her eyes crinkled with joy at seeing me and I couldn’t help but grin in return, her good mood contagious.
I walked over and sat beside her in the dirt, laughing at seeing some smeared across her nose.
“You’re filthy,” I said, trying to wipe off the dirt off her face with my thumb, only I just seemed to make it worse. I shook my head, chuckling at her expense.
“Yeah, I know,” she giggled. “I’ll bathe in the spring water lake later.”
I knew which one she meant. Deep in the caves, we’d discovered a small pond. A hot spring fed into it, and it felt like a warm bath every time you stepped into it. It was wonderful after a long day of work.
“You didn’t come to me to discuss bath time though,” she frowned, studying my face. Always the perceptive one, my sister Kaela.
“No, I didn’t,” I admitted, turning my eyes to the ground.
“What did you want to talk about then?” she asked cautiously, but she probably already knew what I was going to say. I tensed a little, preparing myself to tell her what I had planned.
“I need to find out what happened to Kira. I’m going to travel to her last known location and inspect her camera footage and anything relevant to the area. If there is any way I can find out what happened to her and if there is even the slimmest chance I can help rescue her, I have to do it. It keeps me up at night and I can’t stop thinking about it during daylight. I have to know,” I explained in a single breath, nervous as to how she was going to respond.
She watched me closely, her green eyes sparkling with understanding and acceptance, almost as if she’d known I’d go eventually. She sighed.
“I knew it was only a matter of time,” she whispered, wiping her hands free of dirt and mud. She sat back on her heels. “You should take someone with you though.”
“I’ll move faster on my own. I don’t want to put anyone else at risk. It’s too dangerous,” I replied softly.
“If you mean that, at least let Dr. Lily insert one of the last few GPS trackers we have left,” she suggested.
Dr. Lily was an older woman in her early fifties who had escaped with her younger daughter, Maddie, who was around my age. She’d been able to steal some medical supplies from a nearby abandoned medical enhancement center periodically over the years, including a set of military grade GPS trackers. All it took was a small insertion cartridge that would implant a tracker the size of a grain of rice under your skin, activating it with a chemical compound. As far as we could tell, the tracker never died and with its corresponding power bank, a small handheld unit, when powered on, would show a hologram image of the area where the tracker was live, including a set of coordinates that would lead us straight to it and whoever it was in.
If I was going to go in alone, it would b
e a good idea to get one. We’d never actually used one of them before, so maybe now was a better time than never to test them out.
“I’ll do that,” I whispered, taking a deep breath.
“When will you go?”
“In the morning. At first light,” I answered.
She looked sad for a moment, and then nodded. I paused and then lifted my chin.
“Will you take over my duties, be the leader for a little while? Watch over everyone while I’m gone, until I return?” I asked gently. I knew her though. She was already ready for it before I asked.
“Yes. I expected as much. I’ll ask Kaze to keep a closer eye on Danika. Do your best to find out what you can and then come straight back to us. I’ll keep the hunting and foraging groups on schedule. We should begin preparing for the winter season. The temperature at night drops pretty low in the caves, especially if it rains,” she answered, picking up a seed and placing it in a hole she made in the dirt. I don’t know why I was worried. She’d make a fine leader, at least temporarily. I had every intention of coming back. “When you return, you and I must look over our stocks and see what we need to forage and send out teams to find in the nearby abandoned grocery stores,” she added.
“Right. We’ll need to harvest some extra furs; that I know already. We could use some extra deer pelts in the caves since it’ll probably be a little colder in there. We got lucky finding that dead bear that one time. Maybe we can increase our range and steal some blankets from some nearby houses or apartments,” I replied.
“Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’ll take over in your place temporarily, only till you get back. Don’t worry about me,” Kaela reassured me, her expression genuine. She meant every word and I loved her for it.
I nodded, taking a deep, shaky breath.
