Page 15 of Mender

“You need to hold it together, and we’ll sort this out,” I said, voice stern. I didn’t have more than six years on the couple, but I suddenly felt like an old crone. Still, coddling her would get us nowhere.

Hansen and I sat down by the fire, waiting as she got herself ready. I moved my right shoulder tentatively. It still stung from landing on the ground when Larkin threw himself at me, but all in all, I felt fine. Physically, that was. We had been too late.

“First Andrea, and now this,” Hansen said, his voice low. He was thinking along the same lines as me. The thought of the lifeless kid in the tent next to us was intolerable. He was trapped in a living nightmare now. The drugs only staved off the inevitable. He would wake up and realize his predicament soon enough.

I drew my knees up, leaned my elbows on them, and ran my hands through my hair. “Can’t catch a damn break,” I mumbled and grit my teeth.

“You’re not comatose, are you?” Hansen said, surprising me. I looked up to see him putting a couple of logs on the fire.

“Might as well be,” I said.

“You should take your own advice. Not just dole it out.”

“Yeah,” I sighed and looked around. He was right. The camp further down was still in high spirits. They were loud and hadn’t heard Liz’s scream, which was worrying but also a blessing for us. We didn’t need non-affiliates asking questions about this. Behind us, I saw a cooler and pulled it closer. The night was far from over, and I had no reservations in helping myself to some food.

“So, we’re stealing now as well?” Hansen asked as he noticed what I was doing.

“That, or asking permission after the fact,” I said, opening the container before I became disappointed. “What the hell kind of trail-mix is this?” I pulled out a bag of cut vegetables, carrots, celery and some sort of turnip? Boring.

“Food’s food,” Hansen said, taking the bag and opening it. Apparently, he’d changed his mind. I found some water as well. That was a relief after our trip up the ridge. We ate in silence, while I stared down at the other camp. I suspected the real food was down there. Liz took her time, and I realized I might have to rush her. There wasn’t only Will. There was also an unconscious agent lying further down from us. What if one of the kids in the other camp wandered off and found him? We needed to be long gone if that happened. That did remind me of something, though.

“How did Larkin know where I was?” I asked Hansen.

“Ah, that.” He bit down on a piece of turnip and got his phone out of his pocket. “I guess he’s tracking me now,” he said as he took the turnip out again. He turned the phone off and removed the battery and sim card.

“The auto shop, do you think?”

He nodded. “Must have seen me. I knew there was something off about him.”

“Oh, that hurts,” I taunted. “Those are your special words for me.” I couldn’t help smiling and I saw him tense up, whether because of my comment or smirk I didn’t know. In that moment, though, Liz finally came out of the tent, dressed in jeans and a thick sweater. It shouldn’t have taken that long to get those clothes on.

“Please, for the love of God, tell me you’re an affiliate,” I said before she could ask us anything. She’d been there when it happened, so I couldn’t leave her there, but non-affiliates usually took some time when understanding what was going on. I had to give Hansen some credit, though. When first presented with evidence, he’d grasped the situation quick enough. But he had so many follow-up questions. It had to be an occupational hazard.

Liz, to my relief, nodded. In turn, she looked relieved as well. Up until that point, she had probably thought we’d happened to come by their tent. I shouldn’t have been too surprised. Affiliates often found other affiliates as partners. It made life easier. Liz and Will might even have bonded because of it.

“Okay,” I said. “My name is Maggie, and this is…uh…Nate.” Using his first name felt weird, but given the situation, formality was not what would make her trust us.

“Oh,” she said. “I’ve heard of you. From Freddy. You know…before he—”

“That’s nice,” I interrupted, giving her the slightest shake of my head. She did luckily take the hint despite looking confused. Unfortunately, I noticed Hansen watching me at this. Although he didn’t say anything, I could practically hear the cogwheels turning around in his head.

I went on with what we were now to do, pretending nothing had happened. I told Liz to sit down a moment, noticing she didn’t even raise an eyebrow at our raiding their cooler. I told her what had happened, noting that she was holding any attempt at crying or panicking back now. Good. It made me like her.

What she could tell was unfortunately very little. She and Will had been taken by surprise when a masked man had entered their tent, going for Will, who’d instantly slumped down. Liz, at first, thought he had fainted, realizing soon afterward as their attacker ran away, that her boyfriend was awake but unable to move or talk. What differed from the other attacks was the lack of violence. Both Jake and Michael had been assaulted first, but Will and Liz had obviously been in the middle of sex during the altercation. This had rendered Will distracted and confused, no doubt, when the attacker came in.

“Why is that important?” Hansen asked when I lay this information out for them, noticing Liz blush at my directness.

“I think it means he needs eye contact when doing his thing. If his victims run away, or worse, counterattack, remember they are quite capable of doing harm, then he’ll not be able to do this to them.”

“He did turn Will’s face toward him,” Liz confirmed.

“Kind of like you, isn’t it?” Hansen commented, eyes narrowed as he looked at me. I had not told him that, but I had read him. Damn it. He was good at putting two and two together. I looked away at that, focusing on Liz again.

“You don’t happen to have an active ability, do you?” I asked bluntly. “You know, to help us get Will down to the cars?”

It wasn’t considered rude exactly to ask about people’s affiliation, but it was kind of like asking a stranger what color underwear they were wearing. In my case, though, people usually didn’t think twice about it. I could seldom do my job if they kept things like that from me.

Unfortunately, Liz shook her head. “I get death warnings,” she said.

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