Revolution 19 Read Online Free PDF Page B

lining the narrow dirt game trail they followed.
    They stopped only to drink from a stream and to gather a handful of wild berries. Nick bit into a tart berry and suddenly found tears welling up. It was thanks to his mother’s endless lectures that he had known the berry was safe to eat. He wiped them away angrily with the back of his hand.
    “They’ll be at the tent waiting for us,” Cass said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
    Nick stepped out from under her hand. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s keep moving.”
    Kevin and Cass hadn’t been back to the emergency shelter for almost two years, not since they had helped their parents set it up. Nick had been back twice since then, bringing supplies with their father, most recently six months ago, so he should have known the way. Still, by late afternoon he was worried that they wouldn’t find it, but then the terrain began to look familiar, and finally, there past the clearing, up against the base of a steep tree-lined hill, he saw the split boulder that served as the shelter landmark. Tucked behind the boulder, hidden by the deep shadows of the trees and the slope of the hill, was a small green and brown tent flap. The tent itself, ten feet by fifteen, was wedged into an indentation of the hill, in a natural clearing concealed by the trees, the boulder, the hill, and carefully hung camouflage netting. Even knowing where to look, it was almost impossible to see.
    They all broke into a run. Kevin got to the flap first, unzipped it, and stepped in, Nick following close behind.
    The tent was empty.
    Everyone was silent. Nick knew at that moment, beyond a doubt, that nobody else would be coming to the shelter, but he said with forced cheerfulness, “They’re old and slow. We’re young and fast. Give them a few hours.”
    Cass sat down, right there on the ground by the tent flap. “They’re not coming.”
    Kevin sat down, too. “Yes, they are, Cass. And Gapper and Jess, too.”
    Cass shook her head but said nothing.
    “They have to make it, Cass.” Kevin’s voice began to break. “This is all my fault.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I found something in the woods,” said Kevin. “A piece of tech. I took it home, and I hid it, and it turned on and signaled the bots.”
    Nick went over to his brother. “They would have found us sooner or later anyway, with or without the chaff,” he said.
    Kevin glanced up, his face showing remorse, but then he shook his head and looked away. “Well, later would have been better than sooner.”
     
    They waited. Nick wasn’t expecting his parents to show up, but he had to give them the chance, and he knew that Cass needed the rest. Their father had stocked the shelter with military MREs, which tasted lousy but would keep them alive. They left the tent only for quick forays down to a nearby stream for water and into the trees for bathroom breaks. At night they took turns keeping watch, Cass insisting on joining in the rotation. Nick barely slept at all. Their parents were gone. They were either dead or captured by the bots. And he didn’t know what to do.
    During the day they spoke little. Nick read a copy of Huckleberry Finn that he found in a small stash of books under one of the cots. Kevin tinkered with a set of lightstrips and a coil of gridline. If he had more line and a handful of panels, he could set up a grid for the tent, he explained. The sunlight would be spotty, since the panels would have to stay hidden in the trees, but if he set up the array to maximize efficiency, he’d have plenty of power for the shelter. Nick and Cass let him ramble, barely listening. Cass had found a notepad and pencil and spent her time sketching. She drew the four robots she had seen: the large warbird; the smaller bird that went after Gapper and Jess; the boxlike rolling soldier, half-hidden in smoke; the darting, floating scouts in the woods. She drew a picture of her mother and father smiling, and another of a bosh game,