Untitled Agenda 21 Sequel (9781476746852) Read Online Free PDF Page B

back down beside me with a frown.
    â€œI wanted that,” he said.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œSo I could sit on it and fly away.”
    â€œFly away to where?”
    â€œI don’t know. Someplace safe.” His voice had a soft, pensive tone.
    I pictured him like the Little Prince from my mother’s stories, flying to different lands, searching. The Little Prince didn’t have a name. And we didn’t know the name of this boy.
    â€œYou don’t need a butterfly. We’ll keep you safe. My name is Emmeline. This is David and this is Elsa.” I bounced Elsa up and down and she giggled. “What’s your name?”
    â€œMy name is Micah, but mostly the Caretakers just called me ‘stupid.’ ”
    They called this child stupid? No wonder the children didn’t thrive. “Did you say Michael? Is your name Michael?”
    He smiled, a crooked, lopsided little grin, and I noticed a dimple on his right cheek just like mine. “Micah. Not Michael.”
    â€œShh,” David whispered, his head cocked to the side. Then I heard what he heard. It was the deep gravelly voices of men, two of them, it seemed. Their voices carried all the way to the pine tree.
    â€œThey must have crossed the stream,” the first voice said. “No telling where they are. Let’s report back. There will be hell to pay.”
    â€œFor sure,” said voice number two. “But for who? Hell for them escaping or hell for us if we don’t catch them?”
    There was a pause.
    â€œDo you think they’re all together? His parents and his partner and the two kids?”
    â€œNo way of knowing. Think we’ll be in trouble for not finding any of them?”
    â€œHell, they can’t blame us.” It was the first voice again. “We’re not trained for the Human Free Zone. That’s the Earth Protectors’ job. This isn’t in my job description.”
    â€œJust saying they can’t blame us doesn’t mean they won’t. You know that. Bet they’ve already requisitioned Earth Protectors from the agency.”
    David stared at me, eyes wide and mouth open. I wanted to reach out and touch his face, but I was frozen, couldn’t move.
    â€œThey’ll find them all soon enough.”
    â€œAt least one of them is hurt—given the blood we saw back there on a rock.”
    â€œThat’ll slow them down. We’ll report that. Maybe hell is already being paid.” One of them laughed.
    David turned white, his lips pinched together in a thin, straight line. He didn’t look at me.
    â€œAuthorities will use them as examples. Punish them. Let everyone see . . .”
    â€œRecycling is too good for them. Too easy, too fast. They need to suffer first.”
    They were walking away from us, their voices fading away. But I could still hear their shoes on the leaves, a faint crunching sound. We sat motionless for what seemed like an eternity. A tiny black ant walked up my arm. I made no effort to brush it away. Finally, the only sounds were those of running water, the wilderness around us, and our own pounding hearts and shallow breathing.
    â€œMy parents! They got out. They must be searching for us. Do you think they’ll find us?” David looked at me as though he expected me to know the answer.
    â€œI hope so. I hope they’re safe. I hope we find each other.”
    Hope . Such a tiny word with such outsized meaning.
    I shuddered thinking of the fire, the chaos, and the gunshots. I held Elsa closer to me; Micah moved closer to David. David wrapped his arm around Micah’s shoulders, tilting the frail child close to his own strong chest, and bent his head down, his dark hair near the blondness of Micah’s. The brief moment of joy with the flowers and the feather had been crushed under the sounds of those footsteps, those voices.
    I knew those men were our enemies, but they, like everyone else in the Republic,