I remember Josh’s story about the help he’d gotten from Buck during their captivity in Las Vegas, but I also remember the Buck I knew when I was with the Raiders.
“It might not be either Caden or Josh,” I tell River, but if it is one of them, then what happened to the other one?
“Where’s Buck?” River asks, still holding the stranger’s shirt.
“Their settlement is northwest of here, in an old town called Florence. I’ve got a map if you need one.”
“Is this a trap?” River asks.
“No trap. I’ve nothing against your kind, Semi, and if I’m not mistaken, you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Did Buck tell you that?”
“He sure did, and quite the story it was. I clearly remember the part about the Semi they left buried in the desert.”
I feel ill, thinking of another River—the one I traveled with for months—now buried many miles from here in an unmarked grave. I shove the thought away because I can’t stomach it. River’s soul survived, and that is all that matters.
River lets go of the stranger’s shirt and says, “I did die in the desert, but Josh saved my soul before they buried my body. He brought me to the lab where I was born, and Nanny Spider raised my clone and gave it my soul.”
The stranger frowns. “Right…”
“Show us how to get to Florence,” I say, equally hopeful and worried about what we might discover. “It’s not like we have any better leads.”
*
We barely speak as we follow the map, our hopes tangled with fear. When it’s close to dusk, we come across an old sign for the town of Florence. We stop a few minutes later when we get close to the fence surrounding the town. It doesn’t seem strongenough to hold back an attack, though it’s not like the wall in Rifle made much of a difference when they were invaded. From out here, Florence seems like many other towns that survived Doomsday, though this one is clearly more maintained.
“Only two guards by the entrance,” River says. “Let’s go slowly with our weapons raised.”
It’s not a long walk, but by the time we reach the gate, my arms and back are sore.
One of the guards is clearly a mutant with pointy ears and a deformed jaw, but the other one seems like a regular human. I open my mouth to introduce ourselves, but the human guard says, “No need to hold your weapons up. Go ahead.” He looks down at Timothy. “The three of you.”
I exchange a wary look with River as I slide my weapon behind my back. “You’re just letting us in?”
“We were told you might come,” the mutant says, his words hard to understand.
Before I can wrap my head around the meaning of this, River shouts,“I feel him!”
He dashes past the gate, and Timothy holds my hand. “He feels Josh.”
I tell myself I’m happy because Josh was likely the one the Raiders would have gotten rid of, but I can’t stop the sob from slipping through my mouth. I let go of Timothy and cover my face, telling myself to get my shit together. I’m an official representative of Unity, even out here. I wipe my eyes and mumble an apology, then we continue past the guards into town.
The farther we walk, the more mutants I see. Some are sitting on the porches of old houses, while others tend to their gardens.They all stop to watch us, but none seem hostile. We reach the main square where people are sitting around a large bonfire. River is standing with his back to us while hugging Josh, who looks at me with a mixture of relief and sadness. His handsome face is bruised and scratched. I brace myself for terrible news.
Josh comes over and pulls me into a hug. “He’s alive.”
I let out a long breath and hug him tighter. “Did they take him to Denver?”
He lets go. “Yes. Hector wanted him there, but I don’t know why. We were on separate buggies, and when Buck and his men showed up, they could only go after one of us.”
That confirms what I figured out on my own—Hector’s plan is not about killing Caden, at least not for now. “You told the guards we’d come here.”
He tilts his head at River. “I knew he’d show up eventually.”
River smiles. “You had faith.”
“I did. Good to see you, Timothy. Where’s the rest?”
