Cipher grabbed my hand once we were outside the fence and we ran through the dark forest, avoiding the tree stump spikes, to where he’d parked the Humvee. The engine was running, and the Assholes were already inside. We’d missed our deadline, but they’d waited for us. Of course they had.
The door was already open, so I sprinted towards it. As I launched myself into the vehicle, there was a flash of movement at my side. I glanced over my shoulder to see a humongous beast stalking the space between me and Cipher, blocking him from the Humvee.
It was the tiger, larger than I could have imagined with a bloody muzzle and long, yellow fangs. It growled, a deep guttural sound, then wrapped its sleek body around Cipher, forcing him backwards until it had trapped him against the side of the vehicle. Then it leapt up on its powerful hind legs and planted its huge paws on either side of Cipher’s head. The tiger’s nails screeched against the metal. Its mouth was open and panting, just inches from Cipher’s face.
Should I try to scare it off or would that prompt the tiger to attack?
“Kitten, come inside,” Artemis said with perfect calm. She had her crossbow ready, aimed over my shoulder at the tiger’s head. I slowly edged out of her sightline while keeping my eyes fixed on Cipher.
“Hello again,” Cipher said to the tiger as if greeting an old friend. His arms were pinned at his sides, and he hadn’t reached for his weapons, likely because the tiger was tracking his every move with its glinting orange eyes. “How about you let me go now, and you can have this forest for yourself?”
The tiger snorted, then opened its jaws wider to bare its fangs. Its breath fogged across Cipher’s face in the cold night. Cipher stood there frozen as the tiger moved lower to head-butt him in the chest. I couldn’t tell if it was being playful or if this was a show of dominance.
“Friends then?” Cipher asked shakily, and I raised one hand to halt Artemis’s arrow. The tiger snorted once more, knocked its forehead against Cipher’s chin, then slowly got down on all fours. It rubbed its side against Cipher’s waist as if to scent-mark him, then turned toward the forest and loped away. Cipher nearly doubled over in relief, and I grabbed his arm to drag him forcefully into the cab.
“Stay there and don’t move a muscle,” I told Cipher as I shoved him onto the bed. It took us all a moment to recover, then the Humvee was moving under Gizmo’s steady direction.
With one more loose end to tie up, I grabbed my two-way radio, the one I used to communicate with Marion.
“Marion, you there?” I asked.
“Be brief,” Cipher reminded me.
“Joshua?” Marion said, sounding alarmed. “Are you alright? We’ve been worried sick about you.”
“Yes, I’m fine. Something terrible happened, but I can’t really talk about it. We’re leaving Promised Land tonight.” I halted there, not knowing what else I could tell her. “It wasn’t what we thought it would be.”
She paused for a moment, then said with a sigh, “I’m sorry to hear that, Joshua. I’m really going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too. And our patients. Please tell Salome and the others that I’ll be praying for them and their children.”
“I will. Are you going to be okay? Do you have someplace you can go?”
“I have my family with me, but I have a brother too who may come looking for me. His name is Santiago. If he comes to Promised Land, will you tell them I went home?”
“I will do that, Joshua.”
“Thanks, Marion. I really enjoyed being your apprentice. I’m not sorry to be leaving, but I am sorry to be leaving you.”
“I will treasure our friendship, Joshua. I hope that I see you again. Until then, be well.”
“Be well,” I echoed with a slight ache in my chest. She’d been like a mother to me. And also, a friend. Cipher held out his hand for the radio and I passed it over to him. He opened the door of the Humvee and tossed it outside.
“Goodbye Promised Land,” I said because for me it was a bittersweet ending.
“Fuck this place,” Cipher said.
TWENTY-SEVEN
CIPHER
The trip was slow-going.We wanted to stay off the main roads and stick to the backcountry to avoid any tangles with the military. The last thing we needed was a bunch of questions we couldn’t answer about where we’d gotten this rig.
Gizmo was driving with Wylie in the passenger seat—Gizmo must have convinced him to come with us, which was both a relief and not something I’d considered while mapping out our escape plan.
Macon, Artemis, and Teresa were asleep in a pile of bedding on the floor of the cab with Little Miss Purrfect nestled amongst them, and Kitten and I were crammed into the built-in single bed. Despite our physical proximity, he felt very far away as I held him close and tried to make sense of the past few days.
“You saved my life,” I said, staring into his stormy brown eyes. He was scowling, still angry with me, but I could handle Kitten’s wrath, and didn’t I deserve it, after all?
