Their hover drove back around to the front of the store and then away, moving slowly in the fog. “We’ll be long gone by the time any hunt for us is underway. Then we can try another town, somewhere else.”
Simon glanced back at Nora, at her hand gripping the side of the hover. She was bent over with her leg held tight to her chest with her other hand. The road twisted ahead as he turned back, jaw tight.She’s in such pain.He never wanted to come back to this town again. “The plans to move are just going to have to be sped up.”
Anna didn't answer, just churned her hands in her lap.
The town’s buildings whipped by as he opened the throttle, leaving the area. Nora groaned in the backseat from the sudden acceleration and Anna braced herself on the overturned container next to him, much like he always did next to Nora. He winced at hearing Nora’s anguish, but didn’t stop, wanting to put as much distance between them and the bakeshop while the fog still obscured everything.
Now, outside the merchant district, nothing seemed out of place, and he slowed down. A few passersby looked at him askance as they drove, his shirt having obvious bullet holes, but there were no signs of alarm on the street now that they were out of the bakery’s vicinity. Gunshots must be too frequent here for others to pay much notice.Or people just don’t want to get involved.
“Keep your eyes on Nora?” he said to Anna, his own gaze fixed on the road ahead.
Anna twisted around to do just that as Simon opened the throttle as far as he dared, trying to get through the town and into the outskirts without looking like they were rushing too much.
The drone came back and hovered ahead when they were halfway out. Stella’s voice sounded smug over the connection,“You were not followed. But a group is starting to approach the bakery now. It is good you left fast.”
Anna whispered. “What do they want? Why did they help?”
His head tilted. “I'll explain later.”
Nora gasped from the backseat. “They're okay, Anna.”
At Nora’s voice, Simon had to resist the internal pressure he felt to go faster. Instead he kept to the same measured pace, all the way out of town.
At the edge of the city, Simon hit the gas a bit and followed the drone, even though he knew the way himself, to the same rock outcropping he had Tilly hide behind only a short while ago. The desert wind whipped here, further stirred up by the hover’s sudden acceleration.
He pulled the hover up behind the rock, watching the dirt swirl around. The relief he felt seeing Tilly safe and whole made his hands shake.There she is.
“Mama!” The little girl let out a big smile at him and then Nora in the backseat. Tilly rushed to the hover’s side the moment Simon cut the engine.
“Oh, Tilly,” Nora said, as she held out a blood-tinged hand.
“Mama, Mama, Mama!” Without waiting for the hover to fully stop Tilly climbed in over the rusted edge and onto Nora.
Simon did a double take then at Nora in alarm. Here in the bright desert afternoon sun, Nora was incredibly pale, with sweat running down her face.So pale. His sensory cortex tensed.
Tilly smashed into Nora on the bench, pointing with her small hand. “Mama! Your leg. Owww!”
Nora ran her fingers down Tilly’s hair. The blood on her hands was now dried. “Yeah. Big ow. Kind of like how your foot was back when you broke it. But it will be okay.”
Simon moved from the front seat and intervened, repositioning Nora, who winced and pulled Tilly back so she sat next to, rather than on top of, Nora on the side where her leg was not injured. “Gently, Tilly. Sit next to her. Here.”
Tilly burrowed into Nora’s side anyways and Nora put her arm back around her. A huff left Simon, “Easy, Tilly.”
Nora let out a grateful smile at him as she patted Tilly’s small back. “I’m so glad we’re all okay.”
“Yes, Nora.” Simon gave a shaky grin back. Then his eyes dipped down to her leg, and his relief was again short-lived. Fear surged again.That wound needs to be closed.He looked over at Anna, who was staring blankly ahead. “Anna?”
Anna looked up, her eyes red-rimmed and deadened. She cleared her throat. “Yeah?”
“Do you think you are able to bring the small hover back? You know how to drive it?” Simon winced asking, seeing her lost expression as she focused on the little hover next to them.Anna is still functioning, but this has been . . . awful for her as well.He reached out to touch her shoulder.“Are you okay?”
Without answering, she climbed out of the hover. Her face was pale as she got into the smaller vehicle. “Let’s just go. Need to get away.”
Simon looked away from her determined eyes toward home. “Hold on, Nora.”
Nora sat in the back of the hover on the bench seat next to Tilly. She said softly, clutching Tilly to herself, “I feel so dizzy.”
Alarm flared through his sensory cortex as he saw her close her eyes. “Nora. Stay awake.”
