Page 36 of Ruled By Their Desires

And being out here, was just going to annoy him more. When he found out if he didn’t already know, he wasn’t going to hit the roof, but he’d not sent anyone after her as yet, but she knew he would, and expected her uncles were out there somewhere, keeping a fair distance from her so as not to piss her off further but if they felt the need, they’d turn up and there was no point being annoyed by it. It was who they were and even angry at them, she knew they’d never be that far away and always want to protect her. That was their pact.

But it didn’t stop her trying to hide from them.

She concentrated on honing her skills finding tracks and following them, along with identifying who they belonged to and how long ago it was. She’d scavenge for wild fruits, mushrooms, roots and nuts. Fished and snared, cooking up every three or four days defusing the smoke once she was sure she didn’t have company anywhere in the immediate area, not giving away her position. Making enough cooked food to keep her going for several days, wrapped, and dried it before she had to do it again. They weren’t her best skills but in a pinch, she could do it.

Grounding up wild oats, corn or barley, made rough oats and flour using it to make a rough porridge and flat bread. Treating herself to wild baked potatoes in the fire along with any corn and vegetables she could find. If you found the right area, it had all been planted at one time, you just needed to know where. An old homestead was golden, but you had to be careful. They attracted attention from the KCs. If the house was still standing, you avoided it.

A warm room and full belly were not worth your life.

And she was in pretty good shape even with being with the FHA for over a year. Her fitness routine had been with her since she’d met her quad. Although they’d never admit it, they’d taken it easy on her in the early days but as she’d grown and got stronger so had the demands they’d put on her. She could walk 20 to 30 miles in a day depending on the terrain and weather, and if not in any rush could move quietly not disturbing the ground. Being out in the wilds she quickly reverted to a routine that worked for her.

Walking from waking at sunrise for around four hours, eating as she went leaving no tracks or evidence as she’d passed by, staying hidden after finding a good spot to rest, eating cold rations, drinking water and spending time searching around her with the binoculars for a few hours, then walking on for another four or five hours, taking another break before heading off in another direction until it started to get dark and pitched up somewhere where she could eat, drink and watch the sun go down in safety, still scanning the area around her keeping her eyes and ears peeled. Taking short naps throughout the night and day.

The days moved on and she wondered what her quad were doing from time to time feeling a little guilty that she’d over reacted. Maybe.

The sunrise quite beautiful on the eleventh day, she lingered watching it rise in the sky. She was sitting in a tree wrapped in her sleeping bag with her poncho over her and a clear view of the mountain road and countryside around her. It was beautiful and a reminder why they still kept fighting. This world was worth it.

Spotting movement on the hill in the far distance coming off a road as it crested around it, she zeroed in as far as she could with her binoculars. They were too far away for her to see who they were, but they were using cars. That was unusual in a world where KC’s could hear vehicles from a long way off if they weren’t solar, and few places had access to crude, but the KC’s did and that set her twitching.

It was the reason they’d parked so far from the silo in the first place, even Humvee’s working on solar made some noise, they were so damn big, but they were working on it. Noise neutralisation or some shit with the R & D team.

She kept watching. It was clear they weren’t bothered at the risk or were just plain stupid.

Lifting her binoculars, she watched for some time while the cars moved forward in convoy, split up at junctions going in several different directions, came back within the hour with what looked like nothing, before moving down the road again for a while, stopping at the next junction, clearing it and doing it all over again. She scanned the area with the glasses. Whoever they were, they were alone and searching for something. She’d immediately thought they were looking for sanctuary, but they were placing a huge target on their back by going about it that way. It didn’t feel right. They weren’t worried about drawing the wrong kind of attention which was off and not normal human behaviour at all. No humans roamed the landscape without being scared shitless about drawing KC attention.

She wondered if they were being chased but they didn’t have that kind of urgency either. It was slow and methodical.

She debated going down and making her way in their direction. Then homed in on what they were doing standing around at the next junction. She couldn’t see their faces yet, but they would come into focus at the next. They were definitely looking at something, someone’s arm was out indicating a direction and they all looked to be looking at something in another’s hand and were moving around in a search pattern.

Chills swept through her body when she realised what they were looking at. They had a tracer. She watched as they did the same searching at the next junction, clearing it and going down various off shoots before coming back and looking at the direction finder. She stopped looking at what they were doing and focused on their faces instead, zooming in.

Fuck!......

She knew three of them. She’d seen them at the silo talking with the KC’s.

It crossed her mind that they might have decided to run from the KC’s since the silo, until she saw the Humvee coming up behind them. Everyone was smiles and a lot of explaining was going on by the humans as several KC’s got out the vehicle and joined them. They were hunting her people, she just knew it, which meant someone back at the mountain base had an active tracker or put one on someone during the raid. It was likely only working weakly because of the rock it was buried in but as they got nearer it made sense the signal would get stronger too. Particularly if someone was messing with it. Moving about. Activating it somehow.

Oh shit......

It was clear they were still working together, and her people needed to get rid of that tracker and quick or the whole base was at risk. She didn’t bother trying to figure out how the KC’s had done it, she packed up and scrambled down the tree, making a straight beeline for home. She got about two hundred feet before Marcus came out of the trees rushing to her worry all over his face.

“What happened?” She hushed him voices carried for miles over land.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she whisper shouted.

“What were you looking at? What happened Moon?” he asked more quietly but more insistent.

“Those bloody humans back at the silo who were working with the KC’s, are here. Approximately 40 miles out to the north on the road and using a tracer finder. They’re searching in a convoy of cars backed up by a Humvee with KC’s in it. They’ve got a fucking tracker in the base, it’s the only explanation. Don’t let our people come out to greet those fuckers, they’d walk right in. We need to get back and fast.” Her uncles came out of the cover.

“You hear that?” Marcus asked. They nodded.

“Well I guess we know it’s none of us, cos we’re all here.” She told them tapping her foot throwing her hands in the air directing her annoyance back at Marcus. “I thought we were all checked at the last check point before getting in?”

He nodded. “That’s protocol and we were. No one told me anything was found.”

“Then either someone fucked up big time or someone sneaked one in. Cos they are definitely following something.” She passed her glasses to Marcus. Cyborgs would be able to see as well as she had with the glasses, but Marcus would benefit from the extra the glasses gave him, he’d see more. “This way.” She led them back to near where she was taking a high rock position and crouched down low, creeping up the rock to the ridge and slowly moving some brush so as not to be seen. They all moved up with her doing the same. The convoy was on its way once more and she pointed them out.

“They’ll keep going to the next junction then stop, split up for a while checking out the trails, when they don’t find what their looking for, they’ll come back, check the direction, the KC’s might or might not check in with them, they’re following miles back in a Humvee and off they go again to the next one. I’d say we got lucky the rock is deep and blinding the signal.”

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