Page 114 of Tell Me Why
He stood underneath a tree, watching as black dots swarmed down from along the road, past a security station that would be blaring the knowledge that they were under attack to the rest of the facility even this moment.
Tell would wait, watch to see which doors they had chosen to focus their attack on, see what response they got out of the facility security, and then make a decision as to where he would make his own entry.
He might have preferred a moment to rest, but he was here exactly when he needed to be, and he was going to give Tina her best chance.
He remembered this ridge.
This point of disappearing from view.
This had been the route he’d used to get out.
He was where he was supposed to be.
Now he just had to find out whether or not Tina had survived it.
“I’m kind of hallucinating a lot, right now,” a voice said. “Can you say something rational so that I can be sure whether it’s actually you?”
“Tina,” Tell said sharply, looking down at her. “How are you mobile already?”
It was much too early. She couldn’t rise in bed at this hour, much less walk or… climb a security fence.
She sighed.
“I figured,” she said.
“Tina,” he said. “What are you doing out here? I’m here to get you out ofthere.”
She ignored him for a moment, then looked back.
“Sorry, I guess?” she said.
He shook his head.
“How did you get out?” he asked.
Once more she looked back at him.
“You are persistent,” she said. “The flames are a bit dramatic, though, don’t you think?”
“I need to get you out of here,” he said. “It’s a long way back to the car, but I didn’t have another plan. I think I probably could have stolen one from down there, but… that seems reckless, at this stage.”
She rose from where she was squatting, wobbled a bit, then looked him dead in the eye.
“I’m not fighting another hallucination,” she said. “You aren’t here. So. If you’ll… not… mind…”
She frowned like that hadn’t come out right, then stumbled forward and fell, blinking hard and started an army crawl forward with a heartbreaking determination.
“Tina,” Tell said gently. “You did it. And you remain the strongest person I might have ever met.”
“Moles and trolls, moles and trolls,” she muttered. He knelt next to her.
“If I pick you up are you going to fight me?” he asked.
She looked at him, annoyed at the interruption of her effort.
“You have to catch me first,” she said, and he smiled despite himself. He still didn’t know what he was going to end up with, but she had a fighting chance, and an awful lot of fight left in her.
He picked her up and set off.
