All the way there, she was praying to find familiar faces, but the streets seemed empty. With her heart racing in her chest, she approached her café, not sure of what she was going to find.
To her surprise, the place was open, and there were a few people inside. It infuriated her, but she managed to calm herself. She couldn’t take any risks.
Putting on her best smile, she entered the place.
The biggest surprise waited for her inside. Mark was behind the counter, preparing coffee.
The minute she walked in, the conversations stopped abruptly. “Savannah, what a pleasure seeing you here.” Mark greeted her, with a tone a bit more acute than usual.
She frowned, wondering why he was calling her Savannah. “Mark… how are you?” she asked, crossing the room, towards the counter.
“Fine, fine… It’s been a while since you come visit us. How're things up there on the mountain?” he asked, with a shaky smile.
She understood he was playing an act for the other people around them and she decided to play along. “Cold, but fine. What happened around here? I was expecting to find Elena around.”
“Taucets happened. The army had to move people out of the city when they started to maraud the area,” Mark lied, blatantly.
She could see the code bar on his neck, so she knew he had been captured like her. “And how come you stayed back?” she asked, with a faint smile.
“Captain Summers asked for a volunteer to help the new soldiers stationed here and I decided I wanted to come back.”
“Ah, I see… and where did they take the town’s inhabitants? I really wanted to talk to Elena,” she asked, with her best smile.
“They were taken to a small town a few miles from here called Mirage,” he explained, “but it’s not a good idea to wander around this place sweetie, you should go back home. I’ll send her a message, and she’ll get in touch with you.” There was a hint of urgency in his tone she immediately noticed.
The men in the room were following their conversation, blatantly. “I guess you’re right. My husband is waiting for me just outside town. He saw a huge deer he just had to have,” she added.
“I’ll walk you out, dear.” He walked around the counter and offered her his arm. “Please, tell your mother I would like some of her chutneys this year as well.”
“Of course, I’m sure she had set some apart from you,” she replied, as they walked outside.
At the door, she glanced at the men still sitting at the tables. They weren’t happy but didn’t seem willing to blow their cover.
“Get the hell out of here, as fast as you can,” Mark whispered, when they walked out, as he hugged her. “They are after the fugitives from the colony.”
“What else would you like, Mark? I can bring you a few fruitcakes when I come back?” she asked in a loud tone, so the men inside could hear her. “Where’s Alanna? Do you know?” she asked, in a very low whisper.
“I haven’t seen her,” he replied, before raising his voice. “Please, do so. You know I love your cakes.”
“Consider it done.”
“Take good care of you, sweetie.” He hugged her once more and pushed her away. “Now, go home.”
She nodded, and waving goodbye, she left the place, trying to walk as normally as possible, until she was sure no one was following her.
Then, she ran back to Savannah’s place, praying Rafaroy had found signs of Alanna. She didn’t want to think her sister was a prisoner in one of those damn camps.
Rafaroy was already waiting for her, wearing clean clothes he must have gotten from one of the houses nearby. But the look on his face didn’t say anything good.
She let out a loud sob. “She wasn’t there.”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Were you able to find out anything?” he asked, in a somber tone.
“They’re here to capture those that escaped from the colony. They are expecting people to return home so they can capture them.” There was so much rage and impotence in her tone, while she described what had happened in town, he picked her in his arms and hugged her hard. “We can’t stay here. I’m not sure they bought my story,” she warned him.
He nodded. “I prepared a couple of backpacks for us with clothes and food. We can leave right now.”
“Were you able to talk to any of your cyborg friends?” she asked, as she grabbed the bag he handed her. “Mark told me they had taken people to a place called Mirage, but I’m not sure if he was telling me the truth.”
“Yes, that’s the same info I received from the cyborgs.”
They left the house, as fast as they could, entering the woods.
When she felt they were at a safe distance, she stopped and looked at him. “Do you know how to get to Mirage?” she asked him, with a stern tone.
“Yes, of course…”
“I know this isn’t your problem, and you have places to go, but I would appreciate if you could tell me in which direction I have to go to get there,” she said, with a huge iron fist squeezing her guts.
He looked at her with an expression of sheer disbelief. “You’re not planning to go there, are you?”
“Of course, I am. I’m not leaving my sister to live for the rest of her life in a protection camp,” she stated, with firm determination in her tone.
“You’ll get caught,” he assured her.
“Perhaps, but at least, I’ll know I tried to save her.”
“I won’t let you.”
She looked at him with disbelief. “You have no saying on this. I’m not your damn slave for you to stop me from doing anything, at all,” she ranted, stepping away from him.
He frowned at her words, but he was as determined as she was.
“That’s a suicidal mission and if I have to chain you to me to prevent you from doing it, then I will,” he assured her.
Rafaroy wasn’t so sure why he felt the need to protect her, even against her will. All he knew was that he couldn’t let her expose herself to that kind of danger, no matter what she said.
“It’s my life, so I get to decide, not you. I stayed with you all this time because you needed my help and I needed yours,” she stated. “That’s over now, so it’s time for us to go our separate ways.”
“You won’t be able to rescue your sister. You’re not even sure she is in Mirage. You’ll get yourself imprisoned, and you won’t be able to escape the camp,” he insisted.
“Listen, I know you have no way of knowing the kind of bond I have with my sister, and even if you had siblings, you wouldn’t quite understand it. Due to our age difference, I always felt Alanna more like my daughter than my sister,” she explained. “And no matter what might happen, I can’t go on with my life, knowing I did nothing to rescue her from a living hell.” She wiped the tears that started rolling down her eyes. “I don’t expect you to understand me, but don’t you dare stand in my way.”
With those words, she walked away from him, and for a few seconds, Rafaroy allowed her to. It only took him a few seconds to realize he couldn’t let her walk away from his life.
A million alarms had gone off inside him, warning him of the huge mistake he would be doing if he let her go and though his rational side couldn’t quite understand why he felt that away, he was quite aware there was no time to analyze it.
He ran after her, grabbing her arm. “If you insist on being this stubborn, I’m afraid I have no other choice but going with you.”
Elena looked at him in astonishment.
Walking away from him had been the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. Incredibly the man had started to mean much more to her than she had ever expected. The possibility of never seeing again had been like a hard punch to her stomach. But she had had no other choice.
When she had decided to go after Alanna, she had been sure he would tell her goodbye and wish her luck. His attempt at stopping her had been surprising, to say the least, but this… this was something she couldn’t understand.
“Why the hell would you do that?” she asked, in a low tone.
“Well, because I can’t see a disaster about to happen and do nothing to prevent it,” he replied, in a harsh tone, making her follow him in the opposite direction. “Besides, there will be at least a couple of cyborgs there. They will help us.”
She tugged her arm to free herself. “You don’t have to do this… you could get caught,” she said, in a fearful tone. She didn’t want to put him in any kind of danger.
“You have more possibilities of getting caught than I do,” he dismissed her worries. “It will take us two days to get to Mirage, so we better get going,” he added, heading that way.
She followed him, still not fully convinced.
“I guess the probabilities on finding soldiers on our way there are higher now,” she said, trotting after him.
“Not really. This camp is set in a very secluded area. I guess they don’t want people to get many visits, that wouldn’t look good on the image the government is trying to give the rest of the people.”
She snorted, pissed with the whole situation. “Either way, we should stay alert. We don’t need other bounty hunters on our tail.”
“We won’t. Have you realized you’ll become fugitives once you’ve retrieved Alanna from the camp? There will be prices on your heads too,” he pointed out.
She stopped in her tracks. Of course, she hadn't thought of that. And the worst part was she was still wearing the Taucets tracker devices, which meant they would be able to find her easily.
He stopped and turned to look at her, just as she was letting herself drop to the ground on her knees. “What’s the matter? Are you alright?”
She covered her face and started crying.
Perplex, Rafaroy closed the distance between them and kneeling next to her, he pulled her into his arms.
“I’ll expose her to even more danger, don’t you see? I’ll turn her into a fugitive, and with the tracker devices I’m wearing, there’s a high possibility any Taucet can find me…” she sobbed desperately.
“None of that has to happen, Elena. If you agree, I can take you both with me to Arcadia. I’m sure Jarcor has found a way to deactivate the trackers and humans have no way of finding you two there,” he assured her.
She sobbed for a few more moments before she raised her head and looked at him. “Why would you do that?” she asked, with suspicion.
“Let’s say I have my reasons. You’ll be free there, no one will be after you, and you’ll be able to live a normal life with your sister,” he explained.
“I thought it was difficult to contact the cyborgs on Arcadia,” she reminded his words.
“Yes, but it’s not impossible, and there’s a rendezvous place up in the mountains.”
“That’s where you were headed?” she asked, wiping the tears from her face.
“Yes, that’s right. After we pick up Alanna, we’ll head there as fast as possible, and soon we’ll be out of this place.”
She looked at him, trying to understand why he would want to take them with him. She doubted it had anything to do with the passion that still burned inside them. She was sure he would be more than able to find any other woman or female cyborg, to satisfy his needs. He didn’t need her.
But his solution was the only one viable. If she wanted anything similar to a normal life for her sister, she would have to leave this planet.
“I have no idea why you’re doing all this, but I really appreciate it.”
“We can worry about that when we’re out of here.” He cupped her face and kissed her lips. “Now, let’s get out of here.”
She nodded and allowed him to help her up.