The Lofties (The Echelon Book 2) by Ramona Finn (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📗

“Or—no. We’re not courting or dating or, what do you call it? Making time. But we’re not just friends.”

Ben nodded. He didn’t look angry, or sad, or even surprised. “I get it,” he said. “The friends you make in hard times... Well, feelings run high.”

“I’m not sure what I feel.”

“That’s okay.” He reached for my hand and twined his fingers with mine. “I’m not going to push you. I don’t need answers right now. I just needed to know if you’d—if you two were settled. If I’d be making a fool of myself, if I said I still cared.”

I huffed laughter. “I’m the big fool today. You’re just... you’re honest. I’ve always liked that about you.”

Ben plucked another stalk of grass and tucked it behind his ear. It bobbed there foolishly, like something a Lofty might wear. He breathed deep under his mask, and his grip tightened on mine. “Can I be honest one more time?”

I squared my shoulders. “Bring it.”

“You can’t give up now.” He twisted to face me with the sunset in his eyes. “Lazrad’s got us outgunned, but look at me. Look at us—look at how we live. She’s had us outgunned forever, but we’ve always found a way. We’ve always survived, because—”

“Because it’s not about guns.” I let go of his hand and stood up. “I know. I just needed—I just needed time to feel it. To take the loss and move on.” The sun hung like molten glass, dripping orange down the horizon. I squinted into it, half-blinded. “I needed to remember what I’m fighting for. Why I can’t give up.”

Ben came up behind me, close enough I could feel him there. “You’re no fool, far from it.” His pinky nudged mine. “You’re one of us now. I knew you’d see.”

“I want to see.” I closed my eyes. “I want to fight, but how? How do we stand against tanks? Against a hundred Decemites, or a thousand?”

“Same way we take ten of them, or five in a buggy.” Ben’s voice went rough. “We swarm them in the foothills, where they can’t see us coming. We pick them off on the mountain paths, one at a time. We blow up their tanks, flood the dirt so they sink.”

“Because they won’t expect it.” My nails bit into my palms. “Because Lazrad has a weakness, same one Prium had, that let me take him down.” I felt myself snarling, my lip peeling back. “She looks at us and sees rats, but the thing with rats is, they win. In the long run, they win. There’s always rats in the walls, no matter how many traps you put out. They’re smart, and we’re smart, and as long as Lazrad can’t see that—”

“She’ll underestimate us.”

“Every time.”

Ben grinned behind his mask, wide and ferocious. “I always knew you were a fighter.”

“I’ll fight to the end.” I grabbed his hands and held on, and he spun me around. We whirled through the tall grass with the sun in our eyes. Our laughter rose like a war cry, bright with terrible joy.

To the end.

Chapter Thirty-Three

I sat by the riverbank, trying to picture it in spring. Would the water be blue, like in pictures, or yellow like the sky? Black like the reservoir, down in the Dirt? I hoped I’d be around to see it. To kick off my boots and dip my feet in it, maybe go for a swim. I pulled out my phone and snapped a shot of the dry bed, something to remember when the water was high.

“That thing still has batteries?” Lock plopped down next to me, peering over my shoulder. “Hope you turned off the network.”

“Jasper made me a charger,” I said. “And, yeah, the network’s off. I doubt it’d work anyway, this far from Echelon.”

Lock scratched at his leg and tucked his pant leg in his boot. The sandflies loved him, feasted on him nonstop. Their bites healed right away, Jasper’s bots doing their job, but he claimed he could feel them still, itching under his skin. I watched him fuss and fidget, but I was really just watching, keeping vigil for tremors, for bruises that didn’t heal. He caught me at it and frowned.

“You can’t think like that,” he said. “None of us gets forever, but today’s a good day.”

I nodded to humor him, but he didn’t get it. He didn’t remember. He hadn’t seen himself on that camp bed, gasping and straining as his body fought for life.

“I’ve been going out nights,” I said, mostly to change the subject. “To the old camp, by the mountains.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“’Course I do.” He swatted a fly and flicked it off his leg. “I’ve been following you. In case you go after Ona.”

“I’ve been texting her,” I said. “That’s why I go back there, so if they trace my signal, it won’t lead them here.” I showed him my message center, with its screen full of bubbles. Lock scanned them, lips moving.

“She never writes back?”

“No. But she’s getting them. You can tell from the ticks.”

Lock nodded slowly. He had his thinking face on, brows drawn together. “I haven’t given up on her either. But you’ve got to be careful. Lazrad could be reading those, or Elli, or anyone.”

“I’m not sharing any sensitive information. All I’m doing is telling her that I love her. Lazrad knows that already.” I jammed my phone in my pocket and dashed my sleeve over my eyes. “Maybe Nina’ll get through to her. Make her see the truth.”

“Maybe.”

We sat in silence a while as the moon replaced the sun. Lock put his arm around me, and I leaned into his warmth. It felt good just to be with him, no need for words. His slow breathing soothed me, set my body at ease.

“I’m heading out soon,” I said. “Once the big house goes dark.” I found Lock’s hand and slid mine underneath. “We could just walk together, save you having to stalk me.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Lock got to his feet and helped