“Not really. There was danger, and you wouldn’t be deterred, nor would you accept help. Besides, weren’t you the one saying we needed time apart?”
“Apart yes, but I don’t want you dead.” Her voice broke on the end.
“I am not dying.” He grabbed her in a hug that lifted her off her feet and cracked her spine in a ripple effect.
“Put me down!” she squealed.
The moment he did, she slugged him in the gut. It only hurt a little. Damned tiny fist.
“Promise you won’t go.” The words emerged thick with emotion.
“I have to do this,” he said softly. “I can’t stay here.” He didn’t mention the crone and her strange words.
“If you don’t want to live in Eden, then return to Haven. You know Axel would welcome you.”
He shook his head. “I can’t explain why it has to be me.” How to describe the feeling he had, the certainty in his soul, that this was something he had to do? She’d laugh if he mentioned the prophecy. “Trust me when I say I have to do this.”
“I should go with you,” she insisted.
“You know you can’t.”
“But I wish I could.” Her voice cracked, and her eyes glistened with tears. Shocking from his tough sister. She threw herself at him. “If you die, I’ll never forgive you.”
He hugged her gently. “If I die, I promise I’ll come back to haunt you and make sure you never have sex again.”
“Asshole!”
He was ready for the love jab this time, but she couldn’t escape the extra-long hug. He held his sister tight and wondered if it would be the last time. Was this a suicide mission?
That same day, he met Riella in the expansion shop that was more like a garage with various vehicles in states of disrepair. The two-story structure had recently been built outside the city, which had begun to outgrow the walls. It and a few others had sprung up on the drier spots. With Eden thriving, it wouldn’t long be before more joined them.
Riella rolled back a pair of doors on a pulley system and revealed the tank. It was bigger than expected.
Cam whistled. “Damn, that’s a sweet machine.”
“This is Burton,” she said with a proud grin. “Once a relic of the underground tunnels, now revamped to adapt to the outside world.”
She showed him some of the exterior features from the bulletproof shielding and windshield to the heavy-duty tracks that couldn’t be cut or punctured. Inside the tank, it was as sparse as she’d claimed.
“Since it spent a bit of time in water, I had to strip everything out of it. Burton’s got a new engine made to run on combustibles, or you can flip it to water fuel. I plan to give it solar panels, too, once I get my hands on some.”
“Won’t need those where I’m going,” he said with a wry chuckle. “I like that you’ve made it a hybrid machine. Is water plentiful in the Diamond Kingdom?”
Riella frowned. “You know what? That’s a good question. Better make sure we pack some shit to burn.” And she meant that quite literally. Animal poop when dried into pucks made a good, if smoky, fuel source.
“Steering, acceleration, brakes.” He checked out the controls, making sure he recognized them.
“I wonder if I’ll be given enough time to equip it with guns?” Riella muttered.
“The faster I get going, the better. How much work is still left to do?”
“Since electronics probably won’t work, I can skip those and outfit the tank with other things.”
“Such as?” To him, it seemed ready to go. A few packs of food, gallons of water, and his own arsenal would make it perfect.
“I was planning to add a drop-down bed over here.” She patted the wall in the open area behind the driver seat. “Evacuation unit for waste. Oh, and a heater. I hear it used to get really cold in Diamond.”
As Riella made notes and discussed some of the things he might encounter, Cam had to wonder at his sanity. How could he be so calm about going into a place none had returned from?
If you don’t cede, then all of Ozz will die.
Chapter 2
Rather than get caught up in any fanfare over his departure, two days—and a few heated arguments with his sister—later, when Riella told Cam to take Burton for a spin and see how it felt, he did more than that. He drove it to the stash of supplies he’d been gathering, loaded the tank, and headed northwest via a trail through the marsh that took him to the cliffs. Over a hundred feet high, the bluffs overlooked an expanse of water that astonished.
When he lived in Emerald, the concept of a body of liquid as far as the eye could see seemed ludicrous. But oceans did exist, along with their dangerous denizens. He stared a tad too long, delaying the next step of his journey, wondering if he’d see one splashing the surface.
It was one thing to be brave in the safety of Eden. Quite another out in the open on his own. But Cam wasn’t a coward, and he’d not left Eden to sightsee.
Having stretched his legs, he and Burton followed the track north, the path more and more unkempt. He saw no signs of recent passage. He slowed only a little when he drove past an abandoned village of a dozen houses. Not a single piece of laundry flapped on a line. Only a lone door banged open and shut in a light breeze.
The air appeared clean, and plants still grew. No sign of the poison and yet the people had chosen to flee. He took it as a sign he neared the trouble spot. He made sure all the seals were tight on the truck, and then he kept driving.
As he neared the border between the kingdoms, he couldn’t help but notice the start of some fuzzy gray substance coating the ground and frosting stunted trees. The hearty, scrubby grass in this area grew in patches, but even that appeared sickly. He didn’t see any signs of life, not even insects.
As he drove through the undisturbed layer of ash, the motion agitated it enough the very air began to swirl with the particles. He eyed the windshield and checked the seals on the vehicle for signs of corrosion. The good news was he didn’t hear any worrying hisses. The bad? Time to put on the damned suit. He wouldn’t want to get caught inside a tank that decided to stop responding or began decaying at a rapid rate.
First, he peed. Ate. Drank. Did everything he could, only to realize he once more delayed. Perhaps he shouldn’t have run off. Casey would be pissed. He’d not even left a note.
What would it say? Sorry I was a cling-on. Have a happy life.
Best he made a clean break. And quickly because she might just decide to come after him to kick his ass for going without a goodbye.
The protective outfit fit over his garments, minus his weapons. Not that they would do him much good tucked inside. It zipped up, and then over the zipper, there was a magnetic flap. The ankles cinched tight around his boots and wrists. The material of the suit crinkled when he moved, which would get annoying quick, not to mention it would ruin the element of surprise if he left the tank and attempted to be stealthy.
The helmet and gloves he kept beside him on the dash. It felt too much like being caged having it on his head. He did remember to put on his holster, a few notches wider than usual for the extra girth. It wouldn’t do to be caught unaware. He always felt better with his weapons in reach.