Chapter 63: You Can’t See Me
After a day of driving, Rednik reached the edge of the Southern Agriculture Zone, where the tracker indicated the buggy would be. He was hoping to find Demarcus, or at least some indication of where he might have gone. Instead, he found parts of a broken buggy. It did not make much sense to him. The only conclusion he could draw was that Demarcus must have stripped the buggy down to its lightest in an attempt to cross the wastelands. Maybe he found a Sape he could train to pull the remainder of the buggy. If that was the case, he believed it to be a terrible idea. The flattened grass verge reinforced his idea. He believed this had been caused by whatever was left of the buggy.
Rednik pushed through the grasses. This took him to the edge of the wastelands. He was expecting to see tyre marks heading into the wastelands, but there were none. He looked around to see if they had avoided the wastelands, but there were no other indications they had changed direction. It was as if the vehicle had just vanished.
Rednik got back into his own vehicle. He decided he needed to drive into the wastelands to find Demarcus. He was confident that if Demarcus were in the wastelands, he would have followed the route of the train.
Demarcus, Polly, and Darius were making progress through the wastelands. However, it was quite slow. Darius often got confused and briefly pulled them off course. Demarcus was able to correct him fairly quickly, but it would waste some time. Polly was becoming concerned that they were going to run out of supplies, and because of their lack of agility, enforcers, or those involved in repairing the train track, would soon see them. Demarcus remained optimistic because he did not think there was another option, so they had to make this one work.
Demarcus turned to grab a bottle of water. In doing so, he noticed a vehicle in the distance. It was heading straight for them.
‘Hey, we need to hide,’ said Demarcus. ‘A vehicle is coming. It could be enforcers.’
‘We can’t hide with this thing,’ said Polly.
‘We could hide under it,’ said Demarcus. ’They might think it was just abandoned rubbish and drive straight past us.’
The three of them hid under the cart, hoping the vehicle would just pass them. In the vehicle was Rednik. He was relieved to see the cart, as he believed he had found Demarcus. He pulled up alongside the cart.
At this point, Rednik was wearing a hazmat suit, which he had found in the enforcer’s vehicle. He was hoping Demarcus had chosen to bring one with him.
Rednik got out of the vehicle to look around. Immediately, he saw a Sapiod lying under the front of the cart. He did not recognise him as Darius. He believed he was just a regular Sapiod. He coaxed him out with a large slice of fruit. Darius struggled to resist. Eventually, he crawled out from under the cart to take the fruit.
Again, Rednik was puzzled. It did not make sense that a Sapiod would dismantle a buggy to drag into the wastelands.
Demarcus and Polly could not believe Rednik had not seen them yet. When he found Darius, he was looking straight at them. Rednik continued to look over the cart. Demarcus recognised him as the enforcer who had helped him several years ago as well as stood up to Arville when he wanted to strike both him and his brother at the temporary apartments.
Rednik picked up a bottle that had a drop on the outside. It had been recently opened. Demarcus watched on in amazement. He struggled to believe that Rednik had still not seen him and Polly. He knew his luck would run out soon. He decided that alerting Rednik of his whereabouts might be their best option at this point.
Demarcus rolled out from under the cart. He approached Rednik. Rednik looked back in amazement. ‘Where did you come from?’ he asked.
‘I was hiding under the cart,’ replied Demarcus.
‘How?’ asked Rednik. ‘I looked under the cart.’
‘Maybe you need your eyes tested,’ said Demarcus.
Rednik smiled and said, ‘I’m so glad to see you alive.’
‘Shouldn’t write me off so soon,’ said Demarcus.
‘They’ve already held a vigil for you and the rest of the passengers of the train crash,’ said Rednik.
‘Now, you can add me to the list of survivors,’ said Demarcus with a smile.
Rednik frowned and diverted his eyes downward.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Demarcus.
‘There were no other survivors,’ said Rednik.
‘Yes, there were plenty of survivors. I saw the enforcers rescue them,’ said Demarcus.
‘Something must have happened. None of them made it back,’ said Rednik. ‘This was confirmed by the Head Enforcer.’
Demarcus was shocked. He immediately began to consider what could have happened to the other passengers.
Polly rolled out from under the cart to join them. ‘I’m also a survivor,’ she blurted out.
Rednik looked at her in surprise. He could not believe he had missed seeing both of them. ‘I need to get you into the vehicle. You both need to be decontaminated before you die,’ he said, with some urgency in his voice.
‘You must bring Darius with you too,’ said Demarcus.
‘Where’s he hiding?’ exclaimed Rednik in shock.
‘This is Darius,’ said Demarcus, pointing at the Sapiod.
‘That’s a Sapiod!’ responded Rednik while frowning.
‘It’s a long story,’ said Demarcus.
The three of them got in the back of the vehicle.
‘We’ve got a whole day’s drive ahead before we reach Adoy,’ said Rednik. ‘There’s nothing I can do for you if you are feeling sick. Just hang in there until we arrive.’
Demarcus and Polly nodded in acknowledgement. Rednik headed off at top speed. On the way, Demarcus explained to Rednik about Darius.
About a day later, they reached Adoy. The vehicle approached the wall from outside the Industrial Zone. A ramp opened up, leading to underneath the wall.
‘How many know about this little secret?’ asked Demarcus.
‘Just enforcers,’ replied Rednik.
They drove under the wall through an underground tunnel. The ramp closed behind them. The tunnel exited into an area inside the Industrial Zone.
Rednik stopped the vehicle. He took the three of them to a decontamination room, which contained several decontamination chambers. They were required to take off all clothing items. They entered the chambers naked. They were sprayed with a light soapy fluid. Then, a hot dryer blew them dry. Then, the chambers were filled with a thick mist. After a few minutes, it was sucked out.
On leaving, they collected a fresh set of clothes. Their old clothes were taken for destruction. While they were being decontaminated, Rednik removed his hazmat suit and placed it back in the vehicle.
They all got back in the vehicle. Rednik drove them out of the Industrial Zone and towards the Adoy Agriculture Zone.
‘I need to drop you off here,’ said Rednik as he turned to face the three in the back. ‘I suggest that you take Darius to the back of the Agriculture Zone and out of view until we can reach a better arrangement. I will contact your families and arrange for you to be reunited with them. I’ll meet you here in an hour.’
Demarcus and Polly agreed. The three of them got out of the vehicle and headed into the Agriculture Zone.
Rednik called Polly’s father and then Janice. He then went to the Bramley home to speak directly to Janice. He explained to her again what he had found out.
Janice was in shock. She had conflicting emotions. She was delighted to find out that Demarcus was alive, but in disbelief that Darius might be a Sapiod.
Demarcus thought it would be best if Darius stayed with Hamlet. He explained to Darius that he must stay with Hamlet at all times. This was to prevent him from wandering off and ensure he would get some food. Polly met Hamlet for the first time. She was amazed at her intelligence. She was the opposite of the portrayal of Sapes she had been led to believe.
They could not stay long, as they had to get back and meet Rednik. When they reached the edge of the Agriculture Zone, they saw Rednik, Janice, and Polly’s father. Janice gave Demarcus a big hug, and Polly’s father gave Polly a big hug. Rednik dropped both families off at their homes.
When Janice arrived back with Demarcus, both Jacob and Darlene greeted them. They had both been waiting eagerly in the corridor outside the apartment. The four went in together. Over dinner, Demarcus explained to them the events that occurred after the train crash. He also explained what had happened to Darius. It was a lot for the family to take in. After chatting for a few hours, Demarcus went to bed early. It had been a long time since he had felt the comfort of a bed.
Future of Social Media
Captain Hive is here
Remember to catch me on Spectrumecons, click link below.
