Botanicaust

turned back toward the exit. Now was not the time for self-recrimination.
    They reached the giant door and he lowered Tula to slump against a granite wall. He worked the locking bolts on the portal, then pushed against the metal with all his might. The door would not budge.
    “ Lord, help me. ” He strained again. Three men had greeted them when Levi arrived. How could he expect to move the door on his own? He was no Biblical Sampson. “ Tula, get up. Get up! I need your help. ”
    She barely opened her eyes.
    Scuffling feet alerted him to pursuers. In the dim light, three Blattvolk swayed across the expanse toward him. Behind them, Michael followed, head and shoulders taller. The Blattvolk seemed less than human, and more like the marked monsters the Old Order spoke of. With clawed hands, they reached out, unclipped nails long and curled. Their dilated pupils looked like hollow pits. Levi backed up to protect Tula.
    She ’ d gotten to her knees. Her voice emerged as a gasp and a croak, words he didn ’ t understand, but the other Blattvolk lowered their arms. Two girls — twins by the look of them — clung to each other and moaned.
    Two more Blattvolk appeared, moving toward the exit like dogs on a scent, with Michael slogging stolidly behind them. The big man set his shoulder against the enormous door and shoved. Tula spoke and the Blattvolk joined Michael, combining their strength to swing the door open. The bright light of sunrise at the end of the tunnel looked so far away, yet at the same time, blinding, after so long in the dim compound. Blattvolk swarmed down the exit tunnel, three, four, then a fifth dragging a wounded leg.
    Michael pushed Tula through the exit after them. Levi caught her arm as she stumbled, and beckoned to the big man. “ Come on. ”
    He shook his head.
    “ You don ’ t have to stay. ”
    Lifting a huge palm, he shaded his eyes from the light and stepped back.
    Levi let out a breath. The man couldn ’ t come. The light must affect him as it did the adults. Throat thick with sorrow, Levi let Tula lean against a wall and offered a hand in gratitude. “ You are the best man I ’ ve ever met. ” He didn ’ t know if Michael understood him, but he meant every word. “ Thank you. ”
    Michael looked from Levi ’ s hand to his face and back to his hand, and then engulfed it in a gentle clasp. He nodded toward Tula. “ Doooo aaaa. Zaaaaave. ”
    Then he stepped backward into the mountain.

    Tula squinted her eyes shut when they emerged into the sunlight. Tears streamed down her face — from the light, from relief, from despair. Her body felt wracked and exuberant at the same time. What the artificial UV lights had damaged in her body, telomerase immediately healed, and all the chemicals running through her system warred with one another for dominance. She didn ’ t know whether to run down the mountain in joy or lie down and sleep for a year.
    Levi wouldn ’ t let her do either. He pulled her toward the line of metal posts leading away from the entrance. “ Wait, the others. ” She lifted a weak wrist to point toward the converts standing at the entrance. “ They ’ ll be captured again. ”
    Levi hesitated and then went back and took the others by the hands. In a line, they trekked past the old cars and ducked through the hole in the fence. The youngsters wanted to stop and stare at things around them, but Levi kept them moving. The sun beat down mercilessly, adding to the chemicals in her bloodstream. Tula ’ s vision ebbed and flowed with the hammering of her heart.
    Finally, she had to stop. She sank to the ground at the edge of the road, where a fallen boulder provided a small amount of shade, and bowed her head between her knees. If she ’ d had anything in her stomach, it would be coming up, right now. The young converts collapsed next to her, their hands joined. Levi retrieved a water bottle from his backpack and sucked down a long drink, then offered it to Tula. She sipped, her stomach flipping upside down. Then she offered it to each convert. The twins turned their heads and closed their eyes.
    “ Water. ” She ’ d been speaking Haldanian, but now she used Cannibal. These children had barely been Haldanian long enough to remember their assimilation.
    With reluctance, the girls sipped, then slumped into fetal positions, back to back. Two other converts sat with hands around their knees and rocked or lay belly down, clutching the earth. The boy with the