Botanicaust

rolled onto his back. Heat rolled down his forehead into his eyes. Blood . Another shot echoed against the rocks. Behind him, a mere shadow in the ambient glow of the searchlight, Tula wavered at the edge of the drop into the gully. “ Tula! ” he screamed again, jack knifing forward.
    The girls whimpered. Caught in the middle, he struggled to remember a word in Tula ’ s language. “ Run! Run! ” He hoped they understood.
    Gaining his feet, he scrambled back up the cut, feet splashing in the runnel of water from the spring. Tula lay gasping at the edge. Was she shot? “ Tula, get up. Come on! You have to move! ” Beyond the camp, the searchlight tracked the other Blattvolk woman down the mountain path. As the helpless woman hobbled through the debris filled air, the sheer lab coat billowed out behind her like a ghost. Two quick blasts from the Fosselite craft and she dropped, rolling to a stop at a cluster of scrub oak. Levi ’ s racing heart dropped into his stomach. He and Tula were next.
    He slung Tula over his shoulder. The light on the road left the fallen Blattvolk, wobbled, then strafed back toward the camp. Levi plunged into the ditch. This time he landed off balance and both knees nearly gave out. Arrows of fire pierced both legs as he charged down the cut. His breath tore his throat. Blinking away the blood dripping into his eyes, he tried to watch the ground, but the darkness was complete in the ditch ’ s depths.
    The light circled the camp before sliding into the gully. He couldn ’ t outrun them. His legs slowed to a trembling stumble as he felt for footing.
    “ Here! Stop! ” He almost missed the words over his own ragged breathing. Small hands clawed at his ankles, nearly tripping him. He dropped to his knees. A tangle of tree roots and caked earth cascaded down the wall of the ravine. At the bottom, four small hands beckoned. Shoving Tula beneath the overhang, he shimmied in after her. Silt rained down on his head. For a brief second he worried their hideout might collapse.
    The metallic scent of dry dirt filled his nostrils in the absolute blackness of the tiny cave. He hoped he was all the way inside. There was only room for him to curl his aching knees around the miscellaneous body parts already occupying the space.
    Outside, the noise of pursuit grew loud, the percussions of the Fosselite craft sending shock waves of dirt raining down onto them. Motes of light filtered into their shelter through a few gaps in the roots. Levi saw he was curled in a semi-fetal position around the twins who sat with their backs to the wall. Small as they were, they had to duck their heads to fit beneath the sharp, sloping ceiling. Draped across their knees, Tula remained unconscious. They had their arms over her, pulling her close to make room for him.
    As he lay barely able to breathe, each child reached over Tula and put a hand on him, including him in their knot of protection.

    Limbs cramped and numb from a night of unnatural stillness, Levi rolled from the cave at the first light of morning. The Fosselite search had moved on some time ago, but none of the escapees seemed inclined to take any chances. Tula had awakened during the night, and assured him the Fosselites would not brave the sun. He hoped that was true; he could not remain in the stuffy cave any longer.
    He sucked in mouthfuls of clear, cool air. After stretching to regain mobility in his limbs, he reached beneath the root wall and helped Tula emerge into the light. The twins were more resilient, scampering out like little mice darting from a hole in the barn wall. They crouched at the entrance, scanning the sky as well as up and down the gully.
    Levi looked around and gasped. The ravine dropped off sharply a few steps from their shelter, plunging to a snaggle of rocks thirty feet below. He and Tula would have fallen to their deaths if not for the twins.
    The children knelt at the stream and scooped water into their mouths. Frail green limbs, knobby spines, sparse, close-cropped hair. His people would see them as demons. He saw two starving little girls. Girls who had risked their hiding place and their lives to save him and Tula.
    On aching knees and bruised feet, he joined them at the trickling water. He knelt downstream and scooped a drink for himself. The girls watched him. Turning to them, he pointed to his chest. “ Levi. ”
    Glancing at each other, the children seemed to communicate without words. Then they each introduced