Botanicaust

themselves. “ Eily. ” “ Ana. ”
    He pointed at Tula. “ Tula. ”
    They nodded, eyes on the woman sitting and clutching her knees at the cave entrance. Seeing that Tula had not moved, Levi crawled over. Her skin burned, yet goose pimples prickled her naked arms and legs.
    “ Are you doing any better? ” he asked.
    She put on a smile and nodded, but he knew she only did to keep him from worrying. But she did manage to gain her feet, to drink from the stream, to croak out a “ thank you ” to the twins when they each hooked an arm to help her up the gully.
    Levi watched them navigate the climb ahead. If one of them tripped and started to fall, he would be there to catch them. Three Blattvolk who were not abominations.

    Tula huddled beneath the yellow robe Levi draped about her, but couldn ’ t get warm. They ’ d spent most of the morning climbing to the camp. Her muscles burned by the time they reached the pipe, and a shivering rain had begun. The twins had pulled the microfiber blanket over their heads in a communal hood. Levi wore only the shorts and sleeveless top the Fosselites had given him. His feet were a wreck, the slippers in bloody shreds. Stripping them off, he donned the too-small sandals Tula had given him at the outset of the journey.
    He shouldered the pack, and Tula was grateful the Fosselites hadn ’ t taken it last night. They still had water bottles, the knife, and whatever else Levi had procured from Dr. Kaneka. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought of the doctor, the bold red of his sclera as he ’ d looked down at her on the lab table with Vitus ’ s name on his lips.
    She swayed a bit, and Levi was immediately at her side, arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “ Can you go on? ”
    “ We must. ” She surveyed the zigzagging road behind them. “ They look again tonight. ”
    “ How far will they chase us? ”
    With a shrug, she looked into his eyes. She had no idea what kind of range the Fosselites had. Her people always went to the mountain to trade, not the other way around. The Fosselites were limited to nighttime searches, but how determined were they to catch her? “ They think I go back to Protectorate to say things they do. Bad things they want … not show. “
    He nodded. “ A secret. ”
    “ Secret. ” She rolled the word around her tongue. “ Yes. Dr. Kaneka say Vitus know. How many know, I not sure. People like me, never learn secret. ”
    “ What were they doing to you? To all of you? ” He glanced at the twins.
    He seemed to have taken to them, and that made her happy. Almost as happy as being with him, no matter the circumstances. The chemical overload and untested fungi could kill her any time.
    She thought of how to phrase the information from Dr. Kaneka into Levi ’ s language. “ Is … like cannibal. Use us to make medicine. For Fosselite head crazy. ”
    Levi shuddered and pulled her closer. “ They are abominations. ”
    Abominations. He ’ d used that word many times to describe the Haldanians. Her. People who forced their ways upon others. Now, she understood the meaning. She shuddered.

    Together, they limped onto the road and stood in a line gazing down the incline. Where Greta had fallen, only a dark spot of earth remained. The girls were oblivious to what had happened, but halted when Levi stopped at the spot and folded his hands in prayer. “ God, grant her mercy. Take her into your loving care. For yours is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen. ”
    Next to him, the girls followed with, “ Amen. ” Praying with Blattvolk. Although he ’ d determined he would protect these people in his care, he hadn ’ t actually hoped they could find salvation. He looked into two sets of sincere eyes and his heart swelled. “ Suffer the little children to come unto me, ” he whispered.
    They hadn ’ t reached the base of the mountain when the cloudy sky parted enough to allow a flash of golden sunset above the snowy peaks. Tula could barely lift her feet off the ground. The girls insisted on helping her, stumbling under her weight. Levi worried they might lose their footing and tumble down the steep path.
    Finally, he called a halt at a small plateau where the road leveled out. He ’ d hoped to reach another water source, but the dry mountainside yielded nothing. The few water bottles they had were nearly empty, with four of them drinking. A dry ditch pitched off the top edge of the pavement toward some