Botanicaust

overgrown footpaths cut into the hill. From his vantage, he detected the rectangular remnants of old buildings along the main trail. The way looked steep, and difficult, but perhaps they ’ d find water.
    But he didn ’ t think Tula would be strong enough to keep going. Not in the darkness. Tonight they had to stop, to hide. In the morning they could veer from the main road. For tonight, he could construct a makeshift screen out of scrub oak and yuvee to hide them from sight while they rested. “ We ’ ll stop here. ”
    The twins seemed relieved. They let go of Tula and wandered to the nearby husk of an automobile to investigate.
    Gasping for breath, Tula shook her head. “ Not good. ”
    “ It ’ s almost dark. We have to rest. To find shelter from the Fosselites. ”
    “ Fosselites see … night like day. ”
    “ Don ’ t worry, we ’ ll look like brush and rocks. ” He started to hack at the limbs of the shrubs with the knife.
    “ They see through! ”
    “ Remember how we hid from the Blat … the Haldanian search party? We ’ ll do that again. ”
    “ No. ” Tula seemed on the verge of tears, her voice higher, the sentences choked off as if one word required too much effort. “ Is different. Fosselites search night. Have … have … ” She struggled with the words.
    “ Tula. ” He clasped both her arms and looked into her teary eyes. The pupils were the size of dinner plates and could not focus on him. Her skin had exchanged burning heat for cold and clammy. “ I will keep you safe. ”
    She shook her head, gasping. Swaying in his grasp, she clutched his forearms for support. “ Not safe. Fosselites see hot. Body hot. You, me, children. Need rock hide. ”
    Levi thought of the red eyes of the Fosselites. How the lights were so dim inside the compound. Had the Fosselites so altered themselves they functioned differently? “ We need a cave? ” His heart hammered so hard his vision shook. He glanced around the plateau. There were no caves he could see. The light was fading fast.
    In panic, he grabbed Tula ’ s arm and shouted to the girls. “ Let ’ s move! ”

    Since leaving the mountain, Tula had been fighting off hallucinations unlike any she ’ d had before. Chasms opened up before her feet, amorphous colors corkscrewed from the cloudy sky to skewer her, the rocks bulged with leering faces. Physical contact helped ground her, and she was thankful the girls anchored her on both sides.
    When Levi announced they ’ d stop, the twins let go, and Tula had to scrape up every microgram of willpower to keep focused. Swaying in the brutal push of a non-existent gale, she fought for breath to speak. They could not stop until they found shelter. The Fosselites had night scopes, thermographic trackers, and who knew what else. Mo had used a few such devices on the rare night mission when cannibal bands ranged too close to the edges of the Burn.
    They needed something dense to shield them. More than the leaves and twigs Levi proposed.
    Once Levi understood, he dragged her down a steep cut through the brush. The dark landscape at her feet pulsed purple in spots where some mote of setting sun penetrated the shrubbery. She blinked the illusion away. Stay alert . A pounding in her ears reminded her of the helicopter blades, and she glanced behind her, up the direction they ’ d come. Nothing but a yellow trail curling up the mountain like a cryptic word of warning. The pounding was only the beating of her heart.
    At her heels, the girls plowed through the brush. Levi stopped abruptly in front of her. Glad to stop, she rested her hands on her knees and half bent over. If she focused on the ground, things seemed more normal.
    Then Levi was gone. “ Levi? ”
    The thunk of helicopter blades started in the distance. No mistaking it. The sound chopped against the side of the mountain as if the noise alone might shake the escapees loose.
    The brush in front of her moved, and Levi poked his head up from a ditch or a hole. “ Down here. ”
    The twins pushed past her and over the edge of some sort of wall. She accepted Levi ’ s hand and lowered herself into a rectangular concrete area filled with old pipes, bits of corroded plastic, and other detritus. He led her to a huge rusty container. The hinged lid had fallen askew, leaving a metal cave. “ Will this protect you? ” he asked.
    She touched the three-centimeter thick walls. The metal flaked a little, but seemed intact. “ Yes. ”
    “ Get in.