The world blurred. Two figures dropped in front of her. Getesaph. In clean-suits and helmets.
“Run!” screamed Lynn.
She felt the breeze behind her scalp as a Getesaph snatched at her and missed. Fear and anger lent her speed, and she almost piled into Resaime and Arron.
If they've locked the door… Arron grabbed the handle and shoved it down. The door swung open, revealing a broad, braced, metal ladder. Forgetting her naked hands, Lynn grabbed Resaime's shoulders and all but tossed her through the threshold. Res grabbed the rungs with hands and feet and climbed up. Lynn followed, clumsy and scrabbling. Res threw open a metal hatch, and they both dived out into the daylight.
Lynn's boots found level ground, and she started running before she realized she was running across packed earth, not the damned blank concrete that surrounded every Dedelphi secure area. She'd been right. This place was not official.
She concentrated on Resaime's back and put herself in line with it. As long as she was between Resaime and the thudding footsteps behind her, the soldiers couldn't get a clear shot at Res.
A fence of metal slats loomed between the compound and the outside world. Her brain had just defined it when her legs jerked backwards and the ground smashed against her chest. Shots whisked overhead, and Lynn twisted around frantically. A clean-suited soldier clung to Lynn's knees. Lynn swung out. The Dedelphi grabbed her wrist and levered herself up Lynn's body. Another shot sounded, and the soldier jerked back. Lynn tore out of the Dedelphi's grip and threw herself toward the fence.
Where's Resaime? Where's Arron?
Where's the other soldier?
Getesaph voices shouted behind her. More shots echoed around her. She couldn't understand any of it. Her vision narrowed to a grey-walled tunnel with shiny slats across the end. Fat slats, widely spaced. Designed to stop an adult Dedelphi.
Lynn measured her length on the ground, screamed as the pain raised sparks in front of her eyes, and wriggled under the lowest slat. It scraped hard along her back, ripping cloth and rotted organic.
Where's Arron?
She tried to stand and run but stumbled instead. Her remaining eye didn't want to work. The world was a blur of tears and voices. She lurched forward, praying for smooth ground. If she tripped, she wasn't getting up again. An uneven roar cut across the voices, and the tunnel in front of her eye began to shrink rapidly.
Oh, no.
“Lynn!”
The ground hit her knees and her palms, jarring her all the way up her shoulders. Hands grabbed her, and the ground went away. Something soft hit her shoulder, and the roaring filled the entire world.
The tunnel of her vision shut down altogether.
“Lynn! Lynn! Eia! Oereth u, Arron, iyullena or'ena esa!” Groggy, aching, ears ringing, Lynn lifted her head. The world roared, jounced, and rattled. Someone shouted at her in t'Therian. Someone young.
Res! Her left eye snapped open and her right eye tried to. Its flutter sent a shot of pain across her temple.
Her vision took a moment to clear. Resaime, filter mask still in place, leaned over her, dangerously close.
“Wake up!” screeched Resaime. “We've got to abandon the car!”
Car. The world jumped again. The roar was the engine, she was on the back bench and… She turned her head a little. The top of Arron's helmet gleamed above the driver's seat.
Pride at deciphering her situation leaked away, replaced by fear, anger, and urgency. The world jerked rattled again, and tilted. The wind and roar stopped. The top of Arron's helmet jerked left as he scrambled out. “Get back, Resaime.”
Lynn realized she was going to have to move. She clenched her muscles, grabbed the seat back, and heaved herself upright. The world spun, but she managed to make out a tree-choked slope in front of them. Arron grabbed her by the elbow and shoved her to one side. She almost fell against Resaime, but managed to catch her balance in time. Engine noise filled the air behind her. Resaime wasn't moving. Lynn turned. Arron got behind the frame car, put both hands on its back bar, and shoved it forward. The car crashed down the hill until it rammed into a tree that would not give way.
“Let's go.” Arron loped across the road's cracked pavement and into the scrub on the other side.
Ah, a distraction, Lynn thought muzzily as she followed Resaime, who followed Arron. If we crashed down the hill, we'd keep going downhill. We would not scramble up the slope and head across the other side.
The moss-covered, puff-leaf trees enclosed them, cutting off the watery sunlight and dangling branches in their faces. The thick undergrowth of ballooning weeds, pitcher plants, and rubbery reedlike growths rustled and flapped, spattering water on her shins. The rags of her tattered clothes and clean-suit flopped against her shivering skin, getting wetter by the second. More water dripped on her head and smeared across her cheeks. Fungus and mushrooms popped and squelched underfoot. She kept her right hand stretched out to try to keep herself from smashing into trees on her blind side. Mostly it worked.