vN The First Machine Dynasty(13)

The ranger nodded. She smiled. "I'm an ex-dieter, too. I know how the hunger feels. What happened wasn't your fault, Amy."



Something about hearing someone else say those words made Amy's tears well up. "Thank you."



"Rory feels terrible about this, Amy. She knows you were on her diet, and understands the role it played in what happened. She knows a place where you can get help. It's in Seattle, near the quake museum. It's not far." The ranger reached for an inner pocket and retrieved a ring of keys. "There's a car waiting for you about a hundred yards north of here. I left the details and some supplies there. There isn't much, I'm afraid, just what I could scratch together… Oh, and this!" She dug in her back pocket. Amy and Javier glanced at each other. What more could the ranger possibly give them?



"Cash," the ranger said, holding out two sets of bills held together with paperclips. Amy took hers and stuffed it down a back pocket.



If her arms weren't already so full, Amy would have hugged the ranger. "Thank you. Thank you so much…"



"I only wish there were more I could do," the ranger said.



There was, Amy realized. "Where are my parents?"



The ranger blinked. "I'm sorry?"



"My parents," Amy said. "I have to get back to them–"



A light swooped overhead. "You have to get to safety, first," the ranger whispered. "Get going."



• • • •

In the car – an old family-style number with the name of the battery on the side in big curvy letters, like it was somehow special – they found blankets and maps. They were in the Olympic National Forest, in Washington. "Wow," Amy said. "I really am a long way from home."



Javier turned to her. He looked at the map, at her toes curled over the edge of the seat. He sucked his teeth for a moment. "Look, you can take this or leave it, but I think that ranger was right. It's a bad idea for you to try going home right now." He grimaced at the road. "You never return to the scene of the crime, right?"



"I didn't even commit a crime! I didn't do anything wrong! I just intervened!"



Javier's hands briefly left the wheel. "Hey. Whoa. Do I look like a cop?" He glanced briefly in her direction. "Anyway. You don't have to explain anything. The less I know, the better. We'll find a rest stop, and you can ping your folks from there."



Amy smiled just thinking about it. "Thank you."



Javier shrugged. "I'll have to leave you there, though. We're fugitives, so your parents' tubes are probably being monitored. The moment you make that connection, I'm gone."



Amy hugged her knees. "OK." She nodded to herself. "Thank you. For taking the risk. If you ever come back down south again, you should come visit us." Her eyes widened. She snapped her fingers. "I'm going to need a bigger bed!"



"Excuse me?"



"Well, I'm just so much taller, now," Amy said, stretching her arms out. "The old one won't fit."



"Right." Javier fiddled with the rearview camera's settings. "Don't tell me you actually miss having a bedtime."



She laughed. "Nope."



"Probably past it now, right?"



She peered at the dash display. "Oh yeah. Way past it."

Javier grinned. He handed her his baby, and motioned at the pile of vN food on the dash. "Can you feed him? And hide that vN food – it's worse than a bunch of empty beer cans, when it comes to cops."



Amy looked in the back seat. "I wish we had a car seat…"



"Just hide him under the blanket." Javier handed Junior over to her, then scattered the vN food at her feet. Amy reached down and grabbed some before buckling her seatbelt and wrapping Junior in the extra folds of blanket. She tried making a little tent for him in there like she'd seen nursing mothers use.



"What if he chokes?" She broke off a square of food. It smelled vaguely like peanut butter.



Javier shook his head. "I keep forgetting you don't have kids…" He gestured. "It'll melt. You'll see."



Amy gently lowered the square into Junior's mouth. He watched her with his giant, calm eyes. She was reminded of a faithful dog, somehow. The food slowly liquefied; he sucked it down rather than chewing. "He did it!"



"Told you. Bend down and smell his mouth. It should smell bitter in there. That's how you know they're ready to eat. It's a compound in the saliva. Helps them predigest the food."



Amy sniffed. She recognized the smell instantly. Her mouth had tasted the same way, just before she'd eaten her grandmother. She shuddered, and tried changing the subject to something only slightly less bizarre. "That was really lucky back there. I can't believe that Rory herself wants to help, and is sending ex-dieters to look after me."