37. Family Ties

Runt

"Mum."

The word shook the entire car. It slowed for a while as we crested a sand dune. Rebecca's knuckles turned white as she gripped the wheel; a tight smile spread across her lips. She shook her head, her dark hair swaying over her eye patch.

"Hey, Hunter," she said. She said it the second time; she choked the first try.

No answer came through the radio, only the sharp buzz of static.

Cleo slapped the back of Jack's head. "Make it work."

He snapped, "You didn't have to hit me to say that!" He turned the dials and muttered, "Christ sake why did I ever bother with you. Should have just…." His mutter became a whisper as Cleo put a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"Mum? Can you hear me? Mum?"

"Hunter," she said, leaning towards the radio Jack held. "I can hear you, sweetie. I can hear you just fine."

I didn't know how to feel. I felt…strange. A little out of place. Like I was back in the orphanage. The man in the forest was Dan's brother. But he hadn't said anything about that two years ago. He'd been nice to him straight away. So willing to help. And Rebecca was his mum. Step mum, actually. So…what did that make me? Or Cleo?

A chill ran through my body, and that weird feeling sat down heavily in my gut. Family, it meant family. They wouldn't push us aside.

I shook my head and pushed away from the thoughts. No, there were more important things to concentrate on. I still had Cleo, and that wouldn't change. But it was time to help everyone else and focus on that alone.

Hunter laughed, his voice cracking. "I thought…Abigail told me Dad killed you."

Rebecca chuckled. "Joseph, that sly bastard."

"Mrs Fallow," Abigail said. It felt strange hearing her name, too personal. "It's certainly been a long time."

"Are you taking care of my boy?"

"As best as I can. I'd say he's taken care of me more than I have him."

Rebecca smiled, a stray tear rolling down her weathered skin. She slowly eased the car forward. "That's great to hear. So great." Her smile wavered. "And…Dan? Is he really…"

My heart quickened. My hands had been wording the question; no one but Cleo had noticed. She'd squeezed them and mouthed a 'calm down.' But I couldn't calm down. Not now. The silence wasn't too bad. But now, when I needed the answer, it was terrible. My mouth burnt with the question, the saliva I swallowed a stream of fire.

"He's alive."

The car was silent; the engine's hum was an echo.

Smoulderingly hot tears ran down my cheek. Alive? My brother was alive. I nearly laughed, the lump in my throat stopping me. I couldn't breathe. My hands shook. The ache that had grown in my gut for two years withered.

I wasn't alone. Dan was alive; my big brother hadn't left me alone.

Cleo squeezed my hands again and smiled. "Guess the Stray ain't killed easy."

"The Stray is…Dan?" Rebecca said, more to herself than to us. Her blue eye was glassy. "I heard that name over and over. I thought it was just a myth. Someone playing on people's minds. Like the boogeyman."

Hunter chuckled. "Yeah. Me too. Dan had a lot of us fooled."

"He spent those years searching for you," Abigail said. "The reason he came to the Gray was to look for you."

There were a few mutters, too far away from the radio for us to hear.

"Uh, Miss…Mrs Fallow?" Kira said.

"Who is this?"

"Kira. I think we met before. Two years ago, near Young Haven." A lot more muttering, like an argument. Finally, she said, "I shot a few of your Nomads."

Rebecca chuckled, shaking her head. "You little shit. I didn't even see you until you started clearing out my people. Damn good shot."

"She is," Hunter said, "But we need to talk about the important stuff now."

Right. Important stuff. My ears still rang, my heart still hammered against my chest. It was hard to concentrate on the conversation, but Cleo's hands kept me grounded. Like one of those anchors Tick had shown me a long time ago.

"Dan's in Young Haven."

"With Grace, I'm guessing," Rebecca said.

"Good that you're informed," Abigail said.

"You trained your soldiers well enough." She smiled and looked at Cleo and me from the mirror. "What's she planning on doing?"

"We don't completely know yet. But my educated guess would be: she'd want complete control of the Unit," Abigail said. Just before Rebecca could speak, she said, "It's a weapon, to put it in layman's terms. An extremely dangerous weapon."

Her knuckles whitened against the steering wheel. "Right."

"We aren't planning on killing him." Hunter's voice had dropped an octave. Jack turned the volume up. "But he's dangerous with it on. And if Grace has him and she's pulling the strings…."

The car's silence was pressing.

Rebecca cleared her throat. "What's the plan then?" Her voice had picked up, but her eye was darker than it had been.

"Wait. For now, at least," Abigail said. "Supplies are needed to infiltrate Young Haven. We don't have much of those."

"There's some on the Island," Hunter said. "I hope so. I hid a few clips worth of ammunition and a few spare kits worth of axes and knives. As well as the Island's supplies. It won't be much, but it's all we've got."

"So a suicide mission," Rebecca said, speaking for all of us.

"Nah," Hunter said. "We're the Fallows. We don't die like that."

Rebecca smiled; a small laugh slipped out of her mouth. "My little boy is a madman."

"You should see what Dan's become if you think I'm crazy."

"Alright then. I sent my Nomads to Young Haven." Rebecca bit her lip and then said, "We should be in the Gray in at least…." She glanced at Jack.

Jack blinked. "Oh, you're talking to…alright. Uhm, an hour? Forty if you pick it up?"

"Thirty minutes," she said.

"Does anyone ever listen to me?" Jack asked. "I said—"

Cleo gripped onto his shoulder. "Zip it. She said thirty. It'll be thirty."

"Okay then," Hunter said, a sigh scrambling his voice. "See you near the bridges…Mum."

The radio clicked off.

A silence blossomed in the car. A plan, the Nomads, and my big brother. We had them all. I was finally going to help Dan this time, not the other way around. Tick would be proud, and I'm not going to disappoint him.

We were going to get my brother back and kill Grace.