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too, and I can run all day and all night,
no problem.” He spits an apple seed back toward the road and adds,
“I’ve done it, too. Once I had to get a message to Ronel, nearly
three hundred miles away. And I did.”
    “ Mmm,” I say with obvious
awe in my tone. I’m thinking too many things to make time for any
words. I can’t believe that the government didn’t snatch him long
ago. Apparently they know about him, or at least the guard with the
whip knows he spies for Ronel. I’m impressed with his running
ability. A question forms that my tongue can handle, “Are we
running that far?”
    His expression brightens. He laughs.
Lydia laughs. And because I always think I’m the butt of every
joke, I laugh too. They shake their heads no. I toss my apple core
away and stand up.
    “ But it’s pretty far,” Lydia
says. “We’ll go with you about a hundred miles and then we’ll have
to turn back. You’ll be on your own. It’s up to you … and your
destiny … just how far you go.” She rises, too, brushes off her
backside and smiles at Barrett. She asks him, “Are we good?” A
twinge of jealousy stabs at my insides as I imagine them together.
She’s a good five or six inches taller than he is, but that hardly
matters when there are no Red boys her age.
    “ Yup,” he says, “no sights,
sounds, or smells to worry about.” He stays on the ground a moment
more. He’s waiting for more of my questions. Or he’s waiting for me
to do something.
    Lydia reaches for her bag and I bend
forward to grab it first. “I can carry it for you,” I say and swing
it up onto one shoulder.
    “ Careful. It’s full of food
and a couple of weapons.”
    “ Okay.” I look at Barrett.
“I can carry yours, too,” I say. I’m probably too boastful. I grab
at the strap and it’s as if the bag is in a tug of war with me. I
succeed in lifting it, but I wish I hadn’t offered. “Is this full
of bricks?” I wonder aloud. They laugh again.
    “ Money,” Barrett says. He
motions for me to drop the bag and I do. He unzips the main part
and I see the coins. We’ve all heard the old stories of how people
used to use paper or plastic for money. That must have been so much
lighter. The wealthy carry heavy belt sacks nowadays. My sacks have
a few coins each, but I rarely have the need of money, living in
the capitol, my castle. I’m glad they thought to bring
some.
    “ Don’t worry, it’s not
stolen,” Barrett says. He zips the bag up and pitches it up onto
his back as easily as if it were full of old fashion paper bills.
Lydia had said his nickname is Bear, maybe that isn’t short for
Barrett, maybe he earned it because of his special
strength.
    “ I don’t want to take all
your money,” I say, looking from one to the other. I sidestep onto
the road.
    Lydia hops onto the pavement and
assures me it’s not theirs.
    Barrett agrees. “What’s here is one
coin from everyone in the Red village who doesn’t blame you for
Sarkis Tait’s death. You have no idea what he would have done to
that boy if you hadn’t stopped him.” I color at the mention of that
name and my deed, but their faces show no negative
emotion.
    We begin to trot and Barrett tells me
things about my victim that should make me feel better about
killing him. But remarkably I’m not moved. I’ll take the money, not
as the reward it’s intended to be, but as a loan. I’ll pay the Red
village back. With interest. Nothing will lessen my
guilt.
    “ Oh, oh,” Barrett says and
speeds up. He can easily outrun me after all and does so, cutting
off to the left and into a dark forest. Lydia doesn’t hesitate to
follow. Of course I lope after them. By the time we are totally
enveloped by leaves and trunks and brush I hear the soft whoosh of
solar-bikes. The only solar-bikes still in service after all the
factories burned were confiscated by the government years ago for
use as pursuit vehicles. The fact that they are on this road,
following us, can only mean one