Seal scudded across the ground on the balls of her feet. This left the least amount of dust floating behind her.
“You’re gripping too tight,” Beth complained.
“We have to keep moving,” Seal said. She tucked her sister into her clothing as she approached a large boulder. Seal climbed it. The top surface spanned at least 20 feet across.
“We can’t hide here. We’ll be found,” Beth said as they reached the top.
Seal hushed her sister. “I know.” She peered into the distance but saw nothing helpful. She changed their direction on the giant rock, hoping her pursuers could not easily find where her footprints resumed. She slid down the backside of an embankment and then circled around it before heading west, again parallel with the road.
As Seal ran across the deserted plains in this broken copy of South Dakota, she wondered if Javin had an easier time down here. Her breath came heavy and she could feel her heart pound. She needed rest and water. Seal quickly opened the package the ancestors had given her. The morsels tasted terrible, nearly spoiled, but she swallowed two down with water, like they were pills. Beth stood precariously on her shoulder and kept an eye out.
“Nothing yet. Wait.” She paused. “Seal, I see something.” The words reminded Seal of that horrible night on the haunted hayride.
Seal saw nothing. “Are you sure?” she said, gently.
“They are coming,” Beth insisted.
“They?”
“Two or Three. They look like floating dark spots. I can feel them if I concentrate,” Beth said. “They feel like fear. I could feel the ancestor’s too, but you were asleep. They felt like sorrow. They were gray spots.”
“You can see all this? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Seal said, annoyed with her sister.
“You never asked,” Beth Said. “You look white, like they said. See! I can see your footprints.” Beth’s little doll hands pointed from where they had run.
“What? My tracks are visible? They can see wherever we go?”
“I’m sorry,” Beth said. “I didn’t know it was important. I….”
“We have no time.” Seal, still out of breath, spotted the dust trails rising in the distance. William had failed to protect her. She grabbed Beth, who let out a mild protest at the rough treatment and ran as fast as she could, not bothering to hide her tracks.
Seal almost joined up with the road again. Their pursuers would soon catch them, and she didn’t know what else to do except to keep going as fast as she could. She came upon the tattered remains of a chain-link fence on its side. Razor wire tangled hung at one end. She jumped over it, barely clearing the grasping tendrils of sharp metal. Her feet landed on a fallen sign, clanging it noisily against the ground. It had a giant ‘No Trespassing’ printed on it with much smaller warnings she didn’t have time to decipher.
Beth swung back and forth in her hand. “I’m getting dizzy,” she said.
I don’t want to die, Seal thought. Her legs grew weak and she could feel the threat of cramps developing in her calves.
“There!” Beth cried. Seal’s thought her hunters had caught them. But Beth insisted, “There, turn back. There! Look! There!”
Seal didn’t want to stop, but she relented and listened. She turned around. Her pursuers were more than dust clouds now. They were close enough that she could make out all three of them. She had lost precious time by stopping. She felt a pull and Beth slipped from her hand and ran towards their pursuers. “No,” Seal cried. She tried to scoop her sister up, but Beth evaded her. Then Seal noticed the round grating. It covered a dark hole.
“Look,” Beth said angrily at her sister.
Seal ran towards it and pulled on the grate. She could lift the heavy lid a little. She continued to pull on it. It slid a few inches, enough that she could push it open using her feet. She braced herself while pushing with her legs. The metal pressed into her hard callouses, biting at her bare heels. She drove her legs forward again, grunting hard with the effort.
A little more space opened. She hoped she could squeeze through. She stuffed Beth, who again complained at the rough treatment, into her shirt and peered into the hole the grate had covered. She saw nothing but darkness. She hoped it wasn’t too deep.
Seal went in feet first and squeezed between the grate and the opening. She felt stuck at her hips, but now she had enough leverage to push the grating open a little more. She could see it used to be held shut by weld marks that had failed over time. Her feet dangled. She considered letting herself fall. How far would it be? “Drop me down and I’ll see how deep it goes,” Beth offered, as though she could read Seal’s thoughts.
“No.” she said. “I will not lose you again.”
“It won’t hurt,” Beth said. Seal wondered why Beth complained so much about her grasp if she couldn’t feel anything in her doll body. Even as a doll, her sister could get on her nerves.
Seal chose to be more careful and felt around the space beneath her with her feet while clinging to the grating with her arms. She found a proptrusion, what she hoped was a rung. She rested her right foot on it, then slowly lowered herself and swung both feet onto it.
The next part would be the tricky. She placed her hands on the underside of the grate and lowered herself fully until she hung by her fingers. She swung each arm like they were monkey bars until she hung vertically over the first rung her feet rested on. Seal felt between her foothold and the space above for another handle to hang onto. Nothing. She was already at the top rung and the next one was out of her reach.
Beth could not see, stuffed into her sister’s shirt, but heard Seal take a deep breath. Then it felt like they were falling.
***
“Stupid human, eh,” Alvy said. He knew they were stupid when they reached the rock Seal had climbed earlier. Their prey had wasted a lot of time trying to create a false trail. They didn’t even need to climb the boulder to follow her. Len mimed to his companions, pointing to his nose, then making an hourglass shape with his hands.
“Smells like a girl, you say.” Alvy looked knowingly at Tork. Tork looked back. Payday.
“They’ll anoint us with gold and gems ten times what we had,” Tork said. “Let’s go. We’ll have her soon.” The Paleskins ran on. They could see the dust trail clearly now. The girl no longer tried to hide from them. They picked up their pace. Her footprints glowed brighter and were pressed deeply into the ground.
***
Seal and Beth had not fallen far. Seal had let her hands drop from the grate to the first rung and her feet had slipped, but she held on. The first few rungs were the same process and each time Beth thought they were falling, but Seal held on. After that, the rungs were placed closer together and she could climb down like a regular ladder. It was a long way down. She wouldn’t have survived the fall. When she reached the bottom, she stood in darkness. She moved slowly, waving her hands outward until she reached the wall.
“Let me out,” Beth complained. “I can see in the dark.”
Seal set her sister free.
“What can you see,” Seal asked.
“I see lots of metal and wires. Lots of places to hit your head. And… a tunnel, there!”
“Where?” Seal asked.
“Straight ahead, keep going and you’ll feel the opening.” Seal kept her hands pressed against the wall. Her hands brushed across an object. She thought it might be an old fire extinguisher, like the ones kept in the hallway of her elementary school. She wondered if she could use it as a weapon but decided it wouldn’t do much good if they could handle William. She felt for the opening.
“It’s clear as far as I can see,” Beth said.
Seal clumsily stumbled over the raised lip into the tunnel. She moved slowly. From behind them, they could hear metal scraping. It reverberated through the tunnel they were in. Whatever chased them had opened the grate.
Seal wanted to move faster, but her feet kept hitting litter across the floor. She worried about tripping or breaking a toe. She kept one hand pressed against the wall and blindly felt in front of her. As she progressed forward, a crashing sound came from behind the two sisters. Seal looked but saw only darkness.
“They’re here,” Beth said, unhelpfully.
The three Paleskins had reached the bottom and entered the tunnel. They could see the soft glow of the girl clearly now. “Don’t run away,” one yelled towards Seal. “Not gonna hurt you. Promise.”
“We don’t believe you,” the tiny voice of Beth called out.
“Shhhh,” Seal said.
“But they’re liars, Seal.”
Seal could hear their hard boots echoing in the tunnel. She nearly fell, stumbling before catching herself. Her heart beat fast, from fear, more than exhaustion.
“Left! Left!” Beth Shouted. Seal listened to her sister and let go of the wall and ran to the left. She felt the wall on the opposite side. “Behind, on the wall!”
Seal turned around, ready for death to come out of the darkness, but the motion caused her hand to slip into an opening.
“A door, it’s almost shut,” Beth yelled.
“Stop, girl. We want to keep you safe,” another Paleskin yelled. Seal didn’t stop. She squeezed between the wall and the door, banging her elbow on something round, causing a sharp pain followed by a prickly sensation. Her hand rested on the object and she knew what she had found a wheel like one you’d find on a bank vault.
Seal pulled as hard as she could. The heavy door moved slowly. But it moved. It seemed like forever and the footfalls grew closer as the heavy door inched towards her. Her fingers turned red as she pulled with all she could manage. A scratching sound came from the edge of the door. The fright boosted her adrenaline, and she pulled harder until the door shut. She heard a howl. Whatever chased them must have gotten its fingers pinched.
She pulled down on the wheel, using her entire body to hang from it with each heave like she saw them do in old movies. The wheel turned slowly with the effort. She felt her pursuers pulling against her, but the bolts had already turned enough to keep the door from opening more than a sliver. She continued to turn the wheel until it stopped.
“You saved us,” Beth said. Muffled, frustrated curses hurled her way through the thick door.
Seal let Beth guide her into the new area. “There are chairs and a desk built into the wall.” Seal sat down in the darkness. She felt blindly and her hand ran across stacked binders. An object toppled from on top and clattered onto the desk. She felt for it and closed her hand around it. It had a button. It made a strange sound when she pressed it with her thumb. She pressed it again, and it gave off a tiny light. She kept pushing on the button with her thumb in a rhythmic cadence. The object created a ghostly sound as light shone from its end. Beth didn’t like the hum of the old-fashioned flashlight.
Seal used it to look around. It dimly illuminated rows and rows of old panels stacked together. There were dozens of buttons on each of them. A cabinet of more binders sat above the desk. Another seat mirrored her own across the desk. In the middle lay a map. She continued pumping at the button of the flashlight. If she stopped even for a bit, the light went out.
She studied the map. They were in a control room for a nuclear missile silo. The tunnel she came from led to many more. The main entrance, marked with nearby stairs, was outside the door opposite from where they entered. Beyond that, the map marked three missile silos. She could continue out through another door. She also saw that the tunnels circled around. Whatever chased her could find another way to her.
“Can we hide in here?” Beth asked, looking at the map, but not understanding it.
“We could lock ourselves in, but then we’d be stuck. We must leave before they trap us.” Seal quickly inspected the room but found nothing else useful. She found another flashlight with a bent head affixed to the wall, but it didn’t work. Its batteries were too old.
She tried to be quiet, but she needed her little flashlight to see. It whirred loudly as she made her way from the control room into a larger office. There were stairs going up. She had found the main entrance. Seal climbed up and found boxes marked MRE. She didn’t know what that meant, but several of them looked pilfered through, with giant holes burrowed in the corners of some boxes. Metal tins had also been chewed open. She inspected one and saw it had ’59 printed on it and guessed that was the year they were made. She prepared to make her way out until Beth said, “Look, your footprints disappeared.”
Seal turned around, her flashlight whirring away, and she looked down at the floor. “Where?” she swept the light across the floor to see better.
“Just a few feet to your right.” Seal looked and saw a giant mummified rat she must have stepped on without realizing it. It was almost completely flat.
“I only see your heel. Your front half is invisible.” Seal didn’t like it, but she had an idea and collected the dead rat. She climbed the stairs but had to stop. It had collapsed above her, and the way was blocked. She nearly cried in despair.
“What now?” Beth asked.
“We either go back and lock ourselves in or find another way out.” She went back into the office and exited into a wide corridor. The flashlight screamed out, and she heard her pursuer’s voices. They were still angry and called to one another from long distances. They had split up to search for her.
Seal made a quick choice and passed through a thick door. One of her pursuers headed her way. She stayed low so she could clearly illuminate the floor. Tripping would mean her death. She could get to any of the three silos and chose the closest one in the middle. The heavy footsteps followed. This Paleskin made a loud howl upon spotting her, alerting the others, but it did not call out.
She had nowhere to hide now as she scrambled through a short hall, ending with an open door that marked the silo. She could see a dim light ahead. She ran through the door and the giant Paleskin grabbed at her loose clothing. His hand closed around the fabric. But like all the doorways, this one had a lip too, and she tripped over it, as did the Paleskin. She felt its weight on her, but her momentum stopped. The Paleskin’s did not. The creature screamed as it tumbled into the darkness below. Her now dimmed flashlight tumbled down with it.
Seal stood up, making sure Beth also didn’t fall into the darkness. The doll cried.
“It’s okay, Beth. You’re okay,” Seal reassured her.
She looked up and could see into the gray sky not far above. The silo wasn’t empty. A giant missile sat in the middle of it. She could almost touch it. Voices pulled her attention away from the imposing structure. One Paleskin had fallen into the silo, but two more remained.
Two could talk, and one was mute. That one let out a loud howl from far below. Seal climbed the ladder upwards. This one proved easier to climb than the other at the access hatch. She reached the top of the missile silo, pulled herself up, and disappeared.
***
Tork and Alvy had initially run to the wrong silo and by the time they made their way back, Len had already reached the platform he had fallen from. The girl’s handprints and footprints led upward.
“Are you okay?” Alvy asked Len.
The larger Paleskins looked a mess but only growled at the question and pointed upwards. He followed Seal. He moved slower than the others, but they weren’t going to argue with him. Alvy looked back at Tork and shrugged. It wouldn’t matter. There would be nowhere for the girl to hide once they were back in the open. As the three emerged, they were shocked into silence, until Tork broke it.
“Did she fly away?”
They looked around. The soil, sandy and undulating, hid obvious tracks, and there was no telltale glow.
“Did she double back somehow?”
“She couldn’t have,” Tork said, sure of it. Still, he peered back down into the silo to see if they had skipped over anything. “Nothing. She’s out here, somewhere.”
“Let’s head back to the road,” Alvy said. “This time I lead,” he directed the comment to Big Len and immediately regretted it upon the glare he received in return.
As Alvy ran onward, Tork slapped Len’s shoulders, “Come on, big guy, I know you’re hungry. We’ll find her and feed on her just enough to take the sting away. I promise.” Then they followed Alvy. The three exiled Paleskins couldn’t afford to give up so easily and no little girl would outsmart them.