Autumn in the Dark Meadows (The Autumn Series) (21 page)

She continued away from me while I raced along a line of palm trees too tight to jump through.  I watched breathlessly for an opening as she disappeared down the driveway to The Paradise.  There was a pile-up of cars at the intersection, which blocked me from following her.  Snicket veered around the cars and ignored my signals to turn around and follow Sam.

“Whoa!” I screeched and tried to haul back on her mane, but it was no use.  Snicket was in charge.  She continued thundering along the street.  As the Paradise’s driveway curved back toward Las Vegas Boulevard, I caught a glimpse of Sam, coming our way, her horse stretched out with its tail flying high behind it.  I was going to crash right into her if Snicket kept galloping at this pace.  Did Sam see us?  I yelled and tried to slow Snicket again.  Sam flew past us in a whoosh of dry wind and sand, not two feet in front of Snicket’s nose.

We followed Sam’s path as she cut straight across Las Vegas Boulevard and up to the grand entrance to the Ponte di Rialto Casino.  A large moving sidewalk was in place, rather than a staircase, and Snicket’s hooves made hollow, padded thumping noises as she pounded up the slight incline after Sam.  Not another uncleared hotel, I thought.

We burst through a doorway missing its doors and into a large hallway well lit with skylights.  Everything was blue – the walls, the ceiling, the water.  Just as the Big Apple emulated its own city inside its hallways, the Ponte di Rialto did the same.  A canal wound down the center of the walkway, and stores, restaurants and bars lined the walls like a real street in Venice, Italy.

Our horses were nose to rump now, and if I leaned forward I would be able to touch Sam’s horse’s tail.  I didn’t dare let go of Snicket’s mane.  The floor was made of another fake cobblestone, and I felt her hooves slipping as we pounded beside the edge of the canal directly to our right.

I managed to edge up beside Sam, and I reached out, trying to grab her reins.  I must have startled her, because she suddenly looked at me, yelled in surprise and jerked to the left.  Her horse let out a terrified screech as it stumbled and fell into the canal with an enormous splash, carrying Sam with it.  A great wave crested the opposite bank and splashed across the cobblestones, all the way to the edge of a restaurant.  Sam floundered in the chest-deep water, searching to put her feet on the ground.

I pulled Snicket to a stop and jumped off, pulling a rope from where it was strung across a doorway with a sign hung on it.  Without pausing, I jumped into the canal next to Sam, found my footing quickly, and grabbed her.  I pulled her arms behind her and bound them tightly together, sign and all.

The walk back to the Egyptian seemed to take a very long time.  I’d only walked the length of the Strip twice before, when Ben, Shad and I walked to the Mesosphere and back, but I was already sick of it.  I was more than ready to leave Las Vegas and get back to regular life in Hoover.

I wasn’t about to let Sam ride Snicket with me, so she trudged ahead while I rode, her wrists tied tightly with a rope I held. I led Sam’s stolen horse behind me.

“The ropes are too tight,” Sam whined.  “Can’t you loosen them a little?”

“No.  And I guarantee your wrists don’t hurt nearly as much as those people who got trampled by the stampede you caused.”

That seemed to shut her up for the moment.  I stared at the black plume of smoke billowing up in the distance.  The acrid stench of gasoline and burning rubber filled my nostrils.  I was so angry with her that I thought about kicking Snicket into a canter to see how fast she could run.

Instead, I jerked on the rope that held her.  “Why would you do something like this?” I exploded.  “Hasn’t enough happened to these people?  The sandstorms.  The helicopter.  Not to mention The Plague that kicked off all this misery a year ago.  Why would you blow up their gasoline stores?  And how could you set the horses loose on everyone like that?  Only a monster could do something so horrible.”

“I didn’t mean to, okay?!”  Sam snapped back at me.  “Yes, I opened the corral, but I didn’t know the horses would stampede, and I didn’t know they’d run into all those people.  I just thought they’d wander off and slow down the dig.”

“People are dead because of you.  Do you understand that?  Do you even care?”

“Of course, I care!  I didn’t mean for them to die.”

“Oh, I get it.  You just meant to cause problems in general, is that it?”

“Well.  Yeah.”

I nudged Snicket into a trot, passing Sam, and yanked hard on the rope tied to her wrists.

“Slow down, I can’t keep up!  You’re going to make me fall!”  Her voice clawed at my ears, and I reluctantly pulled Snicket back into a plodding walk and twisted around to face Sam.

“Shut up!  Just shut up!” I yelled.  “I knew I couldn’t trust you!  You lied to all of us.  And you totally played Ben.  I wish you’d never come from Los Angeles.  I wish you’d stayed back in LA, and I’d never laid eyes on you again!  Why couldn’t you have just left us alone?!”

“Let me go.  I’ll go back.  You’ll never see me again, I promise.”

“Like hell.  You’re going to pay for everything you’ve done.  The stampede, the medical supplies, blowing up the gas stores, the water main.  Everything.”

“Water main?”

Sam seemed genuinely confused.  I remembered Sam was here in Vegas with us when the water main was sabotaged.

“Knock it off.  I know you know what Karl’s been doing to us, here in Vegas and back in Hoover.”

“I don’t.  I mean it.  I really don’t!  Karl makes sure we act independently.”

“We?  How many Frontmen are in Hoover?”

Sam didn’t speak.  I stopped Snicket and yanked hard on Sam’s rope.

“How many are there?!”

She stood there, wordless, chewing on her lip.  I wanted to slap her.

“How long has Karl been sending people up here to spy and make trouble?  What’s he up to?” I demanded.

She began to cry, thin shoulders shaking and her pale face pinched.

I sighed and slumped forward again, then nudged Snicket to walk.  Sam plodded along behind me, her sniffling and shaky breaths continuing for several more blocks.  I finally turned around again and said, “You know I don’t care if you’re crying, right?  I have no sympathy left for you.”

“But he made me!” she cried out suddenly.

“Karl made you?” I repeated in disgust.

Sam nodded, her eyes wide and the tip of her nose bright red from crying.  I faced forward again.  “No one can
make
you do anything.  You always have a choice.”

“If
he
asked you to do something... you’d do it,” Sam said.  “I know you would.”

Her inflection on the word “he” made me realize she was talking about Grey, not Karl.

“You love him!” she pressed.  “Wouldn’t you do anything for him?  No matter what?  Wouldn’t you walk the world if he asked you to?”

I remained silent and stared straight ahead.  I felt Sam’s eyes boring into the back of my head, waiting for my answer.

“I love him,” she wept.  “I know you understand!”

“No, I don’t.  I do love Grey.  But the difference between him and Karl is he would never...
never
ask me to hurt someone for him.”

She fell to her knees, sobbing.  I couldn’t stop Snicket in time, and she was yanked to the ground, face down in the dirt.  I slid down from Snicket and pulled her up.  Her tears cut tracks down her splotchy, dust-covered cheeks, and she looked at me in earnest.  “You would do it if he told you he needed you to go somewhere you didn’t want to go.  If he told you he needed you to do things for him and get close to people for him... even though you didn’t want to leave his side.  You’d do it, because he counted on you, because he loved you and believed in you!  I know you would!”

I stared into her pathetic face, my gaze as hard as stone.  “If Grey asked me to do those things, I’d know he didn’t love me.  I’d know he was using me.  Karl played you.  You’re his pawn.  And you hurt a lot of people for nothing.”

Sam’s face slowly crumpled again, and her face broke into a silent wail.  I didn’t have any patience left for members of The Front.  Or anyone who stood against the rebuilding of some semblance of a normal society.  Would there always be fighting?  I wondered.  Would there never be peace again?

Dark plumes of smoke poured from behind the Egyptian, and the smell of burning fuel got stronger.  As we got closer, I realized the flames had spread from the parking garage to the Egyptian.  The entire back of the pyramid was on fire, and my heart jumped into my throat when I thought of all the people inside.  Then I remembered the front entrance was clear and people could easily evacuate that way.  I hoped no more people had perished at Sam’s hands.

I jerked at her rope.  “I bet you didn’t mean for that to happen either?” I asked sarcastically, but Sam didn’t answer.  She stared at the fire as we approached slowly, dread clearly painted on her face.

As we passed into the cool shadow of Camelot, I saw a crowd of people gathered outside the Egyptian.  They stared at the blazing inferno, empty buckets at their sides.  No one even tried to stop the fire.  It was too big to control.  The only thing to do was get out of the way and let it burn.

I spotted Ben at the back of the crowd with Shad and Rissi.  He turned around, as if he were expecting me, and we instantly locked eyes.

He ran over, looking relieved to see me, but when he got closer and saw Sam’s dirty face and the rope tied around her hands, he stopped and looked confused.

“Autumn, what the hell are you doing?  Let her go.”  Ben started toward her and reached to untie her hands.

“Ask her who caused the explosion, Ben.”

Ben looked at me, dumbfounded.  “I don’t understand,” he said.

“Ask her who stole the medical supplies, broke the radio, and who started the stampede.” Ben’s jaw dropped, and he took a step back from Sam in disbelief.

“Sam?”  His voice cracked slightly as he said her name.  Sam began sobbing again, and Ben’s expression went from disbelief to anger.

“How... how could you?  All that time we spent together...  People died.”  Ben’s face was red, and his eyes glistened with moisture.  The betrayal he felt echoed in his gaze.  He sniffed quickly and reached for the rope in my hands.

“I’ll take it from here,” he said.  His eyes were dead.  Expressionless.  As if all the pain melted away, leaving stone behind.  I handed him the rope, feeling responsible.

“No, Ben.  Wait!  I’m sorry,” she wailed, her last two words drowning in tears.

Ben pushed Sam along in front of him.  When she dropped to her knees, weeping and refusing to face the others, he lifted her by the elbow and steered her through the crowd toward Franklin.

“What’s going on?” Shad asked.

“Can you stay with Rissi for a little while?” I asked Shad. He agreed, and I dismounted Snicket, tied her to a nearby fence and moved past them without another word. I followed Ben, as he carved a path through the rest of the tired, grief-stricken people, until he faced Franklin.

Grey and Daniel were next to him, both weary and soot-stained.  I couldn’t hear Ben’s words when he began to speak to Franklin, but the expression on Franklin’s face told me enough.  His cheeks went red under his cowboy hat, and his lips twisted into a terrifying grimace.  Then he slapped Sam so hard she spun around and, unable to catch herself with her hands tied, fell into the dirt.

Murmurs shot through the crowd, and confusion hung as densely in the air as the acrid stench of burning gasoline.

Franklin raised his hand again, but Grey stepped in front of Sam, murmuring something I couldn’t hear.  Franklin lowered his hand, but the ugly expression remained on his face.

“Get me a gun!” Franklin shouted.

The crowd collectively gasped as he spun around, frantically eyeing those nearest him.  Sam scrambled back as far as she could, keeping Grey between herself and Franklin.  No one moved.

“Well?!  You heard me!” Franklin yelled again.  “Someone get me a gun.  Now!”

“You’re not going to shoot her,” Grey said, his voice even.  Franklin waited a moment more, then pushed through the crowd to the base of the still-smoldering hotel.  He grabbed a shovel lying against the cracked glass wall, and started back.  Sam saw him coming and scampered backward in terror.

Before I realized what I was doing, I found myself in front of Franklin as he towered over Sam, his shovel raised in the air.

“Outta the way!  She deserves to die, after what she did.”  He gestured to the fire, but I knew he was talking about Vonna.  The buzzing of the crowd picked up as people began to catch on.

“We aren’t killers!”  I yelled.  “Don’t you understand?!”  I looked at Sam, who remained crumpled on the ground, trying to wipe her tears away with her tied hands.

“I understand it’s kill or be killed!” Franklin yelled back at me, his voice shaking with menace.  “You think
they’re
gonna fight fair?  We can’t win if we’re the only ones playing by the rules.  You’re the one who doesn’t understand.  This is war.”

I stood flummoxed for a moment, unsure of how to respond.  I understood what he was saying, but it just felt wrong.  “I may be just a kid to you, but...” I stammered.  I felt the weight of all the eyes on me.  I looked at Grey for support and found his crystal blue eyes blazing at me.  He nodded slightly in encouragement, and a fresh wave of strength helped me find my words.

“If we start executing people,” I said firmly, “then we’re no better than The Front.  We’re no better than Karl.  If we kill her, if we don’t fight fair, then maybe we don’t deserve to win.  Maybe I don’t know anything about war, but I know why I fight.  I know what I stand for.  And this isn’t it.  Executing Sam in a fit of anger isn’t going to bring Vonna back.”

Franklin’s grip on the shovel slackened.  He bowed his head and put his other hand to his forehead as if hiding his face.  When he finally looked back up to me, there was a look of despair, anguish.  The shovel slipped from his fingers and thudded to the ground.

“Get her out of my sight until we figure out what to do with her.  If I see her again, I might kill her.”

Ben reached forward and pulled Sam up.  She buried her head in his chest and cried, and I was surprised when Ben let her stay there for a moment.

“You did that well,” Grey said.

“Grey.  I... I wanted to kill her, too, when I caught her,” I whispered, watching Ben and Sam.  “I wanted to hurt her.”

“But you didn’t.  That’s what makes you different.”  And then his words were so quiet, it was almost as if he merely breathed the words, “I love you,
Fòmhair
.”

I let his words linger on the air for a moment, trying to hold on to them.

“Was anyone hurt in the fire?”  I finally asked.

“Just a couple with minor burns.  They’ve been taken to the clinic.”

I closed my eyes and swallowed deeply.  “If only I’d found Sam sooner, I might have been able to stop her,” I whispered, staring at the fire consuming the Egyptian.  “How long before the fire will go out?”

“Hours.  Maybe even a day,” he said, turning to look at it.  The orange color against the soft blue sky was almost beautiful.

“What are we going to do with her?”  I asked.

“Well, before The Plague, she would have been given a fair trial.”

“She was caught red-handed and pretty much confessed everything to me.  If they try her, she’s going to be found guilty.”  The last thing I wanted was for a trial to delay us getting back to Hoover, but then a worse thought entered my head.  “If she’s found guilty, Franklin wouldn’t actually have her executed.  Would he?”

“My guess would be yes.”

“He’ll calm down, though, right?”

“I don’t know,” Grey said, quietly.  “Would your compassion come back if Sam had caused Rissi’s death?”

Point taken, I thought.  So much death.  I’d seen enough of it to last lifetimes, and I’d only just reached my eighteenth birthday.

Daniel appeared beside me.  “We’re going to put Sam in a guarded room at the Palmetto until we can figure out what to do with her,” he said as Ben walked Sam past us.

She pulled away from Ben suddenly, sobbing and moved toward me.  I thought she might be trying to hug me, but Ben clamped a hand on her skinny arm, stopping her.

Stung, Sam said, “I was just going to thank her.  I wasn’t going to hurt her.”

Ben didn’t remove his hand.  He nodded toward me.  “Get on with it then.”

She turned to me, “Thank you, Autumn.  You saved my life.”

“I didn’t do it for you,” I said, holding my head high.

She sniffed and wiped her wet nose with the back of her wrist.  “You probably won’t believe me, but I really did find Snicket for you.”

Ben redirected Sam away from me before she could say more.  The pain in his eyes was palpable.  I knew he was in agony.  A day ago, Ben used pet names for her.  Now, he was marching her off to be put on death row.