| She counted the lash marks. � I can�t count them all, Sam! You�re back is a mess! All the blood�s distorting them.� � It�s Echo, Mom. And there�s sixty.� � Sixty?! Is that what they said?!� � No, that�s what I counted.� � You counted them?!� � Every last one,� I confirmed. � If you were anyone else, Sam, I�d be amazed that you were alive let alone conscious.� � Mom. My name is now Echo. You had enough trouble keeping little Sam and me from coming at the same time when you called and if you keep going like this there�re going to be three Sams and that�s not what we need.� � Fine, Echo . . . I�m going to try and get these disinfected and then I�m going to wrap you like a mummy from your arms to your waist, all right?� � O-kay.� � It might hurt.� I twisted to look at her over my shoulder. � Mom, go put a gas mask on or something.� � Why?� � Because if you reopen a wound by accident I don�t want to be the one to tell Dad that my blood killed you.� � It�s not strong enough in your blood.� � Get real, Mom. I nearly killed a six-five, two-hundred-fifty pound guy who was following me home by cutting my palm and waving it under his nose.� She sighed toleratingly. � All right. If it�ll make you feel better.� � Yes, it would. Thank you very much.� Fort Defiance Slave Camp Fort Defiance, Arizona Saturday, October 13, 2001 3:13 A.M. The alarms were going off and all the guards were scrambling to find who�d escaped. But in reality, it was an attack to promote an escape. � It�s Dad,� I told Mom when she came in to check on me and make sure I wasn�t scared. � We have to get out of here or it�ll be wasted lives.� � Can you walk?� � Can you keep up?� I shot back. We slipped past the guards as they ran around trying to find anyone who they could put the blame on. We slid through the closing gate and ducked into some brush as a spotlight swept over the outside area. I heard quiet voices nearby and Mom had me stay close as we trailed the voices to another clump of brush. � The paper said she�d be here in the hospital!� � We ransacked the place, Dad. There was no sign of her!� There was silence and then Skinner�s voice asked, � You don�t think they found a connection and killed her, do you?� � They couldn�t have,� Will broke in. � We erased all your files!� � We who?� � Me and Sam! In the office when we first got word!� � But they would�ve created their own files and connected the area you were found in.� � No way.� Mom, at the risk of a bullet in the head, pushed through the tangle of weeds and vines. � Contemplating my death?� � Dana!� � Mom!� I sat back and watched as hugs and questions were quickly exchanged, then dropped my head and fell into an exhausted sleep. It had apparently rained in the short time I was out because I was soaked when I was awakened moments later by quiet calls of my new name and a progressively louder argument. � You said she was dead!� Dad. � She was! Em and I saw the body bag and there was a body in it and nobody had left the room since we�d gone in!� Aunt Sam. � Fox, calm down before you get us caught. She arrived in a body bag--obviously to hide her. It was an honest mistake.� Mom. � We have to get her out of here and someplace where she won�t be heard if she screams.� Aunt Sam. � Yeah, well, we have to find her first.� Will. I got up and staggered weakly toward their voices, blindly running into Dad�s back. He spun around without knowing it was me, swinging an arm to strike back in self-defense, and I took a rather short flight into the surrounding thornbrush. I was so tired that I made no noise; the only sound a rustle from the dry plant that I fell into. � Sam!� Echo! My name is Echo! They never had this much trouble adjusting to me being Emily! I struggled from the weeds and Dad helpfully picked some of the remaining thorns from my hair until he could pull me out the rest of the way. I felt a drop of liquid land on the back of my neck and thought it was raining again, but then I felt another and realized what it was. Don�t cry, Daddy. I�m all right. You�re always all right. Why can�t you be hurt for once? Because it makes you and Mommy upset. He sighed heavily. � I�m so sorry, Princess. I wasn�t looking.� I put my arms around his neck and let him free the rest of me. � For not looking,� I rasped tiredly, � you have good aim.� � No, you just haven�t had anything to eat or drink in three weeks,� Mom corrected in her �Why must you be so much like your lunatic father?� tone that was reserved only for me because Will was never like that. (Will is Mom�s angel child because he�s just like her and she loves it. Besides that, he can help her keep Dad and me under control.) � You�re undernourished and emaciated and in all medical terms, you should be dead. You�re so weak right now that the cat could push you over.� <--Division 8 Division 10--> |