"Good luck!" Mig called over to them.

They all looked and saw everyone wave or call their goodbyes before Mig led them off to the northeast, deeper into the forest. Krys swallowed down the lump in his throat. He was alone now. Well, alone with three other people. Good people, he supposed, but he didn't know any of them very well.

"You ready?" Janna asked with a touch less roughness in her voice.

Krys rolled his shoulders and nodded. "Let's go."

Janna rushed over and pulled out a makeshift sack with some of her personal effects in and grabbed a pineapple. "We need food, right?" she asked as she held it up. "Not like I have anything else."

Another tree fell behind them. "Good idea," Krys said. He motioned for the others. "Come on, guys, let's go east. Hopefully we can meet up with them in a couple of days."

"Then what?" Fina asked.

Krys pressed his lips together before answering, "Then we figure out what happens next."

Chapter 17.

"This sucks," Krys muttered under his breath. Mr. Strain had taken his group to the northeast, which meant Krys had to head either southeast or south. South was open grounds filled with crops. Beyond that was open grasslands with some occasional coverage from stands of trees. Not a good place to hide from an army.

And the army in question sounded like it was getting closer.

"We can move faster along the edge of the forest," Angelo suggested.

"I can't imagine those tanks moving any faster out there," Janna responded while wiping her palms against her pants to get some dirt and moss off them.

"Oh, good point," Angelo said. "We could do it until they follow us, then we jump back in the forest?"

"I thought they'd stop at the camp," Krys said. "Investigate it, at least, and buy us some time."

"Why didn't they?" Fina asked. "I could use a rest!"

"At least we're pulling them away from Mig and the others," Angelo pointed out.

Janna scowled at him. "I'll see how good that makes me feel when they line us up and shoot us."

Krys's eyes narrowed. They'd said they would try to use each other to distract the soldiers. Would Mig come and help them? Or if he did, would it help or just get them all captured? The tanks were too fast. If Mig gave up what lead he had, they'd all be caught. He bit his lip and glanced at the others.

"Keep going," he said. "I want to take a peek and see how they're coming so fast."

"That's stupid!" Janna snapped. "They're too fast. You won't be able to get away from them."

"Mr. Strain and I trained for this. I can do it," Krys said.

"You're just a kid," Janna snapped. "No way."

Krys stiffened. He didn't need to be reminded he was the youngest. By a lot. Fina was the next closest to him and she was twenty-one. She was one of the first people born in their village, but unlike most of the others, she'd decided to stay. None of that mattered, though; he was young but he was also more active and more interested than any of them were. Any except Mr. Strain, that is.

"Yeah, so that means I'm probably faster. And remember before-they didn't kill the kids, they captured them and-"

"Krys, they shot first and captured later," Fina said. "I saw, okay? I was there when Dieter was carrying Emma and we were running away. He told me to keep running no matter what."

Krys bit his lip and nodded.

"They killed him!" she continued. She took a deep breath and stared up into the leaves of the trees. She shook her head and blinked the tears down her cheeks. "Shot them both," she whispered.

Krys glanced at Angelo and Janna and saw them both watching Fina. They looked away and continued walking through the ferns and bushy underbrush of the forest. "Look, it's not like I'm going to stick around for them to catch me. I just want to see. Maybe figure out how they're following us so easy."

"You took the locator out of the picker, right?" Janna asked.

Angelo grunted and looked down at the machinery in his arms. He frowned and held it away as though it might bite him.

"Yes," Krys said.

"Are you sure?"

Krys opened his mouth and hesitated. Was he? "My dad showed me all sorts of stuff on them, including the locator. I know how to fix just about anything we've got from working with him."

"We don't have much of anything," Janna pointed out. "But I can't figure out how else they'd know."

"Then let me go see if I can find out!"

"No," Fina said. "I've lost one baby already. I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

Krys bristled and was about to snap back that he wasn't a baby when he caught the glare from Janna. She always bordered on being rude but something about the way she looked at him convinced him to keep his mouth shut.

He turned to glance at the highpicker again and then snapped his fingers. "Put it down! The picker, I mean."

Angelo set it down so fast he nearly dropped it. He jumped back, staring at it with wide eyes as he said, "What? Is that how they're doing it?"

Krys pulled the control pad for the picker and connected the power cell to it. It flared to life, allowing him to bring up the on-screen controls for it. A moment later, the rotors began to spin and in seconds it lifted off the ground and hovered in the air.

"We don't have time for this!" Fina hissed.

Krys turned the pad towards her and displayed the viewport on the screen. "It's got a camera-we can see it from here."

"Oh!" Fina said. She glanced at the others and smiled.

"I think I might know how they were tracking us, too," Krys said. "The picker was powered on but in sleep mode. It still emits a signal to notify the system that it's ready for a mission, though."

"A mission?"

"A command to do something," he explained. "I guess they could use that ping to figure out a direction to go."

"Is it still doing that?"

Krys shook his head. "Not while it has a mission. Right now I've switched it to manual controls, which is basically the same thing."

"So we should go now?" Fina asked.

"I'm not sure this is how they're doing it," Krys said.

"Better safe than sorry," Janna agreed. "We can move a little."

"Better yet, let me move the picker," Krys said. He sent it up high enough to clear the underbrush and then tilted it forward so it gained speed and began to move through the forest. He sent it south and out towards the open ground.

"How will we know?" Angelo asked.

Krys frowned and saw the others looking just as mystified. "We're back to me going and watching."

"No!" Fina said a little too loudly.

Angelo hushed her while Janna glared.

"You want to go?" Krys asked the young woman.

She clamped her mouth shut and shook her head.

"Look, they'll follow the picker if I'm right, so I'll be safe hiding in a tree or something."

"I'll do it," Angelo offered.

Krys frowned and looked at the others. Fina's chin was trembling as she wrestled with her waking nightmares. Janna shook her head after a long stare with the big man. "You're too big," she said. "Too easy to spot."

Krys nodded. "You sound like a herd of vison moving through the brush."

Angelo harrumphed. He looked at Janna and said, "You're not any better."

"No, I'm not. I'm a farmer," she agreed.

"Can't you see what they're doing through the camera on the picker?" Fina asked.

Krys realized they'd switched the direction of the conversation and she hadn't followed them. Angelo blinked, confused at her question. Krys had to fight to keep from chuckling at the man's confused expression. "Sorry, this is confusing. If I send the picker to watch them, we won't know if they're following it because they see it or because they're using some other way of finding it."

"Oh! I get it. So you have to watch them to see if they're following it, even though they can't see it. That is complicated."

Krys kept himself from pointing out how obvious it was and nodded instead. "And we've lost a lot of time and distance just talking about it."

"You're sure about this?" Fina asked.

"Fina," Janna growled. "Stop and think for a minute. Who's been working the hardest and coming up with the most ideas and plans for all of us?"

"What?"

Krys's eyes widened as the surly farmer stood up for him.

"Krys and Mig, that's who," Janna continued. "We've all been moping about how lousy things are and about what we lost. Those two have been working on keeping us alive. Mig got us together but since then Krys and Mig both have made sure were doing the right things and keeping food in our mouths."

"Okay, but Krys is just a kid! No offense, Krys, but I can't imagine what this must be like for you. Losing your friends and family and-"

"Stop," Angelo said. "He's gone through what we all went through. Janna's right. Krys has kept his head on straight."

"And coming through like he has through what happened? As far as I'm concerned, he's no more of a child than you or Angelo are," Janna agreed.

Krys cleared his throat. "Okay, this is weird. I'm standing right here. Can we stop talking about me?"

Angelo walked over and put his beefy hand on Krys's shoulder. "Just be careful, okay? You run hard and fast if they don't fall for it."

Krys nodded and handed Fina the infopad. "You know how to control one of these, right?"

Fina nodded.

He pulled out his smaller infopad and tucked it under his arm so he could hand the satchel to Angelo. "All right, Fina, keep it moving south and away. I'll go look and try to catch up after I see what they're doing."

"We're heading east?" Janna asked.

Krys bit his lip and nodded. "East, to the Pyrus Mountains. If you don't run into Mig's group, head south to where they meet the Shatterplates. Wait there."

"What if they don't show up?" Fina asked.

"Then you do what you need to do to survive," Krys said. "I'll join you, but if it takes me awhile, keep sending someone back to find me. Find a cave and lay low until the sun rises again."

"How are we going to survive that long?" she wondered.

"Caves should have water in them. If not, find a stream. For food, do whatever you need to. Raid a village or try to find some natural berries or nuts or something. You'll find a way, and if you don't, I'll be there to help."

"You'd better get going," Janna said.

"Good luck, Krys," Angelo added.

Krys nodded and smiled. He waved to each of them and turned back to the west. With a deep breath and a shrug of his shoulders, he took off at a jog towards the growing sound of falling lumber.

Chapter 18.