Human After All by Connie Bailey

pair of soft boots the Granger threw at him. “I just got done repairin’ ’em for Kayel. He won’t mind if you borrow ’em for a while.”
    “What are we doing?” Jaymes asked as he worked his feet into the flat-heeled boots.
    “Why are you running?” Lochler countered as he finished buckling a weapon belt around his torso.
    Jaymes swallowed, struggling against the compulsion to answer the question in full. “I’d prefer not to say.”
    Lochler chuckled. “I really do like you, darlin’. You got heart, you know? But I believe you when you say you’re in big trouble ’cause I feel how deep your fear goes. If you say a See You is comin’, then I say it’s time to find a new den. Once those boys get the scent, they don’t stop for nothin.’”
    “And you’re taking me with you?”
    “You still owe me, and you’re not gettin’ outta my sight until you pay up. Here.” Lochler tossed a small bag to Jaymes. “Raisins. They’ll keep you goin’ until we can eat proper.”
    “What about the other… the rest of the pack? Aren’t you going to…?”
    “Contact ’em?” Lochler smiled. “I already have. Did you think I was just out for a drive when I met up with you and the men? I was alerted that the patrol was comin’ in.”
    “Are you saying you can sense one another’s thoughts from a distance?”
    “Not thoughts exactly, but somethin’ like it. Everyone in this pack can do it, some better than others.”
    “Is it communicable?”
    “What?”
    Jaymes swallowed a mouthful of dried fruit. “Is it like a field that others can interface with if they’re near you?”
    “I don’t know.” Lochler frowned into the middle distance. “What made you ask that?”
    “Xtrasens is an interest of mine,” Jaymes said quickly. It was amazing how easy the lies came when the inhibitor was gone. “The myth of it, I mean.”
    “Myth,” Lochler snorted. “They really keep you stupid in those metacorp crèches, huh?”
    “I don’t know what you mean by that.”
    “I’ll explain on the road if we have time.” Lochler strode from the room as if it were understood that Jaymes would follow him.
    Having little other choice, Jaymes picked up the coat Drue had thrown over him a lifetime ago and hurried after the Granger.
     
     
    D RUE watched Ferrin and Halz whisper furiously, wishing he could hear what they were saying. His curiosity was satisfied seconds later.
    “We need to move faster,” Halz said.
    “Why the sudden need for speed?” Drue wanted to know.
    Halz and Ferrin exchanged a glance before Ferrin spoke. “Lochler says don’t go into the compound. It’s not safe anymore.”
    “Did he say why?”
    “I didn’t ask,” Ferrin stated in a tone that said the subject was closed.
    “He was worried, though,” Halz said. “He sent word for Kayel and the others to leave the salvage and be wary on the way.”
    “Where are we going?” Drue asked as they began to trot.
    “A rallying point near an urb called Watertown,” Halz answered the Exotic and then responded to Ferrin’s expression. “What harm is there in telling him that?”
    “He could tell someone else.”
    “They’d never find us,” Halz said confidently. “And if they did, we’d shred ’em.”
    Ferrin nodded. “Damn right we would.”
    “So stop bitchin’.” Halz punched his comrade’s arm and picked up the pace.
    Drue kept up, his brain swarming with speculation. What had happened to make the Granger leader abandon his base? What had the T-bred’s subverted programming compelled him to tell Lochler? Had Cloister Militia already tracked them using the Gentren locator implant? Intercut with these thoughts were mental images of Jaymes and the strapping pack leader in various explicit and lurid tableaus. These visions shouldn’t have had the slightest impact on Drue, but no matter how hard he tried to dismiss them, they bothered him much more than the thought of pursuit and capture by the officials.
     
     
    J AYMES