Empire's Legacy

Chapter 33: Molly

Kate set the hopper down about 50 yards from the sheer gneiss cliff face, her landing struts struggling to settle on the rocky surface. The pod pitched and slid on the uneven ground, making for a leery few minutes before it finally settled and Kate decided they were stable enough to cut the engines.

Grey ducked under the rising hatch and stepped out onto the rocks, shading his eyes against the bright sun. There was no sign of movement anywhere near the cliffs; the dark cliffs stretched ominously towards the sky, rising so high that they seemed endless. Behind them, the plumes of smoke rising above Reva shimmered in the heat, looking for all the world like a mirage that would vanish in a blink.

They headed for the cliffs, little puffs of red earth rising with each new step and settling in a fine dust on the legs of their suits. As they drew closer, the entrances to caves began to emerge distinct from the cliff face, the wavering air having served as camouflage from a distance.

"Someone's been here," Ramina said, pointing at a discarded food wrapper. "There."

"No footprints," Kate observed.

Grey shook his head. "This part of the country gets high gusts of wind. We won't find footprints—they get swept away too fast."

"Morgan," Ramina said. She nodded to the mouth of one of the caves, where something had just moved across the opening. "Someone's there."

The expression in Grey's eyes was terrifying, Kate thought, taking a step backwards. Ramina put a hand on his arm.

"We don't know who it is," she said gently. "And we don't know what kind of condition they're in. Be cautious."

"They can't hurt us. We're wearing biosuits," Grey said, shaking her off and striding towards the mouth of the cave. Ramina and Kate exchanged glances and followed.

Grey stopped at the entrance to the cave and flicked on a shiner, casting a beam of light into the darkness. Once, twice, three times he passed it across the cave, until finally the light sparked off something. He returned the beam to the corner.

Kate, peering over Grey's shoulder, saw a small, thin child huddled among the rocks, her cheekbones sharp against the skin of her face, her eyes big and haunted and tired. Ramina saw a child she had known for years, in need of food and water but otherwise healthy, at least at first glance. Grey saw his daughter—terrified, tiny, and clearly in distress.

"Molly," Grey said, realized his voice was confined to the suit comms, and activated the external communication system. "Molly," he said again. "It's Dad."

Molly stared at him without comprehension for a moment, then a little cry ripped itself from her throat. She burst into tears as she ran to him, flinging her arms around his waist and clinging to him like she'd never let him go. He held her to him, one hand pressing her head against his suit, and met Ramina's eyes. "Make sure," he said, and then gently pulled his daughter away from him. Crouching down, he said, "Your remember Dr. de Sara, Molly? She needs to have a look at you, to make sure you're okay, but do you think you can tell me how you got here while she does that."

Molly nodded, scrubbing away tears, but she wouldn't let go of her father's hand.

"It's fine," Ramina said quietly, motioning for Molly to sit down. "I don't need that hand. Just talk to your father, Molly, and ignore me."

"Tell me what happened, Mols," Grey coaxed. "You're safe now. Just tell me what happened. Where's Aunt Ellen?"

"I came out here with Jordan to play," Molly said haltingly. "We come out here a lot. It's fun."

Kate sat down on Molly's other side and smiled at her encouragingly. "I bet it is," she said. "I used to do a lot of clambering around on rocks when I was about your age."

"Jordan didn't feel so good, so we went home right after we got here." Molly's eyes remained fixed on her dad's face, though she flinched as Ramina drew a sample of blood from her arm. "Aunt Ellen was there when we got back, outside Reva. She took me away, right away. She wouldn't tell me what was happening. I had to leave Steve behind."

"Her stuffed bunny," Grey clarified. "What happened next, kiddo?"

Molly's chin trembled. "Aunt Ellen said people were dying. Later, I mean. That everyone was sick and we couldn't go home because it was too dangerous. That was after she had to go back to Reva."

Grey looked at Ramina over Molly's head. "Aunt Ellen had to go back to Reva?"

"We were hungry," Molly said, anxious. "Aunt Ellen didn't bring enough food. There's mushrooms and some green plants out here, and there's a spring in one of the caves, but it's not a lot and we were hungry." Drawing in a shaky breath, she continued, "So Aunt Ellen kept going back, to get food. She only brought back safe stuff, the stuff in wrappers. Sealed stuff. And she was real careful. She said so." She sniffed and rubbed a hand across her nose. "She made sure to be super careful, so she wouldn't get sick and die, too."

"Molly," Grey said carefully, "where is Aunt Ellen?"

She stared up at him, eyes glittering with tears. "Aunt Ellen went back to Reva a long time ago, for more food. Almost three weeks ago. But then she wouldn't come close when she got back. She left a bunch of stuff out by the rock but said not to touch it for at least a week. She said—" She swallowed hard. "She said she made a mistake. She thought everyone was dead and wasn't careful enough. Someone wasn't dead and they saw her and thought she was there to help and they grabbed her and she was afraid because she thought maybe she'd get sick now and so she didn't want me to come near her in case she got sick because she didn't want me to get sick too." The last sentence came out in a rush of words, and when she finished, Molly bit down hard on her bottom lip and closed her eyes, gripping her father's hand with all her might.

"You've been on your own for almost three weeks?" Kate exclaimed. "Good lord. You poor thing."

"I know how to get the mushrooms and the safe plants," Molly said, opening her eyes to look at Kate. "Aunt Ellen made sure I knew how." Her mouth twisted and a tear trickled down her cheek. "But I was scared and lonely and I thought no one was ever going to come and I didn't know what to do." More tears spilled over and she wailed, "Daddy, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do!"

Grey gathered her into his arms. "Ramina—" he began.

"She's clean, as far as I can tell," Ramina said, rising to her feet and tucking away her equipment. "Nothing's pinging on the indicators, at least. We'll need to keep her quarantined on the ship until I can run further tests, but if she's been out here since the virus was first dropped on Elderia, and the last contact she had was almost three weeks ago, I'd expect her to be showing symptoms by now if she were infected. However..."

Grey turned his head to Kate and raised his eyebrows.

Kate took Molly's hand and smiled at her. "Your daddy and Dr. de Sara are going to go look for your aunt," she said. "So I'm going to stay and keep you company. I bet I have a ration bar in this suit somewhere, and I bet the doctor might approve a bite or two?"

"Only a bite or two," Ramina said. "She needs food, but too much right now will only make her sick."

"Go," Kate said, nodding reassuringly at Grey. "Molly and I will be fine."