We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

41. TerraVictoria

By the time Bo woke up, the airship was stationary and on the ground. Adam still lay at her side, but he was awake and reading something on a display screen. When Bo pushed herself up onto her elbows, grimacing as her wound protested, he glanced at her.

"Refreshed?" he asked, flexing and shaking his arm she had been sleeping on. "I thought you'd never wake up."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be a baby," she responded, shoving his arm.

Adam gasped in mock outrage. "You dare to assault me after I cushioned your fat head for four hours?"

"Fat!" Bo narrowed her eyes at him. "Watch it, or you're never getting anywhere near my fat anything for a month."

Adam held up his hands in surrender. "But really, I hope the sleep did you good."

Bo nodded. "I feel I can walk now." She was already sliding toward the edge of the bed before Adam could stop her. She flung her legs over, but was unable to bend over to fetch her boots. She looked over her shoulder at Adam, pouting her bottom lip and batting her eyes. He rolled his eyes, but climbed out of bed and gingerly leaned over to retrieve them.

"How are the ribs?" Bo asked, maneuvering her leg and boot onto the bed so she could put them on with minimal bending.

"Still broken," Adam said, waving his hand over the section of his torso that was plastered with bandages. "Can't do much about them, though, except rest."

"That's the worst diagnosis," Bo said, giving him a sympathetic look.

"I know. And it doesn't help that we're heading into the city to announce the fall of Clayton and Aston. I want to just run in now, but we have to wait around until Helga and Esme get back with some hoppers."

"We're at TerraVictoria?" Bo asked, her eyes sweeping toward the window. Indeed, buildings rose in the distance, blocking the orange sky. The city never held anything but fear and anxiety for Bo and the rest of her camp. It was never a place she longed to go, and for good reason. But perhaps now it could be different.

Adam pulled on a black shirt and a navy jacket. He ran a hand through his hair as he clipped on a belt with two pistols pocketed in holsters. "We got here an hour ago. Helga and Esme should be back in a few minutes, so I'm heading out to wait for them."

"I'm coming," Bo said, grabbing her crimson jacket. Adam looked like he was about to say something, but then thought better of it. Instead, he held out his hand and helped her to her feet, and they both walked out the door.

---

Helga and Esme appeared on two hoppers a few minutes after Bo and Adam had set themselves to wait by the airship's side. Helga gave Bo a nod, and Bo took it as her way of saying she was glad Bo was still alive. Esme was more expressive, and gave Bo a hug, careful to avoid her injury, and a smile.

"Khan was so worried for you," Esme said. "I had to force him to get his own medical attention, because he wanted to make sure you were all right."

Bo smiled. "Sounds about right. He's as stubborn as the rest of us." She glanced around. "Where is he?"

Esme nodded toward the ship. "Sleeping. But he helped us set up the sleighs earlier, so you're good to go as soon as you can attach them to the hoppers."

"Sleighs?"

Instead of verbally answering, Esme took her around to the other end of the airship, where what looked like two metal doors lay on the dust. Strapped to them were two suspiciously body-shaped packages, wrapped in sheets and secured with cables. Bo knew what lay under them. She felt sick again, realizing that Aston was beneath the shrouds. Her oldest friend, reduced to a body rotting in the hot sunlight.

She stepped back and cleared her throat. "Well, I guess we should get them ready to haul, then."

Esme and Helga did most of the heavy lifting, and soon the sleighs were attached with more cables to the backs of the hoppers. Adam and Bo climbed on the hoppers, but Esme and Helga decided to stay with Khan.

"I've had enough of people for a while," Helga said, stretching her arms. "I'm taking a nap."

Esme looked more apologetic about leaving them to face alone whatever unseen reaction they'd get from the people in TerraVictoria. "I want to be here when Khan wakes up."

Bo nodded. "I understand. Tell him I'm fine and that I went with Adam."

"I will. Stay safe." With that, Esme took a step back and Bo pulled down her goggles and covered her mouth. Beside her, Adam did the same, and the sound of the engines roared to life. It would only take a few minutes to reach the city border, and then around a half hour to reach the center where the most people could gather to hear the news. Bo only hoped that those minutes wouldn't be the last of their newfound peace.

With one last silent glance between them, Bo and Adam sped forward, toward the city and the unknown.

--

As they raced through TerraVictoria, Bo and Adam honked and revved their engines to gather as much attention as they could. They yelled at whoever could hear them that they were Forlorn, and they had a message. Meager as it was, it had a surprisingly good effect. By the time they reached the center of the city, a large crowd was already waiting for them. Anxious faces greeted them as they rolled to a stop in the middle, surrounded by people on all sides.

Well, if they didn't take the news well, there was no escaping now.

Bo squared her shoulders, staring out at the people waiting to hear what the Forlorn had to say. In their minds, they were looking at people wanted by the militia, that the city folk could get in trouble just for listening to. And yet they still waited around, staring at Bo and Adam with expectant eyes.

"People of TerraVictoria!" Bo shouted, climbing off her hopper. "We've come to tell you that you are free from the militia's tyranny!"

A skeptical wave of murmurs ran through the crowd. A nearby man gave her a frown as he spoke. "We know how outnumbered you are by the militia. You expect us to believe you overthrew them?"

"We didn't have to overthrow them all. Just the ones that force the men to fight for them," Adam responded.

Bo reached behind her, whipping the sheet away from the body on her sleigh. Clayton's face, slack and staring into the sky, greeted the crowd that pushed forward to see what she had revealed. They gasped in shock, and a few screams rose up. Adam followed suit and revealed Aston, though Bo made sure not to look in that direction.

"This is Clayton," the man from before said. "You killed him?"

"We were only trying to free our friends, but he attacked and we defended ourselves. It resulted in the death of himself and his second in command," Bo said.

A woman crossed her arms, a defiant gleam in her eyes. "What's this got to do with the militia, then?"

"A whole entire base abandoned their duties as soon as they saw these bodies," Bo said. "The majority of the militia don't want to be there as much as you don't want them there. They'd rather be home, working for their families and friends. When they see the men that forced them to fight are dead, I'm sure a large portion of them will defect."

A grumble rolled through the crowd and Bo realized with a growing sense of dread, that the sea of faces in front of them were not relieved and happy. They were instead frowning and hard, glaring at Bo and Adam and the bodies of the two dead militia leaders.