Page 3 of Sawyer’s Mistake

He shrugged. “The Remur are not subtle. They would be all over us by now if they’d seen us.” He tossed her the small radio that he kept strapped to his wrist. “Channel four. Tell Storme we’re taking a detour, heading towards …”

She read the old, rust-covered sign an instant before he did. “Cambrai.”

“Cambrai.” He tested the word in his mouth. “It’ll be three p.m. by the time we get there.” His expression grew grim. “We’ll hide out there tonight and rejoin the team tomorrow morning.”

Great, so they’d be spending the evening and night together. His clenched jaw implied he was looking forward to it as much as she was.

Chapter 2

Saoirse

She looked beyond the fog at the door to the garage, where they’d hidden the vehicle. She worried somebody would find it and take it, and then they would be stranded in this ghost town forever.

“Relax,” Sawyer said, as if he could read her mind. “Nobody’s going to find it.”

She frowned at him, but he just chuckled, his eyes crinkling. It was one of the first times she’d seen a smile reach his eyes.

Cambrai must have been a beautiful town once. The downtown area was between medieval and baroque, and of course completely empty now. They walked past several cafés and bakeries, past the school and the town hall, catching glimpses here and there of what life must have been like in this quaint little town before the Remur invasion. She avoided looking at the vehicles stranded in the middle of the street, knowing there would be bodies in some of them. Entire families who hadn’t made it, their bodies now rotting where they’d died. The thought filled her with sorrow.

She looked down to keep herself from falling as her boot hit a slice of cracked sidewalk, which had lifted as the roots beneath it grew unchecked.

Something shiny caught her attention from the other side of the street. The glint was gone so quickly she thought she might have imagined it, but it was enough to make her want to look closer.

“Come on,” Sawyer said, tugging on her arm. “We need to find a safe place to spend the night.”

She ignored him and ran across the road to investigate.

He caught up with her in three large strides, looking pissed off. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Saoirse?”

“Look at this, Jake.” It was a small cardboard box leaning against a windowsill. There was a small mirror propped against the wall, the origin of the reflection she had seen from across the road. Painted on the box with black marker were the words “IF YOU ARE HUNGRY.” A small arrow pointed downwards.

She leaned over and opened the lid further. Behind her, Sawyer hissed.

“Stop,” he ordered. “Let me do that.”

She peered inside the box, feeling half afraid, half hopeful. The fear she was familiar with; the hope felt a bit stranger.

“It’s okay, it’s just … it’s a tangerine. It looks real.” Her voice held a note of wonder. She hadn’t seen a tangerine since before the invasion, couldn’t imagine who had the freedom and inclination now to grow fruit, let alone leave some in a box for somebody else to find.

“What? No, don’t touch it!”

She ignored him and reached for the piece of fruit. She held it up in her palm. It looked and felt right.

“Great, Saoirse, next thing you know you’re going to …” He stopped speaking as her nail dug into the orange skin, peeling off a bit of the soft, juicy segment inside. He stared at her hand, transfixed for an instant, before he reacted and took the fruit away from her.

“What are you … determined to kill yourself?” He held the fruit like it was a grenade.

She rubbed her fingers together, smelling the juice. “It’s just a tangerine, Jake. Really.” She brought out her tongue to lick her fingers, smiling at the delicious, forgotten taste.

“Oh my God. It’s the most amazing thing I have ever tasted.” And it was. She tried to recall the last time she’d eaten a tangerine. It must have been months before the aliens invaded, but she couldn’t for the life of her recall the exact moment. There were so many things she used to take for granted.

Sawyer brought the fruit closer to his face and sniffed.

“It smells like a tangerine.” He shrugged and peeled a small corner. “I might as well try some, since you’ve already ingested some yourself.”

He peeled off a small segment and popped it in his mouth. His lips crinkled in a little smile. “It tastes like a tangerine.” He handed it over, at least having the grace to look a little bit embarrassed. “Sorry, one never knows.”

She dutifully split the fruit in two equal halves. “Take one,” she said, offering him a choice. She could hardly wait to dig into her own half.