[Day 283] Eugenia part 13

Read part 12 here!

The seed had been planted, so the next portion of my plan was more waiting. If Decklan got the message, then he had two options. He could either report me, having seen me enough to describe me, as being a grid outlier, or he could keep it to himself, intrigued enough to see what happens next.

While carrying out my daily chores, like laundry -which I hadn’t done in weeks- and gardening, I kept my radio close, listening to the news and waiting for some sort of alert regarding someone off the grid.

After almost a week of waiting, I heard something. While digging up a cluster of carrots that had reached harvesting age, I heard the word “grid” mumbled by possibly the worst radio personality in all of New California, so I hurriedly turned the volume up.

“I repeat, the police are currently awaiting information regarding a girl living off the social grid.” I swore internally, having had my hopes up for Decklan’s trust. But the DJ wasn’t finished yet. “She is thirteen years old, with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. She is physically smaller than most children her age, so she may not look thirteen. The authorities are very keen in retrieving Julie Sherman, and anyone with information should call…” the man rambled off a number that I could only catch every other digit of, what with his chronic mumbling. But my heart rate had slowed again, relieved that my potential “inside man” hadn’t deserted me. Yet. I knew before I could go and see him again, though, that I had another duty.

The route to the extermination facility was long but relatively flat, which was a definite plus to foot travelers like myself. Having made the trek many times before, I was able to cover the distance in less than a week, while at the same time mentally calculating the most likely movements of my target.

Once in relative range to where I suspected the target to be hiding, I initiated a grid search, checking all the possible locations where a thirteen year old girl could remain invisible. I hadn’t been searching long when I heard a small cough from behind a patch of overgrown bushes.

Turning slowly so as not to scare her, I put my hands in the air. “Julie? My name is Meg. I’m not here to take you back. Here, look.” I pushed up the sleeve of my jacket to reveal my lack of a tattoo in the direction of the bush. “I’m here to help you. I’ve been living off grid for six years- since I was your age.” I waited, but there wasn’t a reply. She hadn’t tried to run, though, which was a good sign. Switching tactics, I reached into my bag.

Now there was an uncomfortable rustle from the bushes, and another dry cough. “Don’t worry.” I called out. “I’m just getting my canteen. Your cough sounds bad.” Retrieving the water, I threw it in between where I stood and where the girl was hiding.

I expected to have to wait for a while, but the girl all but pounced on the water, swallowing the contents in one large gulp. “Hungry?” I asked her. She nodded, her filthy blonde curls bobbing. “Did you manage to steal any food?” She nodded again. “Can you talk?” Julie gestured towards the canteen. “You need more water?” More nodding. “Alright. Here.”

I tossed the second canteen, which she downed almost as quickly as the last. “How do you know my name?” she asked quietly, after her throat had been lubricated adequately.

“You’re all over the news. Famous, I’d go so far as to say.” I smiled at her, but her face crumpled further.

“They’ll find me.”

“No, they won’t. I promise you.” The fragility of the small girl’s posture urged me to reach out and hug her, but I held back. We weren’t quite at that stage of our relationship yet.

“Yes, they will. Look at me. My hair, my eyes, everything about me is recognizable- especially if I’m all over the news, as you say.” She was right. Her sphere-like blue eyes and her shiny, although they didn’t look like it at the moment, blonde hair, in addition to her aspen tree thinness, were like sirens for the authorities. While my common features blended into society, she was born to stand out. Had she continued in society, she would have been reviled as a model. But off the grid, with me, she was a security risk.

“There are ways around that.”

“Like what?”

“We could dye or cut your hair, get you a pair of colored contacts, dress you in clothes a size too big, have you wear hoods… there are opportunities everywhere, you just have to look for them.”

Julie didn’t say anything for a few moments, considering my remarks, and then gestured towards the two empty canteens lying like carcasses in the dirt. “Is there any more water?”

Continued TOMORROW in part 14!