Billy pressed his fingers on the cotton swab.
Rohan picked up a bag that he brought with him, opened it and removed some clothes.
“Hey, that’s mine,” Billy was glad to see his attire.
“I know,” said Rohan, “put them on.”
Billy started to take off his pajamas but Rohan stopped him. “Keep them on. We don’t have time for this. Just put your clothing over top.”
“What’s going on?” asked Billy as he was getting dressed.
“We are leaving,” answered Rohan.
“I can see that. Why did you do this to Mei? What about the interview? It was supposed to attract the Librarians, remember?”
“Oh boy!” Rohan exhaled and said, “Mei is a Librarian.”
“No, this can’t be! She was so nice and understanding. She can’t be a Librarian.”
“And who did you expect? An ugly old witch on a broomstick?”
“But how can you be so sure?”
“I spoke to her.”
“When?”
“Right now.”
“What, two words?”
“Yes. I said I’m sorry, she said no problem.”
“So?”
“Only I said it in Aramaic and she answered in the same language—naturally, without any accent.”
“So, she knows languages—big deal.” Billy made a final attempt to protect Mei.
“People haven’t spoken ancient Aramaic for more than two thousand years, Billy. This language doesn’t exist anymore.”
Billy had nothing else to say. He finished getting dressed in total silence. When he was ready to go he asked, “Is she going to be all right?”
Rohan glanced at Mei Lin peacefully resting at the table, “Oh yeah, she’ll be fine.”
He turned to Billy. “Ready?”
Billy nodded.
Rohan put his face mask back on. He opened the curtain and checked outside. “Let’s go.”
They walked in between rows of beds with injured people. Nurses, tending to their patients, didn’t pay much attention to the two strangers.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-One
Movie Watchers
When Billy stepped outside, he realized how much he missed the fresh air. It was cold, clean, and easy to breathe, unlike the air inside the tent, soaked with the smell of medication.
The medical camp was located on the outskirts of the city. There were more tents around with big red crosses on them. A thick forest almost surrounded the camp.
Most of the snow had already melted, and mixed with the dirt, it turned the road into a slushy river of mud.
A few cars were parked on the left. A group of men, who were probably drivers, stood aside having smokes and talking loudly.
“This way.” Rohan pulled Billy’s arm sleeve to the left.
As Billy walked, he kept his eyes down to avoid eye contact.
They passed the loud men and walked between the tent and the cars.
“Wait,” said Rohan and touched Billy’s shoulder, “look.”
Billy gazed up and saw an old-fashioned light truck with a “News” sticker on it. Rohan walked behind the truck and pulled the lever. The back door cracked open.
“Get in, quickly.” Rohan helped Billy to climb in. Although the backseats were removed to make room, Rohan and Billy could barely fit in there together. Metal and wooden boxes of different sizes were stacked by the walls. Rohan started searching through them, opening only the big ones and ignoring the small ones.
“What are you looking for?” asked Billy.
“The hourglass,” answered Rohan.
“How do you know it’s here?”
“Normally it would be in a safe place,” Rohan explained, “but if the Librarians really came to apprehend us, they would certainly have the hourglass somewhere nearby.”
Billy took the other side of the truck and began digging through his portion of the boxes. Some of them had different kinds of tools; others were filled with radio equipment, video cassettes, microphones, newspapers, but no hourglass. Behind the driver’s seat, Billy noted a pile of oil-soiled rags. He grimaced—getting his hands dirty didn’t seem very appealing. So, he kicked the pile, just to check. The toe of his shoe hit something hard and he heard a metal clank. Hurriedly, Billy shoved the rags to the side, “Rohan, over here!”
“Oh boy,” pronounced Rohan excitedly as from the pile of rags Billy pulled out a big metal can used to store 35 mm movie rolls. Rohan opened the lid and took out the hourglass. It looked very much like Billy’s only with a few small differences in the frame ornament. Rohan brought the hourglass closer to light.
“Oh no.” He exhaled in bitter disappointment.
“What?” Billy asked, getting a bad feeling.
“I cannot read it,” answered Rohan.
“You?” It was hard to believe there was something that Rohan was unable to do.
“Well, technically I can, but it doesn’t make any sense. It’s a riddle, more like a code.”
“Try to go vertically, by sectors,” suggested Billy, referring to Nostradamus’s version.
“I know how it works, Billy,” said Rohan. “This one is different. Only the owner knows the answer. Anyone else who wants to decipher it has to have a book or some sort of file for reference to decode the writings on the plate. Without one it’s just gibberish.”
“Well, maybe we should ask her,” Billy pointed out.
Rohan looked up. Through the dirty glass of their windshield, they watched Mei Lin coming out from the tent, one hand rubbing the back of her neck. She used the other hand to wave somebody over. A young man separated from the group and hurried to Mei Lin.
“Here is the driver,” concluded Rohan. “We should move.”
Billy opened the back door and was about to jump out when Rohan pulled him back and shut the door. “Wrong way, buddy. Get to the front seat.”
Rohan helped Billy to climb onto the front seat and gave him the cylinder with the hourglass inside.
“Put it on the floor between your legs. We don’t want to break this one too.”
“What’s the point if we can’t use it?”
“I have an idea.”
Rohan got into the driver’s seat. He bent forward and pulled a few wires from under the steering wheel. They sparked as he tried to connect them.
“I can’t believe it!” exclaimed Billy. “You know how to hot-wire a car!”
“I can’t believe a young boy like you knows the term!” Rohan replied.
“I watch movies,” Billy said.
“Me too,” said Rohan.
They both smiled.
The car engine coughed and then started with a loud rev. Rohan put the gear stick into first gear, gently released the clutch pedal, and pressed on the gas. The car slowly started to move. The road was so slippery that no matter how hard Rohan tried to keep the wheels straight, they kept on slithering left and right. Carefully, Rohan steered the vehicle to the middle of the road.
“Don’t you think that for a getaway car it’s going a bit too slow?” asked Billy.
“On a road like this if we try to go any faster, we may get stuck. Then we’re really doomed.”
The car slowly passed a group of drivers. They didn’t seem to be alarmed, more like curious. Why would a male nurse and a kid be in a “News” truck?
Mei Lin noticed them first. She stopped talking; her eyes met Billy’s. The driver followed her look. As he saw his car, slowly passing by, he shouted and waved his arms. When this didn’t help, he jumped into the mud on the road and tried to make his way around the car to the driver’s door. On a dry road, this wouldn’t have been a problem, but the road was so slick that the young driver kept on slipping and falling.
In the meantime, Mei Lin walked on the sidewalk along with the car.
“Where are you going, Billy?” she shouted. “You are making a mistake! I can take you to your parents. You could see them today!”
The sidewalk e
nded. She stopped for a moment and then made a resolute step onto the muddy road.
“Did you lock your door?” Rohan asked calmly.
“I did,” Billy said.
“Good.”
Mei Lin managed to get to the car and pulled the door handle, “Open the door, Billy!”
The door wouldn’t budge.
“Billy, you’re making a mistake. You have to go with me. Open it!”
She kept on pulling the door handle.
Billy looked at Rohan, “What do I do?”
“Smile.”
“What?”
“When you got nothing else left, just smile.”
Billy turned to Mei Lin and put a huge smile on his face. That must’ve been the last thing she expected. She let go of the handle and stood frozen there, watching the car getting farther away.
Billy finally exhaled. “I feel sorry for her.”
“Don’t,” answered Rohan. “You were just an assignment for her. All that personal charm and attachment was just to get closer to you.”
“Mei would never hurt me,” said Billy. “I know that, I feel it.”
“You know, maybe you’re right and maybe Mei Lin is a wonderful, caring person who honestly tried to help you. But don’t you forget, she is not the one who decides your fate. Her job was to deliver you to Khamunaph. He is the only one who can make that decision and he already did. How did you like being a slave?”
Billy didn’t answer. He knew that Rohan was right; still, he couldn’t get rid of that heavy guilt inside his chest.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Road to Freedom
The winding, unpaved road was a grimy combination of bumps and pits. It played with the car like a child with a toy, throwing it and everything inside it up and down and side to side. A few minutes on a road like that felt like half a day. From time to time, Rohan checked the rearview mirror to make sure nobody followed them.
Finally, they came out onto a paved road and turned left, towards the city line. Untouched snow covered both sides of the road.
“Where are we going?” asked Billy.
“There is a river down the hill,” Rohan pointed to the right, where in between the trees Billy saw the gleam of water. “We need to get to the other side.”
“I’m not a very good swimmer.” Billy grinned.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take a ferry,” Rohan responded without a hint of a smile. Did he not notice that Billy was joking, or did he seriously consider swimming across the river a possibility? Billy didn’t want to think about it.
“Rohan, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“How do you know so much?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the hospital, the car, the languages . . .”
“I’ve been around,” Rohan answered vaguely.
“No, seriously, and where did you learn to fight so well?”
“I traveled a lot, put together the best from every chapter.”
“Didn’t you say that Librarians are assigned to specific chapters?” asked Billy.
“I am not just a Librarian.”
“You’re not?” Billy waited for an explanation but Rohan said no more. Billy didn’t want to pry. After all, he decided, that was enough questions for now.
They drove in silence for some time.
“Rohan, I think there is someone behind us,” said Billy, watching his side mirror.
“I noticed that. He’s been there for a while. I am more concerned about them,” Rohan nodded at two police cars creating a roadblock dead ahead.
“Maybe it’s just a routine check,” suggested Billy.
“Perhaps, but I wouldn’t want to take a chance, especially driving a stolen vehicle.”
Rohan pushed the brake pedal and swerved the car to the right.
“What are you doing?” Billy shouted.
“Taking a short cut,” Rohan replied.
Their car hit the snow and ploughed down the hill. Billy pressed both his hands against the dashboard.
“The tree, the tree!” he shouted.
“I see it!” Rohan rolled the steering wheel left and right but the car barely responded; gravity pulled it down and the snow minimized the friction. Luckily, the trees scarcely grew here, which made it easier to maneuver.
At the bottom of the hill, they hit the heavy snow at full speed. A white cloud enveloped the car. Rohan pushed on the gas pedal and they dug through across the snowfield, which now was the only obstacle between them and the river road. The snow here was much deeper, and the flatness of the field was exceptionally deceptive. Their car was tossed in all directions like a small boat in the middle of a storm. But the engine revved, and all four wheels dug deep into the snow, pushing the car forward. It was a miracle they kept on going.
“This car is like a tank!” Billy exclaimed. “What vehicle is this?”
“What?” Rohan couldn’t hear through the racket of the car engine.
“I said what car is this?” Billy shouted louder.
“It’s a Soviet made all-terrain GAZ 69!”
“What’s Soviet?”
“There was once a country like that!”
“Why did you say was?”
“’Cause it doesn’t exist anymore!”
“Why?”
“Because it had to go!”
“You destroyed the whole country?”
The car jumped on a bump and Rohan hit his head hard on the ceiling.
“Damn!” He grimaced from pain. “Nobody destroyed any country! Not now, Billy!”
Billy went quiet. He looked at his side mirror, but couldn’t see much. He rolled down the window and looked back. Through the mist of snow combined with white smoke coming from the wheels, he saw one of the police vehicles hit a tree in the middle of the hill. The other police car dove into the deep snow at the bottom of the hill and stayed there, dark smoke coming from under the hood. Billy grinned with satisfaction.
A few minutes later, they drove onto the river road. The drive here was much smoother, so Rohan stepped on the gas. Billy also could relax and look around. On the left side of the road was a vast snowfield with a few trees here and there. On the right side was a river. It was so wide and the water moved so slowly that Billy immediately named it “Lazy River.”
“How far is it to the ferry?” Billy asked.
“We are almost there!” Rohan answered.
They approached a small grove. The road made a turn into the woods and two minutes later, they came out to an open yard.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Three
The Ferry Tale
“Here we go,” said Rohan as they stopped near a small square-shaped floating platform.
“Where is the ferry?” Billy asked, searching the shoreline.
“You are looking at it.”
“What? You call this a ferry?” Billy jumped off his seat.
“What do you call it?” Rohan asked.
“It’s a, it’s a . . .” Billy was unable to find the right word. “It’s a stinking raft! You couldn’t even fit three cars on it.”
“I’d say it’s more than enough room for one car. Of course, this baby is old, not like the ones you are used to. But still, you see the cup half empty; I see it half full.”
“I can’t believe it! Rohan, the cup is empty!”
“C’mon, Billy, stop freaking out. Come here and give me a hand.”
Rohan got out of the car. He went to the road sign that was blocking the way and began to move it off the road.
“What does it say?” Billy asked, coming out of the car.
“It says, ‘Do not enter, not operational,’” Rohan translated the sign.
“Why is it not operational?”
“Because they stopped operating it, I guess.”
“Why?”
“They built a new bridge.”
“Why can’t we take the bridge?”
“Because i
t’s gone,” said Rohan. “The earthquake, remember?” He turned to Billy. He saw that little boy all stressed out under the pressure of recent events, and at that moment he hated himself for being so insensitive. Rohan came close to Billy and put his hands on his shoulders. “Look, I know that the last few days were extremely difficult for you. You had to go through things that most people never experience in their entire life. But I need you to hold on a little longer. Trust me—I’ll never let anything bad happen to you.” Their eyes met. “Do you believe me?”
Billy looked like he wanted to say something, but at the end only nodded.
“Come here.” Rohan pulled Billy in and gave him a strong hug.
Together they moved the road sign out of the way, and Rohan drove the car onto the platform.
“Do you actually know how to run this thing?” Billy asked.
“Oh yeah, I’ve done it before,” Rohan assured him. “There are two motors here. We need only one—just to get us to the middle of the river. The stream will pick us up from there.”
“You said we had to go to the other side.”
“We won’t be able to dock there,” answered Rohan. “The floating debris destroyed the pier.”
Billy looked at the opposite bank, which was a mess.
Rohan took an empty canister and a rubber hose from the back of the car, went to the side of the vehicle and opened the gas cap. He inserted one end of the hose into the gas tank, and the other end into his mouth and began to suck.
“If I were thirsty that would be the last place I’d want to drink from,” commented Billy.
Rohan nearly burst with laughter. “Stop it, Billy,” he finally pronounced. “I’m not trying to drink. I want to get some gasoline from the gas tank into this canister.”
“Oh, I see.”
Rohan repeated the same procedure again. When he felt the gasoline in his mouth, he put this end of the hose into the canister. It started to fill.
“I like the smell,” said Billy.
“Trust me, you won’t like the taste,” Rohan said, and then spit.
After that, Rohan filled one of the two motors with gasoline and tried to start it. Nothing happened.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Billy asked, doubtfully.
“It’ll work,” Rohan assured him. “She’s old and rusty, but she’s a hard worker. It’ll work.”
On the next attempt, the motor only coughed a dark cloud of smoke. A few more times later, it finally started.
Rohan released a mooring rope and pushed off the dock with a wooden pole. The ferry began to move.