Chapter 3: Out of Gas

The clouded sky became dark except for the faded auroras brought on by the local magnetic pole. The green and purple lights pulsed against the tops of the mountains, while the wind turbines glittered under their glow. The night air hung thick, wet, and warm against Alex's skin. The bike sputtered to a stop and the man pulled his helmet off.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked as she slid off the back of the bike.

"Out of gas," he said, wiping sweat from his brow.

She stretched out her cramped limbs. "Of what?"

"Gas. Fuel. Energy. It makes the bike go vroom, vroom," he said, irritated. "I swear you hybrids have no sense."

Alex scowled at him. She wasn't stupid. She knew it needed energy, just figured it was solar or something. Fuel based vehicles hadn't been used in a hundred years, everything on the surface was solar, wind, or touch powered now.

"How about you give me the file and you can be on your merry way," he said, holding out his hand for the file.

She pretended to protect her jacket pocket and moved away from him. "You would just leave me here in the middle of nowhere?" she asked, trying to sound offended.

He watched her carefully. "Fine, whatever. Ride with me for another day and then the file."

She nodded. "Fine."

"We'll have to stop for the night. The bike's headlight won't work without the engine running."

"Oh." She sighed. "Right. Human. No night vision."

"Hey now, I'm not just an ordinary human, I got the fire thing goin' for me." He pushed the bike off the road and into the sand. That strange twang in his voice unnerved her.

"Sure, a guinea pig," she said, pushing some shrubbery aside.

"Do you even know what a guinea pig is?" he asked.

Alex stared down at her feet. She didn't like how he made her feel. She knew lots of stuff, just not surface stuff. She knew he was experimented on, what they call a GMI, Genetically Modified Individual. Being a first generation Mod was the lowest class of hybrid, no, more like pre-hybrid. It must be a sensitive topic for him.

"That's what I thought. Just a stupid hybrid spouting off about stuff she doesn't even know about." The strange twang in his voice subsided in his anger. He pushed the bike over a sand dune and found a rocky outcropping away from the road and any passersby.

"So the bike isn't touch powered? How'd it survive so many years on the surface without leaking charge?" she asked.

"It didn't. It's a modified model that doesn't use a battery. You have to push it to start."

Alex gave him a quizzical look, but didn't question him further. Instead she asked, "If you have to see so badly, why don't you just light the way with your fire?"

"It's not as easy as it looks. I'm already drained from today. I don't think I could keep it lit for very long."

Alex looked around the rocky terrain. "Well, since I can see, I'll just go get some firewood then."

"Better not. Someone might see."

She pointed to the tall rocks. "What about in there? If we keep it small, it shouldn't be too bad."

The man shrugged. "It's your funeral."

Alex scowled at him in the moonlight before stalking off across the rocks. She gathered some dead shrubbery and tumbleweeds and brought it into the center of the outcropping. She reached for her lighter, but the man flicked a weak orange fireball at the kindling and it started right up.

She went to check her watch. "22:34" it read. At least it still worked. Most advanced technology didn't work on the surface, but small touch powered devices seemed okay.

"So, what's your name, little girl?" he asked and sat down against a large boulder. He pulled off his jacket revealing the knife wound. Dried blood stained his royal blue T-shirt. The blue set off his eyes, making them glint even more brightly in the firelight.

"Alex, and I'm not a little girl," she said with bite to her voice. His irritating voice made her snap. Why did it bug her so much? It just felt so- fake?

"Alex-got a last name, or is that it?" He pulled off his shirt. Thick dark hair spread out across his chest and down his arms.

Alex drew back a little. It reminded her of something she read about in school, an extinct surface creature called a grizzly bear. "Just Alex."

"Well, Alex, if that is your real name, it's nice to meet your acquaintance. My name's Jack." He fumbled through his pack grabbing bandages and water. "Oh," he said, reaching into his jacket pocket on the ground, "I believe this is yours." He tossed a knife to her feet. The fire reflected off the shiny blade.

Alex scooped up the knife, feeling a little bad for inflicting the wound. She wasn't the cold hard killer she ought to be by now. She shrugged off her jacket and pack, setting them on the ground, and then crossed the camp and knelt beside him.

"You might as well, you did the damage," he said, leaning back against the boulder.

She pushed her thumb into the wound.

"Hey," he yelped, snatching her wrist. "None of that if you want to stick along with me. I'll burn your ass right here and take that god damn file." His eyes blazed with a fire just beneath their surface.

"Fine, fine, just don't get used to it," she said.

He let her wrist go slowly. Alex cleaned the wound, but not as gently as she could have. His penetrating blue eyes watched her every movement. Something about them drew her in, like they didn't match her perception of his nature, but she focused on her task, trying not to let him see her interest.

They each ate food from their own pack, neither offering any to the other. Jack sat with his back against a solid rock; Alex sat with hers against the skimpy trunk of a fossilized tree. The campfire crackled between them.

"So," Jack began, "What's a little girl like you doing out here on the surface? And what do you want with a file like "Athena"?"

Alex scowled. "What does it matter to you?"

"Just askin'. It's strange a hybrid, such as yourself, wants that file. You know, integrity, treason, and such," Jack said sarcastically.

She just shrugged and bit into an apple. His accent was getting even more annoying.

"You must mean to ruin a politician, if you have a file like that. They don't keep the important stuff down in the Undersea, or else everyone could get their greasy hands on it. Hybrids are usually too afraid of the surface, so it must be pretty important."

Alex shrugged. "The surface isn't too bad if you get used to the lighter gravity, dirty air, and solar radiation poisoning." Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you want the file so bad?"

"Oh, well- it's personal, not political."

"Meaning?"

"A man stole my life." Jack's eyes blazed with blue fire.

Alex could almost feel the burn of his hate, a real feeling. This part of him wasn't fake. And if it was the "Athena" file he was after, then it was a man she knew very well. A monster she planned to destroy herself.

She could use this. He had anger in him, maybe as much as she did. He was a human, and as a whole, she liked humans. Alex may not like this man, but he had the guts to break into a research building on the surface. She would have to suffer through this grizzly bear of a man, but with training, he could prove useful.

"What's the look for?" Jack asked.

Alex shrugged again. "So what's your plan with this file? Are you going to break into his house and kill him or are you going to expose him to the world and watch him destroy himself?"

"A little of both, I think."

She leaned back against her tree. He would need a lot of training. He had power, but he was more likely to get killed then to actually succeed.

"Are you sure you don't just want to give me the file right now?"

"Nope," she replied.

"You know the people chasing us could find us." He leaned forward. "You could leave the file with me. You'd be a lot safer."

"I have plans for this file," Alex said between bites of an apple.

Jack stroked his long mangy brown beard. "Then why don't you just run off?"

Alex looked at him and tilted her head, thinking about the question. "Where am I going to go? Pretty sure we're in the middle of nowhere and you seem pretty familiar with the surface for a human. My best bet is to stick with the horse I saddled."

"Saddled, huh? Well you can ride me any time, sweetness." He grinned.

Alex scowled. "I think not."

Jack frowned and raised his eyebrows. "Alright then." He leaned back and unzipped his pants.

"Oh my god, really?" she asked, appalled. She practically spit a piece of her apple out of her mouth.

"You're not gonna give me the file, you're not goin' anywhere, and I have needs, girl."

"Come on, can't you control yourself?"

"Well, you're a pretty enough lady, you could come over here and help me out."

"Yeah, sure. I'll get right on that," she said. She grabbed her pack and swung her jacket over her shoulder.

"Oh, really?" he called enthusiastically after her as she stamped out of the rock outcropping. "Aren't you up for a roll in the hay?"

She found a secluded little rock covered place using her night vision. Alex preferred the dark anyway; it reminded her of the seas of her home when she was a kid. Dark and quiet. After unrolling the blanket tied to her pack, she curled up under it.

"Disgusting creature," she whispered to the darkness. How was she going to do this? His fire thing seemed helpful and he hadn't tried to kill her like everyone else she had encountered over the last two years. He didn't seem to want to keep her here. He was human, a disgusting human, but human none-the-less. Jack would help her in her cause. Well, that was if she told him the truth, and maybe explained what it would mean to humans as a whole. Her heart ached as she thought of her dear Lexi. For the first time in the last two years, she felt like she had finally made some progress.

The bright green auroras wavered in the sky above from the local magnetic pole. She had gotten lucky this pole had shifted further south of the research building. Without the pole causing electrical interference with the building, she wouldn't have been able to break in. She'd paid for good intel and waited a long time for the pole to be perfect, but she finally got it. Unfortunately, the information in that file only hinted to where Lexi could be, Panther City. She had to get there, at any cost, even if it meant partnering up with this human. She did like humans after all. She wasn't supposed to since they were the lowest social class, not much more than slaves, but she did. She'd liked her sweet Tom just fine anyways. Poor Tom.

Alex curled up in the dark, holding her bag close, knife in hand, and dozed off.