The Edge

Matteo: Part Eight

Like a bored teenager waiting in a long grocery store line, Matteo did everything in his power to get cell service.

First, he walked multiple circuits around the perimeter of the clearing, moving out in a spiral until he was worried he wouldn't be able to find his way back and then returning. When that didn't work, he climbed a tree. When that didn't work, he went back into the clearing and hid behind the taller structure. Still nothing; no phone, no text, even the emergency call function wasn't working. He could only guess that the people inside had satellite phones or used a local company that actually got service in places like this, not the cross-planetary services that really only worked in populated areas. By the time he'd exhausted all his options, night was falling, and he was starting to realize he needed a new plan.

Should I leave? Find the road again, start walking, try to get back to civilization and return with more robust backup? But what would happen to Tola if he did that? She wouldn't do anything stupid, he knew that much, but some people didn't need real provocation to hurt you. He had no way of knowing if these were the kind of kidnapping gang members who'd lash out if she sneezed funny.

Definitely can't leave her, then. But I still need to get more capable people out here to help with the rescue. Or to arrest these guys, at least.

His musing was interrupted by a rumbling vibration from his stomach. Matteo winced. Normally, the inability to tell how audible a noise was to other people was a minor inconvenience, an irritant at best. Here, now, where the people who might've just heard that were way more violent and dangerous? It was kind of terrifying. The lack of certainty made it easy for anxiety to start taking root. He tried to brush it off, but damn it was hard. He wasn't sure how Luca handled feeling that all the time.

New plan should involve getting food, he said. It'd shut up his stomach, for one thing, and honestly, he wouldn't be any help to Tola on an empty stomach. Or dehydrated. Or tired. (Damn, why was all of this hitting him now?) Those were all compelling reasons to actually sneak into the building, risky as it was. Steal food, steal water, find some way to talk to Tola, maybe some way to call his siblings? High risk, high reward kind of deal.

And also his only option, the more that he thought about it, so he waited until all the lights in the compound had gone out, then waited a bit longer, just to be safe. At least it was a full moon that night. Once his eyes adjusted, he had just enough light to see by as he crept across the yard.

And enough light to be seen with, but he tried not to think about that too hard. Excessive worry would just slow him down. Now was not the time to hesitate.

He started at the longhouse-looking building first, since it didn't seem to have any kind of locks. The door swung open easily at his slight push. He half-expected to see people slumped over drunk-asleep inside, but the space looked devoid of life as he stepped in. Please, God, let there be some water bottles in here. Or a faucet. A hose? I'll drink out of a hose. I'm not that picky.

It turned out, God could do him one better. There was an entire fridge by the door, because the body modder kidnappers gang were the kind of people who kept a modern-looking fridge by the door of an otherwise very unmodern space.

Matteo said a quick prayer of gratitude before examining the contents. It was tough to tell if they were the kind of people who closely monitored how much they had in the fridge or pantry at any given time. Fortunately, Matteo had experience living with a family of ten, and knew a thing or two about what kinds of food and drink you could take without being accused of stealing or hogging it all. Usually, anything basic you had in large amounts was fair game. They had a lot of water bottles, so he started there, grabbing two and tucking them under his arm. A quick survey of the space revealed nothing else really helpful, or nothing he felt comfortable stealing, anyway. There was what looked like a bigass war hammer on one wall, but even if Matteo knew how to use one, it was comically large. His muscles weren't advanced enough for that.