They pawn off all but their most essential equipment, keeping only three pistols and a single hunting rifle, and spend the next three days in high gear, at least as high a gear as Touch could limp over his staff, cutting through the wilderness and avoiding all contact with society, both electronic and personal.

“Why don’t we just cut back around, and try to end up behind them?” Anea asks, looking up from the book on psychology Touch bought her in the only supply run he went on.

“We don’t know exactly where they are,” Rachel replies, “so we could pop out a lot closer to them than if we just ran. And that second dog is still operational, as far as we know. So we just need some distance until we think of something better.”

Touch spreads out a map on a knee high rock shelf.

“Time for more lessons.”

Anea groans and throws her head back, all the way to the pillow fashioned from her bag of clothes. Rachel feels a smile creep over her face.

“For both of you.”

“What? I already know how to navigate!”

Touch grins. “Then this should be quick. Come on.” He motions with his hand, Arch trots over from behind, Dill flutters over from Rachel’s sleeping bag, and the two girls take a knee, everyone circling around the map.

“These woods are surrounded on all sides by towns and shanty villages. It’ll be difficult for them to guess where we’re going to pop out at, unless they can track us the old-fashioned way. Which we have to assume they can until proven otherwise.

So, what’s our best course of action?”

“We need help.” Rachel says.

“We need information.” Anea says.

“Right and right. How do we get it?”

“Internet should cover information,” Rachel says. “There shouldn’t be too many people running around with robot dogs. So we can probably dig up what we need to.”

“We need people to help us, and report on the hunters’ position after we pass through, and maybe really sell our false leads.” Anea says.

“Right. Where did you learn about leads?”

Anea shrugs. “I like mystery novels.” She looks back up to Touch. “Why does that make you so happy?”

Rachel looks over to Touch and his barley elevated features. His eyes are a little wide and his mouth is ever so slightly curved. Just the ghost of a smile on his face. How many times had he telegraphed himself with these minuscule facial expressions and Rachel missed it?

“No reason. So where could we go?”

“We need somewhere we can blend in. Splitting up to get supplies takes too much time.” Anea continues slowly, after a pause.

Touch’s eyes grow a hair wider with his grin. “We need a crowd. The bigger, the better.”

Rachel shifts her gaze away. “I don’t know if I want to hide behind bystanders again.”

“I don’t see much of a choice.”

“Maybe y’all go ahead and I lead them away-”

“Not a chance.” Touch interrupts. “We face them together.”

“So that’s the play, then? Stand and fight or hide in a crowd?” Rachel looks down and rubs her face. “There has to be another way.”

“We just have to hope they still want to keep this quiet and minimize collateral.”

“Or minimize loose ends.” Rachel says, looking Touch in the eye.

“I know, but we can’t hide in these woods forever. We need information, supplies, allies. This is the best play.”

Anea leans in a squeezes Rachel’s arm. Rachel meets the girl’s gaze, before letting out a breath, “Fine.” She studies the map.

“I heard there’s a big Halloween festival going on here. It’ll start in a few days, and go on for weeks. That’s our best bet.”

Rachel comes out of the woods at a large roadhouse. The building was thrown together from repurposed, sun rotting wood and sheet metal. Several wings of younger, darker materials jut out from the main building,

Upon entering the bright lobby lit by skylights, Rachel sees the dark wood supports are thick and strong. Much to her relief, the angular roof is well supported by unsplit beams and bolted metal joints. The hardwood floors were well worn, and it smelt of dirt, wood, and eucalyptus over the slight twinge of BO.

It looked safe enough on the inside. But she would make sure the roof to whatever wing they were put in wouldn’t fall on their heads while they slept before she handed over any money.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Whadaya need?” A thick man with a black beard drawls when she approaches the front counter.

“I have a party of three. My dad is very particular about where he sleeps, so I’ll need to take a look at the rooms to see if you have what he needs.”

“He sick?”

“Nothing contagious. Chronic pain, aversion to noise, and needs to be close to an exit to sleep.”

The man turns around and consults his wall mounted keybox, then tosses her a small key with a tag on it.

“Let’see if that’ll work.” The man says as he tosses a sign on the counter: ‘Sit down. Shut up. I’ll be back in a minute.’

The man leads Rachel to the end of a narrow hallway lined with doors and open thresholds leading to various common rooms.

“Ya here fer the festival?”

“Yeah.”

“Be careful. Travel in a large group till you get there, and on yer way back. People like to lose their minds round this time, rob ya on the road if y’aint careful. Pick yer pockets and cheat ‘cha while yer in town.”

“Thanks. We’ll keep an eye out. This the room?”

The man shoves the key into the deadbolt, and flips open the door with a thunk.

“This’ll work?”

Rachel takes a few seconds to take in the room.

“This’ll be fine. How much for a night?”

They end up staying for two nights, and head out with a large group of traveling workers and festival goers, arriving just as the festivities commence. They have to pass through a crowded layer of markets on the outskirts, just to get to the actual town.

“Make sure all your bags are secure, valuables out of your pockets and out of reach.” Touch says. He abandoned his crippled old man demeanor and just used the bandages to cover his face and hands. His shoulder and ankle had recovered completely by this morning and he begrudgingly wore the cheap sandals woven from grass that Rachel bought for him, along with the split toe socks that went with them.

“I’ll see them coming. But I want to get out of here as soon as possible.” Anea says, looking down at the ground.

“Is it too much for you?”

“A little. I’ll be fine though. It’s less crowded up ahead.”

They pick their way through the colorfully costumed crowd, under warm lanterns and overhead lights stringing together stalls and vendors. Many wore casual clothes, but quite a few dressed for the occasion.

They passed by witches, a pack of people dressed in some cosplay Rachel didn’t recognize. People made way for a vampiric blood baron in thick, fine silks and detailed embroidery.

“We should get costumes. I’m sick of these bandages and this cover’s blown, anyway.”

After several minutes, the crowd thins to a tolerable level, and the town opens up to one of the main streets with vendors squeezed in alongside shops, restaurants, and other businesses and buildings.

“We need a place to stay.” Rachel says.

“We need disguises!” Anea’s eyes brighten.

“Want to split up? You look for a place while we get costumes?”

Rachel flips out her phone and swipes around a bit.

“Looks like this whole town’s hooked up with wifi. Want to test that check-in app?”

“Yeah, set the code to one-two-one-three. Arch, if you could go with Rachel, I’d appreciate it. See you in a bit.”

“Really, that’s it? You need more than that!” Anea pleads.

“It’s better to keep it simple. I can switch this around into several costumes if I need.”

Touchstone looks himself over in the mirror. The black mask conceals his whole face, except for the area around the eyes, which can be explained away in people’s mind with makeup, and it fit with the ninja aesthetic. The matching black hood with the mask would obscure the shape of his head. The hood and the lower half of the mask could be pulled down to cover up his neck like a scarf, and the simple, open-front robe he had in his pack could be used to reveal his natural physique and look almost like a completley different outfit on a different person.

The loose black gi and the padded arm-guards should conceal his frame. Same with the loose black pants. The only thing he hadn’t been able to track down was a pair of tabi boots. Maybe there was a way to put some kind of padding on his black socks so he didn’t ruin them, or to dye his sandals, so they went with the outfit.

Anea, in contrast, wore a bright floral Asian-style dress made of from a cheap plastic knockoff of silk. Anea smile lights up the room as she twirls around, her dress and braids flowing around her.

“How do I look?”

“Perfect.”

“Almost, you mean. I need a mask. So do you. The whole ninja getup blends in a tad too well. Makes you stand out.”

“I don’t think-”

“Shush! Try this one!” Anea squeals and points to a white half mask hanging on the wall. The girl at the stand hands it to Touchstone with a tight-lipped smile, eyes beaming from Touchstone and back to Anea.

The stone man sighs and secures the mask, then flips the hood back up. He looks at the girl and shrugs.

“Perfect! We can decorate it later.”

“I want to look like her!” Anea points to a group of giesha ladies. Women painted white with makeup, hair bunched up in an elaborate style, and wearing a different and more elaborate floral dress than the one Anea wore.

It looked expensive. A mask, with that same make up covering her neck and sides of the face, would be much cheaper and practical. Same with a simpler hairstyle that could be undone and rearranged quickly.

He looks back to Anea, into her big dark eyes.

He sighs.

“Let’s see what we can put together…”

Anea claps her hands together and she bounces a little as they continue their shopping.

Rachel walks out of the hotel and looks down at her phone as the next check-in alert chimes. She unlocks the screen and puts in the check-in code. A map pops up, and she sees Touch’s beacon moving along the side of town with all the vendors. It looks like they were making a lot of stops. The phone dings again as Touch checks in.

Her job was done, so she makes sure Arch is following her from other side of the street as she makes her way to meet back up with the rest.

She does a double take and stops dead a few blocks later, whipping out her phone.

‘Yo, don’t buy me anything.’ She texts Touch, eyeing something in the window. ‘Found the perfect costume.’