Within the grids, a red line twisted and turned, running through several squares. Zac frowned, trying to remember what Tukui had told him.
Two grids that had collapsed into a third. Tukui had shown him that same configuration, but for directions to Zac’s daycare. That meant each square on the display had to be over two miles long.
He counted the squares twice. His house was over thirty miles away. A long distance to walk. Maybe too far for a five-year-old boy.
He looked at the end of the red line, where his house was. His heart thumped painfully. His parents were there, wondering why they couldn’t find him and Callie. They hadn’t shown up at the daycare after everything went bad, but maybe the roads had been blocked. Maybe they’d had to walk, and hadn’t reached it until after Zac was taken to the rescue site.
His home was in an area of the grid that was shaded white, almost at its edge. Zac wasn’t sure why it was colored differently from the rest, but it didn’t matter. He had to get there.
“What team is assigned to that grid?” he whispered.
Tukui had said the tracker was programmed to understand a few Earther languages, so the addresses and directions given by humans could be quickly accessed. It wasn’t programmed to speak anything but Kalquorian though. It chattered the grunty-sounding alien words at him. Most were incomprehensible, but the repeated word Dramok was clear. He thought he heard Nobek twice too. Which made sense. Each rescue team had a pair of Dramoks to negotiate and two Nobeks to protect them.
When it stopped speaking, Zac poked his head out from under the pillow and comforter to listen. There was no glow from the slightly ajar door. No sound. Tina and the men had gone to bed.
He ducked under his shelter again and ordered the tracker to repeat the information, straining hard to decipher what came after Dramok.
He thought he heard kraz within the abrupt syllables. There had been a Dramok Ovkraz present during the emergency training simulation. Could that be who was in charge of searching the area where his house was? He listened again.
Yes. It definitely spoke the name Ovkraz.
“Save search.” When the tracker beeped its compliance, Zac told it to deactivate. It went dark, and he snuck to the closet, returning it to his jacket pocket. Then he got into bed.
He stared at the nightlight for a long while. His mind twisted and turned, even after sleep tugged him into worrisome dreams.
* * * *
Zac came down the hall in the morning tired and sullen, leaving Tina cooing and giggling with Callie as she readied the toddler for the day. Breakfast smelled good, but his stomach felt icky, as it usually did when he hadn’t slept well.
Yorso hailed him from the kitchen as he emerged from the hall. “Hey, Zac. How many sausages do you want with your pancakes?”
“Two.”
Tukui emerged from the master bedroom. He grinned at Zac, as if the afternoon before had made them the best of friends. “Want to go on a supply run with me after lunch? It’s within the secured zone, and that toy store is on the route.”
Tina came in with Callie on her hip. “Mr. Garcia said this after lunch would be perfect for painting your puppets. He has a schedule for each phase they need to complete, so Zac can rehearse his act before the talent show.”
Zac scowled. His head hurt from his disturbed sleep. He still felt scared after the last nightmare, in which Yorso had been trying to force him to drink poisoned water from the blast zone. “I want toys. Puppets can wait.”
“Mr. G is spending a lot of time to help you with those, big guy. You should respect him by working with him today.”
“No problem. I’ll delay the trip until tomorrow, if Zac is free then.” Tukui took a plate of pancakes and sausage from Yorso and set it in front of the boy.
“Perfect. I need Zac’s help with making and distributing notices about the talent show this morning anyhow.”
Being pushed around by the adults was a one-two punch. Zac was disappointed he wouldn’t get to go with Tukui. He was also angry that he’d rather hang out with a Kalquorian than make puppets with nice Mr. Garcia.
He jumped up from the table. “I want toys!”
“You’ll get them, because Tukui will take you tomorrow. Sit and eat, okay? We have to go soon.”