Killshot (Icarus Series Book 1) (18 page)

              All of a sudden, the world goes dark and I’m freaking Grace Kelly? Go figure. That bump on the head must have knocked that loose screw back into place.

              As soon as I was close enough, Jake reached up and grabbed my arm, dragging me the last few feet. He had managed to upload the images I had taken onto the photo software on the old laptop and was about as close to giddy as a super-intelligent, highly cynical, tech-nerd could likely get.

              “Ohmigosh, Liv. You gotta see this,” he said, practically jumping out of his own skin. “You are not going to believe it!”

              “What’s up?” I asked.

              Jake was positively beaming, and I couldn’t help but mirror his smile. Those of us who were conscious were once again gathered around the laptop; it had somehow become the pow-wow campfire for our makeshift tribe.

              “Right there…It says NWS-GB,” he said, pointing to the lettering on the orange parachute. He looked up at us, like that should mean something.

              It didn’t.

              “
And
?”

              “Oh my God, really?” Jake’s his eyebrows rose so high, they practically touched his hairline.

              He was clearly frustrated by our ignorance, but instead of responding, I simply waved him on and lowered myself to the floor.

              “Ugh, seriously guys. Crack open a book once in a while, sheesh,” he shook his head, before continuing. “NWS…as in the National Weather Service.”

              “Okay,” I said, still confused.

              “It’s a freaking
weather balloon
,” he shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

              “Huh,” Falisha huffed. “That’s random.”

              “Most likely, this baby came from Wisconsin. You know,
GB
; Green Bay.” He was clearly dumbing it down for us now, but no one complained. Turns out his condescension was somewhat warranted at the moment.

              “What’s the box for?” I asked.

              “That big metal contraption it’s tied to is the central processing unit. It’s basically just a fancy computer attached to a hot air balloon,” Jake pantomimed the shape of the balloon. “The National Weather Service launches them all over the country to read atmospheric conditions.”

              “So they are just floating thermometers?” Riley sounded genuinely curious.

              “Kind of. I mean, most just analyze temperature, precipitation levels, and barometric pressure, but they can be customized to evaluate just about anything,” Jake said, pointing at the computer screen. “The thing is, these puppies only stay up for so long, right? So, once they come back down, the parachute slows their fall, and the metal cage you see here? That allows them to safely land without destroying the CPU. Most of them even have shipping instructions attached to the CPU so if they are found off course, they can make it back to their original launch site.”

              “What the hell is it doing here, though?” asked Micah. “Green Bay has to be almost three hundred miles from here.”

              “Dumb luck,” Jake shrugged. “I bet they sent it out after Icarus hit, trying to figure out what the hell was going on and it got sucked up by the solar winds shooting south. The good news is that it looks like it’s still mostly inflated, so it couldn’t have been launched that long ago.”

              He turned toward us, a smile lighting up his face. The rest of us just stared.

              “That means we are not alone. There are others out there, other survivors,” he said and then pointed back to the computer screen. “And now, we have a way out!”

              “What do you mean?” I asked as he tapped on the image of the balloon’s CPU. “How is that hunk of junk going to get us out of here?”

              “Because, that
hunk of junk
, as you so eloquently put it, can tell us when it was safe to go outside,” Jake said. “We would need to run some cable to the CPU, but I am almost positive I can reconfigure it. Liv, if we can hook that thing up to the dinosaur, we will have all the information we need to know the exact moment it’s safe enough to get out of here.”

              The others joined in with their own happy chatter. Micah, who had been fairly reserved since Zander went down, let out a sigh of relief as Riley wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. She closed her eyes, squeezing tightly, and leaned against his chest. He smiled back, gently kissing the top of her head. Falisha smiled and patted Jake on the back, a rare show of affection from a hard case. I watched in silence, like a child outside a toy store window, longing to get my hands on the joy beyond the glass.

              They saw a way out— a light at the end of the tunnel. All I saw was more tunnel and a chance to set my plan in motion.

              “And you’re sure this will tell us when it’s safe to go outside?” I grabbed onto Jake’s arm.

              “Like ninety-five percent,” Jake said, as Riley clapped him on the back.

              “That’s awesome little man,” Falisha said, rustling his hair, playfully. “Finally, something goes our way.”

              “Yeah, totally,” I agreed, scraping my hair away from my face. “This is exactly what we need, but, umm…won’t someone have to go
outside
to hook it up?”

***                

              “Okay, so we are clear on the plan, right,” Jake asked.

              “Oh my God. For the fiftieth freaking time,
yes
,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I take this fancy blue cable, sprint like hell over to the big metal box, and twist the pointy end into the round hole by the blue gauge in the upper right-hand-corner facing the building. Then, I run as fast as I can and dive back inside before I melt. I got it.”

              “Wow, Mydol much?” Jake snapped back.

              We had spent the last half an hour going over the plan, reciting it forwards and backwards, until I was sure I would be saying it in my sleep. Jake had done his homework, though, and I could not fault him for being thorough. Between the crappy cell pictures I had taken and the library of technical knowledge already in his head, Jake had already managed to figure out most of the components of the NWS computer, as well as how we would access it.

              I was grateful he was here and I knew we were really lucky to have someone as smart as Jake on our side at a time like this. Despite his constant sarcasm and general pissiness, I really liked the kid.

              “Sorry, Jake,” I said, shrugging. “I guess I am just a little nervous.”

              “
No shit
, you’re nervous. You should be,” he said, his eyes suddenly serious. “Liv, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, this is like
really
dangerous.”

              He looked around to make sure no one else was listening. He raked his hands through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment, before grabbing my shoulder to pull me close enough that our foreheads nearly touched.

              “I have to,” I said.

              “Liv, I think we both know what you are thinking about doing,” his eyes looked sad. “I just want to officially go on the record as saying I think it is a
really
bad idea.”

              “I know,” I said.

              He was right. This was a really bad idea, but it was also the best I had. Stupidity aside, I was pretty sure that if I didn’t do it, Zander was going to die— and sooner rather than later.

              “Please, just don’t tell Riley?” I pleaded with him. “She’ll never let me go. Or worse, she will try to come with me and get us both killed.”

              “God, Liv,” Jake said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Don’t ask me to do this.”

              “Please, Jake?” I begged. “I know this is stupid and crazy, but my gut is telling me this is right. I have to do it.”

              “Come on,” he shook his head, sighing as he ran both of his wiry hands through his short hair. The effort made it stick up in messy spikes all over his head. If the situation were different, I would have laughed and made a brooding teenage vampire joke, but I resisted.

              “I’m asking you to trust me,” I said, grabbing both of his hands. “Please, Jake.”

              “Damn it, Liv,” Jake’s shoulders slumped, and I knew I had him.

              “Thank you,” I breathed, wrapping my arms around his thin shoulders.

              After a moment he hugged me back, though it was awkward for both of us. I got the feeling he was not the touchy-feely type either and as far as I was concerned, that was just another reason to like the kid.

              “Don’t thank me,” he said, gently pushing me away as he stared down at Zander. “Just save him, okay, and we will call it even.”

              His eyes locked on mine, in a silent but meaningful exchange. The pale glow of the cell phone on the floor threw heavy shadows over the worry lines in his face. In that moment, I realized that Jake and I had been seeing Zander through the same eyes.

              “Oh, Jake, I—” I stuttered, as the pieces finally fell together.

              “Shocker right?” He crossed his arms protectively over his chest and smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “The smart kid is also gay. Who would have guessed?”

              “I’m sorry,” I said, suddenly feeling guilty. “I didn’t know.”

              “Don’t Liv,” Jake held his hands up. “It’s okay, really. Zander is just— he’s my Channing, you know?”

              “Your what?” I laughed hesitantly.

              “You know,
Channing Tatum
,” Jake flexed both arms. “He’s only the hottest man alive? Every girl and like half the guys if they were honest with themselves, dreams of him in a compromising position. I mean, did you see Magic Mike?
Come on
.”
              “Guilty,” I said, and we both laughed. “But—”

              “Okay, that’s beside the point. All I am saying is, we all dream about what we want and can’t have,” Jake said. “It’s how we survive while we wait for what we need.”

              “I guess that makes sense,” I said, smiling down at Zander. I was almost as shocked by Jake’s admission as I was by the next thought that popped into my head.

             
Am I falling in love with this boy?

              “You totally just pictured him naked, didn’t you?” Jake laughed, pulling me from my daze with a sharp elbow to the ribs.

              “What? No,” I bit back, blushing hard as Jake laughed at me. “Shut up, I did not!”

              Though he was not the most muscular one in our group, Jake may very well be the strongest. Not only was he the smallest kid in our school, but also he was brilliant, socially awkward…and gay. That was a lot for any one person to take on, especially in a small town mid-western high school run by bullies, religious zealots, and opportunistic popularity seekers.

              “Liar,” Jake muttered under his breath, smirking at me as Riley wandered up out of the shadows. “You totally did.”

              “What’s so funny?” she asked, looking back and forth from Jake to me.

              “Oh, nothing,” Jake sputtered, snorting down a giggle. “Liv was just trying to deny that she was the one who stunk up the bathroom earlier.”

              “Um, first of all, gross,” Riley said, scrunching up her face. “And second of all, Falisha is back.”

              When it became clear that no one was going to save us, we sat down together and made a plan to save ourselves. There were lots of dangers to consider, not the least of which were the high temperatures outside. Falisha and I had experienced them earlier through the filter of a concrete building and had still barely lasted ten minutes. The air above ground had been next to impossible to breathe. Plus, there was a very distinct possibility that we were still dealing with toxic radiation levels. Unfortunately, this plan was still our best option and I knew my secret amendment to it would be the only chance Zander had.

              Mrs. Proud’s property was only about two hundred and fifty yards or so away. I estimated I could get there in less than a minute and mentally ran through the plan in my head— the real plan. Jake and I were the only ones that knew about this version. Riley had barely agreed to let me do the cable run and she assumed I would be coming right back after attaching the wires. If she had any idea what I was really going to do, she would follow through on her earlier threat to murder me.

              “Here you go, Sarge,” Falisha said dropping her harvest at my feet. She was still catching her breath, drinking down some water as she unwrapped the towel from her head.

              “How was it up there?” asked Jake as he wound the blue cable into a coil around his arm.

              “Not…bad,” she said between gasps, oblivious to the water dripping down her chin.