Nil (30 page)

Jason barely glanced at the rock carving. “I’m on board with Charley’s plan to bail. I found a dog carcass, and I don’t want to be lunch.”

And that was that. We took the straight shot back. As the day progressed, there was no more talk of a detour to the Arches. Maybe Charley had decided against it, maybe she knew I’d shoot it down. All I cared about was food and a bed, and the Arches had neither.

By the time we made it to the City, it was dark. Charley held a torch while I carved Natalie’s check.
Let the City wake to good news
, I thought.

Then, totally exhausted, we fell into bed.

I wrapped my arms around Charley. She laid her head on my chest, and tucked in the semi-safety of the A-frame, I’m not sure which of us fell asleep first.

CHAPTER

43

THAD

DAY 300, DAWN

My dreams were twisted, full of mazes and screams, packed with wild cats and hunters with no faces. I woke at dawn, restless and edgy. From my dreams, and from the day’s reality.

Today was Day 300.

It felt like a turning point. I was on the backside of the mountain now. Flying too fast, maybe out of control.

Charley’s eyes were closed, her breathing soft and even. I knew if I lay here much longer, my head would explode or I’d twitch, waking her either way. I also knew Charley needed her rest.

Careful not to wake her, I slipped out. My first order of business: check in with Rives. I’d no intention of mentioning Charley’s latest discovery or her fascination with the carvings. For me, yesterday’s find was solid confirmation that each of us had a bull’s-eye on our back and Nil held the gun. End of story.

I found Rives on the beach, eating a mango.

“Sweet news on Nat,” he said, thumping my shoulder.

“Definitely.” I grinned. “So what’s the report?”

“Johan’s team came back two days ago. Never saw a gate, Raj saw the tiger on night two, and on day three, their camp was hit. Food stolen, weapons too. Even extra clothes. Gone.”

Animals don’t steal weapons, people do. And naked people steal clothes
. “Did they see who?”

“Two boys. Skinny, young.”

“But no one got hurt.” My statement held a question.

“Right.”

“That’s good.” I wondered if the raiders knew about the gates and the time limit. And I wondered if they were the ones who had hit the Shack.

“That’s not the good.” Rives smiled. “The good is that Quan didn’t go renegade, the knives are back, and we have another newb. Sergio. He’s Italian, and get this: his dad was a carpenter, and he can make anything. With wooden nails.” His grin grew.

“Handy,” I agreed. But I was still thinking of the knives. Their return said it wasn’t raiders; it screamed inside job.
All that matters is that the blades are back
, I told myself.

Rives was on a roll.

“I’m thinking animal traps. Maybe a new glider. We could make oars, shore up Julio’s cracked A-frame…” Rives spoke as fast as his missing twin, Natalie.

I clapped Rives on the back. His to-do list felt oddly remote. “Sounds like you’ve got it. Let’s run, eh?”

Rives looked at me. “Yeah. Let’s run.” He didn’t mention his projects again.

I ran intervals with Rives as long as I could, but my legs were beat from yesterday’s hike, and I bailed early. Plus I was starving. And I missed Charley.

By the fire, Jillian was tying Charley’s hair into twin ponytails.

“Morning, you two.” I grabbed a hot wrap and sat beside Charley. Her shoulders were relaxed, her head slightly tilted as Jillian gathered her hair into a thick roll and held it tight.

“Okay, Charley,” Jillian said, reaching for a piece of twine, “don’t move.”

As if Charley would
. I smiled to myself. Charley loved it when I combed her hair. Watching Jillian, I felt a stab of envy.

“Just so you know, Jillian, that’s my job.” I shot Charley a lazy grin.

Jillian laughed. “So you’re a hairstylist now?”

“He has hidden talents.” Charley’s tone was serious.

“Geez, I’d say get a room, but you two already have one.” Jillian smirked. “Done.” She shifted her feet and winced.

“How’s your ankle?” I asked.

“Better,” Jillian said. “Just stiff. I’m guessing I can run in a week or so.”

Julio and a new boy passed by, their arms stuffed with green leaves, the kind used for wraps. I guessed the new kid was Sergio, then with a start I realized it was Dex. Dex, who had looked like a strung-out vampire when we’d left. He looked like he’d gotten fresh blood or a dose of Nil sun. His skin no longer glowed pasty white; he actually looked alive. But his ears still looked weird.

“Huh,” I said, watching Dex.

“What?” Charley asked.

“Dex. It looks like he’s joined the land of the living. No more vamp camp for him.”

Jillian nodded. “It took him a couple days to snap out of it, but he’s actually a decent guy. Handy, too. Dex’s been on his own since he was fifteen, so he knows how to cook. And unlike some rookies, he was smart enough not to get totally fried his first week here.”

I nodded. More than one new contestant had gotten sun poisoning, and it was never pretty. The sickest one in a long time was Bart.

Bart. He was currently on Search, supporting Miguel.

“Did you hear that?” Charley said, craning around.

Tuning out the ocean, I listened. Then I heard it: a high-pitched wail. Faint and human. I jumped to my feet behind Charley. Jillian stood and immediately faltered on her ankle.

“Stay,” I told her. “Better yet, find Rives.”

Charley was already running toward the sound. Taking off after her, I heard the cry again. A thin scream, shouting a name. I didn’t recognize the voice, but I recognized the name.

Rives.

CHAPTER

44

CHARLEY

DAY 34, MORNING

“Rives!”

A girl’s voice, laced with panic. The pauses between shouts were as terrifying as the shouts themselves.

Thad caught me as the trail widened. Our legs matched each other, stride for stride, and I knew if we kept going, eventually we’d hit the valley, the one before the rain forest. But I also knew we’d never get that far—that we’d find something first. Or someone.

A girl staggered from the trees. No, two. One was Asian, with slick dark hair, tiny like Li but younger, with eyes full of fear. The other girl was Talla. Bloody and unconscious, her head lolled like a rag doll as the smaller girl half dragged, half carried her up the path, crying for Rives.

The instant she saw us, the tiny girl collapsed, shouldering Talla to the ground.

“Want me to help find Rives?” I asked as we closed in on the girls.

“No. Stay.” Thad’s voice was clipped.

Talla’s arms and face were scratched, and a jagged, bloody gash slashed up her forearm and wrapped around her elbow, exposing bone. Her left arm hung at a funny angle. She needed a hospital, but all she had was us.

The whimpering girl seemed to have shrunk. She rocked Talla on the ground, tears staining her childlike face. “Do you speak English?” Thad asked gently.

She nodded.

“I’m Thad,” he said, using the same soft, steady tone. “What’s your name?”

“Mi-Miya.” Her word jerked through tight breaths.

“Okay, Miya. Do you know what happened?” Thad pointed to Talla, who was unconscious.

“Wolf. She save me from wolf.”

Where’s Miguel? And Heesham? And Bart? Where’s her team?

Thad was obviously thinking the same thing, because he asked Miya, “Did you see anyone else with her? Boys?”

She shook her head.

Rives came running, with Jillian limping behind. It turned out Jillian’s mom was a physical therapist, and Jillian was now the de facto head of island medicine. “I don’t know crap,” she said, her voice shaking. “But her shoulder looks dislocated to me.” Gently, Rives lifted Talla, his face drawn.

Back in the City, Thad and Rives reset Talla’s shoulder. Her scream was bloodcurdling, then she passed back out, which was probably good. Jillian took over when Thad left. Rives refused to leave Talla’s side.

Feeling helpless, I brought Rives a plate of pineapple. “Rives, you need to eat.”

Rives didn’t move. I set the plate on the small table.

“Can I get you anything else?”

“Deadleaf,” Rives said. “We’re out.”

His eyes never left Talla.

“Where do I get it?”

“Closest strand is near the groves.” Rives turned to me and, for an instant, purpose replaced desperation. “It’s a haul, I know. Don’t go alone. Take Thad, or Jason. And don’t touch the leaves.”

“Why?”

Jillian answered. “Because your hand will go numb. The leaves weep white juice; it’s an instant anesthetic. Sabine’s the one who taught us about it. If you crush the leaves, they make a numbing compress. When you harvest, one person cuts, and one packs. Don’t touch. And don’t eat the fruit. Not that you’d want to—it smells terrible—but the fruit’s poisonous.”

I stopped. “It smells bad? Like throw up?”

“Yup.” Jillian crinkled her nose. Rives was intent on Talla. He held her hand, watching her closed eyes.

“Are the leaves super shiny green?” I asked Jillian.

“Yup.” She nodded.

“I think I know where a bush is. Be back soon.”

Outside Talla’s hut, I grabbed Jason and told him about the bush at the end of Black Bay, the one I suspected was a deadleaf plant. Sure enough, it was a deadleaf orphan, growing out of place. According to Jason, they usually grew in clumps on the eastern side of the island.

The leaves smelled grassy when cut, but like Jillian warned, they oozed milky juice, making them hard to pack. On the other hand, the fruit smelled awful, and the odor intensified when plucked. The smell was overpowering, almost suffocating.

“I thought the fruit was poisonous,” I told Jason, swallowing repeatedly as Jason packed the fruit in a separate satchel.

“It is,” he said, sounding nasal as he breathed through his mouth. “But maybe we can use the island’s defenses to our own advantage.” Now he grinned. “Thad’s idea. We’re going to sow some seeds around the City. See what grows.”

Sacks full, we headed back. It was frustrating to be so close to the Arches and not visit, but Talla came first.

She was still unconscious.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about Talla’s team,” Jason told me and Thad as we hung our newly washed satchels by the Shack to dry. “A wolf attack is not a good sign.”

“And getting separated from your team is even worse,” Thad added, his voice grim.

A crashing noise echoed through the trees.

Thad spun in front of me and crouched, knife in hand. Jason raised his spear. I stood there, empty-handed, feeling helpless. What could I do, throw my sandal at the wolf?

A long moment later, Heesham stumbled out of the trees. Dirt streaked his face, arms, and clothes, and he was swearing. With a start, I realized it wasn’t dirt that coated his skin; it was dried blood.

“Talla,” Heesham gasped as he stormed closer. “Is she here?”

“Yeah.” Thad answered. Heesham’s relief was obvious. “What happened? Word is a wolf attacked. Was it a pack? Where’s Miguel, and Bart?”

I pressed on Thad’s arm. “Heesham,” I said gently. “Let’s get you something to drink, then you can talk.” Heesham looked ready to fall down, or fall apart. I’d never seen him like this, and it threw me.

Thad looked embarrassed. “My bad. Charley’s right. Are you hurt?”

“Nope. Not my blood.” Heesham looked even angrier.

I grabbed a water gourd, which Heesham emptied in a quick minute. Striding to the clearing, he plopped down on a rock—the same rock where Sabine had sat on my first morning here.

Then he leaned forward, his massive hands clenched. “Talla and I were getting firewood. Miguel and Bart were tracking a rabbit. We hadn’t made good time. We were still near the rain forest, instead of where we’d planned to be that day. So we were hustling to restock fruit and game, getting ready to launch the next morning. Next thing I know, Bart’s flying at us, telling us to run. Says a giant monkey thing with a ghost face jumped Miguel, that it dropped from a tree and landed on Miguel’s shoulders, and that more animals came out of the trees and took Miguel down.”

Heesham swallowed. “I lit into him right then. I wasn’t buying his pack-of-monkeys story. There aren’t packs of anything on Nil, except us.

“I made him lead us back to where he said Miguel was attacked, but Miguel wasn’t there. Then Bart changed his story, kept insisting we couldn’t find Miguel because he was gone. Said a gate flashed and took Miguel and the monkey thing through it but he hadn’t told us because he didn’t think we would believe him because gates rarely flash in the rain forest.”

“So he lied,” I said.

Everyone jerked their heads to me.

“Sorry,” I said to Heesham, feeling rude, “but two things can’t take the same gate. Remember that girl? The one who died after an outbound zapped her?”

“Two people can’t go, but I don’t know about a person and animal.” Thad frowned.

“No, he lied,” Heesham said, his voice hard. “We started hunting in circles, spreading out, calling out to each other to stay in range. Then Bart stopped answering. Talla and I hooked back up, but Bart had disappeared. So had our food and maps.”

Everyone was silent, listening. The breeze had even slowed.

“Now it was just me and Talla. We kept looking, and next thing you know, we found a dead monkey. Big sucker, with white around its eyes and nose. It’d been stabbed.” He looked at us. “The monkey thing with a white face that supposedly took Miguel through a gate was dead. And Miguel’s knife was stuck in its gut.

“So now we knew Miguel was around. We called for him, tried to follow blood trails, but we’d walked so long we were turned around and night was falling. Plus, for all we knew, Miguel was walking in circles, too, and we were missing each other. So we stopped. That night, Talla and I stayed put, alternating watch. The next morning, we walked a tight grid, searching for Miguel. We found him, leaning against a rock, barely alive, his face messed up. One eye gone. The baboon did a number on him.”