Authors: Patti Larsen
Drew turns away just in time, puking up everything he ate. Reid is angry and disappointed and amused all at the same time at the amount of food the boy throws up. Drew sits back, wiping his mouth with his hands.
“Sorry,” he says. “I’ve never been so starving.”
Reid hands him a fresh bar. “Slowly.” He looks around at the others who are recovering from their own cramps. “One bite at a time.”
Reid tosses Trey a first aid kit and watches for a moment as Leila helps him clean and bandage his hands. He returns his attention to the stash, packing up what he can of the food in a backpack he finds near a rolled-up sleeping bag. He would love to take it with him but knows they have to stay light and keep moving. Reid also uncovers a knife, a curved hunting blade, tucked neatly in a leather sheath. He offers silent thanks to Mustache and Scar for leaving it behind.
He is on his feet and ready to move while the others are just settling in.
“We have to go.” Reid doesn’t wait for them but heads out.
He hears them scramble behind him, the tug of someone’s hand on his sleeve. Reid turns to look down at Trey.
“Can’t we stay?” The boy has been so quiet Reid is surprised he is the one to speak up, a slip of a kid all huge begging eyes and coffee colored skin etched with dirt. His light voice carries, the plea in it enough to soften even Reid’s hardened heart. “Just for a little while?”
Reid wishes they could. Would love to curl up in one of those sleeping bags himself and just pretend he was camping with his dad. But their reality is harsh and their pursuers could be right behind them.
“I’m leaving now,” he says. “Stay or come with me, it’s up to you.” Reid pulls free of Trey’s bandaged hands as gently as he can and walks away, the heavy pack full of food on his left shoulder, the comforting weight of the knife down the back of his pants.
He makes it to the other side of the camp before he sees something that makes his heart fall into the bottoms of his shoes. That something flaps and flutters in the bushes. Dark green fabric. He approaches, fingers the silken feel of it. Drew is beside him, mimicking him.
“Parachutes.” Drew steps back. Looks up. “Makes sense.”
It does. And it breaks Reid’s heart. Drives his fury to the forefront of his mind. The cheaters. Cheaters! They flew in. So there is no way out after all.
Drew must know where Reid’s thoughts are going because he lays one hand on his arm and squeezes. “They had to have a plan. Parachutes are one way.”
It makes him feel a little better. Of course, Drew is right. But how? How were they getting out?
“Maybe they had a ride lined up?” Drew looks around. Points. “Is that a clearing?”
Reid follows Drew for once, all the way to the edge of the trees. Drew called it right. Ahead is a large meadow, empty and serene.
“Just asking for a helicopter to land.” Drew grins at Reid. “You know what this means?”
It takes Reid a moment to register. When it does, he almost drops the backpack. A helicopter? Can it be true?
“They left all their things behind,” Drew says, logical, precise, and Reid wonders how he has survived without fear being so much a part of him as it is the rest of them. “Which means they were coming back. And this clearing is the closest to their camp.”
Reid could hug the chubby boy. Shout to the treetops. Of course. Of
course
. All they have to do is wait.
“Unless they’ve been and gone.” Milo is staring at the sky, arms crossed over his chest. Reid hates that the boy’s pessimism is instantly catching.
Drew shrugs, looks around. “Don’t see any sign of that. Grass is undisturbed. No flattening, no debris. Helicopters kick up a lot of wind.”
Someone’s hand slides around Reid’s bicep. He looks down and into Leila’s face. For the first time since he met her, he sees hope and how beautiful she would be if she wasn’t so scared.
“Reid,” she whispers. “He’s right.”
He
is
right. To prove it, Drew cocks his head to one side and holds up his hand for quiet. At first Reid doesn’t hear anything and almost asks Drew what he is listening to. When he catches the breath of sound, when they all do, Reid’s blood surges with joy.
Whump-whump-whump. He’s heard it enough times on TV and in the movies to recognize it. Whump-whump-whump. The unmistakable rhythm of helicopter rotors.
Reid scans the sky, not alone in the search, desperate for a glimpse of their salvation. Milo is the first to spot it, shouts, “There!” Points. They all look, see the glitter of sun on glass, watch the bug-like flying machine clear the trees and head their way. All the while the sound gets louder. Reid is suddenly jumping up and down, screaming and waving, happiness and relief washing away his fear. The others are too, tears pouring down their faces. Rescue, so close, so real, is theirs.
Another sound joins their celebration and the steady beat of the helicopter’s engine. A high-pitched whine pierces Reid’s ears, trailed by a hiss. As they watch, something streaks across the sky toward the hovering aircraft, hitting it dead center.
The helicopter hovers one more moment after impact, a frozen snapshot of freedom. Then, it explodes outward in a ball of flame and smoke. It pitches sideways, a drunken tilt taking it over, before it plummets toward the ground.
Directly at them.
Reid is still screaming, but in terror this time. He pulls Leila along, dragging her as she stumbles and falls, shrieking and sobbing her denial. Drew staggers to Reid’s side, takes Leila’s other hand and helps him pull her clear and into the woods just as what remains of their salvation slams into the ground with enormous impact, shaking the earth so hard it knocks them to their knees.
Reid holds Leila close as she empties her grief onto his chest, staring at the wreckage, flinching when a second explosion rips it apart. A rotor breaks free, zings toward them. It embeds in the tree above their heads, shaking it so hard they have to dodge the top when it snaps off. They scramble to escape it in the midst of a hail of needles and broken branches.
Reid shakes himself, gets to his feet, pulls Leila and Drew up. Trey and Milo pop into view a few feet away, eyes huge, faces sheathed in tears. Reid builds fresh walls around his heart as he stands there, staring at the wreckage, cursing inside, furious he allowed his hopes to get the better of him.
Of course there is no rescue. Of course whoever kidnapped them is ready for any such attempt. They are trapped and only have each other in the end.
Reid turns to his companions, ignoring the stench of burning fuel and the sizzling pop and crackle of the fire behind him.
“The hunters will come to check this out,” he says. “We need to go.”
He waits for them, but only for a moment. It’s just long enough. They get themselves together and follow. But when he glances over his shoulder one last time, he sees Drew staring at the remains, shoulders shaking. When the boy turns back, Reid recognizes the hate in his face and nods to him.
That’s all they have left.
Reid secures the pack on both shoulders and sets the pace. They run on.
***
Chapter Eighteen
Despite his resolve, Reid can barely stand to leave their wrecked salvation behind. He’s not the only one. He catches the sound of weeping among the others, the occasional wheezing sob cutting through their panting as they follow him back into the forest.
The fence isn’t safe now. Not for a while, anyway, he figures. The hunters will find their trail and keeping to the fence will only make it easier for them to hunt the kids down. He regrets leaving it, certain he is right about a gate, an exit, but is determined to keep the barrier’s position firmly fixed in his sense of direction so he can track it again.
“That was a missile.” Drew has somehow managed to keep up with Reid. From the huffing and puffing the kid is doing the effort is costing him, but they can’t afford to slow down. “I’m sure of it. Surface-to-air. Anti-aircraft. Freaking military issue.”
It actually takes Drew a few minutes to pant out those short sentences in between gasps of air. When he is done, Reid slows and stops, turning to look at the chubby kid. He tries not to feel sorry for his cherry-red face and the sweat streaking down his cheeks to soak the collar of his stolen t-shirt.
“Military.” Reid’s mind flashes to the duffle bag, the cabin. Could the army be involved? Was Drew right and this is an alien invasion or something?
Drew’s head is bobbing as he gulps breath after breath, glasses fogging around the edges. “I’m sure of it.”
“And how would you know, smart ass?” Milo’s attitude is getting on Reid’s last nerve. But before he can shoot the kid down, Drew does it for him.
“Because I studied about it. Duh.”
Reid can’t help it. He laughs. There is so little to laugh about, but Drew’s casual brush off triggers Reid’s funny bone. He starts laughing and can’t stop. He finds himself doubled over, gripping his sides, barely able to catch a breath as his stomach aches from the pressure. Tears well in his eyes, spill over his cheeks. When he is finally able to breathe again, his laughter echoes back from the trees.
He hears the others laughing around him and absorbs as much of it as he can. Trey snorts air as he giggles in a tiny voice. Drew’s laughter is more robust, slightly piercing but full and pure. Leila’s sounds like liquid light.
For that brief and shining instant, everything is all right in the world. They are safe and happy normal kids. Even Milo starts to snicker after making a rude face.
“Seriously,” Leila recovers first, though Reid sees her dabbing at her eyes with the collar of her t-shirt, “how do you know?”
Drew grins at her. “Seriously,” he says. “Are you kidding me? I love this stuff.”
That sobers them up. Drew’s smile fades. “Well,” he says, “I used to, anyway.”
“So now we think the army is after us?” Milo’s attitude is back, but the edge is gone from his voice and even he looks embarrassed after he finishes speaking.
“No,” Drew says. “But someone with access to serious military hardware. Mercenaries, maybe. Hired guns.” He turns and looks up at Reid. “I’ve been thinking about it. And I know you guys are right, this is no alien invasion. But, maybe it’s an experiment of some kind.”
“Great experiment.” Milo helps hold up Trey who has started shaking and can’t seem to stop.
“Guinea pigs,” Trey whispers. There is still humor in his voice but not the nice kind. When he looks up his lips are twisted into a grimace, eyes full of madness. “Mice in a maze. Food for thought.” He starts to giggle again, body twitching. Leila rushes to help Milo while Reid just watches, Drew by his side. “Freaking lab rats!”
No one says anything. Reid hates to admit it, but is pretty sure Drew is right. Why else the fence, the secret drop offs of the kids in the middle of the night? The question is, what’s the experiment and how much longer will it run?
The idea that they are almost at the end of it first makes Reid hopeful before dashing him down to darkness again. There is no way of knowing. Besides, if it
is
almost over, the likelihood that whoever brought them there will just let them go is idealistic at best and damned gullible at worst. Chances are, like most test animals, when the project is over they will be destroyed.
Reid exchanges a look with Drew. From the pinched look on the boy’s face they are following the same train of thought.
“We have to get out of here,” Drew whispers.
“Now you tell me.” Reid actually manages a real smile. “Figure it out then, genius.”
They have been at rest long enough that Drew has regained his natural paleness. When he blushes, it’s painfully obvious.
“Don’t call me that,” he whispers, “and I’ll do my best.”
Seems fair to Reid.
Trey has calmed down and Reid knows it’s time to move on. He doesn’t have to say a word. Everyone falls in behind him. This time when Drew stays at Reid’s side he doesn’t mind so much.
They don’t make it far. Reid just turns to say something to Drew when he catches a flicker out of the corner of his eye. The hunters are on them. He’s failed them for the last time.
Reid opens his mouth to shout a warning, but it sticks in his throat. Not hunters. Kids, like them. At least a dozen of them, sliding out of the forest, surrounding them. Reid spins, looking for an exit, too late. They are boxed in.
He isn’t sure why this makes him nervous. They should all be on the same side, right? But his tension only rises as the silent crowd stares him down. He feels his new friends closing in for protection. Someone bumps into him. Reid reaches out, catches Leila’s hand. He feels a skinny body press to his back and hears the familiar whimper of Trey’s terror. Drew stands his ground, but barely. Reid can feel him shaking.
Milo’s voice comes from behind Reid, very close. “Tell me they aren’t cannibals.”
Reid knows it’s supposed to be a joke. But no one is laughing.
The kids are all as dirty as Reid’s group, and just as desperate looking. He shakes himself internally. This is a great opportunity. He has nothing to fear from them. When he steps out to talk to them, he is mirrored by one of the other group.
This guy is big, taller than Reid’s six feet, heavy dark hair hanging over an angry brow. His nose looks like someone broke it on purpose at some point. He’s the only one in the new crowd that doesn’t look hungry.
“You’re in our territory.” Big guy’s voice is a hammer on an anvil.
“We’ll just keep moving then.” Like it’s going to be that easy. Reid knows the type. Bully.
Reid catches a dark-haired Hispanic guy watching him, eyes almost black. His scowl is so deep it’s devouring his face. Reid returns his attention to the leader as he speaks.
“Better not be bringing hunters to our spot.” His chest thrusts out and Reid can’t help but be reminded of a gorilla he saw once at a zoo.
“Doing our best not to.” Reid’s flippant attitude will get them nowhere, but his anger won’t let him be diplomatic. They are on the same side, damn it.
“Heard you punks for miles. Might as well wear signs around your necks.”