Dragon Team Seven

by Toby Neighbors

  “Without the cushions, this thing wouldn’t hold us,” Ember said.

  Nick knew she was right. The seat cushions from the escape pod were very buoyant. They nearly lifted the logs out of the water when the team of deep recon specialists weren’t on board and stabilized the raft to make it an effective transport.

  “We’ll land the raft, then we can check down the river,” Gunny Tveit said. “It’s only a couple of hours till dawn. We’ve made good time, so it won’t hurt to take the safer course. If the river gets rough ahead, we need to be able to see what we’re doing.”

  Nick’s fear was that the river would get too rough, or worse still, that there might be a waterfall. He knew they were still a long way from the evac zone, though, and the last thing he wanted was to run into another dinosaur or some other creature. Spears and small knives weren’t enough protection to keep them safe against larger animals.

  They rowed toward the bank. It was the hardest they had worked since beginning the voyage down river. When they were just a meter from the bank, which angled upward steeply, Nick and Kal jumped off the raft and pulled her using the paracord. With the raft tied safely to shore, the rest of the group carried their supplies up the bank. Nick traded his oar for his spear.

  “So, what now?” Ty asked.

  “We need to find out what’s ahead,” Nick said.

  “But we can’t leave the raft,” Ember replied.

  “Nichols and Phillips will scout ahead,” Gunny Tveit said. “The rest of us will stay here.”

  “You ready?” Kal asked.

  “Always,” Nick said.

  They set off down the bank. Nick was thankful that the BIO-suit and matching boots were waterproof. Growing up in Seattle, Nick was used to wet conditions. His family barely found the money to buy him shoes once a year, and there were many days when a misstep had landed his feet in deep puddles of water. He remembered the feeling of water squishing up with every step once his footwear was saturated, so he was especially grateful that his feet remained dry now even after being in the river.

  They followed the bank downstream, trying to make as little noise as possible. The sound of the water grew louder. Nick turned his head from side to side as they went, looking for any sign of danger. The forest was dark and quiet, but that didn’t make him feel safe.

  “Well, I guess it’s good we waited,” Kal said.

  Even with the night vision capabilities of their helmets, it was hard to make out the details of what they were seeing. Large boulders appeared in the river, causing the water to churn around them. The bank was rocky as well, and to make matters worse, the river narrowed a little, causing the water to flow even faster.

  “We couldn’t have made it past those boulders in the dark,” Nick agreed.

  “Want to keep going?” Kal asked.

  “I think we should,” Nick replied. “We need to know if the river calms down past these boulders or gets worse.”

  “I don’t want to think about it getting worse,” Kal said. “I dig the raft—it’s been fun—but I don’t want to lose what little supplies we have if something upends our boat.”

  “Me either,” Nick said. “But the farther we can go on the river, the faster we get to the evac zone.”

  “If we have to walk, will we make it in time?”

  “Probably, as long as we don’t get eaten along the way.”

  “Tell me again why we left Earth?” Kal teased.

  “You know we can hear everything you’re saying,” Jules interrupted them.

  They both turned around, expecting to see their friend standing behind them. The forest was dark and empty.

  “You’re on the team channel of your com-link,” Gunny Tveit said. “What’s your status?”

  “The river narrows a little, and there are large rocks in the river. Some are big enough to break the surface.”

  “Is it passable?” Tveit asked.

  “I think so,” Nick replied. “In the daylight we should be able to navigate around them. We thought we would keep moving and see if the conditions improve father down river.”

  “Alright, but don’t go too far. I want you both to remain in radio contact.”

  “How far do our com-links work?” Kal asked.

  “A few klicks in good conditions,” Tveit replied. “Remain situationally aware. There’s no telling what you might run into out there.”

  “Roger that,” Nick said.

  They had moved down the riverbank a few meters when they heard something moving in the forest. Nick took a position by a tree while Kal moved beside one of the boulders on the riverbank.

  “Gunny,” Nick said. “We’ve got movement nearby.”

  “Looks like a good-sized animal of some kind,” Kal added.

  “Hold your positions,” Gunny ordered. “Do not engage. Maybe it will move on.”

  The creature turned out to be a large, four-legged creature with thin legs and a massive set of antlers on its narrow head. The antlers looked absurdly big, and Nick wondered how the animal managed to keep its head up at all. The creature had a thick body covered in soft-looking fur. It moved slowly, looking from side to side. There was a graceful quality to the animal, and despite the large rack of antlers, it looked almost afraid.

  They watched as it moved to the water’s edge. The small head dipped down to get a drink. Nick had to force himself to stop watching the graceful creature and keep an eye on the woods. The animal was at the edge of his night vision’s capabilities. He could see it clearly in the green gloom, yet he didn’t feel threatened by it the way he had when the dinosaur approached their camp.

  “Looks like an herbivore,” Kal said quietly. “I don’t think it’s dangerous if we don’t approach it.”

  “That’s what I was—”

  Nick was cut off mid-sentence as another animal came rushing toward the first. Things happened so quickly that Nick didn’t have time to think. There was a crashing sound and a high-pitched cry. The creature with the large antlers bolted toward Nick and Kal, running along the riverbank. Behind it came a feline creature, the likes of which neither of them had seen before. It had a tall ridge of stiff fur running down its back. The body was thick with muscle, and it had short legs. Whiskers flared to either side of its face, and its triangular shaped ears stood up on its round head.

  The feline creature came rushing after the antlered animal, which bolted past Nick’s position. Everything happened so fast that Nick didn’t notice the flash of recognition in the animal’s eyes as it ran past him. He lowered his spear to protect himself at almost the same time that the feline beast spotted him. It was moving fast and jumped toward him. The creature hit the spear directly, Nick’s D-Gar sinking into its chest. The creature’s momentum drove the spear backward. Fortunately, the butt of the weapon hit the tree behind Nick, and the creature’s momentum carried it forward, impaling it on Nick’s spear.

  The feline beast tried to roar, but what came out was a blood-spewing gasp. Kal was shouting something as he rushed forward, his own spear held ready, but the creature flopped sideways, pulling the spear from Nick’s trembling hands.

  “Holy shit!” Kal said. “Nick killed it.”

  “Killed what?” Ember asked.

  “Report, Private Phillips,” Tveit said in her commanding tone. “What’s happening?”

  “Something attacked the first animal, the one with the big horns. It ran right past us,” Kal explained. “But the second animal saw Nick and pounced on him.”

  “Is Nichols okay?” Tveit said.

  “Hey, dude,” Kal said, taking hold of Nick’s shoulder, “are you alright?”

  Nick managed to nod. He felt both a cold sense of terror and astounding loss at that moment that robbed him of the ability to speak. His whole body was trembling, and in his mind he understood just how close he’d come to dying. Everything seemed to happen so fast that he couldn’t sort it all out. The only thing that was certain was that the feline creature was dead, and Nick had killed it
.

  “He’s okay, just a little shaken up,” Kal reported. “He had his spear ready, and the creature landed right on the tip.”

  “Is it dead?” Tveit asked.

  “I think so,” Kal replied.

  “Well, get back here, both of you,” Tveit ordered. “The smell of blood in the air will attract more predators.”

  “Roger that, Gunny. We’re on our way,” Kal replied.

  Nick felt weak and tired…he had almost died. There was no doubt in his mind that the creature would have found a way past his armor. It was big—the size of a lion, but with a wider body. The fur was brindled, with dark streaks that acted as a natural camouflage in the jungle. Nick couldn’t stop staring at the beast’s dull eyes. Its mouth was open, revealing large, pointed teeth perfect for ripping flesh. Kal bent down and held up the animal’s paw. It was lined with five large, curved claws.

  “It’s like it has five karambits on each paw,” he said. “That was a close one, dude.”

  “I don’t know what happened,” Nick finally managed to say.

  “Me either, but you’re alive and it’s dead. So chalk one up for the good guys.”

  “I need my spear,” Nick said.

  Kal tugged on the wooden shaft, but it didn’t budge.

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Kal said. “We’d have to cut it out, and that would cover us in blood. We don’t want every creature in the forest hunting us down because we smell like dinner.”

  “But I need a weapon.”

  “Take mine,” Kal said. “We need to go.”

  He turned his friend away from the fallen animal, and they walked back along the riverbank. The movement felt good. Nick’s muscles were stiff and his eyes stung with tears. He wanted to rub them, to pull the armored helmet off and collapse on the ground, but he couldn’t. Walking seemed to help, as did his friend’s presence. Kal never took his hand off Nick’s arm. When they reached the others, Nick’s friends gathered around him.

  “Hey man, glad you made it,” Ty said.

  “Are you okay, Nick?” Ember asked.

  He nodded.

  “Good work, Nichols,” Gunny Tveit said. “You did what you had to do. Now shake it off. The sun’s coming up, and we need to get moving.”

  “I lost my spear,” Nick said.

  “We couldn’t get it loose,” Kal explained. “Had to leave it in the animal.”

  “That’s always a possibility in a fight,” Tveit explained. “The important thing is that no one got hurt. As soon as there’s enough sunlight, we push on. I want to get as far away from the carcass as possible.”

  Nick went down to the river. The sound of the water flowing past was soothing, and the sky overhead turned slate gray as the day began to dawn. Ember moved up beside him. She had her backpack over one shoulder and his over the other. In her left hand she held an oar and a spear.

  “I can take that,” he told her, pulling his pack off her shoulder.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m alright,” Nick said, not quite believing it himself.

  Gunny Tveit moved up beside them. “Killing a living thing is always difficult,” she said. “Take your time with it, Nichols. But keep in mind that you did what you had to do to survive. Nature teaches us the most basic way to live, no matter what the Proxy say. Killing is a part of life. It’s the law of the universe: kill or be killed. The carnivore hunts the herbivore. If it kills, it eats and lives. If it fails, it gets weaker, making the next hunt even more difficult. If it continues to fail, it will die. You fought for your life, and perhaps the life of your teammates. That’s what we do. It may happen during an operation for the Proxy, but it’s no different than animals in nature. We do what we have to do to survive.”

  “I feel guilty,” Nick said.

  “That’s part of it,” Tveit went on. “Guilt, fear, relief, sometimes even shame. When we’re pushed to the breaking point, our animal instincts come out. It’s a good thing—it’s our innate survival skills fueled by our will to live.”

  “But that animal died so that I can live,” Nick said.

  “True, and other animals will live from that creature’s death—likely many animals before it’s all said and done, from other carnivores to carrion birds to the insects that will consume the smallest bits of nutrients left on the scattered bones. Even the blood that soaks into the soil will nourish a sapling by filling the ground with minerals essential for life. It’s the way things have always been. People get lost in the civilization we’ve created and separated from the life-or-death struggle that defines us, but it’s still there. You’re just closer to it than you were before. Embrace it, and you’ll be fine.”

  The light of day was spreading and Nick’s helmet switched automatically from night vision to low light. He could see the gold and crimson across the sky above the river. The water was no longer a black ribbon, but rather a murky brown as it flowed past the raft.

  “Let’s check the bindings,” Jules said as she and Kal joined the others at the riverbank. “We don’t want anything coming apart on us.”

  They spent several minutes making sure the paracords were still in good shape. Then they loaded all their supplies into the center of the raft.

  “Oars at the corners,” Gunny Tveit ordered. “Nichols and I will take position amidships with poles to help push us away from the rocks.”

  “Watch out for submerged boulders,” Kal said. “Those above the water line are easy to spot but there could be more just under the surface.”

  “Roger that,” Ty said.

  He and Kal took the front positions while Ember and Jules took the rear. Nick and Gunny Tveit untied the lines holding the raft in place, then quickly boarded. The poles they used to push away from the bank were long and light, but Nick felt a painful loss without his spear. He would just have to endure until the mission was over, but he felt exposed just the same. And deep in his psyche, a root of fear had taken hold. He had seen death, and it felt to Nick as if death had seen him.

  Chapter 33

  The rapids weren’t as difficult as Nick had feared. They worked hard maneuvering the raft, which was unwieldy in the swift water, but they managed to avoid the boulders. The small vessel rocked hard as the water sped up, plunging and rising with the boulder-strewn riverbed. Large hills rose up on either side of the river, and after the initial stretch of white water, the river flowed more smoothly, but also more quickly than before.

  It seemed to Nick as if it were only a matter of time before the raft would fail them. They cut the distance to the evac zone down to less than three hundred meters, but no one was able to rest, and by late afternoon it was clear they would need to stop for the night. The swifter current forced them to paddle through the day. The raft kept trying to spin, and the current pushed them toward the rocky banks that threatened to smash the raft to pieces.

  When they made landfall along a gravel bed where the river turned, they all felt relieved. Storm clouds were building to the south, and Gunny Tveit had them pull the raft as far out of the water as they could.

  “Tie it up,” she ordered. “If that’s anything but a light shower, the river will rise.”

  Nick had struggled with his feelings all day. On top of his fear and guilt, fatigue made him feel weak. He wanted to quit, although he knew that wasn’t an option. He was filled with conflicting emotions. Part of him wanted to be far, far away. He even wished he could see his parents again. But another part of him wanted to be with his friends.

  “Let’s gather wood for a fire,” Nick said. “Should we try to build a shelter to keep the rain off?”

  “No, don’t bother,” Gunny Tveit said, studying the thick clouds. “Our armor will keep us dry.”

  “Should we bother with a fire?” Ty said. “Won’t the rain just douse it?”

  “I hope not,” Jules said.

  “You can start a fire,” Tveit said. “We’ll sleep on the raft unless the river rises too much. Build the fire up on the bank.
That’s were we’ll stand watch.”

  The forest on the hills was slightly different; the tall conifers had been replaced with a variety of tropical foliage. Nick and Ember used their karambits to shave dry bark from one of the trees. There were plenty of fallen limbs to fuel their fire, and the dry bark made good tinder. Once the fire was burning merrily, Nick and Ember stood watch as the sun set. The dark clouds seemed to linger to the south of them.

  “Maybe it won’t rain, after all,” Ember said hopefully.

  “I won’t hold my breath,” Nick said.

  The fire’s light was comforting but did little to cast back the darkness that settled over them. Nick could hear a chorus of insects and small creatures in the thick forest of the hills, but they saw no large animals. He had to walk and keep moving to stay awake. Fatigue clung to him like the mire of the pit.

  Ember talked a little, but they were really too tired to carry on much of a conversation. When Kal and Jules came to replace them a couple hours into the night, Nick was relieved. The river hadn’t risen and the rain had held off, so Nick joined the others resting on the logs of the raft. The ground would have been more comfortable, he thought, but he knew the ground would make him cold. The logs were warmer, and Nick was too tired to care how uncomfortable they were.

  “Wake up,” Kal said, shaking him a few hours later.

  Nick immediately sensed that things had changed. There were water drops on the visor of his helmet, and more rain was pelting them in fat drops. His night vision dimmed as lightning streaked across the sky. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but it was the sound of the river that Nick noticed most. The raft was bobbing as he sat up.

  “The river’s up,” Ember said.

  “Gunny wants us higher up the bank,” Kal ordered.

  “No sense in taking chances,” Ty agreed.

  They got slowly to their feet. Nick was tired and stiff. His body hadn’t adjusted to the rigors of sleeping in the wild. The night was cold, and he was thankful that the BIO-suit retained his natural body heat, but it was reassuring to move up the bank by the fire. The flames hissed in the steady rain, but the shower wasn’t strong enough to extinguish the flames.