by Greg Boose
“I’m done with this shit!” Malix shouts from the other raft, which has spun completely around. It drifts farther and farther away, no matter how hard they paddle. “It’s starting to get—Holy shit!”
Between the rafts, something monstrous blasts high out of the water with one of the hoppers thrashing in its teeth. Jonah falls backward onto Brian in a wordless stupor. Rosa screams.
The creature is over sixty feet long, with side fins that stretch into the air for what seems like miles. It looks like a living airplane, with hubcap-sized eyes and translucent skin. When it finally twists and nosedives back into the water, Jonah can see its small blue brain, a network of veins and arteries, and a curving dark skeleton of bones. On the peak of its spine, there’s another mouth of teeth, opening and closing at a great speed, eating the air and whatever hopper bits fly past. The creature slams back into the water with the bloody hopper howling and kicking, creating a strong, rippling wave. Jonah’s raft rises and then dips at a sharp angle—too sharp—and not many can hang on to the slippery wood. Jonah’s arm gets hooked under Brian’s leg, and they somersault and crash into Hopper. Then the three of them enter the warm sea, tangled together and upside down.
Jonah twists away and swims for the surface, his mind racing with a white, popping panic. Get out, he thinks. Get out before that thing finds you. Just as he’s about to get a lungful of air, someone from the raft falls on his head, bending his neck backward. He sinks with his eyes closed. A body tumbles over him and he reaches out, snatching the person’s wrist. Without thinking, he yanks upward and releases. He opens his eyes to see it’s Christina, and he swims after her, refusing to look anywhere but up. When he breaks the surface, he finds Christina and Bidson pawing at the side of the raft, trying desperately to climb back on. Rosa lies flat in the center, her face frozen in horror.
“Help!” Hopper splashes nearby. With the airplane fish still on his mind, Jonah pulls the hacker toward the raft. Malix shouts and leaps from the other raft onto the deck of Jonah’s, and he yanks Christina up, flinging her on top of a shrieking Rosa.
With Vespa and Richter and everyone else from the other raft shouting above him, Jonah helps push Bidson and Hopper out of the water. Where’s Brooklyn? He scans the water around him, and then her hands appear on the opposite side of the raft. She climbs on board and crawls over the wood to grab Jonah by the elbow. But just then, something below barrels against his shins, pushing him away from the raft with a jolt. Brooklyn falls face-first, and they both go under.
When he opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is Brooklyn looking over his shoulder, a string of bubbles shooting out of her mouth. The shock in her eyes tells Jonah what’s coming, and before he can even make a guess of what he should do, Brooklyn plants her hands on the top of his head and pushes. She goes up, he goes down, and the back of his skull is rammed with what feels like a metal girder. He completely flips over and finds the scarred belly of one of the translucent monsters an inch from his nose.
Jonah twists away, right into a maroon patch of water, and he keeps his eyes on the beast until it disappears. But before he can gather his thoughts, another one finds him. It’s bigger than the last, and it speeds out of the murky blue water flashing several rows of sharp teeth. As it gets nearer, its big yellow eyes roll back into its head and glow bright green. Instincts take over and Jonah draws in his long legs; he’s on autopilot, his only thought to be ready to kick, and to kick hard.
Brooklyn suddenly appears above him with her LZR-rifle in her hands. She aims at the monster and pulls the trigger. A white current sparks and crawls along the barrel of the gun, but it doesn’t fire. The creature keeps coming, its long fins swooping at its sides, and it draws back its lips to reveal a wall of thick silvery gums. Jonah thrusts out his feet the same time Brooklyn slams down the butt of her weapon. They both hit the fish’s upper lip, stunning it, and then Brooklyn slams the rifle down again, knocking two long teeth out of its gums. The beast jerks away, but not before its second mouth grazes Jonah’s forearm. He screams a muddled scream and several hoppers speed off in the other direction.
His lungs burn and ache. He grabs Brooklyn’s hand, and they swim upward. They’re one foot from the surface when the water all around them lights up with flashes of blue. Jonah spins to see two mouths of teeth coming right at him, and then there’s a burst of light, and the beast explodes into a mess of bone, blood, and green guts. They push their heads above the surface and enter a roaring wall of noise of shouts and rifle fire. There’s a hand in front of his face and he takes it, and a second later, he and Brooklyn heave and cough on the surface of a raft.
“Where’s Brian?” Rosa jumps on Jonah’s back and pounds on him until he rolls over into the blinding sun. His forearm throbs and bleeds.
“Stop. Please stop,” he says, almost choking.
“Jonah!” she screams in his face. “Where’s Brian?”
“What?” He’s confused. There’s too much noise. The sun is too bright. His arm feels like it’s on fire. “Brian?”
Rosa pounds her tiny fists onto his chest. “He’s still down there!”
Jonah pushes her off, trying to comprehend what she’s saying while still seeing all the mouths of teeth coming at him. Brian with the sling. Brian with the sling is missing. He’s still down there. He’s still down there. His brain snaps to life and he staggers to his feet, tripping over Brooklyn, falling back on his hands and knees. On the other raft, Vespa stands with her legs wide apart, aiming and shooting into the sea. Portis stands next to her, laughing maniacally, his finger glued to his trigger. Aussie, Michael, and the other two hackers scan the water, pointing out targets for them to shoot. Around their raft, five of the giant airplane fish float dead on their sides, their green guts and blood fogging the water. Their severed fins float like surfboards.
“Where is he?” Aussie screams. “Brian! Where is he?”
“Anybody see him?” Michael shouts.
One of the monsters then launches out of the water directly in front of Vespa, a shiny black hopper escaping its front teeth. The cadets open fire, blasting pieces of the monster in several directions. The hopper lands on its back and swims away.
“Come on, Jonah! Save him! Go get him!” Rosa shouts, pushing Jonah toward the edge of the raft. “Save him! You said you’d jump in and save him! Go! Go, go, go!”
Without hesitation, Jonah crawls over the boards, his own voice echoing in his ears: We’d jump in and get you. I’m actually a really good swimmer. I’ll grab you.
The water shimmers and bubbles in front of him. A monster’s severed head floats to the surface with its glowing green eyes and rotates in the current. I’ll grab you, Jonah hears himself say again. He takes a deep breath and tears off his shoes. Right before he’s about to dive back into the water, Vespa’s shouts reach him: “Jonah, no! Don’t you dare!”
“Go, Jonah!” Aussie cries. “Go find him!”
Jonah stares Vespa in the eyes and then leans forward, thinking this might be the last time he sees her, the last time he sees anyone. She aims her rifle right at him, and then a hand snatches Jonah’s wrist and he’s twisted back to the middle of the raft. Malix pins him down and says, “Do not go back in that water. You won’t come back up, man. You won’t. Listen to me.”
Jonah tries to get back up, but Brooklyn lays her rifle across his neck. Then Bidson’s left palm drops onto his chest.
“Just stay here,” the big demic says. “He’s gone. Don’t be stupid.”
Rosa leans over the water, waiting for someone to dive past her to find her friend, but no one does. She spins around to stare at Jonah, her eyes brimming with tears, and then, to everyone’s surprise, she pinches her nose with her fingers and jumps overboard. Hopper and Bidson scramble to the edge, with Jonah and Brooklyn close behind, and together they gasp as one of the giants swoops over and snatches Rosa in its back jaws. On the other raft, Aussie knots her long red hair in her fists and screams. Everyone’s lasers are too late; th
e beast dives and disappears into the darkness with Rosa. A trail of blood rises to the surface and then spreads and fades.
Both rafts fall silent; the sloshing of the water sounds like thunder in Jonah’s ears. The kids wait for Rosa to surface, for Brian to heave himself over the edge of the wood, but no one appears. Christina sees something in the water in the other direction, and she fires until muttering, “You guys are too late. Lunch is over.”
“We have to keep moving,” Vespa finally says. “Grab your oars and watch the water. You have my permission to shoot anything bigger than you.”
“I don’t need your permission for anything,” Malix says, leaping back onto her raft.
“Wait. We’re just going to leave them here?” Aussie asks.
“Leave them where, demic?” Vespa answers. “Where are they, exactly? Do you see them? They’re gone. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, but they’re gone.”
“Brian?” Michael shouts with his face dangerously close to the water. “Come on, Brian!”
“We’re just going to keep going?” Aussie asks.
“What else are we supposed to do?” Brooklyn asks.
Jonah stares numbly at the water, his eyes scanning for any kind of movement. They can’t be gone. They can’t be dead. After another minute, he sits back and stares up at the few wispy clouds overhead. Their luck hasn’t changed.
Everyone except Hopper gets back into position to move west again. Vespa looks over and screams for Hopper to sit away from the edge and go back into the middle. He doesn’t move; he just keeps staring into the water.
“Demic! What the hell are you doing?” Portis yells.
“What the hell am I doing?” Hopper snaps back. “I’m looking for my freaking backpack, asshole! All right? I lost it!”
Chapter Eight
It takes three hours to reach land. What was once a speck of brown on the horizon is now a mile-wide stretch of gray beach that wraps around the corners to the unknown. A bright yellow jungle spreads left and right, and above it, in the middle, squats a small mountain like a fist rising out of the sand. Jonah drops his feet into the water and stands up to his waist. The sea is colder than it was before, instantly waking him from his exhaustion.
Vespa jumps into the water and pulls the other raft toward the sand. They don’t have the homing device, but through some miracle, no one else is lost. The two cadets look at each other briefly and then twist around to a huddle of sunburnt kids. No one cheers. In fact, no one speaks.
An hour ago, they watched as smoke blanketed their campsite on the beach, consuming the entire coastline in purple flames. Up at the crash site on the cliff, flashes of whites and blues shot in every direction like fireworks. They immediately began to row faster, convinced not only that those who stayed behind were dead, but also that they themselves were being followed, possibly hunted.
They carry the rafts to higher ground, hiding them under a tangle of vines while Malix and Christina dart ahead with their rifles ready, scouting to save the group from another animal attack. Jonah dabs at the wound on his forearm and wonders if he’ll ever see the cadets again. Just like he won’t see Rosa again.
In his mind, Rosa pinches her nose and jumps into the water. She does this over and over. Pinch, jump. Pinch, jump. Pinch, jump. He then sees the airplane fish snatch her in its back jaws and swim away. He can only imagine a similar fate for Brian. The guilt in Jonah’s stomach is nauseating. He can’t turn it off. How is he ever supposed to pull it together? How is he supposed to be this new, aggressive Jonah when everything keeps pulling him down?
Dark clouds come from the west, and the scouts leap out of the jungle the exact moment thunder rumbles overhead.
“We didn’t go all that far in,” Christina says, swinging her rifle to her back, “But we found something, we think.”
Malix smiles and points over his shoulder. “There’s a path in there. Some kind of path. It winds around to the left, and then it looks like it goes up the side of the mountain. Someone’s been here. People.”
“Definitely,” Christina adds.
Jonah stares at the yellow jungle. Maybe Dr. Z went through there, or maybe Garrett, and soon they’ll catch up to them and find out what the hell is going on.
“Are you sure?” Vespa asks. “Both of you are sure?”
“Definitely,” they say.
Aussie collapses onto her knees and lets out a short laugh. “We found them? We actually found the adults? I can’t believe it. Oh my gosh.”
Jonah stumbles toward the jungle in relief, a smile slowly spreading across his face. They found them. They actually found them. Dr. Z can look at his eyes. She can help him. She can tell them all what to do. It’s a miracle.
“No,” Malix says, “No, guys, I don’t think so.”
“Yeah, the path is pretty well worn. It doesn’t look like it was just made in the last twenty-four hours,” Christina says.
Jonah stops in his tracks. The news drops his head to his chest. Why did he even get his hopes up?
“But it could be them,” Aussie says. “You don’t really know that. You didn’t see anyone, so it could totally be them.”
Another thundercloud groans and Jonah turns to see Brooklyn tuck her rifle under her arm. “Well, let’s go find out, shall we?” she says. “Somebody’s hot on our trail, so let’s just move already. Get to higher ground on that mountain and scope out the situation.”
Portis stops chewing his wrist long enough to pat his rifle and say, “We’ll shoot the asshole right off his raft. Blast him up.”
“But I don’t understand. We’re running,” Aussie whines. “That’s what they wanted, for us to run. So why don’t they just leave us alone if we’re running?”
“Good question. Maybe they want Hopper’s homing beacon,” Michael says. “Or maybe we have something else that they want.”
“Or someone,” Vespa says, sighing.
They all look at each other for a moment. Jonah’s eyes fall on Richter; he’s standing oddly stiff and upright, and his face is empty of emotion, including fear. Soon, though, everyone pads toward the jungle as one.
Malix and Christina were right; there is a narrow path nearly clear of vegetation, and the kids run through it as fast as they can. With his rifle ready, Jonah brings up the rear, following Michael and Portis.
“What do you think, Firstie?” Portis huffs over his shoulder. “You think we’re about to ruin the adults’ fun by showing up like this? Crashing their little party?”
“I’m more worried about whoever’s behind us.”
A thundercloud claps close by, and a flash of lightning lights the thin strip of darkening sky above them. Hopper begs everyone to slow down, but soon they reach the base of the small mountain. The clouds open, releasing fat raindrops that float slowly to the ground like snowflakes back on Earth. The drops bounce off the kids like soap bubbles before popping and soaking their clothes and skin. Malix points to a worn line on the mountainside, where jagged rocks climb all the way to the top. “Higher ground! Right there! That’s where we need to go!”
“Move!” Vespa shouts above the thunder.
Malix leaps straight up, rising more than ten feet. He catches an edge of a rock and easily pulls himself up. Jonah follows, stepping where Malix steps, grabbing what Malix grabs, all the while nervous to reach the top. They’ll either see they’re on an island and he’ll be to blame for the wasted day and two dead demics, or they’ll see they’ve reached a peninsula with an easier passage to the west and Jonah will be a hero.
Vespa finds a slightly different path and bounds past Jonah and Malix, scaling the wet mountain with ease. She stands alone on the ridge with her back to them, holding a hand over her head, blocking the rain. One by one, the kids join her and each drops their jaw. On the other side of the ridge is a canyon almost a half-mile in diameter. Its edges curve in and out like a ribbon, or a half-open clam shell. Thick bands of bright rock—yellow, orange, red—interchange every couple hundred feet down th
e sides, but then after what Jonah thinks must be another half mile, it’s a black hole. It looks bottomless.
“What is it? A volcano?” Christina asks.
“I’ve never seen a volcano shaped like this,” Malix says.
Vespa stares into the abyss below. “What do the demics think? Michael?”
Everyone turns to Michael, who pushes his long, wet hair out of his eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe? Probably? Or it could just be a huge asteroid crater.”
“An asteroid that lands directly in the middle of an island? And one shaped like that? You idiot, those odds are so staggering I’m not even going to bother calculating them,” Hopper says.
An island? Jonah looks straight ahead and runs a hand over his face in defeat. Sure enough, blue sea sits a couple miles beyond the far ridge. Because of the way the crater’s edge rises on the right, he can’t see every inch of the beach, but it’s pretty obvious they’ve landed on an island. Spinning on his heels, he sees Portis looking through his scope, scanning the beach behind them.
“Hey, I’m looking at the water down there and I don’t see anyone coming!” Portis yells. “No one’s tailing us!”
“Are you sure?” Vespa asks.
“All I can say is that I don’t see anyone. But that doesn’t mean they’re not coming.”
“Or that they didn’t already make it to the beach,” Brooklyn growls.
“We have to keep moving then,” Malix says.
A thundercloud cracks so loudly overhead that it brings all the kids to their knees. Several bolts of lightning swirl in the sky like tornados, and then one shoots into the yellow trees below with a blinding flash. The wind picks up significantly.
“We have to find cover!” Brooklyn yells, her huge white shirt flapping like a sail.
Vespa grabs Brooklyn’s arm and flattens her against the rock, seeming to realize at the same time Jonah does that if a strong enough wind were to pick up someone as light as Brooklyn, he or she might never be seen again. “Everyone lie down!” Vespa scans the crater and then points. “Look! There are ridges along the inside, and wait, I think… There’s a cave down there! See it? That’s where we’re going!”