He shook his head, giving her a wicked smile. “I’d rather die.”
“I can make that happen.” Mars stood up, flexing her arms.
“That’s enough.” Riley dropped from the branch with a splash, walked over, and took the piece of cloth from Eri’s fingers. “I’ll stop this rotten hole back up.”
Eri sloshed back to her spot on the mushy log. No one had ever spoken to her that way on the Heritage. She didn’t know how to take it. Part of her pitied him, but she couldn’t help but feel annoyed and violated, too. What circumstances had made him so mean-spirited? Or had he been born with a chip on his shoulder?
Something must be good about him, or Striver wouldn’t work so hard to have him back.
Weariness weighed her down, and she lay on the log, using a tuft of moss as a pillow. Patches of stars shone through the jungle canopy. The Heritage hovered above them like a bloated eye watching her every move. Eri covered her eyes with her arm, blocking the ship. There was one place Commander Grier could never go: inside her mind, inside her heart.
…
Water splashed on her face, waking her up. Dawn light shone through the canopy like a promise of better days to come.
“Striver’s back.” Riley jumped over her as she lay on the log.
Eri yanked herself up, feeling her heart gush. Striver’s back. He’s okay. She wanted to see him so badly it hurt.
Striver sloshed into camp, his breath heaving like he’d sprinted the whole way back.
“Get up.” He spoke through gasps of breath. “They’re in the jungle looking for us.”
Mars leapt up and helped Litus stand. “Which way?”
Striver waved his hand in a semicircle. “They’re combing the entire swamp with several groups.”
Riley studied Mars and Litus. “Looks like you guys are more important than you think—”
“That, or Weaver is,” Eri interrupted. “We have stolen a member of their tribe.”
“Leave him. You can’t keep up carrying him through the swamp.” Mars sounded more like a commander ordering her troops than a rescued prisoner.
“He’ll die in the jungle tied up like this.” Striver’s face creased with worry. Eri didn’t know how he’d handle this, but Mars was right. Weaver slowed their escape, and today it could mean life or death.
“Cut his ties and let him run back,” Litus suggested.
“No.” Riley’s voice was hard. “He’ll give up our location.” Riley put his face right next to Striver’s. “How far back are they?”
Striver ran his hand through his hair, pulling until his scalp turned white. “Eight hundred meters at most. We don’t have much time.”
Panic rose up from Eri’s stomach into her throat. She didn’t want them to force Striver to leave his brother behind, but she also didn’t want those Lawless people to get ahold of them. “What are we going to do?”
“I’m thinking.” Striver put up both hands to stall them.
“We don’t have time for thinking.” Riley hefted his backpack. “I’m leaving. Anyone who wants to stay with Striver and his traitor brother, stay by all means.”
A melancholy caw echoed over them, reminding Eri of the Yellowstone Park videos with the bald eagles back on the Heritage. She glanced up through the canopy. A gigantic bird swooped in a circle before spiraling down to their position.
No, not a bird. A Guardian.
Eri stared as leaves rained around them. The Guardian broke through the treetops and landed on a branch just above their heads. His long wings folded behind his back as his clawed feet wrapped around the branch.
Mars ducked. “What in cyberspace?”
Litus stood by Eri, whispering under his breath, “Holy mother of black holes.”
“I’ll handle this.” Striver waved them back. The last of the leaves trickled down, floating in the swamp waters as Striver walked underneath the branch. “Phoenix, what are you doing here?”
“Allow me to take Weaver back to the village. My services will enable your escape.”
“I thought you said you can’t help us.”
His blank eyes reflected the jungle around them. “I can’t aid you in any act that would induce a war. However, Weaver’s another story. I am allowed to pluck Lawless from their posts if they interfere with our objectives.”
“Thank goodness.” Striver bowed so low his chin touched the water. “Please take him back to the village. I’m eternally grateful.”
Phoenix glided to Weaver and lifted him like a baby in his winged arms. He scanned the group, his gaze resting on Eri just a little longer than the rest, making the hair on her arms stand up. “Good luck to all of you.”
Before anyone could speak, his legs bent and he leapt into the trees, spreading his wings. They pulsed once, the sound like the folding of a giant quilt, before he plunged through the canopy and the leaves rained again.
Mars turned to Striver. “Do you mind telling me what in the hell that thing is?”
“There’s no time now.” Striver pinned Weaver’s makeshift stretcher under a log in the water. He waded through their camp, handing Eri her backpack from the end of the log. “We must run.”
Chapter Eighteen
Odd One Out
The jungle blurred around Eri as she hurtled through the swamp, tossing away an endless slew of leaves and vines as they whipped in her face. Her waterlogged boots and pants slowed her down, making each step awkward. All she’d ever dream about from now on was murky water and muck.
Riley and Striver scouted ahead, leading them through the densest patches of jungle to mask their escape. Litus dragged in the back, slowing so much the last time Eri looked over her shoulder that he wasn’t there at all.
“Litus!” Eri shouted, not caring if the Lawless heard her. The jungle hung silent and still behind her. Even the waves from her own sloshing footprints had dispersed.
“Litus!”
“I’m here.” His voice sounded so weak, it squeezed her heart.
Panting to catch her breath, she pushed through the thick ferns until she saw him, stooped over like he’d just thrown up.
“Don’t stop for me. I’ll make it just fine.” Litus wiped his face and waved her back. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and his cheeks paled whiter than the hull of the Heritage.
“You’re sick. I can see it.” Eri put her arm around his waist. “Let me help.”
He slumped down against her, allowing her to take some of his weight, and her knees almost buckled under the pressure. Eri winced and gritted her teeth, standing straight.
Jeez, he’s heavier than he looks.
“Come on, Litus, the others are just ahead.”
Eri stumbled through deeper waters, thick vines wrapping around her boots. They couldn’t have gone this way. A long, slithering worm that looked like some monster’s tongue slid underneath the surface and she kicked it away.
Litus coughed beside her. “Don’t take time for me. I’m fine.”
She didn’t have the heart to tell Litus she’d lost her way. “Just give me a moment to get my bearings.”
Litus put up his finger, the tip shaking in the wind. “Wait. I hear voices.”
Voices from our party or voices from the Lawless?
Eri forced herself to calm down enough to strain her ears and listen. A woman’s deep voice cut through the mingling of men’s whispers. “Enough talk. We have to decide.”
“It’s Mars.” Eri never thought she’d be so happy to hear her voice.
They pushed through the ferns into a clearing surrounded by a circle of giant trees so tall and thick nothing could grow in their shadows. Mars, Ri�
�ley, and Striver stood in the center of the mangroves, arguing softly.
Eri helped Litus to a rock and joined the semicircle. “Why are we stopped?”
“They’re gaining on us.” Striver shook his head. He whispered near her ear, “With Litus in that condition, there’s no way we’ll lose them.”
“So we’re just going to give up?” Eri threw her arms in the air. “We have to keep going.”
Riley’s hand tightened on the strap of his arrow bag slung across his chest. “It’s not that simple. They have teams crisscrossing. We’ll run right into one of them if we’re not careful.”
“Then we split up.” Mars put her hands on her hips. “At least some of us will get away.”
Fear bubbled up Eri’s legs until they shook. They had to stay together. She’d risked everything to save her team, and she wasn’t about to surrender anyone to the Lawless again.
Think. She peered around the mangrove. Could they climb the trees? Litus leaned against the rock, barely holding himself up. Even if the others could make it far enough into the branches to hide, there was no way any of them could haul Litus up there.
Hoots rang out as the Lawless closed in, reminding Eri of a pack of lions from the nature videos she watched of Old Earth. They were the predators and she was the prey.
“Scatter!” Mars whispered. “I’ll run toward them and create a diversion—”
“No.” Eri’s voice rang out, loud and low like a command. She tugged her laser from the holster and input the code. The gun buzzed with energy, reassuring her.
Striver turned toward her, desperation stretched in his features. “I’ll go. The rest of you run toward the village.”
Over my dead body. “Enough talk of leaving someone or splitting up. We’re all in this together, and we’re all going to stay behind.”
Everyone turned to Eri, staring at her like she’d gone insane. Ignoring them, Eri aimed at the largest tree and fired, blowing a hole in one of the twisted roots that poked up through the muck. Bark scattered, flinging against her chest and plopping into the swamp water at her feet. Smoke cleared to reveal a hollow underside. Even if the lawless were close enough to hear the gunshots, they’d think Eri and the others were trying to hold them off, not create a hiding place.
“Get some moss and drape it over the hole,” Eri ordered the group. “We’ll hide.”
“That tree isn’t big enough for four people.” Riley stood his ground while the others ran to pull moss from the branches.
“I know.” Eri turned to another tree and fired again. When the smoke cleared, she gave Riley a smug smile. “Two in one, three in the other.”
“Well done, Eri!” Striver cheered from behind her, his hands full of moss.
Riley glanced at the hole with a wary eye. “Striver and I should split up in case your idea doesn’t work.” He scanned the forest surrounding them as if the Lawless would pour out any time.
“It’ll work.” Striver pulled a veil of moss across the hole. “But Riley’s right. If they find one of us, the others should make a run for it, and only the two of us know our way back to the village.”
Riley pointed to Eri. “I’m not sharing a tree with her.”
Striver rolled his eyes. “I’ll go with Eri. Riley, you go with Mars and Litus.”
“Fine.” Riley gave him a strange look. “Don’t get too cozy.” He jogged over and helped Mars carry Litus to the other tree.
Striver turned to Eri. “Looks like you’re going with me.”
They sloshed underneath the root system, ducking through the hole Eri had made with her laser. Cold water soaked her clothes as she dragged her pack behind her. Trying not to think of all the slimy swamp creatures she couldn’t see, Eri took a deep breath and sealed her lips shut. She submerged herself nose-deep in swamp water to clear the branch. Striver followed her. He reached up and pulled the moss down across the hole. Eri thought it would cover them completely, but the strands bunched up, leaving slender cracks where sunlight trickled through. Striver waved her back from the veil of moss.
“Don’t worry; they won’t see us,” he whispered and gave her a thumbs-up. “Good idea.”
We’ll see about that. She wiped swamp muck off her mouth as splashing came from the other end of the clearing. Eri peered through the crack, hoping the others had concealed themselves in time.
“Damn technohoarders. Why do they have to lead us through this swamp mess?” One of the men kicked the water and droplets splashed across the clearing on the tree where the others hid.
“Just to aggravate you, Stray, because the whole world revolves around you.” Another man turned in their direction and Eri backed away from the moss until the bark of the tree roots pressed into her back.
“Shut up and keep looking.” A taller man sauntered into the clearing and stood in the middle. His broad forehead was cut in half by a white scar and a crooked nose that looked like it had been broken a number of times. His mud-caked hair stuck up at all angles.
“That’s him.” Striver whispered so softly Eri wondered if he’d actually spoken.
“Who?”
“Their leader, Jolt.”
She inched forward enough to get a clear look. Something glimmered silver in his sun-tanned hands. “He’s got one of our laser guns.”
Behind the man, a piece of muddy camouflaged fabric glistened on the rock face. Eri put her hand to her mouth and squeezed.
“What’s the matter?” Striver whispered.
Her heart sped up. “Litus left his coat on the rock.”
“Cyberhell.” Striver clenched his fist. “And he’s supposed to be your leader.”
“It’s not his fault.” Eri’s nails dug into the skin of her palm as she clenched her fists. “He’s sick.”
“Right.” Striver sounded more than annoyed and Eri wondered what his personal vendetta was against Litus.
“Maybe they won’t see it.”
“Let’s hope.”
The water rippled beside her, and she felt a slimy fish brush her arm. Eri slapped her hand over her mouth to stop from screaming. Hadn’t Striver mentioned something about fish with teeth?
Jolt scanned the circle of trees and leaned against the rock, centimeters away from Litus’s coat. He sipped from his water bag, the excess dribbling down his cheeks. Although the scar intimidated Eri, the deadness in his eyes, dark as the centers of two black holes, disturbed her the most. He looked like someone who could shoot a laser right through a man’s head and feel no remorse. She did not want such a villain deciding her fate.
And they wonder why we have rules…
A young man sloshed through camp, his breath heaving. “The trail goes dead here, boss.”
“Nonsense. They can’t just disappear. You’re not looking hard enough.” He raised the laser, but Eri noticed he hadn’t input the code. The gun was dead weight in his hands.
The young man backed up all the same, falling onto his butt in the swamp muck. “I’ll try harder, sir.”
Jolt jiggled the end in the air. “You’d better.”
One of the other men came up beside Jolt as the younger man scurried back into the jungle. “Why do we need them that badly anyway, boss? We have all their guns.”
“It’s that traitor kid.” Jolt’s voice dropped so low, Eri had to lean her ear against the moss to hear him.
“What about him, sir?”
“He figured out the code to unlock these fancy guns. If he dies, the code dies with him.”
Eri’s heart jumped in her throat. Weaver was more important than she thought. Good thing they hadn’t left him behind.
“What makes you think they didn’t kill him on the s
pot?”
“These law abiding technohaters, they have soft hearts. Too soft for their own good.”
Striver’s face fell, his gaze traveling to the water at his feet. Eri put a hand on his arm. She crouched next to him and whispered in his ear. “You’re doing the right thing.”
“What the…” Jolt trailed off.
“What is it, boss?”
Eri’s attention shot back to the scene outside the tree. Her chest tightened and she held her breath.
Jolt threw the camouflaged fabric into the muck. “It’s one of those invader’s coats.”
“They were here.” The other man scanned the circle of trees. Striver wrapped his fingers around her palm and squeezed.
“Get up!” Jolt ordered the men. “Spread out in all directions. We must be close.”
They waded through the water, and the ripples from their footsteps traveled right to Eri’s thighs. She bent down, huddled against Striver, and froze. The only thing moving was her racing heart.
As the Lawless left the mangrove, Eri released her breath. “Why’s Jolt so mean?” No man on the Heritage compared to his ruthlessness.
“There’re a lot of rumors.” Striver shrugged. “People say he was born with such an ugly face, his mother left him in the Lawless lands to fend for himself. Others say he killed both his parents.”
A shiver crept across Eri’s shoulders and she checked her back to make sure there weren’t any spidermites nesting in the tree. “What about his scar?”
“I’ve heard several stories. The most believable, in my opinion, is that he got it in a fight for leader of the tribe.”
“So the Lawless do have a social structure?”
“Not really.” Striver stuck a stick in the water and twirled it around, making little waves that touched her legs. “Unless you call gangs villages.”
“So how’s he in charge?”
“He has the most followers, people who are too afraid to go against him and others who want to steal his power for themselves.”
Eri shook her head. “Sounds like a nasty way to live.”
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