by D. W. Vogel
Sara and Erik stirred at the smell of the food and soon we were all happily slurping down the stew Josh prepared.
“I didn’t know you were such a great cook,” I teased him.
“You make do with what you have,” he smiled. “We’ve been out here a while. I’ve learned how to keep us alive.” He and Erik exchanged a look.
I stood up and brushed myself off. A waft of my ripe scent hit my nostrils, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust.
“Don’t guess you have a bathing tub in this palace?” I asked.
“No, but we can warm up some water and wipe you down. There are a lot of little streams that come off the high mountains, but they’re way too cold for bathing,” Erik said.
“Maybe we could wash our clothes, though?” Sara asked. She looked much brighter this morning, too. The solid night’s sleep out of immediate danger had done us both a world of good.
“We can do that,” Josh agreed.
“Later.” I grabbed my trans. “We need to get out into the open somewhere and call in to base. We need to know how long they have.”
Josh stood up. “Agreed. Let’s climb up the mountain a bit and see what we can do.”
“I’m not up for a climb,” said Erik.
“I’ll stay here with Erik,” Sara offered. “You two go.” She was eyeing the narrow passage that led outside. I could tell she didn’t want to venture from the safe confines of the cave until she absolutely had to. I didn’t blame her one bit.
“Okay, then. Out we go.”
Josh led the way back outside. We paused at the entrance to scan the forest below us.
“Can anything climb up to here?” I asked him.
“Probably, but so far nothing has. We’ve been here three months, and I’ve never seen a big ‘saur on the mountainside. There’s not much up here for the grazers to eat, so I guess there’s not much reason for anything to be up there. Watch out for snakes, though.”
“And fliers,” I added, glancing up toward the sky. We hadn’t seen any since they took down our shuttle, but we’d stand out against the barren rocks of the mountainside as we climbed. I didn’t relish the idea of being picked off from the sky.
We didn’t talk much as we climbed. It wasn’t too strenuous, but we were both paying attention to our footing. We’d get a clearer signal the higher we got and soon the forest edge was far below us. I turned on a wide ledge to look out over the treetops. Unbroken green as far as I could see. It looked like a true Eden from here, lush and fertile. In the distance, I could see the lighter patch that marked the clearing where Josh’s tank rusted.
“So how did you find us?” I asked him as we resumed our climb.
“Heard the gunshots,” he grunted from above me.
“How have you survived out here? And what happened to the rest of your unit?” I asked.
“Let’s get up to that ledge up there. I’ll tell you the whole story.” The climb seemed to be wearing him out. He’d gotten soft in the past few months of hiding.
The mountainside was dry and rocky. A few small shrubs pushed through the hard dirt but it was mostly bare rock up here. We reached the ledge Josh had indicated, a wide shelf of nearly level ground that cut into the steep wall. Josh sat on a large rock, breathing hard from the effort. The sun was well up and it was already getting hot. I was sweating, but Josh was drenched.
“You’re out of shape,” I commented.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Haven’t done much running since we found this place. It’s pretty easy hunting around here, and one kill lasts us weeks. We dry out the meat over the fire.”
“Let’s call in to base and then you can tell me what happened.” I held out my sat trans and Josh took it to place the call. He keyed in the code and waited, but no image appeared.
“We must be out of range. One of the satellites should come by at some point. We’ll just have to wait until we get a signal.”
I looked at the map on the trans. We didn’t have contact, so it couldn’t update with our current location, but the edge of the brown mountains showed up stark against all the green. I looked out over the range and saw we were on a spur that stuck out toward the south. One solid night’s walking would bring us back to base. We would be there by tomorrow morning. There were isolated patches of green within the mountains’ valleys to the north, but mostly these empty hills looked as dead on the map as they did in person.
I walked over to another large rock. A huge insect scuttled away as I approached and I jumped back in alarm. It had a thousand legs and a fat, brown body.
“Just a bug. Plenty of those up here. Not too bad if you cook them through,” Josh laughed. I looked all around the rock before I sat down, making sure no more of those things were hiding underneath. Imagining the feeling of all those legs crawling over my skin gave me a shudder even in the baking sun. Cook them through?
“So we have the rest of the day to kill,” I began. “What happened to you guys out there?”
A cloud passed over Josh’s face. He began with the obvious. “Seven of us left Eden in the tank. Only Erik and I are left.”
He paused and wiped his face with the tail of his shirt.
“And it was all my fault.”
Chapter 28
Josh looked out over the unending green of the forest below us. Death lurked there unseen, death in many forms. He didn’t turn to me, keeping his eyes fixed on that endless expanse as he spoke.
“We left Eden base in the morning and rode all day. The tank is really slow, so we didn’t get very far. At dusk that first night, we parked and got out to do some scouting. We had a list of samples to get for the science team and we were hoping we’d find some nests. They really wanted some new Gila eggs . . . trying to make an antivenin or something. We didn’t find any nests, but we got some of the plant stuff they wanted. We slept a few hours in the tank, took turns driving. We stopped again in the early morning, and then we did find some eggs. They’re probably still inside the tank.”
I took a drink from my canteen and offered Josh some. He sipped water and went on.
“We took turns sleeping and driving all the next day. The plan was to stop again at dusk and do some hunting, then bring the samples and the eggs and whatever meat we got straight back to base. We should have been home by the next morning. We parked the tank in that open field. It seemed awfully bright out to risk going far, but Captain Roberts wanted to get started. I didn’t question him. I should have questioned him.
“I was the rear guard. We stayed together in formation, sneaking through the jungle. We all had our weapons at the ready, hoping we’d see some game. I still didn’t like how light it was, but we didn’t go too far from the tank. I thought it would be all right, and Roberts must have thought so, too, because he led us deeper in, until we couldn’t see the tank anymore. Roberts never saw it coming. He didn’t even have time to scream or shout a warning.”
Josh paused. I leaned forward on the rock and waited for him to continue. I knew this story didn’t have a happy ending for anyone but Josh and Erik.
“It was a Crab.”
My stomach turned over. Of all the ‘saurs we feared, Crabs were the most terrifying. Wolves were relentless, but they were only out in daylight. Gilas were stealthy, but if you were very careful, you could usually stay out of their range. Distraction near a Gila was fatal, as the General learned too late, but they hadn’t killed very many of us in our time on this planet. T-rex was a monster, but you could hear it coming, and try to hide or get up a tree. But Crabs were invisible.
We named them after something that used to live in Earth’s oceans, some kind of bottom-dwelling scuttler that had a hard shell. One kind of Earth crab would stick stuff to the back of its shell to disguise itself, so when it sat still, it just looked like any other bit of the sea floor. For the Earth crabs, it was a matter of defense. But Eden Crabs were pure predator.
Bigger than Gilas, smaller than Brachis, they had thick armored plates that overlapped across their heads and backs. They rolle
d in the dirt to coat themselves with soil and then waited for Eden’s plant life to take over. By the time they were adults, they were so grown-over with vines and plants that even a Wolf wouldn’t notice them. The plants on their armor attracted the same bugs as all the other ferns, so they had the same phosphorescence. In the dark, they glowed just like everything else around them. And they were big enough to stay active at night, especially since their hunting strategy required just one single movement. They waited, still and silent, with their huge heads on the ground. When some unsuspecting ‘saur—or human—got close enough . . . one chomp from those jaws could break a Brachi’s leg. Or cut a human in half. I shuddered. Roberts probably never even knew what killed him.
“Crabs are usually solitary,” Josh continued. “I knew not to shoot. It was too late for Roberts; he was dead before he hit the ground. And the Crab wasn’t going to go after anyone else. It had its meal right there. I knew the rules. If it’s Wolves, shoot. If it’s Gilas, Rexes, or Crabs, run. But my hand was on my gun and my finger was on the trigger and I didn’t even mean to shoot, but I just unloaded into the Crab. I stood there and shot every single round in my automatic right into the thing’s head. Dirt and leaves flew off it everywhere, but it just dropped its head and closed its eyes and took it. Didn’t even shake its head or anything, just waited for me to run out of ammo. Then it opened its eyes and swallowed what was left of Roberts in two gulps.”
I was sweating. I could hear the shots, feel the whoosh of bullets flying. If I’d been there, I would have run. But Josh stood his ground and fired.
“Everyone else ran like they should have. I realized how stupid I’d been. I stopped to reload, then took off after them. That kind of noise is a magnet. We had to get back to the tank.”
Josh blinked hard, squinting into the sun. His eyes were watering, whether from the blinding glare or from the memory, I wasn’t sure.
“We almost made it. The Wolves must have been really close to get to us so fast.”
He didn’t need to continue. I knew what a Wolf pack could do to men who had nowhere to run.
“It’s okay,” I said, but he cut me off.
“I was the last one because I’d stopped to reload. That’s why I’m alive. They came from ahead of us, running through that field. It was just chaos. Everybody was shooting, just firing at anything that moved. I couldn’t see far enough through the trees to know what I was aiming at. We got some of them.”
He wiped his nose on his shirtsleeve and took another drink. I didn’t interrupt him.
“When it was all over, when all the shooting stopped, there were five dead Wolves. And four dead men. There wasn’t much left of any of them. When I got to the worst of it, it was . . . I can’t even describe it. Blood everywhere . . . Wolf blood and human. Bodies all over. I thought I was the only survivor. But then I heard a noise, someone moaning in pain. Erik was pinned under a dead Wolf. I rolled the thing off him and helped him up. I knew we had to get out of there. I didn’t know how many Wolves had been in the pack, whether any of them were still out there.”
“Why didn’t you just get back in the tank and drive it home?” I asked.
“Maybe I should have. I was just in shock, I guess. But it was still way too bright out. The tank was on the other side of that open field and I just . . . couldn’t walk out into that open space. I knew they’d be on me if I did. Maybe they would have. Maybe they should have.”
He paused again.
“Erik was pouring blood out of a wound in his leg. It was getting dark and I just carried him through the jungle. I didn’t know where I was going. I was still on fire from the attack. I just moved, trying to get as far away from all that death as I could. So stupid. But after what seemed like forever, I found myself climbing up this hill and the forest fell away behind me. I was mostly dragging Erik by that point. I found this cave and pulled him inside where we both collapsed.”
Josh continued.
“Eventually I got myself together. I scavenged some wood from near the cave opening, enough to get a fire going. I had some water in my canteen and I started checking over Erik’s wounds. There were just two big punctures in his leg, and at first I thought they were bite wounds. But as I cleaned them out I realized they were bullet holes.”
Chapter 29
I slapped at a swarm of little flying insects that were drawn to my sweaty face. Josh didn’t say anything for a few minutes, lost in the memory.
“But you saved him. You got him out of there and up here to where it’s safe. You saved Erik’s life.”
Josh turned to look at me then, the first time since he began the awful story. The look he had on his face haunts me still.
“If not for me, they would all still be alive. I’m the one who shot at the Crab. I drew the Wolf pack. And I might have even been the one that shot Erik, who knows? It was such a mess, I didn’t even know what I was shooting at. I might have shot him.”
“Maybe,” I agreed. “But listen. You think a Wolf pack that close to you didn’t already know you were there? Yeah, you shot at the Crab, but really, you think those Wolves would have just passed you by? They were already tracking you. They knew where you were. You said it yourself, they came from ahead of you as you were running back to the tank. They were on your trail before you ever fired at the stupid Crab. If you hadn’t done that, you’d still have been the rear guard when they attacked you from behind. You would have been the first to go down and nobody would have even turned around in time. Every one of you would have died.”
Josh blinked at me. He looked like he wanted to believe what I just said. He dropped his eyes and shook his head.
“No, they wouldn’t. Maybe they would have got me. But then the guys in the front . . . Bradley and Jason . . . they would have maybe gotten away.”
“Maybe. But you and Erik would be dead. Look, either way you weren’t all coming back from that mission. Captain Roberts took you out too early. The Wolves were still hunting. And you just did like he ordered you, you all did. And it cost the other guys their lives. But you saved Erik and you saved yourself. Who else could have done that?”
He kicked the dirt at the base of the rock, digging a little V in the dry sand with his boot heel.
I waited for him to respond. Finally he looked me in the eyes.
“I’m not sure you’re right, little brother. But thanks. I guess I look a lot better through your eyes.”
I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat.
“You’re a hero. You saved Erik’s life, and you saved me and Sara back at the tank. If you hadn’t been there . . .” I let the thought trail off.
“Me? You’re the hero. You carried that damned heavy power core through this jungle all by yourself. You never gave up even when it was just you and the teacher. Sara never would have made it without you. And when we get that core back to base they’re going to rename it ‘Caleb City’ after the kid who saved what’s left of the human race.”
I smiled. “Hardly. But you’re right. When we get the core back, everything will be okay.”
Josh squinted up into the sky. “Let’s try the call again.”
He handed me the sat trans and I punched in the code. There was static, then a voice on the other end.
“Hello? General Carthage, is that you?”
“No, sir. It’s Caleb and Josh Wilde reporting.”
“Caleb? And Josh? Hang on, boy, I’m going to send for your mother.”
I turned to Josh.
“It’s Enrico. He’s going to get mom. She’s going to freak out.” I smiled at the thought. On the other end I could hear her screaming through the static. She came on the line breathless.
“Josh? Is that you? Caleb?”
“It’s me, Mom,” I said. “And Josh is here. He’s okay. And Sara is with us, and Erik’s alive, too. But that’s all.” I thought she might ask about the General, but she was too overjoyed about Josh and me being alive to register what I’d said.
“Where are you?
What happened? I need to talk to Josh!” I handed him the trans.
His shoulders started to shake as they talked. He turned away from me, didn’t want me to see him cry. I didn’t know how much he’d tell her, but I wanted to give him some privacy.
I shuffled over to the side of the ledge we had perched on. I craned my neck, looking up at the walls of rock on either side. In the overhang above me I saw a shadow, a wide open hole in the stone. There were some large, loose boulders and dead shrubs underneath the opening, as if a recent rain had dislodged them and revealed the tunnel. It was just a little ways up from where we were sitting. Josh was still talking on the trans, whether to Mom or to Enrico now, I wasn’t sure. I looked back up at that inviting opening, and the promise of shade inside.
It was a short climb to the hole in the wall. The mouth of the cave was tall and wide and it opened onto a large empty chamber. My flashlight was hooked to my belt. I aimed the beam around to make sure nothing was hiding inside, but Josh was right that none of the ‘saurs were inclined to climb up here. The cave smelled musty and my footsteps echoed as I stepped inside. Passages led off the main chamber to the right and left.
I’ll just look in a little ways. Just stay out of Josh’s hair for a few minutes. Just see what’s down this way.
The right hand passage narrowed until I had to stoop over, then squat, then crawl. I hoped it might open up farther on, but it got tight enough that I was afraid I might get stuck if I went any farther. I backed out until I could turn around, then retraced my steps to the larger cavern. I peeked out the opening and down. Josh was still talking to Eden base.
He shouldn’t use up all the charge, I thought, but didn’t say it. He hadn’t talked to Mom for three months. They must have had a lot to say.
The left passage started out smaller than the right but stayed open enough that I could walk upright. It quickly got dark as the tunnel twisted and turned through the rock. My flashlight threw jagged shadows on the walls.
I stumbled as the passage ended abruptly in a wide, empty space. My light couldn’t reach the far walls of this cave but I didn’t need it anyway. The ceiling was hung with stalactites, each one encrusted with tiny worms that glowed with their own blue light. The whole place looked like the night sky, blue stars twinkling high overhead. The beauty of it took my breath and for a few minutes I stood silently, thinking about a planet that held such danger and such glorious wonder.