Alpha 9

by Rebecca Bosevski

  “We will need to use smaller ones,” Alpha Nine said, looking at the others. “We can’t lift the large rocks high enough to fill the spaces left.

  “We’ll use these?” Bravo Two said as she slowly stepped forwards, her hands shaking with the black bags in them.

  “What do u have in mind?” asked Alpha Nine. “Do you think we can cover the holes with the bags?”

  “No, look,” she said as she laid one in front of a large rock. “Here, help me roll this."

  They rolled the rock onto the bag and she grabbed one end of the bag bunching the corner then wrapping it around her hand to grip it firmly. Alpha Nine did the same with the other side.

  “Now lift.”

  Alpha Nine did as she directed, and the rock lifted from the floor of the cave quite easily. With the weight evenly distributed they managed to raise the rock over the others they had positioned.

  He glanced at her self-satisfied expression from the corner of his eye, not able to help being impressed.

  The Tangos stepped up to roll the rock out of the bag and onto the pile. They moved two more this way before the first bag broke, the large stone in it narrowly missing Bravo Two’s foot when it fell through. It took the other two bags to move four more large rocks into place. When the last bag finally broke, the small gap at the top left to allow for the smoke to escape, and a few random spots throughout remained.

  “Will that do?” asked Bravo Two, hopeful.

  “No," said Alpha Nine. “Feel the air whipping through those holes? We need to block the main section completely.”

  They scraped around the floor looking for something, anything they could use. Bravo Two growled in frustration and kicked the wall of ice which was previously a gushing waterfall. A shard fell to the floor. They all turned.

  “Don’t do that, if the wall comes down we won’t have any shelter from the cold outside,” Tango Five yelled at her.

  “There are no rocks small enough, we should just shove in the scraps of plastic left from the bags.” Bravo Two said collecting a few of the scraps herself and stepping up to the wall.

  Alpha Nine picked up a few scraps too. “There won’t be enough to fill the holes.”

  “We don’t have to fill them, just cover them. Watch.”

  Bravo two stepped close to the wall, she gingerly lifted one of the pieces up to the wall. Careful not to touch the wall herself, she pressed the bag against the cold ice and the rock beside it, the bag stuck to it easily and she ran her finger over the black plastic to ensure the seal.

  Alpha joined her in sealing the other holes, when his finger brushed the ice above his last piece he paused watching where the plastic flapped in the gust of air that pushed its way into the cave.

  Bravo Two reached in front of him and closed over the plastic, he pulled her hand away the second the piece was in place, and still holding her fingers he looked at her.

  Her hand was warm in his, surprising, as her lips had turned a slight blue. Having sealed the wall, their inbuilt temperature regulator could boost their body temperature to normal.

  "We make a good team," she offered, low enough that the others wouldn't overhear.

  Alpha Nine hadn’t let her hand go. He stood at the wall looking from her eyes to her hand and back. She didn’t pull away, and she didn’t deck him either. She stood there in silence too, but a puzzled look on her face. He could feel her heart beat through the pulse in her hand.

  Alpha opened his mouth and--

  “All okay here?” Kilo One asked, placing a hand on each of their shoulders to look between them. “Is the wall sealed all right?”

  “Um…yes, the wall is sealed,” Alpha Nine said, releasing Bravo Two’s hand and catching her looking at him intensely before she looked away. They returned to the group and took their turn sleeping as some of the others kept guard.

  He couldn't get that intense scrutiny out of his head.

  Alpha Nine woke to the whispered bickering of the others.

  “What is going on?” he called as he strode towards the commotion.

  “Everyone fall in, you there, Tango Five, what the hell is going on here?”

  Tango Five stepped forwards, the flush in his cheeks fading as he regained his composure.

  “They’re gone.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “What do you mean they're gone?” Alpha glanced back at the rear of the cave, but it was too dark to see who still slept and who was missing.

  “The snow has stopped and the weather is warm, some wanted to venture out. We thought it was a bad idea but they wouldn’t listen. That was about an hour ago and they have not returned. Tango Nine and I wanted to go look for them but November’s and Victor’s thought we should leave them out there.”

  “We did not,” cried out November Seven. “We wanted to wake you and not go off while you slept.”

  “You should have woken me when the weather changed. Who has gone?”

  “Both Romeos, India One, Kilo, and Bravo Two.”

  Alpha’s stomach turned at the mention of Bravo Two.

  “We need to find them! Surely the phase isn’t over yet. We have only seen rain and snow, there is much more they could hit us with. Let’s go.”

  They filed out of the cave, carefully moving across the rocks. They were less slippery than before. Alpha looked up at the waterfall as it ran gently over the edge of the cliff wall. It barely covered the cave’s entrance.

  “We have to get to them now, the heat is rising,” he said, taking the last steps over the rocks and onto the browning grass. “It will be too hot to be outside sooner than we think. Call out your handle if you find them, everyone meet back here as soon as your area is clear.”

  Alpha handed out the directions and they all took off, the Tangos muttering under their breaths as they headed towards the platform area they arrived on.

  Alpha Nine took the area straight ahead, he knew the breeze had originated from somewhere in that direction and the heat rose from the same. He thought it the most likely path the others would have taken too.

  Alpha Nine moved quickly through the brush then stumbled on something. He grabbed at a low tree branch to stop his fall; the branch was young and it bent against his weight, turning him as it slowed his decent.

  Then he saw him. His face mostly missing, clawed away by something large and sharp.

  Romeo Four.

  Alpha pulled himself to stand and surveyed the area, a spot of blood on the grass ahead led him towards the same direction as the heat.

  Alpha Nine followed the trail of blood drops, stepping slowly between the trees and stopping every few steps to listen out for whatever clawed at Bravo Four.

  He found Juliette Six next, she was laying on her back under a tree, eyes wide staring up at the painted sky, her hands laid across her stomach.

  Her intestines spilled from the wound onto the dry brown grass.

  Alpha Nine knelt beside her and closed over her eyelids.

  A growl grew behind him, and he spun, pulling his blade in one hand, and grabbing a fallen tree branch in the other as he stood. He couldn’t see anything, but the growl came again, louder still. He backed towards the tree careful not to stand on Juliette Six and awaited the noise. The snarl grew louder, and Alpha Nine eyed the direction it came from. The leaves in a tree across from him moved unnaturally, the middle branches lowering slightly as if under the weight of something but he couldn’t see what.

  The cat leapt at him at lightning speed, he weaved to the side, but the creature’s arm hit him and pushed him off course. His blade slipped from his grasp, and his hand landed inside Juliette Six’s stomach.

  He snatched his hand back as more of her intestines spewed out onto the ground.

  The cat leapt to the side of the tree, hissing as it readied to pounce again.

  Not seeing where his knife landed, he grabbed the branch in both hands and just as the beast launched towards him, he pushed the stick up. The creature landed against it, forcing Alpha Nine ba
ckwards onto his elbows. Thankfully they landed beside Juliette’s body and not in it.

  He used the momentum to heave the beast over him, flinging it into the side of another tree.

  Alpha quickly stood.

  The cat shook its head and stalked forwards. Its mouth and claws stained with the blood of the two it had killed.

  Alpha Nine held his branch firmly, the blood forced from his fingers under the strain of his grip turned them white at the ends. When the cat leapt at him he lunged forwards plunging the stick deep into its flesh. It fell to the ground and Alpha Nine forced the spear deeper. The creature howled, gurgled then went limp.

  Alpha Nine stood in shock for a moment trading glances with the beast and Juliette’s body.

  A hand on his arm shot him back into action and he leapt forwards pulling the branch from the belly of the beast. He held it at the ready as his eyes finally registered Bravo Two, he dropped it to the ground and held his hands up.

  “That was amazing,” she gasped clearly out of breath.

  “Thanks, I guess. Where have you been?” Alpha Nine questioned bending down to pick up the branch again, realizing there could be more of them out there and he shouldn’t throw away such a useful weapon.

  “We wanted to find some food, you were tired I wanted you to rest. We found some apples and oranges on some trees that way,” she said, pointing to behind where Alpha Nine stood now. He spotted his blade and went to collect it.

  “You should have waited, or woken me."

  "I don't need your permission. We've had the same subliminal training, remember?"

  Alpha bit back a response. "Are the others alive?”

  “Not Romeo Thirteen. He was bitten by a snake, it didn’t take long for the venom to take him, but India One is waiting at the trees with Kilo.”

  “Let’s go get them, then we can call out for the others.”

  “What others?” Bravo Two asked, walking in step beside Alpha Nine.

  “We came out here to look for you all. We don’t leave anyone behind, or atleast not if we can help it.”

  “I’m sorry,” Bravo Two said reluctantly, dropping her head.

  “Let’s get the others and get back, this heat is getting stronger and I don’t think we are past this phase yet.”

  “Okay.”

  They walked for a few minutes before Alpha Nine made out the red and orange spots on the trees up ahead. Kilo and India sat under one of the orange trees both holding huge leaves bunched up to create baskets to carry the fruit they had collected.

  “Let’s get back,” Alpha Nine called to them, but they didn’t move. Alpha Nine stopped and grabbed Bravo Two’s arm pulling her to his side and slightly behind a tree. The leaves of some of the larger trees moved in a familiar, yet unnatural way.

  India One was shaking as Kilo tried to hold her still.

  Alpha motioned for Bravo Two to stay while he made his way towards the rustling branches, his spear at the ready.

  The cat heard him and altered its direction and attention to Alpha Nine.

  Alpha Nine moved around the trees drawing the beast in. “Get ready to move,” he said, keeping his eyes on the branches above as the cat stalked closer.

  The branches stopped moving. The breeze vanished and the air became thick. He waited, watching the branches. Then he flew forwards, the branch thrown from his grasp as his face smacked into the ground with a crunch and his nose caved with the impact. A terrible howl cried out across the air, a gurgle, then nothing.

  Alpha Nine raised his head slowly, hot blood gushed from his nose and he could taste its salty heat fill his mouth. The cat lay quiet on the ground beside him, his spear impaled through one eye and out its skull on the other side. Still holding the branch with both hands was Bravo Two.

  “It was coming at your back, you didn’t see it, and you would not have seen it in time,” she said, never taking her eyes off where the branch met the head of the beast.

  “Thanks,” Alpha Nine said, pulling off a section of his shirt to bunch under his nose to stop the bleeding.

  Bravo Two stopped looking at the beast and turned her gaze to Alpha Nine. The bare lines of Alpha’s stomach glistened with sweat and Bravo Two slowly pulled her transfixed stare away.

  “We should get back, let’s go,” he said as he reached down and moved her hands from the branch. He traced the tiny scratches on her palm made when she forced the stick through the skull of the cat. She winced when he brushed a splinter buried ninety percent within the plump part of her left palm.

  “Here,” he said, bringing her hand to his mouth. He put the soft pad of her palm into his mouth and wrapped his lips over it, his tongue felt for the splinter and then he sucked lightly. Her skin was soft and salty. When he pulled her hand away, he spat to the side. “There, all better.”

  She looked at her hand still resting in his. “Thanks, but what about your nose?” Her eyes showed a softer side he hadn’t seen in the other Bravos.

  “It is fine, the bleeding stopped almost instantly. I don’t think it is broken, and if it was, it is already beginning to heal.”

  She smiled again and they began the walk back to the trees not noticing their hands still joined until Kilo One locked eyes on their grasp and they let go.

  Silently they made their way back to the waterfall's edge and Alpha Nine called out his handle as loud as he could for almost a minute, until he had heard all of them reply.

  The others made the trek to the cave behind the waterfall which was made easier by the gushing water having become a trickle over the edge above. The pool beneath had dropped several meters, and the rocks were dry and easy to grasp in the rising heat.

  Once in the cave they caught water in handfuls as it trickled down the falls, drinking as much as they could in preparation for the falls to stop completely. Bravo Two found the scrap sections of the bags and used them to hold small amounts of water to drink later, keeping them at the back of the cave where the heat hadn’t risen completely yet.

  Alpha Nine waited outside for the others. The hot wind picked up and the grass turned completely brown before his eyes. He called out his handle again, hoping to judge their distance from their replies.

  Tango Five and Twelve were not far off, so too for Novembers and Victors but no sound off was heard from Tango Nine. When Tango Five arrived dragging Tango Nine’s body behind him he knew why.

  Tango Nine’s body was almost unrecognisable. Severe burns covered ninety percent of his body, hand prints on either side of his face the only area unburnt. His flesh pulled away from the bone where Tango Five held him as he pulled him closer.

  Tango Nine moaned a painful cry as he was lowered onto the brown grass beside Alpha Nine.

  “What happened?” Alpha Nine asked, kneeling beside Tango Nine.

  “I don’t know exactly. One minute we were searching trees then a burst of light shot down from the sky. He screamed and fell to the ground his skin smoking as it burnt in front of my eyes. I grabbed him as fast as I could but he was already completely burnt. He wanted me to kill him. But I couldn’t.”

  He dropped his head. Fumbling with his hands which shone bright red with burns of their own.

  Bravo Two joined Alpha Nine and Tango Nine looked up at her, moaning again. But this time Alpha Nine heard the words he struggled to speak.

  “Kill me.”

  Bravo Two held the spear firm in her hand and brought it down hard and fast into Tango Nine’s chest. He opened his eyes wide then the life left them.

  Alpha Nine stood abruptly as she pulled the spear from his chest and laid it gently beside his now lifeless body.

  “Better for it to be quick,” she said, looking up at Alpha Nine. “He would not have recovered, only a slow painful death awaited him. This was better.”

  They all bowed their heads as Bravo Two laid Tango Nine’s hands across his stomach. His time in the phase over, but their time quite possibly far from.

  A burst of light shot down near the trees not far f
rom where they stood and they all retreated to the cave as the smell of burning grass swept towards them on the hot breeze.

  They could step easily around what was left of the waterfall. The slick moss stuck dry to the rock providing a good grip for their boots. Alpha worried that in no time there would be zero waterfall left and therefore, no protection from the building heat.

  Alpha Nine took one of the rough baskets the others had made and emptied the fruit onto the cave floor. Some of them grabbed for pieces and ate hungrily while Alpha took the basket to the falls and filled it with water. The sides leaked and by the time he returned to their place at the back of the cave more than half had emptied onto the cave floor.

  “This won’t work,” he grunted. “We have to store water, those little bags will not be enough, and you have already eaten half the fruit.”

  They looked up at him apologetically, still chewing mouthfuls of the sweet fruits. Tango Five reached out, took the reed basket from him then sat, tightening the joins, adding leaves and reeds around until the basket got smaller but the openings where Alpha had lost the water sealed over.

  “Here,” Bravo two called as she tossed an apple to Alpha. He put it into his jacket pocket and took the basket back from Tango.

  “We will dig a deep hole up the back, the darkest spot, and place some of the bag scraps at the bottom held by stones. You can fill it with water, the dirt will settle to the bottom and we can drink from the top,” Tango Five said not bothering to look up.

  “Wont it evaporate? “Bravo Two asked.

  “It will somewhat, but we can slow it down by covering the hole with the thick leaves. In the dark it should last us a day, hopefully this phase won’t continue much longer,” Tango Five finished as he stood with another tightened basket.

  Both of them made a few trips to collect water, the trickle slowing further each time, but they managed to fill the hole the others had dug.