by Ellis, Tara
“That would be the sound of us running out of fuel,” Hernandez answered. She watched as he struggled to reach out to acknowledge the alarm, and Jason had to intervene and push the button for him. He was getting weaker, and seemed to be deteriorating faster by the hour.
Looking out the front window, she could see a vast expanse of jungle, and what might have been a thinning of trees and some buildings in the distance. A narrow ribbon of water cut a small swath through it and disappeared behind them. “Are we over the mountains?” She didn’t see the jutting peaks anymore, and everything below them appeared relatively level.
“Just barely,” Jason confirmed. He glanced nervously at Hernandez. “Whatchya think, boss? See a good spot to set this wheezing bird down in?”
Hernandez made an odd sound before dragging his head around to look at both of them. Peta gasped and quickly moved to help support him. The harness restraint was the only thing preventing him from falling onto the floor. “Eddy!” she called, not sure of what else to do. The guy was a doctor, and it looked like Jason was going to be busy trying to land the helicopter.
Her stomach knotted at the thought. Two days training and watching someone else land a few times wasn’t enough under perfect conditions, let alone an emergency landing in the middle of dense trees.
“There!” Hernandez’s voice lacked strength, but he was still able to convey the urgency. He was trying to point somewhere to the right of them. “Seven o’clock, Jason. Next to the stream. Pretty sure I saw an opening.”
Eddy swapped spots with Peta as the helicopter swooped back in that direction, and she didn’t know if it was Hernandez or Jason controlling it. Stepping aside, she hesitated, unsure if she wanted to return to the back and try to strap herself in somehow, or stay and watch. Having crashed once already, and been in the copilot’s seat during another tense encounter, she was undecided as to which was worse.
“I see it,” Jason confirmed. He sounded confident, and Peta studied his rugged features, looking for reassurance. The laugh-lines around his eyes, and light peppering of grey in his brown hair hinted at his true age, but he had a younger air of adventure about him. It was likely his military training and experience that allowed him to remain so calm under pressure. Whatever had him unsettled a few minutes earlier had passed, or else the threat kicked him into fight mode. Either way, she was thankful at that moment that he was there.
“Might want to sit down!” Jason yelled, turning his head enough so his voice would carry to everyone. “This is probably going to get a little hairy.”
“Describe hairy!” Devon shouted back as he crawled forward on his hands and knees. “Because you need to understand, my man, that we have been through “hairy” before, and it didn’t end so well.”
“It means the odds are high that we’ll sustain some damage, and you’ll want to tie yourself down if possible.” Eddy moved away from Hernandez and leaned toward Peta and Jason. “He’s barely conscious. Do what you can, Jason. I’ll go help Tyler and Devon.”
Deciding she wanted to see what was coming, Peta sat down on the floor in between the seats, and wrapped her arms around Marty. “I got ya, buddy.” Chuffing once to possibly indicate he didn’t quite believe her, the dog then licked one of her hands and leaned into her chest.
Hernandez muttered an order at Jason, who complied without comment, pointing the nose of the helicopter down, bringing it into a rapid descent.
“Whoa, there!” Hernandez barked. “Dial that down twenty percent and bring her back around. You get us close enough, and I think I can do the rest.”
The next ten minutes was a tense mixture of new alarms, shouted directions, and a long string of curses from Jason. In spite of her initial belief that she wanted to watch, Peta closed her eyes and buried her face in Marty’s fur as they came within feet of the canopy of trees.
Then, it was over.
Bracing for the impact she was sure was going to rip them all apart, Peta sat frozen in dreaded anticipation for the crash that never came. Opening first one eye and then the other after an almost gentle bounce, she stared in shock at the view as the aircraft came to rest.
Marty whimpered before pulling loose and sitting back on his haunches, so he could stare up at Jason for assurance. But Jason was sitting hunched over with his face in his hands, breathing heavily.
“We’re alive,” Peta pointed out.
Chuckling, he lowered his hands and glanced down at her with a crooked grin. “I think you’re right.”
“Peta…” Hernandez moaned.
As the engines began to wind down, she turned to see Hernandez’s hand slipping from the controls and falling limp down the side of the seat. His head lolled to the side, and his breathing became labored.
“Open his airway!” Jason ordered, as he struggled to unbuckle his seatbelt.
Peta scrambled over to Hernandez and lifted his chin upward, which pulled his tongue from the back of his throat so he could breathe. She maintained the awkward position from the floor, as Jason bent over her and manhandled Hernandez from his restraints before dragging him out and into the back.
Eddy and Devon each took an end and laid him out, as Tyler stuffed a backpack under his head. Hernandez was starting to come around by then, and Peta sat back as he flailed at first, confused and disoriented.
“It’s okay!” Jason hushed, pushing down on his chest. “You’re okay, Hernandez. You did it! We landed, and everyone’s okay. Just relax.”
“I can relax now that you’re not on the stick,” Hernandez quipped, as he allowed Jason to guide him back to the floor. “I’m good,” he answered, waving his right hand for emphasis when everyone stayed crowded around him. “Just needed to catch my breath for a minute.”
“We can’t control your fever,” Eddy explained. “You’ll likely become delirious soon.”
Peta scowled and tried to silence him with a look, but apparently the guy also lost his ability to read body language in addition to how to be subtle.
“I imagine you won’t make it until morning,” Eddy added. When Jason scoffed openly at him, Eddy looked genuinely stumped. “There’s no point in trying to withhold the truth from him. Especially given our current circumstances.”
Jason stood and gestured to Tyler. “That’s fine, Eddy, but we’ve got others here to consider, too.”
Tyler rolled his eyes before pulling the door open. “It’s a little late to shelter me from the real world, guys.”
Standing next to Jason, Peta tried to suppress a smirk. He had no idea how much Tyler had already been through. He was more toughened against hardships than most adults, though that didn’t mean she didn’t agree with the gesture. Tyler had a habit of overestimating what he could handle, and it had already put him in jeopardy more than once.
“What about that little river over there?” Tyler called back, after jumping down to the ground. “Can we put Hernandez in the water to try and cool him down?”
Peta quickly clambered out of the helicopter, eager to get her feet on firm ground again. Marty took off after Tyler, who was already jogging toward the water located about a hundred feet away. The clearing was covered in a thick grass, and surrounded by a type of jungle that reminded her of Mauritius Island.
“That’s actually an excellent idea,” Eddy said.
Peta looked back to see Jason and Eddy already in the grass behind her. Devon sat in the open door with his legs hanging out, looking pensive. The rotor had stopped moving, and a rather heavy silence replaced the noise. Devon kept glancing up at the sky and then at the trees. “So, uh…anyone remember what kind of predators they’ve got around here? Like, Mauritius Island kind of animals, or Apocalypto, I’m-gonna-stalk-you kind?”
Jason shook his head at him. “I thought you said you’d been here before?”
“South America,” Devon said slowly, dragging out the words. “It’s a very large continent, and I was holed up in a really nice camp in the middle of Argentina, some five years ago. The scariest thing
I saw was my bunkmate’s socks after two weeks of jungle rot.”
“We’ll be in a vehicle for most of the trip,” Eddy answered. “And, we’re armed. Be aware of your surroundings, and you should do fine.”
Devon actually looked relieved, and Peta realized then that there were benefits to knowing when someone was always being honest with you. “Come on,” she said, shaking her head at him. “Let’s get Hernandez down to the water and try to figure out where we are.”
The sun was still high over their heads as the four of them carried the semi-conscious man to the stream, with Tyler leading the way to a spot he’d scouted out. “It’s pretty shallow here,” he was saying, pulling away fern fronds as they moved along the mucky edge. “And there’s a rock he can lean back against.”
Peta studied the sky as the men worked to get Hernandez out of his clothes. The haze was unmistakably thicker that far south, and the sun had taken on more of an unusually bright orange hue, same as when there was smoke from a forest fire. She didn’t know how much worse it would get, though based on what she’d read of the eruptions they knew about, they were headed into a volcanic winter. It was impossible to know what that would actually entail, since one hadn’t occurred in recorded history. But if enough of them managed to survive the prion disease, it was highly probable they would still eventually die off from starvation, when the food chain was disrupted by the climate change.
“Way to be optimistic,” Peta muttered, kicking at a rock. They could always head further south if they needed to, but hopefully it would never come to that. Staring at the idle helicopter for a moment, she then shifted to look at where the guys were lowering Hernandez into the water. She was getting edgy. They needed to keep moving, and they had a limited amount of daylight left.
Jason looked up then and saw her watching, and must have correctly interpreted her stance and look of impatience. Splashing out of the water, he loped over to where she stood and took her by the arm. “Let’s go get the maps and start sorting out our supplies,” he suggested as he led her back through the clearing.
“What about Hernandez?” she asked, already feeling guilty.
Jason shrugged. “We’ll take a few minutes to cool him off. Not much more we can do besides that, and it won’t change the outcome.”
Peta tensed, and his grip tightened in response. Stopping, she yanked her arm away. “I know!” she said, trying and failing miserably to keep the emotion from her voice. “We’ve lost him, just like we did both of Tyler’s parents and Hernandez’s partner. I—” she looked away then, unable to continue under the weight of his intense green eyes. His knowing eyes.
Refusing to accept defeat, Peta’s nostrils flared as she allowed the anger at the unfairness of it all to strengthen her resolve. Forcing herself to meet Jason’s gaze again, she made a vow that she had every intention of taking to her grave. “I won’t lose anyone else.”
Chapter 8
JESS
Amazon Jungle near Kumalu, Suriname
Northeast interior of South America
Jess sipped slowly at the lemonade, savoring the sweetness. Though it was lacking ice, it was still a treat they might not have again…ever.
Looking up at the incredible display of colors streaking across the sky as the sun dipped down below the trees, Jess welcomed the cooler air chasing the heat away. It was one of her favorite times of the day, and it was becoming a sort of ritual for Akuba to join her on the patio after dinner. They would sit there and silently let the colors wash over them. Then, as twilight fell, they’d begin talking about the day.
They’d stopped having their conversations under the stars. The world was a different place that didn’t allow for such things anymore. What used to simply be a dark yard was suddenly a vast space potentially occupied by predatorial animals, or worse.
Jess jerked at the sound of the screen door being pulled open behind her, and then laughed at herself when she saw Kavish. He was yawning, and had a cup of something steaming in one hand and a rifle in the other. The generator was humming from around the side of the house. It would accommodate their final tasks of the day before leaving everything for the night to devour.
“Did you manage to sleep the whole afternoon?” Akuba asked, as he stepped out onto the patio.
“Mostly. About five hours, anyway.” Kavish said, taking a sip of his brew. “I found the dinner you left for me. Thank you.”
“How are you going to watch over the whole place?” Jess asked, gesturing to the rifle. “That doesn’t seem like enough. I still think it’d be better if you let me sit up in the loft of the barn. The window up there would be a good lookout.”
“We’ll be okay.” Kavish jutted his chin out toward the buildings in the distance. “Paul is meeting me at the barn. We’ll be keeping in contact with some two-way radios I found. Did he tell you that he used to be a police officer? It was over twenty years ago, but the guy still knows what he’s doing when it comes to patrolling and handling a weapon.”
“You and I need to get our sleep, so we can get the work on the preserve done tomorrow,” Akuba said to Jess before turning to Kavish. “We’re going to need more people. She’s right, that we can’t keep up this pace with just the few of us.”
Jess scrutinized Akuba, concerned with the hollowness in her voice. She was always the positive one, but since the jaguars showed up two nights before, she’d been distracted. Distant, like she wasn’t as confident anymore about what they were doing.
Kavish was nodding. “Yes, I agree. Slaider will go to his village tomorrow to see if anyone went back, but there is too much unrest in town to do more than that. Eventually, we’ll go out and bring more survivors to the preserve. Together, with the right people, we can work on expanding the gardens. We’ll collect more livestock from other abandoned farms, and cultivate all of it while protecting ourselves.”
The bad feeling swimming around in Jess’s stomach was growing. “When you say the right people, are you talking about the ones who are immune? What about anyone who’s gotten better?”
Kavish shifted so that he was staring out at the darkening jungle, and not at Jess. “Those who have suffered the Kra Puru won’t choose to be with us.”
“How do you know that?” Jess insisted. She turned to Akuba, and was dismayed to see that she wouldn’t make eye contact with her, either. “I know you believe they don’t—that they don’t have souls.” Her voice hitched, but Jess was determined to get the words out. “If we start doing the same stuff as them, and don’t help everyone that we can, aren’t we the ones acting like our souls are gone?”
Akuba and Kavish exchanged a look before he shook his head and walked away. The first of the stars twinkled to life far above his head as Jess watched him leave, and crickets began their serenade in the gathering shadows.
“We will always welcome anyone who seeks refuge here,” Akuba said, after he was far enough away not to hear her. Reaching out to take Jess’s hand, she looked more like her old self when her eyes scrunched up with a smile. “Kavish may think he is right, but I still have hope that he isn’t.”
Feeling somewhat reassured, Jess smiled back before taking the last swallow of her lemonade. She debated whether to bring up the brewing question about what killed the chickens, or the fact that they were already running low on some supplies. Instead, she surprised herself by asking the one thing that scared her most. “Did you know?”
Akuba pulled her hand back, and stared silently at Jess for a moment. She opened her mouth as if to ask what she was talking about, but then closed it. There was really only one topic that hung unanswered between them.
Jess leaned toward her, her desire for the truth building since she’d said the words aloud. “Do you know if he’s my dad or not?”
If Akuba had tried to make up excuses for why he said he wasn’t her father, or attempted to brush her off, Jess might have been able to make herself believe it wasn’t true. Except the silence dragged out for too long, and Akuba held her star
e for a fraction of a second before looking away.
The bad feeling she’d made some progress against blossomed again, bringing some nausea along with it. Jess set her empty glass down, already regretting the acidic drink. Her mouth watered, and she opened her mouth as she tried to gulp in a bigger breath of air to clear her head. “How—I don’t understand.”
Akuba grimaced as she stood, and then began pacing the open space between the chairs on the deck, wringing her hands together. “I was only sixteen when your dad came home with his new bride,” she began, and then plopped back onto the lounge so that they were at eye-level. “Since your father had seen to it that I was schooled properly, I was able to do the math.”
Jess watched as the last of the fiery orange tendrils faded from the sky, to be replaced by more stars. She could have guessed what Akuba was going to say, but she needed to hear it. So, she kept her face tilted up, out of fear that meeting Akuba’s eyes would make her stop.
Akuba pulled her legs up onto the lounge and hugged her knees to her chest. “They’d met just four months before getting married, during the first week your dad was in California. You were born less than three months after they returned. At nine pounds and healthy, you were obviously full-term.”
Jess sat stoically listening, not sure how she should feel. She was numb, and briefly wondered if that was what it was like to be one of the Cured.
“It never mattered to him, Jess,” Akuba urged. She scooted to the edge of the chair and pointed a finger at her. “He always treated you like his daughter. You are his daughter, in every way that matters.”
“Do you—” her voice cracked, forcing Jess to swallow and then clear her throat. “Do you know who my mom…who my biological dad is?”
Again, Akuba was shaking her head. “If they ever spoke of him, I never heard it. She would have only been two or three months pregnant when she met Dr. Davies. There’s a chance the other man never knew. As far as your parents were concerned, Dr. Davies was your dad, and they never said or acted any other way.”