The Preston Six Collection: (Book 1, 2 and 3)

by Ryan, Matt

  A gust of cold air blew by them and stirred the forest canopy.

  “We better keep watch,” Lucas said looking at the swaying branches above.

  “Yeah, I’m not sure if I’ll be sleeping much anyways,” Julie said.

  To keep it fair, they decided which two would take first watch with a game of rock-paper-scissors. Joey was with Julie on the first shift.

  As the others settled into sleep, he found a spot next to Julie and sat down. Studying her Panavice, she curved around it protectively. The screen produced little light. She must have had some kind of night setting on it.

  “Hey, Julie,” he whispered.

  She looked at him with a blank expression and then glanced at Lucas. The darkness hid how bad he looked. “I’m freaking out.”

  “Lucas will be fine. We just need to get him out of here.”

  “I don’t know. Look at him. He’s pale and I know it’s hurting him. He’s just trying to look tough around you and Hank, but I know better. He’s suffering.”

  Joey sighed. He and Julie never clicked like many of the others had. She was into her books and smartphone. Samantha was always closest to Julie. Samantha was their unifying bond.

  “I keep thinking something awful is happening back home,” Julie said. “It doesn’t feel right without Samantha here.”

  “You miss her too?” he asked.

  “Well duh, not having her around sucks.” Julie paused and leaned closer to him. “I keep having nightmares about her.”

  He had nightmares involving Samantha too, but didn’t want to scare Julie with them. “Samantha’s with our parents. I’m sure she’s fine. Probably worried about us.”

  “Yeah,” Julie said, but with a distance in her voice.

  He looked at her face. The corner of her eyes creased and her features sagged. He hated seeing any of his friends sad. He sighed, thinking of any way to brighten the situation—the way Poly would.

  “What’s up with that Panavice?”

  Her eyes brightened at the question and she smiled. “You have no idea what these things are capable of. It’s almost endless.”

  “Endless?”

  “This makes any smartphone look like a jerk. I’ll show you. What do you want it to do?”

  He thought about this and it seemed a ridiculous question. Then he knew something that he would like. “Can it make us warm?”

  She smiled and slid her finger around the screen and then pushed a button. The Panavice’s screen began to glow red and then he felt heat radiating from it. He looked at her smiling, putting his cold hands closer to the red screen.

  She whispered into the Panavice. The glow stopped, and cold night air took over.

  “Can it make us Twinkies?” Joey asked.

  She laughed and shook her head. He smiled back, but he had really hoped it could.

  Julie stared at Poly’s sleeping body and then turned to him. “You know, at first, you freaked Samantha out with that attempted kiss,” Julie said.

  The darkness covered the redness on his face. Samantha had told Julie about the kiss. His curiosity beat out his embarrassment. “What did she say?”

  “She just had never looked at you that way.”

  Did she know about their actual kiss on the porch?

  “Don’t look all down like that, because she does now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. She just said you were hot and stuff,” Julie said. “God, this is getting uncomfortable.”

  I’m hot? He couldn’t stop smiling.

  “You know,” Julie whispered, nodding at Poly. “She doesn’t know. About the earrings, or the kiss. I don’t even know if she realizes you like Samantha.”

  Did Poly tell Julie about their time on the blanket? He gazed at Poly’s sleeping body. Thoughts of fireflies and her warmth ran through his mind. “Poly’s an amazing person. Truly.”

  “She is,” Julie said. “Do not hurt her.”

  “I won’t,” Joey said. The thought of hurting Poly seemed impossible. He glanced at her again, curled up on her side. She was the kind of person you’d die to protect.

  IN THE MORNING, THEY SHARED some meal bars from their bags.

  Joey cleared his throat and spoke up. “We better get moving.”

  With bags packed and more goop applied to Lucas’s leg, they jogged deeper into the forest, following deer trails—at least what he thought were deer trails. Joey hadn’t seen one yet. He searched the surrounding forest, looking for a familiar part, something that told him they were not on Ryjack. The wind starting playing with his senses, the sways of branches and rustles of leaves whispered black-mouthed breaths.

  As leader of the hike, Hank stopped abruptly. Oblivious to the group halting, Joey bumped into the back of Poly. Grabbing her waist, he pulled her upright and quietly apologized in her ear. She seemed to think it was funny and nudged him with a giggle.

  “Look, there’s a house over there,” Hank whispered.

  Joey and Poly froze in their playful back and forth and locked in on the distant small house. Through the trees, Joey made out the thatch roof and plastered walls. He was scanning the area around the house when he saw it. He stumbled backward and pointed at the silver creature hitting the dirt with a long pointed tool.

  “There’s an Arrack,” he whispered, his shaking hand pointing at it. He looked at the gun in his other hand, not remembering pulling it out.

  “Oh my god.” Poly covered her mouth.

  Joey glanced at her and then moved against a tree, pulling her behind him. “I think I can hit it from here.” His shaky hand raised the gun and he rested it against the tree, pointing at the silver creature as it swung its tool into the dirt. The Arrack filled the space at the end of his sights. His finger flirted with the trigger. It was a long shot, but he thought he could make it.

  A sound emerged from the house behind the Arrack. It turned to face the house when a small Arrack ran into its outstretched arms. Scooping up the small Arrack, it held the child in a long hug.

  Joey’s mouth hung open and he watched the two Arracks for a second longer before turning back to his friends.

  “There are Arracks on this planet.” He kept his gun trained on the pair.

  “How can that be?” Hank asked and stepped closer, vying for better view of the pair.

  “Is that a kid with its parent?” Poly whispered. “Joey, put the gun down. We aren’t killing some family.”

  He complied and stuffed it back in the holster, while keeping an eye on the pair.

  “Where did they come from?” Hank asked.

  “Look at that house, it’s proportioned for them, short doors and windows. Bits to bytes, this is there planet.”

  “That’s crazy—” Hank began to say.

  “They have to come from somewhere,” Julie interrupted with a bit more volume and Poly shushed her.

  Lucas paced with a limp. “Oh great, we get away from freaking zombies and now we are stuck on a planet of Arracks? Why can’t we just, for once, land on some Hawaiian Tropic bikini competition island?”

  Joey eyed Lucas’s leg as he favored it heavily. “This doesn’t change the fact we have to get to that master stone. Consider it lucky we found them before they found us.” Although, that island Lucas mentioned did sound awesome.

  “Joey’s right.” Julie glanced at the Arrack’s house with disgust. “We should get to that stone as fast as we can and get off this planet.”

  Rubbing his chin, Joey watched the two Arracks walk hand in hand to their house. No daggers hung from their waists, nor did they have three yellow lines on their shoulders. But those zombies didn’t want to kill us either, until they saw us. These Arracks might change into the crazed killers they’d witnessed in the forest.

  “We need to avoid them for as long as we can,” Joey said. “Which way, Julie?”

  With a task given, she jumped at the chance to use her Panavice. “That way,” she pointed past the house.

  “We’ll find a
way around it. Hank, you want to keep leading the way?”

  He nodded and headed to the right, deeper into the forest. Poly and Julie followed behind and Joey slowed down to walk next to Lucas.

  “How’s the limb?”

  “Hurts, but I’ll manage.”

  Joey nodded his head and glanced quickly at the bandages wrapped around his leg. Each look sent a jolt of goose bumps through his body. He studied Lucas’s face for a second and then looked ahead.

  LUCAS HAD BECOME EVERYONE’S SILENT obsession. Normally he would have reveled in the attention, but he was too sick to notice. After several hours, Lucas began favoring his leg heavily, and the red dots on the white bandages had grown to one large red blob. Working a path through the forest was taking a toll on each of them with scrapped arms and legs but most of all it was killing their speed.

  Hank slowed to a stop and motioned them to come to him. They kept quiet and moved next to Hank and the dirt path to which he was pointing. Not a deer trail, but a ten-foot wide dirt road with ruts on each side. Joey pushed through the last bush and rubbed his legs. He pulled a few twigs and leaves off his shirt and waited for everyone to get on the road.

  “We’re never going to make it trudging through the forest like that.” Joey lingered his gaze on Lucas. “Let’s take the road until sunset. Then, we can make camp in the woods.”

  “It would save time,” Poly agreed, glancing back at the thick forest behind them.

  “We’re exposed on the road.” Julie leaned in close to Joey. “It could be risky.”

  Joey’s wide eyes pointed at Lucas. “We don’t have a choice.”

  Her lips thinned and she nodded.

  “Poly, watch our backs, okay?”

  She jostled a knife in her hand and nodded. The road stretched deep into the forest in both directions until curving and disappearing into the foliage.

  They jogged their way down the road, stopping for water and a snack before starting again. He saw the low sun through the pine trees, there was maybe an hour before darkness. He looked at Lucas’s leg for the thousandth time of the day, his bandage red with blood.

  Darkness spread over the forest and the night air cooled the sweat on his body. Joey’s lungs hurt and his legs ached. He slowed to a walk and Hank stopped, bending over and breathing hard. Joey stopped as well and tried to shake the numb feeling from his legs. Lucas kept his hands on his hips and stared at the dirt road. Hank looked almost as bad as Lucas. He didn’t want to push them too far, but with each passing minute, Lucas looked worse. Maybe he could get them to slump along for a bit longer.

  “Let’s walk for a few more hours,” Joey said, looking over his shoulder. They could travel on the road well into the night. The moon gave enough light to see their steps. Everyone agreed to the slow go.

  Joey looked to the sky, staring at the stars as they trudged down the road. The big dipper looked just like the one on Earth, or like the one in the simulator with Poly, when the fireflies formed shapes.

  Lucas coughed and bent over, grabbing at his leg. “I’m fine. Keep going.”

  They slowed to a crawl, but kept on for two more hours.

  “Let’s walk into the forest and make camp,” Joey said finally, his stomach growling. He led the way through the forest, struggling to find a path in the dark. Twenty minutes in and he found a clearing large enough to fit them all, and it was behind a small hill of rocks, giving them cover.

  Clearing a spot, he watched as Poly created one next to his. He smiled.

  “Let’s get those bandages changed.” Julie sat and opened her bag. Taking the bandages off, the red, swollen leg was exposed. His face lit up in anticipation as she pulled the white jar from the bag. She smeared the cream onto the bite, and Lucas’s face relaxed and he let out a long breath. She wrapped fresh bandages around the wound. With her back to Lucas, she showed Joey the near empty jar before stuffing it back into the bag.

  A gust of cool air blew over them and sent chills over Joey. The fresh smell and peaceful nighttime noises of forest were in deep contrast the feeling in his gut. If they did get to the stone, he didn’t know if Lucas could even be treated. Harris had never mentioned a cure.

  Julie stood and scanned the surrounding forest. Joey did the same, but nothing moved in the dark.

  His sweaty clothes felt cool with the night air blowing over them. Another chill swept through his body and up his neck. He looked at his friends to make sure nothing went into slow motion. Where were you, slow-mo, when that zombie bit Lucas? Joey sat on his pine needle bed, bringing his knees close to his chest.

  Silence.

  The weight of it all kept the words choked up in his throat. Lucas would usually be the one to break the strange silence. He took a deep breath and let out a slow release, hints of mist floated out from his breath. “Julie, think you can heat up rocks with the laser gun on that thing?” he asked.

  Julie stared at him, eyebrows lowered. “Oh, yeah.” She slid her fingers over the Panavice and pointed it at a pile of rocks next to them. A red beam shot out, striking the rocks. She spread the beam around the pile until they glowed red.

  Joey scooted on the ground, getting close to the warmth. The rest joined in, forming a half-circle around the rocks.

  “How’s the stub, Lucas?” Hank asked.

  Everyone turned to Lucas.

  Lucas leaned forward and touched his leg. He swayed a little before his eyes rolled back. Head slumping down, his chin rested on his chest.

  “Lucas?” Poly asked.

  Joey felt a weight pushing against his chest and a headache building as his blood pressure rocketed. Julie crawled next to him. “He’s cold.” Whatever color Julie had left her face.

  Lucas jumped to his feet and screamed with his hands extended.

  Joey feel backward, grabbing for his gun when Lucas pointed and started laughing.

  “Not funny, Lucas,” Julie scolded, holding her chest.

  “I’m not freaking dead yet,” Lucas said. “But man, you should’ve seen your faces.”

  Joey felt as if his heart might explode. He picked his gun off the forest floor and stowed it. Poly kept a stern eye on Lucas as she held a knife in her hand.

  Lucas sat back down, proud of his accomplishment. Though after a while, some of the pain showed in his face again, as a red dot formed on his bandage.

  They rock-paper-scissored for the first shift—Joey and Poly came up first. Julie heated the rocks again and set up her bed next to Lucas.

  After a day of running, the sounds Joey was waiting for came quickly from his friends. They were asleep, and for the first time since under the oak tree, he and Poly were alone. He held out his hands against the heat of the rocks and glanced at Poly. She scooted close against his side and held her hands out next to his.

  “This would be pretty cool if we weren’t in an Arrack world and if Lucas were better,” she said.

  “Yeah, and we didn’t have some mad man after us.”

  “Okay, so maybe it’s not that cool.”

  He saw her staring at him from his peripheral vision and kept his eyes forward.

  “What do you think’s going to happen to us?” Poly asked.

  He looked at her face. It amazed him to see the same sweet note in her eyes, even after what they had seen. He took his hands from the warmth and placed them on his lap. “I don’t know. I have no clue what to do.” How could he fill in for Harris? He hated every decision he made, thinking it would be their last.

  She placed a hand on his knee. “You’ve been doing great,” Poly said.

  “Great?” he asked. “Look at Lucas.”

  “You can’t control everything.”

  Joey stretched his legs forward, feeling the warmth on his feet. “I don’t know what we’re going to do if something happens to Lucas.”

  “I think we know what will have to be done,” she stated matter-of-factly, looking at the rocks.

  Joey swallowed and stared at the side of Poly’s face. He did know, but h
e could never talk about it the way she did. She was right though. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought it a thousand times while looking at Lucas’s leg.

  “Think they have fireflies here?” she asked, looking in the sky.

  He laughed. “I don’t know.” It was a better subject than the impending doom that was Lucas.

  “Julie said this is just another version of Earth. She said if they had the internet, she could probably pin down the exact point in history when this world turned different than ours. The smallest things can change the future in drastic ways. Sometimes for the worse . . .” she said, looking at him, “and other times for the best.”

  He bumped her shoulder and they both shared a smile. “You know, you’re starting to sound like her,” Joey said with a smile.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  The full moon stretched over the tops of the pine trees and produced enough light to see all the features of her face. She had such a brightness about her, an infectious spirit. She was pretty, but it was more about her presence—her aura. Being around her, he couldn’t help but smile.

  “Think there are Earths with no moons?” he asked.

  “I think all possibilities are played out, but without a moon, the Earth wouldn’t be stable enough for higher evolution.” She stared at him with a wicked smile. “Okay, Julie talked about this stuff every night in the bunker. I might have listened to some of it.”

  He laughed and looked to the moon.

  “You should have seen her back there, on the computer system, figuring out how all their stuff works. I don’t think she slept for more than a few hours in that place.”

  “Yeah, well she seems pretty fond of her new toy.”

  “You have no idea.” Poly eyed his body. “Can I see your gun?”

  Taken aback by the question, he looked at her. She thrust her hand out. He took one of his guns from its holster, making sure the safety was on, and placed it in her palm. She rubbed the steel barrel and wood grips, inspected the sights, and handed it back to him.

  “Just curious,” she said. “Guns are barbaric. At least that’s what Mom would say.”