Everyone else had an apple in their backpacks.
So the plan to lighten my mood with food was a failure. The animal crackers just reminded me of Falcon again.
“We’ll walk for a few more hours,” Nico tells us. “We’ll pack it in for the night when we reach the post.”
“My legs already feel like they’re going to fall off. I don’t know how much farther I can walk.”
He rises from the rock bench. “If you want a bed to sleep in tonight, you’re going to have to hoof it. Otherwise, you’ll be sleeping on the dirty ground.”
I heave a dramatic sigh, which doesn’t appear to have any impact on him. “Fine.” I rise as well. “I’ll continue to walk. But only because I don’t feel like using a boulder for a pillow.”
“Maybe we can play a game to pass the time,” Gunner suggests as he hops from the bench.
“What kind of game?” As JoJo rises, she brushes the dirt off the back of her pants. “I spy would get old pretty fast. We’ve got cave walls, rocks, and dirt. That’s about it.”
“How about twenty questions?” Gunner suggests.
“If it will make the time go faster,” I say, “I’m in.”
The three of us stare at Nico.
“I don’t play games. Now let’s get going.”
We all grab our bags from the ground and hoist them onto our backs.
How is it possible that my pack feels heavier when I’m carrying less than I was before? Okay, not that much less. I ate a few animal crackers and took a few sips of water. But still.
Gunner starts twenty questions with one that I guess right away. I only have to ask three questions. Is it a person? Is the person male? Is he an actor?
Clint Eastwood.
The only things that ever seem to be on Gunner’s mind, besides conspiracy theories, are guns and old movies. Preferably old movies with guns in them.
Oh, and napping. I can’t forget about his favorite hobby. Although he seems to be full of energy right now. He hasn’t complained once about all the walking.
We go through more than a few rounds of the game, each of us trying our best to stump the others but failing miserably. Until JoJo is finally able to win with the jazz singer Billie Holiday.
When we finally make it to the post, I’m shocked that I can still feel my legs.
“It isn’t much,” Nico says. “But we’ll be safe here for the night.”
I wonder how he can be so confident. After watching a group of soldiers shoot a scared young guy in cold blood and seeing that he couldn’t do anything to stop them, I don’t have a lot of confidence in us being completely safe from harm.
The post consists of three chambers, each about the size of my trailer. Two of the chambers are lined with sleeping cots. The third contains a small kitchen and dining area.
The cots look like they’re decades old. Each one has a thin, threadbare gray blanket and a small inflatable pillow. I don’t anticipate getting a terrific night’s sleep with a setup like that.
Then I remind myself it’s a lot better than sleeping on the cold, hard cave floor.
“Males in this room.” Nico points to the chamber closest to the post entrance. “Females in that one.” That leaves the other chamber for me and JoJo to sleep in.
I notice that no one else looks nearly as exhausted as I feel.
“Get your stuff settled,” Nico tells us. “Then we can eat dinner.”
Gunner heads into the men’s chamber with Nico, and JoJo and I head into the women’s chamber.
Six cots are lined up, three on each side of the chamber. In the far corner is a washbasin with a hazy mirror above it. That’s the extent of the sparse furnishings.
“Do you have a preference of beds?” I ask JoJo.
She stares at me for several moments. “How did you get so dirty?”
When I glance down at my hands, I notice that they’re covered with black soot. I have no idea where it came from. I quickly realize that I’ve touched my forehead and cheeks multiple times throughout the afternoon and that my face is probably covered with the coal-black dirt.
I hurry over to the cloudy mirror to inspect the damage. Sure enough, I look like a coal miner at the end of her shift.
I guess I need to figure out where to get water for the washbasin.
When I turn around, I notice that JoJo has set her backpack down on one of the middle cots. I plop my bag down on the cot directly across from hers.
“I’m going to search for some water to wash up,” I tell her.
“Good idea.”
I exit our chamber and poke my head into the guys’ chamber. Their backpacks are laid on the beds, but there’s no sign of either Gunner or Nico.
I head down the small corridor to the kitchen and dining area. Gunner and Nico are seated on opposite sides of the dining table.
I clear my throat to get Nico’s attention. When he glances up at me, I ask him about obtaining water for the washbasin.
Gunner looks me up and down. “How did you get so dirty?”
I heave a sigh. “It’s a talent I never knew I had. I’m a soot magnet.”
“Coal dust,” Nico says as he rises from the table. “The caves are filled with it.”
“Yet I’m the only one wearing it like a Halloween costume.”
My attempt at humor fails miserably. Gunner responds with a forced half laugh. Nico doesn’t even crack a smile.
Nico heads over to a wooden storage cabinet in the kitchen area. He opens the unit and removes a plastic bucket from the bottom shelf.
As he hands me the bucket, he says, “There’s a water source right outside of the post. That’s why it was built here. There’s also an outhouse if you need to use it.”
Now that he mentions it, I have been holding my bodily functions for a while.
He reaches back into the cabinet and removes a roll of toilet paper. He hands that to me as well.
“Back out the way we came in. Make a right and keep walking. You can’t miss it.”
I hold up my goodies, beaming like I’ve just won the lottery. “Thanks.” The small pleasures in life.
I follow Nico’s instructions out of the post. But instead of taking a left and going back the way we came, I turn right.
Only a few moments go by before I hear water flowing. It’s a small but steady stream running through the cavern.
Unfortunately, the water isn’t the only sound I hear. Wings flutter by my head.
Bats.
Apparently, I’m not the only living being in this cave, looking for water. Or maybe the bats are hungry. I just hope I’m not their dinner. I wonder if there is really such a thing as vampire bats or if they’re just a legend. I make a mental note. If I get out of this mess . . . when I get out of this mess . . . in addition to getting a gym membership, I need to learn more about bats.
There’s a small pool where the water is collecting. I head over there to fill my bucket. Across from the pool, I notice a rickety wooden structure that I assume is the outhouse.
I head over to the outhouse, toilet paper in hand, ready to do business.
Inside the so-called outhouse is nothing more than a hole in the ground that I assume you’re supposed to squat over. I’m not sure what I was expecting. It would be difficult to build an actual bathroom here, and of course, there’s no plumbing.
The business hole looks incredibly deep. When I shine my flashlight down there, I’m not able to see the bottom of the pit.
Once I’ve done what I came to do, I give my hands a rinse with some of the water from my bucket. Then I do a quick refill and head back toward the post.
I have to admit that I don’t like being in the cave system by myself. It’s incredibly creepy and way too quiet. Even when we weren’t talking to each other, I could still hear Gunner, Nico, and JoJo breathing. I could feel their presence.
Even though I’m exhausted, I hurry as fast as I can back to the post.
When I arrive back at the women’s chamber, JoJo isn�
��t there. I assume she’s made her way to the kitchen to be with the others.
I noticed a small bar of soap and a washcloth in my backpack when we stopped for a snack. I grab them and use the items to clean the soot from my face and arms.
Once I’m reasonably clean, I search through my backpack for what I assume is the meal for tonight: a can of ravioli and a can of mixed vegetables. I also grab what’s left of my animal crackers.
As I make my way over to the kitchen area, I’m surprised to hear talking and laughing.
JoJo and Gunner are seated next to each other at the table, engaged in what seems to be quite an entertaining conversation. They’re both smiling and gazing into each other’s eyes.
That’s right. Gazing. Like lovesick teenagers. I guess, technically, we are still teenagers, but we’re adults too. Legally anyway.
As I watch the two interact with each other, I feel a twinge of jealousy. Then I get angry at myself for feeling jealous.
Gunner is my best friend, but he’s not my boyfriend. I have no right to be jealous. Rationally, I knew that he would eventually find someone to love romantically. I just wasn’t prepared for how I’d feel about it when he did.
And I never expected the object of his affection to be JoJo.
“Give me your food.” Nico extends a hand in front of me. “I’ll heat it up for you.”
I hand him the cans of ravioli and mixed vegetables. It looks like he’s warming the food in small metal pots on a camping stove.
When I take a seat across from Gunner and JoJo, they abruptly stop their conversation and stare at me.
Talk about awkward. I feel like I interrupted something.
“You cleaned up nicely,” Gunner says.
“I guess I’ve got that going for me. I clean up well.” I don’t mean to be rude, but my tone is curt, bordering on obnoxious.
As I clutch the animal crackers in my hands, I realize that what I’m feeling might have as much to do with Falcon as it does with JoJo and Gunner.
Their relationship is just starting to blossom. My relationship with Falcon came to an abrupt halt before it even had a chance to bloom.
“I’m so hungry I could eat the south end of a horse heading north.” JoJo rubs her hands together in anticipation.
Of course, this is coming from someone who took a bite of the dog-poop-vomit mashed potatoes.
“Do you need help with anything?” I ask Nico.
He responds with a grunt. I’m not sure if the sound is supposed to mean yes or no. I decide the safest course of action is to remain in my seat and out of his way.
That is, until Gunner and JoJo start whispering to each other. Ugh. Now I know what it feels like to be a third wheel. Unwanted and completely unnecessary.
When Nico finally brings our heated food to the table, it’s a welcome relief. The lovebirds have something to look at other than each other. And I have something to occupy myself with other than them.
I’ve never been a big fan of prepackaged, processed food, but I find myself gobbling down the ravioli like a hungry kid let loose in a cookie factory. The assorted vegetables taste like their metal container, but I wolf them down too.
I’m not the only one who is devouring the meal. The others have polished off their food as well.
The only thing I have left to eat is my remaining animal crackers. As hungry as I still am, I’m not sure I’m ready to stomach them yet. They remind me of Falcon.
“Are you going to eat those?” Gunner points to the cookie box I’m still holding.
When I hand him the box, he gives me a broad smile. “You’re the best.”
“Don’t say I never gave you anything.”
“Now that we’re all finished eating,” Nico says, “we need to go over the plan for tomorrow.”
“Let me guess,” Gunner says. “More walking.”
Nico gives him a cold stare, then says, “We’re going to be traveling through a risky area tomorrow. You’ll need to follow my orders without question. Your government has a subterranean transportation system that connects all their underground bases throughout the country. The only way for us to get to the Resistance’s base camp is to cross over the government’s train line. The area is heavily monitored with security cameras. One false move and they’ll deploy troops who have the ability to capture us within six minutes.”
“I knew it.” Gunner sounds excited. Hopefully it’s not the prospect of our demise that has him so energized. “It’s a maglev system, isn’t it?”
“It’s something similar,” Nico replies.
“Didn’t I tell you, Jericho? And you thought I was crazy.”
“You were right about a few things,” I concede. Then I direct my question to Nico. “There’s more than one underground base?”
Gunner laughs at me. “The government has underground military bases throughout the United States.”
Nico nods in agreement.
“But why?”
“When people do things they don’t want other people to know about,” Gunner says, “they do it underground. Figuratively and, in this case, literally.”
“If we’re going to a Resistance base camp, what are we resisting?”
Nico pauses for a moment. He’s definitely someone who chooses his words carefully. Then he says, “Those in power want to maintain the status quo. They are doing everything in their power to impede humanity from moving from the Fourth World to the fifth one. From an era of war and duality to a time of world unity and peace.
“Those in power don’t want human beings to become enlightened. They want to inhibit humanity’s shift to a higher level of consciousness and a new perception of reality because that type of shift would mean a significant loss of control.
“The business of the United States is war. It’s much too profitable of a business to come to an end. A world without war means an end to their source of massive profits.
“They don’t want people to know the truth. They don’t want to give up their control. Those in power will do anything and everything to hold on to their power. That’s their agenda. And if you’re not part of the agenda, they will do whatever it takes to erase you.
“If people realized the truth, that we are all one, that we’re all part of a singular, infinite consciousness, that there is nothing to fear and no one to hate, if people understood that love is all there is, and everything else is an illusion, there would be no more division. Wars for profit would end.
“But the truth is not part of the agenda. The longer they can keep people in the material world, in mental chains, living in a constant state of fear and hate, continually distracted and dwelling in negativity and despair, the more they can continue to profit from human misery and death.
“There is no profit in loving one’s neighbor. There is no profit in peace. Money is made from fear and hate. The war on terror is a war of terror, and those in power never want it to end.”
Gunner and JoJo look as stunned as I feel. That’s a lot to absorb.
Nico continues, “If anything happens to me, the three of you need to continue your journey to the base camp. You can’t allow Jericho to get captured. It’s imperative that she makes it to Central Operations.”
That sounds ominous. Does Nico know something more he’s not telling us?
“Jericho and the other natural-born hybrids are a threat to the status quo. They are the beginning of humanity’s upgrade. Their purpose is to usher in a new expression of life on the planet and lead the shift in consciousness. They will be the ones to stand up against authority and to set in motion humanity’s shift to the next dimension. They will set in motion the transition to a unified world and enlightened reality.”
“What if I don’t want to be part of the Resistance?” I blurt. “What if I don’t want to be a threat to the status quo? What if I don’t want to stand up against authority? What if I don’t want to lead humanity’s shift in consciousness?”
I feel like I’m going a little off the deep end with
all this New Agey mumbo-jumbo being thrown at me.
Nico’s eyes grow dark as he looks at me. Then he says simply, “You don’t have a choice. It’s your destiny.”
I feel like I’m stuck in the middle of a cheesy young-adult novel, and this is the point when they tell me, the main character, that I’m the Chosen One.
Except there’s nothing special about me. I’m not a kickass heroine. I’m more likely to be the one who gets my butt kicked. And I haven’t developed any fantastic supernatural abilities yet.
Nico reaches into his pocket and removes a shiny black stone. He hands it to me.
There’s an infinity symbol engraved on the back of it. “Does it have some kind of magical power?” I ask. “Maybe lasers shoot out of it? Or it turns into an invisibility cloak? Is it a teleportation device?”
He gives me a cold stare. As if I’ve just posed the most ridiculous questions ever asked.
“It’s to remind you that infinite love is always the answer. To every question.”
“So it’s not a talisman at all. It’s just a rock. A symbolic gesture.”
“Don’t ever forget who you are, Jericho. Don’t ever forget your destiny.”
“What if I don’t believe in destiny?” I reply.
“Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t mean it’s not true. You can say you don’t believe in gravity, but if you jump off a building, you’ll still fall to the ground.”
“And what makes you the expert on my destiny?” I fire back.
Nico meets my defiant look with one of his cold stares. It sends a shiver right through my entire body. “It’s time to clean up the dishes.”
I guess that’s the end of the conversation. For now. I still have questions that need answering.
I’m just about to ask JoJo if she’s asleep when I hear her snoring. Everything that Nico told us is too weird and crazy for me to handle. I need someone to talk to.
I debate sneaking out of the chamber and seeing if Gunner is still up. But we’ve got miles of walking ahead of us tomorrow, and he needs his rest. If he is asleep, it’s not fair for me to wake him.
Then I think about Falcon. I could try to contact him remotely. But what if they’ve succeeded at cleaning the slate, and he doesn’t remember me? Or worse, what if he figures out where I am and comes after me and kills me?
Alien Hunter Page 14
