“Simulation is one thing, you know I’m not afraid of combat or hardship, you know I’m a part of this team.”
“Of course you are, which is why you will be there with us and help Doc out. We need every link in the chain.”
That feeling of iciness returns and I go from feeling hot to feeling frozen within a split second. The room gets darker, Damian looks bigger and I feel lightheaded. “I want to be there with the rest of you, Damian. I want to help. What do I have to do to prove that to you?” I say, but I know it’s too late. He’ll never change his mind.
“This isn’t personal, Freya. I’m not doing this to hurt you or upset you. It’s the right thing to do. Doc needs help. You’re the best person for it. And you will stay out of trouble until next time and by then you will be ready. It’s not the end of the world, there will be many more opportunities to kill and die.”
It’s hard to know if he’s being sarcastic or overly sincere. My hands start to shake. He notices and he reaches over to take them in his. I pull my hands away. I don’t need his pity.
“I don’t need to stay behind, I can protect myself. I don’t need to be shielded from the dangers of battle,” I say with quivering lips.
“It’s not you I’m shielding,” he says with the most indifferent voice. “Not just you anyway. It’s also everybody else around you. We can’t afford any accidents.”
That’s it then, he’s punishing me. He’s punishing me for all the times I made a mistake, or failed at something, or was involved in an accident and didn’t apologize properly—for all the times I stood up to him and didn’t bow to his authority. It’s payback time and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I think I will suffocate right then and there in the middle of the Armory and that will be the end of my story. It’s hard to breathe. My vision blurs. I want to run away, dash across the camp and into the forest and never come back, but then Doc joins us and I know I can’t do this to him. He has to stay behind, too, and I don’t know how happy he is about that.
But Doc doesn’t know yet. Damian gives him the same speech he gave to me about the medical services and how important they are, but when Doc protests and insists that he wants to fight, Damian doesn’t shut him down by telling him he’s a danger to everyone around him. Instead, he tells him that he is too important and we cannot afford to lose him, should anything go wrong. Doc is the only one with medical knowledge and, therefore, he will always be needed more than anyone.
Doc accepts his fate and promises he will do his best to provide care and treatments to those who will need it, now or in the future. My fate is sealed along with his and I bite my tongue so as not to make him feel bad about me.
“Okay then, that’s all, you two should coordinate your mission before getting some rest. See you at midnight,” Damian says.
“Right, we won’t let you down,” Doc assures him.
I nod and follow Doc outside.
“I know you’re disappointed,” he says, taking my hand, “but we can’t all fight.”
“You’re as good a fighter as anybody else, Doc. I’ve seen you in practice. You’re skilled, patient, clear-headed. But you have to do what Damian wants you to do. He’s in charge, right?” I realize that last remark came off as bitter but it’s too late to take it back.
Doc shakes his head. “Do you want me to tell him that I don’t need help, that you should be allowed to join in the fight?”
I reach out and squeeze his shoulder. “It wouldn’t make any difference but thank you.”
We have reached Doc’s tent and he invites me inside. I like his place. It’s always neat and organized with his candlesticks perfectly trimmed, his test tubes clean and his books dusted.
“He’s right, you know,” he says as he hands me a cup of water.
“Define right.”
“We can’t all be fighters. Not at the same time.”
*
I find Finn in his bed, studying the blueprint for the attack. What I see on his face resembles fear more than it does excitement or anticipation. Finn is anxious and I know it’s not about the fight.
“What’s wrong?” he asks the moment I throw myself on his chair.
“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“For starters, you’re biting your nails, something you do when you’re really angry or impatient. Second, you look like you’ve been crying.”
“I haven’t been crying.” I pause. “I am angry, I guess, so you’re right about that part.”
He’s tired, he’s nervous, he’s busy, I can see that. But I can’t help myself. I relate everything that happened with Damian and Doc.
Finn takes hold of my hands in order to prevent me from chewing my fingernails down to their roots. He listens patiently and waits for me to finish.
“He hates me,” I conclude and kick the small table in front of me.
Finn sighs. “He doesn’t hate you. He expects a lot from you.”
“You weren’t there when he claimed that I am a danger to everyone.”
“He doesn’t hate you, Freya, he just… well, he doesn’t like anyone, not even himself.”
“That last part I can understand.”
“Is it okay that I am glad you will be out of harm’s way?”
“I can’t believe you just said that. You’re as bad as Damian,” I say, although part of me is happy to hear him say it. I’m slowly beginning to accept the reality of the situation.
“Do you really believe that Damian hates you, Tick?” Finn says as I get up to go.
“No, of course not,” I admit. “I honestly don’t know why I let him get to me like that sometimes.”
“Will you be okay?”
“I will do what is expected of me. And, yes, I will be okay with it.”
Our entire future is at stake. My feelings at this moment are not that important.
*
Two hours later I am lying in bed with fitful premonitions racing through my mind. They keep me unhinged and alert, unable to give in to sleep. I hear the distant wallows of night birds and I think I hear the unnatural crackling of leaves. I quietly lean out my door and spot someone, Finn, tiptoeing slowly away from camp. He fades away into the dark oblivion of the primal forest.
Chapter 16
The sky turns a blood orange as the sun begins its slow ascent behind the surrounding mountains. We emerged into the mouth of the canyon and out of the forest shadows after a four-hour march through rough terrain and thick vegetation, uphill and downhill, east and west. We are now crouched on both sides of the narrow pass, hiding behind shrubs, bushes and small trees. Doc and I sit in the very back and we are to stay here no matter what.
The alien ship will land in the big canyon anytime now. We zigzagged our way here to avoid obvious paths and stay as safe as possible.
The pass connects the canyon with the only path that leads to Plantation-4 and is wide enough for the landing of a big ship. The aliens will eventually have to move toward the pass on their own once they realize the Sliman escort will be a no show. Theo will make sure that they won’t be able to communicate with the plantation.
If we know anything about the ways of the alien leaders, they won’t waste a lot of time waiting. After all, in their minds they have nothing to fear on a planet that’s been stripped of free life. The Sliman escort is a matter of form and habit. They don’t believe that they need it. They believe that the humans have all been rounded up and put in pens.
Theo and Zoe will also make sure that the closest Plantation detection sensors will be offline as soon as the ship lands. That is the plan anyway. It remains to be seen how well it will work.
Once the aliens reach the pass, we will attack them from all sides before they have a chance to react. If all goes according to plan, it could be child’s play for us.
The alien invaders have grown weak over the years as we have witnessed at the plantations. They were more fierce when they first invaded Earth, or so the stories go, but they have gra
dually become dependent upon their Sliman guards for everything that requires physical strength and stamina. They are growing more and more feeble although we have no idea why.
We have also noticed that they cannot use all their senses at once, especially at dawn when they seem to be the most disoriented. Their vision fails and they have to focus on auditory signals. Dawn is their blind spot as we call it. It will give us a better chance to take them by surprise, before they have time to reach for their dreaded sensory receptor devices that can cause all kinds of terror with their release of powerful electric and magnetic fields.
Finn has suggested taking a prisoner but Damian won’t hear of it. He believes we will be hunted down like animals and completely exterminated if we do that. The aliens wouldn’t hesitate to blow up the entire district, including the Plantations, if we challenged them in that way.
They would not tolerate the idea of one of their own being captured alive. They have made this very clear at the plantations where if an alien is even touched, three slaves are taken away never to return.
It is best that we kill them all and disappear fast as lightning. We will cover up our tracks and retreat to the mountains where we have a small encampment waiting for us. We set it up months ago in anticipation of a situation like the one we are facing. It’s stocked with clothing, food and seeds. After that, the future gets murkier.
“We have started from scratch many times before, this won’t be any different,” Finn said this morning but we all know that’s not true.
Everything will be different because the Saviors will have come out of hiding and into the light, forcing the aliens to focus their attention and resources on us. The world will become even less friendly to our group, if that’s even possible.
The sun keeps climbing in the dim sky and there is no sign of the alien ship yet. I can’t make out Damian’s face from where I am but I can perceive his anxiety in his shrugged shoulders and stiff neck. My feelings for Damian are so mixed right now, they remind me of the cookie batter Biscuit makes. I can sympathize with his pragmatic view of our existence, with his fears and concerns as he revealed them to me only a few days ago. I’m close to starting to like him but I’m still not very thrilled with his patronizing attitude.
Theo rubs his hands together and then applies pressure on his temples. Zoe rubs his back to calm down his nerves. Rabbit and Scout are restless, their legs and arms seem ready to spring up for fight or flight any moment now.
On the opposite side Nya, Tilly and Biscuit play rock, paper, scissors and they remain relatively composed.
Finn sits up front with Damian and Daphne. He seems to be lost in thoughts. Not a single muscle twitches on his flexible body, as if his whole being is focused on one spot that only he can see. Is it something to do with what he did last night?
I’m now more at a loss regarding his actions than I was when I saw him slip away into the darkness. He moved with the ease of a big cat among the shadows, leaping over fallen trunks like a dancer.
My heart pounded and thundered wildly as I followed him in the unwelcoming grip of the night forest. I didn’t think about it. My instinct led me out of the tent and onto his trail as soon as his silhouette disappeared into the trees.
At first I feared I had lost him for good. I thought that there was no point to my night chase, but as soon as I stepped into the forest, I heard his light footsteps on the dry soil and sensed the heaviness of his nervous breathing.
I slowed down when I caught sight of his back to make sure I maintained a safe distance. Finn stopped after a while in front of an old, gigantic tree. I hid behind another tree a few feet away.
Finn knelt down on the earth and started digging with his knife, with what I thought was his knife anyway.
A few minutes later, he took something else out of his pocket and placed it in the hole he had just dug. From where I stood, I could not make out what the thing was, but it was a bit bigger than an apple, probably some kind of box. It occurred to me that Finn would have noticed my presence by now if he were not overly bothered by some unknown burden.
The weight of secrets and formalities between us has steadily grown and if it weren’t for the great battle ahead of us, I’d have jumped out of the shadows and confronted him. But I need him to be strong so he can protect himself. I want him to be safe and unbothered by my needs. So I backed into the darkness and let him return to the camp.
The night got gloomier and more menacing when I was left alone in the forest. When I was sure Finn was gone, I went to the spot where he had hidden the box. The ground was soft there and a little bit elevated. It would have been easy for me to dig up the object he hid, but something stopped me.
I knew then that I did not want to know what secret Finn had. I couldn’t handle one more unwanted surprise, one additional disappointment. I really did not want to know.
Right now I wish I had not hesitated. I wish I knew what Finn is hiding. That way, I’d be able to concentrate on the present and not be concerned with the past or a future that may never happen.
The sky is turning blue little by little. The sun gets higher on the horizon and we all begin to realize that there isn’t going to be a landing today. The time has come and gone.
Frustration, anger and disillusion are words that don’t even begin to describe how I feel. I glance at Theo who hangs his head embarrassed.
“I made a serious mistake,” he says.
“No,” Zoe says, “that’s not possible, Theo. I was there, too, I helped you decode the message myself. There’s been no mistake, I can attest to that.”
That leaves us with the possibility of a change of plans, or maybe the aliens found a different way to communicate their message. Or maybe they figured out it was someone else who responded to their message and not Plantation-4.
“Look at this,” Finn says, picking up a small piece of metal from the dirt. An alien type of metal like the one used to make the Sliman pulse guns.
“We have to get out of here,” Damian whispers. “It could be a trap.”
“If they knew we’re here, they would have attacked us already,” Daphne says, but she doesn’t sound very convincing.
We take the same way back which means another four hours of walking ahead of us. We’re already tired, disheartened and hungry. Daphne has hardly spoken a word. Finn walks by himself, dwelling on who knows what, and I stay away from him because I’m still upset about what I witnessed last night and I don’t want to make things worse.
Every minute that goes by makes the day hotter and every step I take feels heavier than the one before it. I’m thirsty and sweaty, and, as strange as it sounds, the more I walk, the more I realize that part of me feels relieved. I was never convinced that coming out here was the right choice.
Now we can go back and continue to grow stronger and become more competent. Besides, I won’t have to live with the fact that I had to stay behind in the trenches when everybody else had to fight.
The way back feels longer and leaves us exposed to many more dangers as we walk in plain daylight. When we finally get within five miles of the camp, it’s a little after noon. Damian sends Rabbit out to make sure the coast is clear. Scout and Biscuit have led the way so far. Between the two of them, it’d be practically impossible to miss any signs of Sliman troops lurking in the trees.
We slow down so as to give Rabbit a chance to run to the camp and back. I wonder how many times Finn has patrolled this area and then I wonder how many times he has sneaked out at night. I take a look at him and notice that he’s exchanging knowing looks with Daphne who seems to be tired and defeated, more so than anyone else.
Rabbit’s sudden return interrupts my thoughts. He comes running at full speed and in record time. He practically falls at Damian’s feet as he tries to halt his flight. Damian takes a step back to make room for Rabbit.
Damian suddenly turns pale and looks sick. He sees something in Rabbit’s eyes that can only be described as terror.
Chapter 1
7
“It’s not chimps this time, is it?” Daphne says with a blank face that frightens me more than Rabbit’s horrified features.
Rabbit shakes his head.
“I knew something like that would happen,” Daphne goes on, turning her face to the unforgiving, clear sky. She shuts her eyes immediately and I don’t know if she does so to protect them from the scorching sun or if she’s falling into some sort of trance.
Damian looks at her as if she’s gone completely mad. He motions to us to get out of the path and hide in the forest. He turns his attention to Rabbit.
“What did you see?” he asks.
“Sliman, everywhere, about three miles from here.” Rabbit is breathless and his speech is labored. “They have blocked the way to the camp from the north and they are searching the forest. There is no way to get through them.”
“Have they been at the camp?” Finn asks.
“I couldn’t get anywhere near the camp. But I don’t see how they could have missed it. At the very least, they must know the abandoned facilities are in use. It would be impossible to miss a thing like that once you get that close.”
“Okay,” Damian says, “we are turning back, we’ll reach the mountains by nightfall.”
“What do you mean?” Finn says. “We can’t just run away, not yet. We have to make sure the Sliman have been at the camp and they know we’ve been using the abandoned facilities. We can’t just guess. We have to figure out what they are doing here.”
“Wasn’t it your last bright idea that had us attacking an alien ship against my command? I told you all it could be a trap. Isn’t that why we’re here now? Isn’t that why we’ve lost our camp and our base, and isn’t that why the Slimies are hunting us as we speak?” Damian says while the familiar swollen veins make their appearance on his temples.
“Turns out you guessed right, but on this we can’t guess. We have to go around and approach the camp from the south and up the hills.”
“And what would that accomplish exactly?” Damian says.
plantation Page 10
