by Patti Larsen
When they first met, Reid never would have thought the short, pudgy kid with the glasses and braces and ridiculous penny-loafers would make it even a minute out there in the forest. But Drew’s tenacity surprised Reid at every turn, and his brains and logical thinking kept Reid moving in the right direction. Reid never intended to let the kid get to him, to pierce his need to guard his heart against loss. The deaths of the first kids he met in this insane game of cat and mouse made him hesitate to even travel with anyone else. But something about Drew’s steady good nature despite everything he went through was enough to dull Reid’s defenses and let the brilliant and funny kid in.
Which makes it all the worse, of course. Drew was brilliant. Smarter than any of them. Knew all about explosives and the military and alien invasions, even if the latter made his friends roll their eyes at him.
They need Drew, now more than ever. Need his insight, his head for details. Without him, Reid feels like he’s on his own again, no matter that a crowd of kids waits for him to pull himself together.
It should have been Reid that died. There’s no way around that truth. And it’s all his fault. Drew found the old mine but it was Reid’s idea to hide in there, to close off the exit rather than seeking out the fence as had been his plan all along. The huge, hot fence Reid is still sure has a gate they might use to escape the giant forest hunting ground. But he had to convince Drew this was a good idea. And if he had just protected his friend from the stampede of kids when the hunters showed up at the mouth of the mine, the boy’s hand wouldn’t have been broken. And it would have been Reid placing the unstable and ancient dynamite, not Drew with his crippled fingers.
It would have been Reid who was crushed by a pile of rock after a defective stick went off on its own. Not Drew.
Reid squeezes his eyes shut and turns his head from the light, longing for the darkness to swallow him up. But he can’t escape the glow. It hovers there in the periphery of his vision, taunting him like a ghost of the outdoors.
This is his fault, too. Them being trapped. It was his bright idea to blow the cave entrance, to lock them inside and the hunters out. But now here they are, alone in the darkness, with no idea if there is even a way to escape. Reid isn’t fooling himself. Yes, there may be another exit. That idea is a good one. But this mine looks really old and for all he knows the secondary entrance is collapsed as well.
Reid doesn’t want to think about any of that, though. Drew is dead. His friend is gone. His heart can’t take any more.
Reid lets his eyes drift open. Not like it’s doing him any good anyway. He sees Leila in the low light, drifting from kid to kid, talking to them, offering what comfort she can. He remembers the first time he met her, in a cave ironically. So pale she glowed. She still glows, her thin blonde hair and white, white skin shining in the dim light. She glances his way but he won’t keep her gaze, he can’t. That memory of their introduction is full of Drew. Besides, he’s too afraid she blames him as much as he does himself.
As his eyes leave her, they fall on Marcus. Reid’s not the only one watching Leila. The Hispanic guy’s attention never leaves her. Jealousy surges in Reid’s stomach, punching through to his chest. And more than that. Distrust. Marcus was part of the problem that put them here in the first place. He stood second to Joel, the bully who sacrificed kids to the hunters to save his own ass. And Marcus challenges Reid every chance he gets. Now he has his dirty eyes on Leila. The surge of emotion, layered over Reid’s grief, is too much to bear.
Instead of overreacting and attacking Marcus, Reid is only able to huddle tighter into himself and let it seethe inside him. He finds himself wondering all over again what the hell he is doing there. What any of them are doing there. Dumped in the wilderness, hunted and killed by men who aren’t men at all but some kind of intelligent animals that only look human. And for the first time in a long time, Reid thinks about his sister Lucy. It’s her fault he’s here, his mind tries to tell him, his blame bouncing to a new target. But he’s never been able to hold anger against her. And if her new boss, Mr. Syracuse, did sell them out to whoever is running this horrible experiment, she’s as much a victim as Reid.
Fresh out of foster care, he should have known better than to trust the set up Lucy found herself in. No way could someone like her land a job with benefits like a new convertible and a swank apartment downtown. No way.
And so, yet again, the blame ricochets back, landing with a thud of reality on Reid. Stupid. Stupid and naïve.
When Marcus gets to his feet, Reid barely notices, he is so wrapped up in his personal torment.
“All right,” Marcus says, voice low but arrogance clearly showing through. “Everyone up. We’re moving on.”
Some of the kids groan, but most of them obey slowly, moving like little old people rather than the teenagers they are. Reid doesn’t even think about paying attention to what Marcus wants. He certainly doesn’t recognize the other guy as any kind of authority over him. But he can’t muster the energy to stand up to Marcus so he keeps his peace. Even when Milo tries to get his attention, skinny Milo with his jet-black skin and giant eyes, Reid refuses to budge. He’s counting on Marcus making an ass of himself anyway and is looking forward to it.
At this point he’ll take all the entertainment he can get.
Milo sighs, looking disappointed, and turns away to join the others. Only Leila holds back.
“We need to talk first.” Reid isn’t sure why he’s surprised she is the one to speak up but he is.
“About what?” Marcus doesn’t sound like he’s in the mood to talk but Leila doesn’t back down. Reid wants to laugh at the look on the guy’s face but it would take too much effort so he just watches.
“What our plans are.” She glances at Reid briefly but doesn’t leave her eyes on him for long.
“Thanks to someone we know, we don’t have much of a choice of plans.” Marcus isn’t being very subtle in his faintly British accented voice. Reid couldn’t care less.
“I disagree.” Leila’s calm is infectious. Reid finds himself paying attention to her, his emotions easing somewhat.
“Fine, princess,” Marcus says. “You tell us your amazing ideas.”
Reid is on his feet, his anger finally winning. He slams Marcus into the wall of the tunnel right next to the wavering bulb of light, face so close he can see the dirt ground into the other guy’s pores.
“Shut the hell up,” Reid says so softly only Marcus can hear him, “and show some respect.”
That sullen expression Reid is used to falls over Marcus’s face. Like he wants to strike out but doesn’t have the guts.
“What’s the matter,” Reid says, louder this time, on purpose. “Scared of me or something?”
Marcus is shaking. Reid holds him up against the wall another moment before letting him go and stepping away. He turns to Leila and nods once. But the look on her face makes him wonder if he should have acted at all. She is so disgusted she spins away from him, crossing her arms over her chest.
Milo, meanwhile, is grinning, white teeth flashing in the light. He gives Reid a thumbs up.
“If you two are done being jerks,” she says, “we have more important things to talk about.”
Reid backs off again, knowing she’s right.
“Go ahead,” he says.
She relents, turning back toward him, her expression softer. “We’re all sad about Drew.” Reid doesn’t move or say anything while the rest of the kids mutter stuff that doesn’t matter. He wants to tell them to shut up, the whole lot of them. Like they gave a crap about his friend. Only Milo and Leila matter there. Marcus stays quiet and Reid is grateful. Had the other guy tried to say anything about Drew Reid would have had to kill him and he knows Leila wouldn’t like that.
“But we need to go back to the entrance and make sure it’s sealed before we do anything.” Reid doesn’t bother telling her he’s done so already. “Once we’re sure the hunters can’t get in, then we go forward.”
&nbs
p; Marcus’s sullen expression softens. “You’re right,” he says. Not like it makes Reid trust him or anything but at least he’s stopped being a jerk to Leila.
“Then what?” Milo is looking right at Reid. “What do we do?”
He decides in that moment he’s done. Reid has no desire to be responsible for any of them ever again. There is no way he’s getting another kid killed. Reid looks away from Milo’s expectation and finds the rest of the kids looking at him the same way.
Marcus is scowling so deeply his face might implode. Reid would pay a lot of money to see that happen. If he had any. But that incentive isn’t enough. Not nearly enough.
“Why don’t you ask Marcus?” Reid shrugs his shoulders and turns away. “He seems to want to play follow the leader.”
Their disappointment hits Reid like a physical blow, all that emotion washing over him as they sigh, hesitate and turn away.
“That’s right,” Marcus snaps. “Look where he’s gotten us so far. And you want him to tell you what to do?” The shift is slow but it happens and Reid regrets it even while he accepts it as necessary for his own survival. “Now, listen up. I’m going to send some of you to check out the blast site. The rest of us will stay here and wait for your report.” Reid rolls his eyes. Of course Marcus has no intention of going himself.
Coward.
“Maybe we should all go,” Leila says but Marcus cuts her off.
“No, too dangerous.” He fixes his dark eyes on Reid. “You’ll take these three,” he points out a few kids at random, “and have a look.”
Reid ignores him while the two boys and scrawny girl complain softly.
“Shut up,” Marcus snaps. “You heard me. Now follow orders. You!” Reid fakes a yawn and sighs, still ignoring the obvious. Marcus covers the distance between them in three steps but doesn’t get in Reid’s face. It’s like he knows he can’t win but feels the need to bully.
Reid meets his eyes in a lazy lift of his own. “Don’t tell me what to do. Ever.”
Marcus’s jaw works and Reid can hear his teeth grinding together. He looks like he wants to say something but finally spins away and focuses on Milo.
“Fine, you go. And hurry up. We need to get moving.”
Milo reluctantly follows orders, drifting past Reid with a scowl on his face.
“Can I suggest something?” The kids all look the same to Reid but he tries to put a name to this one. He finally does just as Marcus nods like he’s God or something.
Cole.
“So, I was thinking about the electricity.” The boy speaks very fast, his dirty-blonde hair falling forward into his eyes as he talks, forcing him to toss his head like an unhappy pony. “If we can find where it’s coming from, maybe it will lead us to a way out.”
Smart thinking. From the sighs and smiles around him, the other kids are relieved to have such a concrete goal. Reid doesn’t want to get sucked into their plans but this kid stands out. He immediately smothers his ability to care about anyone new. No way is he going there again.
Marcus must have sensed the shift away from him and does his best to ruin it. “Of course,” he says like the kid is stupid or something. “Kind of obvious.”
Hope dies along with free will. Everyone else shuffles their feet and acts like they aren’t there. This must be how Joel controlled them. Bullying and belittling. Reid’s dislike of the Hispanic guy climbs another mountain. He’s as much a waste of humanity as Joel was.
Reid meets Leila’s eyes. She is troubled, he can tell, but she looks away as quickly as he does and he chalks it up to her hating him.
Has to be that. He hates himself so why would she feel any different?
It’s not long before Milo and his three trailing companions return.
“There’s no way out.” Milo says like it’s a death sentence. As far as they all know it could be. Everyone falls so silent Reid can hear the buzzing of the light bulb as it flickers its life away.
“You heard him,” Marcus says. “Time to move on. You,” he points at Cole and the boy perks, “keep an eye on that line.” He jerks his thumb at the electric cable. Like it’s going anywhere. Again laughter bubbles up in Reid’s chest but he manages to hold it back.
Somehow he doesn’t think Marcus would appreciate it. And not that Reid really cares but he’s too tired and wrung out to do anything about it if the other guy finally decides to challenge him.
When Marcus leads off, the troop of tired and filthy kids trails after him. Leila glances over her shoulder at Reid from where she walks beside Marcus. Milo refuses to meet his eyes at all.
Reid watches them go and waits until they are almost out of sight before he follows.
