“Good job, Kilo,” Alpha Nine praised as he, Bravo Two and Victor Ten joined them. “If anyone else had tried to help, the weight would have sent us all over the edge.”
Kilo One nodded and lowered his arms. “So which way then?” he asked, looking around.
“The water is close. Let’s move,” Alpha said, pointing to a thinned section of trees to his left. “There is light this way, we might be able to get eyes on it.”
They followed closely behind Alpha Nine, taking quick silent steps through the trees towards the warming light. When Alpha Nine took his first step through the tree line he stopped. “Keep back,” he said to the others as he raised a hand to beside his head. “It’s lava.”
“It’s what?” Victor Ten asked, taking a step beside him to get a look. A river of red bubbling heat moved before them. Rocks floated on its thick surface, licked by the flames of heat. “On the other side, look.”
Across from the river of fire, a mist rose from behind another small tree line. “The water,” Alpha Nine said, smiling as he felt Bravo Two move to his other side.
“How do we get across?” she asked, reaching out to touch his arm, but pausing, her fingers only a few centremeters away. “We can’t go around, there isn’t time.”
“We jump,” Kilo One offered like it was no big deal.
“We what?” Bravo Two asked, “You can’t be serious.”
“Deadly. If we run from there,” he said, pointing at a large rock about fifteen meters back. “With our superior physique and speed, I calculate between sixty-three and ninety eight percent success.”
“That is a big margin,” Alpha Nine said, looking to the others.
“The shorter of the group--the Juliettes--will struggle to obtain enough height to clear the larger of the floating rocks, they are on the lower end of my percentage for success.”
“What if they don’t try to clear them?” Bravo Two asked. “What if they wait for one of the larger rocks to pass and take the lake in two strides, using the rock to springboard to the other side.”
Kilo One tilted his head as he ran the numbers. “That would bring our overall success to equal ninety eight percent. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” His lips twisted as his brow creased in frustration.
“You can’t think of everything,” Alpha Nine said, beginning his walk back to the large rock Kilo One had pointed to. “Okay, who wants to go first?”
All their arms shot up. Alpha smiled. All of them joined him by the rock. “Take it in pairs, once over stay alert and await the rest of us.”
Kilo One and India One took off first. Their quick steps stirring the leaves on the ground behind them. When they hit the edge, they sprung forwards, soaring across the lake of lava and landing light-footed on the other side, easily a meter from the edge.
“Great job,” Alpha Nine called as the next two took their place. They jumped two by two until only the three Juliettes, Alpha Nine, and Bravo Two remained. “Juliettes, you will go next, take it one at a time. Get as much speed as you can.”
Juliette Eight nodded and took a controlled breath as she lowered herself to a running start. After a few seconds a large rock came into view floating in the thick lava.
“Okay, here goes everything,” she said as she took off. When she hit the edge, Kilo’s prediction was accurate, she would not have had enough height with her shorter legs to have landed across the lake in one leap. But she did reach the rock and in one swift movement she landed and sprung off again towards the awaiting group on the other side.
Before anyone could say anything, Juliette Fifteen took off next. She leapt onto the large rock that bobbled along on the surface of the lava and catapulted herself across to the other side.
“Okay, guess it is my turn now,” Juliette Six said, taking the same stance as Eight. Her fingers dug into the dirt, the heat from the lake extending to the soil around it. She turned her toe to get a firm grip to launch. When she saw a dark section on the lake approaching she took off. It wasn’t until she leapt that she saw it wasn’t a rock at all, but a thicker hardened section of the lava itself.
It was too late. She landed and spring-boarded off the hardened lava. It cracked red lines under her weight as she leapt off it towards the edge. Larva spurted from the cracks and covered the tip of her boot. It immediately smoked under the heat and as soon as she landed, Kilo One had it stripped off her and was wiping away the lava on the dirt.
Alpha Nine and Bravo Two landed in perfect sync beside the group. “Is she okay?” Alpha Nine asked, looking to Kilo One. “Did it burn her?”
“She is fine, it only got on her boot and even it took it pretty well. Look.” He held up the boot in his hand, the shoe had a thick streak of blue black across it. A mixture of the combat boot material and the dirt Kilo had used to wipe away the lava. “It didn’t even make it past the top layer.” He tossed the boot to Juliette Six then stood up and brushed himself off. “So are we ready to get to that water or what? Surely the others are there by now.”
“Hopefully they didn’t find it as difficult as us to get there,” Alpha Nine replied, taking a step towards the sound of the gushing water.
The air cooled and the painted sky above them changed to a dark grey. Droplets fell over them again; the rain had come.
“Grab what dry kindling you can and shove it under your jackets, if the rain soaks everything we won’t be able to start a fire,” Alpha Nine called to them.
They all grabbed dry grass and branches from the ground, stuffing their tight-fitting jackets until they barely closed.
When they reached where the mist rose by the tree line they stood in awe of the beauty awaiting them.
A rainbow of light streaked across the mist that rose from where a grand waterfall berated the pool beneath.
“Down this way,” November Ten said, beginning her descent. “There is a path here we can follow to the bottom.”
“Take the lead.” Alpha Nine nodded towards her. “I will take the back, be careful.”
They all filed in after November Ten taking the path one by one down towards the edge. The sound of the water gushing by and pounding against the pool seemed to grow the further down they trekked.
When Alpha Nine took the last steps to the area below he alone moved closer to the water’s edge.
“What are you looking for?” Bravo Two asked him.
“There,” he said, pointing at the falls. “Do you see it?”
“A cave!” Bravo Two exclaimed in excitement. “But how do we get inside, and where are the others?”
“They will be here, we made it, they will too.”
“But we didn’t all make it,” Kilo One said, coming to stand beside them to look for a way into the cave. “The rocks are slick with slime, it would be difficult, but not impossible.”
“It looks like it might be our only option,” Alpha Nine said, turning to address the awaiting group. The winds picked up and whipped at his skin. “There is a cave behind the falls. We must cross the rocks, they are slippery and dangerous, but we have made it this far, we can do this, too.”
“How can we climb rocks when we have to carry all this stuff?” Victor Ten asked.
“Here,” Bravo Two said, walking behind him to a large leafy plant. She pulled several leaves from the main stem and brought them over to Victor Ten. “Lay a few items on here, then wrap it with vine, then we can lash it to us.”
They each grabbed several more leaves and vines and tied the various rocks, grass and sticks into bundles.
“If the branches get wet, we won’t have fire, these leaves won’t cut it,” Alpha Nine said looking over the roughly tied bundles.
“We can use this,” came the call from Tango Twelve as he stepped out with the remainder of his group close behind. All except Zulu One.
“Where is Zulu One?” Alpha asked, and the group’s faces paled.
“She fell from a tree, neck snapped, nothing we could do,” Tango Twelve replied flatly. “She got us
these though, so not a wasted death." He held up three black plastic bags. “They were caught in the leaves of the tree. Think it will work?”
Alpha Nine grinned. “It will work.”
“Great, don’t leave without us,” said Bravo Ten as her group stepped out to join them, bundles of items in their arms, from fruits to dry branches. “I don’t think we have long, where is this shelter?”
“It’s behind the waterfall,” Alpha Nine said, pointing at the gushing water running down the rock face. They bagged up the dry items and rolled up more of the large soft leaves, tying them up with vines to secure them, then lashing them to their backs. All of them carried something to evenly divide the weight.
Alpha Nine stepped onto the first rock, his boot sliding a little before the grooves gripped the slimy surface. “Watch that first rock,” he called back to the others. “It is slicker than I thought.”
Alpha Nine climbed along the edge of the falls. The others following a few rocks back. A burst of lightning shot past the group, hitting the grass where they had stood bundling their items.
“That was close,” Bravo Two said, pulling herself up to the next rock, almost to the back of the wall of water, the cave, and safety.
There was another strike, and then another. They kept coming faster and faster as they edged their way towards safety. Alpha rolled in first, quickly followed by the others, until there was another crack--this one followed by a scream.
Juliette Fifteen was last in line to make the climb to the cave. Those inside leapt towards the edge to see, Alpha Nine first to the opening, he stepped out when Whisky Eleven stopped him.
“Look,” she said pointing to a slight break in the wall of water. “You can see her.”
Alpha Nine looked through the gap in the falls. Whisky Eleven was right, Juliette Fifteen floated face down in the water, the smoke still billowing from where her combat suit had been hit by the lightning strike.
“She is gone,” Alpha Nine said as he turned to face the group. “Let’s start a fire and check out this cave. For all we know there is more in here to fear than out there.”
They all came to attention at that revelation and fell in line, Bravo Two and Kilo One worked on the fire while the others sorted through their supplies. Alpha Nine and Whisky Eleven investigated the cave. It wasn’t very deep; it took only a few steps past where the light faded into darkness to find the rear wall.
Their eyes adjusted quickly thanks to their altered genes, and they both slumped a little at the sight of where the cave narrowed at the back, barely big enough to fit either of them. Whisky Eleven was smaller so he crawled through the small section to search for anything that could help or hinder their situation.
“There is nothing here,” Whisky Eleven whispered to Alpha Nine. “It just ends.”
“Can you crawl back out?” Alpha Nine asked, into the hole. “Do you need help?
“I’ve got it,” Whisky replied, making his way backwards out of the tight space. “But I was thinking, what if this cave is a trap, what if by coming in here we fail. The elements are out there; it is what is out there that we are supposed to survive, isn’t it?”
“We are better off in here, the test is surviving the elements and we stand a better chance of doing that taking shelter in this cave.” Alpha ran his hand over the coarse rock wall as he returned to the group.
Whisky Eleven grabbed his arm pulling him away from the wall.
“This is the best course of action,” Alpha Nine glared.
“I know,” Whisky Eleven said, hands raised. “Look,” he pointed to the wall behind Alpha.
Alpha Nine turned to see what looked like a centipede wriggling along the stone right by where he had been running his hand a moment before Whisky Eleven had grabbed him.
“It can’t have all those spikes and not be dangerous.”
“Thanks,” Alpha Nine said, stepping back from the wall. “We will stay around the fire; it should keep any bugs away.”
They returned to the group as the spark ignited the kindling for their fire. The others had taken the large leaves and laid them out across the floor of the cave to create a soft base for them to sit on. The wind howled outside and the lightning cracks came quicker. One struck the top of the falls and the force of it shook the walls of the cave.
The wind changed direction, it whipped directly at the falls, strong enough to send spouts of water towards their fire.
“We have to move deeper in,” Bravo Two said as she stepped up to begin moving the large leaves.
“Down!” Alpha Nine called, as a large branch came flying through the waterfall straight towards them. He lunged at Bravo Two catching her around the shoulders and bringing her down hard against the ground as the branch soared over them, raining water over the group before it hit the wall at the back of the cave.
Bravo Two shoved Alpha off of her and pushed herself up to stand. “Like I said, let’s move.” They all began to head for the back of the cave. Bravo Two took a step then paused and turned to offer him a hand. He didn’t need her help but took her hand anyway. Her skin was soft and warm.
“Thanks for before,” she said letting go and turning to make her way to the back with the others.
Alpha Nine didn’t say anything. He watched her go, impressed by her yet again, and his stomach spun.
They headed towards the back of the cave, its area narrowing the deeper they went. They couldn’t move the whole fire, a few of them carried branches still alight from the last fire to start a new one.
“So who is hungry?” Kilo One asked, holding the hare up by its back legs for all to see. “I say we eat.”
A mix of nods and murmured agreement met his words as they each took a place around the new fire. The waterfall continued to be hit by the winds and the water flying in devoured their first fire in a few seconds. The sky darkened and a couple more branches flew in. They took shifts to watch for dangers.
After eating their share of the hare, they thought best to get some rest. Alpha Nine took first shift along with Tango Twelve, Zulu Three, Novembers Seven and Ten, and Romeo Thirteen while the others slept in huddled groups around the fire.
“I can’t hear the wind anymore,” Zulu Three said, walking towards the opening of the cave. “Even the water seems to have slowed, don’t you think?”
“The air is changing,” Alpha Nine said, mist escaping with each breath he took.
Tango Twelve held his hand up towards the falls, it slowed and crackled as the water froze in a second locking his hand within its ice wall.
“Help!” he screamed to the others as he tried to pull his hand away. “It’s stuck, I can’t move.”
Romeo Thirteen grabbed a branch from the fire and rushed over to try to thaw the ice wall and free his hand. But the water froze as fast as it thawed.
“Here,” November Ten said, walking over with a knife.
“Wait, what the hell are you going to do with that?” Tango Twelve cried as he tried again and again to pull his hand free.
“Calm down, I am not going to cut your hand off,” she said, striding up to the wall careful not to touch the ice wall herself. “If Romeo can hold the fire a bit closer, I might be able to chip away at the ice behind your hand, then when your hand is off the wall, you should be able to melt whatever ice is still stuck to it.”
“Okay,” Tango said, nodding to Romeo Thirteen to begin.
November Ten was as skilled as any with a knife, another benefit to the subliminal training they received while in their pods. But even with her skill and the aid of the fire they couldn’t free Tango's hand. The wall creaked again and shuddered.
“Get back,” Alpha Nine called to Romeo and November. “There is something happening to the wall.”
“GO!” Tango screamed at them. “I can feel it shifting, there isn’t time.”
Romeo moved but November Ten stood firm. “I’m not leaving you,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. The wall moaned and white cracks formed along its surf
ace.
“You don’t have a choice,” Tango Twelve said and as the wall creaked. He put his other arm against the cold cracking surface and kicked November Ten in the stomach. She flew away from him, her eyes wide. The wall of ice crumbled over the edge of the cave taking Tango Twelve with it. The echo woke the others and they scrambled to the cave entrance to see what had happened.
For a moment, they took in the area, not recognising it. Every tree and every blade of grass was covered in a blanket of white. Alpha peered over the edge, the jagged chunks of the ice wall lay at the bottom of the cave, Tango Twelve’s broken and bloodied body in pieces scattered across the glassy ice.
Bravo Two pulled him back as the water again flowed freely over the falls. By the time the whole group had joined Alpha Nine at the opening to the cave, the wall of ice was back in place.
“What happened?” Juliette Six asked, coming up to try and look though one of the small openings in the wall of frozen falls.
“Don’t touch the ice!” Alpha Nine yelled just as she was about to lay her hand upon it. “We lost Tango Twelve.”
“What?” Bravo Seven asked. “How?”
“His hand was caught, frozen within the wall. The wall crumbled and took him with it over the edge,” Alpha Nine replied, never taking his eyes off Juliette Six as she moved closer to the wall.
“It’s snowing.” She squinted through the hole but kept her distance from the wall itself. “This wall will help keep the cold out, but if we don’t seal the openings the cold air will get in and we will freeze before morning.”
Tango Five and Nine stepped up with Juliette Six. “We can seal the gaps if we block the holes with rocks,” Tango Five said picking up a small rock from the ground. “We would need some bigger ones for those gaps at the side though.”
The snow flew through the gaps, almost as if the wind were aware they had a plan to keep it out.
They looked at the rock walls around them, some large stones lay along the sides of the cave, they were too heavy to lift on their own. Tango Five and Nine put all their force behind one stone closer to the frozen falls, slowly rolling it towards the gap where the air and snow whistled through like shards of ice. Tango Five’s lips went blue as he took the full gust before they got that rock into place. The others searched the cave for more rocks, working together to roll the stones over to the gaps in the wall.
Alpha 9 Page 4
