Despite all the birds and insects flying through the air, no doubt fleeing the dome, he didn’t hear much wildlife, not like when he’d first come to the island. All he could really hear now was a small stampede of mutant boars screaming somewhere in the distance. They were likely running away from the dome wall or actively burning. It was a grim thought.
He dutifully kept searching, staying low and cautious. Then finally when he peeked over a large overgrowth of what looked to be freshly grown plants, Cole felt his face split into a wide grin.
When he’d touched the plants, he’d felt them, like music. He put his hands on the plants again, and at his suggestion, they moved apart, revealing a group of shaking, exhausted people. Isla, Nadia, Jarret, and Annie--they were all there, alive.
Cole fell to his knees, hugging Jarret. "I thought you guys were dead," he whispered.
Jarret returned the embrace, wiping tears from his face. "Holly?"
Cole swallowed hard at her name, barely able to keep his composure. Nadia gasped, and Isla pressed her face into Annie's chest. The older woman looked at Cole with a grave expression. She said, "You've burned through at least a decade or two now, haven't you, Efrem?"
Everyone seemed stunned by how intelligent and...solid she’d sounded. Annie Satin had swung in and out of lucidity throughout the entire time under the dome. This was the clearest she had ever looked or sounded. But then just like that, she was gone once again, her eyes glazing over.
Cole nodded in response. He gently touched her, reassuringly, and felt a pulse coming through her that was powerful, deeper than her heartbeat. He pulled back a little, surprised. It made sense that Annie had a power seed too, but he needed to cover their immediate situation with the others before exploring that thought further. He asked, “Did you see the portal or Dolos?"
Jarret shook his head. "No, man. We did see Kiddy, though."
Nadia pressed her rabbit's foot into Jarret's hand. He closed his fingers around hers and said, "I kept us safe."
Cole suddenly noticed how gaunt and grey his friend looked compared to only half an hour earlier. The edges of Jarret’s eyes were lined with crows' feet. Jarret had probably burned through as much fuel and as many years as Cole had. He had obviously strained to keep everyone safe, hidden from the sight of dangers like Kiddy.
Jarret was a hero.
Isla pushed herself away from Annie, offering her hand to Cole. She said, "I'm sorry about your girlfriend."
Cole wanted to say it was okay, he just couldn’t. He jerkily nodded instead.
He reined himself in again, focusing on the mission. If it wasn't possible for everyone to live, then Isla would go through the portal. She’d been there when they all voted, so she knew what was going on. Cole said, "It's about a five-minute climb up from here to the clearing where the exit will be. The walk from here is steep. If it comes to a fight in front of the portal, we will do everything we can to protect you while you run through. Got it?"
Isla's lips trembled. She bit down on it, like she’d spent most of her life hiding what she really felt--she probably had. Cole put a hand on her shoulder. "Isla, we want you to go through the portal. It will give our lives meaning if you do. But if you don't..."
"All of this will mean nothing," Annie finished, her voice strong again. Cole couldn't tell if she was coming around to being more...focused. He didn't have much experience with mental health.
Annie smiled. "You know, my husband and I always wanted to travel around the world together. I waited for him for years. Each night he was away in Morocco or Bangladesh or wherever the government needed him, I found ways to be alone at home. It was torture. But Sheriff is Sheriff. He stopped bad people, very bad people, from hurting anyone else ever again. Over the last few years when I was waiting, sometimes I played checkers online. You know, we both agreed that after he retires, we’re going to finally go to Costa Rica. My grandparents are from there, you know."
"Mrs. Satin?" Nadia asked cautiously.
Annie looked up at her. "Sorry, dear? Oh, yes."
Her gaze trailed from person to person, recognition slowly growing on her face and her lip began to tremble. By the time her eyes landed on Cole again, Annie was quietly sobbing. "He's gone, Cole. His spark. I can't feel it anymore. He's gone. He's gone. He's gone. He's gone."
She kept repeating the phrase, her voice growing more ragged. Cole could feel that odd pulse from her begin to grow, and his instincts shouted that she was dangerous. He grabbed Isla's hand and attached it to Nadia’s. "You guys go. Find the portal and make sure Isla goes through. I don't care if she's kicking and screaming. I want her through."
Jarret looked stunned, but backed away from Annie, whose head had snapped up to the sky. The air around her thickened and buzzed. Jarret whimpered, "What are you doing, Annie?” He looked around wildly. “What is she doing?”
Cole stood up. "Go. Now. I have the ability to mimic powers. Maybe I can--"
Light flashed from Annie, blinding Cole. Something surged through him, and he crashed backward into a pile of broken sticks. The sound of thunder split the air. Groaning, Cole pushed himself up. When he saw that Isla had been thrown too, he ran to her. Thankfully, she was awake and just bruised. They’d both been knocked up the hill away from Annie far enough that Cole was amazed they hadn’t broken every bone in their bodies, power seeds or no.
Down the hill a ways, Nadia was getting up with Jarret. She held on to him for support. The two of them hadn’t been sent flying as far as Cole and Isla, so they stood between them and Annie. Behind them, the older woman was screaming now, shouting to the sky. Sparks and thin tendrils of electricity crackled around her like brief flashes of spider webs.
Cole grimly stomped forward. Maybe he could use his powers to dissipate the electricity, to absorb Annie’s power, but he needed to save his energy for the inevitable fight with Kiddy. He yelled at Annie, demanding her attention. "Mrs. Satin! I lost Holly. She died outside the dome! I know what it's like to--"
Annie's head snapped in his direction, her eyes filled with blue lightning. She raged, "You know? You think you know? I waited for my husband longer than you've been alive, boy!"
The sparks around her swelled, joining together. Plants nearby caught fire or were burned to ash. Trees cracked as lightning whipped from Annie’s body. Annie's expression had lost control or intelligence, but the lightning didn't stop. She poured out rage and grief and energy. The lightning coming off her body was beginning to arc out further.
Cole continued forward. He needed to stop her now. If Annie turned into a super-charged, living Tesla coil, she might kill them all, portal or no portal.
Nadia said something to Jarret that Cole couldn't hear under the sound of the crackling electricity. Jarret's eyes widened and he grimaced, but he nodded. He pulled the Haitian woman into an embrace and kissed her. Then they pulled apart and Jarret gave Cole an apologetic smile.
Nadia raised her hands, and Cole could feel her pulling on her ability. All the plants nearby rose around Annie in a tight dome, trapping Nadia and Jarret within as well. Thunder boomed underneath the tightly woven plants, making it look like it was breathing. “No, no way!” Cole growled. He slammed his hands into the ground and burned through five years of life, trying to pull the dome down.
Nothing happened.
Either Nadia was stronger, or was using a heck of a lot of energy, because he’d barely moved a flower. Through his connection with the plants. he could sense the inside of the dome crackling and burning. Pressure inside the shell was rising, even as Nadia continued to grow it thicker.
The dome was going to explode.
Cole shouted at the shell, frustrated and grieving at his own powerlessness. His stupid, noble, incredible friends had taken any further decisions out of his hands. There was only one thing to do. He turned, grabbed Isla, and ran up the hill.
Chapter 16
When the bottom of the hill exploded, the ground trembled and it felt like the whole island shook.
If C
ole hadn't half-carried, half-pushed the sobbing Isla up the hill, they would have been in more danger from the shockwave or falling debris. Instead, now they were on top of the hill at the very center of the island, mostly flat, like a tropical mesa. The area was heavily wooded here, and helped protect them from the after-effects of the explosion.
Cole had been through this area before, about the size of a football field, while he’d been looking for his friends. Now almost everyone he had come to the island with was dead, all except Isla and possibly Kiddy. Hell, Kiddy might have encountered a bunch of mutant animals that got the best of him. If so, at least there wouldn’t be any more conflict.
He doubted that anything had done Kiddy in, though, even though monsters were definitely still out in the jungle. Distant, distorted snorts and squeals of the mutant boars below still echoed weirdly through the jungle. The dome was closing in on them fast. In fifteen minutes, this hilltop would be the only thing left of the island, and without knowing where to go like Cole had, most of the wildlife, mutated or not, would probably be toast.
A sudden surge of emotion almost brought him to his knees. He wanted to grieve for his friends' sacrifice and Annie's madness, but he had to stay alert. Isla was under no such restrictions, though.
The girl's sobs wracked her shoulders and were growing louder. Cole needed to calm her down. Making her feel better would be nice, but the main reason was because if Kiddy was still alive, Cole didn't want to make it any easier for the telekinetic to track them. His former friend had been dangerous enough with just a few pebbles, and not burning through any of his life force yet. At least, he hadn’t seemed to.
Meanwhile, Cole was already at least physically forty years old by now. He didn't know how it all worked exactly, like Isla looking older which should actually take energy, but it didn't matter. This wasn’t a game, but Kiddy had been right that their calories and eventually their life force was a limited resource. In any battle royale, resource management was an important variable to track for a win. So far, Kiddy was ahead.
Cole needed to distract Isla, and now that he was thinking about energy, he was also curious about something.
"Isla," Cole said gently, patting her on the back. He led her to the other side of a tree they had been leaning on, just beneath the crest of the hill. It gave him a good vantage point. If the portal or Kiddy appeared, Cole would more than likely be able to spot them...hopefully.
“Where did all the food go, the duffel bag?” he asked. It was likely that the one Javier or Ricardo had grabbed, he couldn’t remember which now, had been left or stashed somewhere and had burned up behind the dome a long time ago. If Isla had any food or knew of any, it would make Cole feel a lot more confident about his chances against Kiddy.
Isla tried to control herself for a while, and finally got out, “Jarret ate almost all of them. He kept us invisible and protected us almost the entire time, like we were protected by angels.” She swallowed and fresh tears appeared in her eyes as she said, “Jarret--”
The girl choked out ugly sobs, and Cole comforted her as best he could, awkwardly patting her back. Consoling little girls who’d aged almost ten years in the last couple hours, who had witnessed the violent death of their abusive father, clothed in leaf clothing, exhausted and grieving was not something Cole felt qualified to do. He still tried his best.
Finally, Isla calmed down a little, whimpering more than crying now. “Why would God do this to us? Why would he kill us?”
Cole sighed, not surprised by the question considering what kind of man her father seemed to be. He was suddenly put in an awkward position of logically being forced to defend their rules arbiter, and he didn’t like the feeling. "Dolos isn’t God, and he isn’t killing us, at least not directly. If anything, we have been given more life, I guess. It seems weird but it’s true. We were all going to die anyway. If we’d all worked together to get here as a group, at least we could have tried to reason with or barter with Dolos. Instead, we were the ones who started to kill each other. People make their choices, which made more choices." Cole felt dirty saying it out loud.
"B-but, Mrs. Satin wasn't trying to kill us," Isla argued.
"You're right, but she lost control," Cole explained, but as the words left his mouth, he questioned them. Now he’d never know if Annie had given into her power, like Ricardo or the preacher, or if her dementia had been at the wheel. Cole said, "Nadia and Jarret stayed behind to protect us. Not all people are bad, in fact some are amazing. I don't even think Dolos is evil. He's just....indifferent."
Isla finally got it together, blowing her nose on her leaf clothing. She swallowed hard. "Will you get killed, too?"
Cole clenched his jaw at the possibility. Isla was innocent and had far more life left to live ahead of her than Cole, even if they both made it out alive. He could still feel himself aging at an increased rate. Isla was scarred now.
She’d likely never truly, completely leave this place behind.
After she returned home, possibly alone, she’d have enough memories to give her nightmares for several lifetimes. Cole wanted to do more than just save her life; he wanted to give her peace. This was an impossible task, but he would at least try while he was still alive. He slowly admitted, "I don't know. Maybe I’ll live, but it depends on whether Dolos shows up and will listen to my offer. I'm not exactly happy about it, and I’m not in a hurry, but I’m okay with my death if it means getting you through that portal."
The girl nodded. "Okay." She seemed sincere, like she believed him, but maybe she was just too tired to doubt what he was saying.
Cole decided to believe that she understood. He ordered, "From here on out, you do exactly what I say, when I say it. If you don't, all of this will mean nothing."
"What do you want me to do?" Isla asked. She blinked, and her lower lip started to tremble again.
Cole sighed. That was a good question. In his heart of hearts, he was sure Kiddy was still alive. That guy was as stubborn as he was capable. Now that he was thinking about it, Cole even checked for signs of Kiddy in the trees above. Players in games rarely checked upwards, and people in real life were worse about it.
Nothing there. Good. Cole muttered, “I need to think. Can we both be quiet for a few minutes, Isla?” Isla nodded.
Cole put his hands together, lacing his fingers. He’d already given some thought to possible plans and tactics to survive when he’d been looking for the others. Now that he knew they didn’t have any food left, some plans were not viable anymore. Cole was not confident about trying to eat anything they found in the jungle. He wasn’t knowledgeable about foraging anyway, and for all he knew, the whole jungle was infected with power seeds and everything was poisonous. The reality was that all he and Isla had left was life force to power their abilities.
His powers relied completely on others being near him. Touch made the connection more powerful, but not always as powerful as the ability of the person he was borrowing from. In fact, his borrowed power had always seemed weaker. However, in addition to still being able to heal earlier, he’d managed to absorb Ricardo's shadow ability. The darkness lingered in him like a patient monster, ready to destroy, to feed. Honestly, Cole didn't know if he could control it if he let it out.
Cole twisted his lips in frustration. If he could get some rest or a few protein bars and water, things might be different. Then again, while he was wishing, it’d be nice to have a team of soldiers armed with modern weapons, too. He wished he wasn’t so damned tired. Thinking was difficult.
He took a break from thinking, rolling his neck and shoulders. Isla was being silent, watching him. She gave him a little smile, and he nodded back at her before he folded his hands again.
He hated to think of Isla as an asset or a combatant, but she might need to be. She could use hormones or some sort of psychic ability to manipulate other life. Cole was certain she wasn't using her power on him; he’d know since he could also copy her powers. This gave him a certain awareness of when oth
er powers were being used.
So he had his borrowing ability, the dark cloud living within him now, and maybe healing. He wasn’t willing to waste life energy to test the healing right now. Combinations using these powers gave him several strategy ideas, but he chose the simplest because he needed Isla’s help, and despite how she looked, she was still a ten-year-old girl. Simple plans had the least chance of going horribly wrong.
Finally, Cole said, "In middle school, I played basketball. I quit after only one year because it was boring."
Isla nodded somberly. "I think it's as boring as baseball."
"Yeah," Cole agreed. "Anyway, thinking back, part of why it was boring was how they made us practice the same three plays over and over again."
"That does sound boring."
"But," Cole said, holding up a finger, "it was effective. Whenever we played actual games against teams from other schools, we'd run the plays, and we won more than we lost."
Isla frowned. "You said you only had the same three plays. Wouldn't the other team know them too?"
"Yes.” Cole nodded. “To get around this, we assigned each play code names, like the name of a fruit: grape, apple, orange, whatever. It didn't matter, because in the second half, we'd change the names and call the plays by different names, like vegetables.”
"Fruits aren't vegetables."
Cole suppressed any reaction, forcing himself to be patient. "Yes, that’s right. Anyway, the good thing now is that we don’t have to worry about changing any names for any plays. In fact, you won't even have to learn three like I did."
"I can learn three plays. I'm ten, not stupid," Isla sullenly murmured. Cole grimly chuckled at that, and it eased his heavy heart a little.
He said, "I believe you. But we don't have time to learn three plays. We don’t have much more than ten minutes before the final round is over. As it is, you are going to need to prove how smart you are to learn this play really well in less than ten minutes. Can you do it, Isla?”
“I’ll try.”
Cole Blooded Page 14
