Sector 4 - Alderson
Jayson Coley
Jayson awoke to agony. He groaned and clenched his eyes, willing himself back to unconsciousness. It did no good. His body ached, but that was nothing compared to the throbbing in his head. It felt like someone had grabbed his skull on both sides and tried ripping it in half.
For all he knew, someone had.
“He’s awake,” someone screamed.
“Don’t yell,” he mumbled. Or tried to. The words came out ‘ooh ell.’ He had cotton mouth, and the back of his throat burned with stale bile. He must have vomited in his mouth. Yesterday. He swallowed, but that just made it worse.
“What?” the person screamed again. It was a man. “Here.”
Jayson felt his head lifted forward, and the edge of a rough bowl touched his lips. Cool water drained into his mouth for a few seconds. He managed to swallow some of it but ended up coughing as it burned down his throat.
He reached up and swatted the bowl away. Another fit of coughing wracked his body and he drew in a ragged breath of air. “I said, ‘don’t scream,’” he mumbled again, opening his eyes. The world was bright, painfully so, and swam in front of him. After a few seconds, he made out shapes: the base of a tree, some fallen leaves, and branches, underbrush.
Jayson cocked his head to the side and saw Richard Dyson kneeling beside him. The other man’s clothes were torn and dirty and he had a bandage wrapped around his injured foot. His eyes were haggard, and he looked a full ten years older than he had before.
“I’m barely whispering,” Richard said.
To the left Jayson saw Tricia Jester. She stood at the edge of the little clearing he was lying in, lips pursed and lines creasing her forehead. Or as much of her forehead as he could see; the top of her head was wrapped thickly in strips of cloth. Her skin gleamed with stale sweat and her amber eyes were studying Jayson. She still looked lithe and beautiful despite the dirt and exhaustion lining her features.
“So, we’re alive,” Jayson said. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“For now,” Richard replied.
“How long was I out?”
“Almost two days.”
“Holy crap.”
“I know,” Richard replied. “He did a real number on you. Shallow cuts mostly, but you lost a lot of blood.”
Jayson took a deep breath and sat forward. His head spun for a few seconds from the exertion. He glanced down at his leg. His pants had been ripped open and his leg was wrapped in a bluish green strip of cloth. “Bandages?”
“Shirts,” Richard replied. Jayson glanced at him: Richard’s shirt—which matched the color of the bandage—was missing the bottom six inches. Tricia’s was ripped as well; showing a generous portion of her well-toned stomach and perfectly smooth skin. “We got the bleeding to stop with pressure, but if you move too quickly, you might open it again.”
“Thanks,” Jayson replied.
“Don’t mention—”
“We need to move,” Tricia interrupted. Richard glanced over at her.
“Not yet.”
“We’ve wasted enough time already,” Tricia argued. She took a few steps closer, folding her arms over her ample chest, steely eyes locked on Richard. Richard stood up, holding his hands up as if trying to calm an angry animal.
“It wasn’t wasted if it meant keeping Jayson alive.”
“It wasn’t time we could—”
“…and we can’t move until we know his wound won’t—”
“—waste. We don’t even know what’s out here and—”
“Hey!” Jayson said, raising his voice. It hurt his throat, but they both stopped talking and stared at him instead. He drew a deep, ragged breath. “Thank you. Both. For keeping me alive. I mean it.” He turned to face Richard. “But she’s right. It was a bad idea to stick around in the open like this.”
“You’ll need time to recover,” Richard said. “We aren’t even sure if you can move yet.”
“So, you should just leave without me,” Jayson replied. He lay back down on the dirt, feeling dizzy and weak. “I’m useless like this. Even if I could walk, I’d only slow you down.”
Tricia made a clicking sound. “He’s right.”
“Bullshit,” Richard replied. “He’s delirious.”
“I’m fine,” Jayson said. “And I can take care of myself.”
Richard ignored him. He faced squarely at Tricia. “I’m not leaving him.”
“You’ll have to. We can’t spare the effort of protecting him.”
“Look, Trish, they don’t want us to leave him.”
“Don’t call me Trish,” she replied, narrowing her eyes.
He ignored her. “Why else would they have left us all here together? We woke up less than ten feet from each other. We’re supposed to stick together as a team.”
“You don’t know that.”
“But it makes logical sense,” Richard argued. “Why else leave us together like that? Why not just dump us kilometers away from each other if their goal was to let us die?”
“The exact opposite could be true,” Tricia replied. “They might have left him here to be an anchor around our necks if we’re dumb enough to stick around.”
“Maybe,” Richard admitted. “But both options can’t be true. And one involves abandoning a man to die in the woods. Could you live with yourself after that?”
“Yes.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’ll leave you as well,” said Tricia coldly, “if you don’t come now.”
Richard sighed. “Then go.”
A long moment passed. Tricia didn’t move.
Richard said, “See, Trish, you aren’t going to leave us. If you were, you would have left yesterday. Or the day before. But you stuck it out.” He knelt next to Jayson, checking the bandages. “So, stop pretending to be the heartless bitch you want us all to think you are. Either help figure out how we can move with Jayson, or sit your pretty little ass down and wait.”
She narrowed her eyes. “When we get out of this,” she said, “you and I will exchange words.”
“I’m looking forward to that,” Richard replied, still not looking up. “I like words.”
She made a disgusted sound and headed into the tree line. Jayson let out a breath of air and willed his head to stop throbbing. He was lying in the dirt and his body felt pathetic. It was a combination of pain, weakness, and stiffness.
“She’s right. You should leave me,” he said. “I’m no good like this.”
“Just shut up,” Richard said gently, examining the bandages. “We put two days into keeping you alive. I’ll be damned if we went through that just to leave you here to die.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why would you keep me alive?”
Richard thought about it. “We had two problems when we woke up. One was intractable, so we solved the other. Keeping you alive was easier.”
“Two days? What about nutrients? Did you feed me?”
“Tricia pre-chewed your food. I whispered sweet nothings in your ear to get you to swallow.”
Jayson coughed. “What?”
“Relax, I’m kidding,” Richard said. Then, “I helped chew too.”
Jayson chuckled. It hurt, a lot. “So, then what’s the intractable problem?”
Richard smiled sadly. “What the hell do we do now?”
2
Tricia returned a few minutes later with a Y-shaped tree limb. They tested it and found that Jayson could use it as a makeshift crutch: a few inches too short and miserably uncomfortable, but at least it made walking a possibility.
The next problem was that after only a few steps he was exhausted. His body was lethargic and weak from blood loss and prolonged unconsciousness. He sat on a log, gasping for air and willing his pain to subside. Tricia looked at Jayson like he was something she’d scraped off the heel of her boot.
“I’m not usually this pathetic,” he said after the third such rest, struggling to catch his breath. “Sorry.”
“It’s going to take some time for your muscles to loosen up,” Richard replied. “But you should recover your strength quickly once your body limbers up.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Tricia muttered under her breath. It was just loud enough to be overheard.
“You need food,” Richard said, ignoring her. “Are you hungry?”
Jayson nodded. “And a little nauseous.”
He fished in a pocket and handed Jayson a strip of dried meat. “It’s fish.”
Jayson sniffed it. “How old?”
“Caught it yesterday and smoked it over the fire. It’s not bad.”
Jayson took a bite. It was rock solid, but the taste wasn’t bad. He let it dissolve in his mouth, swallowing flakes. “You said I was out for two days?”
“More like thirty-six hours,” Richard said after a thoughtful pause. He scratched his beard, which was already starting to look scragglier. “We tried waking you a couple of times, but you were lights out to the world.”
“What he means by ‘wake you,’” Tricia said, nose in the air, “is he threw sticks at your head to see if you would react.”
“What!?”
Richard nodded solemnly. “I had a scoring system and everything. Thirty points if it landed on your nose.” He knelt, conspiratorial. “Trish refused to play. I think she knew I would win.”
Tricia made a disgusted noise.
Jayson took another bite of the fish. It hit his stomach and spread with warmth. He started feeling better within minutes. “So, you’ve been living off fish?”
“Not entirely,” Richard replied. “Tricia made a few traps. Managed to catch a little squirrel-like creature. Cooked him up the second night. Actually, tasted pretty good.”
Jayson tucked the last bit of fish in his mouth and took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s walk.”
Richard helped lift him under the arm and got him back to his feet with a groan. They set a glacial pace toward a nearby creek where Tricia and Richard had been getting water.
Jayson could hear it bubbling behind the trees and brush before he could see it. It was two meters wide and about a meter down at its deepest point. It was also icy cold. Jayson lowered to the ground and settled on his hip. He took a long and rewarding drink, using his hands to cup the water.
“Oh, that’s good,” he said.
“Uh huh,” Richard agreed. “Now strip and get in.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Strip. And clean your clothes too.”
Jayson hesitated. “I think I’ll be fine without—”
“No offense, but you smell terrible,” said Richard. “No, I take that back. I mean to give offense. Now get in the damn water.”
Jayson couldn’t help but glance at Tricia.
Richard groaned.
“Seriously? You’re twenty-something and still worried about cooties?” Richard asked. “Who do you think’s been keeping you clean thus far?”
Jayson hadn’t thought about it. He didn’t particularly like to either.
Still, he hesitated. Some habits were hard to break. Richard sighed in exasperation. “I’m telling you, she’s seen plenty of those before. She doesn’t care.”
“I know that. I just…”
“Would you prefer that I stripped first?” Tricia asked.
“I would,” Richard said without even a moment’s hesitation. Tricia glared at him.
“No,” Jayson said, shaking his head. It sounded entirely silly, after all of this, to worry about something as trivial as being naked in front of strangers.
He began stripping his shirt off. Shooting pain roared through his body, but he did his best to ignore it.
Richard helped with his pants where the blood had dried and caked the cloth to his skin. Naked, Jayson gradually lowered himself into the cool running water. It was freezing and he shivered; his teeth chattered.
“Stop being such a wuss,” Richard said. Then he splashed water onto Jayson’s upper body. It shocked the skin where it hit and made him shiver even worse. But he began adapting after only a few moments. After a minute, it felt good. He started scrubbing his skin.
The shallow bath was invigorating, washing the last of his sluggishness away. It was the difference between day and night after being in the water for only a few minutes. He couldn’t remember any bath or shower ever being so rewarding. It was a euphoric, almost religious, experience.
Once he’d finished cleaning himself—as best he could under the circumstances—he turned his attention to his clothes. They were caked with blood and sweat. Richard was right: they smelled terrible.
He found a suitable rock and scrubbed them clean as best he could. He wished for soap, but the water was better than nothing. As he finished, Richard hung the wet clothes on a tree.
“How long will they take to dry?” Jayson asked.
“It’s windy,” Richard said. “And not very humid. So, I’d say…an hour?”
“Are you guessing?”
“Yes, but it’s an educated guess. We washed and dried our clothing yesterday,” Richard said. “I never really expected to spend time washing my clothes out in the wilderness somewhere. One of those skills I left off my resume.”
“Then maybe it’s time to add it on,” Jayson said. He relaxed into the water. “What next?”
Richard was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed and Tricia was sitting on a rock, idly rolling a stick between her fingers. Neither seemed thrilled at the prospect of tackling that question.
“We move,” Tricia said.
“Where?”
They were both silent.
“Where are we?” Jayson asked.
“No clue,” Richard replied. “Same planet. Maybe same continent. There are mountains nearby but no distinguishing features.”
“So, they just dumped us off in the middle of nowhere after hurting us badly enough that we can barely travel?”
Silence again.
“Why?” Jayson asked.
“My guess,” Richard said, scratching his beard, “is to test us. They want to see how long we can survive on our own.”
Jayson splashed some water on his face. “So, like a test?”
Richard snorted. “Something like that. Yeah. They want to see which of us are worth the effort of training. If we can’t survive this, they don’t want us.”
“So how long do we have to make it?”
“Until they come and find us.”
“No,” Tricia replied, shaking her head. “No one is coming. We have to make our own way back to the Academy.”
Richard laughed. “See Jayson? This is the reason we kept you alive. We need a tie breaker.”
“What?
“Trish here—”
“I said don’t call me that.”
“—thinks we should move and try to find our own way back to the Academy. I think the point of this exercise is to survive. So, we build a structure, find food. Lay low. Then, when they are happy, they come and find us. What do you think?”
Jayson shrugged. “No idea.”
“You have to have some idea,” Richard said. “Even if it’s a bad one.”
“If we don’t know where we are, how do we find our way back?”
“Exactly,” Richard said.
“We’re close to the Academy,” Tricia argued. “The trees are all the same. And those are the same mountains.”
“Let’s say they are the same,” Richard replied. “Even then, it would be no good to go trekking to them.”
“Why not?”
Richard laughed. “Do you understand the concept of a range of mountains? There might be hundreds of them, each several kilometers apart. It could take us weeks trekking up the first one to find out we picked the wrong mountain. We’ll be dead before we reach the second.”
“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”
“No, that’s exactly what it means. We should just stay here and—”
“Staying here is the same thing as dying here,” Tricia said, “because no one is coming—”
“—build up our shelter—”
“—to rescue us. And we have no choice—”
“She’s right,” Jayson interrupted. “I’m siding with Tricia.”
Richard trailed off and let out an exasperated sigh.
“You sure? We aren’t in any shape to be moving right now.”
“That’s why,” Jayson replied. “If they’re going to test us, they’re going to make it as hard as possible. We’re injured, no supplies, not at all prepared for travel. So that’s what they expect us to do.”
“But we don’t even know where to go!”
“We have, as you pointed out, a mountain range to follow.”
Richard’s jaw fell open. “Maybe you don’t understand the idea of a mountain range—”
Jayson held up his hand. “I know, and if we pick wrong, we’re probably going to die before we realize our mistake. But, we have a few advantages on our side.
“First, we can assume whoever left us here wanted to make this trek difficult. But they don’t want to kill us. If picking the wrong mountain will get us killed, then most likely they won’t make it a hard choice. The nearest one is most likely. And second, we can figure out which one is right before we climb any of them.”
“How?” Richard said. “The Academy was a long way up. We won’t see it until we’re relatively close.”
Tricia blinked in realization and then chuckled. “The train tracks.”
Jayson nodded. “It’s no wonder they used something so low tech to bring us out here. They’re meant to help us find our way home. It’s part of the test.”
“Well, then what the hell are we waiting for?” Richard said, then made a tsk-ing noise at Tricia. “And you said we should leave him to die.”
Tricia sighed.
3
They walked.
Morning turned into afternoon. They aimed for the mountains. Tricia climbed trees every occasionally, to make sure they were on the right path. Jayson was only capable of short spurts of energy before his leg hurt too badly to continue. They stopped frequently to rest and recover, something Tricia didn’t like. But she didn’t complain.
The forest closed in around them, sheltering them from the sun and keeping them cool despite the humidity. They chose their paths by least resistance, avoiding thick areas of brush but keeping an easterly route.
No one talked. Well, no one except for Richard, who didn’t shut up.
“I think I’ll put my summer home over there,” he said as they passed a waterfall. “It’s beautiful out here.”
There was no response.
They walked some more.
“I wonder if we’ll stumble upon any animals doing there…you know…business. Or mating,” Richard said. “Anyone want to wager on which?”
No response.
They continued walking. Jayson focused on his feet. Left, right, left, and right. And then repeat. He supposed he should be thankful that the only things his mind could handle during that first day were motor skills. It meant he wasn’t thinking about their predicament or the fact that the water might make him sick with dysentery or the problem that they might not even find more clean water. Instead, he focused on left, right, left, and right.
The ground was relatively flat, for which he was grateful. And the cut on his leg, while painful, wasn’t debilitating. The more he walked on it, ironically, the better it felt. After a few hours, he started using the crutch as a walking stick.
He must not have looked healthy, though, because he heard Richard whisper to Tricia, “He’s not doing very well. Maybe we should stop for the night.”
“There’s plenty of light left,” she whispered. “We can cover more ground.”
“Breaking down now will do more harm than gaining those few kilometers,” Richard replied, looking casually over at Jayson. Jayson pretended he couldn’t hear them. “Plus, we’re out of food.”
“Out?” Tricia asked.
“We didn’t exactly have a lot left this morning.”
“We had three fish!”
“Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It goes fast, Trish.”
She made a disgusted sound. “Lasted longer with just the two of us. Fine. We can stop here for the night.”
As soon as Richard told him, Jayson found a comfortable-looking spot and collapsed. Richard woke him up, once, to give him some scavenged food and water from their makeshift bowl. It was dark. The meal was comprised of berries and some stringy meat.
Jayson decided later he should have asked Richard if they were poisoned berries. Or if Richard had at least tested them to make sure they were safe. But now, he was too hungry and tired to care. He devoured the berries, spreading blue stains all over his face and hands, and then fell back into a stupor for the rest of the night.
It wasn’t until the next morning that he realized another possibility: he probably was the test subject to make sure the berries were safe for Richard and Tricia to eat.
He couldn’t decide if that bothered him or not.
They walked throughout the next day. And then the one after that. Gradually, they increased the distance they traveled as Jayson’s body recovered. They went past fallen logs swarming with insects and through thick foliage where the sun pierced through the canopy with only the greatest reluctance. They crossed streams and forded a fast-moving river sometime during their fourth day.
Tricia gathered pliable tree branches and vines as they walked. She used them to make traps and tools, increasing their arsenal of supplies. She managed to locate a knife shaped piece of rock. She chipped a few pieces away and turned it into a jagged weapon.
Each night she set out her traps in a circle around the camp. Little rope snares using fruits, vegetables, and bark as bait. And each morning she checked them for any animals they might have caught. Often, the traps were empty.
When they were, she would search out a rock or log for insects. She would flip it over and scoop up as many crawling things as she could find. Then she would declare it a meal.
Jayson didn’t dare refuse. His body was recovering rapidly, but he needed to get as many calories as he could to keep healing. He grabbed the bugs that looked least likely to sting him and popped them into his mouth. Some of them squished, some were chewy, a few even wriggled after he bit into them. He made sure to chew those ones until they stopped before swallowing.
“I bet you did this kind of thing even when you had plenty of food,” Richard remarked, stuffing a worm into his mouth. Tricia didn’t reply. She rarely did.
They walked. Another day breezed past. And then another. Each night they sat in a circle. Some nights they had a fire. Some nights Tricia couldn’t get one started. On two of the nights it rained in heavy cold sheets and they huddled close together.
Sometimes they talked—never about themselves—and sometimes they listened to Richard talk. He told stories about his life before coming here and the heroic things he did. A couple of times he sang a song off key.
All his stories were made up, but that didn’t matter. After long days of walking and very little external stimuli, just hearing someone speak was enough.
Jayson was losing weight, but a lot of that was excess mass he’d put on before this ‘excursion.’ His body didn’t need those pounds for a hike like this, and if anything, he felt healthier as he got leaner.
The scenery never changed. More trees. More streams. The occasionally scurrying animal or snake or spider. The days began blurring together. Tricia estimated they were making six to eight kilometers a day through the thick forest, and Jayson couldn’t dispute the claim. They could have been walking in a circle, for all he knew.
The only sign they had that they were making any progress at all was when Tricia climbed the trees. The mountains were getting bigger, she informed them each morning. Jayson was beginning to suspect she might be lying.
4
They found a stream swimming with fish and crawdads after about a week. Richard insisted they stop and rest for the day.
“We should keep moving,” Tricia replied. “It’s only midday.”
“This is the perfect opportunity to stock up on food,” Richard replied. He scratched his scraggly beard, which was already enough to hide most of his face. “I, for one, don’t like wondering if we’re going to eat dinner. We’ve missed, what, eight meals since we started?”
“Coming from someone who’s probably never missed a meal in his life,” Tricia said, “forgive me if I don’t seem to care.”
“I’ve been hungry before,” Richard replied defensively. “What do you think, Jayson?”
He shrugged. “It’s more we’d have to carry.”
“But less time we will spend foraging,” Richard said. Then he bowed to Tricia. “But I’ll defer to your wisdom, oh fearless leader.”
She narrowed his eyes. “Are you mocking me?”
He looked aghast. “I would never.”
She clearly didn’t believe him. “Fine. We can stop. But catch your own damn fish,” she said, then turned and disappeared into the forest.
Richard grinned at her. “I think she’s starting to like me.”
Jayson chuckled. “So how are you planning on catching these fish?”
“I’ll use my shirt like a net,” Richard said.
“Will that work?”
He shrugged. “That’s what Tricia did at the last stream we stopped.”
Jayson eyed the water skeptically. “These ones look pretty fast.”
“I’m faster,” said Richard.
5
Twenty minutes later, Richard reemerged, soaking wet and unencumbered by any fish. “Don’t look so smug,” he said to Jayson, plopping on the ground next to him. “You wouldn’t have caught any either.”
“I’m not dumb enough to try.”
Tricia appeared, walking toward the water with a stick in hand. “You won’t get any,” Richard said, panting. “They’re too fast.”
It took a full thirty seconds for her to skewer the first fish. She tossed it at Richard. It landed with a wet smack against his chest and flopped into his lap.
He held it up, twitching. “What do I do with it?”
“Clean it,” she said.
“With the knife I magically carry in my pocket?”
“This,” she said, pulling the jagged rock from her pocket. She tossed it to him without looking, and he caught it in his right hand.
He stared at it doubtfully. “Seems messy.”
“Just shut up and do it,” she said, picking her next target. She jabbed down, again, the stick breaking the surface of the water and scattering a pool of fish. This time, she missed.
Richard looked over at Jayson. “Warrior women are so hot.”
Tricia glared at him. Richard held up the knife and studied the bottom of the fish.
“Are you looking for a diagram?” Jayson asked.
“There should be dotted lines on it, right?”
“Just make a shallow cut.”
“I don’t want to pierce the stomach, right?”
“It’s not a deer,” Jayson said. “Just give it to me.”
He reached over and took the knife and fish. He cut into the belly and started removing the innards.
“You know how to gut a fish?”
“It’s not exactly rocket science.”
Richard sighed. “I really am useless.”
“We know,” Jayson replied with a small smile. He finished cleaning it and set it aside.
“I wasn’t exactly expecting…this…you know?”
“This isn’t bad at all,” Jayson said, catching the next fish Tricia threw his way. “If they really wanted to kill us, they would drop us into a desert. Here there is plenty of food and water, not a lot of bacteria. That, or they inoculated us against any diseases we’d have to worry about.”
“You think they did?”
“I think that germs and bacteria are better at killing humans than about anything else. If they didn’t inoculate us, then we’re getting really damn lucky.”
“Yeah, that would suck,” Richard said. “You spend a lot of time in places like this growing up?”
Jayson shrugged. “My planet was pretty rundown. Not a lot of places like this left. We overpopulated and then died out or fled. Trish,” he said, gesturing toward the water, “knows a lot more than I do about this sort of thing.”
Richard turned toward the water. “Yeah. Why is that, Trish?”
“Call me Trish one more time and I’ll stab you in the eye.”
Richard ignored her as usual. “Did you grow up in the woods? Come on, tell us something. Did you run away from home?”
She didn’t reply.
“I know,” Richard said, nodding to himself. “You were raised by wolves.”
“Do you ever shut up?”
“Hypothetically,” he said, “I’m sure that I do. But right now, I’m more interested in knowing why you’re here. I mean, I know why Jayson’s here. Sure, I know why I’m here. But what went so wrong in your life to leave you stranded out in the middle of nowhere?”
Again, no reply.
So, Richard speculated:
“You don’t seem like the mothering type. If you had a heart, I’m sure we’d be able to chisel ice off it,” he said, tapping a finger against his beard and studying her. “You’re…what…twenty-seven? That means you could have been in and out of the military already. But I don’t think that’s where you picked this stuff up. More likely you grew up on a planet like this.
“Your parents were hard on you, so you rebelled from that life. So even though you’re good at this, you don’t like doing it. Reminds you of home. Am I close?”
She glowered at him.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said.
The next fish hit him on the side of the head.
6
They spent that night building up a large fire to smoke the fish. Tricia had managed to catch twelve of them. She skewered them on a stick and dangled them over the fire. They spent the next several hours napping and listening to the crackling fire.
It was peaceful for Jayson. A chance to admit just how tired he really was. The trip was exhausting.
He fell into a light doze. When he woke up, he saw Richard and Tricia sitting beside the fire, speaking quietly and eating little strips of fish.
“He lives,” Richard murmured when he noticed Jayson moving.
“Barely,” Jayson said. “That smells amazing.”
“Thanks. I can’t catch a fish, but I can cook them.”
Jayson forced himself to sit up. Richard handed him a piece of white meat. Jayson took a small bite, letting the flesh dissolve in his mouth. He’d never tasted anything so delicious.
“I found some herbs nearby. But someone—not naming any names—wouldn’t let me season the fish.”
“They could be poison,” Tricia said, nibbling her own piece of fish.
Richard shrugged. He took a sip of water from their little makeshift bowl and passed it to Jayson. “True. They could have been delicious too. Now we’ll never know.”
“Do you never shut up?” she asked without any bite.
“Never ever,” he replied. “I just say whatever comes to mind. I have no internal filter.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t say anything at all.”
“But then it would be quiet. And when it’s quiet, there’s time to think. And when I think, I remember that we were dropped off into the middle of a forest by some complete lunatics and left to die. And that if we do survive this, then we get trained by the same lunatics, which just sounds all kinds of bad. So, I’d rather not think, which means I have to talk instead.”
Tricia made a disgusted sound. “Fine, if you must talk, do so quietly.”
“How about you talk instead?” Richard said. “Joking aside, where did you come from? Why are you here?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Did you make some mistake and get in a bad situation?”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it,” Tricia said, her voice firm.
Richard eyed her for a moment and then held out his hand. “Fine. I don’t know who you are or why you are here, but I’m thankful that you are. I think I can speak for Jayson as well as myself when I say that we would be dead by now without you.”
Tricia looked at the hand in surprise.
“Hey, speak for yourself,” Jayson said. “I would have been dead the first night.”
Richard shrugged. “Yeah, probably. But seriously. Thank you, Tricia.”
She took the offered hand skeptically and shook it gently. “You’re always so insincere; I’m not sure what to think.”
“I don’t know,” Richard said, then yawned. “But right now, I think it’s time to get some sleep.”
“Okay,” Tricia said. “You can take first watch. Wake me up in a few hours. Jayson can take the final watch.”
“Why do we need a watch?” Richard said, yawning again. He leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. “We’ve been out here for at least a week, and nothing’s happened to us so far. The worst things we’ve had to deal with are blisters. It’s not like there’s a single dangerous thing out here.”
Tricia sighed.
Jayson groaned.
Some people just can’t keep their mouths shut.
7
The attack came two days later, just after they’d finished their midday meal.
Tricia froze in place, eyes wary. She scanned the environment, hefting her walking stick and falling into a defensive stance. That was about three seconds before the creature sprang from its hiding place. Jayson stopped walking too, but he didn’t see or hear anything.
It pounced at them, aiming straight for Richard. It was fast, a lot faster than he would have expected, and Jayson had to fight down a quick wave of fear. His body still hurt, and he was still exhausted. They were not in fighting shape.
Richard shouted, stumbling back, off balance. It looked like a wolf but was only about the size of a large dog. Its fur was dark gray, almost black, its eyes little pits of charcoal.
Tricia stepped up to meet it, stabbing at the wolf’s face. The tip of her spear caught in the fur but wasn’t sharp enough to penetrate its hide. The wood snapped. Shards went flying, but it was enough to knock the wolf off its path. It clipped Richard in the hip, sending him staggering. He landed in the dirt with a grunt and the wolf landed six meters away, growling at them and circling.
That’s when the other three attacked.
Jayson was prepared now. Or at least as prepared as he could be. He hefted his walking stick and stepped up next to Richard. It was a heavy piece of wood, not as flimsy as the fish skewer. He used it defensively, trying to keep his weight on his good leg.
The first wolf that came close received a sharp crack on the nose for its trouble. It stumbled away and Jayson reset his stance.
The other three circled, snarling and looking for an opening. Jayson and Tricia stood back to back with Richard on the ground at their feet. He was just now sitting up. “Ow,” he mumbled, rubbing his shoulder.
“If they attack in force,” Tricia said, eyes on the wolves, “we’re dead.”
“I love your optimism,” Richard said, his voice distant. “What do you suggest?”
“Show them we are not prey.”
She hefted her broken stick, hesitated a second to give Jayson time to move into position, and then screamed and charged at one of the wolves. It charged back at her, snarling. She raised her stick but used it only to deflect the wolf’s attack.
It snapped, grabbing the stick in its teeth. It ripped it out of her hands and crunched. The wood snapped like kindling.
Then it jumped at her, going for her throat—
—and came right into contact with Jayson’s swipe. He brought the stick down in an overhead attack. He hit it right on the side of the head. The wood snapped in half and the wolf hit the ground, falling onto its side.
The wolf staggered to its feet, shaking its head. After a few seconds, it began growling, though its eyes looked wary now. Jayson lifted the two-foot long section in his hand. It was, at least, sharp and he could use it for piercing.
Another wolf came at Tricia’s back, but Richard stepped toward it and bellowed. His yell rolled out over the area. At least that voice is good for something, Jayson decided. The wolf backed away, snarling at Richard.
Jayson shot Richard a look, raising his eyebrow.
“What?” Richard asked. “You work with what you’ve got.”
The injured wolf stumbled a few steps away and the pack shifted positions to defend it. “Back up,” Tricia said, “but don’t turn your back to them.”
They did, forming into a tight group and taking short steps away from the pack. The wolves continued watching them but didn’t pursue.
Gradually the distance grew until the wolves were out of sight.
Jayson let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Hey, Trish,” Richard said, out of breath.
“What?”
“You are so hot right now.”
And then he collapsed, hitting first his knee and then collapsing onto his back.
“You’re bleeding,” Jayson said, kneeling. Blood was pooling where the first attack had hit him just above the hip. Either a tooth or claw, it was hard to tell which. Blood was covering his pants on that side and running down his leg.
Luckily, it hadn’t done more damage. The wound wasn’t very wide. Jayson ripped a strip of his shirt loose and pressed it against the cut.
Richard lifted his head up and looked at it. His eyes were glazing over. “So, I am.”
“Lie still.”
“Okay,” Richard said, his voice woozy. He yawned.
“And keep talking,” she said, putting pressure on the wound.
“I thought,” he said, then groaned, “I thought I talked too much.”
“Right now, we need you to keep talking. Stay with us.”
“Not going anywhere,” he said. His eyes slipped closed.
Tricia slapped him in the face.
“Hey!” he said. “What was that for?”
“For calling me Trish,” she said, turning to Jayson. “We need to get moving. With him cut like this, he’s going to be a beacon for any predators in the area looking for a snack.”
“We can’t carry him,” Jayson replied.
“I know,” she said. “He’s going to have to walk.”
“He,” Richard said with a yawn, “is going to take a nap.”
She slapped him again.
“Gah! Would you stop that?!”
“Help me lift him,” she said. “Get him to his feet.”
Jayson heaved. His leg was better and he had more energy now, but he still wasn’t back to full strength. By the time they had Richard to his feet, Jayson’s lower back was throbbing.
Richard slumped forward and Jayson held him up. “Now what?”
“We go,” she said.
They started walking. Jayson braced his left side with the walking stick and used his right to keep Richard up. For Richard’s part, he did the best he could to move on his own. After a while, the wound in his side stopped bleeding, but he’d already lost a lot of blood.
His face turned ashen. Jayson did his best to keep moving at a good pace, but after a few hours, Richard started tripping every few strides. Jayson expended a lot of energy catching him as his legs gave out, and finally had no choice but to lower him to the ground.
It was getting dark, and Jayson could barely keep walking. His clothes—what hadn’t been torn up or left behind—were soaked with sweat and he hadn’t drank enough water recently.
“That’s it,” he said, collapsing beside Richard and panting. “We can’t keep going. Not like this.”
“We’re close,” Tricia replied. “The last time I climbed, I think I saw railroad tracks. A few kilometers.”
“It won’t matter. Even if we make it to them, it’ll be at least twenty kilometers to reach the Academy. And that’s up the side of the mountain.”
“We can’t stop.”
“We aren’t,” Jayson replied.
Tricia stared at him.
“We aren’t leaving him,” she said, her tone final.
“I’m flattered,” Richard muttered, leaning sideways against a tree. The wound had reopened and was seeping blood.
“Shut up, you,” she said.
Jayson sighed. “We aren’t doing that either. We just need a plan.”
She blew out a breath and sat down next to them. “Okay. What do we do?”
Jayson thought about it. “Do you remember the sheds we passed every few kilometers?” She nodded. “I think those are for storage. On Eldun, we use trains for a lot of public transit, and sometimes maintenance crews use trolleys to ride on the tracks. If we can find one of those, I think we can use it to get back to the Academy much faster without needing to walk.”
“Okay,” she said. “Should I climb a tree and try to spot one?”
“It’s too dark,” he said. “Go on ahead of us. Find the tracks. As soon as you do, start a fire. Pile some wood nearby for us. Then follow the tracks to the left.”
“Away from the Academy?”
He nodded. “Go back toward the city, in case we hit the tracks close to one behind us.”
“How far?”
“As far as you can. When it’s dark, turn and run back to us. If you find one of the sheds, grab the trolley and anything else you can find and bring them to us.”
“Okay,” she said. “What about Richard?”
“I’ll get him to the tracks. The fire should keep anything that wants to eat him away.”
He didn’t add, I hope.
She hesitated. “And what about before then? What if those creatures come back while you’re on your way?”
“They won’t,” Jayson said. “But if something else does, I’ll have the walking stick ready. If you don’t find the trolley tonight, then we’ll start out as soon as we have light in the direction of the Academy. We’ll pick up a trolley as soon as we pass one.”
“Good,” she said. She frowned and stood. “Do you need help lifting him?”
“No,” Jayson said. “I’ll need to rest for at least a little while longer. But you need to go. The farther you make it tonight, the more likely we are to have transportation.”
“Okay,” she said, clearly not happy. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
“No,” he said. “But this is about all we’ve got left.”
She stuck out her hand. “Good luck.”
He shook it. “You too.”
8
Four hours. Pure misery and exhaustion were his constant companions, but they were gentle compared to the last one: terror. Pure, unadulterated terror.
He heard movement in the trees, flanking them as they traveled. Half the time he spent carrying Richard. Night came on. He found himself peering into the trees, ready for an attack.
The silence was the worst of it. Since the trek had begun, Richard had filled the environment with his presence. Now, with Richard staggering along too weak to take care of himself, the forest suddenly seemed threatening.
It went thus: They would move through a particularly dense section of the woods. His nerves were dancing on razors, sending adrenaline coursing through his body. They would finally make it through without being attacked, only to repeat the process once more.
Four hours that could have been four years. That was how long it took to reach the campfire. He smelled the smoke in the air before he saw anything. The fire had burned to little more than coals, and it sat two meters from the tracks. He grabbed the entire pile of sticks and set them in a pattern on top. Slowly, he coaxed the fire to life.
Richard shivered next to him. The blood loss had slowed, at least when they held the shirt on tight, but it was still seeping through the bandage. Jayson didn’t know what they could do about that without proper medical equipment. He also knew that if they didn’t get some soon, Richard would be dead.
He might not even make it through the night.
The tracks were rusty with age. Jayson sat on the edge of one of them and watched the fire build. It bathed them in its flickering light, illuminating the area and releasing its warmth. They would need more wood if they wanted to keep the fire burning all night, and they would need even more if they wanted to make it any bigger.
But that meant leaving the fire unattended and heading into the dark woods alone. Right now, he had neither the energy nor ambition. The woods looked threatening, an endless abyss of shadow and death. There’s nothing to be afraid of, Jayson told himself. But he knew there was. If there were wolves out here, then there were other predators as well. Larger, more dangerous and deadly.
They’d been lucky to get this far. But that meant nothing compared to what stood before them. They were at least eighty kilometers from the Academy. Probably a lot more. That meant another ten days walking at least. They were exposed and out in the open.
Richard was dying, and there was nothing they could do to help him.
“Richard?” he said, his voice cutting through the deepening gloom. He could hear Richard breathing, lying beside the fire, but there was no response. He didn’t like being here in these woods. And he damn sure didn’t like being alone. “Damn it, Richard, wake up.”
He had barely finished speaking when he heard a wolf howl in the distance. The beast’s morose call filled the air around him, cutting him to the bone with a sense of deep gloom.
They wouldn’t make it to the Academy. They couldn’t possibly. Who were they trying to fool, trekking through the forest? This wasn’t some macabre trial the Academy had set for them. They’d been left out here to die, abandoned to the wilds.
The call was answered by at least six mates scattered through the area behind them. Jayson held his breath as the sound enveloped him, and he heard Richard cough in his sleep. They wolves couldn’t be more than a kilometer away.
The fire was already burning low as it devoured the small pile Jayson had offered it.
A few minutes later, the wolves howled again. They were much, much closer.
Jayson couldn’t decide if he should gather wood or pray.
9
By the time Tricia made it back, the blanket of night had settled over the entire area. She walked up the tracks, exhausted with shoulders slumped. Jayson moved out to meet her and she stopped walking.
“Nothing?”
She just stared at him.
“Then we’ll find something quickly in the morning,” he said. He wasn’t sure which one of them he was trying to convince.
“How is he?” Tricia asked.
“Not well,” Jayson said. It wasn’t worth lying. “The wound won’t close without stitches, and we don’t have anything to take care of him. He’s going to keep bleeding until he’s dead.”
Tricia let out a long sigh.
“You think we should leave him?”
She bit her lip.
“Like you wanted to leave me?”
“He’s the most difficult and annoying man I’ve ever met. ‘Obnoxious’ doesn’t even begin to describe him,” said Tricia, then she sighed. “But no, I don’t want to leave him.”
“Okay,” Jayson said. “You get some sleep. I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours. As soon as it’s light, we’ll start moving.”
“It could be a long way,” she said.
“I know,” he replied.
“Uphill.”
“I know.”
They began walking back toward the little fire. “We’re low on supplies, and the fish won’t last more than another day.”
Jayson blew air out between his lips. “I know.”
Tricia lay on the ground next to Richard. She checked his bandages, wincing when he groaned in his sleep. Then she lay her head down and closed her eyes. She was asleep in only seconds, her breathing getting deeper.
Jayson fought to stay awake, focusing on their surroundings. He thought he heard movement a few times out in the trees. Just outside the fire. But nothing approached the camp.
When he couldn’t stay awake any longer, he tapped Tricia on the shoulder. She woke up blearily and nodded at him. Jayson took a spot near the fire after tossing some more wood on top and closed his eyes.
10
A few seconds later, Tricia shook his arm. “Wha…?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “I haven’t even fallen asleep yet.”
Tricia only stared at him. It was light out. He groaned and sat up.
“Is the coffee ready?”
Tricia stared at him.
“I forgot, no sense of humor.”
“I have a sense of humor,” she said, standing. “You simply aren’t funny.”
Jayson groaned again as he lifted himself up. He brushed his pants off. “How’s he doing?”
“Little change,” she said. “His breathing is shallow, and he is pale. We need to move.”
Jayson ate a strip of fish while Tricia woke Richard up. He was groggy but coherent. Jayson took him under one arm and Tricia helped balance his weight under the other, slinging his arm around her shoulders.
They walked alongside the tracks. It was slow going, but the ground was cleared of underbrush and roots. “This sucks,” Richard said after about ten minutes.
“I agree,” Jayson said.
“I thought you guys would leave me,” he said, grimacing in pain. “I wouldn’t have blamed you. I would have cursed you, hated you, and haunted your existence. But blame? No. Not my style.”
“You wouldn’t leave me,” Jayson said. “So, I’m sticking it out.”
“That was all part of my diabolical plan,” he said weakly, “to indebt you into saving my life.”
“Then it worked,” Jayson replied.
“But what about Trish?”
“I told you I would stab you if you ever called me that again,” she said.
“I recall,” Richard said, “that you were going to stab me in the eye. If I get to pick, can it be the left one? I never had much use for that one anyway.”
“The right one it is,” she said.
“I figured you’d be gone by now,” Richard said. “But I appreciate you sticking around too.”
“You’re welcome.”
“No,” Richard said, his voice sounding a little weaker. He was quickly wearing out. Tricia through his arm over her shoulder to balance his weight better, keeping pressure on the wound on his side. “I mean it, Tricia. Thank you. I’m probably going to die before we ever make it to the Academy—”
“Don’t say that.”
“—but I want you to know that this means a lot. No one’s ever really…”
He didn’t finish the thought.
“You’re going to be all right,” Tricia said.
He shook his head. “No. There’s no way I’m making it out of this.”
They walked in unhappy silence for a few minutes, watching the sun rise and following the train tracks. Richard could barely put any weight on his legs at all anymore. Jayson knew they were in trouble.
“Speaking of which,” Richard said softly. “Since my arm is over your shoulder, and since I’m going to die and all, would you kill me if I groped your breast right now?”
“Without hesitation,” she said, the ghost of a smile on her lips.
11
They stopped to rest twice. The second time, Tricia went hunting for water and they finished off the last of their fish. Jayson hoped they were nearing one of the outposts. The mountain loomed before them in the distance, but it was still a long way off. It would take time to get there, and once they did, it would take even more time to climb up to the height of the Academy.
That was time Richard didn’t have. They couldn’t afford days walking in his condition. They needed one of those trolleys so that they could keep moving without straining Richard. And, with any luck, the outpost would have some sort of reserve supplies too. Rations, water, anything.
By the time the sun was at its full height, Richard was stumbling and nearly incoherent. Jayson and Tricia were exhausted and things were beginning to feel hopeless.
“Just leave me,” Richard said after one of his falls. Jayson caught him but didn’t have the strength to lift him back up.
“We settled this,” Jayson said, gasping. “You didn’t leave me.”
“That was different,” Richard replied. “You were hurt. I’m dying.”
“If you weren’t wasting so much energy talking,” Jayson said, “you could probably run.”
Richard chuckled. They hadn’t spoken all morning, walking in focused silence. “I know. I have a problem. I’m seeing a therapist.”
“We have to be close,” Jayson said. “I wasn’t paying perfect attention when we rode up, but I remember seeing at least twelve of those stations. That should put them no farther than fifteen kilometers apart.”
“And we’ve gone about three kilometers already,” Tricia said.
“Feels more like three hundred,” Richard said. They stumbled a little farther. “I can’t go anymore.”
“I remember this section,” Jayson said. “The station is just around that next bend. We’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Good,” Richard said.
They continued walking. When they rounded the bend, though, there was no station.
“You liar,” Richard mumbled.
“No,” Jayson replied. “I swear it was right here. It must be that next bend. Right up there. It’ll be around there.”
“Uh huh,” Richard said.
“I promise. It can’t be much farther. Five more minutes.”
Once again, no station.
“The next one then,” Jayson offered. “I swear, it’s just past that next bend.”
“Trish, can I borrow your knife?”
“Just a little farther, Richard.”
“When this is over,” Richard said. “I’m going to gut you like you gutted that fish.”
“Wait,” Tricia said.
“No, I’m not finished,” Richard replied, grimacing. “Then I’m going to cook you over a fire and leave you in the woods for those wolves to find. And then I’m going to—”
“Shut up,” Tricia said, “and look.”
They did. A shed sat a few hundred meters in front of them, half hidden in the trees. A tree grew alongside it, hiding most of it from view behind a canopy of leaves.
“Oh,” Richard said.
“Please let there be a trolley,” Jayson mumbled under his breath.
With the shed in sight, they sped up, pressing to reach it. They were all excited and hopeful. Finally, things were going their way.
Richard stumbled a few more times, but they kept him from falling as they rushed toward the shed.
As they got closer, Jayson could make out the features better. The track split about eighty meters before they reached the shed with a manual switch. The access track went to the large sliding door for one side of the shed and presumably through to the other side. The shed was some forty meters long.
The walls were comprised of rusted sheet metal, weathered with age. The sliding door wasn’t locked, but it took Jayson several pulls to jar it loose. It hadn’t been used in a long time. He threw it open, letting light spill in, and saw:
Nothing.
Jayson stood in the entryway, the excitement ebbing away. It was replaced with bone weariness. Just an empty shed, forgotten out in the middle of the forest. No supplies. No trolley. Nothing.
“What now?” Tricia asked.
“I don’t know,” Jayson replied.
“You keep going,” Richard said. He slipped out of Jayson’s hold and sat down on one of the rails. His face was pale, eyes sunken. “And I stay here.”
“We already—”
“Bullshit. This is game over for me. We’re making terrible time, and things are just going to keep getting worse. I’ll be dead by tomorrow.”
“Then we’ll stay here. Look for supplies, fortify this place…”
Richard was shaking his head. “No,” he said, then coughed. “No, it won’t do any good. If there was a medical kit here, then maybe. But not now. This is a complete waste.”
Jayson exchanged a glance with Tricia.
“Have a seat,” Jayson said to Richard. “We need to rest anyway, and there’s no better place to do it than right here where we have walls. We’ll gather some wood and look for water and see what we can do about making this place comfortable.”
“Comfortable place to die,” Richard said, chuckling. The chuckle turned into a cough. “I suppose that’s something.”
“Just shut up, Richard.”
