To Be A Champion

Chapter 14: Want You Gone

It's started raining again. I suppose I should have expected it. It would be too much to expect it to not be raining as we wait for the boat from Dearg Island to reach the shore of this small island that I haven't bothered to learn the name of.

My heart pounds in my chest as we wait, and I can feel Tom beside me, his shoulders tensed, ever vigilant. My chest constricts, and it feels as if someone's got a hand wrapped around my heart, squeezing and pulling me towards the boat as it glides across the waters.

Go.

I don't. I wait.

"See it, Five?" Tom whispers, glancing over at me for a split second to spot my nod. The boat reaches the shore. Its wheels are just coming up onto the track laid along the beach. "It will wait precisely 180 seconds and then travel around the track again to reenter the water. That window is when we board."

"Ah! Is it remote controlled?" Sam asks through our headsets. "Also, can it hear us? Is that why you're whisper-" He stops and lowers his voice to a whisper. "Oh, sorry. Should I be whispering?"

I giggle.

"We don't know what kind of defense it has built in," Tom replies. "No one from Mor Island has tried to board it. We know that the laboratories on Dearg are extremely advanced. Advanced enough that they ought to be able to do something for Jane, even without the nanite control box."

"So, you don't know if the boat might just detect stowaways and dump you into the sea?"

"We think that as long as we board at the time the system expects to receive cargo, we should be okay."

An uncertain noise leaves his mouth. "Should be..."

"No time for that now." Tom pops up from behind his rock, and I'm quick to mirror his movements. "There's our boat. Five, with me. Come on."

He hops over the rock with ease, and I scramble to follow. Sand and mud kick up from our pounding footsteps as we sprint across the shore to the boat. I feel it pulling me towards it, almost like an invisible string is pulling me forward faster than my legs can pump. I nearly fall because of it.

The next breath of air is painful, panic flooding my veins as my mind screams danger! but my heartrate slows because of overwhelming peace. This shouldn't feel comfortable or good or calming, and yet it does and that's how I know it's wrong. The rational part of my mind screams to turn around and run as far away as I can. It must be a trap. There must be a reason I'm feeling like this, and it can't be good. I should run. I should turn around.

But I don't. I can't. This is our chance to save Janine, and if that means putting myself at risk, so be it. We have not come this far and worked this hard to give up.

I won't let it be my fault if Janine dies.

I scramble onto the boat, panting from the sprint. Tom pulls himself onto the boat and ushers me under a tarpaulin before getting under it himself. We hold our breath and wait for a possible alarm, but none comes. We only must wait a few seconds before the boat starts moving, jostling us around and making me smack my forehead against Tom's shoulder.

I wince, raising a hand to rub the sore spot. At least it wasn't my bruised nose or busted lips that got bonked. I swallow against the lump in my throat, my hand reaching up to grab my invisible backpack strap. This is it. Can't change my mind now.

Tom remains tense as the rain continues to pour, the tarpaulin keeping us from being absolutely drenched. His shoulders only relax after a few minutes of silence, but even then, he still keeps his guard up. His blue eyes search around, looking for a possible camera or sensor, but he doesn't find anything out of the ordinary–well, as ordinary as this can get.