OBLIVIOUS

CHAPTER 24 - Invisible Scars

Jinx has a lot of technical features that amaze and frighten me. It's quite a feat when he switches from speaker to speaker in the habitat, following me throughout the enormous structure, accessing different systems, granting authorization, and denying it in certain cases. His artificial intelligence connects through wires, zapping through circuitry to reach control panels to do whatever is required. But then he can leap to the drone and control it, while operating cameras and other devices in the hab remotely. Key example, he informed us about Cain's progress during his search for us while we fled for our lives. I wonder if Cain had destroyed the habitat or cut its power, could Jinx still function in the drone alone? I asked him, and he said he could. That's spectacular. He's self-contained and in more places than one, if needed.

Lately, he's helped us out a ton, and he continues to do so.

My mind goes back to the hologram trick he pulled back at the cave, and how he masked our heat signature too, and now he says he can protect us from the vile wolves. I have yet to see anything but shadowy streaks slicing between the trees at the forest's edge, but I know the creatures are there and my nerves tingle with unease. It's difficult to determine how big they are, but from a distance, they don't look small.

Jinx identifies a meandering path for us to take to make it down the mountain ridge. He scans the way ahead of us and tells Eve and me to follow him as he navigates a series of switchbacks, steep inclines, and narrow passes all the way to the valley floor. We did it all without having to cling to hand and foot holds while scaling down a cliff face. We walked all the way down. Sometimes, bent over for support, grasping for balance, but we maneuvered the imposing ridge with relative ease, thanks to Jinx. He could have flown straight down the mountainside and waited for us to join him, but he made sure we picked our way to the bottom and arrived in one piece.

He's on our side. I didn't know that before, but I know that now. I don't look forward to when his battery bleeds dry and he can no longer protect us. However, according to him, we'll make it to our destination before that happens.

I knew little before the final memory transfer. Now, my attitude and outlook on life have changed, but I'm the same person. I see it in the way I talk and in the way I think. I draw from the vocabulary of a planetary scientist, and since I'm thinking in this manner, I suspect Eve now remembers the skills and education of a veterinarian. If so, and I remember how smart she was from before the flood, I plan to ask her professional opinion about the vile wolves. If we have a close encounter, her expertise might save us, especially if we lose Jinx.

In the valley, the sun shines bright in a clear blue sky as we approach the gentle, flowing creek. Not near as big as the Yellowstone River, and no whitewater either. The temperature increases as the day continues. Jinx says it's twenty-nine degrees Celsius, or around eighty-four Fahrenheit.

We refill our canteens and guzzle the filtered water, then we eat another round of freeze-dried meals. Vegetable flavor. It tastes bland, but it fills my stomach, and that's something.

After I return my canteen to my backpack, I sling it on my shoulder and stand above Eve as she sits on a rock. "How you holding up?"

"I'm fine." Out of the corner of her eyes, she glares up at me and then drops her gaze to study the forest's edge. "Since we reached the valley, I've seen none of the wolves we saw from the ridge."

"Think we spooked them?"

"No. They're hiding in the shadows, waiting for us to enter their territory."

"I couldn't tell what they looked like from a distance."

Eve looks at me. "I glimpsed one darting between the trees. Its fur looked like it had a reddish tint mixed with gray. A weird combination." She frowns. "But I'll need to see them up close to get a better idea."

"Cain created them," Jinx says. "He used gene-splicing. He took DNA samples from an extinct species and made a chimera. Then he added that to the modern gray wolf. The vile wolf is forty percent larger, twice as fast, and far more deadly."

I purse my lips to the side and stare at our drone friend. "You can protect us from them? Cause all we have is our six-inch knives and our wits, and I don't think that will get us far."

"I can. I have a unique way to fend off the wolves. You'll see."

"I believe you." I grimace. "You ready, Eve?"

With a quiet nod, she rises in a way I haven't witnessed since we've been on Earth this go around, but I remember from before the flood. She pushes up, using her hands to shove off of her knees. It's something I've seen her do when she was tired and taking a break after working outside with the small number of farm animals we had at our house. She also did it when I'd visit her at the animal hospital she worked at under a senior veterinarian's practice. Seeing her do it draws from my memories of the past. I know her more now. I only wish I could change the way she feels about me.

"I'm sorry, Eve. For the way I neglected you after the baby..." My words die on my tongue.

"Save it."

I touch her hand, and she pulls away. When she does, it feels like a knife slicing my heart open and making it bleed. "I loved her too."

"I don't wanna talk about it. Drop it."

I glance away, and then look up at Jinx as jets of air lift him off the ground. He had been resting, conserving battery power while we took a lunch break.

We splash across the creek at a spot where it flows ankle deep in places, divided by rocks, diverting the water in different directions, creating shallow sections in between. The rocks remind me of how the experiences from our past cause divisions between us now, like scar tissue on the heart. But when I consider how the water runs around and forges on, continuing to supply the creek bed with nutrients, keeping it fresh for us and the animals to drink, I hold on to a thread of hope that Eve and I can pull through this. When we get to the other side of the creek, I peer over at her and sigh under my breath. If only things were different...

But I push the thought away and press on, fighting a gnawing ache in the pit of my stomach that tries to convince me all hope is lost.