"Ren? Ren! Wake up!" Cass whisper-screams as she shakes Ren.
"Ren, you gotta wake up! You're having a nightmare. Ren..."
Ren keeps staring at the ceiling, tears rolling down her face. "No... I don't want to... " she whispers. "Please, just let me go."
Her words make me wonder what horror the Wendigos made her relive, what they made her see in that cave. What traumatic memory she has to recover from all over again. I can't do much except sit here helplessly, and I hate myself for it.
"Can you wake her up Cass? More effectively?"
Cass sighs. "I can try. It might hurt though." Nevertheless, she shuts her eyes and sits down. "Come on, wake up you stupid Birdie," she mutters under her breath.
A moment later, Ren bolts up gasping. She blinks, looking like she'd just been punched. "There's..."
"You're okay Ren," I whisper. "You're okay."
"Those things, they're..."
"It was a nightmare Ren," Cass soothes. "You're awake now. They can't get to you."
"Yeah... yeah," Ren trails off, still trembling. "They can't get to me."
"Are you okay?" I ask.
Ren doesn't look at me. "Yeah, I'm fine," she says a little too quickly, rubbing her arms. She shifts her weight and winces as she moves her injured leg. She wipes her face. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Cass asks, her casual tone not masking her concern in the least.
"Yes Cass," she hisses.
"Do you want to go back to sleep or..."
Ren glares at me. "I'll stay up. I'm not tired anyway." She clearly is, but I don't really want to argue with her now. "And both of you, stop treating me like I'm gonna break. It's just a nightmare, I'll be fine."
Cass, apparently, is ready to argue with Ren anytime for her well-being. "Ren. in case you haven't noticed, you are injured and drained. That would make you very tired. You're either going to go to sleep, or you're going to end up like Harley; in bed for a week."
I elbow Cass. "Hey, don't use me as an example," I hiss.
"If you're you're going to stop babying me, I'll lie down, okay? But that's it, I don't want any special treatment. From anyone."
"Fair," I mutter.
"Just don't tell anyone about this. I don't want them fussing over me."
"Don't worry about it, Ren. You need to rest right now."
"Trust me, Dani will drug you if she has to. It's not fun, trust me."
Ren cracks a smile. "Okay, I get it. now go."
Cass and I leave Ren and go outside. " You wanna tell me about that incident?"
I sigh, hiding a smile spreading on my face. I run my tongue over my teeth. "Only if you tell me what's up with you, Ren and Jake."
Cass huffs. "Fine. You first, though."
I laugh. "Dani must've done it at least five times. Last time was maybe a few months ago." That was a lifetime ago. Before Tachyon. Before paying off Raymond. "I was supposed to pay this guy for keeping me hidden from social services and keeping me safe, which isn't cheap. I worked my butt off trying to get money legally."
"So you, an unregistered teen, got a job?"
"Yeah, thank the guy I had to pay. Anyway, the payment had a deadline, so I hadn't slept in a few days. Child labour laws couldn't stop me. Don't ask me how Dani found out because one day she showed up after my shift to give me some food."
"Drugged?"
"Yeah. It was good food though. I woke up in her apartment."
"Nice of her," Cass comments.
"Except I kinda felt like I was invading her life, so... there's that. What's the Jake story?"
Cass sighs, making braids in her hair subconsciously. " Before we came to Tachyon, both me and Ren knew each other. Jake was... the cool kid, still is, I guess, at our school. He invited us to a party one day at his house. Ren didn't like him from the beginning, but we still ended up going." She finishes a braid in her hair before undoing it and braiding it all over again.
"Why didn't like Ren like him?"
"She knew he was arrogant, selfish, and just a bully sometimes. she wasn't wrong. Anyways, we got there, but nobody except him and his parents were there. He helped them ship us off to Tachyon."
I nod. I disliked Quinn for the exact same reasons, but Dani seems to trust her. and with the whole life-or-death situation, I've learned to put my hatred to the back of my mind. I can say that it has dissolved at least a little bit though.
"Lesson learned. Don't party with strangers."
Cass swats me. "Shut up," she says, trying to hide a grin. Her expression sobers. "After Jake got to Tachyon he tried to avoid us. We wouldn't let him. He and Ren began this battle of inconveniencing and annoying each other. I can't say I'm completely innocent either, though."
"Fun." I squint at the double moon in the sky through the gaping hole in the roof. The nights are cold but my ability warms me up quickly. It gets me thinking. Would Squadron A have abilities too? I voice my question to Cass.
"Yeah, probably. They survived the trip here, right?"
"Yeah, but where did they land?"
"Dani knows. Why?"
"If we found the crash site, we might be able to figure out what happened to them. You said radios wouldn't work with them, and I'm guessing a signal fire would be too far fetched. So we go to the crash site and work from there."
"I doubt you'll find much, but go ahead." Cass tucks her hair behind her ear. "There must be locals here to have built this building, and I don't think either of us wants to meet them. If you do find people, it might not necessarily be Squadron A."
"Yeah, I know," I sigh. "Look, I'll take the Kaisers to the crash site tomorrow. They might see something that I won't."
"Harley, don't you need to rest? Using your ability isn't easy."
I give her my best smirk. "I'll be fine. Besides, I want to get out of here before we all die of thirst."
"If you use your ability, you won't be able to walk back," she warns.
"I'll get the Kaisers to carry me."
Cass rolls her eyes. "Brilliant plan."
"And plus, I'm pretty much resting right now."
"Dani's the one you'll have to convince, not me. Only she and Quinn know where the crash-site is. And I don't think it's the best idea to wake Quinn for that."
I sigh. "This will be so much fun."
As soon as dawn breaks, I go find Dani. She's already up. I take a deep breath and approach her. "hey Dani."
"Hey," she replies as she rolls up her sleeping bag. "What do you need?"
Of course Dani would know when I want or need something. I have no way of bringing up the topic eloquently, so I just say it. "Do you know where Squadron A landed?"
"Yeah." She looks at me, narrowing her eyes. "Why?"
"I want to go investigate it." I cringe at how childish I sound. "I think you know why."
"Before, your priority was finding water, which we are losing by the day. Now you want to investigate a crash site that you'll probably find nothing at. Look Harley, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you'd be of more help back here. Besides, what if a Wendigo attacks you?"
I show Dani a glowing hand. It hurts, but I stand my ground, determined not to let the pain show through. " I can take care of myself. Plus, I'm taking the Kaisers with me. even if there's nothing there, we'll at least know for sure."
Dani runs a hand through her hair as she thinks. "Fine. Radio when you get there. " Dani rips a label off a can before scribbling something onto it. She hands it to me. "Give this to the Kaisers. They'll know what it means."
"Thanks, Dani."
"You'd better go wake them up," she adds, tucking the sleeping bag under her arm. "You'll want to leave as soon as possible."
Before I know it, we're walking through the forest, the morning sun filtering through the leaves. This time we actually have to walk the entire way, and I'm regretting showing off to Dani. LIght-headed would be an understatement to what I'm feeling. But Dani had to see that I don't need babysitting.
"How do you even know where this place is?" I ask, trying to make conversation.
"The magic of Tachyon," Aiden huffs, clearly more tired than he's letting on.
"And why haven't you visited this place yet?"
"Because, surprise surprise, virus," Sorren says, waving his hands in the air. His hands pass through a branch as if it wasn't there. Sorren quickly brings his hands to his sides and curses under his breath. Aiden pretends not to notice.
We arrive on the top of a heavily-forested hill. "We're here," Aiden says. He takes a swig from his water bottle. "It's noon, so we have about three hours here before we need to head back."
I nod. Sorren pulls out his radio to contact camp. This is my expedition. I need to find something worth investigating. I look around. At first glance, it looks like a normal part of the forest. Then I notice small things; a water bottle, part of a sleeping bag, a can, hidden by the foliage. The pods must have landed no less than a month ago. There's no way the foliage could have grown so fast.
"Guys?" Sorren calls from the other side of the abandoned camp. "I think I found something."
I rush over to see him brushing off leaves, branches and moss from some sort of mound. Aiden and I go to help him.
"No way. No damn way. It's a damn pod," Aiden breathes.
Sorren slaps the side of it. "And I'll bet you that we'll find seven more of these babies waiting to be found."
A smile creeps onto my face. We're getting somewhere at least.
"But why is the entire camp so overgrown?" Aiden wonders out loud.
"Maybe the foliage grows faster here. this area seems pretty damp, and, as much as I'd hate to say it, is probably littered with corpses. That could be why this place is so lush."
Aiden's mouth presses into a grim line. "Bodies produce nitrogen, which is a good fertilizer. If what you're saying is true, I really hope the bodies aren't Squadron A's."
Sorren shivers. " Hey, Aiden? We have these things called rations. I'd rather not lose my lunch."
I take a shaky breath. "No, I don't think that any of the bodies are Squadron A's, because we would have seen them. Wendigos aren't too keen on cleaning up remains," I say, recalling the cave. "And I don't think they could have decomposed that quickly."
Aiden nods. But look at the remains of the camp. It looked like they were either attacked or they left in a hurry."
"Without any of their stuff? No, they wouldn't have left without stuff like this–" he holds up a lighter–" on purpose."
"It's likely that Wendigos could have attacked. Or maybe wolves or bears."
"Okay, so something attacked, some of Squadron A fled. Maybe some were ... taken."
"So how can we find the rest of them?"
"What about their tags?" I ask, grateful for tags for once.
"Tachyon would have told us if they worked though, wouldn't they?"
"Yeah, but they're all on a different planet. We have a better chance ourselves."
"Yeah, we might," Aiden says as he puts his bag down. "Sorren and I will work on something." We take apart the tech from the inside of the pods, at least what we can salvage. All the tech inside our pods was rendered almost completely useless by the crash.
After what seems like ages, their hard work is paid off. Sorren grins. "Ladies and gents, I think we've found them."
"Really? You guys are awesome!"
"Well, we only found two," Aiden corrects. "They're not far from here. Do you want to go find them?"
"Hell yes."
It takes us another half hour to find the place. Although it's probably still late afternoon, the area is pretty dark. A large rock, maybe the size of a shed, catches my attention. Moss and other undergrowth has been ripped away in an unnatural manner.
Aiden nods in my direction and I start to approach it. About five feet from the rock, I lose my footing among the thick underbrush and it gives way. It sends me tumbling into a dark burrow, which doesn't exactly remind me of fond memories. I grab my flashlight from my pocket and my vision flickers when I turn it on. Then I hear something behind me.
"Rhodes?"