“Hey everyone, I am picking up a signal.” The black headed older guy called Brian said, shaking the reconnaissance radar device he had which was making beeping sound. I threw a look at Gerald who was ignoring me steadfastly. I glanced at Liam, hoping that he would give me a hint but no such luck. Even Malcom’s face was more passive than usual.
“What kind of signal?” Gerald asked, playing his part of a team leader ever so well. Brian tapped the device impatiently a few more times before giving out a frustrated grunt. “It is a little jammed up, but there is a human signal coming from the west.”
My eyebrows shot up and I watched as the rest of my team all watched the Brian intently as he continued to tweak the device further. “It is not a glitch, there is a real signal!” Brian said as he scratched his nose, “Maybe there are more people out there.” He said, though it was more of a question than a statement.
My eyes landed on Casey and John, wondering what their reaction would me. as expected, a look of skepticism hang on her face whilst John looked torn between excitement and anxiousness. So this was the big plan?
“You guys go on.” Gerald said, nodding his head towards Casey and John. “Take them back to the headquarter. I will search with Abigail and Liam.”
My heart was pounding in my chest and I hoped that they would buy it. Adam looked disappointed, but I was happy to see acceptance on their faces. That is, everyone except Vanessa and Casey.
“I want to come with you.” Casey said firmly, to everyone’s surprise but me. I smiled, happy to see something that hadn’t change for once. I stifled a snicker as a frown found its way on Gerald’s face. In my mind I knew that it was probably a bad idea to have her along, but the look on Gerald’s face made me think that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea; and it would be good to have a friendly face along.
“I should come too.” Vanessa piqued up, to everyone’s surprise. “Maybe they are injured.”
Instead of feeling frustrated that Gerald’s plan wasn’t going smoothly, I was actually excited to see how he would deal with this turn of events. Never one for group decision, he thought about it for two seconds and nodded his consent.
Without further ado, everyone started ruffling through their bags to redistribute rations and supplies. About fifteen minutes later, the other team was ready to go. I gave John a quick hug and assured him that he would be fine.
As we watched them disappeared into the vegetation, I wondered how Gerald was going to pull this off. I was pretty sure that Liam doesn’t know the whole story anyway but his loyalty would mean that he would be down for Gerald’s plan no matter what; and I knew that Casey would be behind me a hundred percent. Vanessa is the real wild card but I did felt safer with her along.
“We need to head East.” Liam said as he jiggled the device that Brian had handed over to him, clearly excited by the prospect of handling it for the rest of the trip. I contemplated briefly whether east was really the direction we needed to go; but with the addition of Casey and Vanessa the show just got a lot more interesting.
“Who do you think it would be?” Casey asked her eyes large with anticipation and I didn’t know if I should tell her the truth or not. Deciding against it for now I shrugged; right now wasn’t a good time.
We spent the rest of the day trekking through the heavily vegetated area and it felt so good to just hang out with Casey again. It brought a sense of normalcy back to my life and it was exactly what I needed.
Gerald had been awfully quiet the entire way whilst Liam chatted animatedly to Vanessa, who seemed very agreeable. This made me even guiltier about not telling Casey and her the truth but it was for a greater good. I couldn’t believe that I was one of those people now; doing what I didn’t think was right and trying to justify it. it appeared that Lynette and I did have more in common than I thought.
“Where are we going?” I asked Gerald when we finally got a moment alone together, with the rest of the group setting up camp for the night.
“I told you.” Gerald said without missing a beat, “We are going to the last known location of Katerina Falcon.”
“And that is where?” I asked, my voice raising an octave before I quickly hushed myself. Patience was never one of my strongest truth and it is particularly lacking when it came to him.
“It would be better if you don’t know.” Gerald answered, pointing out some twigs on the floor that I should pick up. Without moving from his side I waved my hand so the loose branches came flying into my arms and Gerald raised his eyebrow at me.
“What if we get separated?” I countered. “Don’t you think it’s better if I know where I am going?”
“The moment I give you the location,” Gerald began, turning around so that he could look me right in the eyes. “You would go running off on your own. Am I wrong?”
Shrugging I decided to ignore his question. It turned out he knew me better than I thought, and I him. Our relationship was so strange that I couldn’t even began to unravel it and I secretly prayed for the day that we could stop putting up with each other’s company.
“At least let me know how far it is.” I liaised, some information is better than none. With a cocky smile tugging on his lips Gerald pointed east.
“We are about three day’s journey away.” He answered and my heart leaped, but was quickly shot down again. “Where we are meeting a friend of mine who will lead us to her.”
“What?” I said through my gritted teeth, then decided a change of subject was necessary. “How are you going to explain to Casey and Vanessa, by the way?”
Giving me a puzzled look he abruptly turned around and headed back. “I thought you would be the one to tell them. After all it is your mission.”
Blinking, this was as close to sarcasm as I had ever heard from Gerald; this sudden display of humanness had left me dumb folded for a few seconds before I came back to my sense and caught back up with him.
“Allow me.” Casey said with a smirk as we settled down after dinner when Liam suggested that we should start setting up more precaution around the camp and set up night watches. Putting her hand to the ground she closed her eyes briefly before looking up again.
“Erm, I hate to break it to you but nothing is happening.” Liam said, looking around in confusion and I stifled a laugh. Casey had always done a protective camouflage around us every time we settle in for the night; whilst it wasn’t particular effective against Legres with a strong sense of smell, which is pretty much the large majority, it will buy us time since they couldn’t see us.
“Impressive.” Gerald said when they finally figured out what Casey did and Vanessa flashed her an appreciative smile. Everyone was getting along fairly well but my heart still sat heavy with the secret we were keeping.
“Do you want to do a quick sweep?” Gerald asked and I nodded. Closing my eyes I took a deep breath and allowed my mind to expand. After an initial check I began to do a more thorough sweep, a habit that I picked up after the first night when we got attack by Lupas.
As my mind sweep through the dense forest floor I came across an odd object. Focusing on it I pinpointed its exact location and imprinted it in my mind before withdrawing back.
“What is it?” Casey asked, her tone worried which caught the attention of the rest of the group.
“There is an odd object about 800 m north.” I said, and Gerald gnawed on his lips. “It’s nothing I had seen before and I think we should check it out, just in case.”
We fell into silence as Gerald thought this oven and with a jolt I realized I had gotten accustomed to taking this guy’s order as well. Frowning I tried to pin point exactly when this development had happened when Mr. Annoying had finally made up his mind.
“Liam, go with Abigail to check it out.” He ordered, throwing him a walkie-talkie. Liam nodded and gave me a quick smile. It irked me a little that Gerald had given Liam the walkie-talkie but not me, but I knew I would had done the same in reverse.
“Lead the way princess.” Liam said and I gave him a pointed look to which he responded with an innocent smile. Endearing terms should really be made illegal. Despite hating the terms a smile made its way onto my face as I lead Liam through the thicket towards the mysterious object.
“How are you holding up?” Liam asked and I threw him a strange look; that was a weird question to ask. “I am doing fine as always.” I answered, despite having just done a thorough check I quickly sweep the area around us again to make sure we are safe. Liam gave out a chuckled as though I had said something funny.
“What?” I asked defensively, annoyed that he was persistently implying that I wasn’t fine. I was as fine as I could be given everything that had happened. Suddenly Liam stretched into a huge smile and gave me an almighty pat on my back that sent me stumbling forward and nearly face planted onto the floor.
“Nothing.” Liam said and now it’s his turn to sound defensive. “We are just worried about you. You have been through a lot.”
I could sense tears prickling at the back of my eyes. No one had addressed my emotional turmoil, and it was nice that someone cared enough to ask.
“Thank you.” I smiled, feeling for the first time that I had actually made a friend. Feeling like a huge burden just slide off my shoulder and I trotted through the forest with a lighter step.
Speeding up we managed to make quickly to where I sensed the strange little thing. As we got closer I tugged at Liam’s shirt so that he would slow down. “We need to be careful.” I said, learning that you can never be too careful. “It might be dangerous.”
Giving me a quick nod I decided it would be a good time to try sharing my mind sensory to someone else. “Just relax and clear your mind.” I instructed Liam, who threw me an odd look but seemed to comply.
Taking a deep breath I wondered if I really should be doing this. I could sense his guard was down for me and I let my mind connect with his and heard him gasped.
“How… How are you doing this?” Liam asked, his eyes shooting to me in disbelieve. I smiled at him and gave him a cocky smile.
“Let’s find out if we are over reacting or not.” I declared, and zoomed in. On closer inspection it seemed to be a normal, electronic device with black paint coat and several buttons of unknown function that somehow got left behind in the middle of nowhere. Picking it up using my telekinesis power Liam and I squinted at it.
“I don’t think we should touch it.” Liam mused and I nodded. It might be a bit annoying and tiring to carry it all the way back to camp like this, but we lived in this world where it’s better to be safe than sorry.
“What is it?” As soon as we entered back to the camp, Vanessa and Casey both started walking across to get a better look. I glanced at Gerald who was eyeing the device with a small smile on his face and I instantly knew that he was up to something.
You know what it is, don’t you? I asked Gerald through my mind and that jerk had the decency to widen his smile.
It’s a signal from my friend he replied, letting me read his surface thoughts as he wasn’t a telepath like me. Knowing that this little thing wasn’t going to hurt us made me relax, but only marginally. Gerald seemed to have so many secrets up his sleeves that I didn’t even know of this ‘friend’ of his until recently. He was definitely one to watch out for.
“I think it’s safe.” I paused for a while and said, earning a slightly surprised look from Liam who covered it up quite quickly. Letting the device drop into my hand I stroked its surface carefully; it felt shiny and new, which meant it hadn’t been left on the floor for long. It made me wonder how intricately Gerald had actually planned this to have it executed at such perfect timing.
Handing it over to him I took a step back and relaxed next to the camp fire with Casey and Vanessa. Accepting the small piece of dry bread with an inadequate amount of jam filling I grimaced; if I could use one change in my life it would be better food, or maybe better sleeping quarters.
When we broke camp the next day, Liam took out the reconnaissance device and immediately I could tell that it was different. True enough, a green dot flashed on the screen indicating signs of activities was now to south east, about fifteen kilometers away. Dragging my feet onwards I wasn’t sure what awaited me at the end of this journey anymore.
As I continued to scan across the area, I was becoming acutely aware of something approaching the limit of my radius and it felt very familiar. Closing my eyes I tried to tug my mind further along.
You.
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SURPRISE UPDATE! I figured I should make up for my long absense so viola! A new chappie :D
Although I seemed to have taken into ending on a minor cliffy :P but fear not I am planning on updating every 3 days now (since NaNoWriMo has got me going fast).
If anyone of you is following me on fb, you would know that I am currently working on the last chapter of Selection! Can't believe how far they have come. And I am super excited about the few coming chapters - the pace is really picking up now and several plots that I have been waiting to reveal (including ones that I didn't even know myself, haha) have surfaced. You will hear me gush about it when that one come.
Anywho again, if you want to see my progress check ou my NaNo page:
http://nanowrimo.org/participants/shadowcheah/novels/selection-carrying-on-from-oning-novel/stats
Don't forget to comment and vote ;)