فصل بیست و دوم

Chapter 22: The Next Step

Time seemed frozen, disjointed like broken sequences cut out of a horror movie. Jack’s hands and torso were drenched in blood and he was screaming in anguish. All of us were crying, even Tessa, who didn’t know either of them. During it all one of the guards woke and began shouting at us to let him go. The emotion of the moment piqued my anger. “Shut up!” I shouted.

“Let me out of this!” he shouted back.

I stood and walked to him. When he saw the fierce anger on my face his own expression turned from anger to fear. I had to control myself so that I only shocked him unconscious. Then Zeus and I dragged him out of the clearing into the jungle, crammed leaves into his mouth, and tied his shirt around his face to keep him from making any more noise. We were doing it for his benefit. In Jack’s current state he would gladly silence him permanently. Then Zeus, Ian, and I dragged the other guards into the jungle, including the two who had been shot. There was no need to tie up the guard who had shot Wade. He hadn’t survived Zeus’s blast.

Abigail found a wool blanket in one of the trucks, and she and McKenna draped it over Wade’s body. It was nearly an hour before Jack finally left Wade’s side. He sat alone at the edge of the clearing, softly crying.

Grief is a powerful force that settles in the heart like a dark, heavy fog. It was familiar territory to me. I was eight years old when I lost my father.

Everyone wandered off to their own place. Ian was in a daze, muttering that he should have seen the guard, and he walked off alone. Abigail, Tessa, and Zeus sat together outside the clearing, near the spot we had first entered. McKenna and Ostin went for a walk while Taylor and I sought refuge in the front seat of the red truck. I just held her in silence. So much had happened since we’d separated, but neither of us felt like talking about it. The gladness we felt at being together again was muted by shock and grief.

An hour or so later Ostin walked up to us alone. He opened the back door of the cab and climbed in. His eyes were as swollen as ours. “I can’t believe this,” he said. “I can’t believe Wade’s gone.” He looked at me anxiously. “Is your mom safe?” “She got out,” I said. “She’s with the voice.” “I wish we were,” Taylor said softly. “What are we going to do now?” I looked through the windshield at Jack, then back at Taylor. “We’ve got to get out of here before someone finds us.” “And go where?” Ostin asked.

“Jaime gave me the name of a hostel in Cuzco. We’ll drive there.” “Jaime?” Taylor said. “You mean the guy who took us up the river?” I nodded.

“How did you find him?” Ostin asked.

“He found me,” I said. “Do you remember that tribesman we saw on the way in?” Ostin nodded. “The Amacarra.”

“They saved me from the Elgen. Then they brought Tessa and me to Jaime.” Taylor said, “Who is Tessa?”

“Tessa was one of Hatch’s kids until she escaped from the Starxource plant six months ago. The Amacarra were hiding her. When the Peruvian army started moving in, the tribe took us up the river to Jaime. We hiked through the jungle until we found a place to stop the convoy.” “How did you know where we were?” Ostin asked.

“The voice,” I said.

“You talked to the voice?” he asked.

“Jaime had a radio.” I raked my hand back through my hair. “Things aren’t going well. Hatch has taken control of the Elgen. The voice wanted me to rescue you, then go to Lima and sink the Elgen boats.” “What boats?” Taylor asked.

“The Elgen run their empire from a fleet of boats. Hatch has gathered the fleet and is taking them to an island where he plans to build a base where they can create weapons of mass destruction.” “This just keeps getting better,” Taylor said.

“At least we’re still alive,” Ostin said.

Taylor looked at him as the pain of his words surfaced. “Not all of us.” Ostin winced.

“I just want to get out of this stupid place,” Taylor said. “The Peruvians think we’re terrorists and want to publicly hang us.” She breathed out slowly. “I just want to go back to my old life. But it doesn’t exist anymore, does it?” I shook my head. “Not the way it was. Until we stop Hatch, he’ll just keep coming.” “Ignorance was bliss,” she said.

Just then McKenna walked up to us. Ostin opened his door, then slid over so McKenna could sit next to him. He took her hand, which surprised me. Outside of his mother, I had never seen Ostin even touch a girl. Clearly a lot had happened since we’d been separated at the Starxource plant.

Taylor said, “So if we sink this boat, then what?” “We’ll go back to America,” I said.

“What boat are you talking about?” McKenna asked.

“The Elgen boat,” Ostin said.

“The Ampere?” she said.

I looked at her. “You know about the Ampere?” “I’ve been on it. It was a long time ago. Before Hatch locked us up.” “Hatch is bringing the entire Elgen fleet to Peru. The voice wants us to sink the Ampere.” “How do you sink a huge boat?” McKenna asked. “The Ampere is . . . huge.” “I could come up with a dozen ways,” Ostin said. “At least.” “How would we even get there?” Taylor asked. “You know the army will be watching the roads out of here. They’ll probably have roadblocks.” “Maybe not this one,” I said, looking at the dirt road. “It wasn’t on the map.” “It’s probably just an old logging road,” Ostin said. “They might not even know about it.” “Those Elgen guards felt safe enough on it to use it,” Taylor said. “Do you think it goes all the way to Cuzco?” “I don’t know,” I said. “But you’re right, we can’t go back to Puerto Maldonado. I say we follow it as far as it goes, then hike the rest of the way out of the jungle. At least we’ll bypass any roadblocks.” Taylor’s voice fell. “What do we do about Wade? We can’t leave him here.” “We’ll take him to Cuzco and give him a proper burial.” “Even if we have to carry him?” she asked.

“I don’t think Jack would leave him,” I said. “But it’s up to him.” Everyone went quiet. Finally I turned to McKenna. “How’s Ian doing?” “Not well,” she said. “He’s blaming himself for not seeing the guy.” “He can’t see everything,” Taylor said.

“He can,” Ostin said. “He just didn’t.”

“That’s not helpful,” Taylor said. “Don’t you dare say that around him. He feels bad enough.” “I’m not dumb,” Ostin said.

“So what do we do once we’re in Cuzco?” McKenna asked.

“We’ll meet up with Jaime and make our plan,” I said.

“Another plan,” Taylor said. “I’m sick of plans. Someday I want someone to say ‘We’re going shopping.’ ” “If only,” I said.

Taylor laid her head against my shoulder. I pulled her into me. Everyone just fell silent.

A few minutes later Abigail and Zeus walked up to us. Zeus opened the truck door. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“We were just talking about our next step,” Ostin said.

“Which is getting out of this lame country,” Abigail said.

“We need to go to Lima and sink the Elgen’s main boat,” I said.

“What?” Abigail said.

“You’re planning to sink the Ampere?” Zeus said.

“That’s the plan,” I said.

“It’s not my plan,” Zeus said, shaking his head. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but I don’t do boats. I’m getting out of this death hole.” “The thing is,” Abigail said, “it’s not just the army who wants to kill us, it’s the entire country. They’ve probably put our pictures on television.” “No television,” Ostin said. “There’s no electricity.” “Whatever,” Abigail said. “Then in the newspaper. And if you haven’t noticed, we don’t look like Peruvians. We stand out.” “She’s right,” Taylor said.

“Why do you think the Ampere will be in Lima?” Zeus asked. “It’s in Europe.” “The voice,” I replied. “He told us that Hatch is bringing the Elgen fleet to Peru.” Zeus shook his head. “I doubt it. Chairman Schema would never go for it. He likes Italy too much.” “There is no Chairman Schema anymore,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Hatch has taken over the entire corporation.” “That’s not good,” Zeus said.

Abigail groaned. “All the more reason to get out of this lousy country before our luck runs out.” “And then what?” Ostin said. “Wait for the Elgen to grow stronger and come find us?” “We stand a much better chance of not being found if we stop throwing ourselves at them,” Abigail said.

“She’s got a point,” McKenna said. “And worst case, we’ll at least have a real life for a few years.” She frowned. “I’m sorry, but I’m tired.” I exhaled slowly, then rested my head in my hand. “Me too.” “We all are,” Taylor said. “And sad.”

I looked back over at Jack. Seeing him broke my heart. Taylor put her hand on my back.

“When do we leave?” Zeus asked.

“We better wait until morning,” I said. “I don’t think we should drive at night.” “Is there anything to eat?” Ostin asked.

“There’s food and water in the back of the other truck,” McKenna said. “It looks like these guys were planning on sticking around.” Taylor said, “We’ll get dinner for everyone.” She turned to McKenna. “Will you help me heat it?” “Sure.” They both got out of the truck.

“I’ll help,” Ostin said, climbing down after McKenna.

Taylor leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you in a minute.” The three of them left.

When they were gone, Abigail sighed. “I’m really worried about Jack.” I looked back over at him again. He was still in the same place, his head bowed. “We probably shouldn’t leave him alone,” I said.

“He said he wants to be alone,” Zeus said.

“That doesn’t mean he should be,” Abigail replied. She took Zeus’s hand. “Let’s go see him.” “I’ll come with you,” I said.

The three of us walked over to where Jack was sitting and sat down next to him. He glanced up at us, then looked back down. I had no idea what to say.

Fortunately, Abigail was naturally gifted at comforting people. She put her hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I can’t take away the kind of pain you’re feeling.” “I need to feel the pain,” Jack said. “It would be wrong not to.” We were all silent for a moment.

Abigail said, “You know, when we couldn’t find you, Wade was so upset. He kept saying, ‘We’ve got to find Jack.’ He pushed us along. You meant that much to him.” Jack covered his eyes with his hand. None of us had ever seen him cry before. It looked so foreign, like Superman with a broken arm. After a minute he looked up at us. “Wade had no one. His parents abandoned him. Every foster home he went to threw him out. His grandmother was . . . a loser.” He put down his head.

“He had you,” Abigail said.

“Lucky him,” Jack replied sarcastically.

“He was lucky to have you,” Abigail said.

Jack exploded. “Lucky? He’d still be alive if it wasn’t for me.” Abigail didn’t turn away. After a moment she said, “When your home was burned down, you said, ‘I made my choices, I’ll live with them.’ Shouldn’t you allow Wade the same? No one forced him to come. He made his choices.” Jack didn’t answer.

Abigail took his hand. “Everyone dies. You made Wade’s life worth living.” Jack bowed his head again. Abigail wrapped her arms around him and held him. He began to shake.

A minute later Zeus said, “I’m sorry, man. Wade was a good guy. He really loved you.” Without looking up Jack said, “I was a jerk to him. I was always on his case.” “He knew you loved him. That’s why he loved you so much,” Abigail said.

All of us sat quietly for a moment, then Zeus added, “So do we.” Zeus stood up and walked away.

After another minute I said, “He’s right, you know.” Jack couldn’t answer. He just broke down and wept.