فصل 24

Chapter 24

The woods were eerily quiet, the sounds of the gunfire quickly muffled by the thick trees that surrounded us. Tree branches whipped past us as we ran with nothing but the sound of our footsteps and labored breathing thrumming in our ears. I was in the lead, with Todd running behind me on my right and Shawn on my left.

I wondered if Ivan was still alive. I hoped so, but I was worried. We had no idea how many marines were hiding in those woods with weapons, and he was just a little old man with only one arm to work with. Not that any of those factors seemed to slow him down in the slightest, but I still couldn’t shake the sick feeling of dread in my stomach.

As we ran, a prickly wariness started poking at the edge of my consciousness. Something felt off, and I wasn’t sure what it could be. A quick scan of the woods didn’t do anything to ease the feeling. They were too silent. Too still. I skidded to a stop, my bow drawn. Todd and Shawn ran on a few more steps before they realized I was no longer with them. They both turned to face me, questions on their lips, but I held up a hand to stop them.

“Something’s wrong,” I whispered. “Listen.”

“I don’t hear anything,” Shawn said.

“I know.” I frowned. “That’s the problem. The birds aren’t singing; the bugs aren’t chattering. Why?”

The hairs on the back of my neck went up, and I strained my ears for a sound as my heart thudded in my chest.

The bullet buzzed so close to my ear that at first I thought it was a mosquito or a bee until it thumped into the tree behind me, sending a spray of splintered wood over my shoulders and head.

“Get down,” Todd yelled, diving to the ground. I spun behind the tree that had taken the bullet meant for me. More bullets pelted the ground and the surrounding trees for another few seconds and then stopped.

“Sky Mundy, I know you’re there,” General Kennedy called out. I sucked in a breath as fear, hard and hot, burned in my chest. “Come out, and I won’t shoot your little friend Shawn.” Peeking around the tree, I saw Kennedy standing fifteen feet away, a gun trained on my best friend. Shawn glanced my way and shook his head ever so slightly, his eyes panicked and pleading. I ducked back behind the tree and squeezed my eyes shut for a second, willing myself to think. There had to be a way out of this. I looked around for Todd, but he must have hidden farther into the woods. I prayed he hadn’t been shot.

“I’m not a patient person, Sky,” Kennedy warned. “One. Two.”

I threw myself out from behind the tree before he could make it to three, my hands in the air. “Don’t shoot him,” I said. “Please don’t shoot.”

“Very good, Sky,” Kennedy said, turning to face me, his gun still pointed at Shawn. “Now hand over the plug.”

“What’s on it?” I asked. “Why does the Noah want it so badly?” Kennedy stared at me a second in shock, and then he burst out laughing. But his laugh wasn’t genuine; it had a hard, angry edge to it that frightened me almost as much as the gun he clutched in his hand.

“You mean to tell me,” Kennedy gasped, “that we’ve been tromping through these dinosaur-infested woods, chasing a little girl who doesn’t even know what she’s carrying?” He broke into another peal of laughter. I didn’t say anything. I was calculating in my head just how far it was from me to Kennedy. Was I fast enough to get my bow up to shoot him? And what if I missed? Could he get a shot off at Shawn before my arrow reached him?

“Why are you chasing me?” I asked, desperate for more time to think.

“We shouldn’t be,” Kennedy said, anger dripping off every word. “I’ve lost three good men trying to bring you to justice. Men I grew up with and trained with lost their lives for a girl that we should have killed five years ago. The Noah was too kind, granting you a pardon due to your age. He didn’t think a child presented a danger, especially if we kept you under the strictest of surveillance.” He shook his head. “Wasting precious resources to search the room and port screen data of an orphan girl who was nothing but a burden on our society. And how do you repay his kindness? By stealing vital compound supplies to take your father’s secrets to the very people who could undo the Noah’s entire plan.” “What plan?” I asked.

“I am out of patience,” Kennedy said. “Hand it over, or Shawn dies and then you do. I have no problem taking the plug off of your corpse. I would have shot you already if I wasn’t worried about accidentally hitting the plug.” “How do I know you won’t shoot him as soon as I give it you?” I asked. I didn’t look at Shawn. I couldn’t. If I saw the fear on his face, my own terror would overwhelm me. Every muscle in my body was tense, and I worried I might snap from the pressure.

“Don’t do it,” Todd said, stepping out from the woods, his bow trained on Kennedy. “Your dad wouldn’t want you to hand it over.”

Kennedy sneered at Todd’s bow. “That bow doesn’t scare me, boy. Put it down before you hurt yourself.”

“My dad would say to save Shawn,” I said, not taking my eyes off the gun in Kennedy’s hand.

“Dead men don’t say much, last time I checked,” Kennedy drawled, a smirk on his face that made my blood run cold.

“What did you just say?” I asked, feeling like I’d been punched.

“Don’t worry.” Kennedy smiled. “Your father will never know that you were a failure. Just like him.”

“You killed him?” I asked. “He’s dead?” It couldn’t be true. I’d have known if he’d been dead all this time. I would have felt it. Wouldn’t I?

“We found him a day’s travel from the compound,” Kennedy sneered. “He didn’t know that we’d implanted tracker chips into all of our high-risk technology specialists.” Kennedy smirked at Shawn.

“You’re a liar,” I said, my fists clenched. “If my father was dead, you would have broadcast it across the entire compound.”

“I’m a liar, am I?” Kennedy said. “Maybe I just have to show you that I mean what I say.” He turned back to Shawn, aiming the gun right between his eyes.

“Don’t give him the plug,” Shawn said through gritted teeth. “You can’t trust one word he says.”

“She’ll do what I say,” Kennedy said, enjoying the moment and my pain. “She wants to save your sorry life, just like her father thought that he could save hers by leaving her behind. Had we known that the plug we pried out of his cold dead hand wasn’t the only one, she wouldn’t have been treated so kindly.” “Kindly?” I spat, anger overcoming the fear and making my entire body hot. “You call how I was treated for the last five years kind? You made everyone in that compound hate me. I was seven. Seven! You assigned me work detail after work detail. I would have gone insane if it wasn’t for Shawn.” “That Shawn,” Kennedy said, shaking his head slowly. “Quite the friend you have. It’s going to be a shame when he gets killed because you wouldn’t hand over the plug. A plug you don’t even know the value of.” “Don’t give it to him,” Todd said again.

“One,” Kennedy said, and I saw his grip tighten on the gun. “Two.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Todd raise his bow and draw back an arrow, but I saw something else as well. Five feet away from Kennedy, shiny yellow eyes peered out of the brush. A long arrow-shaped head poked up moments later, and I saw Kennedy glance at it dismissively. The tiny dinosaur only came to just above his knees. Raising its head, it sniffed the air curiously. I realized with a start that I knew what kind of dinosaur it was. It was a saltopus, and it was a scavenger. An idea took shape, and I bit my lip. My plan was a long shot, but it was worth a try.

“Three,” Kennedy said, and he fired. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Shawn dive for cover. I yanked my knife out of its sheath and charged. Covering the ground between Kennedy and myself in the blink of an eye, I collided with the hard body armor of his chest. He yelped in surprise, and we both fell backward. I pulled back my knife, but he grabbed my wrist in his iron grip. Instead of driving into his shoulder like I’d intended, it sliced into his cheek, opening a long three-inch gash that immediately started bleeding. I hoped it was enough. With a jerk, I threw myself backward, landing in the brush and rolling behind the closest tree. I stood up on trembling legs. My father’s compass lay cool and hard on my heart, and I realized that my bow was lying fifteen feet away, useless. My plan suddenly seemed incredibly stupid.

“That was a mistake,” Kennedy said, and I glanced cautiously around the tree to see him wiping at the blood covering his face and wetting the neck of his body armor. I saw something move in the bushes behind him, and I prayed it was what I thought it was.

“You can’t hide from me,” Kennedy called, and I heard his footsteps coming closer to the tree where I was hiding. “I will find you, Sky Mundy. You have something that belongs to the Noah. One little girl will not ruin the human race’s chances at survival.” I held my breath as his feet crunched loudly in the leaves. About ten feet away, I heard Todd yell, followed by the sound of breaking branches, and Shawn yelped. Seconds later I heard deep male voices—two more marines calling out orders and attempting to capture my friends. Kennedy’s backup had arrived, and any hope I’d had of Todd or Shawn shooting Kennedy before he got to me evaporated.

“Why, hello there,” Kennedy said, suddenly coming around one side of my tree, his gun pointed at my head.

This was it.

I was going to die, just like my mom, just like my dad. I was going to let them both down. The plug would be taken, and I was going to be a failure, like Kennedy said I would be. Suddenly Kennedy screamed, and the gun jerked away from my head. The tiny saltopus had latched its razor-sharp teeth into Kennedy’s calf. He turned his gun on the creature, firing three quick blasts. My would-be savior went slack, blood pouring out of three neat bullet holes. Kennedy turned his gun back to me, and I kicked myself for not running in that second of distraction. He limped toward me, but before he could take more than a couple of steps, three more of the tiny dinosaurs came scurrying out of the woods, their noses raised. Two of them fell on their fallen comrade, ripping apart the poor animal. The third turned an inquiring nose toward Kennedy’s blood-soaked calf. Kennedy turned and shot it point-blank in the head. It fell backward, but three more of the creatures had emerged from the woods, and I could see the fear on Kennedy’s face. One of them launched itself at Kennedy, and he yelled, his gun firing. I took my chance, and I ran, grabbing my bow as I sprinted past it.

Kennedy’s shriek of fear echoed behind me, followed by more gunshots. Three more saltopus hurried past me as they scurried toward Kennedy and the smell of blood.

“Sky,” Shawn yelled. “This way!” I whipped my head around to see him and Todd standing ten feet away, their bows drawn.

“Where were you?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

“We got caught up,” Todd said, and I glanced behind him to see two marines tied expertly to a tree.

“We have to run,” I said as Kennedy’s scream ripped through the forest behind us.