Chapter 18
“The mission was a success. We blew up their weapons warehouse and their training grounds. Now the ILF knows New America doesn’t fuck around.” – Decoded message from New America Captain Kirk Renner to New America’s commanders
Briar
Amira sits down beside me on the ground, the dancing flames of a nearby bonfire casting shadows over her face in the darkness.
“Did you see what I did to Niran’s brows?” She smirks.
“No, tell me.”
“Let’s just say he’s going to look surprised all the time for the next month or so. I left him with little strips of hair at the top and nothing else.”
A much-needed laugh bursts out of me. Marcus left six hours ago in a one-person submarine that was concealed in a dry container beneath the water of a grotto, a narrow inlet of water connecting it to the ocean.
If things went as planned, he’s at Island Three now. I’m worried about whether he made it there safely and if he did, what happened when he got there. Though I plan to sleep in his quarters while he’s gone, I’m not ready to be in there alone yet.
“Poor Niran,” I say, laughing.
“I mean, Savage Spa and Wellness isn’t for bro-dudes. And if he wasn’t paying attention to the amount of hair I plucked—even though he only asked me to do the spot between his brows—that’s on him. He told Chance he only did it for a close-up view of my tits, so karma.”
We’re rationing food due to losing half our supplies, and dinner tonight was underwhelming oatmeal. But Amira’s spark never seems to dull. She can crack jokes no matter what’s going on.
She’s also naturally, effortlessly beautiful, her black hair always sleek and shiny despite the tropical climate.
“Worried about Earthquake Daddy?” she asks.
“Please stop calling him that. And yes.”
“He’ll be fine. Maybe there are boats and helicopters on that island. It might be our ticket home.”
I nod. “If they don’t kill him when they find out his aromium is off.”
With every hour he’s been gone, I’ve thought of more things that could go wrong. I’ve already lost so much; I can’t lose him, too.
“Well, we know he’s great at lying.” She glances at me. “Too soon?”
I laugh because what else can I do? This situation is completely out of my control.
“If we didn’t have an ironclad rule that no one touches the alcohol here, I’d be drunk right now,” I say.
A few bottles of vodka and whiskey are included in every supply delivery because the regime still thinks it’s supplying the small team of scientists who came here to monitor the people and animals injected with aromium devices. But Marcus keeps it all locked up, which I understand.
“There’s always that plant Chance and Wyatt smoke sometimes,” Amira says. “They say it’s better than pot.”
I pinch my brows together. “That would knock me on my ass. Also, I can’t light a plant on fire.”
“Oh, right. I wonder if it would actually hurt you, too. Since you feel them and all.”
“I don’t want to find out.”
“Are they chattering at you all the time? Like about how great the sun feels and which bugs are chewing on them?”
I chuckle. “No. There’s nothing at all unless I’m in danger or my emotions are heightened.”
“That’s so fucking cool.”
“I guess.”
“What can I do to get your mind off things?”
“I don’t know.”
“We can go find Niran. He’s pretty pissed at me, and it’s hysterical to see him get mad with those eyebrows.”
“I’ll wait until I run into him next time, but thanks.”
“Do you ever wonder what it would be like to go back home? I don’t really have a home anymore. And here ... I have you, and other friends. No one’s going to kill me or throw me in prison for not wanting to get pregnant.”
“I think about it. Yeah, we’d probably be fighting harder just to survive there. And we wouldn’t have each other. When I was alone, I had to find food, water, and a safe place to sleep every day.”
Amira sighs and rests her chin on her arms, which are on her drawn-up knees. “We could join Olin’s group. The ILF. I daydream about them kicking ass back on the mainland.”
“I hope they are. I don’t know much about them, but I’m happy there’s organized resistance.”
“We could make a difference. I know I still have a lot to learn about fighting and weapons, but with a bow and arrow, I’m lethal. And you’re a total badass.”
“I wonder if I should be training with my plant connection. If there’s aromium on the mainland, I could be connected to those plants, too.”
“You could get a vine to decapitate Soren Whitman. The way I would celebrate that moment.”
“That’s an idea, but I’d rather do it myself.”
She puts an arm around me. “I just love you. I grew up the only girl with four brothers, and you make me feel like I have a sister.”
I rest my head against hers. “Same.”
“I’m sorry. You do have a sister. I didn’t mean anything by that.”
“I know. Now I have two sisters. And Mae would love you.”
“She will love me. We’ll find her.”
“I needed this,” I say. “Thank you. I’m starting to think I might actually be able to sleep.”
“If you can’t sleep in Marcus’s room, come back to mine. You’ve got a key.”
“Thanks. I think I’ll be okay.”
Marcus doesn’t have much in the way of things, but there is a framed photo of his mom and his neatly folded stack of clothes. His wall o’ weapons. I’ll feel closer to him in there.
I stand and brush the dirt from my pants. “Breakfast at the usual time?”
“Oatmeal again. Can’t wait.”
I shake my head. “We were eating algae at Rising Tide.”
“And that’s not even the worst thing.”
I’ll never know if any of the meals I ate when we were all starving at Rising Tide had human parts in them, but the image of the human big toe I found on the meat prep table there still haunts me.
“Thanks for the reminder. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I nod in greeting to a few people I pass on the walk to Marcus’s room, thinking about him. Will he be able to sleep there? Will they interrogate him?
He’s going to come back with more information than we ever thought we’d have. And they won’t keep him there too long, because they want him back here leading this island.
After a shower, I put on one of his T-shirts and lie down on his wide cot, his sheets scented with his soap. He’ll walk back into camp in a few days, and then he’ll be here with me every night, like we used to be.
“Athena to Command Team One, report. Code Yellow. Again, this is Athena to Command Team One. We are at Code Yellow. Report.”
I scramble out of bed, still half-asleep as I process Nova’s radio message. Code Red means we’re super fucked, Code Yellow is partially fucked, and Code Green is a nonemergency.
Dressing quickly, I put on my shoulder holster, remembering what Marcus said about watching my back. If Theron came back, that should be a Code Red, but I still need to be vigilant.
I’m still so damn tired. I grab the cup of water I left myself on the small bedside table and pour some into my hand, then throw it at my face.
Okay. Now I’m awake. It doesn’t feel like I slept very long. I double-check my gun, attach a knife at my waistband, and leave.
When we get a message to “report”, it usually means come to the Sub entrance, but Nova changed the meeting point to behind the supply room. It’s a good idea; the Tiders could be watching us and we don’t want them knowing our routines.
I’m walking through camp when something bright in the sky grabs my attention. Orange sparks are flying from the top of the volcano on the other side of the island. A knot tightens in my stomach as I watch it continue, steam shooting out with the sparks.
This can’t be Marcus’s fault. None of us ever worries about the volcano being a volcano, because there’s nothing we can do about it.
We have a few small fishing boats, but other than that, we have no way off this island.
And the boats aren’t built to withstand the storms that rock the ocean waves into a violent frenzy.
When I get to the meeting point, only Niran is missing. All of Command Team One, other than Marcus, is there, including Olin. Stella is there, too.
Nova’s eyes lock on mine.
“Volcano’s awake,” she says.
“I saw. What time is it?”
“A little after eleven,” Wyatt says. “A bunch of us were still at the bonfire when we saw it start up.”
“This fucking island,” Chance mutters, “it’s endless cornholing—on a loop.”
“Cornholing?” Niran says, joining us. “What the hell did I miss? Sorry, I went to the old meeting point.”
“The volcano is shooting out fire and steam,” Stella says, crossing her arms. “And what the fuck is up with your eyebrows?”
As soon as he turns his face close enough for me to see it, it’s all I can do to hold in my laughter. Amira did a number on him. He has nothing but a thin strip of brow left on top.
“Ask Amira,” Niran says, giving her a sullen glare.
When I look at her, she has her fist perched thoughtfully beneath her chin, her middle finger extended against her cheek in Niran’s direction.
“Enough bullshit,” Nova snaps. “This is serious. The volcano could erupt. We need a plan.”
Niran scoffs. “Uh, try not to get liquefied? How do we plan our way out of a volcanic eruption?”
“Nova’s right,” I say. “We need to look at the island’s topography and find the safest spot to be if it erupts.”
“We can’t evacuate,” Nova says. “Without our shield, the Tiders will destroy us.”
“Their camp is a lot closer to the volcano than ours, though,” Chance says. “So they might not be an issue.”
“They can see what’s happening now as well as we can,” I say. “They’ll be planning, too.”
“I’m not saying I was the best student,” Amira says. “But I know volcanic eruptions make lava rivers that can be like ten feet tall. Everything in their path gets destroyed. And if that doesn’t do it, the gas and ash can. That’s what happened to Pompeii—it was buried in ashes.”
“Okay, thanks for that pep talk,” Stella says.
“She’s right,” I say. “But if it erupts, the entire island might not be destroyed. We need to find the safest place and get some basic supplies there.”
“We need to clear out all the underground caches,” Wyatt says.
Nova nods. “Good call. Wyatt, Chance, Niran, Amira, and Adele, get on that. Split up and move as fast as you can. Bring everything back here.”
“I can help,” Olin offers.
“Okay,” Nova says. “Do you have a radio and call sign yet?”
“No.”
“I’ll get him a radio,” Adele offers.
“Your call sign is Hermes,” Nova says.
Niran barks out a note of laughter. “Herpes? That’s gotta sting. Literally.”
“Hermes,” Nova overenunciates it, annoyed. “He’s the god of messengers, you complete dipshit.”
Laughter rolls through the group, and Niran scowls.
“Sorry I wasn’t a mythology nerd in high school,” he grumbles. “Guess I was too busy getting laid.”
“That explains the herpes thing,” Amira quips.
“Get moving, all of you,” Nova says. “And shut the fuck up while you’re doing it. The Tiders could be out there.”
She shakes her head as they walk away, then looks between me and Stella. “What else?”
“We need to pack the most essential supplies,” I say. “Medicine, food, seeds. When we find the safest place to be if the volcano blows, we can start moving stuff there.”
“Okay,” Nova says. “Let’s wake up Command Team Two and both security teams.”
“I need to get my lab stuff packed up,” I say.
There’s not much point. If the volcano destroys our camp and I have no good place to work, the chances I’ll be able to make a stabilizer will be even slimmer than they are now. Without electricity, refrigeration, a climate-controlled environment, and test subject enclosures, there’s just no way.
I’m not going there, though. The volcano might not even erupt. Hopefully, our preparations are just for the worst-case scenario, and everything will be just fine.