Chapter 4
CHAPTER
THAD
What a waste of a day.
Despite three solid flyovers, we saw nothing. Make that nothing good, I thought, remembering the black rhino foraging near the groves. Another two tons of fresh Nil fun, complete with a built-in deadly weapon. Lucky us.
Right.
I dreaded the look on Nat’s face when we came back empty-handed.
Shutting down that visual, I focused on the wind. In the first stroke of good luck today, the afternoon gusts blasted onshore, giving us the brakes we needed. Right now I’d take any advantage Nil offered. My arms were spent, and my eyes felt gritty. I was done, and if I had to guess, so was Jason.
Our landing site stretched less than half a kilometer ahead, sprawled between twin fissures of black. Aim straight, drop nose, hold steady.
Slowing in the headwind, we glided over the rocks about seven meters off the ground. Jason cruised ahead of me. Landing was its own little rush, not quite like takeoff, but close.
Then I heard it: a snap; it echoed through the air like a firecracker. A half second later, Jason’s glider dipped erratically and nearly pitched him off.
“Jason!” I shouted. “Shift your weight!”
Jason slid right, switched his grip, and landed like a seasoned pro, even though he was only thirteen. And thanks to his cool head, he still had a chance to see fourteen.
I landed a wingspan away, my adrenaline pumping like I was still fifteen meters high.
“You okay?” I called.
“Yeah. Support rod broke.” He held up his glider. One side bar dangled limply, like a broken arm.
As I stared at the wounded flyer, I had the weirdest sense that the break was a message from Nil. A not-so-subtle reminder of how close death really was—like we could forget. After all, the support cracked high enough to scare, but not high enough to kill. First the dead bird, now a broken glider.
Message received, I thought grimly. Nothing like a little Nil overkill.
We hiked back, hauling the crippled glider, knowing Natalie was waiting. Unfortunately, Bart found us first. He ambushed us as we approached the Shack.
“Thad,” he started, his nasal whine sending my annoyance level off the charts, “we need to talk. I haven’t been on Search in almost a month. Twenty-nine days.”
“Hello, Bart,” I said, peeling off my fly rig. “No, we didn’t find Kevin. Or his clothes. But thanks for asking.”
“Sorry,” he said. His eyes flicked over Jason before circling back to me. “But I’m due, Thad, you know I am. It’s not fair.”
“It’s not fair,” I repeated, working to keep my voice level.
“Really?” Sarcasm seeped in, and then for the first time since Kevin bolted, I lost it.
“In case you haven’t noticed, nothing about Nil is fair.
It’s not fair that you landed here. It’s not fair that leaving is a crapshoot and that every damn day brings you closer to death.
And it’s definitely not fair that our past Leader, who spent months working her butt off for everyone else, is sitting by the fire, wondering if her boyfriend is dead, terrified she might never find out. ”
Bart sputtered, waffling between agreement and protest, neither of which I wanted to hear. Why am I wasting my time? I wondered.
I held up my hand. “You’re right. It’s not fair. But that’s how it is. I don’t pick the teams. So if you want someone to pick you, I’d suggest you pull your weight and then some.” I looked evenly at Bart. “And hey, if you don’t like the City rules, you can always leave.”
Bart paled. “Fine.” He turned, then spun back. “You know, losing the knife was an accident. It wasn’t my fault.”
“Yes, it was.” Talla stepped out from the Shack, her blond hair tied in a hard knot. “You didn’t secure it. And you lost it. Your fault.”
“Of course you take his side. Everyone knows you’re after his job. Or maybe you’re just after him.” Bart smirked.
Talla nearly snarled. “All I want is to get home. The sooner the better. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Enough,” I snapped. I was too drained from sweeps to handle much more. “Drop it, both of you. I need to talk to Natalie.”
“Too late,” Talla said. She pointed to the fire, where Jason stood beside Natalie, his arm wrapped around her shoulders and her head hung in defeat.
God, I hated this place.