Chapter 5 #4
The patch of sunlight above the nomads’ aircraft was covered by a second machine, though the two couldn’t look more different.
Where the nomads’ was dark and clunky, this one was streamlined, silvery and sleek.
It was also at least thirty percent larger, and though they were both circular in shape, this new aircraft seemed more like a work of art than a war machine.
It looked otherworldly, ethereal almost, as it glinted in the sunlight, its mirror-like surface reflecting the jungle treetops.
Another speaker crackled to life. This time, it was coming from the newly arrived ship. A female voice spoke up, drifting down through the treetops with crystal clarity, as though she hovered just three feet above us.
“Retreat!” the voice ordered. “You are surrounded! We are two armed hover ships!”
My breath hitched, the fear that this was backup for the nomads returning full force, but then a series of missile barrels ejected from the sides of the new ship, twisting and angling downward until they pointed directly at the nomads’ vessel.
The nomads responded to the voice. They cast dark scowls up toward the ‘hover ship’. I sensed the tension in their stances as their own aircraft quickly lowered itself closer to the platform they still occupied.
When their aircraft descended, it gave me a clearer view of the sky. I saw then why the noise had been so overpowering. There were two of these new hover ships, the other floating just behind the first one. It was much smaller, but I could make out its matching shimmering surface through the trees.
“What is going on?” Peter breathed from beside me.
The ramp lowered and the nomads hurried back into their ship’s interior, without even a sack of food slung across their backs.
“I don’t know,” Ethan replied, his eyes glued on the retreating men.
A moment later, all of them were on board, the dead guy left sprawled on the platform. They yanked in the line they had attached to the tree, ripping out huge chunks of bark in the process. Then the ramp closed after them, sealing them all inside.
The nomad aircraft rose swiftly until it was above the jungle roof. Its engines revved one last, stomach-rumbling time before it thundered in the opposite direction, back toward the north.
To my surprise, almost as soon as it was out of view, a beam of light erupted from the smaller hover ship, shooting toward the nomads.
The jungle roof prevented me from seeing if it hit, but there was a loud explosion, followed by the growling of increased engine strain, so I assumed it had caused damage.
The hover ship immediately zoomed off in the direction of the nomads, emitting another blinding beam of light, as if to chase them down.
That was followed by the sound of peppering bullets—I assumed a counterattack, from the nomads.
“We are sorry this has happened to you,” the female voice spoke up again through the speaker, as the large, remaining hover ship lowered into the clearing, where the nomads’ aircraft had been. “We’ll see if we can’t take those parasites down.”
I exchanged confused glances with Jessie and the men around me.
The hover ship descended to our level and a ramp opened up at its base. Its joints barely made a sound as a sleek platform slid out like a tongue. A single figure emerged.
She was a tall female—possibly 5’11’’—and heavy-set. She wore a dark blue uniform which covered her from neck to toe, and her face, cupped by short brown hair, was broad and pouchy, but I sensed there was a good deal of muscle in her frame.
A silver emblem was emblazoned on her chest. Unlike the reddish insignia of the nomads, it was printed clearly enough that I could make it out from a distance.
It bore two letters: “FI.”
Two others appeared behind her a moment later—a man and a woman, both tall and lithe, and wearing matching blue uniforms.
It hit me that none of them wore masks, and then I realized that none of the gas was actually seeping onto their ramp’s platform. There seemed to be some kind of protective force around it, invisible to my eyes, that kept the mist at bay.
“Who are you?” the uncertain voice of one of our men in a neighboring tree called up.
A faint smile unfurled across the large woman’s lips.
“A natural first question,” she replied with a chuckle, her voice rich and hearty.
“On a personal level, my name is Annabelle Springs, I’m thirty-four years old, and I hate spiders and the name Annabelle—so call me Anna.
” She smiled. “On a professional level, I’m a member of a philanthropic organization whose activities involve outreach to people in need. ”
Personal details aside, that was a lot to take in. My head reeled, and not just from the gas.
“A philanthropic organization?” Ethan asked, frowning up at them.
“That’s right,” she replied, straightening her back.
“A charity. Not everybody out there is looking to plunder and prey upon others. As a matter of fact, my colleagues and I are fortunate enough to live in a peaceful and prosperous society, and we feel we have a duty to reach out to others who are less fortunate. Especially with the increasing problem of nomads like the Falcons.”
“The Falcons?” I croaked, frowning as hard as Jessie’s dad. Now that I thought about it, I guessed that reddish insignia could have depicted a bird.
“That’s what they call themselves,” Anna replied with a sigh. As her eyes settled on me, a flash of concern crossed her face. “You’re down there with a broken mask, hon. That’s not a good idea.”
Tell me about it.
“What is this gas, and how did you find us?” Jessie demanded.
“We don’t know exactly what this gas is made of,” Anna said. “But it’s a new method they’ve developed to disable victims, making it much easier to pull off their plundering excursions. We also know that it’s highly toxic. It rots wood and, given enough time, pretty much everything.”
My stomach clenched tighter as I tried to slow my breathing.
“As for how we found you,” she continued.
“We’ve had our eye on this group for a while because they’ve targeted more than a couple of settlements bordering these jungles.
About two weeks ago, we discovered they’d finally decided to come into the jungle.
We were on hurricane relief duty, further up north, when our trackers detected them.
They’ve targeted two colonies since that we know about.
The second was just a couple of days ago. ”
“Zina,” I blurted.
Anna frowned. “I’m sorry?”
“Zina is my daughter,” my uncle cut in from across the clearing. “She lives in the closest colony to our north.”
“Ah.” Anna’s thin lips curved into a sad smile.
“Well, we didn’t arrive in time to stop the plundering, I’m afraid, but we did manage to give aid to those we could…
I don’t know if Zina was among them. We thought the Falcons had left the area after that second target, until we realized they’d just moved further south—”
“Where are they—those you managed to help?” my uncle demanded.
“Back at our facility,” Anna replied, folding her arms over her broad chest. “They needed urgent medical assistance and, well, they’d essentially been made homeless.
All their food had been plundered, and as I said, this gas does something nasty to the whole environment.
I mean, the gas in this area is already spreading out like wildfire—”
As if on cue, my knees gave way, and I collapsed onto the platform floor.
My mask rolled completely off my head and I gasped for air, white spots dancing before my eyes.
The nausea was finally taking over, and I didn’t know how much longer I could hold out down here.
But what worried me more was my parents, who were still stuck on the branches beneath us—as well as my little sister, and the rest of my family and friends taking shelter in the community hall.
If the gas was spreading out as quickly as Anna was reporting, then surely it would have reached them by now…
“My parents,” I managed. “Bea and the others.”
“Will you help us too, then?” I heard my uncle ask desperately, voicing my thoughts much more articulately than I could.
“Will you take us to your facility? From what you’ve said, we’ll die if we stay in this stuff!
” He sounded much closer than before, and two pairs of firm hands gripped me and pulled me upright.
“We have injured people down here, as well as a large building nearby that’s packed with women and children. ”
“How many are you?” Anna asked.
“Five-hundred-and-twenty-four, by our last count,” my uncle said.
“Ah. I feared as much,” Anna murmured, exchanging a glance with her two colleagues.
“While we do our best to accommodate the needy, we do have limited space back at our base. That said, I speak for all my team when I say we’ll do what we can to squeeze you in.
We won’t be able to fit you all in one aircraft, though.
We’ll need to send at least two more here as backup, which takes time—”
“Please, just do whatever you can,” my uncle said.
“Call the backup now. Get everyone out of here as quickly as possible. Transport us in short shifts, if you must, please. You could take the weakest to a safe area nearby and leave them there while you fetch the rest of us. Whatever’ll get us out of this gas quickest! ”
“Understood,” Anna replied, and then my sense of hearing seemed to give up on me. I could barely make out anything she or anyone else said, except for the odd random string of words.
It occurred to me just as I slipped further into subconsciousness that none of us had thought to ask for any details about where this organization’s base was, or what FI stood for, before we begged them to take us.
But I supposed those would’ve been stupid questions.
We were suffocating, and wherever they took us had to be better than here.
Arms cradled me against a hard chest and I felt myself being carried. The deep sound of whirring grew louder, closer. A moment later, I felt a warm hand graze my cheek.
“You rest now, hon,” the familiar female voice said soothingly. “We’ll get your parents. We’ll get you all…”
Her last words echoed in my ears as my eyes clouded over and, although I sensed myself being carried into clearer air, my body had been through too much already. I could no longer fight. The darkness swallowed me whole.