Fire & Flood Page 10

  “Let’s break here and send RX-13 hunting,” Harper says.

  “How will we light a fire to cook?” Caroline asks, folding her hands extra hard.

  Harper shrugs. “Let’s just see if she can find something. Then we’ll figure out how to eat it.”

  Levi and Ransom are already settling down on one of the fallen trees when I hear it — a low, rumbling sound. I’m about to check if anyone else heard anything when Caroline asks, “What was that?”

  “Excuse me,” Levi says, holding his stomach.

  Ransom shoves him. “Shut up, idiot. That wasn’t you.” He glances around. “I heard it, too.”

  The sound comes again from the nearby foliage. It’s louder now, loud enough so that I know it’s not thunder or branches rubbing together or Levi’s stomach. It’s an animal. Though there are six of us and four Pandoras — standing in this clearing, blinded by the rain — it suddenly feels like we’re prey.

  The ram, raccoon, and eagle Pandoras seem to sense danger is near. They circle around us and back up, pushing us closer together so that we — the Contenders — form a close knot in the middle.

  The eagle stands on the ground but snaps her wings open wide. The ram huffs sharply through his wet nostrils, and even the raccoon pulls up on his hind legs like he’s readying himself for battle.

  “Look at them,” Levi says. He’s talking about the Pandoras — their stances, their fearlessness of what’s prowling the dark perimeter of this jungle clearing.

  My heart throbs against my ribs, and I glance down to ensure Madox is still close to my ankle. He is. The other Pandoras may have bullied him last night, but they may very well help save him today.

  “It’s probably just a jungle animal,” Harper says, though she sounds unsure. “We have it outnumbered. It’s going to leave once it gets a good smell.”

  I don’t like what she just said. That it’s smelling us.

  I can hear our collective breathing; Dink’s sounds almost labored. Taking his hand from behind me, I squeeze, trying to reassure him it’ll be okay.

  The growl comes again. Deep. Close.

  And then the animal erupts from the foliage and launches forward. Caroline screams, and as the sound pierces my ears, I make out what’s charging toward us — a grizzly bear.

  It runs on four legs, jaws open, black eyes set on the ram. Inside its ear, I can see a tattoo. It reads: AK-7. Seeing the bear coming, the ram rears up on his back legs. I know what to expect this time, so I grip Dink’s hand tighter and feel other hands grab on to my arms. We brace ourselves for the ground to shake.

  But the hit never comes.

  The bear plows into the ram and the two roll in a heap. Somehow, the bear manages to land on top of the ram and opens its jaws wider. As it brings its head down, I realize the bear is going for the ram’s throat.

  “No,” Levi cries. He starts to run toward his Pandora, but Ransom holds his brother in place. Like Levi, I want to help. To do something. But we have no weapons, nothing to defend ourselves with.

  The raccoon races toward the bear — and seconds before the bear’s jaws hit their mark, the raccoon jumps onto the creature’s back. Spikes shoot out from the raccoon’s fur and embed into the bear’s brown hide, piercing the flesh below.

  Pulling up onto two legs, rain washing over its massive body, the grizzly bear releases a bloodcurdling roar. Then the bear reaches around and bats the raccoon away with its massive paw. DN-99 flies across the clearing and its spikes retract into its fur.

  The bear falls onto its four legs and turns its attention on us. I brace myself for the worst — but as it moves closer, nose raised, RX-13 takes to the sky and sets her target on the bear. The eagle flies faster and faster, her talons stretched in front of her.

  And then she is gone.

  Seconds later, she reappears, her talons mere inches from the bear. They plunge into the bear’s flesh, just missing its eye. The bear howls.

  “Holy crap,” I say.

  “Yeah,” Harper says, and though I can’t see her, I can hear the enthusiasm in her voice. “Invisibility.”

  Just like with the raccoon, the bear tries to slam the eagle away. But the eagle vanishes before that can happen, only to reappear behind the bear for another attack. Rearing back, the bear swats at the eagle. Blood drips from the animal’s back as it moves. The eagle tears at the bear’s flesh, but eventually, she gets too close, and the bear catches the bird between its claws.

  Now the ram is back, and behind him, the raccoon.

  They fight the bear like this, in rotations, for what feels like an eternity. In actuality, it’s probably only a few minutes. When Dink squeezes my hand, I know what he’s saying. The bear is winning.

  Watching the fight, I know we don’t have much time to make a plan. We must escape while the Pandoras attack one another, but each time someone in our group moves, the bear charges toward us. We’re the ultimate target, I realize.

  “What are we going to do?” Caroline asks through her tears.

  Harper shakes her head, like she can’t believe our three Pandoras are being taken down by this one.

  Next to my ankle, Madox barks. It’s just a small sound, but it pains me inside. If the bear gets to us, he may be the first to go. I have to do something.

  Before I can make a decision, my Pandora rushes forward.

  “Madox,” I scream. I go to chase after him, but Harper grabs both my arms.

  “You can’t, Tella,” she says, struggling against me. “We have to get out of here.”

  Madox races toward the bear and stops a few feet away. He barks again. The bear stops fighting the ram and looks at the small fox. My head pounds inside my skull as Madox’s eyes flick on, burning bright green.

  “What’s he doing to it?” Ransom asks, astonished.

  I shake my head and bite my lip. Get away from it, Madox. Just get away from it.

  The bear moves toward my Pandora, transfixed by the glowing light.

  And then Madox begins to change.

  His head falls back and his spine ripples. Beneath him, his legs and arms stretch longer and wider, and his black coat begins to thicken. My Pandora grows massive muscles and new body parts — morphing into something I don’t immediately recognize. His ears pull in to form neat half-moons, and his muzzle lengthens. And then understanding shakes me to my core.

  The baby fox has transformed into a carbon copy of the grizzly bear before him.

  And my Pandora — my sweet Madox — rears up, opens his great jaws, and roars.

  In that moment, my heart swells with so much pride, I fear it will burst.

  Madox doesn’t wait for an invitation to fight; he just storms toward AK-7 and attacks. Rising up at the last minute, he bites down on the bear and takes it to the ground. They fight in the lashing rain for several seconds. It’s hard for me to tell at one point which is my Pandora. One bear gains the advantage and readies itself to go for the other’s throat. But before it can, the bear beneath it ripples and changes until all I see is a flutter of feathers and wings. The top bear fumbles backward when it realizes it’s no longer fighting a bear — but an eagle.

  Madox has changed again, taking the form of RX-13.

  As if the other Pandoras suddenly understand what is happening, they leap into action. RX-13 dives toward the bear beside Madox and together they sink their talons into its flesh. Before, when the three Pandoras fought, they had to take turns attacking and recovering. But with Madox’s help, they can now fight alongside one another.

  The ram and raccoon rush forward to assist the two eagles’ assault. Somehow, though the eagles are quick, the bear manages to pin one to the ground. The eagle between its claws changes yet again to take DN-99’s form. The raccoon replica shoots his spikes out and the bear howls and drops him to the ground.

  Amazingly, the bear still charges forward. It’s like it can’t stop until we’re dead. I almost break away from Harper when I see my Pandora, back in his fox shape, race toward the per
imeter of the clearing.

  “Let me go,” I scream. “I’ve got to see if he’s hurt.”

  But Harper won’t release me, and now Ransom and Levi are helping her hold me in place.

  When Madox reaches the perimeter, his eyes flick on. He’s staring at something in the bush, but I can’t tell what he’s copying now. Until he starts changing.

  His body widens and grows taller, and his black fur pulls in and lightens in color. His tail lengthens, and a shock of hair fluffs out from around his head. Madox swishes his tail, turns back toward the bear, and locks his lion eyes on him.

  As he prowls toward the bear, keeping close to the ground, I notice something appearing from behind him. A shiver works its way up my spine. It’s M-4, and from the look in his yellow eyes, he’s come to help.

  The grizzly bear spins in a circle. It can’t win. There are too many surrounding it. But there’s determination in its rigid stature, and I know it won’t stop until it’s dead. As the Pandoras close in on it, Harper whispers, “Let’s go. There’s no use in watching.”

  “What are you talking about?” I hiss, spinning to face her. “The bear can still hurt one of them. We can’t leave until we know they’re okay.”

  “Damn it!” Levi yells.

  I turn back around and hear the bear release a roar that confirms my earlier suspicions: It’ll fight to the death. It drops onto its paws and races toward the ram.

  “Say it!” A new voice crashes through our clearing. “Stop him.”

  When I see who’s appeared, I can’t help but smile.

  He’s got psycho written all over him.

  Green Beret is holding another guy in front of him. Or rather, he’s holding his head. And he’s holding it in a way that makes me think he could seriously hurt him with a simple movement.

  The grizzly bear has stopped attacking and is staring at the guy in front of Green Beret.

  “Say it,” Green Beret repeats, and his voice raises goose bumps on my arms. There’s no way in hell I’d think about going against that order.

  The guy in the headlock apparently agrees, because he opens his mouth and says, “AK-7, stand down.”

  The bear sits on its haunches as if that was exactly what it wanted to do this entire time. It begins licking its wounds as Green Beret shoves the guy in front of him. Scurrying over to the bear, the guy inspects it closely.

  “I had no idea,” the guy says. “He got away from me somehow.”

  The guy has blond, chin-length hair and sun-kissed skin. He looks older than me but younger than Green Beret. Like my own, his brown scrubs are battered and torn. But that’s not what has my attention — it’s the blue flag wrapped around his bicep. Even as Madox resumes his fox form and allows me to baby him, I can’t stop staring at it.

  “He’s yours?” Harper asks the guy with the flag. She raises her chin, and I envy the way she can immediately regain control. I, on the other hand, feel like I’m going to pass out.

  “Yeah, he is.” The guy straightens and moves toward Harper, his hand outstretched.

  “Pass,” she says, eyeing his muddied palm. As he stands near Harper, I notice he’s almost as wide as he is tall. Built like a wrestler. “Did you sic your Pandora on us?”

  “Why would I do that?” the Contender asks, a hint of a smile on his lips. He brushes off his hands and looks at each of us, waiting for someone to come to his defense. No one does.

  “You’d do that so there’s less Contenders to compete against,” Green Beret growls. I glance at him and notice he’s staring at me, even though he’s speaking to the new guy.

  “That’s insane,” the guy says, shaking his head like we’re idiots. “Who would do that?”

  Harper grabs his beefed-up arm and eyes the flag. “Where did you get this?”

  The guy beams at her, and the sight makes me squirm. There’s something not quite right about him. “My name’s Titus. Thanks for asking.”

  “Duly noted. Flag?” Harper pushes.

  Titus seems to calculate his options, as I try to fathom why Green Beret is staring at me. His dark hair is still spiked, and I wonder where he’s getting his gel. I try not to notice the way his cold blue eyes study my face, but it’s hard to ignore. Swallowing my fear, I turn and meet his eyes. I smile. He doesn’t.

  “I can show you,” I hear Titus telling Harper.

  “Then do it.” Harper nods to us like the matter is settled. We’ll follow Titus, who may or may not have tried to kill us, to locate where he found the flag.

  “Are you coming with us?” I ask Green Beret. My voice is barely a whisper. I have this strange half fear, half fascination going on with this guy. Like I’m not sure whether I want to watch the sun set together, or sleep with one eye open.

  Green Beret’s face pulls together. I realize it then — he hates me. And not in the way in which I find out later that he actually liked me the whole time.

  “O-kay.” I think it’s clear he wants no part of this travel entourage. But then as I’m turning toward Harper, I hear him speak.

  “Yes.”

  I spin around. “Yes? Yes, you’re coming with us?”

  He yanks on his left earlobe — the mangled one — and walks by me, nearly bumping my shoulder as he passes.

  “My name’s Tella,” I say to his back. He stops for one second, then keeps walking.

  Harper turns to face him. “Who are you?”

  “Guy Chambers,” he answers.

  What the hell? Why doesn’t he hate Harper? I look her up and down. Oh, right.

  Harper glances at his lion, then back at him — at his broad shoulders and towering height. I imagine she’s noticing the way his eyes don’t dart, but lock on their subject. “Okay,” she says. “Welcome. We’re following Titus here to see where he found his flag.”

  Guy reveals his own flag and balls it in his fist.

  “Where?” Harper asks. She seems to know better than to grab him.

  “At the start of the race. About two miles northwest of here.” His voice is deep and steady, like he’s never been unsure of anything in his whole entire life.

  “RX-13,” Harper yells. Oh God. I wince as the eagle makes a new mark on Harper’s stomach northwest of the one the twins found. Guy nods his approval. They’re a good match. The two nutcases.

  Harper presses her palm to the wound. “Let’s move.”

  And just like that, we forget about nearly getting killed. About how minutes before, our Pandoras were fighting for our safety.

  The grizzly bear is near the front by Titus’s side. The other Pandoras eye the bear as they move, but for the most part, they stay near their Contenders and remain calm. Madox bounces around near my ankle, biting at my bootlaces.

  Shaking my head at him, I try to hide my glowing admiration. You could have told me you were a total badass. I imagine him shrugging. Yeah, I know. You’re not the talkative type. Clenching my hands together is the only way I can keep myself from trying to pick him up every five seconds. I’m just so damn happy to call him mine.

  I walk near the back and watch Guy move through the jungle. He’s in front of me, and Caroline, Dink, Harper, and the twins are sandwiched between Guy and Titus. For several minutes, we walk in silence. Then Guy turns and faces me. He holds a finger to his lips and points at my feet. He’s insinuating I walk like an ogre, heavy and loud.

  “What?” I cock a hand on my hip when I say it, because it’s honestly kind of belittling. “Sorry, I don’t slither like a snake.”

  He looks me over for a moment too long. The others continue walking, oblivious that Guy is staring me down, running his eyes over my face … my neck. “Pick your legs up higher,” he says before returning to the hike.

  I glare at the back of his head but decide I’ll try the whole picking-up-my-legs thing. It causes my thighs to burn, and at first, I’m certain the only thing it’s doing is making me work harder. But then I realize I’m not stumbling anymore, and, yeah, I guess I sound a little less like a bulldozer.<
br />
  At one point, Ransom jogs over to hang out with me. “Going to puke again?”

  I see Guy tilt his head and realize he’s listening. My face burns.

  “No, I think I’m retch-free,” I answer.

  Ransom nods toward Madox. “Dude,” he says.

  I smile. “Dude.”

  “Did you have any idea?”

  I pretend to brush the front of my shirt so Ransom doesn’t see how guilty I look. It’s not like I knew exactly what Madox was capable of, but then again, I certainly hadn’t admitted to what happened with his glowing eyes last night. “Um, sorta.”

  Ransom grins. “Way to play the underdog.”

  “I wasn’t —” I start to say, but Ransom is already jogging toward his brother.

  “Let us know if you need to ralph,” he yells. “We’ll make a pit stop.”

  I’m mortified. Though I don’t know why. Who cares if the two new guys know I got sick?

  After what feels like another half hour, Titus points in front of him and says something. I’m too far back to hear, but I see the pole and connect the dots. We’ve found it. Again, we stand in a circle and stare up at the flagstaff. I half expect us to take hands and sing “Kumbaya” while swaying side to side.

  We don’t. But Harper does practice the art of self-mutilation via eagle talon for the third time today. The third small gash along her stomach indicates this flag is southeast of the one the twins found. And the one the twins found is southeast of the flag Guy found. The three marks make a diagonal line starting at the bottom left of her stomach and continuing to the top right.

  “Is it a pattern, you think?” Levi asks.

  “We have nothing better to go on,” Harper says. She looks at Guy, and I wonder when he suddenly became her collaborator. He nods and then pitches his head to the east. “Yeah,” she says. “Let’s head east for a while. We’ll camp there for the night, then head south later.”

  I agree, but secretly resent I’m not the one giving orders. Five days ago, when it was my first day in the jungle, I would have loved for someone to take charge. Now I feel an itch to be a part of the decision making.