Fire & Flood (11 page)

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.

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.

I’m not sure we’re headed exactly east. Who could tell? We more just hang a left and start walking. At some point, the rain
finally relents. The brown scrubs cling to my body as we move, and my boots are heavy. I run a hand over my head and figure that with my short hair matted against my scalp, I probably look less like a girl and more like an emaciated, prepubescent boy. Hot.

Though we’re all dragging our feet through the mud and probably driving Guy crazy, we’re making good progress. Walking in a group helps. No one wants to be the person to slow the rest down.

At some point, I tire of being at the back of the pack. So I quicken my steps — passing Guy and fighting the urge to stick my tongue out at him — and catch up with Ransom and Levi. The first thing I notice is Ransom holding his left hand with his right.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

Ransom drops his hand and presses it against his side. “Yeah, it’s nothing.”

I circle him and grab his arm. There are a dozen dots of blood springing up across his palm. “What happened?”

Harper pauses and motions for the rest of us to stop. She trudges over and inspects Ransom’s hand. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” he answers, though he says it through his teeth and is obviously lying. Below us, Ransom’s Pandora is going crazy, circling his feet and reaching up like it wants to say something. “I grabbed ahold of a vine to keep from slipping in the mud.” He shakes his head. “It was covered in spikes.”

Guy appears and takes Ransom’s hand from me. He rubs his thumb over the puncture wounds. Then he glances around like he’s searching for something. “You need to disinfect the area. There’s a plant that can help. I’ll keep an eye out for it as we walk.” He nods to Harper.

“Let’s keep moving,” she says.

Titus, who joins our huddle, tilts his chin in her direction. His eyes keep shifting toward the jungle, as if standing still is physically painful.

“Wait,” I tell Harper, though I’m watching Titus. “We need to do something for him. He’s in pain.”

“It’s okay,” Ransom says.

“No, she’s right.” Levi studies his brother’s face. “He’s hurting.”

Ransom tears his hand away from Guy. “I’m going to keep walking. The rest of you can stand here and discuss whether I feel up to it or not.” Ransom turns and walks in the direction we’ve been heading. He doesn’t want to be the weak link, and I don’t blame him.

Levi shakes his head and follows after his brother. Before he gets too far away, I hear him mutter, “Damn this race.”

I couldn’t agree more.

When the sun begins to set, Harper indicates we should stop and set up camp. The twins plunge into the jungle to look for moss and twigs, things to help start a fire. When they return, they hand what they found to Dink. I have no idea what this eight-year-old is going to do with this stuff, but he begins rubbing the bark between his hands with surprising confidence.

Guy walks over to Dink and looks him up and down. Then he reaches his hand out. “It’s okay, M-4 can handle it.”

I really want to see what Dink was about to do, but the boy just hands the bundle to Guy and watches him set it on the ground. Guy waves M-4 over, and the lion breathes fire over the twigs and moss, lightly at first until they’re dry, then harder to make them catch.

Harper grins, watching the lion’s skill. “Very nice,” she says. “He’ll be a good asset to our team.”

Guy doesn’t acknowledge her, and I’m kind of glad. There’s a part of me that doesn’t like her considering us tools in this race. I just want … for these people to be my friends. Watching the fire grow, I silently kick myself. I can’t afford to think this way. I have to remember my brother.

I have to be more like Harper.

As we sit around the fire, Titus tries to make conversation. He jokes about how unpredictable Pandoras can be, but no one humors him besides Caroline. Next to him, his bear shifts and then disappears into the jungle night. I don’t like his Pandora being out of sight or how easily Titus lets him venture off without saying anything.

Grabbing a dead leaf, I try to entertain Madox. He jumps after it a few times as I swish it back and forth, but then he collapses and closes his eyes. I smile to myself and stroke his fur. My fox has had a big day.

“He was pretty impressive.” Titus’s voice makes me flinch. “The way he changed shape.”

I look at him for a long time while I pet Madox. “How do you know he changed shape?”

Titus grins so that I can see every tooth in his mouth. “He was a lion when I got there.”

Glancing around, I notice everyone else is watching him speak. I wonder why he’s still with us. We already found his flag location. I wait for Harper to say something, but she doesn’t.

“Where is your Pandora?” I ask him.

Titus shrugs like he couldn’t care less. “Probably went hunting.” As if on cue, the bear peeks out from the brush. He studies his Contender for a long moment, then saunters over to sit beside him. All along his great shoulders are strange lash marks. I wonder if he got them from the fight or from something else. My curiosity over his injuries is severed when I see what’s between the bear’s jaws. I gasp with surprise.

The rabbit struggles against the bear, and already I can see blood dripping from its back legs. AK-7 opens his mouth and
drops the rabbit to the ground. The creature immediately tries to run, but the bear pins it down. Then he drags a single claw lightly along his prey. He does it over and over again as the rabbit squeals. The animal’s entrails begin to bulge from its belly, but still the bear torments it, and still the rabbit screams.

“Stop him. He’s torturing it,” I tell Titus. The other Contenders shake their heads and mumble their own protests.

“Why?” he asks, laughing. “He has to eat.”

Titus watches with fascination as the bear places a giant paw over the rabbit and presses down. I jump to my feet and rush toward AK-7, but it’s too late. The rabbit’s skull cracks with an audible snap.

“Oh God.” I turn away and feel tears burn my cheeks. When I glance back, the bear is ripping the rabbit’s leg off and shoving it into his mouth. Red flashes before my eyes. “What is wrong with him?” I rub my tears away. “What is
wrong
with you?”

Titus holds his hands up, but I don’t miss the smirk on his bronzed face. “Calm down. This is a Pandora, not a teddy bear.”

I storm toward him, but two strong hands grab ahold of me. “Tella.” Warm breath tickles my neck. “Go sit down.”

Craning my head, I see Guy standing behind me, feel his fingers burning against my skin. “
You
go sit down.” I glare at the other Contenders, and finally, Levi speaks up.

“Seriously, man,” he says. “Why don’t you ask it to eat that somewhere else?”

Titus tucks his blond hair behind his ears. “I don’t understand what the big deal is.”

Guy lets go of me and steps toward him. “If you want to travel with us, the bear eats somewhere else.”

“Exactly,” Harper says, nodding.

Titus holds his hands up, surrendering. “Fine. AK-7, eat that away from here.”

The bear looks at him for a moment, then gets up and leaves, rabbit carcass dangling from his jaws.

Guy faces Titus for another moment before turning to me. His eyes search my face, digging for something. “You can sit down.”

“What’s in your hand?” Caroline asks. I glance at her and notice she’s directing the question at Guy. That’s when I notice the two snakes he’s holding.

I stumble backward and land hard on the ground. He watches me bust it, then picks up a long twig from the fire and drives it through the snakes.

“Dinner,” he says finally. “They aren’t venomous.”

“I usually make RX-13 hunt,” Harper says, and I’m surprised to find even she appears uncomfortable. “But I guess I could give her the night off.” Harper waves a hand at the eagle. “Go hunt for yourself.”

Levi and Ransom do the same for their Pandoras, though Ransom’s is slow to leave. The raccoon seems upset by something, but I can’t tell what that might be. Before long, the three animals vanish into the jungle. I should send Madox after them. He should learn to get along with the other Pandoras. But I can’t help wanting him close.

My stomach turns as Guy cooks the cleaned snakes, then hands each Contender a piece. When he offers Titus a helping, Titus says, “Is that all I’m supposed to eat?”

In response, Guy tosses the piece of charred snake into the dirt at his feet. “Overeating will make you sleep too heavy.”

“We take shifts,” Harper breaks in. “We can sleep heavy if we need to.”

Guy looks at her and then tilts his chin toward the snake, saying she can have more if she wants it. I decide to follow Guy’s lead and eat only what he gives me.

There’s an uncomfortable silence as we chew the tough and
bony meat. I gag four times but somehow manage to get the meal down. For some reason, the only thing I can think while I’m swallowing a hunk of snake is that I am the type of person to have three glittery feather boas draped over my dresser mirror at home, purple, pink, and red. And now I am eating snake.

Everyone watches Titus as he shoves the charred meat into his mouth and chews. I don’t like the way his eyes flick over my body as he eats, or the way he eyes Harper as she tends to the fire.

Caroline senses the need to break the awkwardness. “We did well today, huh?”

I smile in her direction. Her eyes are a soft gray, and they tell me everything I need to know. She is kind and giving … and she will not win this race.

Harper hands Dink a stick from the fire, and the boy uses it to draw bunnies in the dirt. “We did do well,” Harper says to Caroline, returning to her seat. “We’ll do even better tomorrow.”

I want to ask how she can be sure. But then I realize she can’t be. It’s just what leaders say to inspire the troops. Harper twists her long blond hair into a bun and spears it with a thin twig. Her green eyes dance in the firelight, and I wonder what she’s like when she’s at home. Whose child she is. What her room looks like. I wonder if we had gone to the same high school, if we’d be friends, or if we’d ignore each other, too different to connect outside of this race. I’ll tell you one thing, I bet having a friend like Harper would have made life at Ridgeline High a lot more exciting.

“Do you think we’ll —” Caroline starts to say.

“Guys,” Levi interrupts. “Look at this.”

We all look at his open hand. He’s holding his white earpiece.

The red light is blinking.

No one says anything for a long moment, then everyone fumbles into their pockets or bags for their own devices. When we’ve each retrieved them, we hold them out on display.
They still work. Even
after all that rain.
I breathe a sigh of relief, then wonder whether this should actually worry me rather than provide peace of mind.

Seven lights blink, creating a circle of red flashes around the fire. I count the devices. There are too few, I realize.

Dink starts crying softly.

“It’s okay. It’s fine.” Caroline pulls him into a hug. “We’ll tell you what it says.”

“What? Did you lose your device?” Titus asks Dink, laughing. Though I’d also like to know, I want to slap him for asking.

Dink cries harder, and Caroline gives Titus a look that’s supposed to shut him up.

“And where are your Pandoras?” Titus adds, looking back and forth between Caroline and Dink.

“They didn’t make it,” she says for them both. “And Dink did lose his device, but it was an accident.”

Titus tilts his head and presses his lips together, like he’s being sympathetic. “It’s not his fault. This race isn’t cut out for
certain
people.”

Caroline’s face reddens. She jabs a finger in his direction. “Listen, kid —”

“Guys.” Levi lifts his hand and refers to the device. “Can we listen to the message now, please?”

Titus shrugs like he doesn’t care, and everyone starts to put their devices into place. But me … I can’t stop watching Caroline glare at Titus. Maybe I underestimated her. Each of us has a reason back home to fight through this jungle. Caroline has one, too, I’m sure. But she also has a reason sitting right next to her.

I feel someone staring and glance over to find Guy studying me. I make a
what?
face. He points to his ear as if to say I’m lagging behind. I roll my eyes and shove it into place.

As soon as I do, a wave of anxiety rolls over my shoulders. Harper gives us a thumbs-up. Everyone besides Dink touches the
red blinking lights. The clicking and static noises begin, and I feel my body tighten with anticipation. I know that across the jungle and here in front of me, other Contenders are probably hearing the same message. But for some reason, it’s as if the woman is speaking directly to me.

“If you’ve been keeping count, you’ll realize this evening concludes day six of the race. You have until noon on the fourteenth day to arrive at base camp. Therefore, you have approximately eight more days remaining to reach your destination.”

My skin crawls thinking about spending another eight days in this place. I don’t know how I will do it. As I look around the campsite, I understand now more than ever that I may not have had a prayer before I met these people.

“We are so very proud to have such a diverse group of Contenders this year. It will make for an exciting race.”
The woman pauses and I hear paper rustling.
“You may be interested to know that exactly one hundred and twenty-two people entered the Brimstone Bleed.”

A hundred and twenty-two people? I think back to the first day at the starting line, to all the nameless faces. I wish I knew them. I wish I knew where they were now. A new thought occurs to me: If we had all decided to race as a team and
demanded
to share the winning prize, could these people have created enough of the Cure for everyone?

The woman shuffles more papers.

“There are currently one hundred and fourteen Contenders competing in the Brimstone Bleed.”