Psion Alpha (30 page)

He
walked side by side with Jeffie all day. It was their first Christmas together.
They held hands, and Sammy told her about his last Christmas with Floyd
Hernandes and his family. When Sammy mentioned about how one of Floyd’s
daughters kept trying to sneak him away to make out, Jeffie smirked. It was her
first smile in days, and Sammy realized how much he needed her to be upbeat. He
wanted to tell her to snap out of it, that Li and others wanted him to drop her
from the mission, but couldn’t do it. Not on Christmas.

By
the time they stopped in the evening. Sammy was exhausted and starving. For a
few minutes during dinner, he blanked out for the seventh time since receiving
Byron’s memories. His mind left the Amazon and focused on tests, teachers, and
students he’d never met. Otto, Trapper, Xian, and Emerald felt like old friends
to him now. Omar, Diego, and Markorian were people he’d come to hate. Sammy
wondered if the Diego Newblood from Byron’s past was the same Diego in the
Hive. When he slept that night, he had dreams that Jeffie was covered in strange
tattoos.

Whatever
optimism the group had managed to cling onto was sapped after spending
Christmas in the jungle. Perhaps it was eating tortoise and fish every day for
the last week, or the constant mental burden of worrying about invisible
monsters, or even just plain exhaustion, but a sense of hopelessness permeated
the group.

Li
and Levu continued to press Sammy about replacing Jeffie on the team, and Sammy
continued to put them off. He needed to believe in something, so he believed in
Jeffie.

“You’re
making a huge mistake,” Li warned him the day after Christmas. “You’re putting
the entire world at risk to protect your girlfriend’s ego!”

“Li’s
right,” Levu added, “You have to see how selfish you’re being.”

“I
believe it’s the right call,” Sammy insisted.

“Well,
it’s not,” Li said.

“And
I thank you both for sharing your opinions. But it’s still my call to make.”

Li
threw his hands down, shook his head, and stormed past both Sammy and Levu.
Moments later, Levu followed. Sammy watched them with a mixture of anger and
indignation.

What
are you guys going to do? Leave?

During
dinner that night, the Hudecs sat apart from the group with Sherwood,
whispering to each other long enough that it drew the attention of other
members of the team. After about twenty-five minutes, they rejoined the group
with grim expressions on their faces.

“We’re
going home,” Dave announced. “If we leave tomorrow and take a bit of food and a
raft, we can get back to the clearing and radio for help.” Sammy and a few
others opened their mouths to protest, but Dave cut them off. “We won’t use any
devices until we get out of the silent zone, but our decision is final.”

Sammy
noticed how Sherwood looked away as Dave spoke. “Is there anything you want to add?”
Sammy asked Sherwood quietly.

“I’m
not—I can’t handle all this. After seeing Aaron die from that—that thing. I
can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry.”

“Dave
and I have been thinkin’ the same thing.” This time the words came from Duncan
Hudec. “It’s one thing to march through the jungle, Sammy. That we can do. Now
we’re talkin’ about monsters.”

“Somethin’
out of a bad movie,” Dave added. “You can’t teach a man to fight this—this invisible
death.” He tried to say the words like it was a silly joke, but his tone came
across as strange, disconnected, and, most of all, frightened.

“Sherwood?”
Sammy asked. “You, too?”

Sherwood
stared back with a blank face. Then he nodded.

“Anyone
else?” Sammy asked the group.

He
looked at each of them. He knew his Psions would never leave his side. Even
Jeffie, despite her recent fears, had more determination in her eyes now than
he’d seen in days. Nikotai and Lorenzo both gazed into the flames, the
reflection of the orange lights dancing in their eyes. He saw their resolution.

It
was Wesley Gibbons who surprised Sammy. There was fear in his expression, yes,
but also strength. Gibbons would not abandon the mission. For all the anger
Sammy had felt toward Wesley for disagreeing at every opportunity, he now
respected him for sticking with the mission.

“Well,
I understand why you guys feel the way you do,” Sammy told the deserters. “I
worry, though, that you won’t survive if you leave the group. Stay with us and
you have the protection of six Psions and an Ultra. The six of us are trained
to deal with worse than monkeys. Leave us and you have a couple guns and
machetes.”

Sherwood
now seemed to doubt his decision by the way his face twitched and his hand
cranked faster on his radio, but the Hudecs were resolute.

“Food
is another big concern,” Gibbons added. “The plan has always been to get picked
up from Coari, not the clearing back in Rio Pure. We are low on food as it is. We
have nowhere near enough to get you three back there. How far have we come now,
Duncan?”

“Almost
three hundred kilometers, give or take a few.”

“That
leaves us eighty kilometers to go to Coari … give or take a few. You’ll have
more than triple that to return. Don’t you see how crazy this is?”

“Seems
crazier to keep marching toward the Hive,” Duncan said.

“Frankly,
I don’t think we can give up any of our food,” Lorenzo Winters stated. “Food’s
for the mission, not for quitters.”

Dave
spoke up. “Now wait here. We didn’t ask to come out here, we were chosen.”

“And
you accepted the duty when Sammy chose you. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.
Good grief, Dave … Duncan, you were both Elite Black Ops. Show some spine!”

Sherwood
spun his radio faster, breathing hard. “We’ll all die out here before we reach
Coari! The closer we get, the more danger we face, and the more likely we die.”

“You
really thought it was going to be a walk in the park?” Lorenzo’s voice boomed
out over the camp. “You really believed everyone would survive? This is war,
Mr. Frieber. Not a fishing expedition. You’re welcome to leave, but the rest of
us have a mission to complete. And to do that, we need food.”

“Ya’ll
can hunt,” Dave insisted.

“So
can you,” Li said. “Lorenzo is right. We came out here to accomplish something.
Please don’t try and stop us from doing that.”

“Fine
… ” Dave said. “Fine! We’ll do it on our own.”

“Wait
a sec,” Sammy said, standing in the middle of the two groups. “No one needs to
have hurt feelings. I made my point about why you should stay. And I’m sincere.
Anyone who leaves is more likely to die than anyone who stays. That being said,
if you still want to go, why don’t we skip breakfast tomorrow morning and hunt instead?
Whatever we catch, we split. If we go out in teams of two or three, we should
be able to gather some tortoises and fish and whatever else. Meet back in three
hours and divide the spoils. After that, those who choose to leave are on their
own. Deal?”

He
turned to Lorenzo, silently asking him to take the deal. Lorenzo understood and
nodded. Everyone else agreed this was fair. Not much later, everyone but Kawai
went to bed. She had the first watch of the night. After that was Lorenzo, then
Jeffie, and Sammy had the morning watch. Jeffie shook him awake, interrupting a
dream he’d been having about Byron doing flight sims with a girl at the Elite
Training Center.

“Sammy!”
He heard panic in Jeffie’s voice. “Wake up!”

Sammy
turned quickly in his bed. “I’m awake. What’s the matter?”

Jeffie
exhaled a shaky breath. “I tried to wake you. It’s your turn to keep watch. I
shook you for almost three minutes. Were you teasing me?”

“No.
I was just dreaming. I promise. I’m getting up.”

Jeffie
hugged him for a long time. Sammy rubbed her back to get her to relax. When she
pulled away, she kissed him for a long time. Sammy liked the kissing more than
the hugging.

“You’re
getting really good at that.” After she said this, she kissed him again. “You
mind if I stay up with you?”

“It’ll
be hard to keep watch if we’re kissing.” Sammy winked at her, but wasn’t sure
if she saw it in the light of the dying fire.

“I
promise to keep it to a minimum.”

They
sat on his cot together, keeping an eye out for any danger and talking in
hushed tones about the team, Sherwood and the Hudecs leaving, and about what waited
ahead. It wasn’t raining at the moment, but light drops of residual moisture
fell from leaves making a
plop!
sound every few seconds. Sammy was
careful not to get too absorbed in the discussion with Jeffie. He didn’t want
anything sneaking up on them. Occasionally he thought he saw movement out in
the darkness, something keeping just out of sight. But whenever he investigated
the sounds with a torch, he saw nothing. Eventually, the lack of evidence
convinced him nothing was out there.

“You
really think they’ll die if they leave the group?” Jeffie asked him.

“The
odds aren’t good. I think I’m more worried about food than the monkeys. Sherwood
isn’t terribly helpful when it comes to hunting. But Duncan and Dave know how
to survive.”

“Then
why did you pick Sherwood for the mission?

“He’s
good with tech stuff and has lots of experience with firearms. He could be
useful in the Coari facility if we need him in a pinch.”

A
crunching noise came from somewhere in the darkness. Sammy took a torch out of
the fire, and carried it out to the edge of the light.

“Hello?”

He
heard the same sound again, far to his left. The torch light didn’t help him
see much due to the density of the foliage. He walked a few meters in that
direction, and the sounds abruptly stopped. His eyes went up to the trees as he
imagined one of those porcupine-monkeys leaping down on his face.

“What
is it?” Jeffie’s voice had a higher pitch than normal. He wished she’d gone to
bed instead of staying up.

“I
don’t know.” Even as he said that, the words
invisible death
sprang to
mind. “Might be nothing. You didn’t hear anything?”

Jeffie
said she hadn’t. Sammy searched for another minute before giving up. Even as he
sat down next to her again, his eyes stayed on the jungle, and he kept an ear
out for any strange sounds. She took his hand in hers. Her palms were slick and
hot, and her grip uncomfortably tight.

“Are
you okay?”

She
nodded. “Startled is all.”

“No,
are you
okay
? You know what I mean.”

“Don’t
I seem okay?”

Sammy
rubbed her hands in his. “It’s great to see you smiling, but I need to know. You
haven’t been yourself since the monkey attacked Aaron.”

Jeffie
stared at the firelight from the torch. She wore the same terrified expression
that he’d seen on her face a dozen times since Aaron Lewis’ death. “Why can’t I
get used to it? Kobe and Kaden … now Aaron. It was only a monkey.”

“It
wasn’t a monkey. It was an animal bred to kill people.”

She
nodded as though she hadn’t really been listening to him. “I know what Li wants
you to do … about me and the Hive.” Sammy started to defend himself, but she
cut him off. “I overheard you more than once. Thank you for sticking up for
me.”

“That’s
why I need to know if you can do this.” He watched her face, looking for the
answer there, but she was blank.

“You
asked me if I was okay. Are you okay, Sammy?”

He
didn’t even think about the answer. “Yeah, I am. Being here sucks but—”

“How
are you okay? You’ve lost your faith and your—”

“What
faith? I never had faith.”

Jeffie
glanced at him disapprovingly.

“You’re
not exactly the personification of godliness, you know.”

“Oh,
because I don’t wear my religion on my sleeve?”

“I
don’t want to talk about this right now,” Sammy responded irritably. “This
isn’t about that. It’s about whether you can go into the Hive with me and
Nikotai or not.”

“I
don’t know, Sammy!” An edge returned to her voice. Sammy felt guilty for letting
himself become annoyed. “I’ve thought about it non-stop. I don’t know!”

“What
am I supposed to tell Li? ‘Jeffie doesn’t know if she’s ready, but I’ll get
back to you as soon as possible.’”

“Don’t
mock me.”

“Well,
what do you expect me to say?”

“I’ll
tell you by the end of the day. Okay?”

“What’s
going to happen between now and the end of the day that will that help you
decide if you’re mentally capable of handling the mission?”

“I’ll
just know. I’ll make a choice.”

“Fine.”
He rubbed his forehead. “You were so happy, so upbeat about the mission. Now
you’re completely the opposite. What happened?”

“I
was worried if I didn’t seem totally committed, you’d change your mind.”