Page 111 of Blue Arrow Island
“We need to find McClain. He’s our best hope.”
“Even if we do find him—which is a big fuckingif—we don’t have the flowers.”
“If he’s been out there on his own the whole time, maybe he knows where they are.”
It’s the most I’ve ever heard Nova say, and I can see why Marcus depends on her. She’s giving him sound advice and sharing the load of stress so he’s not carrying it alone.
“We need to get in there,” he says.
Amira gestures for me to follow her and she quickly tiptoes back the way we came. I follow, and she turns around when we’ve gone about twenty feet.
“Be cool,” she mouths, before talking out loud. “I like carbon fiber arrows with broadheads for hunting, preferably made from one-piece stainless steel.” She starts walking. “You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to make wooden arrows that fly straight.”
“I didn’t know that.” I play along, pretending we’re just happening upon this spot for the first time.
“Think we’re close to the lab?” she asks as we round the corner we were hiding behind.
There’s no one there. Niran opens a door nearby from the inside, frowning at us. “You two waiting for engraved invitations?”
“We didn’t know where the lab was,” I say. “Sorry.”
“Ask someone next time.”
Amira and I walk into the room, joining around forty people already there. Marcus’s gaze finds mine and a ripple of something passes between us.
He clears his throat, scanning the faces in the room. “Let’s get started. First things first, I know we usually do this differently, but Briar and Amira, are you willing to join Command Team One?”
Someone scoffs. “That’s not fair.”
It was Zara, who’s probably still salty about our three-second sparring match.
“We need strength on both teams, and I vouch for both of them,” Marcus says. “Amira’s a crack shot with a bow, better than anyone else in this camp. And I’ve seen Briar in the field. She’s swift and decisive with a knife. There’s no time for infighting, guys. We have to stay united and take care of each other. We just lost a valued member of Command One, and Des is out of commission.” He looks at me and Amira. “It’s optional. You don’t have to.”
“I’m in,” I say.
Amira nods. “Me too.”
I glance at Zara, hoping I can heal things with a little humility. “I’ll put in the work and take direction from those of you with more experience.”
“Same,” Amira says.
“Perfect.” Marcus moves on. “Command Two, you’re going to oversee the transfer of whatever the kitchen needs for cooking into the Sub and then get a crew together to start rebuilding the tower. Security One and Two, you’ll assess damages to the farm and the garden and secure all livestock. Security Three and Four, patrol the perimeter.”
He nods at the door and most of the people in the room clear out.
Once they’re gone, we’re down to eight people, including me and Amira.
“This fucking sucks, guys,” Marcus says grimly when we’re all alone. “Shan died a hero and we can’t even give her the burial she deserves right now. But we have to put that aside.”
“What’s the situation with our electricity?” a man with blond wavy hair asks.
“We’re at partial capacity.”
“Yeah, but do we have enough for the shield?”
“We’ll need to divert power from everything else. It’s gonna get rough.” He turns to Nova. “Do we have radios for our newcomers?”
Nova brings two radios over to me and Amira, cringing as she wipes the blood off one with her shirt. It must have been Shan’s. I take that one.
