Page 30 of Blue Arrow Island
“Go ahead.”
“You know I can’t turn my back on you. Nova’s going to tie you up.”
The woman near him reaches for a lightweight rope at her waist.
“No fucking way,” Pax snaps.
I’m helpless, trapped in the middle of them. But there are no options to run through. All I can do is sit here and wait, my life out of my hands. I despise that feeling.
“Pax, don’t!” Marcus’s deep shout makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I turn my attention to Pax, who’s standing perfectly still, his eyes closed.
“Watch yourselves!” Marcus yells over his shoulder, alarmed. “Back to back!”
He pulls a short sword from his holster belt, the five of them forming a tight circle with their backs inside of it, all of them crouching with weapons ready.
Something streaks out of the jungle so fast I can’t tell what it is, trees nearby quaking with the force of the wind. What the hell could shoot out of there so quickly it’s a blur?
I run to stand behind Pax, my chest tight with terror.
“Fuck!” One of the men cries.
An anaconda as thick as my thigh is coiled tightly around his body. It happened in a second, which should be impossible.
The bulge of his eyes is unnatural; the snake is already applying a lethal amount of pressure. His lips part and his head slumps to the side. The snake must have bitten him.
“Finn!” Marcus’s nostrils flare as he swings the sword back, sinking it into the snake’s body.
The others use their stun sticks, trying in vain to get the anaconda to relent. Electrical sparks fly off the ends of the sticks. Marcus draws his arm back and hacks at the snake again, sweat flying from his brow.
“We have to go,” Pax murmurs to me.
He swipes up his pile of things and darts into the jungle. I follow, my skin prickling in anticipation of an arrow lodging in my skull or my back.
Finally, I’m deep enough into the jungle that I risk a glance over my shoulder. No one is behind me. I keep running as fast as my legs will allow, Pax so far ahead of me I can’t even see him.
The green shades of vegetation around me blur into one shade from the tears in my eyes. I don’t want to go back to Rising Tide, but I don’t know if I can survive this place alone.
It’s a pick-your-poison situation. I choose the twisted-up mindfuck that is Rising Tide.
10
Though they lack nervous systems, plants have sophisticated survival mechanisms that have evolved over millions of years. Olive trees can roll their leaves in to minimize their exposure to the sun when facing drought conditions. They can also quickly close the stomate (pores) on their leaves during dry periods, limiting water loss to help them survive.
- Excerpt from a lecture given by Dr. Lucinda Hollis in her Plant Evolution course
My left foot sinks into the mud, sending me sliding so hard I nearly fall, my arms flailing at my sides for balance. I can’t fall. Can’t twist an ankle. Can’t lose my way.
I’ve been running on the path back to Rising Tide for more than an hour. I don’t know if I’m being followed. My legs still feel strong, but the adrenaline is wearing off. And then there’s the rain.
A few minutes into my run back, I started feeling droplets breaking through the canopy. The cool sprinkles on my sweating face felt good. But soon, it became a torrent. I can’t make out much in front of me, because the rain is falling so hard and it’s gotten darker.
There’s also wind, which alarms me more than the heavy rainfall. This jungle is dense and I’m so deep in it that wind shouldn’t be able to get through.
I can’t think about the tropical storm raging outside this jungle, though. All my focus has to stay on getting out of here. Making it back to Rising Tide.
It’s the devil I know.
