Page 27 of Uprooted
“I know I don’t need to remind you of the rules, and we both know you’ll just do whatever you want anyway. Just be careful. A lot of shit could hit a very large fan,” he says, using one of the human phrases we learned before they arrived.
“I’m aware. I’ll be careful.” I say what I think he wants to hear. Tai's not wrong, but I'm not about to admit that to him. The door behind us slides open and Maak walks in, catching Tai’s comment.
“Careful about what?” Maak asks as he crouches down and carelessly shoves supplies into his bag.
Lugo’s eyes go wide the moment he steps through the door and sees that he’s on the same team as Maak.
“Don’t worry about it, brother. I’m always careful,” I tell Tai. He doesn’t need to be worrying about me.
“Ha!” Maak lets out, interjecting himself into our conversation again.
“I say we go for a good old-fashioned rope-a-dope,” I suggest to the team once everyone is packed and ready to head out.
“Rope-a-dope, sir?” Lugo asks.
“Come on, noobie,” Maak grunts.
“Maak, knock it off. This is what training is for,” Tai says and roughly hands Maak the loaded pack, hitting him square in the gut.
“You and Maak are Team Alpha, Tai and I are Bravo. Once we locate the enemy, Alpha will set up a defensive position and draw them out. Once Special Forces arrives, we will attack from the rear after they’ve used up all their ammo on you two,” I explain.
“Yes, sir,” Lugo says, sounding every bit the fresh recruit. Maak shakes his head and steps out of the cargo bay. I like the new kid. He reminds me of myself. Even though he’s young, he hasn’t complained about Maak’s hazing. He’s tougher than anyone gives him credit for.
I drag in a deep breath of fresh air. My head feels clearer and more focused right away. Using the trees for cover, our team moves in opposite directions out of the dome. The weight of the weapon feels good in my hands. This is where I like to be. Something about T-GOT just feels right. It’s like time slows down and every movement matters. It switches on that ancient part of my brain that’s trained for survival, the one that still lurks after all these millennia.
The muradome is in a secluded part of pt’Clanik. There is nothing between here and the military base, and it’s about half a day by porter to get there. We’re smack in the middle of a forest, a perfect place to train the unit on how to move around without being detected.
We get to the expansive grassland beyond the trees. Elowen would like it here. No—focus. I’m not thinking about her right now. I’ve got a record to defend.
I extend my arm and pat the air down, ordering the unit to get low to the ground. The tall grass gives us some cover as we keep moving forward. I direct them to follow me as I take a sharp turn, heading north instead of east like we had planned. Going north will give us the high ground. Maak audibly huffs from the back. I snap my head back and glare at him. If he gives our location away now, we might as well pack it in.
We continue north until we reach the destination I set us toward. A singular tree at the top of a rolling hill. Down below a sea of flowers and grass swirl around. This is where I would bring Elowen if I could. I shake my head and bring my thoughts back to the present. We spread out along the ridge to scope out the valley below. I tap my visor at my temples and rest the plexi on the bridge of my nose. I focus my eyes on the tree line in the distance and the visor automatically zooms in, giving me a better look. We scan the landscape for a while, looking for any signs of where to go next.
“Target located,” I hear in my earpiece. Shit—we should have just gone east. Maak rips his visor off and throws it into the ground.
“Alright, let’s go.” I drag myself up off the ground.
“What were you thinking dragging us up here?” Maak asks, visibly upset.
“I thought this was a good vantage point.” My excuse sounds lame even to my ears. The truth is: I wasn’t focused.
“I could have used an extra day off.” Great—now even Lugo has turned on me.
We head back to the dome in silence, the tension thick between us. I feel guilty for letting them down. And there goes my winning streak.
“What’s that?” Lugo asks, sniffing the air when we are about halfway back to the dome.
I take in a deep breath. The smell burns my nose as we get closer. Maak stops in his tracks and crouches down. I look past him and see black ooze spreading over a tree. Tai’s ears twitch and his head turns as he tries to tune his hearing to anything around us. The four of us freeze in place, watching and listening.
I order the other teams to fan out and search the area to find whatever made this mark.
All other teams report back—nothing.
I scoop up some of the sticky black sludge into my empty canteen and seal it shut, hoping it might help us figure out where this came from.
17
Elowen
