CHAPTER TEN
It had been the middle of the day when the storm hit, and by the time it passed it was nightfall. The darkness of the storm faded to give way to the slightly less dark of night in the merciless deserts of Icarus. Stars lit up the sky and the singular moon glowed orange in the sky.
After cleaning the sand and dirt off Rhiannon with high-pressure air hoses, they were moving again, this time with a clearer destination in mind. Mackenzie and Abbas had determined the direction the river was flowing from and had determined to continue following their original course south, though with a minor adjustment heading south-west. Mackenzie kept two of the six sensors at her disposal locked on the river at all times, afraid of losing sight of it, while the remaining four sensors continued sweeping the area around the truck for signs of additional water sources. Mackenzie also reminded herself to keep an eye out for redox fields, too. The last thing she wanted now was to accidentally let them drive over the explosive rocks, thereby destroying humanity's last hope for survival.
They drove for the whole day, and Mackenzie was grateful for no problems. Jesse reported a few animals here and there, but nothing that was immediately threatening. The weather remained clear and Lowe confirmed that another sandstorm was unlikely. Bell seemed in a good mood and was singing loudly as they drove, until Jesse clapped his hands over his ears and bared his teeth in annoyance.
"Do you have to sing that?" he demanded.
"What's the matter, Greaves?" Bell asked sweetly. "You don't like my singing voice?"
"Since you mention it, no," Jesse replied, his expression somewhere between a smile and a sneer. "But of all the songs in existence, do you have to sing that 21st century crap?"
"Crap!?" Bell exclaimed in mock offence. "It's a classic! And it's 20th century, thank you very much. If you're going to be disrespectful to greatness, at least get your facts straight."
"I'm afraid I have to agree with Greaves on this one," Abbas chimed in.
"You're both morons," Bell replied, shaking her head in stunned bemusement. "Jon Bon Jovi may be long gone, but his music is eternal!"
"Eternally bad," Jesse quipped.
"Whoa, hey!" Mackenzie cried out as her terminal began beeping at her again. "There's something up ahead giving off a H2O reading. But... it's on the surface. Close to our river, not far from here."
Vasseur rose from his station and stood at Mackenzie's shoulder to see what she was talking about.
"Ah ha!" he exclaimed, sounding pleased. "Mana!"
"Really?" Bell asked, sounding hopeful and dubious at the same time.
"One hundred percent," Vasseur confirmed. "We're heading almost straight for it. Any objections if we take a slight detour?"
"Hell no," Jesse replied.
"What's the big deal?" Mackenzie asked, vaguely recalling Abbas mentioning something about mana seeds to her father. "What's mana?"
Vasseur grinned down at her. "These are plants, Miller, a rare and incredibly difficult to find plant that grows fruit. It seems you're a lucky charm for us. These plants grow a kind of fruit we call mana, but it's sweet like chocolate. Their juices are likely to be the greatest tasting thing you'll ever drink. We've only found mana patches a handful of times before, and I personally think it's worth a half-hour detour."
"I've already changed course, sir!" Bell shouted out from the front of the truck.
"What if we lose the river?" Mackenzie asked, feeling apprehensive.
"We won't," Abbas said. "I've locked the coordinates into our nav system. We'll be back on track in no time."
As worried as Mackenzie was about wasting time, she was still curious to try these supposedly delicious mana fruits. It had been a long time since she ate anything other than gourd and dried out gozard jerky. She found her mouth was watering just at the thought of something different.
"Do they taste as good as you say?" Mackenzie asked Vasseur.
Vasseur grinned at her, a rare twinkle in his eye. "Better."
A short time later, Bell pulled the truck to a stop and everyone stared out the windows at the sight that lay before them.
It was an expanse of green and yellow cacti, roughly the size of a soccer field. Tall plants grew out of the ground in varying sizes, some only a couple of feet tall while others towered over six feet. They looked remarkably similar to cacti found on Earth, though instead of sharp thorns, Mackenzie could see yellowish buds the size of golf balls growing all over the green and brown cacti.
"Be cool," Vasseur said calmly to everyone. "We don't know what's out there. Odds are we're not the only ones looking to eat here."
"I've swept the area for thermal imagery," Mackenzie reported. "Nothing out there but plants."
"Check it again," Vasseur ordered. "I'm not taking any chances."
Mackenzie reviewed the monitors again, carefully checking every readout.
"Clear," she reported. "No signs of life."
"All right," Vasseur said, seeming to sigh with relief. "Everyone grab a bag. We'll load up with as much as we can carry and stash it in cold storage. We should be able to add about a week to our food rations with what's here. Let's move quick, though. One run and done. I want to be back on the move within fifteen minutes. Got it?"
"Got it," Jesse replied, grabbing bags from the rear of the truck and tossing them to each person, one at a time.
"Jesse, I want you to stay on lookout," Vasseur said. "I think we'll all feel better knowing your rifle is watching out for us. Everyone else, with me. Stick to protocol. Stay alert. Things can change in a heartbeat out here, so don't assume anything."
Jesse grabbed his rifle from the wall and quickly climbed the ladder to his lookout post in the roof, vanishing through the hatch.
"Okay," Vasseur said. "Let's go."
Vasseur hit the button to open the door in the side of the truck, the steps lowering automatically as the door slid smoothly open with a gentle hiss.
The heat hit Mackenzie in the face with surprising force. She'd spent so long inside the air-conditioned truck, she'd gotten used to the cooler air it offered. Now, in the face of the unforgiving heat of the desert, she took half a step back from the door as she recoiled from the harsh conditions of the outside world. But then the others all filed outside and Mackenzie forced herself to follow them.
Already panting from the heat, Mackenzie and the others all walked quickly into the cacti field, while Jesse watched over them through the scope of his rifle from the top of the truck. No one hesitated in their task. The moment they reached the cacti, they all began grabbing handfuls of the yellow bulbs that were growing from the large cucumber-like plants and started shoving them into their bags. Mackenzie watched, hesitant for a moment as she wasn't too sure on how to handle the strange fruit, but then determined it was as simple as grabbing a bulb, twisting it off its stem, and stuffing it in her bag. She turned to the nearest plant and began grabbing fruit with both hands.
"Miller, what are you doing?" Vasseur suddenly demanded, appearing from around a nearby cactus.
"Sorry, am I doing it wrong?" Mackenzie asked, looking down at the fruit she presently held in her hand.
"No, not that," Vasseur shook his head, starting to grin. "You need to try one. Go on. Take a bite."
"Really?"
"Sure," Vasseur nodded, still stuffing fruit into his bag. "I won't tell the others."
Mackenzie smirked guiltily, then raised the yellow fruit to her mouth and bit it in half.
The flavor that filled her mouth was like an explosion. Mackenzie had always loved watermelon before, but this! This fruit was so deliciously juicy and flavoursome, it made watermelon taste like dirt. The taste filled her entire mouth as the juices flowed from the flesh of the fruit and swished around her tongue. Mackenzie groaned with pleasure and closed her eyes, closing her senses off to everything but the taste of this glorious fruit.
"Good, huh?" Vasseur chuckled.
"Oh my God," Mackenzie said around a full mouth. "This is literally t
he best thing I've ever tasted!"
"We told you!" Bell laughed from nearby. "Congratulations! You just had your first food-gasm."
"They grow up so fast," Abbas laughed.
"Guys?" Jesse's voice suddenly came over the radio in Mackenzie's ear. "I don't want to alarm you, but I think I saw something move out there."
"What was it?" Vasseur demanded, his gun appearing in his hand like magic as the mood turned instantly serious.
"Not sure," Jesse replied. "I just caught a glimpse of it."
"Are you sure it wasn't just one of us?" Lowe asked nervously.
"Not unless you turned green since I last saw you," Jesse growled.
"Everyone, start heading back to the truck," Vasseur ordered. "We're done here."
No one argued, despite the fact that they hadn't even half filled their bags. Mackenzie spotted Lowe, Abbas, and Bell moving swiftly through the plants around her, each one pulling out their sidearms and holding them at the ready. They were all moving cautiously, their eyes always moving around, searching for dangers, their guns always pointing wherever they looked. Mackenzie slowly pulled her own gun out of its holster at her hip and flicked the safety to off.
"It's on your right," Jesse said urgently. "Heading towards you."
"What is it?" Mackenzie asked.
"Still can't see it clearly."
Mackenzie had a horrible image pop into her mind of an ubergrade making its way towards her, acid dripping from its mouth as it charged. She shivered, despite the heat, and told herself that ubergrades don't hunt like that, according to what Lowe told her.
"Why didn't the sensors show any life out here?" she demanded of nobody in particular.
"Shit!" Lowe hissed. "Something just moved by me."
"Me, too!" Bell reported, though she wasn't close to Lowe.
"There's more than one," Abbas hissed.
"Just keep moving," Vasseur ordered, keeping his voice low. "Don't run. We don't want to startle them."
"Yeah, they're startled," Bell said sarcastically, though her voice shook as she spoke.
Mackenzie stared silently at a towering cactus that was ahead of her. It was oddly misshapen, bulging towards the top. Looking at the ground around the cactus, Mackenzie could see the yellow mana fruits were scattered around, their juices spilling out into the sand and dirt as the flesh had split open, or been torn apart.
Looking back up from the fallen fruit, Mackenzie studied the strange bulge in the cactus, unsure why it drew her attention so much, but she knew there was something about it that alerted whatever primitive survival instinct she had. She stood completely still as she stared at the misshapen plant.
Suddenly, the bulge began to move. It pulled itself away from the cactus and began to turn. Mackenzie stared, frozen in shock and fear, as the animal that had blended so perfectly to the cactus turned its yellow eyes on her, its mouth opening to bare sharp teeth dripping with the juice of the fruits. As Mackenzie stared, the creature began to change color. Whereas it had been the exact same color green as the cactus it was resting on, it suddenly changed, but not to any other hue. It seemed to lose all color, revealing strangely translucent skin that Mackenzie could almost see straight through to the organs and skeleton beneath. She swore she could see the creature's heart pumping fast as it looked back at her.
It mostly looked like a large bat, roughly the size of a 2-year-old human. It had the same wings one would expect of a bat, large and leathery, except each hand on each wing had far larger hands and opposable thumbs, each finger ending with a narrow and razor-sharp claw that was piercing the tough cactus with ease. It had stubby legs, each with clawed feet that were also digging deep into the cactus, keeping the creature immobile.
The head was what truly scared Mackenzie, though. It was remarkably similar to that of a hyena, with a small snout and rounded ears. While the snout was relatively short, it was wider than any other canine snout, seeming almost sharklike with how rounded and wide it was. But it's teeth were far longer and far sharper than what Mackenzie had seen in any pictures of hyenas or sharks. It snarled at her, showing her its teeth, beginning to unhook itself from the cactus and turn towards her.
Suddenly, the strange creature with the almost transparent skin threw itself from the cactus and soared on its wings towards Mackenzie, its claws flashing in the light and its teeth bared, an unnatural screech coming from its mouth.
Without even thinking, Mackenzie raised her gun and fired two shots. The first shot missed and the creature soared closer, but the second shot hit the animal's shoulder, separating a wing from its body. Its angry shriek turned into a cry of pain as it fell to the ground and began to writhe in agony at Mackenzie's feet, still crying in pain.
Vasseur and Bell came hurrying towards the noise, stopping on either side of Mackenzie as they stared down at the terrifying, though now pitiful, creature.
"Akucho!" Bell gasped.
Without a word, Vasseur aimed his pistol at the creature's head and pulled the trigger, silencing the animal.
"We have to move," he said. "Now!"
They all broke into a run, charging out of the cacti and sprinting to close the gap between them and the truck. The precise moment they broke free of the field, there was a near-deafening shriek from the field behind them and Mackenzie couldn't help but look back over her shoulder.
To her horror, the sky was filling with the creatures Bell had called akucho. They were flapping up out of the field and into the sky, quickly locking their yellow eyes on the running humans and diving back down towards them, snarling and snapping their wide jaws.
Shots began to ring out ahead of them as Jesse started to fire rapidly into the sky, having switched his weapon to fully automatic. Akuchos began to scream in pain and then drop from the sky, but there were many more, having apparently hidden in the fields, feeding on the fruits, but perhaps wanting something meatier to satiate their hunger.
"Run!" Vasseur yelled, urging everyone to keep going, shoving Mackenzie as he caught up to her.
Mackenzie turned away from the sky full of akuchos and sprinted towards the truck. The akuchos, however, were much faster. They moved like a wolf pack, splitting off into two groups and passing the humans on both sides, then banked to block their escape, forming a wall of translucent flesh and snapping teeth.
Mackenzie and the others all stopped in their tracks, their only escape blocked off. The moment they stopped, Mackenzie saw one akucho dive out of the air and strike Abbas on the shoulder, knocking him to the ground as he cried out in pain from the sharp talons digging into his flesh. The akucho raised its head and bared its teeth, ready to strike down on the back of Abbas' exposed neck, but Lowe fired a single shot into the creature's head from three feet away, the akucho's skull exploding from the exit wound.
Abbas was quickly on his feet and firing at every akucho he could see. Lowe stood with his back against Abbas' and they both fired at the attacking akuchos, stopping the hungry beasts from sinking their teeth into their throats.
"Close ranks!" Vasseur shouted over the screeching of the akuchos and the ceaseless sound of gunfire. Vasseur began making his way towards Abbas and Lowe, stopping shooting just long enough to give Mackenzie a shove in the same direction. "Everyone, back to back! Cover each other! Hold them off!"
Bell reached Abbas and Lowe first and they quickly formed an outward facing triangle, firing at everything non-human that moved. Jesse helped cover Vasseur and Mackenzie as they ran towards the others, shooting down anything that got too close with shocking precision.
Vasseur and Mackenzie made it to the others, Mackenzie thinking the whole time that she was about to feel the sharp teeth of an akucho sink into her neck, but she followed orders and stood shoulder to shoulder between Vasseur and Bell, firing relentlessly at the attacking akuchos.
"Start moving towards the truck!" Vasseur shouted, emptying one magazine and swiftly sliding a new one into place. "Move together! Don't give 'em an opening
!"
Together, they all began to walk as one, moving towards the truck. Jesse kept firing into the cloud of akuchos and their bodies rained down around Mackenzie and the others, but she paid them no attention. She kept her focus on moving with the group and on shooting any attacking akucho that made it through Jesse's defences.
It was only a short distance to the truck from where they were, but it seemed to Mackenzie that it was the longest walk of her life. The sound of screeching and gunfire seemed to never end. Finally, they reached the truck and all planted their backs firmly against its side, no longer being in such an open position. They formed a wall of gunfire and kept shooting at the akucho, who seemed relentless in their pursuit.
"Bell!" Vasseur shouted. "Get in first! Fire up the engines, we might need to get out of here in a hurry!"
"Roger that!" Bell replied. She made her way to the door and slipped inside, firing at the akuchos the whole time.
"Abbas, you next!" Vasseur ordered.
Nodding and grimacing from the pain in his bleeding shoulder, Abbas walked sideways towards the door, then vanished inside.
"Lowe, go!"
Lowe was the next to vanish inside, still shooting at the akuchos.
"You're next, Miller!" Vasseur shouted.
"What about you?" Mackenzie shouted back.
"Just go!" Vasseur roared, firing another few rounds at the onslaught of akuchos. "Now!"
Recognizing the finality of an order, Mackenzie walked backwards up the steps of the truck, still shooting and helping to provide as much help to Vasseur as possible.
"Come on!" Mackenzie yelled at him. "Let's go, come on!"
Vasseur turned his back on the akucho and began to climb inside the truck. Mackenzie stepped back to allow him room.
Suddenly, Mackenzie saw the akucho fly in low along the ground, skimming the surface, its yellow eyes locked on Vasseur's back.
"Look out!" Mackenzie cried raising her gun. She aimed and pulled the trigger.
Click!
The magazine was empty! The realization hit Mackenzie like a rock in the stomach as the akucho flew in with amazing speed and dove on Vasseur's back.
Vasseur threw back his head and roared with agony as the akucho repeatedly stabbed its claws into his back, over and over again, blood spraying everywhere and showering the akucho's translucent skin.
"Help me!" Mackenzie screamed as she grabbed Vasseur's hands and tried to drag him inside and away from the akucho. Abbas appeared at her side and fired his own gun at the akucho, but it swiftly scurried out of the line of fire and hid under Vasseur's body. Vasseur screamed anew, this time because the akucho had sunk its teeth into his thigh and was shaking its head like a dog, tearing the flesh away.
With one final pull, Mackenzie managed to drag Vasseur completely into the truck, bringing the akucho in with him. Lowe slammed his hand down on the button to close the door, preventing any more akucho's from getting in.
The akucho that was ripping Vasseur's leg apart raised its head and fixed its gaze on Mackenzie. It opened its mouth and screeched at her, its muzzle and teeth stained with blood. It lunged forward, reaching towards Mackenzie's throat with its talons and teeth.
Reacting quickly, Mackenzie raised her hand and closed her bionic fingers around the akucho's neck, preventing it from getting close enough to rip her apart. The akucho struggled and flapped its wings, screeching furiously in Mackenzie's face. Then Abbas shot it three times in the head.
"Bell, move out!" Abbas shouted as Mackenzie tossed the lifeless akucho corpse aside. "Lowe, Vasseur needs medical attention!"
Lowe was already retrieving a first aid kit from a nearby cabinet and was falling to his knees beside Vasseur, who was groaning on the floor, laying on his side, his own blood beginning to pool around him.
"You'll be okay, sir, you'll be fine," Mackenzie was whispering to him, holding his head in her lap.
"What's going on back there!?" Bell shouted over her shoulder.
"Just drive!" Abbas shouted back.
Lowe cut open Vasseur's shirt with a pair of scissors to reveal the damage. Mackenzie gasped when she saw what the akucho had done. It was as though Vasseur had been stabbed dozens of times, each wound looking large and deep, blood spilling out of them at an alarming rate.
Jesse suddenly came sliding down the ladder, the hatch over his head closing behind him.
"We're clear, they're breaking off their attack," Jesse reported, but as he went to say more, he saw Vasseur on the floor and froze, his eyes wide with shock.
"Abbas, get some water!" Lowe cried, at which Abbas ran off without hesitation. "Jesse, get me as many bandages as you can find! Now!"
As Jesse sprinted to the nearest cabinet and began tearing through it searching for all the medical supplies they had available, Lowe grabbed a small cylinder the size of a pen out of the med kit and pointed it at one of the wounds. Mackenzie watched as a thin red beam of light came out of the pen and began to cauterise the flesh deep inside the wound, smoke rising gently from where the heat of the laser met flesh. Vasseur groaned in pain, though it was unclear if it was because of the laser or the multiple stab wounds.
"Miller!" Lowe cried. "His leg!"
Mackenzie looked at where the akucho had been tearing into Vasseur with its teeth and gasped when she saw the damage. A large chunk of Vasseur's thigh was just gone. Blood was spurting out of the opening, coloring Vasseur's pants from khaki to black.
"He's losing too much blood," Lowe panted. "I need you to pinch that artery closed while I take care of his other wounds."
Mackenzie gently lowered Vasseur's head onto the floor and moved to his leg. She inspected the gaping wound one more time. The artery was deep inside, spurting blood everywhere. At this rate, Vasseur would be dead in minutes. Clenching her teeth, Mackenzie thrust her hand inside Vasseur's leg and found the artery. She pinched it between her fingers and willed herself not to throw up. The moment Mackenzie thrust her hand inside the wound, Vasseur tossed back his head and roared in agony, his face almost completely white. Jesse then appeared at Mackenzie's side and began unraveling a roll of gauze, his eyes studying the massive wound with horror.
Abbas suddenly returned with a container of water and fell down to his knees beside Vasseur, his own wounds all but forgotten. He soaked a cloth in the water and moved to wash Vasseur's wounds with it, but Vasseur suddenly reached up and grabbed his wrist.
"Don't..." Vasseur whispered hoarsely. "Don't waste it."
"Sir, you'll die if we don't-" Abbas began to argue.
"I'll die anyway," Vasseur growled.
"Don't say that!" Mackenzie cried, still holding the artery between her fingers. She could still feel blood flowing, though. The hot, sticky, blood ran over her hand and down her arm to her elbow. She ignored it, instead focusing on Vasseur's pained expression as he turned his eyes on her.
"You'll need all the water we have if you're gonna make it," Vasseur said hoarsely. He turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. "Don't waste it... on me."
"We'll be fine without it," Jesse snapped, sounding more fearful than Mackenzie ever imagined him being capable of.
"Sir, please," Lowe began, still cauterising the wounds on Vasseur's back. "I can stop the bleeding!"
"No," Vasseur whispered. "You can't. You know it. Stand down. That's... an... order."
Mackenzie, Jesse, Lowe, and Abbas all looked helplessly between one another. This was one order no one wanted to follow, but they all knew Vasseur was right. He'd already lost too much blood, the floor of the truck now a thick pool of red, in which they all knelt.
Vasseur slowly turned his eyes on Mackenzie. She saw that they seemed glassy and unfocused, like he was having trouble seeing her.
"Miller," Vasseur rasped. "Stay away from... the canyon. Scylla."
"What?" Mackenzie asked, confused. "Why not? What's Scylla?"
Vasseur closed his eyes and Mackenzie thought for a moment he was
gone, but he was still breathing, though his breath was shallow and raspy. He then opened his eyes and tried to focus on Mackenzie again.
"Don't... trust... him."
"Who?" Mackenzie asked. "Don't trust who? What are you talking about?"
Vasseur's eyes were no longer looking at her, but through her and seeing nothing. Mackenzie listened for his shallow breathing, but it was gone. Silence filled the truck, a silence so heavy Mackenzie felt as though she may just be crushed by it.
"He's gone," Lowe said quietly.
"Vasseur's dead?" Bell asked from the front of the truck, still driving.
"Yes," Lowe replied, his voice thick.
Mackenzie was still staring at Vasseur's face. Not believing it was true, refusing to believe it was true. He wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead. He'd been a Diviner longer than she'd been alive, he couldn't have died just like that! And over nothing! Some fruit! How could it be?
She suddenly felt a hand on her own and jumped slightly. She turned away from Vasseur's face and saw that Jesse had placed his hand on hers, his scowl set deep on his face, but his eyes telling of the pain and loss he truly felt.
"You can let go now," Jesse said softly to her.
Not understanding what he meant, Mackenzie looked down at the hand Jesse was holding. She realized that she was still pinching the exposed artery between her fingers.
"Oh," was all she could manage to say. Then she slowly let go and pulled her bloody hand out of the wound.
Abbas covered his face with one hand, sighing heavily as Lowe sat down on the floor, looking lost. Bell could be heard sobbing gently from the driver's seat, wiping furiously at her eyes.
Mackenzie felt a burning sensation behind her eyes and she blinked hard to keep the tears from falling. For the first time since becoming a Diviner, she felt lost.
She turned back to Vasseur's face, looked into his glassy eyes, and wondered just what the hell they were supposed to do now.