Fire & Flood

  “That’s great,” Guy says, watching her. “Thanks for your help.”

  “Okay, okay,” I say. “Let’s help Boy Scout find something that works.”

  Minutes later, we’re standing along the bank, our arms overflowing with random jungle foliage.

  “All right,” Guy says. “Throw them in.”

  Everyone tosses their arms up, and down rains the most useless crap ever.

  Except for what Caroline throws — which, thank the sweet heavens, actually floats.

  “Yep-yah!” Ransom shouts, pointing at the long, thin tube surfing the river.

  We all dance around like idiots at Caroline’s success. Levi and Ransom pick her up, and the three nearly tumble into the river. We are delirious from exhaustion, but I’m relieved that something has worked and that we’re doing our best to stay optimistic.

  Titus glares at Caroline.

  Lost in the moment, I stick my tongue out at him. “Cheer up, Grinch.”

  He crosses the distance between us in a matter of seconds. His hands wrap around my waist and he jerks me against him. “Stick that tongue out again,” he whispers against my neck, “and I’ll show you what I want to do with it.”

  Titus flies away from me and lands hard. Guy stands over him, face twisted with rage. He points a densely muscled arm at him. “I need your help with this river, so I’m going to let you pick yourself up out of that mud.” Guy bends down and gets in his face. “But if you touch anyone else here, I’ll hold you underwater until the last breath leaves your body.” He stands up. “Do you understand? I will end you.”

  Titus’s eyes are large with surprise, like he has no idea how he ended up on the ground. But then his eyes change. They fill with fury. And the smile that crawls over his face in no way resembles the wrath lacing his voice. “Sure, buddy,” Titus says, grinning. “I was just messing around.”

  The look on Titus’s face says there’s no way he’ll let this slide. Afraid of what Guy will do, I eye him with alarm. But Guy does something that surprises us all. He offers Titus his hand.

  Titus, still sticking to his innocent facade, takes Guy’s offer and pulls himself up. He looks at me and his grin widens. “You know I was just playing, right?”

  I nod, because I don’t know what else to do. In my peripheral vision, I spot Titus’s grizzly bear. He never moved to protect Titus, which surprises me. Madox, on the other hand, is at my feet, hackles raised, a small growl in his throat as he eyes Titus.

  No one speaks for the longest moment of my life, and then Caroline says, “So what do we do now, Guy?” It’s a reasonable question, but it still feels odd after what happened. Guy tears his gaze away from me and looks at Caroline. He seems equally confused by how to respond. Rubbing the back of his neck, he glances at the water, like he just remembered it’s there. “We have to build something so that we can ride the river.”

  Everyone kind of looks around, eager to have something to do that isn’t standing here uncomfortably.

  “Caroline, where did you find the thing that floated?” Guy asks. “That piece of bamboo?”

  She points upriver. “It’s down that way. Along the bank.”

  “Okay, good.” Guy knits his eyebrows together, and the scar over his right eye deepens. “Titus, Ransom, and Levi, you guys come with me and we’ll get as much bamboo as we can. The rest of you need to look for vines that don’t break when you tug on them. Does that sound good to everyone?”

  Harper glances at me and says, “We got it on our end.” I nod to let her know I agree.

  Titus salutes Guy. “Happy to help, General.”

  Guy ignores the comment and starts walking, M-4 at his side. The rest of us head back into the jungle foliage. A half hour later, we’re on the riverbank again. We made out like bandits in the vine department. It was Harper who found the best kind. We tried everything to get it to break, but short of RX-13’s eagle talons, nothing worked. We have our winner.

  The boys appear minutes later, carrying their last armfuls of long bamboo shoots. M-4 and AK-7 walk beside their Contenders, holding their heads high. I imagine it was them who cut the shoots down and then sliced them into equal lengths.

  Ransom lines the bamboo stalks side by side as the guys lay them down. Harper, understanding what is happening, goes to one side of the bamboo and begins tying the ends together so as to create a long and narrow raft. I take her lead and begin working on the other side.

  As I’m winding the vines around the bamboo, I notice Madox is watching me. Thinking about riding the river creates a nervous rumbling in my belly. But I smile at my Pandora and pretend everything is as it should be. He climbs onto the raft and cocks his head to the side. I imagine he’s saying: Let’s do this thing.

  Guy tugs on the bamboo and tries to separate the stalks. They don’t budge. He looks at Harper and me, and gives us a thumbs-up. I light up like the sun, then feel like a chump for being so desperate for approval. “Are you all ready?” He doesn’t actually wait for an acknowledgment. Just starts positioning us on the raft. I suddenly realize there’s not enough room for our Pandoras. Not even close.

  “What about our Pandoras?” I ask him.

  “They can travel faster without us.” He motions farther up the bank. “We’ll have them follow our progress along the river.”

  “No way,” I say. “I’m not leaving Madox behind.”

  “Tella,” he says. Warmth fires across my skin when I hear him speak my name. I shake my head against the reaction, and he mistakes it as disagreement. “Yes. They have to stay here. If we try to put them aboard, the entire thing will capsize. We have a lion and a bear. Think about it.”

  He’s right. I know he is. I want to insist there’s at least enough room for Madox and perhaps even RX-13 and DN-99. But I know it’d be unfair. I swallow down the fear of losing my baby fox and gently nudge him off the raft. “KD-8,” I say. “I want you to follow the raft from the bank. Understand?”

  Madox looks at me with confusion, and Titus snickers. I fight the urge to yell at Titus.

  Please do it, Madox, I silently plead. Just go with the others.

  I sigh with relief as my fox chases after the other Pandoras, whose Contenders have given them similar orders.

  “Okay, everyone off.” Guy waves his hand to hurry us along. “Titus and I will move the raft into the river, and then everyone needs to get on exactly as before.”

  We all step off and watch as Titus and Guy maneuver the bamboo raft into the water and hold it into place. Then we carefully step back on. Surprisingly, the raft doesn’t rock too much, and we’re able to get on without too much trouble. Right before Levi steps on, he grabs a spare bamboo shoot. He holds it as Guy gets on behind Titus, who’s in the very front. Guy takes the bamboo shoot from Levi and pushes us away from the bank.

  As we float toward the middle, I spot something moving in the brush.

  “Look,” I say, pointing to where we just were.

  A man dressed in strange brown clothing peers out from behind the trees. His head darts side to side as he inspects us. He acts just like the men we saw following those Contenders earlier today. And he looks like the guy I spotted my first day in the jungle. The one I thought I’d imagined.

  There’s a long, spear-looking object in his left hand, and he raises it to point in our direction. Moments later, two more men come to crouch beside him. Their faces and lips are painted with vibrant red streaks and their heads are adorned with bright feathers. The effect is nothing if not creepy.

  Inspecting the feathers closer, I notice they are green and blue like the one I wear in my hair. I touch it absently, running my fingers down the soft bristles. “Who are they?” I ask.

  “I don’t know,” Harper answers. “But I’m glad they’re there and we’re here.”

  The men cock their heads like birds, then disappear into the jungle. I watch the spot for a few seconds longer until we’ve floated so far down the river that I can’t remember where I’d seen them. An icy
chill swirls inside my chest, and I wonder if the men will follow. I don’t like the way they watched us — like they’d missed a crucial opportunity.

  Dink raises his arm and points. We all look up and see RX-13 flying overhead.

  Harper — who is standing next to me — grins.

  I look toward the bank. I pray Madox is keeping up with us and that the other Pandoras are, too. Though I remember these people are my competition, I don’t want them to lose their companions.

  When I don’t see any sign of Madox, I stare down into the river. It’s dark, too dark to see much of anything beneath the surface. Gazing into it, I can’t help wondering what animals live in the current. Piranhas? Do they live in jungle rivers? What about crocodiles?

  “Titus, I need you to steer me in the right direction.” Guy uses the bamboo paddle to keep us floating in the center of the river. I wonder why he chose Titus to take the lead. Maybe to keep an eye on him, I think.

  Though we are all behind Titus and Guy, I can see the way Titus pulls himself up taller. “So far, so good, General.”

  We float for about fifteen minutes before the sun begins to set, and it starts to rain.

  “Rain. How original,” Levi mutters.

  Harper presses in close to me. I look at her in surprise, but she won’t meet my eyes. I press back against her and try to hide my smile.

  The rain isn’t anything new, but the fact that we’re on the river while it pours down is. I watch as the river slides farther up the banks and notice that the water under the raft is rushing much faster than before.

  “Guy,” Caroline says from behind me. There’s a question in the way she says his name, and I realize I’m not the only one who’s growing more afraid of the rising river.

  “Titus, guide me toward the bank.” The muscles in Guy’s back tighten as he works to get our raft stable. “We’ll continue after the rain stops.”

  Titus yells over his shoulder, but because the rain is coming down harder, I can’t make out what he’s saying. Guy switches the bamboo paddle from his right side to his left, and back again. Then he looks back and motions for us to crouch down.

  We don’t wait to be told again. Soon, everyone besides Guy and Titus are on their knees, holding on to the bamboo as best they can. The river rages beneath us, and I can’t fathom how this happened — how the river changed from frightening to lethal.

  The sound is almost deafening. It’s like a white noise, and it is everywhere. The rain pours over our scalps and shoulders, and the river sprays across our bodies. I see white tips form along the river surface and though I’ve never floated on a river — not once — I remember they’re called rapids. It’s a strange word, I think. Rapids. Rapids.

  My thoughts are shattered when I hear a high-pitched scream. I spin around and my stomach plummets.

  Caroline is gone.

  I stand on unsteady feet and search the river. The scream grows louder and I realize it’s coming from Dink. Next to me, I see Harper get to her feet and rock unsteadily. She moves to the side of the raft and I realize suddenly what she’s going to do.

  “Harper, don’t,” I yell.

  Above us, RX-13 screeches. Harper’s concentration breaks and she glances up. I do, too.

  The eagle glides through the sky, beats her wings once, then folds them against her body and dives down. The Pandora crashes into the river, vanishing beneath the surface.

  “No,” Harper screams.

  Though the water is murky and the sky is growing dark, I spot the eagle just beneath the surface. She’s flapping her wings as though it’s the most normal thing in the world — an eagle swimming. Seeing this, Harper pauses. But only for a moment. Then she readies herself to dive in.

  The eagle breaks through the river and opens her great wings in front of Harper like a shield. Every time Harper tries to dive in, the eagle blocks her advance.

  “Stand down, RX-13,” Harper cries.

  But I know if the Pandora can help it, she won’t let that happen. Because her job is to protect Harper, and no one else.

  I know what I have to do.

  I close my eyes, pull in a breath — and jump.

  The last thing I hear is Guy calling my name. Then there’s nothing but the river.

  My body is pushed forward so quickly, it’s like I threw myself in front of a moving car. My legs and arms splay out in a panic and I wonder if maybe this wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. But then I remember why I jumped. That Caroline is in the river, and that I have to help her.

  I somehow gain control of my body and break the surface. Guy peers over the edge of the raft, a hand raised to his eyes. From the angle of his body, I can tell he wants to jump in, but he’s trying to determine where I am before he leaps. Maybe I should have done the same. Now I’m being dragged downstream, with no idea of where Caroline is.

  Diving under the water, I search for her. My eyes fill with the murkiness, and I don’t see her anywhere. I come up for air and then dive back down. Underwater, I hear a sort of ringing in my ears and the dull thump-thump-thump of my heart. Though it’s chaotic above the surface, it’s strangely peaceful below it.

  I swim in a circle — and see Caroline. She floats like a broken angel — long, dark hair forming a halo around her face. I yelp with surprise and bubbles burst from my mouth. Taking another breath from above the river, I dive down and swim toward her. How long has she been underwater? A minute? Two?

  My fingers brush her skin. I’ve almost got a good hold on her when something large appears in the corner of my vision. My heart flies into my throat and I imagine this is it, that I’m going to spend the rest of my days in a crocodile’s gut. But when I look closer, I realize it’s Dink, swimming toward Caroline like he was born with fins. He wraps his arm across her chest and pulls her toward the surface with ease. I follow him, gasping for air. When his eyes find mine, I point toward the shore and he nods.

  We swim hard toward the bank, Dink doing a far better job than me. The closer I get, the faster the river seems to go. I watch as Dink gets on dry land and drags Caroline behind him. My arms and legs grow heavy, and that’s when a new fear washes over me — one that says I’ll drown in this river. Behind me, I see the raft pulled up onto the bank. The other Contenders look like blurry dots in the rain. Closer to me, Dink is bending down over Caroline, breathing into her mouth. But even he is moving away much too quickly.

  My head bobs above and below the surface, and each time I draw in a breath, I wonder if it’ll be my last. Everything is happening so fast. I have no idea how I went from hero to victim, and I’m not sure how I’ll ever get to shore when I can hardly use my legs.

  I feel something break through the water behind me and then brush the top of my head. I glance up and almost cry with relief. RX-13! The bird latches her talons on to my shoulders. I bite down against the pain as her nails dig into my skin. The bird flaps her wings hard in the rain and moves toward shore. I do what I can to help the momentum, but I’m running out of energy.

  Little by little, the eagle gets me closer to land until finally I feel the earth beneath me and am able to walk up the bank. I collapse onto the ground and breathe hard. When I turn to see the eagle drying her wings, I realize her eyes are bright green.

  “Madox,” I croak, spitting up water.

  Pain shoots through my ankle and I realize my foot must have caught on something in the river. I reach down and grasp it. The pain worsens beneath my touch. I have no idea how I’ll keep moving on a bad ankle, but there isn’t time to feel sorry for myself —

  Because I hear something.

  It’s a sound — careful, deliberate steps — that lets me know I’m being watched. Madox shifts into fox form and stands between me and the sound. A low growl erupts from his throat. The noise causes a bolt of terror to strike through me. My gut says it isn’t the other Contenders from my group. But then, what could it be? It’s the strange men, I realize suddenly. They followed us.

  New sounds crash around
me, and I glance away.

  Contenders.

  Everywhere.

  They’re running, sprinting toward something, with looks of horror twisted across their faces. Or maybe they’re running away from something. Not waiting to see what’s coming, I grab Madox and run in the direction the other Contenders are. Pain rips through me as I step down on my injured ankle, but I will myself to race through it. Pandoras of all shapes and sizes run beside their Contenders — and if it weren’t for their anxious howls, I’d be filled with awe.

  I look over my shoulder and gasp. The strange men are chasing us. Each holds a long spear, and they’re making odd chanting noises. Nearby, I notice a girl a few years older than me. She’s running hard, her hands splicing the air. For one moment, our eyes connect. Then she hits the ground hard. I stop, thinking she fell and I’ll just pull her back up. But when I get closer, I spot the spear protruding from her back. Her head is turned sideways, and her face is vacant.

  “Oh God.” My whole body begins to shake.

  I hear my name being called, but I don’t look up. I can’t do anything but stare at the girl. Someone grabs my arm and yanks me forward. It’s Guy. He’s tugging me onward and screaming at me to move.

  But the girl.

  “Tella,” he yells, shaking my shoulders. “Run!”

  Madox wriggles in my arms. It’s enough to bring me back to reality. I nod at Guy and we race forward. Beside us, I see Levi and Ransom and wonder where the others are. Maybe they’ve found a safe place to hide. I tell myself this as I run, pain tearing through my ankle.

  Up ahead, I see a flickering orange light. As we get closer, I discover that the light is coming from lit torches and that the torches form a massive circle.

  “It’s base camp,” Guy yells through the rain, through the night. “It has to be.”

  I run harder, but when I look over my shoulder, I realize the men are closing in. From this distance, the red stripes on their faces look more like blood than paint.