The Lost Sky (A 5th Wave Companion)

Chapter 5

A week after the air raid drill squad 19 has the most points in the entire camp. Recruits stare at us and whisper as we walk down the hallways and sit during chow time. It's the closest I'll ever get to fame and I love every second of it.

I constantly catch Zombie staring at Ringer. Literally whenever I catch a glimpse of squad 53 Zombie is always near the front, eyeing Ringer like he knows her from somewhere and can't put his finger on it.

"Do you notice?" I ask her one day during afternoon chow, just after Zombie walks by.

"Notice what?" she asks with a mouth full of chili, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Zombie," I say plainly, nodding his way.

"Wait, what?" Dynamite asks from across the table.

We both glance her way before turning back to each other.

"What about him?" she asks, putting another spoonful of chili into her mouth.

"He's constantly staring at you," I answer back, eyeing the food in her mouth and pushing my tray forward, rejecting the rest of my lunch.

She's still furrowing her brow and chewing her chili as she turns around the look at 53's table. Zombie is talking to the tiny kid he was dragging around during the air raid drill yesterday and doesn't even notice us staring at him.

After about ten seconds Ringer turns back around.

"No he's not," she says, like I just said the government has announced a new letter in the alphabet called durf.

"TELL ME," Dynamite shouts, practically crawling across the table. She's definitely the nosiest out of every recruit I've met here.

We both glance her way and ignore her again.

"Why would I give a shit anyway?" Ringer asks as she finally finishes the last of her discolored and disgusting chili.

"'Cause it's weird," I respond, "Literally every time I see him he makes an effort to look at you."

"You barely ever even see him," she answers, "And what's with you and Zombie?"

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.

"Ever since your little tussle with him and that ugly farmer kid you haven't shut the fuck up about him."

Can she read my thoughts? I've never actually mentioned Zombie's name before now.

"I don't ever remember saying anything about him," I respond, diving even further into an infinite sea of confusion and questions that can never be answered.

"I can tell," she answers.

I'm done talking.

Later, out on the firing range, I ask Ringer how she's such a good aim.

"Did you like... go shooting a lot before the arrival?" I ask, trying to get some helpful information about her, "Were you a hunter?"

"Nope," she says, preparing to fire another round. The entire target is practically reduced to sawdust by the time she's finished with it.

"Played a lot of chess," she starts to answer, although I have no idea what that has to do with shooting, "thought really deeply... It wasn't until I first picked up a gun and started shooting that I thought up a philosophy."

I look at her like I'm waiting to hear it.

After a few seconds she looks at me and knows what I want to hear, but doesn't say it.

"Shoot," she commands.

I stand confused and a bit disappointed as she repeats the direction.

"Aim and shoot."

"Okay..." I murmur as I load my rifle and aim for the plywood cutout across the range.

It impacts the fake human's forearm, removing it entirely.

I look to her for any sign of approval, but all I see is her staring at the target I've just shot at.

"Do you know why Buddhists think so highly of circles?" she asks out of nowhere.

I tilt my head forward, thinking I heard her wrong, but sure enough she repeats the same question.

"I didn't even know Buddhists thought about shapes," I say, sounding more ignorant than I intend to.

She points her gun at a cutout.

"It's because there's no point where the circle ends or begins. It just is."

"Yeah," I say, "It's just a circle."

"Exactly," she says, like I'm spot on, although I have no idea where she's going with this whole circle thing, "Shooting is like a cycle. You aim, you fire, you impact, you reload. You, your gun, your bullet, and your target are all a circle. You're all one thing."

I give myself a minute to process all the metaphors she's thrown at me and step up next to her, pointing my rifle at the target.

"You aim," she says, eyeing the target through the scope.

"You fire, and you impact," she shoots the target directly in the head, blowing it off completely.

"So you've gotta shoot like a Buddhist?" I ask. She looks at me. Cold frown, warm eyes.

"Like Buddha gone kamikaze," she responds.

I think for a moment about the circle between myself, my gun, my bullet, and my target Ringer has just created in my mind. It's just like the silver cord she explained to me weeks ago. Except my problem is that I think the cord stops when it hits my target. But it doesn't.

I aim.

I fire.

I look.

We cheer.

I've hit the target directly in the head, just like Ringer.

I have no idea how she manages to cheer without a smile, or pick me up, but she does both. I hug her and she hugs back. She's still taller than me though.

"Finally kid," she says, and I see the tiniest beginning of a smirk. It makes me smile bigger than I have since before the arrival.

Maybe we do stand a chance against these others. Both the other recruits in their squads, but more importantly the others who orbit our planet. Our planet.

I look at Ringer again and know what she's going to say before she even begins to say it.

"Do it again."