Leaves and twigs crunch under my feet as we walk through the forest. Jude and Hayes walk in front, Brady and I behind, and then the rest trailing behind. Brady hasn't spoken to me since we left camp, which worries me.
"Are you ok?" I ask him.
"Of course! Just... thinking." He offers me a small smile before turning away.
Not quite the answer I was hoping for but ok-
"Where to Firecracker?" Jude's voice snaps me out of his thoughts as I step over a fallen branch.
"We should get some rest before heading into Athanatos. Maybe we can camp a mile or two from it."
"Sounds good." His eyes flicker down to a watch strapped on his wrist. "9 o'clock. We should radio in to Lan in an hour."
Before I can say anything, he turns and asks Hayes, "What's the range the radio can go?"
"As far as Athanatos. Once we are in, I have to set it up to answer only Camp's frequency, not the Elxi's.
"So do you want to use it now?" She asks and kneels down, slipping the backpack off her shoulders.
"Not now," I say. She raises her head and looks me in the eye. "Wait an hour. Thanks though."
She nods, but hands me and Jude each a radio. "This is to contact each other, and this..." She holds up another radio, a bigger, bulkier one and says, "This is to contact Camp."
I turn the smaller radio over in my hand and slip it in my backpack. "Hey!" I raise my voice to get the other's attention. "We need to rest before entering Athanatos. The safest time to enter is night or early morning, meaning we have a couple hours to rest."
Jude interjects, "A mile away from Athanatos, we make a quick camp and rest, got it?" A chorus of yes's and yep's are heard. We turn and continue walking. The forest is alive with creatures: bugs, owls, wolves. The moon lights our path, along with the flashlights we brought. I use the time to think, how the hell are we going to get Ralph back?
"Plan, Firecracker, what you got?" Jude's voice breaks the silence.
"Get to Athanatos, find a place to stay and work from there." I keep my voice low; not wanting everyone else to hear just yet.
"Ok, but work immediately once we get there. Find an Elxi. We're gonna need to find someone who can get inside information, or at least to get our news to them." He adds on. Brady and Hayes slow down, leaving us to talk.
"And you expect to find an Elxi alone? One that can help us?"
"They travel alone at night and early morning." He states bluntly. "Once we figure out what they want, we can work on getting Ralph back."
"Getting him back with the least amount of casualties." My voice is laced with determination as I continue, "They see both of us as a threat, so we need to be careful. We can't just waltz in there." I think back to my last visit to Athanatos, remembering his face on the Wanted For Excess Power posters.
Jude abruptly stops and faces me. "What did you say?" His previous calm voice is now dripping with venom.
I take a step closer to him and lower my voice to keep the rest from hearing. "I've seen the posters. They want both of us."
"Well shouldn't you have though that through before giving the extra gun to the wanted guy, huh?" He spits at me.
"And why wouldn't I?"
YOU ARE READING
Shifter
General Fiction478 years ago, the world as we know it ended. Those lucky enough to survive formed one city, the Athanatos. Some called us heroes. Some called us villains. Some refused to believe we existed. They hunted, killed, trapped, and kidnapped us. Millions...
