The Elementalists

Chapter 17

Kass

Leaving for the Zlansk mission feels different than when we left for Coral-Bay. I mean, for starters, half my face wasn't missing back then. The scar along my left cheekbone aches constantly, from just under my eye down to the corner of my mouth. I guess it makes me a little tetchy. I'm definitely doing Paolera's head in, but I can't help it, and besides. Everyone's so damn compliant all the time; I reckon it doesn't hurt to give her a challenge.

Squad Three also slows us down a lot. There's just so many of us, and food and resources. Half the squad have guns strapped to their backs, leaving the rest of us to carry double food and kit. Droids clunk along behind us, reminding me of creepy Viktoria, carrying the charging equipment, ammo and technical gear we can't manage ourselves. They complain the loudest.

And then there's us. Sammi, Rai and I. Last time, we were strangers. Forced together. Sure, we were "The Elementalists", but it wasn't like I felt connected with them, or like I trusted them. I don't know when things started to change. When my village was destroyed, I lost everything. My home, my identity. My family. A lost, lonely seed in the desert. But now, as we march together, Sammi to my right, Rai flying above me to my left, I feel like we're more than just our title.

This time, our team means something. 

Every now and then, Sammi's taken to holding my hand.

'Are you okay?' The first time she did it, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. I mean, if Musa was here, he'd kill me. Violently.

'Mmhmm.' Sammi nodded. She had a vague look in her eyes, like in her head, she was somewhere else. With someone else. 'I just miss him, you know. D'you mind?'

I shook my head. What was I supposed to say? If she needed a hand to hold to pretend was his—hell. Who am I to take that away from her?

But I think—maybe?—it annoys Rai. To be fair, it's pretty hard to tell; he always seems so goddamn happy. But I think, slowly, I'm learning. The more he shakes his head and the wider he smiles, the more he's trying to hide. He watches us with that quizzical, curious expression of his, and when he realises I've caught him staring, he smiles and goes red, speeding up to talk to someone else. Which is fine by me. I don't really know what to do with his intensity anyway.

When he shouted in my face: you're not hideous! It was like when he whispered in the water: you're the strongest person I know. The force of his gaze, so damn sincere. . . There's still way too much about that boy I don't understand. But one thing's for sure: I don't hate him anymore. I'm not sure how I ever could have. Through hate, or friendship, or whatever. . . I dunno. He's got under my skin.

It's a three days trek through the black forest to the Slavskani Wormhole; even then, we have to change in the south to the more central Brinsk. There's no direct Wormhole to Zlansk, which lurks on the fringes of the Wastelands, and as we can't exactly just stroll there on foot, we'll need to teleport in with the Temporary Wormholes. Paolera insists we prepare as much as possible in Brinsk before . . . well. Before.

Everybody's tense and anxious as we make camp. Slavskanistan is, I'd guess, the poorest country in the world, but Brinsk breaks the rule. It's the biggest city in Tellus after Singavere mainly because it's home to Paradise Park. It used to be a famous theme park, but got completely wrecked in the nuclear wars. Now, it's a twisted horror-show that bizarrely attracts as much attention as it did in its heyday. Call it morbid fascination or whatever, but people goddamn love it. It's basically a giant haunted house. A tourist ghost town, with looping roller-coaster tracks that end in mid-air, tumbling waterfalls with log plumes poised at the top, tipping, tipping. . . But never falling. It's never been restored; firstly, 'cause er, waste of money, and secondly, 'cause when you can do it all in VR, what's the point, right? Futurists like Rai just ride around on drones, anyway.