Alone in the Crowd (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 3) (13 page)

Hunter watched her for a few seconds. “You know, he’s probably that way because he was taught to be that way in order to be an effective leader.”

“There are more ways to be an effective leader than just yelling at people and screaming orders.”

“Maybe so,” responded Todd. “But, that’s his style.”

“Maybe that works for the military, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Besides, I’m not wearing a uniform.”

He snickered. “Yeah.”

Anna paused and regarded him with a cocked eyebrow. “What?”

“Your clothes. They make you look like you’ve been living in the jungle.”

“It’s because I have.” Her face and voice showed no sign of humor.

“What happened to your other clothes? Surely you’ve had something else beside the leather. Right?”

She turned back to the engravings. “I did. But, I’ve been on this moon for somewhere around ten years. The clothing I had was needed for other things, so I had to resort to this.”

Todd watched her for a second. “Did you receive any clothes from us?”

“Yes, but I found them a little restricting.”

Anna stopped her examination again to gaze at him. “Does my outfit offend you?”

“Oh, no!” He backpedaled quickly. “In fact, I like it! I was just curious. That’s all.”

“Okay.” She eyed him and returned to her task.

A short while later, she was done. “I think I have it now. Let’s go tell Grumpy what I’ve found.”

Anna and Todd reached the stairs where the rest of the group waited. “I think I have your answer!”

“Well, let’s hear it!” Cooper crossed his arms, a sour look on his face.

She descended the staircase and pointed to three different blocks around the door frame. “You need to push in this one, this one, and this one.”

“And, what if you’re wrong?”

“Then, we should probably secure the person in front of the door to make sure. Because if it is wrong, the floor opens, and he falls through to an underground cavern.”

“Gotcha. Hunter! Toss me your rope!”

Todd, standing at the top of the staircase, pulled a coil of a thin, coated rope from his backpack and tossed it into Cooper’s waiting hand. Cooper handed one end of the rope to Anderson. “Anderson, secure yourself to this and follow Jane’s instructions when I give the signal.”

Anna gave an exasperated sigh. “That’s…”

Cooper jabbed a finger at her face. “Enough of your lip, woman! We’ve got a job to do! Get up those stairs!”

She shook her head and pushed her way back up the stairs and past Jason. Cooper waited for Anderson to secure himself. That done, he connected a clip and passed the rope to Cary and Tomomi.

“Connect yourselves to the line! The more of us connected, the more secure we’ll be.”

Cary and Tomomi secured themselves to the line without complaint and passed it to Jason, who also fastened himself to it before handing the slack to Anna.

“Sergeant Carter?” she asked as she looked at the coil of rope in her hand.

Cooper snorted as he turned to look at her. “That’s Cooper, missy!”

“Whatever.” Anna shrugged while trying to hide a smirk. “Are you sure that we shouldn’t tack down the other end?”

“Five of us acting as a counterweight should be enough to hold up one adult. I have SOME smarts in my head, Jane!”

“Okay!” She sighed and shook her head as she received a clip and harness from Todd. “Just making sure.”

“Hicks! Hunter! Watch our six!”

As the two soldiers acknowledged the order, Cooper turned back toward the door. “Anderson, open the door.”

Anderson, following Anna’s instructions, began to push the stones into the wall and grunted as he did. Anna noted that he moved the stones more easily than she had when she had tried a decade earlier. While he worked the third one, the squad leader grabbed the rope and leaned back. “Get ready.”

Anderson pushed the third stone all the way in and quickly grabbed the stone below. But, nothing happened. He opened his eyes, stood to his full height, and released his hold on the stone.

He smiled sheepishly as the rest of the group relaxed, too.

“I guess I got it right, sir.”

Just then, something clicked. The floor beneath him dropped away, and the stairs withdrew into the floor to form a slide.

Cooper grabbed the rope, but Anderson’s fall dragged the rest of the group into the hole. Anna twisted and scrambled to grab something to stop her fall, including Todd’s outstretched hand as he reached for her. She found no handhold, and the rope pulled her in with the rest of them.

Anna crashed into the pile of groaning bodies at the bottom of the chute. The impact knocked the wind out of her. She rolled off the others into the dirt and tried to catch her breath. Her body ached from the collision, but she did not appear to be seriously injured. She remembered hurting her ankle the last time she had fallen through the trap door. She could not believe it had happened again.

“Is everyone alright?” she asked.

Amidst the moans, she heard Jason and the scientists answer positively.

“Just a little bruised,” muttered Jason.

“My ribs don’t feel very good.” That was Cary.

“I think I broke my arm,” Tomomi reported, speaking through her teeth.

“Okay, everyone. Hold still. Let me see if I can get some light.” Anna said.

“Where’s the light stick that…Anderson! Sarge! Are you two okay?”

A groan from near the ground penetrated the darkness, followed by the sounds of movement in the dirt. Tomomi squealed in anguish, and the sounds stopped.

“Who’s on top of me?” The sergeant’s gruff voice was muffled.

Tomomi answered, “Me, sir.”

“And me,” added Cary.

Jason said, “Me, too.”

“Then, get off me!”

“Wait!” Anna warned. “She has a broken…”

“Anna, you bitch!” the sergeant interrupted. “I’m going to kill you!”

“We don’t have time for this. We need to get…”

“If I wasn’t in so much pain, I’d tear you apart with my bare hands!”

“Wait a second! Where do you hurt?” Anna asked.

“Where I hurt should not be your concern right now. You need to worry about where I’m going to hurt you!”

“Sergeant, shut up!”

“No! You shut up! If it hadn’t been for your incompetence, we would still be up in the pyramid and possibly through that damn door!”

“No! Listen!”

As both of them stopped, they heard a faint voice from above calling. “Sarge?”

“Hicks?” Cooper yelled back.

“Yes, sir!”

“Are you still in the pyramid?”

“Yes, sir!”

“What happened?”

“The stairs dropped into the floor when the trap door opened under Anderson, sir.”

“Who all is with you?”

“Just me and Hunter, sir.”

“Hunter! Go back to camp and get a medic. We have wounded down here. Hicks, uncoil your rope and drop us a line. This time, tack down the other end somewhere at the top of the stairs.”

Two voices cut through the darkness together. “Yes, sir!”

Jason suddenly asked, “Anna, what’s that?”

“What?”

“That blue glow.”

She looked down at her shoulder. Her skin was glowing blue beneath her leather top. She pulled the shoulder strap down to expose the radioactive specks. In doing so, she displayed the random pattern of dots to the rest of the group. The light they emitted shone brightly enough to illuminate Anna’s shoulder, neck, and upper arm.

“Wow!” gasped Cary.

“What is that?” Jason asked again.

Anna pulled the strap back in place. “They’re just some specks of dust that stuck to my skin several years ago. I’d almost forgotten that they were there.”

“You don’t feel any heat from that? Or any radiation sickness?” Cary asked.

“No, not really.”

“Amazing!”

“Great!” Cooper interjected. “Maybe we can use her as a flashlight, too.”

“Sir!” One of the voices from above returned.

“Yes, Hicks!” Cooper answered. “What is it?”

“I’m lowering the rope. Can you see it?”

“Where’s our light stick?” Cooper asked.

“Cary,” Anna intervened. “Didn’t you and Tomomi have light sticks, too?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what happened to mine. I would think it would be down here with us.”

“Me, too.”

“Anderson?” Cooper continued. “You awake?”

No response.

“Anderson?”

Again, no response.

Tomomi gasped. “Oh, god!”

Anna heard movement in front of her that was quickly interrupted by a painful groan from Cooper. She crawled toward him, until she felt a body on the ground. A second later, a hand brushed against her thigh.

“Anna?”

“Yes, Jason. That’s me.”

“Sorry.” He pulled his hand back.

“Sergeant, you shouldn’t move. You could aggravate any wounds you may have,” Anna suggested.

“I can take care of myself.”

Anna checked the body in front of her. “Anderson? Are you awake?”
she whispered.

“Leave him alone! He’s unconscious!” Cooper moaned.

Anna searched through Anderson’s pockets until she found what she believed was another light stick. With a snap and a shake, green light returned, restoring their sight. She looked over everyone. While Jason appeared only mussed and dirty, Cary’s arms were wrapped around his ribs, and Tomomi’s arm was swollen halfway between her elbow and wrist. Cooper lay in the dirt next to Anderson, who remained face down and motionless.

She checked Anderson for a pulse. “Jason, check out the extent of our good sergeant’s wounds.”

“Don’t touch me, boy!” Cooper brandished his fist as Jason approached.

“I’m only checking to see where you’re hurt,” Jason said.

Once he touched Cooper’s injured arm, Cooper reared back his other arm and slugged Jason squarely in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

“Sergeant!” Anna yelled. “He’s only trying to help you!”

While Jason sat up and rubbed his jaw, Cooper snapped his head around to stare angrily at Anna. “I don’t need your help! I need that medic Hunter’s getting.”

“And, what if he can’t get down here? What then? Would you rather succumb to your wounds because of your pride?”

Cooper fell silent and turned away from her.

“Speaking of getting down here…” she said as she stood and walked toward the side of the cavern. She looked toward the top of the rocky wall while holding the light stick as high as she could and studied the ceiling for a while.

Tomomi broke the silence. “Anna, what are you looking for?”

“The rope that Hicks lowered to us,” Anna replied.

“Sergeant, how long is the rope in your packs?”

“Thirty meters.” He grimaced while clutching his arm.

Anna nodded. “Hicks!”

“Yes?”

“Have you lowered the rope?”

“Yes, I have. Can you see it?”

“No, I can’t. It must be caught on something.”

“How do you know that?”
Jason asked.

“How long did it take us to fall, Jason?” Anna asked him back.

He thought for a second. “Probably about two or three seconds.”

“If that’s the case,” added Tomomi. “Then, we fell about…”

“Fifty-nine meters,” Cary interrupted. “We should be dead!”

Anna said, “I don’t think it was that far. Falling for between one and two seconds makes more sense. Considering the extent of the injuries we sustained, it’s probably closer to one.”

“So, it would be more like ten meters, then,” Cary nodded in agreement.

“Yes.”

“If that’s the case,” added Tomomi. “Then, why isn’t Anderson awake?”

Anna moved back to Anderson’s side.

“Probably because he landed first and broke the fall for the rest of us,” Cary speculated.

“Five of us landed on his back?” Jason gave his skeptical comment, while Anna checked for Anderson’s pulse again. “Then, that would mean that he’s…”

“Probably dead,” Tomomi gasped.

Cooper interjected, “He ain’t dying! Nobody’s dying on my watch.”

“I’m afraid you may be too late, sarge,” Anna grimly stated. “I’m not finding a pulse. And, Cary may be right. With five other people landing on his back as quickly as we did, I wouldn’t be surprised if his back is broken at the very least.”

“Oh, god!” sobbed Tomomi.

“This is your fault!” The sergeant pointed an accusing finger at Anna. “YOU killed him!”

“No, the impact from a ten-meter fall followed by five others hitting him from behind killed him.” Anna’s voice remained calm and steady.

“Weren’t you the one right behind him, sergeant?” Jason accused. “If you landed on him first, it’s likely that you killed him, not Anna.”

“Wrong, you son-of-a-bitch!” Cooper’s clipped words seethed with rage. “Anna gave us the wrong combination to open the door, so it’s her fault we fell down here!”

“What if Anna had it right but Anderson put in the combination wrong?” Cary mused.

“What is this?” Cooper exclaimed. “Now, you’re saying Anderson did this to himself?”

“I’m only…”

“You’re an asshole! I’m gonna rip you limb from limb!”

“
Enough
!” Anna’s shout echoed off the cavern walls. “Pointing fingers isn’t going to get us out of here!”

“You’re one to talk,” the squad leader retorted.

Anna lowered her voice. “All I’ve done was try to help you get through the pyramid to complete your objective. All you’ve done has been to throw insults at me and undermine my ability to complete my job. If anything is to blame for us being down here, it’s your attitude of rushing through the pyramid without spending enough time studying the clues laid before us on our trip, so we could get through that god-damned door! Pointing fingers and laying the blame on each other gets us nowhere closer to returning to the colony! If we’re going to succeed, we need to put aside our differences and work together. Understand?”

The sergeant did not reply.

“I said,” she repeated with more intensity. “Do you understand me?”