Untaken (43 page)

The sun rose higher in the sky. It was getting real warm sitting this close to the ship. The engines hummed a little louder now, and the sticky breeze was enough to stir the branches that bent in over the ship. Had they drawn back some or was I imagining it? Was the patch of blue sky bigger than it had been when I’d started my stakeout?

I ate my lunch, hoping that Jake was watching. He’d have to be hungry in there. I made a big show of choking down the left-over candy bars from the Birthdaymas gift, although with that hot sticky wind assaulting my senses it was the last thing I felt like eating.

“Plenty to go ‘round,” I told the forest.

Dog didn’t want to eat this close to the ship. She was panting and drooling, her hot little body shaking and pressing closer to me for reassurance.

I was just wondering whether it would be worth my time to give the ship’s side a good hard kick, when I heard the tromp of feet back in the tunnel.

“Bout time, Gracie,” I muttered. Dog growled deep in her throat, her ears laid back on her head and her hackles up.

“What in the hell, Dog?”

The growling continued.

“Cut it out, you crazy mutt!”

Dog barked and whimpered, dancing this way and that on the end of the belt looped through her collar.

“Jeez, it’s just Gracie, it’s nothing—” Dog twisted in a great leap and the belt pulled clean out of my hands. “Holy shit, come back!”

Dog sprinted around the ship and crashed off into the undergrowth at the far side of the clearing. Before she was lost to my sight completely, the belt round her neck snagged in a snarl of branches and she went crazy, whining and thrashing until I was sure she was going to break her neck. I ran to her, but when I reached for her leash, she snapped at me in a panic. I had to throw my sweatshirt over her head before I could untangle the leash. She was panting so hard, I was worried that little dog brain was going to pop.

“What is it—?”

My voice caught in my throat as a man dressed in full combat gear emerged from Jake’s tunnel, stepping into the clearing opposite me.

I dropped to my knees instantly, hoping he hadn’t spotted me. For once, Dog and I were agreed on which direction to travel. I crawled further back into the woods through a clump of ferns and edged in behind a thick tree trunk, Dog slinking at my heels.

I risked a look around the tree. More and more army guys spilled into the clearing. Where in the hell had they come from?

They stared up at the ship, guns trained on it like it might lunge at them. If I went now, while their attention was on the ship, I thought I might make it.

But another figure emerged from the tunnel, not walking with the careful stealth of the soldiers, but stumbling out as if someone had shoved her.

Gracie.

Her hands were tied in front of her and she fell full length in the leaf litter at the soldier’s feet.

Someone laughed. The laugh was familiar. Dog started growling again, her fur rising up in a ridge on her hackles. Terry, bent almost double, ducked out of the tunnel behind Gracie, Doc following closely on their heels. He reminded me of a spindly pale spider the way he came creeping out of that dark tunnel mouth.

Where the army guys stared up at the ship with expressions of fear, the look on Doc’s face was pure greed.

“One tucked away inside his ship, one here with us, so where’s the third?” said Doc in a pleasant, ringing voice.

“I told you, he’s out in Brewster looking for food,” said Gracie. She spoke thickly and I could see that one side of her face was bruised and swollen. I wished I had the gun. I wished we’d shot the fuckers when we’d had the chance.

Doc exchanged looks with Terry.

“You’re making this very tedious,” he sighed.

Terry shoved the muzzle of his gun up against the back of Gracie’s head. “It don’t matter. They’ll come out, the both of them. If they don’t want to see her dead.”

“I’m hopeful it won’t have to come to that,” said Doc. “We are all reasonable people, after all. And as for those of us who are not people, well, I’m sure they can be reasonable too.” He smirked, cutting his gaze up at the ship.

“You said it was just a little kid and a busted ship,” said a new voice. It was one of the soldiers. From the stars and bars on his uniform I could see he was a pretty big cheese.

Great. At least if we were all going to die, someone important was going to be pulling the trigger.

“The specimen is a juvenile, yes,” said Doc, coolly.

“Sure don’t look that way to me. Looks like that ship is live,” said the General.

“It’s a scouting vessel, it’s not combat equipped. And it’s unable to fly, or at least our little friend is unable to fly it. I’m sure your men are up to the task,” said Doc.

“I’m sure they are, too,” said the General. “We just like to know what we’re getting into before we get into it. I think we all remember what happened to the unit you commanded the last time you promised us a ship. You’re here on sufferance; it wasn’t my idea to give you another chance. Nor that deserter. I swear if there’s even the hint of a screw up, you’ll get what you should have got back then, and there’s no strings you can pull with me.”

“The brass need me,” said Doc. “I’ve studied…”

“The brass aren’t here,” said the General. “Far as I can see, you’re just another talking head, and talking heads have a habit of getting cut off these days.”

“There won’t be any screw ups.” Doc’s mouth was a hard angry line. He glared up at the ship. “Come on out now and join your friends, and we won’t harm them.”

The engines hummed, the silver lights flickered, but there was no other response from the ship.

“Very well. The hard way. Break her leg, Terry.”

Terry planted a foot on Gracie’s back and lifted his gun high over his head, ready to bring the butt down. There was a flash of black and white fur at my side, and the belt whipped through my fingers before I could grab it.

“Dog! No!”

Dog raced between two of the army guys and launched herself at Terry, sending him rolling across the forest floor. Terry screamed as Dog’s teeth closed on his arm. He managed to shake her off, but she whirled and sank her teeth into the flesh of his face instead, tearing and worrying. The army guys shouted in confusion, their guns pointed at Dog.

“Hold fire!” barked the General.

Doc shot him a venomous look. “Hold fire?”

“There’s no clear shot,” shrugged the General. “And I’m sure your guy is up to the task.”

Terry swung wild punches at Dog, blinded by his own blood. His screams were as bestial as Dog’s growls.

“Forget the guns, just grab the damn dog,” Doc spat.

The General nodded, and the soldiers edged in around Terry and Dog.

I wiped my sweaty palms on the legs of my pants. If I went now, maybe I could get to Gracie. I darted around the tree trunk, leapt the thicket of bushes, then sprinted out into the clearing, stooping low.

Gracie was crawling away from the fight as fast as she could move with her hands tied.

“I’m sorry,” she panted as I tried to hoist her over my shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She was cut off by the sound of a gunshot and a yelp.

I knew I should run while I still could, but I had to look back. Dog lay on the ground, a small heap of black and white fur crumpled in a spreading pool of blood.

The noise from the ship started off so low it was more sensation more than sound. The forest floor trembled, and the trees shivered and showered down leaves. Some of the soldiers cried out, and several stumbled as the ground rippled and heaved. The lights of the ship gathered and flared, so bright they set my eyes streaming tears.

“Hold fire!” the General bellowed “Stand your ground!”

The earth shook harder and I fell to my knees. Gracie tumbled away from me. The engines of the ship screamed and I was half deafened, clutching at my ears and shouting into the void of noise and heat and light.

The sound of tearing wood and splintering branches made me throw my arms protectively over my head. A huge tree limb crashed to the ground inches from my legs and I rolled away from it, heart thudding wildly. Above me, branches whirled and clawed at the sky as if caught up in a hurricane.

In his rage, Jake was tearing the whole damn forest apart.

A machine gun rattled and bullets bit dark chunks out of the dirt off to my left. “Hold fire!” the General shouted again, but the men were panicking.

It was only a matter of time before me or Gracie got hit by something, the falling wood or the flying bullets.

“Jake, stop!” I screamed. “If you can hear me, you have to stop!”

And Jake did.

Everything was silent all at once. Gradually, my vision came back. All around me, army guys clambered to their feet. The General barked orders, and slowly, they brought their guns up to point at the ship again.

Okay, enough gawking, it was time to get the hell out of there, before those guys woke up enough to remember us. Goddamn Gracie, where in the hell did she go?

Then I saw her. Her hands were still tied, but they should never have tied her hands in front of her. She held the pistol firmly. The barrel was pointed at Doc’s head.

“General?” Doc was trying for his usual cool drawl, but his voice came out high and panicked.

“Young lady, put the gun down,” said the General.

“No,” said Gracie.

“Are you going to kill me?” asked Doc. “I can’t see what purpose you think that will serve, but by all means, go ahead.”

“What purpose will it serve?” said Gracie. “I’ll see you die. I’ll see you
lose
. I’ll make sure you never get inside that ship. I’ll make sure that all of this was for nothing as far as you’re concerned. How’s that for a purpose?”

Doc’s eyes cut to the right. I saw Terry moving, but Gracie didn’t.

Terry had his gun up and pointed at her before she could react. She started to swing the pistol toward him, but it was too late. A rifle spat fire, but it wasn’t Gracie who fell, it was Terry. The soldier who had shot him reloaded his gun, his face a steely blank.

“What in the hell?” I breathed.

The General strode forward, raising his own pistol level with Doc’s head.

Doc danced away backwards, his hands up in front of him. “Jackson, please!”

“No,” said the General. “You had your last chance a long time ago, Donald. Not armed for combat? Sure as hell looks that way. And then you want to shoot the hostages. I warned you.”

“Please!” Doc dropped to his knees. “Please, I’m begging you; you don’t have to do this.”

“You had your last chance. You blew it. You told us you could get us a functioning craft. Well done. That’s the only thing you haven’t fucked up to date. Think of it as ending on a high note.”

“I was never meant to come back from this mission, was I?” Doc’s laugh was bitter and abrupt.

The General lifted his gun. “What can I say, Doc? The military no longer requires the services of guys like you.” The gun cracked and Doc’s head jerked as he crumpled to the ground.

“Restrain the hostages,” said the General.

One of the marines grabbed Gracie, deftly prying the gun from her shaking fingers, while another one cuffed my hands behind me. The General’s eyes flicked blandly between the two of us.

“I’m hoping one of you kids can see sense. We can have more units here within the hour. Tell your friend in there to come on out with no more…outbursts, and we’ll see that you’re well treated.”

“You killed him,” breathed Gracie.

“What, you wanted to do it yourself?” The General shrugged.

“He was on your side and you killed him. Why would we trust you guys?”

“He was a liability. In a situation like this, you must make what might seem like hard decisions. Things are over, here, for guys like Donald. And that’s not the issue. I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m not using weasel words to persuade you to do what’s right, I’m ordering you to do what I say. Tell the kid to come out.”

Gracie opened her mouth to argue, but I cut in. “I’ll talk to him. I mean, I’ll try anyway. Just…let me try.”

The General stared at me hard, then nodded at a marine, who shoved me toward the ship.

“Talk. And don’t try anything heroic.”

“Jake. Are you in there?”

A flicker of silver lights.

“Jake, listen to me, they want you to come out. They say if you do, they won’t hurt us.”

I couldn’t believe I was going to do this. I hoped Gracie would understand. I looked back at her. She looked exhausted and frightened and I felt horrible about that, but I had to do this. I turned back to the ship.

“They say they won’t hurt us, but you know that’s bull. If you can fly that thing, you have to get out of here, now.”

“That’s enough!” barked the General.

“Jake, he’s right. You have to go,” Gracie shouted. “If you
can
go, then just go!”

Someone grabbed the back of my shirt, threw me to the ground. My teeth clicked together and my mouth was filled with blood and dirt. Gracie screamed as the marine holding her threw her down next to me.

“Jake? Son? If you don’t come out now, I will shoot your friend here in the back of the head. The girl will die more slowly.”

A gun muzzle nudged me, parting my hair none too gently, and the click of a rifle being cocked echoed through the clearing.

“Don’t do it, Jake!”

“Let them go. I’m coming out.” Jake’s voice seemed to come from all around us.

“No!” Gracie screamed, but the hatch in the side of the ship was already opening, and Jake walked down the gangway.

He didn’t look at the soldiers. Instead, he walked right past them, over to the place were Dog lay. He sank slowly to his knees and ran his hands through her fur one last time, his face unreadable.

“Grab him,” said the General. “Go on! He’s unarmed. Search the ship, use caution. And if you damage anything, I’ll shoot you myself.”

I tried to catch Jake’s eye as the soldiers hauled him away, but he stared at the ground, his face as blank as it had been the first time we’d met him. There was a shout from inside the ship and two soldiers emerged bearing a limp figure between them. A shiver went through me.