A bullet pounded into a tree to his right, and his heart jumped into his throat. He ran doubled over, trying to make himself a smaller target, and he began weaving between the trees like a drunk, careening this way and that. He dropped back a step so that he was between Lux and the guns.
More shots whistled around them, and he had the feeling the guards weren’t taking much time to aim properly. Maybe they were just hoping a bullet would happen to bring him down, or maybe they were trying to intimidate him into stopping.
Suddenly the ground dropped off in what at first looked like a sinkhole, but when he looked down he saw it was a kind of hidden lagoon. Bright blue-green water shimmered at the bottom; he couldn’t tell how deep it was. There was no way around and it was just wide enough that they couldn’t jump over it. Jim looked back to see that the guards were gaining on them.
“Lux, listen to me,” he said, taking her shoulders and looking her dead in the eye. “Don’t fight them. They have guns and they’ll shoot you, understand? Don’t try to fight them off.”
“Yes, Jim,” she said amiably.
She wasn’t scared, he realized. She had no idea how much danger they were in. Her naïveté filled him with a sudden wave of frustration and he nearly shook her to try and make her understand. Instead, he pulled his hands away and clenched them into fists. We’ll just have to try to reason with them, he thought, his stomach heavy with dread. Reasoning with people wasn’t one of his stronger skills.
He turned to face the guards, who had reached them and were slowing down. They spread out, cutting off what few avenues of escape Jim had.
“Hey,” Jim said casually, as if they’d just met in line at the gas station instead of in the middle of a hostile island. “How’s it going?”
“The girl,” one said to another, as if Jim had never spoken. “What do we do with her?”
“Strauss didn’t say anything about her,” shrugged the other. “I guess . . . shoot him and take the girl.”
Jim swallowed. Hard. “Uh . . . guys? Come on, guys. Isn’t that a bit . . . hasty? Let’s just take a step back and—”
The guards raised their rifles, each one aimed at his chest, and instinctively he stepped backward—and the ground disappeared and Jim found himself free falling. So sudden was the fall that he couldn’t even shout; his stomach twisted as he dropped, air streaming around him. Then, with an enormous splash, he plunged underwater. He immediately began swimming, reaching for the surface. The water was deep and freezing cold and, he noticed with surprise, it was fresh.
Lungs burning, Jim clawed desperately at the water, blinded by bubbles. When he finally surfaced, he sucked in a deep breath and looked around. He’d fallen into the inland lagoon at the bottom of a tall cylinder of rock hung with ferns and vines. The water around him sparkled cerulean, and looking up, he saw the canopy of palms, their fronds golden in the light of evening. There was no way up; the walls around the lagoon were at least thirty feet high, and any possible handholds were obscured by thick, heart-shaped leaves that rolled in a wave over the ground above to pour down the sides of the rock. If he had time, he might use the ropy vines that hung straight down into the water to pull himself up, but time was definitely not a commodity he could afford. The guards appeared above him, their faces peering down. Lux’s face was among them; one of them was holding her tightly by the arm and, true to Jim’s orders, she wasn’t lifting so much as a finger to fight them. He had to remind himself that that was a good thing, that if she did try to fight them they’d kill her and him. At least this way one of them would survive.
When they saw him trapped like a frog in a bucket, they began to confer among themselves. Their voices were low and the rippling water echoed off the walls of the lagoon, magnifying the waves so that Jim couldn’t make out what they said. Whatever their conversation entailed, it seemed they all agreed on their course of action, because they began angling their guns at him.
Jim looked around, more desperate than ever. He was treading water, and the effort was quickly wearing him out. Then he noticed something he hadn’t seen before—a light under the water. He gulped down a deep breath and sank beneath the surface, swimming toward the light as bullets zinged through the water around him, leaving spiraling columns of bubbles in their trails. The light came from an underwater tunnel made of rock, and after a moment’s hesitation, he wiggled into it and pulled himself along. He was barely small enough to fit through. His shirt snagged on a root, and he thrashed and pulled until it ripped and he was free.
When he emerged on the other side, body aching for air, he pushed off the rock with both feet and shot out of the water, sobbing for oxygen. He was in a deep, narrow stream with high leafy banks on either side. The water rushed along, carrying him with it, and he let the current sweep him away. Looking back, he saw the spot where the stream poured out of the lagoon, with the land above it stretching upward. Jim started to relax, spreading his arms and legs so he could simply float to safety. He could feel his pulse in every limb, pounding frantically through his veins. His arms and legs ached intensely from running and swimming and pulling himself through the narrow tunnel. He agonized over Lux, wondering what they would do, if they’d change their minds and shoot her anyway. He heard no gunshot, but it didn’t assuage his anxiety.
The river coursed like a winding road, and he sensed it was slowing. Soon, it widened and grew shallow, and he was able to stand up and walk. Around him, the land had become flat and covered in tall grasses and short, twisting pines. The sky had turned from blue to scarlet as the sun set behind the island. He sloshed toward the sea, soaked and weary, and when he reached a long white beach he collapsed into the sand and lay on his back, eyes shut, breathing deeply of the briny air. The stream broke into a dozen narrow rivulets which cut through the sand and drained into the sea.
Jim lay there for ten minutes without opening his eyes, feeling his muscles relax and his heart rate gradually fall. His mind reeled at how close he’d come to death, hunted through the trees like a wild animal, like a deer chased by a pack of bloodthirsty hounds. He was alive, but he was no closer to rescuing Sophie and now he’d lost Lux as well.
TWENTY ONE LUX
She watched mournfully as Jim disappeared beneath the water. She wanted to follow him, but the man holding her was too strong. Recalling how she’d fought the boys and girl on the beach, she knew she could get free if she tried, but Jim had said Don’t fight them.
Her heart throbbed painfully in her chest and she watched the water to see if he would reappear the way he had when he swam in the ocean, but he was gone.
Gone.
Panic and fear twisted in her stomach she could not see him but she needed him without him she was losing control was falling apart.
The men dragged her away away from Jim and she could not stop them because don’t fight them don’t fight them.
“What’s wrong with her?” someone said. “Is she having a panic attack?”
“She’s a Vitro, just woke up. Strauss said she imprinted on that pilot.”
“Christ. What a mess.”
“You’re telling me. Let’s get her back inside. Call Chad’s group, tell them to search this area. He won’t get far.”
“Think he drowned down there?”
“I’m not gonna find out. We’ll go down later and check, with the right equipment, see if he’s there.”
They marched through the trees and Lux marched with them, but she twisted and turned, trying to look back, trying to find him but he was nowhere. Drowned drowned drowned the man had said and Lux exploded inside couldn’t bear it couldn’t breathe.