UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE

Samantha's POV The jungle seemed almost too calm. The kind of silence that makes you feel as though you are under surveillance even with the knowing that nobody else is close by. Again, though, we were blind to this reality. Drawing on what we had just done, I wondered whether anyone else could be here to watch us. Alternatively if we were escaping shadows that never fade. Alex was a closed book, even though I kept glancing at him across the trees trying to sense his mood. Has always been. That used to bother me endlessly: his silence all the time, his incapacity to open. But given what we have experienced, I now think I know why. It was not that he lacked feeling. He felt too much, and it pulled him down like an anchor, dragging him into a prison of his own making. His forward bending of the shoulders suggested to me that he was waiting for the weight of the world to destroy him. He had been the one to develop the plan; for now, it had worked. That was only one end of it, though. We were running out of time to decide our next action since we both knew The Order wouldn't stop until they acquired the Key. Breaking the silence, I said, "I'm not sure how much longer we can keep doing this." "Runner, hide... We seem to be merely postponing the unavoidable here. Alex ignored me, but I could sense his jaw tightening. Sam, we are not merely rushing here. We are purchasing time. "Time for what?," I asked . My voice was harsher than I wanted. "Do you even have a strategy for next? Right now, we seem to be merely surviving. He stopped moving to turn to face me. Usually so circumspect, his eyes revealed something primal. "Okay, I have not all the solutions. Nevertheless, I'm trying. I am acting as best I can to keep us alive. I started to argue, but the words stopped on my lips. She was correct. He was making an effort. I also understood he found it difficult to realize he lacked all the solutions. Alex had always seemed to have it all, the one who understood what to do even when the rest of us were disintegrating. Seeing him like this, vulnerable and unsure, helped me to understand the strain he was under. I said, gently, "I know." "I'm sorry. Simply said... I'm frightened. Silence between us lasted a minute. Then, shockingly, Alex stretched out and grabbed my hand. Though it was such a small gesture, it seemed like the most personal thing on earth. His fingers were warm, callused from years of battle; I knew exactly how long it had been since we had had a moment like this—just the two of us, free from the weight of the world pressing down on our shoulders. His voice little above a whisper, he replied, "I'm scared too." But we are in this together. We'll figure it out. Squeezing his hand, I tried to get power from the link. Though I wanted to believe him, the persistent worry in my breast would not go away. Suppose we failed to solve it? What if all we had given—everything—was useless? Everyone we had lost was lost for nothing. As we descended farther into the forest, the strain between us softened somewhat and we kept going. Lena, who had been trailing after us in silence, finally shouted up. "Do you suppose they will find another route?" Her voice wavering slightly, she asked. "I'm not sure," Alex responded, his tone once more wary. But we have slowed them down. Right now, that is rather crucial. Lena seemed not reassured. She was pallid; her hands still twitched. I couldn't hold her responsible; she had gone through hell exactly like the rest of us had. But I found something about her behavior that made me afraid. Among us, she had always been the toughest and the one who kept her head even under the worst of circumstances. She seemed to be crumbling right in front of me now. "I know you're afraid," I said softly, then turned back to stroll with her. Still, we have not yet run out of choices. Her eyes wide with dread, she glanced at me. "Sam, I'm not sure if I can do this any more. I find myself wondering about what happened back then. We nearly missed the tunnel and the explosions. And what would happen should we not next time? I stopped moving and turned to lay my hands on her shoulders. Lena, pay close attention to me. You have great strength. You have survived events most others would have broken. And you are not by yourself. We will work through this, right? She nodded, but I could sense she was not quite persuaded by my comments. I wasn't sure I thought they were true myself. But I forbade her from seeing that. She needed me to be solid, to hold things together for all of us. I started to feel uncomfortable as we began to resume. There was something off. The woodland all around us seemed too quiet, too motionless. Then it dawned on me why. The birds were no longer singing. Frozen, I held up a hand to tell Alex and Lena to halt. Listening, I tried to hear anything unusual while my heart hammered in my chest. Not at all. exactly silence. "What is it??" Alex asked in a quiet voice. I mumbled, "I'm not sure." However, something seems off. A branch broke someplace behind us before I could say anything else. Our hearts pounding, we all turned at one. There was just our own breathing for a minute. Nothing else. And then forms silently, deadly, and too familiar materialized out of the darkness. The Order had come upon us. The attack came without notice. We were in the clearing one minute when anarchy broke out. Figures in dark cloaks charged toward us, their blades glittering in the low light. More than we could battle against, there were too many of them. Before they were on us, I hardly had time to pull my firearm. My pulse hammering in my chest, I swung wildly trying to stay on the ground. Still, they were relentless; two more seemed to replace every one I eliminated. Alex was struggling with the kind of targeted wrath I had taught to be expected of him beside me. Moving like a hurricane, fast and lethal, he mercilessly chopped through our foes. Still, he struggled to match their count. We were running after each other. "Lena!!" I yelled and turned to watch her fight off an assailant from her shoulder. She moved sloppily and seemed terrified. I tried to reach her, but before I could get near something heavy slapped me from behind. I lunched forward, agony exploding in my side as I landed. The globe whirled around me, and for a moment I breathed. My body wouldn't respond as I tried to raise myself. At the margins of my vision, darkness crept in, and I started to feel panic in my chest. Not at all Not as desired. Alex was fighting his way toward me, his face contorted in will, through the blur. Still, he was too far off. And I was sliding into the night. And then I heard his voice, strong, consistent, full of the kind of resolution that made me feel we might just survive this after all. The world went black. Sam Samantha! Grab on! But I wasn't sure whether I could even hear him. I had no idea how long I had gone without. The first thing I sensed when I finally arrived was chilly. It sank into my bones, freezing me right down. Every inch of my body hurt and my skull was banging. I opened my eyes very slowly. The forest all around me was dark; the trees cast long shadows that appeared to stretch eternally into the horizon. Alex or Lena nowhere could be found. I was the only one. I pushed myself to sit up, cringing as agony surged through my side. Panic seized me. I had to hunt for them. I had to check on them. But something in the distance caught my eye as I got to my feet—a weak light flashing through the woods. Though I could not understand why, I felt pulled to it as though it were beckoning me. I started toward it without thinking, my steps slow and unsteady. I had no idea what I would come upon. Still, I hunched over to realize that whatever it was only marked the beginning.