Remainers

True Bonds, Part 6

The following came from a report given by remainer Caleb.

At first, it seemed as if there was no problem at all. Caleb had even started to get bored, but knew that he would get a scolding if Kyle and Ella caught him trying to sneak into the facility after them, so he stayed put at base, snacking on some jerky as his lunch.

Then, he suddenly heard a massive explosion rock the area. At the time, he had thought that it was an aftershock, and ran out to check on Kyle and Ella once the shaking had stopped. What awaited him was a horrific sight; the rock the facility was found in had crumbled, falling deeper into the nearby crevasse. Though it had stopped short of falling all the way down to the bottom, it had fallen a fair distance, so much so that it would be dangerous for Caleb to attempt to reach it on his own.

That hadn't stopped him from trying. Caleb had done a bit of rock climbing with Ella before, and while this was a much more treacherous climb than anything he had ever done, it wasn't impossible for him to reach the rock that Kyle and Ella were trapped within.

He ran back to the camp and grabbed the climbing equipment that Ella had left behind, but before he made it back, he suddenly heard a voice come in from the communicator that he was wearing on his ear.

"Caleb... Can you hear me?"

"Kyle, is that you?" Caleb asked worriedly. "Don't worry, I'm coming to save you!"

"Don't do that," Kyle replied, his voice somewhat shaky. "My communicator is damaged. Can't contact Computer. It'll probably notice anyway, but just in case, I need you to go back to the relay tower and make sure that rescuers are sent out for us."

"But that'll take too long!" Caleb argued. "It would take days just for me to get back to the tower!"

"Anything is better than you risking your life by trying to get down here," Kyle shot back. "Don't think that you're good enough to rescue us on your own, because you aren't."

Caleb wanted to argue back, but he couldn't. Kyle was right, after all; he wasn't good enough to pry Kyle and Ella out of the rubble by himself, and he knew it. He didn't want to admit it, but Kyle's orders made the most sense.

Caleb got up from the cliff and turned around. He walked away from the collapsed facility, not saying a single word. He felt that if he said goodbye, or even said a single word of acceptance, that he would never see the two of them ever again. He simply walked away, desperate to get back to the relay tower as soon as he could.

Before he did, however, he heard one final thing from Kyle, before he walked out of the communicator's range.

"Live a long life, Caleb. That's all we ever wanted from you, even if we never get to see it."

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It was the first time that Caleb had ever gone on a long trek on his own. Every other time, he had been accompanied by either Kyle or Ella, and they never took him farther than half a day from the cabin they lived in. But now, he was on a several-day trek back to the relay tower and he needed to make it back on his own.

It was also the first time that Caleb had ever cursed himself for not having a cyborg body like other remainers. If he did, then he would have been able to make a beeline straight for the relay tower without having to stop for anything. However, he was a flesh-and-blood human, meaning he occasionally had to stop to catch his breath or eat and drink. He tried not to sleep too often, but fatigue got the better of him, and he quickly realized that pushing himself to go without sleep actually made his progress slower.

In the end, Caleb forced himself to take the journey slowly, sleeping when he needed to and taking rest in the shade when the sun was too hot. He could feel his impatience creep up at times, but he had to ignore it. If he collapsed from exhaustion, it would take even longer for him to make it back.