Too Young (The Jewel Project #1)

Chapter 7.1 - The Race

Chapter Seven

The race

The race was still on. Even if Sam agreed with Kyle on getting prepared for a potential Snitch Gravel attack, the arrival of Tom and Jimmy made him want to try again. He'd taken the maps from Carlos and reworked their path. He chose a shorter but harsher route, hoping that the extra man-power would make up for it.

He wasn't wrong. Tom and Jimmy seemed to possess more energy than the rest of them put together. Cutting their way through the vegetation became a contest just like putting up and gathering the tents.

Sam felt a twinge of guilt about not training or learning how to fire a gun, but it would take time, time they didn't have. Herrison didn't seem thrilled with his idea, but Sam had put his foot down. Herrison wasn't satisfied with anything the contradicted his original planning, even if it wasn't enough anymore. And if he'd called Sam there, he should learn to live with him.

For the first two days, Sam calculated course length and travel duration over and over again, to make sure they weren't losing hours instead of gaining them. But, every time, they came out ahead of schedule. Getting off the beaten path might turn out to be their salvation, especially since Carlos mentioned that Sam was taking none of the usual routes through the jungle.

Every single day, Sam would optimize their course, trying to find the fastest one. He enjoyed spending time with the maps and the endless calculations.

"Sam, we're under attack!"

Sam's heart dashed into his throat and he squeezed the pencil in his hand. Tom's idea of a joke was occasionally terrible.

"No, we're not. That's such a stupid joke. You have no idea how close we're been to getting killed."

Tom bounced into view. "You just don't have a sense of humor."

"You just don't have sense." Sam returned to calculating distances on the map.

"Loosen up. We're doing okay. Even Carlos is impressed with our movement speed." Tom grabbed the pencil out of Sam's hand and drew a line to connect two points. "There, perfect."

Sam yanked the pencil back. He didn't know if to laugh or hit Tom upside the head. "You may look like me, but that doesn't make you any good with maps."

"I'm glad I'm not." Tom huffed. "How geeky would that be?"

Sam tossed the pencil in his direction, but Tom ducked, hooting with laughter. Okay, throwing stuff was immature. Especially since he had no idea where the pencil ended up. Tom was right. Snitch Gravel was draining the humor out of him.

"I thought our resources were limited." Christine came into view. She crouched, picked up the pencil and came towards them. "Nah-ah." She pulled her hand out of Sam's reach and turned her cheek.

Okay, he was obviously humorless if he found this annoying instead of cute. He wrapped an arm around Christine's waist, pulled her against him and kissed her cheek.

"Much better." Christine smiled and gave him the pencil. "Jerry's almost done packing. Herrison said we should go. Don't know why he's so bossy. You've been making all the calls lately." She shrugged and walked away.

"You and Christine are together?" Tom asked as soon as she was out of view, a look of supreme disbelief on his face. "How'd you get the hot chick?"

Sam smirked as he put his stuff away. "I don't know either." He didn't know if they were together either, but he wanted to impress Tom for once. He hoisted his rucksack onto his back and followed Christine.