Firebomb (The Jewel Project #2)

24.1|| Falling

Chapter 24

Falling

Sam couldn't remember the last time he had such a good night's sleep. He crawled out of his tent the next morning, feeling all charged up and incredibly hungry and instinctively looked towards the labs. Tendrils of smoke still rose above the vegetation, but the fire had been contained to the buildings alone. They'd just been very lucky that there were no trees inside the compound or that the wind hadn't carried a wisp of flame over the fence. For once, they'd had luck. And this time, he wasn't afraid. Because they'd had the worst of luck during this mission. And Tom might just forever carry the scars to prove it.

Getting a knot in his stomach, Sam hurried towards his twin's tent only to find Tom with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't put on sunglasses yet and Sam wondered if he would.

"Morning," Tom said, not even looking at him.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked warily.

"I don't think I can walk. I'm afraid to move."

Speaking of bad luck... "Does it hurt?"

"It feels like I have burns and if I move, my skin will split open."

"I should get Jerry."

Tom nodded. "Yeah, you should."

Sam hurried to Jerry's tent and sent him to Tom's, then sat down next to the circle of embers that had been their camp fire. He wasn't even hungry anymore. What were they going to do now? He'd stupidly thought everything would be okay and that they'd just have breakfast and set off into the forest and across the canyon and be home in a matter of days. But if Tom couldn't move...

"Maybe we should build a gurney," Jimmy said. "And just carry him out of here."

"Yah, then him and William can be gurney buddies," Kyle said with fake enthusiasm.

Sam groaned and buried his face in his hands. After his fall in the cave, William hadn't woken up yet. Sam wasn't even sure if he'd be normal William or four-year-old William. And then there was Angie who was pretty badly messed up. They were a mess.

"William's up," Jim announced, hurrying to them.

"How is he?" Kyle asked urgently, getting to his feet.

"I'll live," William mumbled, limping towards them. "I'll be honest and say your punch hurt a bit more and if I survived that, I think I can handle a fall."

"Oh, thank God," Sam breathed. "How about Angie? How is she?"

"She's with Jerry and Tom," Jim answered and Sam felt a little bit better. It meant Angie could at least walk, and it only left Tom.

But it turned out that after a bit of food, Tom could get up and walk too, so their initial plan was back on track. They gathered the luggage and set off through the forest.  To Sam's shock, even if they moved pretty slow because of Tom and Angie, by the time the sun set, they'd almost reached the edge of the forest. It probably helped a lot that they actually knew where they were going this time.

Just as they were setting up camp for the night, a sound like thunder filled the air. Sam looked up to see the beam of a helicopter. His stomach clenched with nerves and his brain jammed. It could be help. It could be Snitch Gravel here to finish them off.

"We're over here!" Jim said, jumping up and down. "Damn it, we should light a fire."

"Move out of the way!" Billy appeared by his side with a signaling gun and fired it at the helicopter.