Fear (A Gone Novel)

Ten

34 HOURS, 31 MINUTES

"I'M GOING TO risk some light," Sam said.

"I think some light would be a great idea," Dekka said.

Sam raised his hands, and a ball of light, like a pale greenish sun, began to form in midair. It created more shadows than illumination. So he leaned to his right as far as he could without moving his feet and hung a second light in midair. The two lights banished some of the shadows.

"Okay, everyone kneel down real slowly and check all around your feet," Sam instructed.

"Aaahh!" Jack yelled.

"Don't move!"

"I'm not moving, I'm not moving, my foot is underneath a wire, I'm not moving, Oh, God, I'm going to die!"

Sam formed a third light down by Jack's feet. Now he could easily see the taut wire crossing the toe of Jack's boot.

"Dekka, are you clear?" Sam asked.

"I think so. Anyway, I can see where the wire runs now."

"Okay, then move back to a safe distance."

"Any idea what a safe distance would be?"

"Far," Sam said. "Okay, Jack, just stand still. I'm going to scoop the sand out from under your foot. That'll take the pressure off the wire."

Sam used his two index fingers to begin very, very delicately scooping sand. Then he used two fingers from each hand.

Jack's shoe dropped half an inch. Then a bit more.

"Okay, now just move your foot back."

"You sure?"

"I'm right here next to you, aren't I?" Sam snapped.

Jack moved his foot. Nothing blew up. "Now we all just back away."

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" It was Brianna atop the bluff. "What's with all the light? I thought we were being all—"

"Stay right there!" Dekka yelled.

"Okay, jeez, you don't have to yell."

Sam explained what was going on. "We can't leave this thing booby-trapped. Some innocent person could stumble across this place. We either have to disarm it or blow it up."

"Since I'm the tech guy, and disarming a booby trap is a sort of tech problem," Jack said, "I vote we blow it up from a safe distance."

"Oh, come on, Jack, don't be a wimp," Dekka teased.

"Breeze," Sam called up to her. "Find us a rope or a long string."

Brianna blurred out of view.

"Okay, let's all go down to the water," Sam said.

They did not have to wait long. In five minutes Brianna was vibrating to a stop next to them.

"I don't guess you can outrun an explosion, right?" Sam asked doubtfully.

Jack rolled his eyes and sighed his condescending geek sigh. "Seriously? Brianna runs in miles per hour. Explosions happen in feet per second. Don't believe what you see in movies."

"Yeah, Sam," Dekka said.

"In the old days I always had Astrid around to humiliate me when I asked a stupid question," Sam said. "It's good to have Jack to take over that job."

He'd said it lightheartedly, but the mention of Astrid left an awkward hole in the conversation.

Brianna said, "I can't outrun an explosion, but I'll tie the string around the wire."