Heritage

Heritage (Chapter 32)

Chapter 32 - Ethan

"So where..." I stop to slice down a small branch with my knife, "the hell is this ship again?" I ask, finishing my sentence.

"It's going to be a couple days for sure with as dense as this jungle is," Damien answers me.

"Good God, I haven't seen jungles this thick since Andromeda."

"Yeah, you ain't kiddin'."

"Will you two stop whining?" Elena says to Damien and I in an exhausted tone.

"Sorry Elena," Damien responds, apologizing for both of us.

The five of us trudged on through the jungle for hours in the sweltering heat, cutting through layer after layer of dense brush. I look back to check on the rest of the group and see that Leon is struggling, being that he has a broken arm. I fall back and try to help him up on to a ledge which requires a boost from the arms.

I extend my hand out to Leon to help him and he looks up at me, his chest heaving from exhaustion, a look of determination in his eyes. He then slaps my hand away and forces his other arm to lift him up and on top of the ledge.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard Leon, not in this jungle, you're gonna pass out."

"I'm fine, Dad, it's just a minor complication. I can do these things by myself; I don't need assistance."

"He has a point Leon, the heat is killing temperatures out here if you push yourself too hard", Stella says with a concerned tone.

"I'm alright Stella, let's just keep moving before we lose Mom and Uncle Damien," Leon says, putting his foot down and continuing his walk. Stella turns toward me with a stressed look on her face.

"He's been getting more irritable as we've gotten closer to where we need to be. I don't know why either," she says to me, looking for an explanation.

"Hm...he could just be getting frustrated because he can't do as much with his body as he could before his arm was broken."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Come on, he'll be alright, don't worry so much," I say smiling a bit, reassuring her and motioning her to continue walking. Stella generates a small smile of her own and continues walking and I follow behind.

Night had begun to fall all too quickly and we decided to quit for the night and rest. I managed to find some fire wood and placed the branches on a stone slab on the left section of the area we were in. I use the fire starter kit to get the fire going on the pile of sticks and step back to avoid burning myself.

I look over and see Stella sitting on a branch like a bench and facing the direction of the twin moons starting to appear in the sky. I watch Leon walk up and place himself on the branch as well and wrap his good arm around Stella, pulling her close. Stella places her head on his shoulder. The moment brings a memory of nostalgia back to me as Elena and I used to do the same thing when we returned to Earth. I smile lightly to myself and sit down in front of the campfire.

I drift into my thoughts, pulling out old memories of Dante and I on the station, before the infection had gotten out. Dante always had that optimistic demeanor, even in the worst of times...even at the moment of his death. No matter how much of a bastard I was to him when I first got there, he always considered me a partner, and later, his friend. The guy was no slouch when it came to combat though. He could fire a rifle as well as me, and sometimes, better than me.

It'd be nice to have him watching my back again.

My thoughts are cut off by a loud plop of a bag on the ground.