Selection (Book 2 of P.O.E. chronicles)

Chapter 31 To old enemies and new friends

“Hey everyone, I am picking up a signal.” The black headed older guy called Brian said, shaking the reconnaissance radar device he had which was making beeping sound. I threw a look at Gerald who was ignoring me steadfastly. I glanced at Liam, hoping that he would give me a hint but no such luck. Even Malcom’s face was more passive than usual.

“What kind of signal?” Gerald asked, playing his part of a team leader ever so well. Brian tapped the device impatiently a few more times before giving out a frustrated grunt. “It is a little jammed up, but there is a human signal coming from the west.”

My eyebrows shot up and I watched as the rest of my team all watched the Brian intently as he continued to tweak the device further. “It is not a glitch, there is a real signal!” Brian said as he scratched his nose, “Maybe there are more people out there.” He said, though it was more of a question than a statement.

My eyes landed on Casey and John, wondering what their reaction would me. as expected, a look of skepticism hang on her face whilst John looked torn between excitement and anxiousness. So this was the big plan?

“You guys go on.” Gerald said, nodding his head towards Casey and John. “Take them back to the headquarter. I will search with Abigail and Liam.”

My heart was pounding in my chest and I hoped that they would buy it. Adam looked disappointed, but I was happy to see acceptance on their faces. That is, everyone except Vanessa and Casey.

“I want to come with you.” Casey said firmly, to everyone’s surprise but me. I smiled, happy to see something that hadn’t change for once. I stifled a snicker as a frown found its way on Gerald’s face. In my mind I knew that it was probably  a bad idea to have her along, but the look on Gerald’s face made me think that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea; and it would be good to have a friendly face along.

“I should come too.” Vanessa piqued up, to everyone’s surprise. “Maybe they are injured.”

Instead of feeling frustrated that Gerald’s plan wasn’t going smoothly, I was actually excited to see how he would deal with this turn of events. Never one for group decision, he thought about it for two seconds and nodded his consent.

Without further ado, everyone started ruffling through their bags to redistribute rations and supplies. About fifteen minutes later, the other team was ready to go. I gave John a quick hug and assured him that he would be fine.

As we watched them disappeared into the vegetation, I wondered how Gerald was going to pull this off. I was pretty sure that Liam doesn’t know the whole story anyway but his loyalty would mean that he would be down for Gerald’s plan no matter what; and I knew that Casey would be behind me a hundred percent. Vanessa is the real wild card but I did felt safer with her along.

“We need to head East.” Liam said as he jiggled the device that Brian had handed over to him, clearly excited by the prospect of handling it for the rest of the trip. I contemplated briefly whether east was really the direction we needed to go; but with the addition of Casey and Vanessa the show just got a lot more interesting.

“Who do you think it would be?” Casey asked her eyes large with anticipation and I didn’t know if I should tell her the truth or not. Deciding against it for now I shrugged; right now wasn’t a good time.

We spent the rest of the day trekking through the heavily vegetated area and it felt so good to just hang out with Casey again. It brought a sense of normalcy back to my life and it was exactly what I needed.

Gerald had been awfully quiet the entire way whilst Liam chatted animatedly to Vanessa, who seemed very agreeable. This made me even guiltier about not telling Casey and her the truth but it was for a greater good. I couldn’t believe that I was one of those people now; doing what I didn’t think was right and trying to justify it. it appeared that Lynette and I did have more in common than I thought.