Lost

Chapter 8

Five weeks. That's how long she allowed herself to heal.
Thora was beginning to feel useless. And when she felt useless the bad thoughts came back. Maybe she wasn't good enough. Maybe she was failing everyone, including her friends. The most she could do was walk from her tent to the edge of camp and back without Kenji yelling at her.
Dell and Fisher helped as much as they could but they had other jobs to do. So most days, she sat alone in the ship, filling out log after log. It was tedious, but she eventually fell into a rhythm.
She woke up early every morning and watched the sunrise with Dell. The girl was fascinated with how the colors changed gradually from dark red and orange to pink. She ate, then spent the rest of the day 'supervising' camp until dinner. Before bed, although she never felt tired enough to go to sleep since she'd done almost nothing all day, she wrote out a log.
"Morning, Commander," Fisher said, peeking his head inside her tent as she went over the log from the day before. His hair was slicked against his forehead and the tip of his nose and the tops of his ears were bright red. It was raining. It was finally raining. That in itself should have been a reason to celebrate but what he said next made her pause. "You might wanna come take a look at this."
Concerned by the tone of his voice, she did as he said. Carefully, she got up, trying not to wake the sleeping girl curled into her side. Cold raindrops splattered the top of her head and she suddenly wished her clothes were waterproof.
Fisher led her around to the back of the dropship where she found Aeryn, Kenji, and a pale, dark-haired boy named Dominic. All three of them were frowning and crouching down, inspecting the ground in front of them. They huddled together in the rain.
"What is it?" she asked. Dominic's head swiveled around in her direction. They had never talked much but he was quiet mostly. And had a strange obsession with a cult that had been around back on Earth before the Blackout called Sirian's Children. He got to his feet so she could see what they were staring at so intently.
What looked like white cotton covered a large patch of the forest floor, almost as big as she was tall in all directions. A drop of water ran down her nose and she wiped it away, glaring at the weird substance.
"And this wasn't here yesterday?" she asked Dominic, who shook his head.
"No, I came around here this morning on watch duty and it was here?" he explained. She nodded slowly. If it was some kind of fungus that may be a biohazard for the camp. If it was some kind of animal they could be dangerous in ways that she'd never even think were possible. A plant could be toxic. It was most likely bad or wouldn't affect them at all.
"Guys," Aeryn exclaimed, moving back in shock and drawing her attention from her thoughts. "It's moving!" Thora moved in closer and saw that she was right. Whatever it was, it was moving.
She licked her lips. That couldn't be a good sign. "Let's get back to work for now and come back to check on it in an hour. Okay?" Her friends nodded warily, eyes glued to the patch of white cotton. Her actions felt wrong. Something about it worried her. She ran her fingers over the slight bump of the tracking implant in her arm, a habit she had picked up over the past few weeks when she hadn't been able to move much.
"Don't tell Dell about this. She's too curious for her own good sometimes and I don't want her coming back here and touching this." Her friends nodded solemnly.
There were a lot of things she wanted to do so she turned on her heel, back to the front of the ship.
"Don't strain yourself too much today," Kenji called out to her. She shook her head with a smile but didn't turn. It was about time she woke Dell.
Unzipping the opening of their shared tent, she made sure not to go too far in or else she'd soak everything and she'd rather not have a wet sleeping bag tonight.
"Hey, sleepyhead," she said softly to the red-haired girl. "It's time to get up. We have a busy day today." Dell's silver eyes fluttered open and she gazed at her, uncomprehending. Thora tugged on her leg through the fabric of the sleeping bag and Dell swatted her away. "Meet you outside of the dropship in five."
Fisher was leaning against the ship, which seemed like the only thing he ever did.
"Don't you have a job to do?" she asked with a smile. Over the past few weeks when he had had to take care of her injured self they had grown closer. She had, albeit begrudgingly, accepted him as a friend.
"I have to look after you, malady," he said with a small, fake bow. She nudged him playfully, throwing in an eye roll for good measure. "What's on the agenda today, other than evil white fuzz?" He smirked.
"I already sent out a scouting crew. We will need to find a place that fits everyone on the Albatross." He nodded thoughtfully as she went on. "We have a group collecting the rainwater. There's a group weaving basket out of the reeds we found by the hot spring."
"I vote for doing anything but that."
She snickered. "Well, the last job for today is digging the holes for the bathroom," she patted his shoulder. "So, you have fun with that."
Under the floor of the dropship, the Spares had found a stash of tools including shovels, axes, flashlights, and rope. They'd decided to make the most of that fact, trying to make their tent camp as homey as you can make a forest floor.
"I'll be over there with Dell, where we won't be covered in dirt," she said, pointing to the small group of people making tightly-woven baskets under a tarp they'd tied between four trees. He glared at her but she could tell that he wasn't serious.
Dell found them by the ship door and offered them a tired smile. In the cold rain, it wouldn't take long for her to wake up.
"Morning, kiddo. Sleep well?" His question was answered with a yawn and he chuckled. "Good, because your friend here signed you up for basket duty." Dell groaned exaggeratedly. "It was either that or bathroom duty so I think you got the lesser of two evils."
"Why don't you head over there? I have to talk to Fisher for a minute." Dell smiled after she glanced between them.
Her jaw tense, she turned herself toward him.
"I know that look," he squinted. "What's wrong?" She ran her fingers nervously over the implant's bump again.
"I'm worried about Dell. Her nightmares have been acting up again," she paused, glancing in the girl's direction. Now, she was smiling, carefree, and happy. "She keeps muttering about Vanya. I want to ask her about it but... what if talking about it sets her off like it did to me?"
Thora bit her lip, staring down at her boots. He reached over and squeezed her shoulder.
"She'll be okay. She's a tough kid." She nodded quickly and he nudged her arm reassuringly. Not too touchy but just enough to give her a confidence boost. Typical Fisher, she thought.
She allowed herself to waste a few seconds staring in confusion and guilt across camp at Dell before sighing. They both had work to do.
She sniffled. "Alright, you should get to toilet duty." He glared at her teasingly. "Meet behind the dropship in an hour."
"Sounds like you're inviting me to have a secret one-night-stand." He winked at her and she sputtered, trying to find a sensible response.
Laughing uncomfortably, she muttered, "You'd be lucky to have me," which only made him smirk as he turned away.
"Yeah, yeah," he called over his shoulder. "See you in an hour, Commander."
Thora groaned internally. Maybe his response had hit a little too close to home. And maybe Dell had been right all along.
It was just that whenever she saw someone get a bit too close to him her stomach turned sour and she wanted to punch the person in the gut. She'd never acted on these urges, of course, but she'd come very close once or twice. And every time he smirked at her she wanted to yell at him for being annoying and that he looked stupid and yet she wanted to kiss him at the same time.
Pushing these thoughts from her head, she joined Dell under the tarp, shaking out her sopping wet hair. The girl muttered under her breath when a few drops hit her and handed Thora a handful of reeds.
Other than she and Dell, Nya and a heavily-muscled, dark-skinned boy named Luther had decided to help with basket weaving.
She twisted the reeds between her fingers, trying to make them as pliable as she could before weaving them tightly together. It wasn't as easy as it sounded and they often ended up with only half the amount of water they had started with.
Nya had launched into an epic retelling of her trip down to the hot spring where her boyfriend, Enoch, had pushed her into the water while she still had all her clothes on. Thora tried to listen because she had apologized to Nya a few weeks earlier and they were acquaintances, but the story was dull and she'd heard it before.
Dell was struggling with a part of the basket, glaring at the reeds in her hands. Finally, she sighed and turned toward Thora.
"Can you help me with this?" she asked, impatient with her own fingers. Thora reached over and finished the row for her and gave her a soft smile. Dell beamed and went back to work while Luther asked about something from Nya's story.
She was glad when Fisher had called her over to inspect the strange cotton after an hour, covered in mud. Her fingers were beginning to cramp, both from the strain of weaving for so long and from the cold.
Fisher was waiting for her beside the ship.
As she made her way over to him, someone stepped in front of her. She glanced up at them, her lips pursed. It was a boy who she'd only talked to a few times named Zion. She tried to side-step him but he moved in front of her.
"Did you need something?" she asked impatiently and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Fisher push himself away from the side of the ship. "Because I have something important I'd like to get to." He grinned at her and she cringed, already not liking where this was going.
"Let me know if you wanna spend some time in my tent one of these days, if you know what I mean, Commander." He patted his pants so, in case she hadn't known before exactly what he meant, she knew now.
"Uh-huh," she said dryly, unimpressed as she folded her arms across her chest, eyebrows raised. When she didn't say anything else he cleared his throat loudly and scratched the back of his neck.
"I'll just- I... I have to get back to work." He pointed over his shoulder before spinning on his heel and scampering away.
She rolled her eyes as she walked Fisher and found him glaring at her. She stepped closer to him.
"What?" she asked, unable to hide her smirk. He was jealous and he was so obviously trying to hide it because he shifted away from her so she couldn't see his face.
He sniffed. "That guy's a dick," he mumbled and she huffed in agreement. Maybe she had read the situation wrong. Maybe he was just being a good friend, looking out for her. Together, they walked to the back of the ship.
"What took you so long?" Kenji asked.
"It seems like Thora has a secret admirer," Fisher muttered. Aeryn and Kenji glanced at each other then back at them.
"So are you guys dating now or..." Aeryn trailed off as Kenji laughed and said, 'secret?'
"What?" Fisher exclaimed, the tips of his ears red although she knew that could be from the icy air. "No! What would have made you think that?" Aeryn giggled and Kenji shook his head.
"She's very intuitive," Kenji said. "Anyway, we have a problem." She glanced at the reason they had come behind the dropship and her eyes widened; the patch had stretched almost ten feet in every direction.
"How is that even possible?" Fisher asked, crouching down by the patch, a little too close for her liking. But she was wondering the same thing. They'd only checked on this an hour ago. "Should we burn it?" he said.
"What is with you and fire?" she asked and he glanced over at her apologetically.
"No, that's a horrible idea."
He raised his hands in defeat and stood to his full height. "Just a suggestion," he said under his breath. "So, what do we do instead?"
Thora rubbed at her forearm distractedly. Whatever it was, it was going to make their lives harder, she had no doubt about that. The rain slowed to a steady drizzle, no more than an annoying mist.
"Fisher, give me your machete."
"You think I just carry that thing with me?" She gave him a look and he sighed. "I'll go get it."
He was back in under a minute, the large knife gripped in his hand. Handing it to her, he took a step back as she kneeled down in front of the weird patch.
She touched the tip of the machete to it and it ripped apart, just like cotton. Cocking her head, she carefully balanced a bit on the end of the blade and held it out for her friends to see.
Kenji licked his lips. "Weird," was all he could think to say.
The red sun began to peek out from behind the clouds. On the tip of the machete, the substance began to move more violently than before. Fisher grabbed his machete and quickly wiped it off in the grass.
There came a low buzzing from behind them and they turned to find the entire patch shaking. Still, they didn't back away. It wasn't a threat to them.
That was until the cotton substance began to break apart and spindly black legs as long as her finger erupted from it.
"What the hell?" she muttered mostly to herself.
Whatever it was, they pushed their way through the cotton-like substance and she was finally able to get a good look at them. They were bugs. Huge, hard-shelled bugs with menacing red eyes and white spots. The buzzing grew louder as they broke out. Thora took a step back then another, grabbing onto whoever's arms she could reach but they already seemed to be thinking the same thing that she was: get the hell out of there.
The bugs were already out of their strange nest, hovering in a swarm as if waiting for the others to hatch. As soon as the last one hatched they were on the prowl, buzzing over the top of the ship and into camp.
"Get everybody inside the dropship," she ordered, keeping the panic out of her voice the best she could. "We don't know if the tents will keep them out."
Her friends ran off in different directions, herding people through the door of the ship.
Then the first bug landed on Nya. Then another. And another until there wasn't an inch of skin left uncovered by the swarm of bugs. Her screams pierced the air, one long, high whistle.
The scream tapered out and finally, the swarm flew off of Nya. Thora forced herself not to puke when she saw what the swarm had left behind; she had been stripped of any flesh, her bones stained red. The only part of her that made her left were her eyes. The bugs had left them in her sockets to rot.
Thora's heart pounded so loud she could hear it in her ears. Frantically, her eyes searched the group for Dell but the girl was nowhere to be seen.
"Dell!" she screamed, her voice barely audible over the chaos that had erupted after the swarm landed on Nya. "Dell!" Turning in panicked circles, she still couldn't find her younger friend. Her breathing grew choppy.
Someone grabbed her elbow and she spun, expecting to see Dell's wide, silver eyes but was instead met with Fisher.
"Come on, we have to get out of here or we'll end up like Nya!" he yelled. She shook her head as people scrambled around them, swatting bugs away. One flew towards her face and she quickly hit it away, which only made it angry.
"Not without Dell!"
"We're no use to her dead! Come on!" He tugged at her hand but she remained rooted to the spot. "Thora, come on!" When she still didn't move he growled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her backward toward the ship's door even as she struggled.
She spotted Dell, too far away from the ship but staring right at her and the fear in her silver eyes made her knees go weak. She'd never make it, even if she ran. The first bug landed on her and she wacked it away.
"No!" She struggled even more against Fisher's arms, her voice shrill. "No! Dell, run!" The other bugs were beginning to land and Thora knew she only had seconds to reach the girl.
"Let me go!" Thora screamed, her vision tunneling. She could see nothing but Dell, consumed by the swarm. Her boots thumped against the door.
"Shut the door!" Fisher yelled over his shoulder as he dragged her up the slope. Faintly, she heard the groan of old machinery and the door began to close but the only thing she could focus on was Dell's one-note scream.
"No!" She kicked out, scratching at his arms and screaming until her throat was raw but he never released her from his vise-like grip, even after the door banged shut, cutting off Dell's horrible scream.
"She's gone!" he said, his voice hard and cold.
"We don't know that!" she cried, still trying desperately to get away from him.
"Yes, we do. You saw what happened to Nya. And if you go out there you'll only get yourself killed." She slumped into his arms, her entire body shaking. He held onto her, tight enough for it to hurt and she couldn't tell if he was trying to help ease her pain or his.
"I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to her," she whimpered into his chest. "You stranded her out there! This is your fault! I could've saved her! I could've saved her." That was all she could manage before her body was wracked with sobs.
Fisher laid his chin on top of her head as he ran his fingers through her hair. She felt her hair grow wet and his chest heave and realized he was crying as well.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair. "I loved her, too."