“Krellix?” I move past the others and to his side. “Is this a good idea? What about avoiding people?”
“I do not sense any people except for us. The people who were here are long gone.”
But even Benjamin’s excitement at the prospect of finding others is stymied by how quiet it is when Krellix briefly leaves us to make sure we aren’t stepping into danger anyways.
Waiting for Krellix to finish checking out the ship, the silence creeps up my back. Every snap of a branch, every split twig, or crackle of wood sounds louder than it should, accompanied by my growing nerves and building doubt.
It’s a relief when Krellix returns. He shakes his head at us and continues on, giving us no other information. I’m glad we’re leaving when he takes us back into the thicker brush.
I could smell the blood even if I couldn’t see it.
As we put distance between us and the ship, the stifling silence only grows. Quinton trips and curses, and we all pause to listen for anything in the forest responding, but as the seconds pass by and nothing happens, we continue on.
That is until Krellix stops us for an impromptu break and leaves again, this time without warning.
I settle next to Olivia, pulling out my water container and offering it to her. She takes several sips and hands the water back, giving me a soft smile and a wince.
“How are you doing?” I ask, lifting my canteen and taking a sip.
“I’m okay.”
I frown, eyeing her pale, sunken skin, and tired eyes. “Are you sure? I can ask Krellix to go slower?”
“I’m sure. I just want to get to the encampment.”
My heart jerks but I nod. “Me too.”
The four of us huddle in the brush while we wait for Krellix’s return. Listening to the forest around me, it occurs to me that the persistent silence from this morning is gone. I can hear the rustle of branches and tiny snaps of twigs being broken. A bird takes flight and its flapping wings hit the leaves, sending several of them fluttering to the ground. Benjamin ducks when something overheard squawks loudly.
“It’ll be okay,” I reassure him. “The birds aren’t going to attack us.”
But I grab hold of my gun strap anyway when a soft hum fills my ears. Benjamin looks my way as the sound quickly grows louder. Lifting my finger over my lips, I slowly rise to take a look over the bushes.
Just as I raise my head, a military drone flies overhead and I duck back down. The others watching me, freeze in reaction. The drone circles back and flies over us again, more slowly this time. None of us move until it finally flies away.
“What was that?” Olivia speaks first, her voice lower than a whisper.
I release my gun strap. “Military drone.”
“If it was military shouldn’t we have flagged it down?” Benjamin asks, looking at the others. “Won’t they be searching for survivors? It saw us.”
I start to speak, then frown instead.
He’s right.
We could have flagged it down…
I start to speak again, trying to wrap my head around why I reacted the way I did. I know a drone has to be a good sign we’regetting close to the encampment, but my gut intuition was to hide. Why?
I shake my head. “We can’t assume that.”
“Because of what happened onThe Dreadnaut?” Olivia speaks again, her voice stronger. When I glance at her, her pallid face is pinched in thought. “If we’re not sure we can trust them, should we be heading to them?”
The three of us stare at her in grim, contemplative silence. I turn to face her directly. “Because it didn’t shoot at us.The Dreadnautand its commander may be gone, leaving us temporarily stranded and without leadership, but that won’t be our fate forever. Eventually help will arrive, and when it does, they’ll be in contact with the main encampment and that’s where we need?—”
A rustle of branches cuts me off as Krellix appears from the trees.
We lock eyes and something flickers across his tight expression. I stand to face him, and Benjamin and Quinton swiftly follow.
