Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 56

Lit Fuse!

A Glimmer Of Hope? Or Is it Just A Lit Fuse?

Tuesday, September 10th, early morning

Something very different from the forest noises woke me up, and it was already fading by the time I realized what it was.

A helicopter.

A fucking helicopter had just flown overhead, and I was caught with my pants down.

No. My pants were still off.

I glanced beside me to see Chloe gone, and snatched my pants as I rolled from under the blankets. Being in such a hurry, I barely noticed how stiff they were getting from the lack of washing. A day in the forest was like five days in civilization in terms of garment maintenance.

Slipping my pants on as I stepped outside, I only vaguely registered the cold morning air creeping over my bare skin. The helicopter had too much of my attention. I peered through the canopy of trees, ears strained to hear the whisper of blades, but they’d already faded, leaving nothing but the stillness of early morning.

“Came from the southwest,” Chloe’s voice drifted from behind me. I turned to see her approaching, still limping a little from yesterday’s activities. She was fully clothed and had a small satchel that carried the two rockets we took from one of Tanaka’s mercenaries.

“Isn’t that the direction we came from?” I asked.

“Yep,” she said, stopping well outside my personal space. She set the satchel on the ground. Then, she took a moment to check me out, her eyes doing a quick scan up and down my body. “Damn,” she said. “You’re coming along nicely.”

“What?”

“You’ve lost a few pounds,” she said. “Getting a little more muscle, too. Your workouts are starting to pay off.”

I glanced down, and that’s when the temperature hit me. It wasn’t unbearable, but it was definitely uncomfortable without half my clothes.

Refusing to be distracted, I said, “Thanks. You’re going to the cabin right now?”

“That might be our people. The sooner I get there, the better.”

“I should go with you,” I said.

Chloe shook her head as she reached just inside the hut and pulled out the pack she’d taken with her the last two days, straightening as she slung it over her shoulder. “I need to move quickly. You’ll slow me down.”

She must have seen the offense on my face because she continued before I could even open my mouth.

“You know I don’t think you’ll be a burden, but you don’t have my training, and I’m faster alone.” She reached between two trees and pulled at a large cylinder—the rocket launcher. “It’ll be slow enough going with this thing,” she said as she slung it on top of the pack.

I studied her, noticing the dark rings under her eyes. Other than that, she looked completely unfazed. “Chloe, you’re hurt, and you have your limits. I should be going with you.”

She pointed to the rockets. “Hand me that bag, would you?”

I obliged as she continued, “I already told you, no. Besides,” she jerked her head in Astrid’s direction, “someone’s got to keep an eye on the princess.”

I considered pushing back against her insistence to go alone, but even with her injury, she could have cracked my head open with that rocket launcher. Besides, she was probably right. With our luck, if I went with her, that was likely the moment when a wolf or something else showed up and ate Astrid, who was practically defenseless.

“Be careful out there,” I said, leveling a look at her to let her know I meant it.

She winked at me, the only sign that the Chloe I’d gotten to know was still there. “I’ll be back this evening. Hopefully, with help.”

Heading in the direction of the cabin, she called out, “Astrid has the remote. Keep sending that signal. That chopper might not be our people.”

“Okay,” I called out, annoyed that she hadn’t even addressed the giant elephant in the room—her resignation.

“We’re going to talk later, though,” I called after her.

“No, we aren’t,” she said without looking back or breaking stride.

Yeah, she knew what I meant.

And if Chloe thought we wouldn’t talk about any of this later, she had another thing coming.

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