Illumination

This is a story that I'm writing, Illumination. I don't think there's any content issues. Sorry about the formatting, I'm still new to wiki editing. I also copied it from Google Docs whih

## Chapter One

The buggy rumbled through the night, headlights piercing through the blackness like knives into butter.   Jacklyn stared out the frosted window, her face illuminated by the dim blue light of her wrist monitor. Her heart rate was high, but her older brother, Robin, had told her that was normal.

Jack balled up her fists and pressed tight into the ythafone-lined seats of the buggy.  Even beneath the layers of padding that made up her insulation suit, she felt numb all over, like icy spiderwebs were clinging to her skin.

“Hey, Jackie, how’s it goin’ back there?” Robin called, turning around to face her from the driver’s seat.  His eyes sparkled from behind the foggy glass visor of his helmet like white diamonds.

“Don’t call me that,” Jack answered stiffly, but she couldn’t help but smirk as he turned back to the road.  After a moment of silence, she added, “Fine. I don’t know how you drive through this mess, even with the Illumination.”  She glanced out through the steamy windshield ahead at the road. The two bright headlights, powered by solar Illumination, were almost completely white.  Jack could only distinguish faint, blue streaks of the icy cliffside they were driving up.

“Well, maybe when you’re older you can go to buggy school like me and get to ferry awesome mechanics like you to places like this,” Robin teased me.  He laughed but it sounded hollow and quiet, like a bird flying through a cloud at night, all alone and lost.

“I’m sorry that you failed flight school,” Jack muttered, doing her best to sound sad as she leaned against the side of the buggy.  *Not*, she added to herself.  Honestly, it was a relief to know that she wasn’t the only failure in the Amundsen family.

“It’s okay.  It wasn’t like I was expecting anything,” he replied dismissively, avoiding her gaze.  “Hey, why is everyone stopped?” Jack gulped and looked out the window. Coils of dark fog wrapped around the buggy in a gentle embrace.  Ice crystals flurried past the Illuminated headlights, lacerating the air. Ahead, she could see the beams of the other buggy hovering in mid-air, facing ahead.

Robin pulled down the radio com and turned it on.  “*Codename Bird calling in from buggy 2X-Y; what is going on?*”

A crackle came from the radio, then, “*This is Victory to Bird from buggy 2X-T; it appears we’ve arrived at the summit.  But the path down is blocked*.”

Robin blanched and he peered out the window.  “*That’s not possible. Why can’t we see the Illumination Beacon from the colony’s main atrium then?*”

A pause.  Jack’s heart began to beat faster as the silence overwhelmed the two of them.  Then Victory answered, “*That’s probably why we’re coming in the first place*.”

“*Victory, you’re joking.  They really expect three mechanics and a buggy driver to fix an Illumination Beacon?*” Robin sputtered.  Jack couldn’t help but bite her lip in agreement. She’d only just graduated from the mandatory engineering program.  Fixing something as big as an Illuminator--the giant solar beacons that provided light and energy to large colonies of survivors--seemed like an impossibly large task for three new recruits.

“*Look, you know I don’t make the decisions here.  You have a problem, you talk to Falcon about it*.” The microphone went dead for a moment, then sputtered to life.  “*We need to find another way down this cliffside or we’re going around.”*

“I’ll head out and look,” Jack announced, glad to get out of the cramped buggy and into the air.

“Be careful, Jackie,” Robin warned, nodding at her as the buggy side doors opened with a hiss.  Jack shivered, unbuckled her seatbelt, and swung her legs out over the side.

Steamy fog collected at her feet as she stepped out and switched on the Illumination feature on her visor.  A powerful beam of white light parted the darkness in front of her to reveal that she was standing at the top of an icy cliff that dropped swiftly down into misty darkness.  Jack bent down and shakily touched the ground for the first time with her hands. The ice felt crusty and crystalline under her grasp, and she couldn’t help but wince at the chill, even with her insulated gloves on.

“*Look down to the right.  There should be a steep path leading down that curves around the front of the cliff.  Liam--sorry, Victory, says it’s blocked*.” Robin’s voice came crackling over her helmet’s comm link.

Jack crept to the edge of the cliffside and bent down, looking around for a path.  “*I see the path*,” she radioed back.  “Y*eah, there’s a whole bunch of debris scattered around here.  Looks like a small landslide or something that’s blocking part of the path.  I think we could move the debris aside and drive down, but let me get a closer look.”*

*“Keep us posted, Jackalope,*” Victory radioed.

Jack shrugged her pack off her shoulders and opened it up, pulling out the thick coil of climbing rope that was stashed inside.  The rough fibers of the coil chafed her cold knuckles as she removed her safety gloves and looped one end of the rope around a nearby rock.  Her heart beat rapidly and it felt like the clattering of tiny hooves on her chest. *Don’t sweat, it’ll make your hands slippery,* she told herself, backing up to the edge of the cliff and gripping tightly to the end of the rope.

She slowly let out her rope  and lowered herself down; the tips of her boots just touched the cliffside.  Sweeping the beam of her helmet’s Illuminator across the path, Jack was just about to climb back up to report when she saw a flash of red light among the debris.  *What was that?*  She blinked and there it was again, blinking on and off.

“*Hold on, I think I see something,*” she radioed the others, lowering her line even more.  The rope groaned as it stretched taut; Jack held her breath and reached down to grab the flashing object.

It was a flare, smoking crimson coils as it sputtered and struggled to stay alight. The numbers 298 were etched on the side of the flare using some crude instrument and there was a wad of paper stuffed into the other end.  *298...that’s the number of the colony we’re going to!* Jack thought frantically.  *This came from the colony...but why would someone hike out to the mountain to try and warn us?*

Jack let go of the rope with one hand and pulled out the paper that was stuffed inside the flare.  The line wobbled but held as she shakily held the note into the light of her Illuminator.

There were only two words written on the paper in unsteady, red ink.

“Don’t come.”

That’s when the rope snapped and Jack plummeted into the abyss of darkness.

## Chapter Two

Three weeks earlier

*“Now welcoming---krkh--Jacklyn Ferris Amundsen of the 382nd colonist group.”*

The sleek doors slid open soundlessly to admit Jack into the main atrium of the colony.  She kept her head low as she weaved through the crowd and cut across the atrium to the housing district.  A few people glanced at her as she hurried by, muttering things like Amundsen and stay away, but nobody bothered her.

Jack stopped at the door to her family’s apartment and pressed her wrist against the chip reader.  After a moment, the reader’s signal light flashed green and the door opened with a low hiss.

After being sprayed with sanitization mist, Jack stepped into the kitchen and saw that Robin was cooking something in a pot.  She wrinkled her nose. “What are you setting on fire tonight?”

“That was one time, Jackalope,” he replied, grinning wildly.  “Besides, I thought I’d do some cooking the old fashioned way--chili and rice in a pot.”

“Dana’s going to freak,” Jack warned, remembering the last time their mother had found Robin cooking in the kitchen.  “But it’s your funeral.” She shrugged and headed to the bedroom to unpack.

Sierra, Jack’s younger sister, was sprawled out inside one of the sleeping pods, her hair pooled around her like glossy, dark rivers.  She had earbuds in and was listening to some sort of radio broadcast. From what Jack could tell, she was in “Don’t Kill Jack” mode, which was quite a relief after the long day.

Sierra glanced up and took out her earbuds, raising one eyebrow and grinning maniacally.  “Soooo...what’s the scoop??  Where are you going??!”

“Don’t get too excited, Sie.  It’s a routine maintenance trip to another one of the colonies with Liam and Bailey.  It’s in a couple of weeks, I think. But still, my first real trip!”

“Ooh, Liam?  Robin’s hot British friend from flight school?” Jack’s sister elbowed her in the ribs playfully.

“You mean his petty, dull, and overly serious friend,” Jack retorted, staring up at the ceiling.  “I honestly can’t believe that I’m being sent out with those two. They’re like the most boring people in the universe.  At least Robin’s gonna drive me.”

“Well, I’ll see both of them at the party tonight so I’ll make sure to tell them that,” Sierra joked, fidgeting with a lock of her hair.  “You coming with me?”

“Sure, just as long as I don’t have to talk to anyone.”

“Not a done deal, but I’ll do my best to protect you.  On one condition.” Sierra’s eyes lit up as she said this and Jack sighed.

*“...okay, what is it?”*

“You have to let me do your makeup.”

\*\*\*

Three hours later, Jack sat at the refreshment table and sipped cranberry juice while Sierra chatted with some of her friends from the colony’s middle school program.  She had to admit that her little sister had done a decent job on the makeup. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Jack admired how her sister had loosely braided the long, tangled curls of blond hair and and framed them against her hazel eyes.  While Sierra had gone all out on her own attire, a beautiful white slip-on with bows down the back and ivory flats to match, Jack had chosen to stay with a simple blouse and a black skirt, not liking how her old dress itched like one of Grandma’s sweaters.

“You look nice tonight,” Bailey commented, filing her nails.  Jack sighed, having almost forgotten that she wasn’t alone. “Better than usual.  Where’d you get that skirt?”

“Eh, I made it.”  After a pause, Jack added, “I see you’re coming with me on the maintenance trip.”

“Yeah...it’s really a pity that you hate me so much.  I think we could get along otherwise!” she tutted, continuing to file her nails down to stubs.  The shavings flitted to the ground where they lay on the carpet, disturbingly out of place.

“What?  After all the *hell* you put me through, you think that I’m the bad guy?!”  Jack snorted in disbelief, downing the rest of her bitter drink.  “Yeah, right.”

Bailey stopped filing her nails and folded her hands in her lap neatly.  She made a clicking noise with her tongue and said, “Well, we’re going to have to put our differences aside if we’re going to make it.”

*“Make it?”*

“Didn’t you hear?  The General says that it’s a maintenance trip to fix a chain of Illumination Beacons, but it’s really a scouting program to relocate this colony.  My father says that this colony’s no longer safe. Given his position, I would assume that more Apexes have moved into the area.”

“More?  But our Beacon was just proofed again last week!” Jack remarked, her eyes going wide.  This was the third colony that she’d lived in and it seemed to be harder and harder to stay in one.  The Apexes had grown restless since the last time they’d successfully killed a colonist.

“Look, you know that’d I’d be an asset to you if you calmed your temper.  We could be allies, Jack,” Bailey proposed.

“I don’t need help.”

“Say that to a hungry Apex as it tears you from limb to limb.  All I’m saying is that we shouldn’t be enemies. In times like these, *no one should*.”  She leaned in close as she whispered the last three words.

“I’ll...think about it,” Jack muttered, her spine tingling.  “Gonna go check on Sierra.” She stood up and crossed the dance floor to where her sister was sitting with her friends.

“-hair is too long for your own good, Si.  Really, you should cut it if you want to say cool.  Short hair’s the only thing that would look good on you.  Like really short,” one of the other girls was saying.

“Are you sure?” Sierra looked around at her friends, who smiled and nodded at her enthusiastically.

Jack frowned and approached her from behind.  “Sierra, are these your friends?” Her sister looked up with a hesitant grin, her eyes big.  She was entering “Kill Jack” mode.

“Uh huh.”

“You doing alright?”

“Yup.”  Sierra’s eyes widened even more and watered with withheld rage.

Jack backed up a couple of steps and glanced around.  “Okay, then. I’m going to head back,” she lied. “I’m not feeling great.  Robin’s over by the DJ booth if you need him.”

“Okay...have fun!” Sierra waved at me halfheartedly.  Jack nodded and dashed off through the crowd, heart pounding.  Her feet barely touched the ground until she was back in her bedroom and lying in her sleep pod.

*Make an alliance with Bailey?  No way. That girl will push me into a pit of writhing Apexes the first chance she gets.  ...but what if she was telling the truth? Why would the General want to hide the scouting mission?  Why not warn the public?* The whys floated through Jack’s head, peppering her brain with problems that she didn’t want to face.

----------- HERE I'M SKIPPING AHEAD TO SAVE WORD COUNT

*It was the fourth day in the new colony.  Jack had just finished unpacking the last box with her dad when the alarm went off, wailing and moaning down the hall like a banshee.  Sierra, just four years old, leaped up onto the bed and wailed with fright, burying her head in the pillows. Robin, who had been working on homework, slammed the door tight and climbed up with Jack and Sierra, eyes wide.*

*“Attention: there has been an Apex break-in in Sector 18G of the Dome.  All personnel are to stay calm and remain in their rooms until this has been cleared up.  I repeat, do not leave your apartment for any reason until it is safe to do so.  Thank you for your understanding,” a voice blared through the speakers, followed by the crackle of mic feedback.*

*Jack’s mind raced as she huddled with the rest of her family underneath the covers.  Sector 18G was on the first floor--right below their apartment, in fact. She leaped out of bed, throwing the covers to the ground, and looked out the window at the courtyard.*

*Shouts and screams drifted up from the main garden, which was bathed in the light of the Illumination Beacon.  Jack saw the Apex for the first time and couldn’t help but shiver. It was everything she’d imagined in her nightmares--lupine, hairless, with multiple, spider-like limbs clicking on the ground and slavering jaws.  Its skin was thick and scaled like leather and it had a tuft of black fur on the top of its gargantuan head. The Apex howled as it snapped its teeth at the guards trying to fight it off, frothing grey saliva everywhere.  There were easily a dozen guards surrounding the lone creature, but they were hesitant to attack--every time one of them got too close, the Apex would whirl around and growl a warning, showing off two rows of pointed, misshapen teeth.*

*It was a stalemate so tense that it sent a shiver down Jack’s spine.  The guards had rods charged with electrical energy that they were prodding the Apex with, but the surges seemed only to annoy it and make it angrier.  Jack saw that there were several burn marks down the side of the chest and legs, indicating that it’d gotten through the electrical security fence the hard way.*

*“Get it down!” one of the men yelled; the guards swarmed forward with their sticks out, ready to shock the Apex into submission.  The creature shrieked as dozens of volts surged through its body; yet somehow, it didn’t collapse. Instead, it rose up to its full height and thrashed out with its legs, knocking the guards to the ground and pouncing on the nearest one.  The guard cried out as the Apex tore into his shoulder with two sets of fangs, ripping off a piece of his uniform and spattering blood onto the ground.*

*“Jakob!” one of the guards yelled as his comrades struggled to their feet and leaped forward to help the injured man.“Fall back!”*

*“No,” Jack whispered, almost inaudible to herself, as the men retreated.  Why aren’t they helping that man?  They need to get in there and fight off the Apex! she thought, clutching the windowsill so tightly that her fingers ached.  But Jack could only watch helplessly as the guards stood by and watched as the Apex dragged its screaming prey by the leg across the courtyard and into the darkness.*

*Jack climbed back into bed with the rest of her family, who had chosen to stay behind and not watch the gruesome spectacle.  Her father kissed her gently on the forehead and pulled her tight against him, breathing heavily.*

*“Attention: the Apex has retreated and it is now safe to leave your apartments.  For further safety, please avoid exiting the main building for the next 24 hours without safety personnel accompanying you.  Thank you for your cooperation,” the monitor announced.  Liar, Jack thought, an image of the guard’s body flashing into her mind.  But she stayed quiet and hid with her family, breathing slow until she finally managed to convince herself into a restless sleep.*

\*\*\*
Jack woke up to the sound of a door slamming.  She yawned and buried herself deeper under the covers, as if to hide from the nightmare.  Her whole body felt as if it was on fire, vibrating with the heat of the sleep pod’s comforter.  After a moment, she gave up and pushed the covers to the side with her legs, rolling over to check the clock.  *Ugh.*  She’d only slept for two hours.  She kicked off her socks, sending them flying across the room, and sluggishly climbed out of the sleep pod.

Jack headed for the bathroom to find her sleep sensors, bare feet dragging against the carpet.  A light was shining from behind the closed door. *Sierra and Robin must be home,* she realized.  Stopping in front of the bathroom door, she leaned in and knocked twice, the family’s signature code.  No answer but a slight sniffling sound.

“*Hello*?” she whispered, her voice raspy and foggy with sleep.  Still no answer. Jack reached forward and pressed her thumb against the verification pad for the door.  It flashed dark green and the door slid partially open with a low hiss. She stepped up and peered through the crack into the room.

Sierra was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, hunched over.  Her shoulders were heaving up and down with concealed sobs and her back was to the door.  Jack gasped silently as she noticed piles and piles of silky, black hair lying scattered on the tiled floor.  Her sister’s one pride and joy, gone.

Jack opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it and stepped back.  Sierra looked up at the mirror but didn’t seem to notice her older sister standing behind her.  She fingered a lock of her now-short, dull, and uneven hair, which barely went down to her chin.  *She looks like me,* Jack realized, closing the door and pressing her forehead against the frame.

An image of Sierra sitting with her friends just a few hours ago flashed into Jack’s mind as she tiptoed back to her sleep pod.  She didn’t bother asking her dad for the medicine. *I’m not going to be able to fall asleep anyways.*  So she lay in her sleep pod, staring up at the ceiling and absentmindedly running a hand through her hair until the first rays of artificial light began to peek through the window.

## Chapter Three

Later…

Jack groaned and sat up, rubbing her sore legs until she felt awake.  I fell, she realized, still a little groggy.  *Where am I?*  Through the dim beam of her helmet’s Illuminator, she could see the cliff looming up above her, shrouded in mist with long streaks of icy perspiration clinging to its sides.  She was sitting in a pile of debris that had fallen down with her, bruised, battered, but seemingly okay.

*How did I survive that fall? J*ack thought, feeling herself all over.  The left sleeve of her uniform had been ripped to tatters and...no...her radio was gone!  *It’s got to be around here somewhere,* she decided, crawling on her frostbitten hands out from the pile of debris and looking around the wreckage.

It didn’t take her long to find the radio, crushed underneath a rock and damaged beyond repair.  Jack swore and threw its remains to the ground, her mind racing. *Okay, so I have no way of contacting anyone and I’m exposed to the weather.  Great. What would Robin do? Um...stay and wait for help?* She looked up one last time, hoping to see a glimpse of her brother.  Nothing.

Suddenly, a growl split the air and sent a shiver down Jack’s spine.  *What was that?*  She glanced around nervously, her left hand twitching from the cold, and her Illuminator caught a glimpse of something moving in the shadows.  Something big. Something terrifying. Something with two shining eyes that were staring out at her from the darkness.

*Don’t.  Move.* Jack took a deep breath and tried to stand perfectly still.  Eyelashes fluttering, she watched as the creature retreated out of her vision, only to reappear a little closer.  *Apexes hunt by sound.  Don’t...move…*

  Slowly but surely, the creature emerged into the light of her helmet visor, blinking and drooling froth onto the icy ground.  It hissed a low rumble of a hiss and pressed its face right up against Jack’s helmet visor. Its foul breath fogged up the glass until all she could see was its wet, snotty nose pressed up against the visor, and all she could hear was her own, panicked breath in her suit, which suddenly felt two sizes too small for her.

“E-eee-tee…” the Apex rumbled in the back of its throat.  *What’s it doing?* Jack wondered, pressing her hands against her side and closing her eyes.  *“E-eeEE--EAT!!”*

Jack’s breath caught in her throat.  Her legs began to tremble uncontrollably.  *I can’t.  I can’t. I CAN’T!*  Her feet took control of her body and she turned and began to run.  The faster she ran, the easier it was for her to breathe. She could hear the sound of footsteps crunching in the ice behind her in a pursuit.  *Oh my god, I’m going to die.  I’m going to die and be eaten up and no one is going to care and I’ll never see my family or be blackmailed by Bailey or hear Victory’s snotty British accent ever again!* she panicked.  Her headlight swung wildly from side to side, dimly illuminating the dusty path ahead.

Suddenly, the ground disappeared from underneath Jack and she gasped, striking out with her foot for ground.  But it didn’t come and she tumbled head over heels down a steep incline, her helmet smashing into the packed snow and her bare arm rubbing against the earth so hard that her skin blistered.  Jack felt something in her spine snap and she howled with pain as she rolled to a painful stop at the foot of the drop. *...oh…*

The silence that followed was more painful than the bruises.  *The Apex must’ve lost my trail during the drop,* she thought, watching her breath fog the air in white curls.  Slowly, Jack stood up and dusted off her uniform. The remains of her left sleeve, which had been in tatters before, had been ripped clean off, leaving her arm pink and exposed.  Already, black frost was beginning to form on her fingernails and she let out a moan. Somehow her helmet’s visor had remained intact, though a spiderweb of cracks stretched across it and sliced her vision into pizza wedges of fogginess.

*I’m doomed.  Absolutely doomed,* Jack moped.  She looked up at the sky, hoping to find the silhouette of the cliff where she’d come from, but all she could see were tall, icy pillars surrounding her.  They were perfectly shaped. *Too perfect,* she thought, stepping forward into the center of the ring and turning around.  She stepped closer to one of the pillars and saw that there were strange markings carved into the side.  The markings were like little squiggles and came together to form faces. *Like emoticons,* Jack noted, thinking back to her Ancient History lessons in school.  *What is going on here?*  Her brain felt like it was buzzing.

*When in doubt, say it out loud.*  Jack’s survival teacher’s voice echoed in her ear.

“Um...this looks like a good place to camp for the night,” she whispered to herself.  “At least until I can figure out what’s going on.” Somehow, while saying it, she felt calmer and more in control, silliness aside.  She shrugged off her pack and leaned it against one of the pillars, sitting down on the ground and rubbing her arm again. Cocking her head to one side, Jack listened to the sounds of the night...or day.  *Nothing.  Guess the Apex really did leave.*

  She felt the tension leave her muscles as she opened her pack and looked in at its familiar contents.  *This is just a drill.  No need to panic.* She pushed aside all the contraband that she’d snuck in and pulled out the one item she’d been looking for--a Radiator.  Jack wrapped it around her wrist and sighed with relief as warmth spread throughout her numb arm, restoring the feeling.

“Two hours of warmth,” Jack read on the back of the Radiator.  She sighed and leaned back against the pillar, clutching at the wristband.  *It’s gonna be a long, long night…*

  Indeed it was.  Jack rolled over on her side and tried to fall asleep, but the chill and horror of the night wouldn’t let her.  Despite the Radiator warming her arm, black spiderwebs still clung to her skin and make it raw to the touch. The darkness encroached on her vision despite the effort of her Illuminator to keep it at bay.  Strange sounds echoed in the blackness, growls and mutters that made her paranoid self shiver. Eventually, when the Radiator died and she was left to wrap her arm tight in an emergency blanket, her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.

*Jack’s breath quickened as the panting of the creature grew louder and louder.  She was clinging to the edge of a tall, icy cliff, one hand on the ledge scrabbling for something to hold, the other dangling above a dark pit where something lurked below.  Something hairless and slimy and horrible.*

*“Help!” she tried to scream, but instead, the words she heard come out of her mouth were “don’t come”.  She tried again, but the words felt like they were twisting inside her mouth as she said them.*

*“Hold on, Jackie, I’m coming!” Robin called from above.  “Catch!” A rope was thrown down and Jack grabbed it with both hands, bracing her feet against the cliffside.  “I’m going to pull you up. Hold on!”*

*The rope felt slimy in Jack’s hands and she looked down at it, only to scream with fright.  She was holding a coil of eyes, all of them wet, sticky, and looking at her.  She let go and smacked the rope away, only to feel her feet lose their grip on the mountainside and break away.  She plunged into the abyss and landed hard on a warm, mossy surface.*

*It almost felt comfortable, lying there in the warm fuzziness, cheek pressed against the ground, breathing in time with the rising and falling of the earth.* Wait...rising and falling?*She looked down and saw that what she’d thought was ground was actually fur.  A mysterious, black tuft of fur.*

*Jack opened her mouth to scream but felt the breath taken from her as the Apex tossed its head, sending her flying into the air.  The last thing she saw was a flash of gleaming jaws rising up to tear her apart before her mind faded to black.*

## Chapter Four

Jack yawned and rolled over, trying to force herself awake.  The cobwebs of the nightmare still clung to her mind, making her shiver.  *That wasn’t real,* she told herself as she sat up.  *Just a dream.*

  The blackness around her was now a light grey, implying that it was morning.  Most of the area was blanketed in icy fog, but the blue light from the morningdew flowers lit up the ground.

Jack moaned as she stood up, dusting off her uniform.  *Ice pillars aren’t exactly the most comfortable sleep pods,* she thought.  *What do I do now?*

  She looked around her.  The columns loomed above her, massive and unforgiving.  Now that it was a little brighter, she could see out past the pillars to the icy plain ahead.  Jack gasped in astonishment. The plain was almost completely empty except for a few hills of packed snow and mossy grassland.  *This beats all of my geography lessons,* she thought with a grin, stepping out onto the plain and looking out at the fresh expanse.  The air smelled cool and damp, just like morning should. For a moment, she almost forgot how lost and alone she was.

But like all things, reality was unavoidable, and it quickly came crashing down on her head.  Jack sighed and went back to retrieve her pack. But it wasn’t where she’d left it. Instinctively, she touched her shoulders to see if she’d put it on then forgotten.  *Nope.*  It was completely gone.

*Something’s here.  Something took my pack,* she realized, hands dropping to her sides in horror.  And then…  *Something’s toying with me.*

  The only knowledge she gained from this disturbing realization was that she needed to get out into the open, and fast.  Jack looked back at the pillars as she stepped away from them, wondering what creatures were hiding in the maze of icy plateaus and hills where she’d come from.  *What if the Apex that was chasing me is here?*

  She paused for a moment, biting her lip.  *I can’t head back the way I came, regardless of whether or not it followed me.  I need to head around.* A low growl from her stomach reaffirmed this.  *All my rations are in my pack.  I need to find it, and fast.*

Planning the path in her mind, she stepped away from the circle of icy columns and set out across the plain’s border, holding back the hunger that was gnawing on her insides.

As she walked, the pain and worry from the last night slowly ebbed away.  *Robin, Liam, and Bailey are looking for me.  Of course they are,* she decided.  *Why wouldn’t they?*  She repeated this over and over in her head until it drowned out the fear that...maybe they wouldn’t look for her.  Jack could just imagine it in her head. *The General won’t want the mission to be jeopardized so they could look for a failure.  If Bailey’s right and this is so much more than a maintenance trip...I might be expendable.*  The words, “don’t come” flashed into her mind and she shuddered.  *I never got to tell them.  I wonder what they’re doing right now.*

After a while, Jack saw the peak of the cliff rise above the plateaus that had been blocking her view.  *Wow, I ran farther than I thought.  I guess I really do need to head around.*  She began the trek between the plateaus, feeling smaller and smaller every second as the walls around her grew tall.

Jack was just beginning to get tired when all of a sudden, the plateaus dropped off and she was on completely level ground again.  She gasped. There was a river of fresh, clean water burbling in front of her.  *How is this possible?*  Her mind frantically tried to work out a logical explanation, but she couldn’t find one.  *How did I not see this before?  Running water? On a frozen planet with no Sun and only artificial heat to  warm us??!*

 Jack knelt down by the edge of the stream and took off the glove on her right hand.  Shakily, she dipped it in the water and let out the breath she’d been holding as clear, warm water rushed over her hand.  *This could be life changing for the colonies.  I HAVE to get back and tell the General.* Jack couldn’t help but grin.  *Then everyone will know that I’m not a failure.  But first, I have to make it back.*

  She looked around her for something to mark the location so she could come back.  That’s when she noticed the cave. The river was flowing into an icy, dark cave that was sandwiched between two of the plateaus.  *What the…*

Jack approached the cave and brushed aside some dangling, soggy moss from the entrance.  She turned up the intensity of the Illumination on her visor and peered inside. No Apexes.  Slowly stepping into the cave, she followed the path of the river down a series of intricately carved tunnels.  The path zigzagged and curved but never crossed with another path, so Jack could always see the exit if she backtracked.  *This cave is definitely man-made.  But why is it a secret?*

After a while, the tunnel opened up into a larger cavern tall enough for Jack to stand up in.  The river flowed into a hole dug into the ground, where it fell down to who knew where. *Yeah, that hole’s too perfect to be natural.  Which means there must be water under the ground.*  Jack’s eyes widened.  *Where there’s water, there’s bound to be life.*

It was just then that she noticed a strange symbol drawn in white on the opposite wall of the cave.  It looked like a sun with a strike through it and was blurred to the point where it almost looked unintentional.  But as Jack approached she realized that it had been drawn by someone.  *Someone who lives here.*  She slowly reached out and touched the symbol with her finger.

“Krkkh--welcome, Jacklyn Amundsen,” a voice suddenly blared.  Jack nearly jumped at the sound.  It was so familiar that she could almost convince herself that she was back in the colony, heading to her dorm after a long day being teased at school.  *This is crazy.  First those pillars, then a real river, then a man-made cave, and now this.*

   A loud grinding sound interrupted her reverie.  A large pillar of stone just behind where she was standing was sliding to the side, revealing..*.stairs.*

  “No way,” Jack muttered out loud.  Before, it had all felt like a dream.  Now, she knew it was reality. She tentatively turned and began to descend down the stairs.  Looking down, she could see that they went on for a while, curling and spiraling in a blue, misty fog that even her Illuminator couldn’t penetrate.

*What am I doing?*  Her brain stopped her before she could get halfway to the ground.  *I have no idea what’s down here.  I need to focus on getting back to the colony.  Then I can come back (with an entourage) and show everyone what I’ve learned.*  Jack hesitated on the stairs, clicking her boots together impatiently.  The sound they made echoed off some far away walls and hummed in the air.

After a moment, she shook her head to clear it and continued to take the stairs one at a time, looking up every now and then to make sure that the trapdoor was still open.

It felt good when Jack’s feet touched the ground.  Looking down, she was surprised to see real grass, green and clear of the ice that normally covered it.  The ground smelled mossy and fresh and there was a touch of humidity in the air that made Jack’s skin prickle.  *This is unreal.*  Yet as she breathed in the earthen scent, she couldn’t convince herself otherwise.

Jack took off her boots and wiggled her toes in the dewy grass as she walked, not entirely sure of where she was going.  Eventually, she came upon the silhouette of a giant, wooden door towering in front of her, engraved with the same symbols that she’d seen on the ice pillars earlier that day.  *At this point, I wouldn’t mind if a giant mole rat opened it and asked me to tea,* she thought drily to herself, placing her hand on the door and pushing with all her might.

After a moment, the door swung open wide enough for her to squeeze through.  Jack gasped as the mists parted to reveal a beautiful, lush utopia, filled with all sorts of exotic trees and plants that would never be able to survive on the surface.  The air buzzed with strange creatures that Jack recognized from her ancient history textbooks, except they were here and it was all so real.  Tears came to her eyes as she reached out and ran her fingers over the bark of a tall, sturdy tree.

She stuck her tongue out to taste the hot moisture in the air and watched as a monkey gibbered to its friend in the canopy above her.  There was *so* much life and it was so *perfect*.  H*ow did this get here?  This is clearly man-made.*  A dark cloud passed over her mind.  *Is the General hiding this?*

  “Jack?” a voice came from behind her.  An infuriatingly British voice.

“Liam?!”  Jack didn’t even have to turn around to know the voice.  “*H-how?*”

Indeed, it was him standing behind her, face flushed.  His mop of caramel hair fell over his face, but his left eye (the only working one of the two) still peered out at her, emerald and scrutinizing. “I’m so glad I found you.  We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

Jack’s tongue felt swollen and dry in her mouth.  “You...knew to look for me here?”  She reached out and gestured helplessly in the air.

“No.  We followed the trail that you led us.”  Liam paused and looked around, awestruck by the paradise around him.  “This is beautiful…”

“Yeah…” Jack agreed, her mind hovering on something he’d said.  “Wait, did you say trail?”

“You left a trail made out of items from your pack.  It led us here.”

A horrible realization dawned on Jack and her eyes widened.  “Liam, get down!” she hissed, grabbing his arm and pulling him into a bush.

“What the *hell* are you doing?!” he swore, rubbing his arm and glaring at her confusedly.

“Saving your life,” she whispered back and pointed at something big moving towards them from out of the brush.  “How did this thing get down here? It can’t climb stairs, right?”

“Robin and Bailey are right upstairs too,” Liam muttered, watching as the Apex emerged from the bushes.  “Which means that there must be two or even three Apexes working together.  One to leave the trail, one to distract the others…”

“...and one to kill us,” Jack finished, peering through a gap in their hiding spot.  This Apex was even larger, and it squinted against the bright, natural light as it crashed through the undergrowth.  Its skin was blistering in the unusual humidity and it seemed a little squeamish at the feeling of grass under its webbed paws.

“What do we do now?” Liam breathed, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

“We run.”  Jack made a scissors gesture with her fingers and pointed to a path that led around towards the door.  “*Don’t* *make a sound*.”

The two of them silently stood up and backed away, careful not to step on any twigs or leaves.  The path that Jack had pointed out wound around where the Apex was sniffing and then shot straight for the door.

“Come on.”  Liam and Jack crept quickly down the path, squatting low to avoid being seen by the Apex as they passed.  They came so close to it that Jack could hear the ragged *chuff-chuff* of its breath and smell the odor of Apex sweat.  She gagged silently and covered her mouth.

They reached the door and found that it had closed on them.  They were both completely in the open now and looked back nervously at the Apex, who was still sniffing at the ground and lumbering along.  On three, Jack mouthed to Liam, placing her hand on the door.

*One...two...three!*

A loud creak split the air, painfully drawn out and painfully obvious.  Jack and Liam froze in their tracks, the door halfway open, and glanced back.

The Apex had turned around and was staring straight at them.  Its lips curled back into a snarl and it tensed up, ready to spring.

“Go, go, *go*!” Liam cried.  The two of them burst through the doorway and sprinted towards the stairs.  The Apex shrieked and barrelled after them, smashing through the door with a crash.

Jack reached the stairs and began to take them two at a time, her legs burning.  Soon Liam caught up, the Apex on his heels, and joined her. “Watch out!” she called as the creature snapped at his leg.  He dodged and passed her with a grateful nod, clutching his chest tightly.

After an eerily quiet moment, Jack paused to look down at the Apex, who was lumbering up the steps.  Slowly but surely.  *I guess they can climb stairs.*  It looked up at her, a few feet down, and wailed angrily, showing off multiple rows of teeth.

“Jack, the trapdoor closed!!” Liam called from the top.  He turned and pounded on it frustratedly and yelled, “Robin, Bailey, open up!  We’re trapped!”  Jack leapt the few remaining stairs and joined him, straining against the stone slab.  But it was too heavy for them to push.

“We’re not going to make it,” Jack puffed, searching for a crevice to hold onto.  The Apex was only a few feet away, its claws clicking menacingly on the stone steps.  “Look!” Next to the stone slab, just out of reach, was another white symbol painted on the ceiling.

Liam looked around wildly for a moment, then reached down and pulled off his boot.  Squatting down on his knees, he took aim and threw it at the symbol.

“*Thank you for visiting.  Goodbye, Liam Griffiths*,” the mysterious monitor said.  Jack felt the stone slab loosen under her fingertips.  The two of them reached up and pushed with all their might and the slab gave way, sliding off to the side.  Liam and Jack leapt up through the hole and then pushed the slab back into its place.

A few seconds later, there was a thud as the Apex hit the trapdoor.  Then, there was a silence so thick and perfect that Jack held her breath, not daring to break it.  Slowly, she exhaled, her shoulders slumping, and sat down on the cold, stone floor. The air was so bitter and chilly in the cave that it felt like a shock after the warm pleasantness of the tropical cavern.  “Quick thinking,” Jack commented with a slight smile, pointing at Liam’s bare, calloused foot.

“Thanks, I guess,” he responded, shaking his head slowly.  “Hey, where’re the others?” He pointed down the tunnel. No one in sight.

“I don’t know, maybe they went back and hid in the buggy when the Apexes came?”  A prickle of unease slid down Jack’s spine. “Let’s go back and look.”

The two of them limped out of the main cavern and down the tunnel, throwing glances back at the quivering trapdoor every once in a while.  The river burbled alongside them, quiet but noticeable amidst the pounding of their heads.

After a minute, just when they were about to reach the opening, Jack stopped and turned around to face Liam.  “Did the General try to keep you from looking for me?” she blurted out, burning with curiosity.

He looked at her, concerned, and absently brushed a strand of hair out of his face.  “No...why?”

“Oh, um...no reason,” Jack lied.  “It’s just kind of unusual that we’re sent out on direct orders from the General herself and then stumble upon this place.”  She kneeled down and placed both her hands in the river, feeling the warm water rush over her hands and wash all the dirt off.  “It was so beautiful.”

“It was,” Liam breathed.  For a second, he seemed to relax and his eye twinkled.  For just a moment, he seemed lost in a memory. But then, Jack watched as his face tightened and he went back to his usual seriousness.  He shook his head to clear the reverie he’d been in. “Come on. We need to get moving.” He reached out his hand to help Jack up and they continued out of the cave.

When they reached the opening, a blast of frigid air hit Jack in the face and she gasped in surprise.  That tropical room really threw me off, she thought, rubbing her exposed arm.  “I’m okay; you?” she said in response to Liam’s concerned look.

“I’ll get by,” he muttered, gesturing at his stiff foot.  “Push comes to shove, I wrap it with a Radiator.” He pointed at his pack, which was hanging loosely off his other shoulder.  Jack’s stomach growled at the sight of it. *I need to eat soon,* she thought.  *Eh, maybe I’ll steal some of his rations.*

“Jack!” a voice called to her left.  She turned and saw her brother running towards her, a grin on his face, arms outstretched.  Bailey followed closely behind.

“Robin!” she called, dashing to meet him and giving him a hug.  “It’s good to see you again.”

“Good to see you too,” he mumbled into her uniform collar.  Despite being three years older than her, he was still short due to an unfortunately painful growth spurt that had happened when Jack was fourteen.

Jack took a deep breath in and caught the smell of smoke coming off of Robin’s uniform.  “*Have you been smoking*?” she asked disdainfully, pushing away with a teasing smile.

“About that…” he said, looking down at the ground.  “It’s not me, it’s the buggy.” At this, he turned to face the other three.  Bailey nodded, resigned, but Liam looked as confused as Jack was.

“What happened?” she inquired nervously, unsure if she wanted to know the answer or not.

“The Apexes chased us down into a gorge.  We tried to radio both of you but your signal wasn’t picking up.  We thought we were goners and so we tried to turn around and ram the Apexes...maybe scare ‘em off so you two could escape.  They scattered as we drove at them…” he began, then cringed and blushed. “...and then we crashed.”

“*You crashed the buggy*?  On your first day driving it?” Jack said, raising an eyebrow.

“Never mind that.  What matters,” Liam cut in.  “is that we’re stranded. By a weird tropical cave teeming with Apexes.”

“Not really,” Robin began awkwardly, trying to ease the tension with a warm smile of his.  “There’s a nearby black market that sells parts--I could pop over and you guys could all fix the buggy.”

“I’m not going near one of those black markets,” Liam sniffed.  “I have a reputation to preserve!”

“But will it get the job done?” Bailey interrupted, gaze sharp and calculating.

“Theoretically, yes.  The damage isn’t final,” Robin informed them.

“Then let’s do it.  We need to get back to the colony and find out more about...whatever this place is.  Whoever built this--because this is clearly built, could still be here. I need to know who they are,” Jack decided, looking around at the rest of the group.  They all nodded, except for Liam. “Come on, help us out.”

“*Okay, okay*.  Just don’t put my name on a plaque or anything when we’re done,” he gave in, stuffing his hands in his uniform pockets and looking away.

“That’s the spirit, Li!” Robin cheered, crushing his friend in a signature bear-hug.  Liam remained stoic, closing his eye until Robin let him go.

Robin paused and thought for a moment, then said, “I guess we’ll have to walk there.  Good thing I have a map.” He pulled out a thick roll of parchment from his pack and kneeled down, spreading it out on the frosty ground.

“Woah,” Bailey gasped.  Jack couldn’t help but agree with her.  The map was huge and so detailed that it almost hurt to look at.  Robin had hand-written in thousands of names in small, black letters that looped and curled around the page.  The map showed the entire sheet of Earth with cities and colonies marked on it, as well as points of interest.  The text almost dominated the entire map and Jack could barely see where any of the points were underneath all the labels.

“So this is what you’ve been working on,” Liam muttered, kneeling down and helping Robin hold down the map.  *He knew about this?* Jack wondered as she too bent to help her brother.  Only Bailey stayed where she was, gazing down at the map like a hungry cat*...if cats had survived past the Great Extinction.*

  “I can’t pinpoint exactly where we are,” Robin said, pointing at a small triangle on the map.  “But we came from this cliff and went south, maybe for two miles.  The market’s over here. So it’s eleven miles...*southwest* of us.”

“If your logic is off, we could be walking for hours in the desert.  I say we ask him.” Bailey thumbed her finger at Liam, who was staring at the map intensely.

“No, he’s right.  As far as I can tell, at least.  If we walk fast, we can make a round trip in about four hours, plus the time we spend at the market,” Liam calculated.  “Let’s not dawdle or we’ll be stuck out in the open at night. I personally don’t want to run into those Apexes again.”

Robin rolled up the map and put it back into the pack, taking out a compass in the process.  “Southwest is that way,” he decided, pointing towards an open stretch of ice that was barely discernible through the now black sky.  “Let’s get started.”

The four of them set off across the packed snow, leaving the strange room behind.  But not for long.

## Chapter Five

After about two long hours of walking, they arrived at the market.  Before entering, they stopped outside to make a game plan and so Jack could finally eat.

“I say we split into groups of two,” Liam said, crouching down and drawing an outline of the market in the packed, crystalline snow.  “Robin and I will get the parts needed and you two--” pointing at Jack and Bailey “--will get other supplies and rations. Good?”

Jack glared at Bailey as she ate her liquified beans, but nodded assent.  *There’s worse things I could be doing.  Like drugs,* she thought darkly, looking into Bailey’s cold, hungry eyes.  *She wants everything.  She wants too much.*

  “Sounds good to me,” Bailey yawned, stretching her arms above her head and looking at Jack like a sleepy Apex eying its prey.  “Come on, Squeak, let’s get going.”

“Don’t call me that,” Jack hissed as the two of them set off for the main entrance.

“Why not?  You had no problem with it when you were eight.  Remember your stutter? I called you ‘Squeak’ and ‘Mouse’.  Good times,” Bailey said, walking at a brisk pace.

“You’re just as cruel now as you were when you were *eleven*,” Jack commented.

“I’m glad I’ve made a lasting impression on you,” the other responded sarcastically, then changed the subject.  “Wow, this place sure is friendly.”

They were walking through dark alleys filled with cluttered shops set up in tent-like fashion.  Their boots crunched on the ice and cloaked figures stared out at them through their helmet visors, silent and unmoving.  “Well, it is a *black market*.  They probably weren’t expecting two girls fresh outta college.”  A few jeers and catcalls came their way from colonists drunk on booze.  “Yeah, I can see why these people don’t spend much time at the colony. Their poor families…”

They approached the ragged tent that advertised ration sales and ducked under the flap.  Inside, it was much warmer but certainly less cozy. Beer bottles lay shattered on the ground, without any effort made to even sweep the shrapnel to the side.  Jack felt her boots crunch on the shards and instinctively winced.

“--care about the cost, *we have to keep our customers coming*!” a stout, clean-shaven man was saying to another, driving his fist into the lopsided table to prove his point.

The other man, a tall, bearded figure who looked like he needed a bath and at least a year in rehab, wasn’t listening.  His bloodshot eyes slid in the direction of Jack and Bailey as smooth as slimepearls and he grinned. “Welcome, welcome, ladies!  Come right in, don’t be shy. What can we do for you today?”

“We need some rations.  Enough to feed four people,” Jack explained.  Bailey reached into her pack and pulled out her holopad, ready to pay.  “How much?”

As the bearded man rummaged through the storage bins for the rations, a third man emerged from the back section of the tent and began arguing with the stout man.  This newcomer looked to be younger than the rest, maybe in his mid-twenties. He had flaming red hair and striking, hazel eyes. He clutched at the buttons on his thickly padded jacket and began speaking in a strange language.  The stout man grunted in annoyance but nodded when the young man had finished speaking. *What language is that?*

“Here you are,” the bearded man said once they’d paid, dumping the rations on the table and taking the money that the holopad had deposited.  Once Bailey put the purchase in her pack, the two of them exited the tent back out into the street.

If possible, it had gotten even darker in the ten minutes they’d been in the tent.  Jack had to turn up her Illuminator to full power in order to penetrate the darkness.  It was snowing hard pellets and everyone was vanishing into tents in order to stay out of the storm.  “Come on. There’s one more thing I want to get before we rendezvous,” Bailey said, gesturing for Jack to follow her down a narrow side path.

“This one.”  She pointed at a large, black tent patched up with grey that stood just a little further apart from the others.  A small sign next to the entrance read “*WEAPONS*” in big, loopy handwriting.

“The others said nothing about this,” Jack protested as they approached.  There was something about the tent that gave her a bad feeling; a prickling in her chest that made her hold her breath in an attempt to make it go away.

“You want to survive?” Bailey asked, one hand on the flap, ready to pull it open.  “You’re gonna need guns. Big guns.” A wide smile spread across her face at the word.

“No, I don’t need guns,” Jack muttered, but ducked inside the tent nonetheless.  *I’m going to regret this later,* she thought to herself.

The main counter was deserted.  Jack could see a silhouette in the back, not moving or making a sound.  She gulped at the sight of hundreds of knives, each one filed to a point and facing outward, stacked on one shelf to the side.

Bailey wasn’t interested in any of those.  She crossed the room to a large shelf stocked with blasters.  “We need four. There’s only three. Guess Liam’ll miss out.”

“I’m not okay with this,” Jack admitted, eying the silhouette nervously.

“Relax, we’ll pay.  Eventually,” Bailey said, handing her a sleek, silver blaster.  “Besides, you’re callous to your family anyways, so why would you care about one poor businessman?  Anyone who sells weapons illegally is bad.”

“I am not callous!” Jack exclaimed indignantly, tucking the blaster under her arm.  She opened her mouth to call Bailey out, but stopped when she saw the shadow stir. A muscled woman with scars all over her face emerged from the back and froze at the sight of the girls.

“Hello?” she said, more of a question than a greeting.

“*I don’t have any more money,*” Bailey whispered to Jack, who took a step back.  “*On three, we run*.”

“Are you okay?” the woman asked, staring at the blasters with milky eyes.

“*One, two, three!*”  Bailey grabbed Jack’s arm and yanked her out of the tent, feet pounding on the freshly packed ice.

“Stop them!” the woman cried, bursting out into the street with them.  Unfortunately for her, there was no one outside to aid her and it wasn’t long before Bailey and Jack were out of sight.

The two of them ran for quite a while until their legs gave out, then they stopped behind an overturned cart to rest and store the blasters, which could shrink to the size of pencils.  “This is crazy,” Jack breathed to herself, cheeks flushing crimson.

“No time to reflect,” Bailey ordered.  “Come on, let’s meet up with Liam and Robin.  They probably have all the parts by now.”

They got up to leave and began the walk back to the rendezvous, which was where they’d first started.  But as they walked past the food tent, the boy with the red hair emerged and grabbed Jack by the arm. She held back a squeak and glared at him, her face inches from his.  He had the tattoo of a dragon snaking up his thick neck. “Whatever you do, stay out of small spaces,” he whispered in perfect English. “They love small spaces. And there are things much worse than Apexes, trust me.”

Then he vanished back into the tent, leaving behind nothing but his words and a red mark on Jack’s arm.

TBC, feedback is appreciated

-DramaDot