The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series by Heather Heckadon (books to read to get smarter .txt) 📗

TURNING MY HEAD TO the side first, I caught a glance of moonlight playing on the leaves of the trees that we temporarily called home. It was time. Quickly, I turned my head the other way towards Sierra. She shook her head with what looked like tears in her eyes. An utter look of disappointment, and I couldn’t figure out why.

Looking back towards the field and encampment we had been monitoring, I noticed a line of armed men halfway through the field, looking into the trees. Uniformed and trained, the soldiers were ready for war. They didn’t appear sick or ill in any way. No coughs were heard. No vomiting like we expected. They looked strong and ready for a fight. The barrels of their guns gleamed in the faint light.

I turned my head back towards Sierra and our eyes met again. Our expressions were the same. What are we supposed to do now? I thought. There was nothing else we could do at this point. They knew what we had been up to, they knew what we had attempted and failed at, and they were tired of our shit. I got it. It didn’t make it any easier to stomach the fact that we were vastly outnumbered and fighting an army we had just had the honors of pissing off.

Sending a sideways glance towards Smith’s tree, I could barely see him peering around the trunk with sad eyes. I had a good feeling it wasn’t his fault or he wouldn’t have been here with us. He would still be there with them, but he had chosen to be here. I took comfort in knowing in my heart that he had meant to do good. None of us were experts in biological warfare, and both Smith and Dr. Mayhew had tried their absolute best and risked their lives doing it. I didn’t blame either of them, but someone would have to deal with the consequences, and it would be all of us.

Our next moves would have to be carefully calculated. Without knowing if the men lined up beyond the trees knew where we were or not, our cover could have already been given away, but either way, we would be easily spotted if we moved. If we didn’t move though, and they already knew we were hiding in the branches, we could be easily picked off instead.

The thoughts rushed through my head, the ‘what-ifs. What if they already know we’re here? What if they don’t? What if they already laid traps for us on the ground while we were asleep? What if they’ve been standing there all night and we just couldn’t see them in the dark? What if we don’t make it out of this? What if this is it? My mind ran crazy. Thoughts of movies from back home stung. The good guy always won in the movies, but I knew in real life that wasn’t always the case, and we were about to lose.

Peaking out around the branch I was sitting on, I inspected the fluffy flower weed strewn ground for any sign of disturbance. It was hard to tell, but I was pretty sure it hadn’t been touched. Taking a leap of faith, I hopped out of the tree and down onto the ground. Landing in a hunkered position, I steadied myself with one hand and looked out into the field through the flower weed. It appeared no one had noticed the movement.

Looking up to see Sierra, I motioned, first moving my hand in a come down sort of way, then bringing a finger to my lips to tell her to be quiet. I watched as she slowly moved down from the highest branch, attempting to stay hidden behind the trunk of the tree. Easing herself down to the ground from the last branch, she hunched down near the base of the tree where she had crawled up the night before. Creeping stealthily through the brush, I made my way towards her so we could talk.

When I got to her, she gave me a huge hug, and when I pulled away, I saw the look on her face. A tight smile and glossy eyes. I knew she was scared, and I was too, but we needed to act quickly.

“What do we do?” she asked. Her eyes searching mine.

“I don’t know...” I just knew we needed to do something. I was as lost as she was. “We need to get out of here. We can’t fight them like this,” I said.

“How do we get out?” she asked.

I looked around me rapidly. This way and that. “We’re gonna have to make a run for it... fast.”

“How will we tell everyone else?” she asked. “We’ll get caught before we get everyone out! Not to mention Smith can’t run on the broken leg he’s got.”

I thought for a moment, but there was no other option. “We will just have to be the ones to tell everyone. We planned this before we came out here. If for any reason someone got lost or we had to hide out for a bit, we have a designated spot to go. I know this sounds crazy, but I think if we just stand up, take off running and screaming retreat... people will get it. That’s going to be the only way to alert the other posts and give everyone their best shot. Smith will have no choice but to stay up in the tree. He’s got one of the men’s rifles, and he’ll go undetected as the rest of us run. He can help us from above,” I said and shook my head. “Sounds ridiculous, and we’re gonna lose people, but I don’t know what else to do.”

Sierra looked down at the ground, then back towards me. “Sounds like a plan. We better split up and try to stay