Chapter 124: Solitude

~ Jaden blinked and looked around himself. By all appearances he was standing in a rolling meadow... Alone.

"Andy?" he called, as loudly as he dared. When he got no answer he tried again. "Anybody?" Still no one answered. He quickly pulled off his pack and unzipped one of the front pockets, dumping out a couple of nutri-bars in his hurry to get at his radio. Jerking open the zip-lock bag it had been protected in, Jaden flipped the radio on.

"Team 6, this is Jaden, please respond." A moment passed and Jaden repeated his call. There was silence for a second more before the radio crackled.

"Takyle here, where are you and is Andrew with you?" With Takyle's message Jaden was simultaneously hit with relief and fear.

"Andrew isn't here and I don't know where 'here' is. I'm in some sort of grassland or something."

"Me too. Give it a minute, maybe Andrew will key in." Takyle advised calmly.

As if called by prophecy that second the radios buzzed one more time and Andrew's voice came through, tinny and distant sounding.

"Team 6, Andrew here, please respond."

"We're here Andrew," Takyle answered.

"Oh, thank Ishvara," said Andrew.

"Andrew, do you know where you are?" Takyle interrupted.

"No clue."

"Ok, then I'd guess that this is an independent level."

"Is that normal?" asked Jaden.

"Not extraordinarily so," said Takyle. I remember them putting one in six years ago."

"Oh, okay."

"So what, Boss?" asked Andrew. "Explore but maintain radio contact?" Takyle was silent for a short moment.

"Yes, that would probably be best. Be careful."

"Yes Ma'am," Andrew and Jaden both answered.

"Good. Takyle out."

"Ditto," chimed in Andrew, and Jaden's radio went quiet. He tood a deep, calming breath and then tucked the walkie talkie into one of the pouches on the back of his utility belt. Swinging his pack back onto his shoulder, he took another look around. A bush bearing pinkish flowers grew a few yards to the left. Not as good as a tree, but it would do as a landmark.

Jaden snapped one of the branches off and lay it on the ground, pointing in the the direction he intended to go first.

"I'll call it "North"," Jaden murmured to himself as he started off. As he walked, Jaden kept up a running commentary under his breath, partly to cement anything that might be of importance in his memory and partly just to fill the void of no one else to talk to. He found himself tending toward mildly disabling continual curiosity about what his surroundings might signify.

"Those rocks are sort of in an arrow shape. That's encouraging."

"Wind to my back, that's always a good sign."

"The sun's still high so there's probably more than enough time to finish whatever this is before dark."

"A pair of geese flying in the same direction that I'm walking; How could that be anything but a good omen?"

"If a grasshopper jumps out of the way when you're walking... What does that mean?"

"Shut up," his mind ordered.

"Fine, geez! What's your problem?"

"No really. Shut up."

And so Jaden did. ~

Chapter 123: Validation

~ Takyle took a deep breath and glanced around at the men on the floor, her eyes finally resting back on Cmd. Tucker.

"You have no idea what you're doing!" Cmd. Tucker hissed back at her. "This is not your war."

"Exactly," agreed Takyle. "So we have no reason to be helping you decimate these...Caltens. We don't even know why you're fighting, let alone if it's necessary."

"I told you that I'd explain everything later," he said.

"Yeah, conveniently after the deed has been done. No thanks."

Andrew cleared his throat. "Takyle," he said quietly. "We should move, don't you think?"

"Yes." Takyle moved around the commander to the console he'd been working at and yanked the computer chip out of it's port. All around the room screens blanked.

"Hey! You can't just do that," protested the commander.

"Be quiet," Takyle ordered. "And sit still if you don't want to be tied down." She backed away from the chair, studying the computer chip, gun trained on the commander's chest. She glanced at Andrew and Jaden to make sure they were keeping an eye on everyone and then propped the chip against one of the consoles. Without another look around she pointed the handgun at the chip and shot one round at it at point blank range.

As the chip and surrounding components of the of the console exploded into millions of shards of plastic the commander jumped up.

"NO!"

Takyle smoothly turned, arm still extended to point the gun back at Cmd. Tucker.

"Sit down," she ordered coldly. The commander took a tiny step back but refused to sink into the chair. He glared at Takyle.

"Do you have any idea how far that will set us back?" he hissed aggressively. Takyle shrugged.

"A long time I hope. Now move over to that wall, all of you." Takyle flicked the gun barrel toward the far wall. The commander hesitated for only a moment before walking to where Takyle had pointed, joined by the three other men.

"Face the wall, hands behind your heads. And don't stand too close," said Takyle. She glanced over at Jaden and Andrew and nodded toward the door.

"Let's go."

Jaden stepped back and swung the door to the main room open. White light flooded over them and the concrete bunker faded into the brightness. ~

Chapter 122: Disambiguation

~ Jaden stood unmoving, his heart in his throat and his entire attention fixed upon the vague shape of Takyle's arm in his peripheral vision. As if in slow motion he saw her arm begin to withdraw from her pack and in her hand he caught the blue glint of gun steel. Beside him Andrew started to spin away, smoothly pulling his knife as he turned, and Jaden followed. He saw a look of surprise falling over the faces of the officers behind them.

"This has to be quick. This has to be quick or we could be in big trouble."

Jaden and Andrew reached the two men at the door before they were able to finish opening their mouths to shout a warning. Jaden gave a quick chop with his left hand to knock the hand of the officer in front of him away from his weapon and then followed up with another blow to the man's windpipe. The soldier gasped and clutched as his throat, vainly struggling to get a breath. Beside him Andrew already had the other man immobilized with one arm trapped behind his back and a dagger at his throat.

As Jaden and Andrew had moved on the guards, Takyle had crossed the room and spun the commander's chair around to use him as a shield, pressing the barrel of her gun to his temple. By that time the third officer had turned around and reached for his own gun. He looked panicked as he tried to decide how to act.

"Order them to stand down and keep quiet," Takyle hissed at the commander. "Do it now!"

"Do what she says," Cmd. Tucker ordered, his voice breaking slightly from the gruff monotone he had been using. Jaden almost laughed. The man was scared; he wasn't going to offer much, if any resistance.

"Disarm them, Andrew," said Takyle, retaining her hold on Cmd. Tucker. Andrew quickly pulled the guns of the two officers held by Jaden and himself and then gestured at the third officer.

"Hey you, slide your sidearm into the middle of the room and lie down on the floor with your hands behind your head." When all three officers were on the floor Takyle turned Cmd. Tucker to face her.

"Alright then, now I feel like we can talk." ~

Chapter 121: Untenable

~ The slight unrest that the look in Cmd. Tucker's eye had given Jaden was growing more concrete by the second. He caught himself nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot and forced it to stop. Thankfully Andrew was already on the issue.

"Commander, just who are the Caltens?" he asked.

"They are the enemy."

"And what did this...other race is it? What did they do to start this war you're fighting?" At that the commander turned around once again.

"They exist." The commander stared Andrew down, cold fervor marking his features. "For now." Andrew held the man's gaze for a few moments and then lowered his eyes. As soon as the commander turned away Andrew glanced pointedly at Takyle.

"We have to do something," he whispered, keeping his face pointed straight ahead so that the officers behind them couldn't see his mouth moving. Takyle looked around hesitantly.

"Who's to say we're supposed to interfere?"

"This is genocide we're talking about, Takyle! And we made it possible with those codes. I'm going to do something." Andrew glanced over at Jaden.

"I'm in!" Jaden whispered. Takyle nodded.

"Ok, you're right. What can we do?" Andrew took a quick look over his shoulder to place the two other officers. They still stood stoically on either side of the door. Andrew lowered his voice even further.

"We have to get that chip back. I don't know if the commander is armed, but the other three definitely are, so we need to take them out first."

"The two behind us are watching for something to happen," Jaden warned.

"And if we allow too much noise others might come in here. We need to make this fast and quiet."

"I've still got the thing I found in that desk," murmured Takyle without taking her eyes from the screens across the room. "If I can get it out..."

"Ta," said Andrew aloud. "Do you have any more of the pain tabs the medic gave me in your pack? My stomach is getting pretty sore." Takyle had never carried any of Andrew's medicine and it only took a split second for her to catch on.

"Uh, yeah I think so... Let me look." As Takyle slipped her backpack off and began to unzip it Andrew glanced at Jaden and made a quick motion to indicate what he needed to do. Jaden gave one minuscule nod in response. He felt his heart rate begin to increase and his legs tense in anticipation. ~

Chapter 120: Preemptive

~ Just as Jaden placed the chip in Cmd. Tucker's hand the man glanced up to meet his eye and in the back of Jaden's mind a warning started to sound. As the commander inserted the computer chip into an adapter, and then into the console in front of him, Jaden quickly backed up to were Andrew and Takyle were standing, glancing around as subtly as he could. One member of the escort was typing busily at a second console about 12 feet away and the other two stood flanking the door, their eyes fixed on Team 6. Jaden looked to Andrew but he was busy watching the commander. Jaden cleared his throat nervously.

"So uh...what are you guys going to do with that chip, Commander?"

"We're going to win a war, thanks in no small part to your help," Cmd. Tucker answered absently. Jaden glanced back to Andrew to see if perhaps the longshot plan to get Andrew's attention with just his tone of voice had worked. With great relief he saw that it had; Andrew was giving him a quizzical look. Now that Jaden had his friend's attention he realized that he had no idea how to communicate his vague feeling of disquiet without attracting suspicion. He tried doing it with just a significant look and a twitch of his head in the commander's direction, but if anything that only increased the look of confusion in Andrew's eyes.

"Who is this war with?" Jaden asked.

"A group called the Caltens," said the commander.

"What started it?" For the first time since Jaden had given him the chip the commander took his gaze from the screen in front of him to shoot a quick glance back over his shoulder.

"It was a complex political situation, I doubt I could explain it properly."

Jaden watched as a series of maps scrolled across one of the console screens. He swallowed his timidity.

"Well why don't you try." By this time both Andrew and Takyle had their attention on Jaden, and Andrew seemed like he might be working out what Jaden was getting at.

"Look, I don't really have time for this right now. I assure you all of your questions will be answered later," Cmd. Tucker snapped impatiently. Andrew spoke up.

"Yeah, I don't think that will be good enough. I think we have some questions that you should really answer now. What are you going to do with that?"

The commander spun around in his chair to finally face them.

"We're going to use it for a weapon that we've been working on for a very long time now. Millions of our people have died in this war and this strike will put an end to it! Now be quiet so we can finish the job." ~

Chapter 119: Elemental

~ Before either Takyle or Jaden could reply to Andrew the box beeped again and a second panel popped open. After a short pause Andrew reached into the tiny compartment and pulled out a green and silver computer chip, snugly fitted into a clear protective case.

"Maybe we did do the right thing. Wonder what this is for," he said, passing the chip to Jaden.

"There is nothing else in the "instructions" that we were given," stated Takyle, leaning back.

"Well then maybe we're supposed to give this to Cmd. Ready-With-Information, now that we've gotten it out of the box," Jaden suggested.

"Could be." Takyle rose from her seat and crossed the room to open the door. In the war room the activities were still ongoing and it took a moment for Takyle to locate Cmd. Tucker and catch his eye. When she did get his attention he quickly strode over and immediately demanded an update.

"Well? Did you get it open?" Takyle paused a moment before answering.

"Yes...yes we did."

"Good; where is the chip?"

"In here, but may I ask you what it is for?" Takyle inquired. The commander tilted his head impatiently.

"I'll do you one better than that; bring the chip and you can come along and see for yourself." Takyle nodded and gestured for Jaden and Andrew. As they left the side room and followed Cmd. Tucker across the floor of the war room three other officers fell into step behind them, keeping a respectful distance, but very obviously not just coming along for interest's sake. Jaden felt himself stiffen slightly in either nervousness or excitement. He glanced over at Andrew to make sure that he had noticed as well. Andrew met his eye for only the briefest of moments and it was more than enough to let Jaden know that he was aware of their escort.

"Play it cool and see what happens," Jaden thought to himself. "This could be nothing."

On the opposite side of the room the commander led the entire group through yet another door, but this one into a chamber with several large control panels set against three of the walls. Cmd. Tucker sat down in front of one of them and held out his hand without looking at any member of Team 6.

"Give me the chip," he ordered. At Takyle's nod, Jaden stepped forward and placed the tiny piece of plastic and metal in the commander's open hand. ~

Chapter 118: Opperant Conditioning

~ Without another word Cmd. Tucker spun on his heel and marched off toward a door in the far wall. Takyle glanced back at Andrew and Jaden; they both shrugged.

"Let's go," she said, turning and walking quickly to catch up with the commander. At the door he stopped and turned around.

"This job I have for you is of the utmost importance. Do you understand?"

"Sure, why not," said Andrew blandly. The commander shot him a scorching look.

"I'll need to know that you are going to give this your all," he said, this time addressing Takyle directly.

"I'm sure we'll do our best, Cmd. Tucker; why don't you go ahead and tell us what the task is?"

The commander tightened his lips and opened the door, stepping into the small room ahead of Team 6. He waved to a table set in the middle of the bare floor. In the center of the table sat a nondescript black box and a thin file folder.

"There are instructions in that file. Read and follow them." With that the commander turned around and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"You know what I like about that guy?" said Andrew. "He's so succinct. Abbreviated even. You see the point up ahead on the horizon and, bam, he's already there!"

"Alright Andrew, let's get to work," interrupted Takyle. Each of them took a chair around the table and Andrew flipped open the file.

"Ok, at the top it says Department of Cryptology and then under that there's a bunch of gibberish. It must be a code."

"And we have to break it?" guessed Jaden.

"Looks like it."

"Here," said Takyle. "Let me see." Andrew pushed the file across the table to her and she scanned the document quickly. "This could be a simple substitution code, in which case this shouldn't be too difficult. I know for a fact that e, followed by t and then a are the letters used most often in the English alphabet, so let's start by substituting those for whatever letters appears most often here." Takyle pulled out her pen and began tallying letters in the first few sentences of code.

"Ok, it looks like the three letters used most here are g, r, and u, in that order, so I'll sub those out and from that it's pretty obvious that these words are all 'the', 'an', or 'and'." After saying that Takyle fell silent as she quickly figured out the rest of the letters by simple trial and error.

"Alright, it says to press down the first two and the last of the small buttons at the same time to open the front panel of the box." Andrew pulled the box that was in the middle of the table toward him and flipped it over in his hands. On one side he located a row of small black buttons and pressed pushed the three that Takyle had indicated. With a near silent whir a panel above the buttons raised itself exposing a row of colored lights and three more rows of buttons.

"Ok, now what?"

"Now...input the initializing codes?" Takyle looked up. "Was there anything else in this file Andrew?"

"No, just that sheet of paper."

"Well, there has to be something else. Right under that is says 'Warning: Termination will ensue if proper initializing codes are not entered.'"

"Termination of what exactly?" asked Jaden quietly.

"Don't know. Hopefully not us. So let's figure this out." The team fell silent as they thought. Jaden felt his concentration slip, and he allowed his mind to wander, dreamlike, through memories. Suddenly he jerked and sat up straight.

"Hey! That scepter that I found in the dessert sim right before Andy got stabbed had numbers on it!"

"Who has it?" asked Takyle.

"I did have it, but we've switched stuff around since then," offered Andrew, slipping his pack off and looking through his gear. "Yup, still got it! And you're right, there are numbers etched on it." Andrew laid the scepter on the table. "You think that those numbers are the code?"

Jaden leaned over to look into the open panel. "Well, the numbers on the scepter are in three groups of eight, and the box has three rows of buttons inside, so maybe each bunch of numbers corresponds to one line of buttons?"

"Seems like that could be the case, but is that a chance we're willing to take?" asked Takyle. "You know, what with the "warning" and all."

"Well I don't have any better ideas," Andrew said with a shrug.

"Ok...let's do it."

Andrew bent over the box once again. "So, you're thinking that these buttons represent the numbers zero to nine from left to right, Jay, and each of the number strings is entered on its own line?"

"Yeah, I mean, it seems logical doesn't it?"

"Sure, I guess. Ok, so the first line of numbers is 38661942?" ask Andrew, his hand hovering over the buttons. Jaden glanced at the scepter to confirm the digits for Andrew and nodded. Andrew gingerly pressed the first button and the lights began flashing red. He quickly but carefully finished the other seven digits and pulled his hand back. The lights flashed yellow once and then went back to blinking red.

"Is that a good sign you think?" Andrew asked, looking up to get the second string of numbers.

"Maybe," said Takyle. "Keep going."

"75204019," Jaden read off for Andrew. Again the lights blinked yellow once.

"Ok, last one," said Jaden. "65523960."

As soon as the last button on the last line was pressed the blinking lights sped up disconcertingly for about a second and then all turned to solid green. With a final small beep the entire box went dead. For several moments Team 6 sat still, waiting. Finally Andrew spoke up.

"Huh... Well that was anti-climatic. Did we do something wrong?" ~

Chapter 117: All The King's Horses

~ "Yep, I heard it that time," confirmed Andrew.

Takyle quickly started up the stairs again, this time bounding up two at a time with Andrew and Jaden right on her heels. Within 20 seconds they had reached the top landing of the tower and crashed through a loose wooden door that stood a foot ajar. Seamlessly they stumbled into a bunkered war room, officers and orderlies bustling in and out around them. Men in various breeds of uniform shouted at one another across maps and sand tables, a din of hurried conversation all around them. Screens and monitors, some of them being continually updated with line after line of data, lined the edges of the room over banks of computers.

"Hello," stated Andrew, breathlessly.

"What the hell?" demanded Jaden. No one in the war room seemed to care at all that they had come bursting through the door. For that matter no one seemed to have even noticed them.

"Excuse me," Takyle said to a passing officer. He didn't pay her any mind. "Excuse me," she said louder, snagging a young man in crisp khaki's by the elbow.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am?"

"Where are we and who's in charge here?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer your first question ma'am, that's classified, and you'll need to speak to Cmd. Tucker to be debriefed." The young man snapped off a quick salute and started to turn away but Takyle maintained her grip on him.

"Hang on there Zippy, where's Cmd. Tucker?"

"Over there, ma'am," answered the soldier, pointing to one of the sand tables where a man was gesticulating wildly to what was clearly a subordinate.

"Thank you," Takyle said, releasing the soldier to go about his business and starting across the crowded room. Andrew shot Jaden a look and they followed, both of them keeping a hand on their daggers and a watchful eye on the men moving around them. Not a single person seemed concerned with them at all, but Jaden and Andrew weren't about to take it on faith that that would remain the case. When they reached the sand table Takyle brusquely addressed the man behind it.

"Cmd. Tucker." The man didn't look up.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely.

"I want you attention for a moment," she replied in a scathing tone. At that the commander raised his eyes. He looked slightly taken aback but only briefly before his eyes narrowed and he looked Takyle up and down critically.

"Well, you've got my attention now and I've got precious little time to waste so what the hell do you want?"

"We were told to come to you for debriefing," answered Takyle, matching the commander in impatient, no-nonsense attitude.

"Team 6?"

"Yes."

"Well it's about time you got here! Come on, I've got a job for you." ~

Chapter 116: Reprise

~ It was not long at all before Team 6 reached the tower and discovered, neatly tucked away in the shadows cast by the massive wooden legs and framework, a media station. While Jaden and Andrew stood looking around warily, Takyle touched its screen and it began to hum quietly. Lighted text and a map blinked into life on the dark green background and she quickly scanned the dots on the map.

"Looks like there are three other teams on this level now and eight teams are somewhere behind us. Two teams are ahead and all together six teams are out of the race so far... Four people are dead and it looks like all but five of the teams have at least one injury serious enough to declare here."

"And look at that, we're one of them," Andrew stated blandly, reading over her shoulder.

"Well I wonder which of us they could be referring to?" Takyle answered. "Come on guys, let's climb."

"What do you think could be up there?" asked Jaden as they started up the rickety, wooden steps.

"Rapunzel?" guessed Andrew.

"If that were the case then shouldn't we be on a hair-powered elevator or something?" said Takyle. Jaden nodded.

"Yeah, but in the story I think you had to call to the maiden, and we didn't do that, so we have to walk up." Takyle shook her head regretfully.

"Damn. Oh well, lessons learned."

Jaden began silently counting stairs and got somewhere past 150 before he lost track of his tally and happened to look up. Through the sparse, dilapidated scaffolding that supported the steps, Jaden could see the vast, mountainous terrain stretching spectacularly out away from them in every direction. From this high up the thorny shrubs and sharp rocks covering the slopes were smoothed over and in the new light of day everything looked fresh and clean. Jaden opened his mouth to ask Andrew why the hell they didn't bring a camera, but caught himself.

"It's not real, moron." He shook his head and kept trudging up the stairs.

"Hey, don't be too hard on me, I've never seen anything like this before!"

"Andy?"

"Yup," answered Andrew.

"Think there are really places like this?"

"Like this fire tower?"

"Yeah, well, all of it. This," said Jaden, gesturing outward to everything surrounding them.

"Yes, I suppose so. Not a lot of places like this left, but there are some." Andrew paused on a landing to take a deep breath before tackling the next flight. "Ever been to Yellowstone?"

"No."

"It's amazing," chipped in Takyle.

"Yes, 'tis. We should go there sometime if we ever get out of this friggin' race," said Andrew. Jaden suddenly grabbed Andrew's arm to stop him.

"Quiet! Did you hear that?"

"What?" whispered Andrew. Jaden stood perfectly still, head cocked to the side. There it was again.

Shouting. ~

Chapter 115: To the Future

~ By the time Team 6 got on their way, the still hidden sun was just beginning to color the horizon a radiant orange. Jaden felt that his spirit had improved considerably from the night before, but he was still incredibly tired, not to mention on edge in the constant expectation of attack. He did take heart in the fact that Andrew didn't seem to be in a terrible amount of pain. As they walked Andrew talked and joked softly with Takyle while Jaden followed, lost in his own thoughts.

"Just press on," he told himself. "How much worse can it get?" Jaden immediately began berating himself for the thought. He knew very well that it could get much worse and he held to the illogical belief that by even thinking he had hit rock bottom, he was just begging for the floor to drop out.

"So then I said to her, well I'd like to see you take that to the bank!" said Takyle with a laugh in her voice. Beside her Andrew grinned.

"Ok Ta, either I'm missing something here or that is a lot less amusing than you think it is," he said in a teasing tone.

"Oh come on! Maybe you had to be there to get the full effect, but that was damn funny!"

"Alright, if you say so," Andrew conceded with a laugh, slipping his arm around Takyle's waist and pulling her toward him.

"Geez, Andrew, you're breaking my stride," she scolded gently, but didn't pull away immediately.

"I'd do more than that to you, given the chance," Andrew replied, flashing her a grin that could charm the legs off an insect.

"Andrew, you're not a douche; don't act like one," said Takyle, pushing him away from her.

"Ok hun, I'll only act like a prat from here on out, scout's honor."

"Were you ever even actually a scout?" Takyle demanded.

"Yes, I absolutely was. I earned all kinds of badges. The tracking badge, and the fire badge, and the assisting the elderly badge, and the knot tying badge, and the bird feeding badge."

"The bird feeding badge, ey? I bet those learned skills have a lot of applications in your day to day life."

"You'd be surprised!"

As they crossed the side of the mountain, the scrub brush and stunted trees grew thicker but in front of them they could just see the top of the tower that they were headed toward. In the dawn's light the flashing beacon at the very top of it was dimming. It appeared to be an old fire watch tower, the tiny cabin at the apex enclosed with windows on all four sides.

"What the deuce could there be in an ancient fire tower?" Jaden wondered. ~

Chapter 114: Ahead of the Sun

~ Before dawn Takyle was up and banging around camp, packing up the few things that the team had left out the night before.

"Come on guys, rise and shine."

A loud groan answered her.

"What kind of moron volunteers for this kind of competition?" Andrew moaned from his bed.

"The masochistic kind," Jaden responded blearily.

"Yeah well, this masochistic moron wants the two of you set to head out in five," Takyle ordered brusquely.

"Ok, we're up," snapped Andrew, still wrapped in his sleeping bag. As Jaden sat up he heard his back creak.

"Ah frick," Jaden groaned, pulling himself to his feet and stretching, twisting his shoulders from side to side. "Are we going to eat breakfast, Takyle?"

"Nope. We can wait or eat on the way."

"On the way where?" asked Andrew, disentangling his legs from his sleeping bag.

"There." Takyle pointed off to the right, perpendicular to the slope. Above the horizon a dim orange light was suspended, blinking every couple of seconds.

"What is it?" Jaden asked.

"I don't know. But if it was there last night we missed it. I was also thinking that as a general rule we want to be moving up in this race and here we are going downhill."

"Oh," Andrew muttered. "Yeah, I didn't think about that."

"None of us were thinking all that clearly yesterday, for very good reasons. So let's take a quick detour to see what this is and if it's nothing we'll keep doing what we were. Even now I don't know that that is wrong. Technically no decisions we make are supposed to be wrong; just better or worse."

Jaden began to put on his backpack and then stopped.

"Andrew, how long has it been since you changed that bandage on your stomach?"

"Um, a while," Andrew answered. Jaden tightened his lips disapprovingly and turned immediately to Takyle.

"Takyle, I know we're in a hurry, but that is something that he should definitely do, so you need to make time for it right now." Takyle nodded.

"Do it," she ordered. "Oh, and Jaden, you have a few wounds there yourself. Take care of them."

"Ha, you just caught a ricochet," Andrew scoffed as he took off his pack and set it back down.

"Yeah, Andy," Jaden answered skeptically. "I really got the short end of this stick. I have to take care of myself. Obviously I should be more careful when placing requests that could keep you from dying."

"Exactly." Andrew agreed, unbuttoning his overshirt. He pulled up the side of his black t-shirt to expose the bandage that the medic had wrapped around his torso. "Man, seems like this happened a long time ago." He turned away as he unwound it, but he wasn't quick enough.

"Andy, you've been bleeding! What the hell man? Why didn't you say something?"

"Well largely because I didn't realize that it was happening. You know I was captured and interrogated right?"

"Are you in more pain than before?" asked Jaden as Takyle stepped over to look at Andrew.

"Not really. About the same," he said.

"Andrew, that really worries me," Takyle told him, glancing down at the blood soaked bandages.

"Look, the medic never said that it's not normal for a wound like this to bleed some. The stitches seem fine; doesn't look infected to me, so I'm ok. Jay, will you give me some antisep please?"

"Yeah, hang on." Jaden knelt and unzipped his pack to get the medkit out.

"How's the leg, Jaden?" asked Takyle.

"Fine. Doesn't really hurt much more than the rest of me right now."

"Well that's good I suppose."

"Could be a lot worse," he said.

"Yeah," chimed in Andrew. "You could be ugly too." ~

Chapter 113: Words Spoken

~ "What do you mean you shouldn't have gotten me into this?" asked Jaden.

"I mean that it's my fault that this happened in the first place. I knew what kind of a race this is. It's about exploiting a person's every weakness."

"I'm not weak," Jaden protested.

"That's not what I meant, Jay." Andrew sighed and fell quiet.

"Then what did you mean?" Jaden asked after a moment of unbearable silence.

"You can have a weakness without being weak. There is a point in every chain that is not as strong as all the rest and that can be by a lot or by a little. Everybody has weaknesses."

Jaden turned his face to the darkness outside of the small circle of their camp.

"Yeah well, you didn't "get me into this" anyway. I wanted to be in this."

"Even now? After everything that's happened so far?" asked Andrew, quietly.

"Especially now. This is the most awesome thing I've ever done. It may kill me, but it's awesome. No matter what happens, this makes things different for my entire life."

"Jay, somebody tried to rape you," Andrew stated incredulously.

"Yeah well, I've had worse things happen to me and I'm still kicking."

"I can tell you one thing Jay, you've got what it takes. Whether we win this race or not you are going to make something of yourself. There's no reason why you shouldn't. You're smart, you've got the will for it, I don't see anything stopping you."

Jaden tried to smile but found it difficult. "Well I can see something stopping me. College costs money, and if we don't win this I haven't got any aside from what Takyle's paying me."

"Don't you worry about that," said Andrew, his voice as reassuring as it had ever been. "There are options. We'll get you taken care of." For a long moment no one spoke and then Jaden cleared his throat.

"Thanks Andrew."

"Sure thing Jay."

"I think I can go to sleep now."

"Ok, well, good night."

"You too Andy." ~

Chapter 112: Eventual Release

~ As Jaden settled to the pace that Takyle was setting, he allowed himself to relax just enough that he was able to block out most of the throbbing pain radiating from various points on his body. Behind him Andrew quietly hummed unknown melodies, the stanzas interspersed with an occasional observation about their immediate surroundings. The group walked on through the day, pausing only briefly for lunch and a short break before moving on again. The path continued on a downhill trend, with brief stints upwards over smaller rises, though the scenery remained similarly uneventful.

As the hours passed, Jaden found himself slipping into a melancholy that he couldn't shake. With each step he felt himself sink a little deeper still. In the back of his mind a constant nagging voice threatened to tell him the reason for it and he continually shoved the thought away, only to have it return again and again, pressing against his defenses, pushing through the cracks.

A mantra set itself up in his mind, chanting over and over, "Just keep walking, just keep walking."

After the sun slipped behind the horizon and the slopes had faded to black Takyle finally called a halt to their long march.

"Alright, we're going to eat, sleep for a couple of hours and then head out again. I want to get off of this stupid mountain."

Jaden and Andrew both nodded and silently went about pitching their impromptu camp and fixing something nondescript for dinner. The meal was eaten for the most part in silence and in the dark each member of Team 6 crawled into their sleeping bag for a fleeting bit of rest.

Jaden lay staring up at the stars far above and the deeper blackness surrounding each point of light, wishing for sleep and lying in continual disappointment. Eventually Jaden's vision blurred and he gave into the thoughts that were screaming to be heard, until he was startled by Andrew's voice.

"Jay, why are you still awake?" he murmured. Jaden sat up and looked over to where he knew Andrew was supposed to be sleeping.

"How did you know?"

"We've been rooming together for nearly a year dude. Your breathing changes."

"Oh."

"So what's wrong?"

Jaden sat for a long moment in silence, staring out into the dark. Finally he spoke.

"Are you scared to be around me, Andy?"

"If I was would I be sitting here in the dark with you, knowing that you're armed?" asked Andrew, his voice carrying his smile. "But um... What would make you say something like that Jay?" The quiet that surrounded them was heavy while Jaden thought about his response.

"Well... What happened with Kathleen... I don't... I didn't really think-" Jaden's failing speech ground to a halt when Andrew interrupted his stammering.

"You mean because of the fact that you fully intended to kill that woman before I stopped you?"

"Yes."

"What did she do to you, Jaden?"

"How does he know?"

"Because he can read you like a book."

"I want to tell him everything."

"I don't know how."

"Just say it. Say it now."

"How?"

"Just say it!"

"Kathleen tried to rape me." The words spilled out quickly and Jaden regretted them immediately. Inexplicably he felt a rush of shame.

"What's wrong with you? You didn't do anything."

Andrew was silent for a long time and for a moment Jaden imagined that his friend was judging him. Surely Andrew would think that he had brought it on himself somehow.

"Don't be such an idiot. He's on your side," Jaden reminded himself harshly.

When Andrew did finally speak his voice was edged with icy anger.

"What happened? What did she do?"

Jaden drew a deep and somewhat shaky breath, allowing himself a moment of relief over Andrew's response, and then he began to describe what had happened. He left nothing out and Andrew was silent through the entire narrative, though Jaden could feel his eyes on him through the darkness. When Jaden had finished pouring his heart out the stillness of the night settled itself around them once again. Eventually Jaden heard Andrew sigh.

"Andrew... What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I was an idiot for getting you into this." ~

Chapter 111: Indistinct

~ Jaden was not awake long enough to see the traps that Andrew and Takyle were discussing put into place. As soon as they were done eating Jaden cleaned up their mess kits and then, at Andrew's nod, curled up on top of his sleeping bag and passed out. Three hours later he woke, shaking in the chill air, the left side of his body slightly numb from laying in one position on the rocky ground. He fumbled around with the zipper of his bag and took a half-asleep glance around to locate Andrew and Takyle's still forms in the dark before crawling into his sleeping bag. Now that he was aware of just how uncomfortable he was, Jaden found it more difficult to fall asleep again, but it wasn't long before his exhaustion overcame even that and his thoughts slipped away. After another three hours passed, Jaden was startled awake when Andrew placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Morning Beautiful," Andrew whispered. Jaden sat up stiffly and looked around at the surrounding darkness.

"If you say so," he said, scrubbing his palms across his face.

"It will be getting light soon; we need to be moving."

"Ok. I'm on it." Jaden blearily dragged himself out of his bag and began rolling it up while Andrew moved off and fired up their camp burner again. By the time Jaden and Takyle had stowed their gear Andrew had warmed up what was left of last night's dinner and mixed some instant coffee.

Jaden scarfed down his portion of breakfast as quickly as possible, more to get it over with than to conserve time. Aging hadn't really helped the gruel at all, but the coffee wasn't bad. A quick glance around showed that Andrew was already done eating and packing up the tiny stove as Takyle finished off her coffee.

"Do you have a plan for today Takyle?" Jaden asked.

"Other than "Try to make progress," no." Takyle hoisted her pack onto her shoulder after shoving her tin cup into one of the pockets. Jaden nodded and followed suit while Andrew swallowed two of the painkillers that the medic had given him.

"Well I'm ready to go," Andrew said with a good deal more cheer than the situation merited. Takyle's mouth turned up in a smile for a moment before she silently turned and led off down the sloping mountain path. ~

Chapter 110: Too Close For Comfort

~ It didn't take long for Team 6 to cover the surrounding territory, but by the time they were finished the sun was already sinking low on the western horizon. They regrouped South of where they had scaled the cliff at Takyle's call. On that side of the mountain the grade was much more shallow and the granite was clothed with a thin layer of rocky soil. A little further down the slope the occasional scrubby tree had managed to get a toehold among the boulders. Stunted and bent to the wind, but still standing nonetheless.

Takyle stood on top of a large rock, gazing down.

"So guys, there seems to be a path here. It looks like it winds down the mountain."

"Awesome, are you thinking that's what you want us to follow?" asked Andrew.

"Well I don't see any other clues, unless one of you two found something?" Takyle said, hopping down from her vantage point. Andrew shook his head and Jaden joined in.

"Alright then. Our options seem to be to go ahead and make camp right here, or we could follow the path down for a little ways while there's still daylight. If we do that though we have no idea what we might run into."

The three people looked between one another for a second. Finally Jaden spoke.

"Listen, I am sore and exhausted and, make no mistake, I would love to collapse right here. But if you guys want to go on for a little while then I'll do it. I still want to win." Andrew nodded.

"Well Jay, I'm all about the winning side of things, but I did promise you some rest, and to be perfectly truthful I wouldn't mind a bit myself . My stomach is killing me, or at least trying damn hard. Ta?"

"Even though it doesn't feel like we've made it very far today, we've been hitting it pretty hard in the last 24 hours, so yes, let's go ahead and find somewhere to camp. I will suggest going at least down to one of those little trees so that we can have a fire though."

"I'd support that," Jaden agreed.

"Ok, let's do it then," said Andrew with over the top cheerfulness.

As it turned out, even at the base of the tiny trees there were very few fallen branches and what twigs they did find were not anything that would feed a fire for more than a couple of minutes.

"I guess maybe it's time to break out that camp burner that we've been hauling around for all this time," suggested Andrew.

"I suppose it is." Takyle found a large patch of ground that was relatively level and set her pack down. "I think I have that. Shit, I hope it still works. Remember, when we fell into that stupid dungeon thing my pack was open."

"Sit down Jay," Andrew ordered and Jaden did as he was directed without a complaint. Takyle quickly located the little burner and its tank of fuel and set them up on a flat rock.

"Ok, the moment of truth." Takyle hit the primer and auto-ignition buttons and held them down. For a moment the small contraption sputtered impotently before a small blue flame suddenly burst forth. All three team members cheered quietly and gathered around their tiny beacon.

"Fantastic. Warm food. And it will be for reals warm because I know that this fire is actually here," said Andrew.

"Yup, warm food. If you can call it food," Takyle agreed.

Jaden didn't really care if it was really warm or even really food. All he wanted was to have something in his stomach before he just gave up and let himself fall asleep. Luckily, Takyle and Andrew seemed to be similarly motivated and it wasn't long at all before there was a little pot of something nutrient rich and steaming over the flame.

"Should we take watches, or do you feel confident that we're away from danger?" asked Andrew.

"I don't know that it's possible to be away from danger in this race," Takyle answered. "At least it's beginning to look that way." She leaned over to stir the pot on the burner and then picked up Andrew and Jaden's mess kits and spooned out some of the colorless gruel for them before doing the same for herself. "I guess that means we should probably rotate watches. Unless of course you feel that you sleep light enough to hear someone sneaking up on us."

"He sleeps very lightly," Jaden contributed helpfully between bites. "If I get up he knows." Andrew shook his head.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I'd gamble our safety on that... Unless... I could rig a couple of traps real quick. A trip wire maybe. We are surrounded by gravel, which is hard to be silent on as well. I don't want to take undue risks, but I doubt I can overstate exactly how tired I am. If I had the first watch I'd be afraid that I'd go to sleep."

"Yeah, me too... I like the idea of the traps. Let's do that," Takyle decided. "I'll help you with whatever you have to do for that after we're done eating."

"Sounds like a plan," said Andrew. ~