James Axler – Starfall

“I know,” she said, and her acceptance helped him curb his own emotions.

THE CAMPSITE CAME ALIVE slowly. Breakfast was a repeat of the previous night’s meal, only gone cold. The only thing heated up was the coffee sub they had, and that only be­cause the pot had been kept going all night to fuel whoever had been on watch.

Ryan joined J.B. and Mildred at the water’s edge. The Armorer cleaned his glasses with his shirttail and looked at the murky brown water roiling with moss.

“Going to be bastard tricky getting back into the boat without getting leeches all over us,” Mildred commented.

“Then there’s the piranha,” J.B. pointed out.

Ryan gazed into the black and evil eyes staring back up at him. The piranha glided easily through the water, school­ing in lethal pools.

“Guess they took the feeding we dished out last night and decided to stay on,” Mildred said.

Glancing around the campsite, Ryan called out to Jak, “Save some of that rope. We’re going to need it.”

The albino nodded, sorting it out from the gear they’d brought out from Junie.

“Climb over?” J.B. asked.

“We get a line across,” Ryan said, “we can do it.”

“Won’t be easy with the children we’ve got tagging along,” Mildred said.

Ryan glanced at the children and the others they’d res­cued from the coldhearts.

Mildred looked hard at him. “We can’t leave them here. These people were barely making it along whatever path they were taking. We abandon them here, we might as well bury them.”

Ryan felt the back of his neck grow hot. “Fireblast, I know it. The situation we’re in ourselves, taking on other responsibilities is a bastard nightmare.” He turned his eye to the doctor. “But I’m not going to cut them loose here. We’ll see them off someplace safer—if we find one in these woods—and get clear.”

“YOU MISS, you’re more than likely going to be fish shit by nightfall if you don’t make it back to shore.”

Jak looked up at Ryan and nodded. They both stood in the big tree they’d chosen to rig up the ropes. They’d tied one end to a large branch above the albino, out as far as they could reach.

Grabbing the other end of the rope, Jak scampered back into the tree, choosing a branch that would give him enough of an arc to hopefully reach the boat. He stood on the branch barefoot, feeling the rough bark against the soles of his feet.

Ryan concentrated on swinging the panga, hacking small branches out of the way.

Jak knew they’d already removed all the ones that mat­tered, but he also knew the big one-eyed warrior was con­cerned about him. However, none among the companions was more able to achieve the feat that lay before him. He didn’t feel any unease himself. If he couldn’t have made it, he damn sure wasn’t going to swing out over the pir­anha-infested waters.

“Make me promise,” Jak said with a straight face.

Ryan looked up at him. “What?”

“I fall in water, you shoot me in head. Gonna need re­lief.”

“Sure,” Ryan replied, slipping the SIG-Sauer free of leather. “In fact, if it looks like you aren’t going to make it, I’ll shoot you before you hit the water.”

Jak thought about that, wondering how his joke had got­ten lost in the translation. He tested the rope in his hands, pulling it taut and checking the pull of the branch it was tied to. “Joking, Ryan.”

“Yeah,” the big man said. “Me, too. Real fucking funny, wasn’t it?”

Mentally Jak made a note that humor wasn’t exactly something Ryan seemed capable of at the moment. Without another word, he took two running steps forward along the branch, then hurled himself out from the tree.

He kept the tension on the rope, transferring all his for­ward motion into a swing toward the moored boat. He checked the swing, letting his natural acrobat’s ability guide him. The pull of gravity tugged at him, increasing his speed. In a heartbeat, he was out over the water.

His forward motion slowed, and he knew he couldn’t risking losing all of it. Releasing the rope, he spread his arms wide in an effort to keep his balance as he hurtled toward the boat’s prow. He was higher than he’d antici­pated, coming down faster than he’d wanted. At least he was coming down near the boat.