The Guadeloupe Squadeloupe

Chapter XXXII: Guad

"In life you always have a choice. Sometimes it's easier to think that you don't."- Gwen, Merlin (BBC)

My head emerges from the water and I take in the sweet jungle air. That's the second time in a couple months I've had to jump from a moving vehicle into a body of water. It's also the second time it's been Bob's idea.

The icy water stings my skin as I stare at the cloud of smoke rising from the wreckage of train cars. It's my fault, I think. I should've done a better job to convince the conductor. He's dead because of me.

All I can do is watch as pieces of the train, pieces of my responsibility, fall down into the water with a sickening thunk.

"Guad, come on," Perry is saying behind me. I can make out what he says but it sounds as if we are under water.

Suddenly, I am brought back to reality when his hand snaps on my shoulder. "We have to go and make up for the time we're losing." For a second I wonder if he even cares that so many people have just died, and then I want to smack myself. Of course he does. He's the one who tried to save them in the first place. I never thought my respect for Perry would even be a real life thing, but for a second I feel that we may be more alike than I thought.

Snatching a backpack of ours before it can sink, I sling it over my back and begin to swim to shore.

I was never a good swimmer, but that thought never crosses my mind until I'm out of the water. All I care about now is staying with the squad and making sure they're safe. They are still the people that I can protect.

On the banks of this river, we all try to wring out our clothes and few belongings. Bob takes off his shirt and waves it around like a flag in a vain attempt to dry it.

After a few minutes of getting nowhere, we all agree to simply keep moving and follow the path of the train tracks. We trek slowly up the grassy hill to our new path, and before we know it, we're walking on the tracks.

I walk next to Bob (who still hasn't put his shirt back on) as we move as a pack along the train tracks, trying to keep the collision behind us.

"That was scarier than the guy in the documentary said it would be," says Janis to Alice. "Faye actually dared me to jump from our roof to the swimming pool, but I'm not an idiot."

I wonder how she manages to be so cool about jumping out of a moving train. That sort of thing generally used to faze me. Maybe she's so calm because Bob's shirtless.

"You act as if I wasn't there," says her sister. "I remember the dare. You and Faye had a food fight over it. There was tomato sauce in my hair!"

I look around at the jungle and see the trees reaching for the sky. If you look straight on at the undergrowth and trees you can hardly see into them. It's as if they could be hiding anything.

Laughing, Perry says, "How intense was that food fight?" I watch his sister. Since the "Diana's next" note she hasn't talked as much as she did before.

"We had guns made of straws that shot peas," Janis tells him. "Faye threw cantaloupe at my head," I continue to wonder who "Faye" is, "we used the bar stools as shields, my new brother chucked a waffle at the window. It was a total war-zone. Our foster parents were so-"

Gunshots erupt in the air. Diana and Janis scream in unison as we all hit the ground behind a rock. Five men dressed in black combat clothes with the insignia of HEXA emerge from the jungle, firing straight at us.

My breathing grows heavy and quick, as if I'm sprinting.

Suddenly, another man in black, this one unarmed, jumps from a nearby tree and dashes right for us, grabbing Ashton. Keeping him in a choke-hold, he starts to drag our British ally away.

"Go eat a cactus!" Bellows Bob. My friend snatches his switchblade from his pocket and throws it at the guy carrying Ashton. It finds its place in his stomach and the guy falls to the ground. For a person who is seriously goofy most of the time, Bob is quite the marksman.

With five other guys firing at us, I decide to take a risk. Running from the cover of the rock, I sprint to Ashton and his unconscious captor, grabbing the pistol of the latter.

Shaking, Ashton takes the knife from his body and tosses it all the way to Perry.

"Guys!" I yell. "There's a ditch down in here!"

Behind me is a small dip in the ground that can fit all of us and still give good protection. Ashton and I scramble inside as the squad begins to follow.

"I'll cover you!" I tell them, shooting at the other five men. Each shot I make sounds like a hammer in my head, pounding me and trying to get out. The bullets I fire are thunder and the ones of Delgato's men are the storm.

Soon all the members of the squad are in the ditch, seemingly unharmed.

I focus my eyes down the pistol and manage to shoot two of the men in the leg.

That's when Perry starts yelling: "What are you doing?"

Alice is making the 30 foot journey to the bodies where she grabs a rifle and sprints back to the ditch, sliding inside. My heart pounds at having one of our members so brave, but so close to being shot down.

Perry tries to talk to her, but I watch as she refuses, beginning to shoot alongside me. There are only three of HEXA's men still in action, but we've soon taken out two of them.

The last one stares us dead in the eyes and points the gun straight to my heart. Fear pulses through me. In two seconds I won't be here anymore.

Even though he is far away I can see the man pushing his finger on the trigger. I can also see as the gun does not fire. I see as he realizes he's out of bullets.

"I've got this, guys!" Janis suddenly screams. She's taken the switchblade from Perry and is sprinting to the last guy.

Twisting his gun arm at an awkward angle with surprising strength, she stabs him in the side. Two seconds later she's taking the pistols and rifles from the dead soldiers and handing them out to the squad until every member is armed.

Back in the ditch, she smiles to herself while Alice yells at her, giving a pro con giving reasons why she shouldn't have gone and attacked a guy. I don't want to burst Alice's bubble, but she just did something equally, if not more, dangerous.

Bob stares at Janis with eyes that might as well have been hearts. I suppose he likes a girl who can stab people.

Just when I'm beginning to relax and think it's all over, another one of HEXA's men bursts out of the jungle on the other side of the train tracks, as if he's late to the party.

Yelling, he opens fire on us, but he is no match for Alice. She screams and stands up out of the ditch, practically plugging the man with her rifle. She fires shot after shot, even when he's fallen to the ground, she still shoots him. His body morbidly dances amid the jungle grass before Alice stops and he falls still.

And just like her victim when she first opened fire, she falls to the ground with only a whimper.