Hacking the Sun - The Re-Remake

Chapter 17 The Woodsmen 2/2

Jessica and Dexter trudged up the next hill, navigating terrain seemingly untouched by civilization. Not a soul in sight, not a strand or hint of man-made mechanisms infringed upon the slithers of leaves. Only solitude. 

Stranger to the wilderness, Jessica had no clue what to expect. The novelty of their surroundings was almost tangible enough to rub the skin. The sun's descent envisioned a spiraling shift in the scenery. New traits came in the iridescence of local flora. Deeper into the region, the undulating shades morphed from cool greens to warm reds and yellows while the unrecognizable trees embalmed a sense of mystery no thinner than the air they breathed—which almost seemed alien. Never had she laid eyes on so many wreaths of nature.

Eventually, they came to a halt, and Jessica circled until she made eye contact with Dexter. One look at his clueless face helped her accept the fact that they were lost. Thus, she peered beyond the canopy to isolate the position of the sun. All the hours on delivery helped her memorize the direction of its rays during each hour. Unfortunately, nothing along the way clued them on the rendezvous. No sign, no car, no Shannon, no Valerie, and no jerk.

"You have no idea where we're going, do you, Dex?"

"Nope." He sighed.

"Okay. What do you know?"

He shrugged and wiped his glossy face with a leaf. "Just that it's somewhere up north. I think I overheard Monarch, actually, give this very cryptic sentence for the coordinates: 'On the highway out of hell, beware the energizer bunny.' But, I figure if there was any clue about the rendezvous, I would have seen it by now. Sub Terra's got hideouts in different places. Only ones I know of are in the city. So, no one leads everyone; no one knows everything. It's all very secretive. Has to be. And I'm just a small cog they wouldn't keep in the loop."

"Energizer bunny out of hell?" Jessica pursed her lips, shut her eyes, and imagined a rabbit beating a drum out of a circle of fire. "When did you join Sub Terra?"

Dexter snickered. "Not long after we graduated."

"You're not the type."

"No, I'm not."

"You wouldn't even hurt a Cazador."

Dexter lifted polite eyes. "And when did you"—swirling his hand around her figure— "when did you start all this?"

"Really? You're just noticing that I cut my hair?"

"Nnnno. Stop messing with me!"

Jessica smiled through her teeth.

"What exactly have you been up to?"

"Now's not the time, Dex. We have to keep moving." She walked ahead of him.

"The hell?" his voice cracked. "You started this!"

Further, into the unknown, the two wanderers paused atop a leafy hill. Jessica fastened her goggles to scan for clues. Approximately an hour had passed since they made landfall, so if Shannon and Valerie had stopped, they might approach from the opposite direction. However, while Jessica had no doubt her friends would search for her, she was unsure about Raptor. In the middle of that thought, her scan revealed movement in the bushes.

"I think I see someone."

"Really?" Dexter whispered.

"Yea. Hold on."

A searingly loud crash broke the silence of the forest, fading into a distant echo.

Jessica hit the floor, under Dexter's arm, left to ponder the origin of the gunshot. Breathless, she stared from the empty green to her friend's dilating brown eyes. He was quick but not that quick. The bullet hit the nearby tree well before they could duck, so her eyes wandered from Dexter's nervousness to the rising leaf pile behind him.