AN: This is super short, and I'm super sorry. I know it's been like FOREVER (four days!) since my last chapter. So, please take my sincere apologies. I really want to try and update at least once a day, so let's keep our fingers crossed. But, at least there is a little bit of excitement at the end...
Miss Junie, thanks for all the great feedback! The specific reviews are extremely helpful. :)
And, to all of my reviewers: Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. It means a lot to me.
It turned out that he had attached a plank of sorts to a pulley system that one could pull up heavy objects, or unconscious hostages. Lucas let her leave the treehouse as soon as her fever had faded away completely; he lowered her down on the board, hardly pained by his shoulder anymore. Skye didn't think it was very fair that he was almost completely healed now.
She looked around the jungle: none of it looked even remotely familiar. There was much flora that she had never seen around Terra Nova before, meaning they had to be a great distance away from her home. But, of course they wouldn't be anywhere close if this was one of the spots Lucas lived. Surely Commander Taylor had searched high and low for his son after their estrangement, and he had never found Lucas.
It was a good spot, she had to admit. It was close enough to a light stream that Lucas could carry water from, but it wasn't quite big enough to attract many predators. There were also plenty of fruit bearing plants around the area, and the medicinal plant that Lucas made her salve from. That tincture was incredibly helpful in relieving the pain and healing the wounds.
"What did you do out here?" Skye asked as soon as Lucas had climbed down the tree from a crude ladder made from tough vines.
He didn't answer so she went on, "Didn't you get bored?"
He looked at her strangely, "I was working on my calculations."
Her eyebrows furrowed, "All the time?"
She couldn't imagine devoting all her time and concentration on one single thing for so many years. Then again, Lucas was so consumed with his desire to "beat his father," whatever that meant to the strange boy, he probably never even noticed the passing time.
"I travelled around the jungle," he said after a short time of silence. "Discovered things you and the rest of the colonists don't even know exist."
"Like the Badlands?" she asked.
He shook his head noncommittally, "Yeah, I went to the Badlands briefly."
Skye's muscles were sore and tight after days of unused, so she walked around the clearing slowly for a few minutes and stretched, careful not to pull at her wounds and reopen them.
"Come on," Lucas said, tucking a long, dangerous knife into the bands of his pants.
"Where are we going?" Skye asked, not even remotely worried that he was going to drag her far away and stab her to death.
"I'm tired of fruit and grass," he said, reaching out and grabbing her hand on her good side to pull her with him. "I want some meat."
She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he was unrelenting. "We're going hunting?"
His eyes glittered tauntingly, "What, never killed something before? Don't tell me I was your first."
"Of course I've killed things before," she spat. "It isn't like we've developed Slasher repellant. Besides, you're not dead, obviously."
"Lucky you."
"Though it isn't from lack of trying on my part," Skye muttered resentfully. She knew he had heard her by his hand tightening around hers uncomfortably.
They trudged in silence, Lucas leading the way and pushing limbs and vines out of his way, careful to let Skye pass through them before he let them snap back into place. Skye tried to make as clear as a path as possible, though she was pretty certain it was futile; Commander Taylor had too much to do to look for one girl that snuck out on her own freewill and was a known spy, even if he was attached to her. The colony would probably conduct a small search around the perimeter, and then assume she had been attacked and dragged off by a carno. Part of her was terrified that no one would be coming for her, but the other part was relieved—she didn't want to put anyone in any danger. Then again, she needed to tell Taylor that there were several spies within Terra Nova; surely he suspected it, though? A thought came to Skye.
"Why did you ask me if your father had mentioned you?" she asked as they pushed their way through tangles; apparently this was an old outpost of Lucas'.
"Huh?" His mind had clearly travelled far away from the two of them, probably to some plan involving the demise of Commander Taylor.
"A few days ago, you asked if your father had asked me about you. But that woman at the market said you had surveillance on your father, so how did you not already know what your father said?" she asked in a rush, her mind whirling.
He stopped walking and looked at her intently. She had interrupted something very important in that complex brain of his; his look was still far away, even as he seemed to mentally solve whatever equation she posed.
"They don't have surveillance on every spot," he said in a distracted voice. "Just key areas. It isn't easy to sneak in that kind of equipment."
She saved the information for if she ever made it back to Terra Nova. They had been on the balcony outside Taylor's hut, where they liked to play chess or just talk about what was going on in Terra Nova.
Skye desperately wanted to ask if he had heard anything about her disappearance—did the Commander think she had betrayed him again? She hoped he would know better. She loved him like a father and hated disappointing him, even when she had done it to save her mother. And Josh, how was Josh taking it so soon after losing his girlfriend? She couldn't restrain herself.
"How is the colony doing?" she asked timidly.
The distraction evaporated from Lucas' eyes in less than a second. Instantly he was alert and angry, but she had expected that.
"You want to know how they are making it without you?" he sneered. Skye wondered if he checked up on Terra Nova after his banishment; she knew he had to, if only to make sure his father was still suffering.
"I just want to know that my family and friends are alright," she said, holding back her urge to yell at him or be rude. He had information that she wanted, so she had to tread carefully.
"Your mother is doing better; your roommate, Tasha, got a promotion; the almighty Commander is worried about you," he said bitterly.
"And Josh Shannon?" she asked cautiously. She barely caught the flash in his eyes at the mention of the boy's name, but it was there.
"The Shannon kid is alive and well, thanks to you." Lucas said in a disappointed voice. "But also pretty upset, thanks to you."
Her heart sank at the thought of causing her friend more grief. He had been through so much lately: his father going to prison, leaving his home, betraying his family, his girlfriend dying, and now losing his friend. And he had just started to feel better…tears came to Skye's eyes and she tried hard to hide them.
Lucas noticed them and his gaze softened, "What's wrong, bucket?"
She shook her head, "Nothing. Let's keep going."
Lucas wasn't buying it. He took two steps towards her until he was right in front of her, his hands cupping her face tenderly.
"Tell me what's wrong."
She refused to look at him, instead she looked at a particularly gnarled tree trunk to her right.
"Is it the Shannon kid? What do you see in him?" he asked, frustration entering his voice.
Skye looked up furiously, "I love him. Do you even know what that is?"
His lips came crashing down against her and he pushed her back roughly until her back hit the same gnarled tree trunk she had been staring at. Her shoulder screamed in pain, but she hardly noticed it. His lips were forceful and demanding, his teeth cutting her lips. She could taste the blood in her mouth, coppery and metallic, a taste she had come to know very well lately. She tried to push him away, but he was much stronger than her, even if she had use of both arms.
When he finally stopped his assault, he rested his forehead against hers, breath heavy. She was too, but she had a feeling that it was for a different reason.
"Yeah," he said, closing his eyes, his breath warming her face. "I know what it is."