One Crazy Pilot by Michael Todd & Michael Anderle

Author:Michael Todd & Michael Anderle [Todd, Michael & Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2019-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“You know, I gave it a lot of thought last night,” Gunnar said over breakfast. He had MREs instead of protein bars, a slight improvement.

“Wow, that must’ve hurt,” Manny said.

The soldier snorted. “I had decided, before I was so cruelly insulted, that I would guide you two out of here. I figure it’s a humanitarian thing—better than forcing Ava to listen to another of your stories.”

“Your generosity is legendary,” Manny said between mouthfuls of food. He ate like it was a race, but maybe that was better than savoring the precooked meal. Ava decided to eat faster. The pilot looked up between slurps of food. “What’s the expression, though? The deaf jamming with the deaf?”

“What about Peppy?” she asked.

“That’s who convinced me,” Gunnar said and ignored Manny. “If she found out I left a civilian stranded deep in the Zoo wearing nothing but a busted-up business skirt suit and nurse slippers, with no one to help her but the infamously long-winded Jack Mann, she’d kill me herself. Some things are beyond forgiveness.”

“Where will you guide us, oh fearless leader?” Manny said.

“We’ll make for Wall Two. The way I see it, we don’t have any other option.”

“Is it far?” Ava scanned the horizon. It seemed the Zoo had grown even farther overnight, but it might’ve been a trick of the light. Here and there, pinnacles of stone poked from the thick jungle and added some texture to an otherwise completely green vista. Ava could still make out the desert in the distance, but it seemed a lifetime away, the opposite of a desert’s mirage.

Gunnar stood and shouldered his pack. “It’s far enough that we shouldn’t waste any more daylight.” He had a pack for Ava too, smaller than Manny’s and with a pouch of water built into it, complete with a straw. Modern luxury, he had called it. To the supply of water, he had added some MREs and the first aid kit after they told him that Ava had tended Manny’s wounds. “Are you two ready?”

They climbed down from the rock outcropping on the same side they’d climbed up. Gunnar had taken that way too, as all the other sides were simply too steep.

The descent was faster than the upward climb had been but still tricky. Rocks slid beneath Ava’s feet and clattered away from the steep incline and into the shade of the jungle at the bottom of the slope. They had to watch for the poison quill plants too. She didn’t see any open in the early morning sun, but she hadn’t seen the one that had almost fired at her on the way up until she’d been right on top of it. She wouldn’t let something like that happen again.

“So why Wall Two?” she asked as she picked her way cautiously down.

“As opposed to Wall One?” Gunnar shrugged. “I suppose it’s mostly because I don’t want to be eaten alive by a pack of monsters or some bat demon, but now that you mention it, maybe I’d be amenable to a change of plans.

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