A Fortunate Accident – Chapter 14

Once the fence is up and running, we’re allowed out of the vehicle to stretch our legs and help with the setup. I need a break from the men in my life, so I walk around and look for people who need help, but everyone here knows what they’re doing because they’ve all done this before. India Dellis hired enough qualified people to keep everything operational. I hope to see her and talk to her soon. I have questions. Lots of questions.

A group of men across the flattened jungle grass are erecting the individual dormitory buildings, much like the one I slept in for the nights before this trip. I approach them with a wave.

“Hey there. Can I help?”

One turns with his hands out at arm’s length. “Ah, no, miz. You should stand back.”

“I can help. I promise I’m not a complete weakling,” I say with a bright smile.

“Oh, it’s not that. It’s —”

“Coming through!” Another man yells as he strides past us, holding a cloth sack out away from his body. A high-pitched shriek comes from the bag, and I jump away.

“It’s that we still need to remove some native animals before we can get started,” the man resumes. “But honestly, I would feel so much better about things if you went over there to the buildings that are already up. At least over there, we’ve already cleared the grass.”

I raise my hands. “Got it. I will definitely back the fuck up and go over there.”

His returning smile is wry. “Thanks, miz.”

Oh well, so much for helping.

I walk over to the buildings and pace instead of forcing myself on other workers. I’m so unsettled and out of place. I should be on my ship, flying the stars, having dinner and drinks with Saif and Kalvin, sleeping with each of them, making a name for myself with a new business and a new life. Talking with Takemo only makes me want this more. He’s reminding me that there are a lot of misconceptions out there about me, and the only way for me to fight them is with the truth. The whole truth.

I begin to sweat as I consider what outing my family will be like, telling everyone that my mom’s network abused me as a kid. I imagine the concerned faces, the misunderstandings, the shock or the disbelief, and I want to curl up in a ball and not do anything. I wish I could call Marcelo or Vivian and talk to them about this, and I will once the data points have been restored. But my guess is they’ll tell me to listen to my gut and do what’s right for me. It’s what I would say in their shoes. And with no one in my network, I’m not sure who to go to for advice anymore.

Kalvin appears around the corner of the building I’ve been pacing.

“Hey,” he says, stepping into my path. “You all right?”

I stop and narrow my eyes at him. “No. Do I look all right?”

“No. Sorry. It was a dumb question.” He jams his hands in his pockets. “At flight school, I saw nothing but confidence from you. This is a little odd.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it makes you happy to see the princess cracking at the seams.”

“No. It doesn’t.” He huffs a short breath. “What’s with you, Skylar? I thought we put that rivalry behind us.”

Shit. I see what I’m trying to do, annoy him enough to make him go. It’s time for honesty.

“I have nothing left, Kalvin. My mom sold the business out from under me to Takemo. And now she’s coming after the Amagi. My family repeatedly ignored and abused me for years. If you thought I was a good pilot, well then, soon I’ll be a good pilot without a ship and no family either.”

Kalvin is silent for a few moments, his face screwed up in concentration. “Sorry. None of what you just said made any sense.” He rubs his face with one hand. “You know, I heard what you said to Saif, back at his parents’ house, and what Takemo said today in the vehicle. This is the second time you’ve told me, and I still am not understanding the situation. Dominic is one of your mother’s consorts, right?” I nod. “And he abused you, the first daughter, because he’s a selfish asshole?”

“Basically.”

“Then you can’t let him win,” he says, matter-of-factly.

“Win what?”

“Life, Skylar. Hell, I was an asshole to you, and you did not let me win at flight school. You just kept on flying perfectly, waiting for me to screw up.” He laughs. “Brilliant plan, honestly.”

Takemo was an asshole to me, too, but I won that Bridge tournament. And things may have changed with him as well.

“Soooooo, the answer to my problems is to win?”

He nods, his eyebrows lifted. “One hundred percent. And don’t forget Saif. You have to win that, too.” He shrugs. “Winner takes all.”

I laugh at the simplicity of his reasoning. Usually, I’m not interested in winning. I’m interested in being the most competent and intelligent person for my job. I’m not out to win awards; I want to master things. Becoming a master pilot, someone like my friend Asteria, is a dream of mine. But if I had wanted to be a doctor, I would have wanted to make breakthroughs, save lives, or conquer risky surgeries. If I had been an author, my stories would have charmed millions.

But I have never thought of life as a competition. I’m sure that’s not healthy, but maybe it’s what I need to get through things. I need to be the master, and I need to win.

This is like playing cards, Skylar. Take all the tricks. Leave nothing on the table.

“Winner takes all,” I repeat.

“I’ve played enough craps to know when someone is going to win it all, and I’m just feeding their bank account,” he says, slowly approaching me. “I will gladly keep paying to watch you win. It’s thrilling as hell.” He rests his hands on my upper arms. It’s been days since I’ve felt any clarity in my life, and his closeness right now puts it all into perspective.

“It’s not emasculating for you?” I ask, rolling my eyes.

He throws his head back with a laugh. “Please. Men who say that shit have small dicks.” He raises his eyebrows at me twice.

Hmmm, I still haven’t slept with him yet. I let my eyes travel down his front. Sigh. He’s one fine-looking man.

He brings his hands to my face. “Hey princess, my gorgeous eyes are up here.”

“Queen,” I remind him. “Are you going to kiss me?”

Our connection is so intense the ground rumbles beneath my feet. Kalvin smiles as he leans in, his lips close to mine for a moment before they make contact. I draw in a long breath through my nose and press close to him. We shared moments like this after we returned from the desert, but being with him here makes this all seem real, natural.

Kalvin wraps his arms around me and pulls me close as his lips expertly move over mine. He nips at my lower lip and drags his kisses down my neck. I hum and melt into his embrace. Saif taught me to let men hold me, something I never allowed before. And though this feels right, anxiety buzzes in my chest. The evil doubt in my head says things like, “He’ll never last. You’ll just push him away like the rest.”

And then my back smarts with pain as his hands hit a healing cut from the starbats.

“Ow.” I hiss and pull away from him. “Sorry.” I clutch his arms and rest my forehead on his chest. “It’s my back.”

He brings his face down close to my ear. “It’s not my horrible kissing?”

I inhale. “Oh hell no. That was not horrible kissing, though I don’t kiss much.”

He smiles, and it lights up my insides. “Good. Because I thought I lost you there for a moment.”

I shake my head and place my hand on my chest. “My gut wants this. My heart is willing but tired. And my brain? It doesn’t trust anyone or anything anymore.”

“Then we’ll have to teach it differently.”

“Hey, you two,” Takemo says from behind me. I close my eyes and blow out a long breath. “Didn’t want to interrupt or anything.”

Without seeing his face, I can tell he’s annoyed.

“It’s fine,” Kalvin says, cupping the back of my neck and pulling me to him for a kiss on the forehead. I never thought this man could be sweet. He’s always just been a rogue pilot, untouchable.

My face heats.

“But I thought you might want to come around and have a beer? We’ve got chairs set up in the shade.”

I’m about to say yes when I realize the rumble under my feet wasn’t imagined. It’s grown in intensity, from a slight vibration to a knee-knocking tremor. When Takemo looks to the jungle and Kalvin looks over his shoulder, I look at the sky. I can’t see anything in the trees, but birds take flight, squawking and fleeing. Monkeys squeal and swing away through the canopy.

“Shit,” I say, glancing around.

What is it? And where is it coming from? And whatever it is, how do I hide from it?

“Stampede!” someone calls out, running past our building at full sprint. “Run!”

Kalvin and I run for each other and knock heads.

“Ow!” One hand flies to my head, and the other grabs his hand. “Come on!”

We take off, Takemo falling into step next to us, our legs pumping and following other people as they flee for their lives.

“What is it?” I shout over the roaring coming from the jungle.

Takemo points to the right.

“I don’t know!” he yells back.

“Where are… we going?” I am not a runner, and I’m huffing and puffing while my legs scream in protest.

“The vehicles!”

A massive trumpeting sound comes from our rear, and I almost pee my pants with terror. It’s so loud, it pushes us forward. Kalvin stumbles but catches himself before he falls.

I cast a glance over my shoulder as we angle around one of the already erected buildings. What the…

They’re large, twice as big as the vehicles were running to. Mottled gray skin, six or eight legs, a long nose, a mouth full of fangs, and eyes that are the stuff of nightmares. Are they elephants? Are they spiders? I have no fucking clue, and I don’t want to stick around to find out.

One beast tramples a building to our left as we run. People scream, and building materials scatter everywhere. Something hits me in the back. I stumble into Takemo and almost knock him down.

“Skylar!” he shouts, grabbing me and yanking me up to run again.

Kalvin lets go and taps into a burst of speed to get ahead of us. He’ll reach the vehicles before we do and hopefully before these beasts.

The trumpeting and shouting crescendo as more beasts pile into the compound at a run. Dear God, I never expected this. Snakes in my bed, yes. Spider-Elephant-Beasts in a raging stampede, no.

Up ahead, the vehicles are parked along the edge of the forest behind the electric fence, which is now offline and half collapsed across the wild grass. The door to the nearest vehicle opens, and a man leans out.

“Come on!” He’s waving us to him, so I call up my last reserve of strength and speed and pull Takemo along. My lungs burn, and my face is on fire from exertion. But we have to get there quickly, or we’re dead. Kalvin reaches the vehicle first, swinging his legs in, grabbing on, and holding a hand out.

My skin prickles as my brain focuses on the heavy breathing coming from behind us. The ground shakes, and I’m so close to giving up and crying that I can already feel the tears burning in my eyes. Terror and I do not get along. When I’m in space dealing with a stressful situation, I follow procedures. I assess risk and make decisions. This run for your life shit? It’s so not me.

The beast is getting closer, and my steps are wobbling because the ground is shaking with each of its strides. How does a spider and what looks to be an elephant become this? What the hell happened on Rio to make it this way?

“Go,” Takemo yells, throwing my hand off and urging me forward towards the vehicle.

Five meters. My legs pump. Three, two, one.

I leap to the first rung of the ladder, throw my fingers into the awaiting hand of Kalvin leaning out, and he pulls me up and in quickly. I scoot back in the seat, and Takemo is right behind me.

“Close the door!”

Takemo pulls the door closed as Kalvin leaps into the front seat and crouches down in the front footwell.

“Holy fucking shit,” Takemo breathes out as the beast continues to approach us. “Is it going to stop?”

Takemo backs up, putting his body between the beast outside and me. I lean back against the far door and wince in pain. Whatever hit my back is still there. I try to reach up over my shoulder to see what it is, but I stop when I realize the beast is not slowing down. It’s not diverting. It’s heading straight for us.

Takemo lunges for me as the beast reaches us. He throws his arms over my head and sandwiches me to the floor, covering me with his body. I scream as the building shrapnel bites into my back, and the beast hits the vehicle. The vehicle rocks and creaks as it climbs over the top and falls to the ground on the other side.

Takemo and I freeze in the silence, with only our labored breaths filling the vehicle’s cabin. He squeezes me and rests his cheek on mine for a moment. I hold still, not wanting to injure myself further nor break the spell. No doubt about it. He just saved my ass. I guess he doesn’t hate me as much anymore.

Skylar, people can change, huh?

I burst into tears now that the adrenaline has worn off and I’m safe.

“Shhh,” Takemo says, holding me tighter. “It’s over. It’s okay.”

“Skylar? Is she okay?” Kalvin asks.

Gunfire pops in the distance, and the acrid stench of smoke wafts over the vehicle.

Takemo slowly lets me go. I open my eyes and watch him pull away from me. His hands are covered in blood.

“Skylar, you’re hurt.”

I press my lips together and nod through my tears.

“Something hit me in the back,” I mumble, my lips tripping over the words.

“Sorry.” He grabs my shirt with his bloodied hands and pulls me up to a sitting position. Leaning over my shoulder, he looks at my back. “Shit. Something is lodged just below your shoulder blade. We need to get you to a medic.”

I nod, my gaze focusing on the world outside the vehicle.

“Oh shit.” Kalvin’s eyes are wide. “Let me go make sure the coast is clear. You help her get out.” He points, and Takemo nods.

My heart rate spikes as Kalvin opens the door. Everything in camp is in chaos. Many of the buildings survived, but the trampled ones are nothing but rubble. A fire burns close to the electrified fence, and people are limping across the grass to the infirmary at the far end of camp.

“Come on. I think we’re safe now,” Takemo says, watching Kalvin out the window.

I huff out a short laugh. “Rio is never safe. Hey,” I say, grabbing his shirt. He stops, and I pull him close. “Thank you.”

I lean forward and plant a kiss on his lips. It’s short and not at all romantic, but it feels like the right thing to do. He’s been kinder the last few days, and he saved me from rampaging beasts. I think a kiss is an acceptable payment, especially since I don’t kiss just anybody.

He pulls away, and his smile is sweet, an expression I haven’t seen on his face before.

“You’re welcome.” He sighs as he pulls me forward, inching me out of the vehicle. “Let’s go before you bleed to death.”