Reaching the island without incident, we huddled in a small cave as we examined the map. The island was essentially a large isosceles triangle with the base at the center of the thick end. We were on the opposite side. I asked everyone what they thought.
The good news was that everyone had a plan.
The bad news was that everyone had a different plan.
'We need to hit them with everything we've got,' Chad said. 'A full-frontal assault where we annihilate anything that moves.'
'I think we need to creep up on the compound,' Brodie suggested. 'Then create a diversion by blowing something up.'
'We could tunnel under,' Dan said thoughtfully. 'Or leave a wooden horse out the front—'
Okay, it got weird, fast.
I held up a hand. 'These are some good ideas,' I said. 'Can anyone suggest a single coordinated plan?'
No one spoke.
Chad glared at us like we were stupid and marched out of the cave.
'What are you doing?' I said, following him.
'You people are fools,' he said. 'I'll have this whole mission done by the time you've worked out north from south.'
I shook my head in amazement as he started towards the nearby cliff face.
'What is his problem?' I asked.
Ebony was at my elbow. 'That's my brother you're talking about,' she said, glaring.
'I didn't mean—'
We followed Chad up the cliff face. It was an easy climb, and he was already most of the way up. By the time we reached the top, Chad had started down a trail through the thick foliage. It gave me a bad feeling. Why is there a trail through the undergrowth unless—
Unless it's a trap.
That's when I spotted the wire across the path.
'Chad!' I yelled. 'Stop!'
He turned at the last second but was too late—a bolt of electricity, a blue and white jagged line of fire, arced out of nowhere. Catching him in the chest, the impact threw him twenty feet into the jungle.
'No!' Ebony screamed.
Everyone started forward in panic, but I stopped myself. One injured person is enough. I spotted the generator and took it out with a single invisible ball of energy. Now we were safe.
Chad was motionless and pale by the time we reached him. A burnt, black hole scarred the middle of his chest. Brodie checked his pulse before looking up at me with dismay on her face.
'He's not breathing,' she said. 'I think he's dead.'
Under any normal circumstances, we would have pulled out a phone and rung for help. Unfortunately, none of us owned phones, and if we had, we didn't know our location.
We started CPR. Ebony pressed down rhythmically on Chad's chest as I delivered mouth to mouth. The minutes passed. At first, I thought we'd lost him. It was like his body had given up completely. Maybe his heart had been irreparably damaged by the bolt of electricity. Ebony started crying. Even Dan's eyes filled with tears.
How can The Agency do this? Don't they know right from wrong?
Then I thought of Twelve. He wasn't even human. If his people had been on Earth for hundreds—or thousands—of years, they would have seen millions of humans grow old and die.
Killing a teenager would mean nothing to them.
Would it?
Chad groaned. Reaching up blindly, he pushed me away. It took him a few seconds to scan the circle of faces around him before finally focusing on me.
'You're ugly,' he said.
'I think he's going to be okay,' I told the others.
No sooner was Chad on his feet than Ebony slapped him—hard. The sound was like a bullet in the silent jungle.
'You are an idiot,' she said furiously.
Chad's chin shook. For a moment, I thought he was about to cry. Then his head dipped. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I'm really sorry.'
She threw her arms around him and burst into tears. The family reunion continued for another minute before Brodie finally cleared her throat.
'This is all very well and good, but—'
'But we've got to get going,' Chad said. 'How long was I out?'
'Too long.' Brodie checks her watch. 'We have less than two hours to reach the complex.'
'Okay,' he said, looking up at me. 'I think we need a plan.'
'Agreed.'
'What do you think we should do?'
It took me a moment to realize he was asking my opinion. Hard to believe, but true. Maybe the electricity jolted some sense into him. I pulled out the map again. Everyone had suggested some good ideas, and I thought we could combine them to produce a successful strategy.
'Here's what I think we should do,' I said, peering at the map. 'We split into two groups. Group one creates a diversion at the far end of the island. Hopefully, that draws most of the forces away from the base. At the same time, the other group circles around and approaches the compound at the short end of the triangle. The distance to the obelisk should only be a few hundred feet.'
'Sure,' Brodie said, raising an eyebrow. 'Sounds easy.'
I ignored her. 'I suggest Chad and Dan create the diversion.'
'What makes you think I'm capable of causing trouble?' Chad asked with a straight face.
I ignored him too. 'Ebony, Brodie and I will head to the compound,' I said. 'One of us should make it to the obelisk.'
Synchronizing watches, I reminded everyone about the live ammunition. 'This isn't a game,' I said, turning to Chad. 'And watch out for tripwires.'
He laughed. 'You too.'
We had an hour to make our way around the edge of the island. It was tough going as we clambered over the rocky coastline, watching out for traps and cameras on the way. By the time we reached our position, we were hot and sticky in the late morning sun.
The cliff that rose up from the shore was steep as compared to the rest of the island. It even looked like it had been purpose-built by The Agency. Maybe it's to deter attacks like this. We crept along what appeared to be the easiest way up the cliff face to a dirt path at the top.
'That's got to be a trap,' Brodie said.
'Absolutely,' Ebony echoed.
It was easy to see how Chad got zapped. Any sensible person would have taken the path. Of course, they'd be dead, but their last moments would have been spent on a pleasant trail as opposed to scrambling through hot, insect-infested woodland.
'We need to hurry,' Brodie whispered.
We dove into the jungle. It took another fifteen minutes to maneuver. Even then, we still discovered three tripwires on the way. One was attached to a massive blade poised to swing down and slice the innocent victim in half.
I shook my head in disbelief.
Surely this is too serious for a training exercise.
Live ammunition was one thing, but this was certain death. What were they trying to do? Get us killed? I remembered the warning from Doctor Richards. Trust no one. Was this just an elaborate ruse to get rid of us?
No. That was ridiculous. These people wanted us to survive; they just had a strange way of showing it.
Pushing through some bushes, we reached a metal fence that obviously hadn't been put there to welcome visitors. About twelve feet high, it had barbed wire running across the top. Beyond it lay a clearing and half a dozen buildings. I nudged the others and pointed. The white obelisk sat in the middle of the compound.
Brodie tilted her head. 'Do you hear that?'
'It's electrified,' I said. 'We need to disconnect the power.'
'How long till Chad and Dan create the diversion?' Ebony asked.
Just as I was about to reply, I heard a sound like an almighty wind and gazed into the sky in amazement.
'Um,' I said. 'Now?'