PREVIOUS CHAPTER
I sat beside Hollywood in a windowless gray room. Across the steel table, Sergeant Rivers scratched his head. Behind him, in the corner, leaned a man in a suit.
“Why are we here?” demanded Hollywood. “You’ve got the bodycam footage.”
“Nobody thinks you did anything wrong,” said the man behind Rivers in a voice as smooth as Vaseline.
Rivers sighed. “Agent Cooper just needs you to walk him through it one more time. That’s all.”
There was definitely something going on with Rivers, I just couldn’t figure out what it was. Frustration? Maybe a sparkle of wry amusement?
“We heard screams,” I said.
“What kind of screams? The bodycams didn’t pick them up.”
I shifted. “It sounded like a woman screaming.”
Cooper looked skeptical.
“Douglas, what do you think?” he asked.
Hollywood laughed. “Nobody calls me Douglas.”
“Did you think the screams sounded human?”
“Yeah, I did,” said Hollywood. “They did sound human.”
“So you chased after them.”
Agent Cooper approached the table with lazy, slow steps, hands buried in his pockets. Even sitting down, Rivers was taller.
“I thought there was somebody who needed help,” said Hollywood.
“Out there? Two days into the Pacific Forest? Who could it possibly have been?”
“We thought it might be Li,” I said.
“Your fellow recruit, Lindsey Li?”
“Correct.”
The hands emerged from Agent Cooper’s pockets and planted themselves flat on the table.
“How could it possibly have been her? You knew her expedition would depart much further down the coast.”
“We didn’t have much time to think about it, sir,” I said.
Cooper smiled. “Tell me about the clearing. What you found.”
“Big pit,” said Hollywood. “Not much else to tell.”
“Nothing odd?”
Hollywood shrugged.
“Nothing I saw.”
“Junior saw something,” said Cooper, staring at me.
“There was an obelisk,” I said.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Cooper. “An obelisk?”
“On the other side of the pit. Junior was going to look.”
“Douglas, did you also see the obelisk?”
“Could have been a rock,” said Hollywood. “I wasn’t looking.”
Agent Cooper pulled out a chair beside Rivers and sat, unbuttoning his suit jacket. Settling back, he steepled his fingers and peered down his nose at me.
“Tell me more about the obelisk,” he said after a while.
“It had some kind of script all over it,” I said.
Truth be told, the image in my head was fuzzy. All I could conjure was the blank look on Junior’s face when the scorpion impaled him. As if it was all a bad dream and he expected to wake up at any moment.
Cooper laughed.
“Are you a conspiracy theorist?”
I blinked. “No, sir.”
“Ancient script on mysterious monuments… sounds like the kind of ridiculous fantasy those people trot out to justify their hypotheses about an ancient civilization hidden beneath the forest.”
“I’m not familiar, sir.”
“I think I agree with Douglas. It was probably just a rock.”
“If you say so, sir.”
Cooper leaned close. I examined the doughy folds of his face, his beady little pupils.
“Can I trust you not to spread this ‘obelisk’ story? The conspiracy nutjobs have enough to work with already. The last thing we need is any more misinformation.”
Hollywood snorted. “Is that what this is about?”
“Of course not,” said Cooper. “This is about the young man, Junior. Speaking of which, can you walk me through his death?”
Back at training camp that night, I couldn’t fall asleep, so I hauled myself out of bed and tiptoed out of the barracks. It was chilly outside. Clouds of insects swarmed the lights that lined the path to the grapple-gun course. I went to the corner of the barracks and climbed the gutter.
Li was already up on the roof, feet dangling off the edge.
“Hi,” I said. She didn't respond. I sat beside her. She squinted at something in the darkness across the training field.
“Hollywood said you thought you heard me screaming out there,” she said.
“Yeah, maybe.”
She shook her head. "Not sure why you thought it was me."
“Wasn't sure what else to think.”
She shifted. “I wish I'd been there. Junior wouldn’t have died.”
I pinched the loose skin on my kneecaps, feeling like a wax depiction of myself.
“Why do you say that?”
“My dad told me that some things mimic human noises to draw you in. Screams, shouts, laughter.”
Her dad had been a ranger.
“Never came up in training,” I said.
“Pretty rare, I think. But I would have known. I would have stopped you guys from running.”
“I didn’t want to go. Hollywood went, we followed.”
“You could have stopped him.”
“Maybe.”
We sat in silence. I went over the scene in my head: Hollywood breaking into a sprint, the slow seconds before he slipped out of sight. Could I have convinced him to come back?
“How do you think they learn those noises?”
“Hmm?” I said.
“The human noises. How do they learn those screams? You think rangers teach them, when they die?”
“Maybe.”
“Doesn’t explain the laughter, though.”
I shivered. “Cold out here.”
“It doesn’t add up, Tetris. That everything in the forest is just a dumb animal. I don’t buy it.”
“What else, then?” I asked.
I considered telling her about the obelisk. About the person Junior thought he saw. After the talk with Agent Cooper, though, I kept my mouth shut. She wouldn’t believe me anyway.
Li didn’t say a word for a while. She cracked her knuckles.
“Well, I want to get some sleep,” she said. “I don’t think Rivers will give us a break tomorrow just because Junior’s gone.”
When she reached the edge of the roof, Li paused.
"Don't beat yourself up, Tetris," she said. "It wasn't your fault."
I blinked. She looked tense. It was clear that she felt vulnerable, like she'd opened herself up to counterattack by showing empathy.
"Thanks," I said.
She climbed down the gutter.
I stayed up there for a long time, looking at the stars.
“Sorry, Junior,” I said, but my voice sounded flat and cold.
NEXT CHAPTER
I sat beside Hollywood in a windowless gray room. Across the steel table, Sergeant Rivers scratched his head. Behind him, in the corner, leaned a man in a suit.
“Why are we here?” demanded Hollywood. “You’ve got the bodycam footage.”
“Nobody thinks you did anything wrong,” said the man behind Rivers in a voice as smooth as Vaseline.
Rivers sighed. “Agent Cooper just needs you to walk him through it one more time. That’s all.”
There was definitely something going on with Rivers, I just couldn’t figure out what it was. Frustration? Maybe a sparkle of wry amusement?
“We heard screams,” I said.
“What kind of screams? The bodycams didn’t pick them up.”
I shifted. “It sounded like a woman screaming.”
Cooper looked skeptical.
“Douglas, what do you think?” he asked.
Hollywood laughed. “Nobody calls me Douglas.”
“Did you think the screams sounded human?”
“Yeah, I did,” said Hollywood. “They did sound human.”
“So you chased after them.”
Agent Cooper approached the table with lazy, slow steps, hands buried in his pockets. Even sitting down, Rivers was taller.
“I thought there was somebody who needed help,” said Hollywood.
“Out there? Two days into the Pacific Forest? Who could it possibly have been?”
“We thought it might be Li,” I said.
“Your fellow recruit, Lindsey Li?”
“Correct.”
The hands emerged from Agent Cooper’s pockets and planted themselves flat on the table.
“How could it possibly have been her? You knew her expedition would depart much further down the coast.”
“We didn’t have much time to think about it, sir,” I said.
Cooper smiled. “Tell me about the clearing. What you found.”
“Big pit,” said Hollywood. “Not much else to tell.”
“Nothing odd?”
Hollywood shrugged.
“Nothing I saw.”
“Junior saw something,” said Cooper, staring at me.
“There was an obelisk,” I said.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Cooper. “An obelisk?”
“On the other side of the pit. Junior was going to look.”
“Douglas, did you also see the obelisk?”
“Could have been a rock,” said Hollywood. “I wasn’t looking.”
Agent Cooper pulled out a chair beside Rivers and sat, unbuttoning his suit jacket. Settling back, he steepled his fingers and peered down his nose at me.
“Tell me more about the obelisk,” he said after a while.
“It had some kind of script all over it,” I said.
Truth be told, the image in my head was fuzzy. All I could conjure was the blank look on Junior’s face when the scorpion impaled him. As if it was all a bad dream and he expected to wake up at any moment.
Cooper laughed.
“Are you a conspiracy theorist?”
I blinked. “No, sir.”
“Ancient script on mysterious monuments… sounds like the kind of ridiculous fantasy those people trot out to justify their hypotheses about an ancient civilization hidden beneath the forest.”
“I’m not familiar, sir.”
“I think I agree with Douglas. It was probably just a rock.”
“If you say so, sir.”
Cooper leaned close. I examined the doughy folds of his face, his beady little pupils.
“Can I trust you not to spread this ‘obelisk’ story? The conspiracy nutjobs have enough to work with already. The last thing we need is any more misinformation.”
Hollywood snorted. “Is that what this is about?”
“Of course not,” said Cooper. “This is about the young man, Junior. Speaking of which, can you walk me through his death?”
Back at training camp that night, I couldn’t fall asleep, so I hauled myself out of bed and tiptoed out of the barracks. It was chilly outside. Clouds of insects swarmed the lights that lined the path to the grapple-gun course. I went to the corner of the barracks and climbed the gutter.
Li was already up on the roof, feet dangling off the edge.
“Hi,” I said. She didn't respond. I sat beside her. She squinted at something in the darkness across the training field.
“Hollywood said you thought you heard me screaming out there,” she said.
“Yeah, maybe.”
She shook her head. "Not sure why you thought it was me."
“Wasn't sure what else to think.”
She shifted. “I wish I'd been there. Junior wouldn’t have died.”
I pinched the loose skin on my kneecaps, feeling like a wax depiction of myself.
“Why do you say that?”
“My dad told me that some things mimic human noises to draw you in. Screams, shouts, laughter.”
Her dad had been a ranger.
“Never came up in training,” I said.
“Pretty rare, I think. But I would have known. I would have stopped you guys from running.”
“I didn’t want to go. Hollywood went, we followed.”
“You could have stopped him.”
“Maybe.”
We sat in silence. I went over the scene in my head: Hollywood breaking into a sprint, the slow seconds before he slipped out of sight. Could I have convinced him to come back?
“How do you think they learn those noises?”
“Hmm?” I said.
“The human noises. How do they learn those screams? You think rangers teach them, when they die?”
“Maybe.”
“Doesn’t explain the laughter, though.”
I shivered. “Cold out here.”
“It doesn’t add up, Tetris. That everything in the forest is just a dumb animal. I don’t buy it.”
“What else, then?” I asked.
I considered telling her about the obelisk. About the person Junior thought he saw. After the talk with Agent Cooper, though, I kept my mouth shut. She wouldn’t believe me anyway.
Li didn’t say a word for a while. She cracked her knuckles.
“Well, I want to get some sleep,” she said. “I don’t think Rivers will give us a break tomorrow just because Junior’s gone.”
When she reached the edge of the roof, Li paused.
"Don't beat yourself up, Tetris," she said. "It wasn't your fault."
I blinked. She looked tense. It was clear that she felt vulnerable, like she'd opened herself up to counterattack by showing empathy.
"Thanks," I said.
She climbed down the gutter.
I stayed up there for a long time, looking at the stars.
“Sorry, Junior,” I said, but my voice sounded flat and cold.
NEXT CHAPTER