Crooked Paradise
Atlas trudged through the thick vines and foliage that littered the craggy paths and winding ways of this maze-like terrain. He had some difficulty keeping a steady pace with how wild the terrain was, it was much worse than what he had observed during his descent. Almost as if the earth around this entire place had been lifted into the sky and dropped down, shattering like a glass plate.
He must have been walking for ten, fifteen, minutes in the same direction. It was eerily silent in this jungle, aside from the sounds of crickets and other various bugs, notably there were no mammals or reptiles typical of a setting like this.
I have to be getting close.
If he was heading in the right direction, according to Lena's S.O.S call he would be right on top of their location soon. He cleared away some more brush and marched onwards. The ground was a bit muddy from the damp environment, it stuck to his clothes and made him more fatigued than it normally would. Not to mention the lack of sleep, that was most definitely an added negative to this exercise.
He came into a clearing with a small cliff face not three sizes larger than his own height.
"Lena?! Leo?! ANYONE?!"
He decided to cry out, he had to be getting close, and if his team was nearby he needed to know quickly before deciding his next course of action...
A silhouette appeared at the top of the small cliffside, it was a young woman. It was still too dark to tell from a distance despite the moonlight, but Atlas could still understand that she was waving down to him. Friendly.
It was Elizabeth, she must have landed close by this location as well.
Atlas shouted up to her, "I'm coming up!"
She replied back to him swiftly.
"Wait, let me throw down a rope!"
Just as she spoke a long vine twirled down and stretched to the floor beside him.
Is that even safe?
"Don't worry, I used it earlier!" Almost as if she read his mind.
Atlas gave it a few tugs before climbing up the small cliff, once he made it to the top he saw Leo lying under the shade of a tree, completely knocked out. Noticeably he had a bandage wrapped over his head with some blood on it.
Orion and Lena were leaning over him, they seemed worried but Lena was already finished with what she could do at this stage for him, she was finishing packing her equipment back into her bag.
"He could have fractures or sprains, I won't be able to tell until he gives me verbal confirmation."
Lena was conversing on his status with Leo's brother. But she quickly turned to see Atlas had arrived, she immediately made a suggestion to the rest of the team once she noticed they were all accounted for.
"We can't stay here, assuming we arrived to the drop late, other teams could be moving in on our position."
Elizabeth agreed with her theory, but also suggesting that they may have been the first team to arrive. It had only been half an hour since their arrival. Though the safe bet was to assume the worst.
Just then the canopy above them whirled up a wind storm. An airship flew overhead and each of them could spot some specks in the sky jumping out the rear of the transport.
That accounts for two teams so far. And they arrived after us...
"I would say that's our cue to move. They could land close to us, and we are at a numbers disadvantage already."
Orion stood up and suggested that they use his chute and some branches to create a makeshift elevator to use in transporting him down the cliff, once down he could carry him the rest of the way.
"Our primary goal is to find fresh water in secluded location that is easily defensible."
Atlas was quick to take on the lead role. He was somewhat familiar with everyone here, so he could strategize the best utilization of everyone's talents in a given situation. Not to mention his experience from his past life.
No one objected to the notion, they all agreed to follow him. The team collectively decided to head West, further away from the location of the leaning tower that Atlas made note of during the jump.
Once they got Leo down safely, Lena packed up Orion's parachute while Atlas began to take the lead on their trek West. Lena and Elizabeth were stationed as rear guard with their longer range capabilities. Orion was tasked with piggybacking his brother until they reached a suitable place to camp.
After almost an hour since they came upon another clearing and cliff, this one was much larger but the area above it looked to be a thick, densely packed, brush. There was also a bit of water trickling down the side of the stone. A good sign. It had a shaded overhang that acted as nice cover from the elements, it was only a few heads taller than the recruits. Perfect for laying Leo down until he came to.
Atlas observed some of the surrounding area in the clearing, no tracks or damaged foliage meant that this place had been undisturbed for some time.
"We set camp here, establish a rest space under the overhang. I'll clear a perimeter in the meantime, get a layout of the land from above as well."
The team quickly got together to assemble a comfortable spot for their incapacitated comrade. Orion began setting up the tents for everyone and Elizabeth gathered some of the surrounding greenery to use in camouflaging the campsite.
Atlas back tracked for a few minutes, leaving the rest of them to establish the rest of the base. He wiped away any evidence that their team came through this way and made sure to get back without exposing their hideaway. He walked along the cliff face looking for potential food and the source of the water, eventually finding a path leading up to the top of the cliff.
There was a small pond atop the ridge, the water was murky and full of algae but with enough filtering it would be safe to consume. He noticed a portion of it was overflowing and escaping towards the edge of the cliff, explaining the water he noticed before. They could easily build a water collector at their camp below.
Perfect. And this is a great vantage too, makes it easy to see over all these large trees.
Atlas made sure not to outline himself on the edge, using the greenery behind him to conceal his silhouette. He could make out the leaning tower way off in the distance. Using that to gauge the distance from their original drop point he tried to guess how far off the other team that landed near him might be. They had not heard any more drop ships since the last one, they could assume that it was the last one. No way anyone else was that far behind the group if they left around the same time.
He made his way back down to camp, realizing he must have been gone for at least another thirty or so minutes. The sun was beginning to rise, though the stars still somewhat dominated the sky. Things were looking near complete by this point, though Leo was still unconscious.
Lena was strikingly calm as always, she had a way of keeping her nerves about her when it came to situations like this. Atlas had briefly remembered that first night they met, when she was checking out books at the student commissary.
Ah right, she was a year one medical student...
… If things had not turned out like this, maybe she would have been well into her studies. She could be living a normal life and visiting with friends and family.
Atlas shook his head, those thoughts were not needed at a time like this.
Lena was talking with Orion about Leo's condition. "If he doesn't wake up soon, his injury may be serious enough to warrant calling a medivac..."
She was right, being unconscious for more than a few hours could be a sign of a brain trauma. Atlas hated to admit it, but he may have to resign without a choice. They could not risk the life of a comrade like that.
"No, he wouldn't want to drop out. We give him a few more hours..." His brother seemed upset at the notion.
"Orion, if he has internal swelling it could cause irreversible damage."
Orion hesitated as he looked down at his own flesh and blood, contemplating the best course of action to take from here.
Elizabeth used some of her magic to freeze her canteen, which she placed on Leo's head to cool it. Despite the shade of night, the desert heat still lingered even in the night. Most likely the fault of the damp and condensed jungle environment.
Leo was slowly opening his eyes, as if responding to the ice cold tin. Of course to the surprise of Elizabeth, she gasped which alerted Lena to his actions as well.
"Guys! He's waking up!"
Lena and Orion rushed over to his side, Lena tried to peel back one of his eyelids and get some light in his retinas. He tried to squint at the light, slowly covering his eyes with his hand.
"Oh good, not dilating and not fixed. He's stable." Lena sighed with relief, almost as much as Orion did when she broke the good news.
"Glad your ok bud." Atlas stood over the four of them.
Leo turned his head a bit, mumbling his response.
"Yeah– My head is killing me..."
"Not so energetic now is he!" Orion surprisingly cracked a joke, pretty out of character for him but someone needed to fill in for bright and cheery Leo.
"Where is my bag..?"
Lena leaned back and crossed her legs. Looking up at Atlas standing above her as if to address the situation.
"We had to leave his stuff behind, I couldn't carry both him and the gear. We ran into Liz and Orion a few minutes later, then you showed up."
Atlas put his hand over his mouth to think.
"Well we can't leave his gear out there. We need those rations, no source of steady food yet. Though we do have our water and shelter needs met."
Elizabeth nodded, "We need to go back for it then... I do remember the way back actually, if just two of us go we can be out and back quickly."
"I agree it would be best if two of us went out. I'll head there with Elizabeth since she knows the way, we will check in every fifteen minutes. Keep the comms off until the interval. Don't waste the battery. I'm pretty sure mine are faulty though, couldn't get it to work after landing. See if you can get it working while we are gone Orion."
Atlas threw his earpiece over to Orion.
Orion pulled out his high tech glasses that came with a zoom feature, she started rotating the object around as if studying it. The goggle glass adjusting to his retinas movement.
"Will do boss. Easy-peasy for a guy like me."
Elizabeth spun her staff around and slung it over her back, after preparing her equipment and checking her sidearm chamber for ammunition she was all set.
"Ready to roll!" She exclaimed.
* * *
It had been a while since Atlas and Elizabeth left. Lena was still caring for Leo who was now explaining that he felt fine, though Lena was examining parts of his body that could have been commonly injured by a fall like his.
"Let me know if this hurts."
"... OUCH! No shit that hurts, your poking my ribs kinda hard."
Lena refused to entertain his playful demeanor and kept prodding him for internal injury.
Orion was busy setting up a line of defense, string and chime alarms made of stripped bamboo that he chopped with his water blade.
Once he had finished with the make-shift fence he walked over to his brother and sat down, fiddling with Atlas' broken earpiece as he started teasing him.
"You talked a big game too on the flight... Some tough guy you are."
"Oh shut up!"
Lena interrupted their brotherly love with her final opinion. "You should be good to move around, but maybe wait until morning to do anything crazy."
Leo sat up swiftly, drumming on his shin guards for a moment as if to psych himself up.
"Awesome! Can't believe I let a little tumble get me down already."
"It wasn't a 'little tumble', you feel nearly fifteen feet once you cut your chute!" Lena snapped back as she was redressing his head bandage from behind. "And this cut hasn't healed yet, so keep these dressing clean to prevent infection... Are you listening?"
Leo was still fiddling with the mechanics on his legs. The brothers seemed to be good at tinkering with machines and electronics.
Orion laughed at Lena's frustration, "Good luck convincing him to sit still. I've seen him in worse shape and still run around like a maniac."
"Yeah like that one time big bro knocked me into the ceiling with his wind!" Leo boasted.
"Oh shit, mom was pissed! She even made you to pay to fix it!" The twins started laughing about their past together.
Their nonchalant attitude about the situation made Lena break out a smile. She could see why Atlas got along with these two, they were pleasant to be around. They reminded her of her own family.
Mom... Lena quickly caught herself before reminiscing on a past she rather would forget ever happened. It wasn't the time to be distracted, they were practically in a war zone.
Orion messed around a little more with the device until he pulled a blinking light out of the communicator, it was directly connected to the microphone wire within the headset.
"I don't remember something like this being a normal component of our earpieces."
Lena looked at the small blinking light for a moment, it was strange that a device that was not meant to emit a light at all would have something like that embedded into it. Even though she did not know much about electronics...
Orion quickly looked into Lena's eyes then over to Leo.
They all glanced around at each other suspiciously. Almost as if it clicked unanimously.
There was no way... right?
Just as the wheels were turning in their minds, they realized the first interval was coming up. Orion switched on his device and hailed Elizabeth.
He jolted upwards and looked astonished, yet also confirming exactly what they had figured out just second before. They all knew what was going on the moment her message came through. Lena could hear Elizabeth frantically explaining the situation over the earpiece, though it wasn't clear what she was saying.
A gunshot could be heard in the distance, not far from their camp.
A gunshot? It came from the East... Lena grabbed her rifle without hesitating.
Leo got out of his resting position and followed after her. Orion also dropped what was in his hands and the three of them sprinted as fast as they could towards the direction of the gunfire.
