The Second Wave Read Online Free Page A

was left to prove it
once existed.
    “Let's hope the docs can do their kung-fu
again in four hours,” Gavin Watts joked. “I’d hate to be stranded
here.”
    “Hm, but it’s so nice and romantic, Gavin,”
murmured Sophie Bahr. She leaned against him, batting her eyes. “I
can almost see it, honey—you, me, a tent, a couple of cute
kids…”
    “When did we ever agree on kids, honey?”
    Carl Gibson, ever the steady one, shot them a
warning look. “Let’s try to stay professional for once, yes?”
    Eleven turned in a circle, a map in one hand,
a compass and a gun in the other. “Which way to the colony?” she
asked, confusion in her voice. “This map doesn’t seem accurate. Who
developed it?”
    “That was me, ma’am,” Mandy Rett, youngest of
the lot, confessed. “I think the wormhole must’ve opened up in
another part of the planet. I don’t recognize any of these
surroundings.”
    Carl shook his head. “No. It’s the exact same
coordinates.” He held up his hand computer for everyone to see.
    “Well, if it is,” Timothy Niman said, peeking
over Eleven’s shoulder at the compass, “we need to go that way. East. The colony should be there. An hour away or so.”
    “Or so?” Sally Sheldon raised an eyebrow.
“What is this? A technical term?”
    They marched on, listening more or less
fondly to Timothy’s definition of “or so”.
    “This should be it,” Timothy stated, an hour
later. The team found itself in the outskirts of yet another
forest. Or, as Mandy pointed out while they were walking, the very
same forest they had seen near the wormhole, only a different part
of it. Apart from the trees that grew taller and thicker with every
step, the only other item of interest was a large group of deep
lilac flowers, each of them nearly two feet tall. When Gavin poked
at one, it emitted a hissing sound and all but tried to swallow
him, thus making the soldier the butt of the team’s jokes for the
next fifteen minutes. Until Eleven compared maps and coordinates
and announced that they should be standing right in the middle of
the first settlement.
    “Not the middle, by definition,” Carl
corrected. “According to my coordinates, we’re standing in the
lower grade classroom.”
    “How fitting.” Mandy smirked.
    “And you know that how?” Sophie wanted to
know.
    “Mister Jones gave me a tour when they were
building it.”
    Timothy gave a wolf-whistle. “That architect
guy? The hot one? You made him give you a tour—is that what they
call it these days?”
    “Carl, you hound!” Gavin joined in.
    Carl held up his arms defensively. “What do
you even think of me? You call yourself my friends and colleagues?
I’m in a relationship, you morons!”
    “Guys!” Sally interrupted the banter. “Will
you stop being guys, and concentrate! Where is everyone?”
    Sophie made a few steps into the forest, but
came back and simply shrugged. “Not even an animal trail. No one
has been here in a long time.”
    Timothy shouldered his weapon, put his hands
next to his mouth to mimic a megaphone and hollered, “Ho! First
wave people! Anybody home?”
    No one answered.
    Eleven let them do their thing while she
checked on the faulty map. It was as if everything had changed in
the last four months. How was that even possible? The forest
shouldn’t be here. The colony was supposed to be next to a small
river and a grove of trees. There should be fields and stables,
and, most of all, settlers. When she decided on a plan of action,
her voice cut short every personal argument of her team. In an
instant they were on their tasks.
    “We’ll break up. Gavin, Carl, check the East
and the meadow. Sophie, Mandy, with me. Timothy, Sally, take a look
at the forest. See if you can find any life signs. We meet back
here in fifty.”
    They split up.
    * * * *

Chapter 7: The Hour of Contact
    Sally, following Timothy along the forest
tree line due North, rummaged in her jacket pocket for a snack.
Walking made her