Verita (21 page)

Chapter 14

Our team’s hard work has paid off. On Monday, we’re the first team given approval to move beyond the original square mile area. So instead of brooding over my lovesick friends ruining our group, I dive back into work. The rest of the team is so excited at the opportunity that they barely notice the amount we’re working. I take an occasional day off here and there to spend time with Brody, but for the most part, I am all about work.

We decide to start with the square mile to the west of our original area. From the satellite pictures we have available, it looks like there’s a large river that cut the square in two and the area is covered in trees. That’s a plus: we’ve seen enough fields for a while and are ready to explore some forest.

The exploration pattern we follow is designed to bring us to the river. One day, when we are nearly there, I hear a cooing noise above us.

“
Ssh
!”

I gesture towards the trees. My heart leaps with nervous excitement. We’ve found my violet eyes.

The branches above us are filled with a mix of creatures, some white and blue, some white and purple. In the face, and especially in the tail, the creatures resemble domestic cats, but they have the hands and feet of a monkey. The full grown ones are large, the size of an orangutan, but a lot cuter. A small purple juvenile jumps down the branches of his tree to the ground and bounds over to us.

“Stay still; he’s not showing any aggression,” I order.

I’m startled to hear the creature purring. He stops and sits a few feet in front of us, just looking.

“Remember: don’t make direct eye contact or show your teeth. To most animals they’re aggressive expressions,” Ryan reminds us.

“He looks so cute,” Molly mumbles through her closed mouth and sighs.

The creature walks towards us and sniffs each of our shoes. He stops in front of Shane, but instead of moving on to Jake, the creature stands up on his hind legs, sniffing up Shane’s leg towards his waist. Just as the creature reaches out his hand, Shane yells, “Get off of me!” and hits the creature back with the butt of his rifle.

From there, everything happens in an instantaneous blur. The small creature jumps back with a cry of pain, holding its wrist. We hear a loud fisher cat cry from above, and one of the largest creatures flies out of the tree and lands on Shane’s chest. It pushes off of his chest, simultaneously grabbing his hand and twisting. We all hear a sickening crunch of bone. Shane lets out a wail of pain. The large creature lands with a thud, just behind the small one. Dean raises his gun and takes aim.

“Everyone stand down and step back three paces now!” I bellow.

Thankfully they all listen. I quickly grab and unzip my backpack and take out the first-aid kit. I cautiously walk toward the small creature and sit down with my legs crossed, just out of his reach.

“Brett?” Ryan whispers. I hear the worry and fright in his voice.

“Trust me,” I whisper back.

I open the first-aid kit and activate a cold pack. I coo and purr as I did with the cat I had as a child. The small creature responds, looking up. I hold the cold pack up and place it on my wrist, and then hold it out towards the small creature. It reaches out and grabs it. The creature looks surprised and lets out a cry when it feels the cold against his wrist. The larger one growls at me in warning. I look down, not wanting to offend it. The small creature makes some chirping noises and the larger one seems to relax. I watch in amazement as the creature places the icepack back on his wrist. Behind me, I hear Shane whimpering in pain.

Without warning, the smaller creature climbs into my lap and cuddles against me, the way a small child would. Instinctively I cradle him. He purrs back at me with his large violet eyes and I wonder if they are the same eyes that originally greeted me on the planet. I look around at the rest of the creatures surrounding us. Their stances appear more relaxed now.

Without turning around, I quietly direct everyone, “All of you take Shane and head back to the base. I’ll catch up shortly.”

“No, I’m staying – everyone else can head back,” Ryan insists. I can tell by his tone that there is no point in arguing.

“Fine. Ryan can stay; the rest of you head back,” I sigh. The group backs away and walks towards base. Slowly, Shane’s whimpers of pain fade.

Ryan steps forward and sits cross-legged besides me. The large creature looks from me to Ryan and repositions himself closer to Ryan.

The small creature reaches up with its uninjured hand and touches my face. It traces every curve of my features, exploring. Its soft fur tickles so much that I let a giggle escape. To my surprise the little creature giggles back at me. Then it raises its injured hand up to me. I examine it. There doesn’t appear to be any visible injury.

His arms and hands are all purple, but he has a small, white diamond-shaped patch of fur right above his wrist that the other creatures don’t seem to have. I gently palpate the wrist. He doesn’t wince, and nothing feels out of place. Fortunately, it looks like he has suffered no more than a bruise. I’m relieved.

Without warning, the small creature leaps from my lap, and is quickly back up in the trees. The larger creature turns and follows.

“Time to go,” I whisper, and slowly raise myself to my feet.

We are halfway back to the base when I hear Ryan say, “Brett—”

“Not now,” I sternly warn him. Now that I’ve had a moment to consider what happened, I’m fuming. I quicken our pace, and soon we’re at the field lab. I see Shane getting his wrist examined. They must have summoned a doctor while still on the way back to the lab.

“Nice of you to take care of the monkey instead of me,” Shane snaps, then lets out a long, loud sniff.

“Can we have a moment?” I ask the doctor. He nods and walks away, but Ryan remains by my side. I ignore him. I need my anger and attention focused on the correct person right now.

I intentionally drop my voice an octave, a trick my mother taught me. It has the desired effect of making me sound dead serious, and it gives me the tone of authority I want. “You’re off of our team.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Shane growls back at me.

“I don’t need someone who can’t stay level-headed with us.” I try to sound as calm and unemotional as I can.

“That monkey thing was climbing up my leg! What did you expect me to do?” He attempts to sound and look confused by my statement, but I’m not buying it.

A thought occurs to me as what he said registers.

“You’re right; he was climbing up your leg and no one else’s. What’s in your pocket?” I demand.

 
“Huh? N-nothing,” he stammers.

“Then you won’t mind turning them out,” I insist. It takes all the restraint I have to remain calm.

“Yeah, I do mind. It’s a little difficult with a broken hand,” he growls back, but his tone is defensive enough that I have my answer.

“Then I can do it for you.”

I reach into his left pocket and pull out a half-eaten snack bar. “Some nothing. The
same
nothing I spoke to you about last week,
and
several times before that.”

Now my voice is dripping with contempt. I can’t believe this fool. Despite my anger, I make an attempt to relax my body language, and sound at least remotely calm. I don’t need him to think I’m only firing him due to a moment of anger, and hope that I may change my mind. I won’t.

“I forgot it was there,” he protests.

“Do you still question why I want you off our team?” I demand.

“That’s not fair; I’m the one that got hurt.” Now he’s whining like a little kid, something I’ve gotten used to hearing from him, as well as his constant sniffing.

“You’re lucky that’s all that happened. You forget you have food on you, and then when we encounter a curious baby, you freak out and hit it in front of its family. Its family easily outnumbers us twenty to one. You’re lucky its mother was satisfied with only hurting you in the same spot you hurt her baby. You’re very lucky every single one of us weren’t torn to shreds. And if you’re smart you won’t want to enter the woods again, for a very, very long time. I have a feeling that mother won’t be forgetting you any time soon.”

Shane shivers in response to my last words and hangs his head.

I have reached the limit of my control: I feel myself starting to shake with rage. I look at Shane. His mouth is opening and closing like he wants to say something, but he can’t think of the words. I turn and walk away.

 
The doctor informs me that he’ll be moving Shane to the field hospital, and I thank him. Grateful I won’t have to deal with him again, I head outside for some fresh air.

Ryan is right behind me. I feel him place his hand on my shoulder. “We need to take a walk.”

“Okay,” I gratefully agree. I need to get out of there before Molly and Jake see me lose it completely. I glance over at them; they are looking at me with wide eyes. They have never seen me angry like this before, and they don’t know what to make of it.

We walk just out of sight and hearing distance. I stop and bend over, taking several deep breaths to calm myself.

“Just what the hell do you think you were doing?” Ryan’s words and his razor sharp tone cause me to jump and nearly fall over. I turn, and finally see that Ryan looks as angry as I had just felt, but, for some reason, his anger is directed at me, not Shane.

“What?!” I gasp in surprise at his unexpected reaction. “Are you actually questioning why I’m getting rid of Shane?” I’m shocked. I thought he was helping me get away to cool off, but instead he’s attacking me and my decision.

“No. Not Shane. I don’t want him around either. I’m talking about back in the woods with that purple beast.” His voice is dripping with disdain, and he’s visibly shaking now.

“I was trying to save all our lives and keep from having mortal enemies in the woods.” My voice cracks. My emotions are getting the better of me.

“That bigger creature could have ripped your face off.” He balls his hands into fists and clenches his jaw. “And you just walk up to it like it was your pet cat. How can you be so reckless? Are you so anxious to meet the wildlife that you throw all caution out the window?” he yells, pointing his finger into my chest. The intimidation attempt backfires: it only helps me focus my anger. This situation has a definite feeling of déjà vu. I haven’t done anything wrong, and I shouldn’t have to defend myself to him.

“Were you even there? Did you see the same things I did? I had to do something to keep my team safe. They’re my responsibility. I couldn’t allow anyone else to get hurt, so I took a chance, and it worked. We all got out of there alive.”

“And what if it hadn’t worked?” His face is directly in my face now, so I can feel the heat of his breath on me. I put my hands on his chest and shove him back, hard.

“It did work, and unless you have a better idea of how the situation should have been handled, you need to back off. You’re way out of line right now.” I glare at him, daring him to argue with me.

“I don’t know what you should have done. But someone needs to be scared for your safety. You certainly don’t seem to be.” His shoulders shrug in defeat. I watch as the anger drains out of him.

“I was scared, but I couldn’t afford to let fright take control of me. I had to think about everyone else. I’m sorry if it upsets you, but I really was just trying to take care of everyone.” My voice sounds calmer again.

“Well maybe if you didn’t have everyone else to worry about, you’d take care of yourself better.” Ryan’s words are a mumble, barely audible as he turns away from me.

“What?” I demand, not sure of what I heard.

“Nothing.” Ryan shoves his hands into his pockets, and skulks away.

I sink down into the grass, suddenly exhausted, and let the shaking and sobbing take over. I want off of this emotional roller coaster called Ryan.

It’s a while before I compose myself and head back to the field lab. Ryan is off by himself now: from the look of it, he’s sulking. I’m relieved to find that Molly, Jake and even Dean have a different view on my behavior.

“That was so cool. You were absolutely fearless,” Dean says, beaming. “You’re a badass.” He punches me in the arm, laughing. Dean always laughs from his stomach; a deep down, big belly-laugh. It’s infectious, too, and I can’t help but join in.

“I thought we were about to get ripped to shreds when you told us all to step back, and then you just walk right up to them as if it were nothing.” Jake adds, “You saved our butts.”

I blush.

“What happened after we left?” Molly asks, and I describe my amazing experience with the little purple creature.

Now that we are beyond the mile radius, a quarantine period is required. For the rest of our time in quarantine, the three of them treat me with awe, while Ryan continues to sulk and pretend I don’t exist. Fortunately the rest of the group doesn’t pry into the argument. They are satisfied with my explanation that Ryan doesn’t share their viewpoint on my interaction with the creatures.

We pass our time debating an appropriate name for the creature. Several ideas are kicked around: cat monkeys, purple monkeys,
Conkeys
, and even Mats. I can’t help thinking of the
meerkats
I watched on
Meerkat
Manor
when I was little. The
meerkats
were so friendly with the observers that they would climb on them and even sit on the observers’ heads to get a better vantage point. I suggest
meerkit
, and the name sticks.