Verita (24 page)

“Fine, you leave me no choice. I’ll have to prove that you’re wrong. Put him down or I’ll walk out onto this field that he’s so frightened by.” He holds a foot out, ready to take the last step.

“Ryan, no!” I yell in panic, and Caper cries out with me. I take a deep breath and try to sound calm. “Look, even if I were to believe that you won’t hurt Caper, at this point I don’t think he’d let me put him down.”

“At least try!” Ryan demands. He takes another step back and slowly turns toward the meadow.

“I can’t. Please, Ryan, don’t do this!” I plead. Tears are filling my eyes. “I can’t explain how, and I know it sounds crazy, but I know it’s the meadow that has Caper frightened. There’s just something very, very wrong with that meadow. If you can’t trust Caper, then at least trust me,” I sob.

“I’m sorry, but if you can’t put him down—” Ryan turns away and begins to take the final step, then stops: we all hear rustling from across the field. We watch as a rabbit-like and a fox-like creature leap out of the woods. Panic abruptly fills the fox’s eyes and, in midair, both animals try to turn and change their direction. Instead, they land on their sides on top of the meadow. The meadow violently springs to life. Both animals are quickly ensnared by the vine-like tendrils of the grass. It continues to wind around them until they are no longer visible, and their pained cries are completely stifled. The only evidence that they ever existed is the green mound of grass that juts up from the field.

Ryan quickly hops back from the meadow, tripping over Dean in the process. The rest of us stand frozen, horror-struck, by what we just witnessed and what could have happened. Caper is the only one that moves. He jumps back on my shoulder and unzips my pack. Before I have time to unfreeze and respond, he’s taken out my first-aid kit and is trying to tear it open.

“I’m sorry, Caper,” Ryan says softly. He walks over and helps Caper open the first-aid box. Caper grabs the icepack and activates it as he’s seen me do before. “I’m so, so sorry, Brett.” Ryan says in a choked whisper. I can feel his hands shake as he carefully grabs my hand to clean and wrap the bite. I look and see tears welling in his eyes.

“It’s okay; I didn’t understand what Caper was trying to say at first either.” I reach out with my non-bleeding hand and rub Caper on the head.

“Sorry, Brett. We should know by now not to doubt your instincts.” Jake gives me a sheepish smile. I look around, and see that everyone’s faces are covered with looks of guilt.

“Hey, tragedy averted, people. Let’s be glad and stop beating ourselves up.” I look around and see most of their faces brighten. “Let’s get back to camp. Despite the intentions of the bite, it still hurts, and I’m not sure how my hand will react to it. Besides, we need to warn the other teams about this meadow, in case there are more.” I turn and start back. I feel Ryan walking besides me.

“I’m really sorry I doubted you.” Ryan’s face is contorted with guilt.

“Hey: look on the bright side. You found your first carnivorous plant,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.

“I hope it’s the last,” he says.

I’m quarantined to the field hospital for the next few days while the bite heals at a surprisingly fast rate. In the meantime, we alert the base of our discovery, and the rest of the team returns to study it further. Our horror over the carnivorous grass is overshadowed by our excitement. As frightening as it is, it’s also a fascinating discovery. Ryan is anxious to determine how it reproduces, and to identify any and all signs that could help us identify deadly meadow before stepping on it. In just a day, Ryan is able to determine that it spreads by both seed and runners, and it springs to life any time it detects motion. So tossing a stick or a rock onto any new field will easily determine if it’s carnivorous.

The reproduction information is enough for the base to decide to destroy it. They can’t chance it getting onto the base or becoming widespread.

We return to the field lab to complete our quarantine, and return to base while the soldiers march out to destroy the field. We don’t want to bear witness to it. While we understand the reasons behind the action, we can’t condone the whole ‘kill first, ask questions later’ attitude.

The next time we travel to where the meadow had been, all that’s left is a deep, muddy pit and scorch marks on the surrounding trees.

Chapter 17

Another Thursday night rolls around, and I’m on the base, which means another dinner night with my group of friends.
Andi’s
Thursday night dinner plans are working pretty well. I find the table full most Thursdays and tonight’s no exception. I’m happy to see that they all are acting more like their usual selves again. They must have finally overcome the newness of their romantic relationships. This Thursday,
Andi
insists I come to her lab after dinner. Without asking why, I agree.

When I get there,
Andi
lets her frustration show.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, not used to seeing her in such a state.

“My field manager keeps rejecting all of my recent inventions without explaining why. I need your help to show him how useful they can be. I’ve made them all with your team in mind.” She takes out a duffel bag and starts pulling things out. She hands me a thick silver rectangle. It’s about the size of a clipboard and is bound with Velcro straps.

“What this?” I ask as I take it from her.

“It’s instant shelter and protection. Try unfolding it and setting it up without instructions. I want your honest opinion on it.” She looks nervous as she waits for me to open it.

I grab what I think might be an edge and let the rest of it unfold. With a quick snap of my wrist, it forms what looks like an igloo, minus the entrance. I look at the bottom portion and notice it zips to the top. I climb inside and zip it shut. A miniscule amount of light filters through the air vents on the sides of the igloo.

“The zipper is waterproof, so you don’t need to worry about rain seeping in,”
Andi
points out. I can tell she is anxious for me to like it, but I know she’ll get mad if my enthusiasm seems faked.

“Not bad. Now let’s see how it folds back up.”

I unzip it and attempted to refold it. After several attempts and me scrunching my face up in my pursed-lip-thinking way,
Andi
suggests I turn it upside down. As soon as I do, it easily collapses into itself. All that’s left to do is to fold the bottom flap together and secure it all with the Velcro straps.

“He didn’t give you a reason for saying no?” I couldn’t see any reason for an objection. “Did you run into any problems with your testing?”

She shakes her head almost violently. “No. All he said is I should refocus my attention on something other than camping.”

“Weird. I think it’s pretty fantastic,” I answer honestly, but remember to keep my tone calm enough to sound real. “Now show me the rest.”

I pull the duffel bag toward me and begin pull things out by myself.
Andi
spends the rest of the evening explaining what everything is for. The only thing I can find fault with is her jerky. She claims it gives all the nutrients you needed to stay alive, but it tastes horrible. Apart from that, everything is brilliant. I‘m just as confused as
Andi
is as to why it was all rejected. I easily agree to carry the inventions with me whenever I’m in the field, and promise to report every time I find a use for one of them, even the jerky.

I have the weekend off, so I make plans to spend Sunday with Brody. I haven’t entirely forgiven him for not defending me, but I also figure he can’t make it up to me if I’m not around. I guess he figures the same. When I meet him, he greets me with a blindfold and tells me that he has a surprise. I’m not crazy about the blindfold part, but I play along. After the second time I trip, he scoops me up and carries me the rest of the way.

Finally, he takes the blindfold off and he stands me up.

“Where are we?” I look around. We’re standing in a kitchen with a little dining area to my left and a living room straight in front of me. “Are we inside married housing?” I sputter. I’m not too keen about him breaking and entering for me.

“Yup. I figured we could use the day to relax and just enjoy each other’s company without any distractions.” He gives me a broad smile, like it’s the best idea in the world.

“We could get in a lot of trouble if we’re caught here.” I glance around anxiously.

“Don’t worry. It’s my buddy’s house. He and his wife are out in the field for a couple of days, so he gave me the keys,” he tries to reassure me.

“And is his wife okay with it?” I ask doubtfully.

“Oh yeah, Sheila’s cool. She’s a diehard romantic and all.”

I’m not sure what the ‘and all’ means, but I quickly realize just how much isolation and privacy he’s arranged. “Brody, I hope you don’t expect me to—”

“I’m not trying to make you do anything, honest. It just like I said: I want to spend the day with you just relaxing. Look, I even have lunch.” He opens the fridge and takes out a tray.

I smile and wonder just how much Sheila has to do with arranging everything. I’ll have to thank her when I meet her.

Lunch turns out to be lemonade and ham sandwiches. Nothing gourmet, but I appreciate the thought, and Brody keeps to his word. He never once tries to reach below the waist or under my shirt. I spend the majority of the day cradled in his arms just talking. I sigh as he slowly kisses his way up my neck.

“What’s wrong?” His face crinkles as he looked at me.

“Nothing. I was just thinking what a nice day this has been, but that it’s going to be over soon. It’s almost time for dinner.”

“We don’t have to leave for dinner. I have that too.” He smiles. “I didn’t make it, though. It’s eggplant.
Andi
told me that it’s your favorite,” he adds with a playful smirk.

“When did you talk to
Andi
?” I ask, now suspicious that this whole day had been her idea.

“I talked to
Andi
when I knew you were still mad at me for being such a jerk. I figured if anyone could help me make it up to you, she could,” he admits. He looks like he’s bracing himself to be yelled at.

“Well then you’re a very smart man.” I giggle and throw my arms around him to kiss him. “The only problem is I’m not ready for dinner yet.”

“Then how about we skip to dessert?” I roll my eyes, annoyed at where his mind has wandered. “No, really, I have a cake for you.” He lets go of me and walks over to the fridge “Have a seat while I get it ready.” He even pulls the chair out on his way past.

I sit down, surprised.
Just when I thought I had him figured
. He places the cake in front of me. I look down and gasp.

On the cake, badly written in icing, are the words ‘Marry Me’. I look over as Brody grabs my hand and see he’s next to me on one knee. He has a jewelry box in his other hand. He opens it up and takes out a gold ring with a large solitaire diamond and places it on my finger. It’s a perfect fit.

Suddenly the room feels too small and I’m having difficulty breathing. I can tell Brody is saying something to me, but I can’t understand what it is: the rushing sound of pulsing blood is just too loud in my head. I try to stand and get outside to get some fresh air, but everything just goes black.

I open my eyes to Brody’s amused face. “What happened?” I look around and realize I’m lying on a bed.

“We got engaged and you fainted.” He chuckles at me.

I look down on my hand and see the diamond. It looks so strange there.
I never actually said yes, did I
? I look at Brody’s face and realize it doesn’t much matter if I did or didn’t. He thinks we’re engaged and to say anything otherwise will crush him. I’m surprised by the proposal, but this is what I was planning for in the long term, isn’t it? It’s just a lot sooner than I ever planned on.

Brody leans down and starts to kiss me. His masculine scent overwhelms my senses and a heat surges throughout my body. How can I have any doubts? I reach up and pull him onto me. I feel the weight of his body crush mine into the bed. I run my fingers through his hair and kiss him even harder. He shifts his weight and grabs my thigh, wrapping my leg around him. Then I feel his hand reach up the front of my shirt and feel my heat doused in a frigid, cold anger. I push him off, finally figuring out where my doubt is coming from. He frowns at me, confused.

“You think that asking me to marry you is going to get me into bed?” My voice is harsh.

“You’re already in bed,” he teases, and leans back in to kiss me.

I push him back. “I’m serious.”

“So you want to wait until our wedding night now?” He sounds hurt.

I shivered at the word ‘
wedding
’. “No, that’s not what I’m saying; I just don’t want tonight to be about sex.” My voice is softer now. I may be having mixed feelings, but I don’t want to spoil the evening.

His response is a blistering cold stare. He gets up and walks back into the kitchen. I follow and watch him toss the eggplant into the oven.

“So because I say no to sex, you’re going to act like we’re an old married couple?” I joke in an attempt to break his mood.