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Alex Rider was not exactly pleased to hear about their new survival mission. Gordon Ross had looked eerily cheerful as he’d announced the mission in the evening. “You’re all going to the African Congo.”
Alex had wondered what he’d ever done to deserve this in the past life. It must have involved orgies and a religious order or two. Alex was entirely suspicious of the whole thing. Gordon had handed out gear, so Alex’s first instinct was to check it the second he got back to his room. Call him paranoid, but he trusted his teachers about as much as he trusted Nile not to go psycho and murder a few bar patrons before burning the bar to the ground. Nile was well known for not being great in civilized areas. Alex checked the knife. It was designed to break. The rest of the gear seemed designed to fail at a critical moment. Alex would also not trust any of the medical gear at this moment. Time to go get real camping gear. He dumped all of the stuff in the garbage can. Alex walked to the quartermaster’s office. He yanked the door open with a bang and pulled a real knife he’d “borrowed” from the training room on the man. The man inhaled sharply. “Wha-what do you want?”
Alex smirked and placed the empty backpack down. “As you may or may not know, my class is going on a survival mission tomorrow. I need gear.”
The man tried to protest. “You already received-”
Alex cut him off. “Broken, sabotaged gear. I don’t appreciate that, you know.”
The man gulped. “I was instructed to-”
Alex pushed the knife lightly into the man’s skin. He noticed the burn scars on the man’s wrists and the picture of a woman and a little girl. Probably a wife and child. If he had the pictures here, of all places, they were likely dead. “If you don’t stock my kit with actually suitable materials, I’m going to burn you alive.”
The man paled to the point of looking like a ghost and turned faintly green. Alex had taken a bit of a leap of logic about that. “Okay, okay, fine.”
Alex smiled. “Thank you. Also, I want the full medical kit, not just the half-assed first aid one we got.”
The man nodded, too afraid to speak. Alex watched carefully as the man gave him the basics, checking every last supply as it went into the backpack. “An-anything else?”
Alex glared at the man. “Water storage and purification tablets. If you guys have one of those filtration system bottle things, I’ll take that to.”
The man hastily complied with Alex’s request. Alex made sure to smile and politely thank the man before sticking his knife back into its sheath. Alex was going to steal a few more of them, now that he thought about it. They would take a few hours to sharpen, but knives were better than no knives. There was no way Gordon wouldn’t notice a gun missing, or he would grab one of those as well. Alex sighed as he made his way to the training room. He was going to stock up on water, as well.
They were airdropped into the African Congo bright and early. Alex couldn’t say he was surprised when they left without checking that everyone had made it down without a broken leg. SCORPIA was not exactly a fan of incompetent or weak operatives. Alex fully expected that they would simply leave anyone not in good condition to die. They were supposed to pick their partners upon landing. Alex heard that as “you’re free to duel to the death once we leave you”. Walker was left without a partner. “Walker, with me.”
Walker looked at him with wide eyes. Alex knew Walker had failed the shit out of some portions of the survival class, especially the fire-lighting bits. “Uh, I’m bad at-”
Alex waved him off. “Don’t worry, I’m good at all of this stuff.”
The other teams had already ditched them. Alex suspected that they didn’t want him to change his mind about taking Walker. He pulled out the map they had given everyone on the helicopter. Walker fidgeted. “How do we even know which way is north?”
Alex sighed. “Does anyone ever do Jet’s extended reading?”
Walker blinked. “Uh, no.”
Alex put the map away. “Twenty kilometers due north to start with, I think.”
Walker stared at him. “Which way is north?”
Alex pointed. “That way.”
Walker walked behind him. “How do you know?”
Alex sighed. “The moss.”
Walker looked at him like he was insane. “Moss? That’s it?!”
Alex resisted the urge to facepalm. “We’re in the Southern Hemisphere, so moss grows on the south side of the trees. Ergo, north is that way. Now, move your ass, Walker.”
Walker dutifully padded alongside him.
The first ten miles went fairly well, despite the sweltering heat beating down on them. Alex began to reflect on his circumstances. It had been a while since he’d had any time to think. Between Malagasto’s insane schedule, the incident with Gordon and the laptop, and his secret laboratory in the abandoned church, Alex had had very little time to think about, well, anything, really. Walker was wheezing behind him. This was probably one of the few times being smaller and less densely muscled was an advantage. Alex felt the heat, but it wasn’t unbearable for him. The densely packed trees and vines were getting thicker as they went into the jungle. The gear...Alex wondered if Walker would let him check his. If it was only his gear, then someone had it out for him. If it was the whole class, maybe it was a test? Or maybe...they were all supposed to die? Alex liked some of the board members, but he knew they would have no qualms about sentencing a whole class to death if they found it necessary. “Alex, I need a break.”
Alex sighed. “Aren’t you from the south, Walker?”
Walker huffed. “Yes.”
Alex glared at the man. “I’m from England, Walker. Cold, drafty England.”
Walker gave him a puppy-dog look. “Alex.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Find a log. Try not to collapse it.”
Walker puffed and sat down. Alex sat next to him. Suddenly, the back of his neck prickled. “Walker?”
Walker noticed him tense up. “What is it?”
Alex sighed. “Don’t look up.”
Walker looked up. They were suddenly surrounded. Chimpanzees were aggressive. Looking them in the eyes was not a great idea since it was a challenge of sorts. Alex swore loudly. “God fucking damn it, Walker!”
Walker yelped as a chimp scratched him. Alex sighed. “We’re fucked.”
Alex brought his knife down in an arc as the first one jumped at him. Then, it was on for real. Slash. Cut. Overhead. Back cut. Walker was halfway decent with a knife. Slash. Cut. Stab. Alex felt a weight land on him and his air supply was suddenly cut off. Thonk! The chimp’s blood sprayed out on him. Alex rolled out from under the corpse, panting. He and Walker were both panting and covered in blood. “I’m really sorry, Alex.”
Alex held up a bloodstained hand and felt his neck. “Walker, next time I tell you not to look up, you better not fucking look up.”
Walker breathed out. They both stood there for a few minutes. “We should move.”
Walker groaned. “I got scratched.”
Alex cursed. “Where?”
Walker sighed. “Uh, a lot of places.”
Alex pulled out the map. “What are you doing?”
Alex wanted to scratch at his face. The blood was starting to dry. “Looking for a body of water. You and I need to get rid of the blood before we attract every predator in the entire damn place. Also, we need to clean those scratches out now.”
Walker pulled out his first aid kit. Alex grabbed some of Walker’s water and rinsed off the scratches. The man’s chest and arms had borne the brunt of it. Alex grabbed Walker’s first aid kit. The alcohol pads seemed fine. The bandages were rather limited, but, oh, well. They’d have to be changed. “So, what’s the damage?”
Alex sighed. “You’re probably going to get infected.”
Walker groaned. Alex bandaged the scratches. “Let’s keep moving.”
Alex was not thrilled to find out the map had mislabeled a stream as a “river”. Walker looked at him. “Err. I thought you said it was a river.”
Alex gave the map the evil eye. “The map said it was a river.”
Walker looked at him. “Do you think- do you think they’re trying to kill us?”
Alex sighed. “Maybe. Let me see your kit.”
Walker shrugged. “My knife already broke. I brought a training one, though.”
Alex was glad Walker had a grain of sense. “Yeah, let’s take a look.”
Walker handed over his backpack. “Here.”
Alex sifted through. Walker’s gear was less flawed than his, but there were still several issues. “Your clip’s been filed down, the rope is worn in a few areas, and I’m not sure I’d trust the rest of this.”
Walker looked at him. “How come your gear is different?”
Alex pinched his nose. “I checked my gear and convinced the quartermaster to give me the appropriate gear.”
Walker looked at him. “How? He’s a stingy bastard.”
Alex began refilling the water skins and stocking up on the bottles. Walker copied him. “I may have threatened him a bit.”
Walker shrugged. “I don’t think anyone else checked their gear that closely. But all of us have knives, at least.”
Alex snorted. “Does anyone return all their knives to Yermalov?”
Walker laughed. “No.”
Alex huffed. “No wonder he’s such a grumpy bastard.”
Walker chuckled. Alex sighed. “Alright, I think we should bathe one at a time. One of us has to keep watch.”
Walker shrugged and began stripping. Alex hastily turned around. “What do I do about my bandages?”
Alex scratched at his neck. Dried chimp blood seemed as itchy as his dried blood. “Try not to get them wet.”
Walker gave a grunt of acknowledgment. Alex heard scrubbing noises and tactfully kept his back turned. “Alex?”
Alex tried not to roll his eyes. “What?”
Walker sighed. “Uh, can’t you turn around and talk to me? Also, the blood’s not coming out.”
Alex resisted a loud sigh. Blood didn’t come out of clothing with just water. “Walker, if the blood dries, it doesn’t like to come out. Also, I’m trying to respect your privacy here.”
Walker got out. “Okay, your turn.”
Alex turned around to a still-shirtless Walker. Alex blinked. “Turn around.”
Walker huffed. “I’ve seen it before.”
Alex glared. “Now.”
Walker turned around and began pulling his boots and a soggy shirt back on. Alex let out a sigh and began to bathe. He was starting to tan. Alex wondered how long it would take them to burn. There wasn’t exactly any sunscreen in their survival packs. “What happened there?”
Alex realized he’d been rubbing his scar from Point Blanc. “Barbed wire sucks. Also, turn back the fuck around.”
Walker made a little huffy noise but turned back around. Alex finished bathing after that.
A few hours after they had started walking again, Walker stopped. “My bandages are stuck.”
Alex sighed. “We’ll soak them off later.”
Alex paused to dig through his backpack. “Should we have taken some of the chimp flesh to eat?”
Alex continued digging through his pack. “No. Chimpanzees are close enough to humans to be heavy on the disease risk. Unless we’re starving, I really wouldn’t.”
Walker grunted. “So, do ya want some of the energy bars I jacked from the cafeteria?”
Alex grinned. “I knew you were good for something, Walker.”
Walker tossed him one of the bars. Alex opened it. It was pretty okay and better than starvation. “So, why’d you buddy up with me?”
Alex stuck the wrapper in his bag. “I figured the rest of our classmates would kill you in your sleep and potentially eat you.”
Walker’s eyes widened. “You think they’d seriously eat me?”
Alex chuckled. “I don’t know. Probably.”
Walker grinned. “You’re messing with me.”
Alex lightly shoved him on his good arm. “Just a little bit, mate.”
Walker ruffled his hair. “Devious little brat.”
Alex’s lips twitched. “Oh, but it’s fortunate one of us is smart.”
Walker gave a mock gasp of shock. “Did you just call me stupid?!”
Alex laughed. “Well, if you need an answer to that, Walker-”
Walker swatted him upside the head. “Alex!”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Oh, shove your insecurities up your ass, Walker. If I didn’t believe in you, I wouldn’t waste my time.”
Walker’s face softened. “Oh, uh...thanks, Alex.”
Alex wondered for a second if Walker was about to cry. Then his face went back to normal. “You’re welcome.”
They walked in silence, occasionally pausing to pick up firewood, until about dusk.
“Think we should stop now?”
Alex shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t fancy a walk in the jungle in the dark.”
Walker looked at him. “Should we, y’know, start a fire.”
Alex sighed. “Nah.”
Walker sat down next to him. “Do you want me to take the first watch?”
Alex sighed. “Sure.”
Walker grunted. “Okay.”
Alex lowered himself completely to the ground next to Walker. He was putting a lot of trust in Walker, to be honest. Though he had six knives, Walker had quite a bit of an advantage if he caught Alex sleeping. Alex knew he did need to sleep, though. He tried his best to wind down and sleep. Alex knew he must have drifted off because Walker was shaking him awake. “Alex.” Alex snapped awake. Walker went to sleep next to Alex. Alex stared out into the night and set an alarm on his watch. So, Walker had gotten sabotaged gear as well. But his had been worse. That implied that somebody had fucked with all of their gear, but more than one person had messed with his. Who would have the authority? The teachers would have access. Board members and their second-in-command’s had access to everything. Alex wondered if he shouldn’t have asked the quartermaster more questions. There were very few people who could mess around with things at the school. SCORPIA general operations were one thing, but the elite school for assassins was quite another thing entirely. Alex was almost entirely sure that at least one board member had to sign off on their field trips, anyhow. What was it that Gordon had said? “Julia Rothman generously allowed funding for a little field survival trip.” Nile had tried to kill him. Twice. Alan Blunt’s words came to him, unbidden. "Where some people see coincidence, I see conspiracy." Alex inhaled. Maybe, just maybe Blunt had a point. Maybe just this once. Alex wanted to scream at the thought. Alex knew the class was considered a bunch of mediocre fuck-ups. He suspected the instructors had a hand in Walker’s gear, at the very least. The American hadn’t exactly made himself popular among the staff. It was probably some sort of test one or more of his classmates was meant to fail. Walker’s gear had been significantly less fucked-up than his, which meant someone else had tampered with it. Maybe one of the board wanted him dead for some sort of petty, inexplicable reason? As soon as Alex had the thought, he felt almost sure it was true. Great, just fucking great; halfway through assassin training and a board member wanted him dead. Well, now that he had that figured out, what was his next step? Alex knew for sure that he was going to do his best to save Walker and the rest of his classmates. I mean, he liked them, but because of that little stunt, he was prepared to save his classmates if it killed him. Not that he was going to live that long anyway. Alex knew he might as well stick to his morals because he was about to get screwed.
The rest of the night passed without incident. However, upon waking the next day, Alex remembered something. “Shit!”
Walker jumped up. “Where’s the bad guy?”
Alex looked at the man. “There is nobody we need to kill, Walker. And we’re the bad guys now, remember?”
Walker scratched his head. “Then, er, what’s wrong?”
Alex gestured at the man’s chest. “We forgot to do your bandages last night.”
Walker looked at him. “So, what now?”
Alex sighed. “We soak them off and hope you haven’t infected this quickly.”
Walker took off his more than slightly shredded shirt. Alex began soaking the bandages off. The tricky part was getting them wet enough to peel off, but not wasting water by dumping it everywhere. “So, how does it look?”
Alex paused. “I’ll have to finish getting them off to know for sure, but not too bad so far.”
Alex decided not to panic the man by mentioning the slight inflammation. It could be because these were scratches, after all. It might also be the start of an infection. Alex sucked in a breath. Walker twitched underneath him. “What’s taking so long?”
Alex sighed. “Honestly?”
Walker huffed. “Yeah.”
Alex tugged the next bit off. “Your chest hair is getting in the way.”
Walker squawked. “I’m not shaving for you!”
Alex laughed out loud. “Don’t let Ross hear you say that. He already thinks we’re sleeping together.”
Walker grumbled. “Ross is fucked in the head. You’re fourteen, for god’s sake.”
Alex giggled slightly as he yanked the last bit off. “I know.”
Walker glared. “That hurt.”
Alex arched a brow. “Maybe if your chest hair wasn’t at Chewbacca levels-”
Walker huffed. “I have perfectly respectable amounts of body hair. It’s manly!”
Alex was resisting the urge to comment. “Uh, huh. Whatever. Next time, you can do this yourself if you’re going to complain this much.”
Walker backed down. “On second thought, it was a great job and you have a delicate touch.”
Alex pulled out Walker’s first aid kit. “That’s what I thought.”
They came across the trio of classmates Alex knew the least about next. Six plus him made seven, which left a group of three. Two of them were unconscious and the third one didn’t seem that well off. The other women and two other men. Alex couldn’t remember their names at the moment. “What happened?”
The man was bleeding heavily from his arm. Alex placed his hands over the gash and guessed the man’s name. “David.”
The man looked him in the eye. “I got gored by an ox.”
The man was breathing fast and shallow. Alex knew it was a bad sign. “I need to get into your bag for this.”
David nodded and collapsed against the rock. Alex broke open the first aid kit, noticing that he, Walker, and David had received three different kits. Well, that confirmed it. Someone was fucking with their class. Thankfully, Alex had demanded the full set. “Walker, what’s his blood type?”
Walker scratched his head. “I think it was the same as mine, B positive.”
Alex glared at the man as he began his first real-life attempt at multi-layer stitches after dumping rubbing alcohol on it. Ian had made him take a class for this. “How sure are you?”
Alex was almost done with the stitches. He knew nothing about artery repair, so it was fortunate the ox seemed to have missed them. Walker frowned. “Eighty percent?”
Alex felt the man’s pulse. “Good enough.”
Walker stared at him. “But, but-”
Alex glared at the man. “Walker, SCORPIA decided to play a game with us when the sent us into the wild with uneven survival kits. They wanted to play us off each other, so we’d do a whole survival of the fittest thing. Just look at David’s kit versus yours! Are you going to let them win?!”
Walker’s expression firmed up. Alex knew that if there was one thing spies hated more than anything it was blatant manipulation like this. And Walker was ex-CIA. “No. Alright, I’ll do it.”
Alex pulled out his extremely complete first aid kit. It contained the required equipment, which he handed to Walker. “I’ll see about the other two.”
One of them, the woman, was already coming around. The man was also blinking dizzily. “I forgot your names.”
The woman stared at him before answering slowly. “Lena.”
The man sighed. “I’m James.”
Alex doubted that those were the names on either of their birth certificates, but wasn’t about to rock the boat. The woman sat up. “There was an ox.”
Alex rubbed his eyes. “Do you know if it was domesticated?”
Lena seemed to be trying to stand. Alex offered her a hand. “Didn’t look like it. No whip marks or yoke.”
Alex sighed. “Can I ask you two a question?”
James seemed to try to sit up and failed. Lena shrugged. “Sure.”
Alex sighed. “Was any of your gear sabotaged?”
Lena’s eyes widened. “You too?”
James groaned. “We were hoping someone had a functional kit.”
Alex shrugged. “I threatened one out of the quartermaster.”
James swore. “That was allowed?!”
Alex snorted. “I think it’s cool as long as I don’t murder the staff?”
James groaned. “I should have done that. Fuuuck.”
Alex lightly patted the man’s shoulder. James tried to sit up and failed. “I think I have a concussion.”
Alex rubbed his forehead. “Lena?”
The woman tried walking around. “I think I’m fine, but James took a harder hit.”
David was asleep but didn’t seem to be rejecting his transfusion. Walker was sitting next to him. Alex sat down. “Alright, I suppose we’ll need to rest for a few hours.” Well, everyone but him. “So, let’s see what kind of food and water everyone is at.”
One by one, a few of them more suspicious than the others, they began to look through each other’s supplies.
Walker looked at Alex after a while. “What do you think was the plan here? Everyone got different pieces of gear that worked, except you, who had your kit fully trashed.”
Alex paused. “There are a couple of possibilities.”
Alex noticed all three of the other assassins were listening to their conversation. “One, I was supposed to realize and get a whole new kit. Two, I was supposed to realize and start killing you off one by one for the supplies. Three, I was supposed to die. It might even be a mix of them, depending on who you ask.”
Walker huffed. “What about me?”
Alex shrugged. “I think they wanted you dead pretty fast.”
Walker gaped. “Why?”
Alex raised his eyebrow at the man. “Think about it, Walker. They gave you food and a decent amount of purification tablets and water skins. Those are critical supplies. Plus, that knife of yours was designed to fail.”
Walker thought about it for a minute and shut up. “What about me?”
David seemed a little pale, though he had just lost quite a bit of blood. “Since you got a working knife and middling first-aid kit, I’d say that was a decent shot a living.”
Lena was looking at Alex with something akin to horror. “What about us?”
Alex shrugged. “I’m entirely sure that the teachers don’t care if we live or die, so it was probably a ‘survival of the fittest’ kind of thing.”
Lena was looking at him like he was from Mars or something. “Try to relax. It’s SCORPIA.”
Alex had already accepted that he was probably going to die in the next few weeks. The survival kit was a huge hint. That didn’t mean he was going to dump his morals just for a few days. It also didn’t mean he couldn’t save other people. “Relax?! Relax?! The teachers are trying to kill us, the wild is trying to kill us, and I’m shocked you haven’t tried to kill us!”
David seemed to be a bit unwell, despite the recent transfusion. Alex shrugged. “It’s not like we can do anything but survive. I’d rather have more people watching my back.”
Lena and James seemed to sit back a little bit. Alex wondered if the three of them were close like him, Walker, Amanda, and Klaus were. It was possible. Walker ruffled his hair. James glared at Walker. “Why are you toting around Walker’s useless ass?”
Alex narrowed his eyes at James. “Says the guy with the concussion. Walker’s not useless, so shut the fuck up.”
James rolled his eyes but did shut up about Walker. They were pretty quiet into the evening. Alex was starting to think that this might go smoothly. Aside from a few quibbles over the watch - James was concussed, David was still weak, and Walker’s scratches were still not looking great - everything went fine for the night.
Alex was surprised that the next few days went fairly smoothly. James was slowly recovering from his concussion. David seemed to be doing much better. Lena was almost completely fine, though was still eyeing him oddly. None of them seemed to have built up his level of stamina. Then again, most of them had more pure muscle than him. Ian had been particularly stuck on that. Walker was being his usual behind self when they took a break. “Have you, like, done this before?”
Alex looked at the man like he was nuts. “Yes.”
Walker eyed him. “How often?”
Alex shrugged. “Pretty much every school holiday. You know, before all of this went down, I was training for climbing Mount Everest. It’s a year-long process at the very least.”
Walker hovered. “Before all what went down?”
Alex got up. “It’s a long story.”
Walker groaned. “You’re killing me, Al.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you’ll live.”
Walker whined on. “But Aleeex.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Walker, no means no.”
Walker huffed. “Fiiine.”
James was scowling at Walker. “The teachers said no backstories.”
Walker shrugged. “The teachers ain’t here, in case you haven’t noticed, sugar plum.”
James glared. “It doesn’t mean that their policies are bad.”
Walker looked at James. “Do we have a problem?”
Alex tried to interrupt. “Guys!”
James smirked. “Yeah, maybe a little.”
Walker looked at the man. “What’s your fucking problem, then, James?”
Alex swore mentally. “Guys!”
They both ignored him. James smirked. It was an ugly sort of smirk. Alex knew that the next comments were going to hurt. “I think you don’t belong, Walker. For one, you’re a fucking moron, no matter what Alex might say otherwise. Two, you’re a pain in the ass to deal with. Three, you almost got your little boyfriend killed with those chimps.”
Walker glared. “He’s not my boyfriend! And whether or not I belong on Malagasto is not up to you.”
James smirked. “You say that, but we all know that you would have been knocked off without Alex a long time ago. How does it feel to know you suck harder than the fourteen-year-old who got there after you?!”
Walker’s eyes flashed. “Alex beat you in all the classes, too, in case you forgot.”
James snorted. “Yeah, well, rumor has it that the top student doesn’t always live to graduation.”
Walker lost it at that. Alex watched the two of them fight. He was taken aback at the fact that Walker was willing to defend him. To his surprise, Walker won, albeit it was from sweeping James’ feet out from under him and punching him in the head. As Lena got up, Alex drew his knives and looked at her. Lena sat back down. David just stared at the whole scene. Walker seemed to be gearing up for another punch. “That’s enough, Walker.”
Walker froze at Alex’s voice. “What?”
Alex sighed. “He’s out, Walker.”
Walker seemed to snap out of it. “Right, right.”
From the way Walker looked at James, Alex was quite sure that if he wasn’t there, Walker would have slit James’ throat. Alex let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “What do we do now?”
Alex sighed. “Wait for him to wake up.”
Walker groaned. “Do we have to?”
Alex glared at the man. “Yes.”
It was an hour or two before James woke up. James seemed to be even worse than when Alex had found him. Getting re-concussed had probably not done him any favors. The man seemed to understand them just fine but seemed to be struggling to stay in English and form sentences. Alex did speak Spanish, so it wasn’t that huge of an issue, but the other didn’t seem to be at all pleased at the new development. Thankfully, Lena volunteered to help James walk so that they could keep moving. Alex noticed that David and Walker both seemed to be eyeing James up. He wondered if they were planning something involving James and a knife in the back. Alex knew he couldn’t take them both. Well, not if he fought fair. They continued on the way to the checkpoint they were supposed to reach. It was only then that Alex realized that Gordon had not given them a time-frame. Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all. David and Walker sat down next to him when they settled down for the night. “What’s up, you two?”
Walker huffed. “We think you should take the night off from the watch.”
Alex stared. “What?! I’m the least injured of the three of us.”
Walker grabbed him. “Just hear me out, Alex. You’re fourteen, right?”
Alex glared at the man. “Yes.”
Walker kept his arm in a hold. “You should be getting way more sleep.”
David cut in. “He’s right. We can’t fix the rest of this, but we can give you tonight.”
Alex wasn’t going to say no to that but was still deeply suspicious. “All right, then.”
Walker grinned. “Great!”
Alex was still feeling deeply suspicious but wasn’t going to question more sleep hours. He was still antsy about it by the time they finished dinner, but the exhaustion of the last few days quickly caught up with him.
Alex woke up and instantly realized why Walker and David had wanted him out of the way. James. Alex pinched his nose and resigned himself to finding a corpse. Goddamn it. He just wanted ten hours of sleep without strings attached. Alex moved slightly closer to the center of their “camp”. Sure enough, there was a corpse that used to be James. Alex got his breakfast bar from Walker and glanced at the corpse. There was a giant pool of blood and three marks. “Okay, which one of you stabbed him in his sleep?”
All of them raised a hand. “All of you?”
There were confused glances all around. “All right, out with it.”
David sighed. “I took the first watch, so I waited for everyone to go to sleep and then stabbed him in the thigh.”
Walker rolled his eyes. “I had the second watch, but didn’t trust David to kill someone who was sort of his friend, so I did the one on the neck.”
Lena sighed. “I noticed during the walking his concussion was moderate to severe. He lost some of his language functions and most of his coordination. In other words, he was going to be a complete liability until the end of the trip and would likely have needed more medical after. I decided that I would gently take care of it on my watch.”
Alex closed his eyes and inhaled. Murdering sociopaths, the bloody lot of them. “Right. Now that we’ve gotten that all straightened out, you’d best get going.”
Alex knew none of them would stand for burying the man, but Alex knew he wasn’t going to leave James to the crows. “What about you?”
Alex set his mouth in a grim line. “I want to bury him.”
Walker immediately protested. “There’s no point. It’s not like he’s gonna know the difference.”
Alex sighed. “I know none of you will do it, but I’m going to.”
Walker groaned. “Alex-”
Alex cut Walker off. “He might not know the difference, but I will. Now, you can either help me or fuck off. I don’t care.”
Alex refused to give up his morals just because it would be easier. Lena cut in. “I’ll stay with him. You and David go ahead.”
David and Walker exchanged looks. “But you’re a woman, and Alex is just a kid!”
Lena glared at David. “If you recall, Alex and I are fully capable of dueling you to a standstill, in case you forgot.”
David sighed. “Then we’ll stay.”
Walker looked at them like they’d all lost their minds. Then he took a long look at Alex. “Fine, fine. I’m telling you right now, this is a bad idea.”
They took almost three hours to dig a shallow grave. Alex paused as they hoisted James in. “Lena, why did you, um-”
Lena arched a brow. “Stick up for you? Agree to bury James?”
Alex resisted the urge to scratch at his face. “Well, yeah.”
Lena smirked faintly. “You know, not everything is about you, right?”
Alex flushed. “I would hope not.”
Lena giggled slightly as they dropped the body. It struck Alex as particularly macabre. “For your information, Alex, I was sleeping with both James and David.”
Alex felt his mouth drop open. “Did-did they both know?”
Lena scoffed. “Of course, they both knew.”
Alex began to bury the man. “Erm, how does that work?”
Lena giggled at Alex’s expression. “Very simple. You have an honest conversation, tell the men you want them both, and then ask if that’s okay.”
Alex flushed harder. “Sorry, I’ve never even heard of something like that.”
Lena smirked. “I would seriously doubt you would have. You are only fourteen, after all.”
David was watching them rather closely, now that Alex thought about it. “Was sleeping with them?”
Lena rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m not having sex here. That would be unsanitary. Also, James is dead and I’m not a necrophiliac.”
Alex sighed and regretted ever asking. “I’m, er, sorry for your loss.”
Lena seemed amused by Alex’s awkwardness. “Oh, it’s alright, Alex. I’m sure I’ll find another partner somehow. I mean, SCORPIA’s elite operatives are only eighty percent men, so my options are limited.”
Alex chuckled at the joke. “I’m sure it’ll be a real struggle, Lena.”
Lena looked at him. “Well, what about you?”
Alex pushed more sand into the hole. “What about me?”
Lena smirked. “Who do you like?”
Alex sighed. “I’m trying to focus on school right now.”
Lena shoved more sand on top of James. “Fair enough. But still, what’s your type?”
Alex sighed. “Er, I had a girl I liked, but she moved to America.”
Lena began covering James' chest. “Pity. What did she look like?”
Alex paused. “Well, er, have you met Mrs. Rothman?”
Lena arched a brow. “Yes.”
Alex pushed more sand into the hole. “A bit like that, except she’s my age and a little more...attainable, you know.”
Lena nodded. “Best not to aspire too high. I mean, you should have standards, but there’s a difference between standards and lottery levels of luck.”
Alex dumped sand on the man’s head. “Yeah, I kind of figured.”
They finished burying James. Walker grumbled. “Finally.”
All three of them spoke. “Shut up, Walker.”
Walker looked cowed. Alex paused. “Wait, if we’re in the jungle, why is there sand here?”
Everyone whipped out their maps.
A few minutes later, Walker rubbed his eyes. “Fucking useless things.”
Walker tossed his map in David’s direction. David caught it and paused. “Wait a minute. We have different pieces of the puzzle.”
He grabbed Walker’s map. “This has a few landmarks mine doesn’t.”
David grabbed a rock. And aligned the maps. “Lena, can I see yours?”
Lena handed her map to David. “Did anyone grab James’ stuff?”
Alex sighed and pulled out the stuff from his backpack, handing over his and James’ map. David lined them up. “Okay, does anyone have a pen or something?”
Alex reached into his stuff and pulled out several ballpoints that he’d snatched on impulse on his way to the helicopter. David grinned. “Feeling the klepto vibes, are we?”
Alex scowled. “Oh, shut up. It comes in handy, now doesn’t it?”
David scratched the back of his head. “Fair point.”
The man began quickly sketching the information on all of their maps. Alex was grateful to the man for realizing all of this. David handed them each a map after the ink dried. “Right, now we’re just missing Klaus and...Aria?”
Alex scowled. “Her name’s Amanda.”
David rubbed his cheek sheepishly. “Right, sorry.”
Alex shrugged. He was starting to see why Yermalov disliked the class. Weren’t assassins supposed to notice details? They continued on their hike. “Does it say why this part is desert, though?”
Alex shrugged grimly. “Illegal deforestation? I mean, it’s pretty common here because of cash crops.”
Walker shrugged. “Huh. In the middle of the jungle, though?”
Alex smirked. “Well, you wouldn’t want to do it at the edge of the forest where people might notice.”
Walker drank some water and paused. “Yeah, point.”
The next two days went smoothly, but then Walker asked a question. “Is anyone feeling cold?”
Alex gaped at the man. “No, it’s fucking hot as shit.”
Walker looked at Alex. “Will you check my scratches?”
Alex felt a sense of dread beginning to well up inside him. “Okay.”
Walker took off his shirt. “I’m not feeling so great.”
Alex frowned. “You, um, have an infection.”
Walker groaned. “Fuck.”
Alex sighed. “Let’s try to keep going. We only have forty more miles.”
Walker grunted. “Only.”
Alex gently patted the man’s arm. “C’mon, Walker.”
Walker grabbed his arm. “Promise me one thing, Alex.”
Alex blinked. “What?”
Walker looked at him. “Leave me behind if I become a liability.”
Alex glared at the man. “I won’t make that promise.”
Walker stared. “Why not?”
Alex shrugged. “It’s not who I am.”
Walker looked at Alex. “I betrayed the CIA.”
Alex shrugged. “They’re a bunch of fuckers, anyway.”
Walker's eyes narrowed. “I’ve killed people.”
Alex snorted. “So have I.”
Walker huffed. “I betrayed my last partner to his death.”
Alex shrugged. “Odds are, he probably would have died in that year anyway.”
Walker’s mouth dropped open. “Alex, I’m a piece of shit. It’s okay to let me die.”
Alex huffed. “Says who?”
Walker’s jaw worked. “Alex, c’mon.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. “No.”
Walker sighed. David and Lena looked thoroughly amused by the entire spectacle. Walker tried again. “I’ve tortured people!”
Alex’s eye twitched. “Walker, do you know how the last guy died?”
Walker looked surprised. “No. How?”
Alex shrugged. “He fell into a plane engine and was vaporized in less than a minute.”
Walker huffed. “Why do you have such a problem killing me?”
Alex shrugged. “You’re not an odious creep who kidnapped my girlfriend.”
Walker sighed. “I mean, I’d do it on command for money.”
Alex glared at the man. “She’s now my ex.”
Walker huffed. “That’s more dates than I’ve gotten that weren’t assignments.”
Alex groaned. “That’s disgusting, Walker. Please tell me you used condoms.”
Walker flushed. “Of course, I did! I’m not an idiot.”
Lena was shaking from her contained laughter. David was coughing into his sleeve. Alex rolled his eyes. “The second we get back, I’m downing egregious amounts of Scotch to forget this.”
Walker laughed. “You did ask.”
Alex scoffed. “I regret my entire existence sometimes.”
The adults seemed entirely too amused by this. Alex almost forgot Walker’s infection. Almost.
They got about eight more miles before they ran into Amanda and Klaus. Alex could immediately tell something was wrong with them. “What happened?”
Amanda sighed. “Klaus got heatstroke and I was injured falling out of a tree onto a rock.”
Alex resisted the urge to groan. “Okay, what’s the damage?”
Amanda pulled up her shirt. Alex blinked and looked at the gash on her stomach. It looked nasty, even with the stitches. Klaus looked better than Walker, but not by much. Walker was looking kind of pale. Klaus sighed. “Klaus needs rest.”
Alex glanced at Walker, sizing him up. “Walker is not going to be able to walk straight for much longer.”
Amanda crossed her arms. “Klaus needs rest, too.”
Alex sighed. “All right, then. How’s everyone on water?”
Everyone checked their water. Alex got a few grunts of “okay”. Alex sighed. “Map stuff?”
David pulled out his map. “So, we figured out that everyone has a piece of the map, but not the whole thing. Everyone kind of pooled their information. Can we see your maps for a few minutes?”
David quickly added the rest of their info to the maps. The man frowned. “What’s up?”
David groaned. “Those bastards left the last ten miles blank.”
There was a collective sort of groan that went around. Alex scowled. The teachers weren’t going to win. Alex refused to let them. “All right. We are going to get through whatever they throw at us. First of all, we should probably fully stock up on water and maybe try for some extra food. Does everyone have their knives?”
There were grunts of agreement. “Great. Let’s try for some mediocre ranged weapons. There are plenty of trees, so I’m thinking about spears. None of us knows how to make a bow or anything fancy, right?”
David spoke up. “I want a club.”
Alex shrugged. “You want it, you make it.”
David nodded. Alex sighed. “Any questions? Comments? Concerns?”
Klaus gestured at Walker. “What about him?”
Alex scowled. “I will personally carry Walker the last thirty miles if that’s what it takes.”
Klaus nodded and wisely didn’t say anything. Alex liked Klaus.
The rest of the day was consumed with gathering materials for and building said weapons. All in all, Alex felt a little bit better, but not by much. There were large animals out there and Alex didn’t exactly fancy their chances against, say, a rhinoceros. Those things were fucking tanks. David got his club, for all the good it would do him. Alex had mentally rolled his eyes at it. Personally, he felt their spears had more use as elongated torches but wasn’t going to say anything about it. David looked at him. “So, I was thinking about something.”
Alex arched a brow. “Oh?”
David sighed. “Let’s split the distance between two days. I know it means an extra day in this shithole, but we don’t know what kind of shit they put in the last ten miles of this gig.”
Alex considered it. “Alright, then.”
He wondered why they were all acting like he was some kind of leader. Lena had gotten fatigued oddly early. Alex thought it might be the concussion, but this was really beyond him. He wasn’t exactly a doctor and had no idea what to do outside of first aid. Alex added it to his list of things to do. Alex had made sure they would stop and reload on water before the finale part. It would be a good precaution, just in case, they were there longer than intended. Alex secretly stuffed most of his pack with the materials he would need to start a fire. Well, not that secretly, from the way Walker was looking from him to his pack, to the others. Walker yanked him aside as evening fell. “What’s with all the fire-starting stuff?”
Alex shrugged. “I can’t help but think I’ll need it at some point during this little trip.”
Walker shrugged. “M’kay.”
Alex felt his lips twitch. “Don’t worry, I’ll wait until we’re off any boats to set them on fire.”
Walker looked puzzled. Alex felt a small pang of sadness at Belinda and Troy’s death. “What?”
Alex shrugged. “Never mind. It would take too long to explain.”
Walker sighed. “You’re weird, you know that?”
Alex scowled. Walker continued. “I mean, good weird, but still weird.”
Alex sighed. “I know.”
The rest of the night was quiet.
The next morning, Walker looked god-awful. The man was pale and hot to the touch. Alex stared at the man’s chest wound. There were angry red streaks that appeared around the scratches. “Infection.”
Walker looked at Alex. “I don’t think I can walk. Maybe you should-”
Alex shut him up with a glare. “Walker, if you’re going to say ‘leave me behind’, save your fucking breath.”
Walker gaped at Alex and still looked shocked as Alex physically lifted him off the ground. Alex grunted slightly under the weight. Goddamn, Walker was heavier than he looked. Alex refused to leave him behind, though. The extra weight and heat were almost unbearable, but Alex thought back to what the teachers had done and the fury allowed him to keep going. The others looked at him like he’d lost his mind. He didn’t care. Alex set his teeth. “Let’s get going.”
Amanda arched a brow at him but didn’t say anything. The first few miles were okay. Alex was used to hauling heavy crap around for a few miles. The next few were manageable. The final five miles were the most excruciating that he’d ever experienced, including the SAS punishment march. The group looked a little concerned about him, but nobody tried to dissuade him from his goal. He occasionally caught Lena and David looking at him oddly. Alex knew that he would have done this because of his morals, but, after finding out what the teachers had planned, he would have carried Walker twice as far out of spite, if he was being honest. Klaus seemed to be lowkey checking him out at the end of the day. Alex felt like he had several blisters and ached all over, but was otherwise fine. Klaus touched him. “Are you okay?”
Alex sighed. “Yeah, just a bit tired.”
Alex dropped off almost instantly that night.
Alex awoke the next morning and was insanely sore. He was going to haul Walker, no matter if it hurt. He hated the teacher’s plan. Walker’s red marks had turned into red streaks. Alex knew that and the fact that the man could no longer remain conscious for an extended period of time meant Walker was near death. Alex picked the man up, ignoring the fire in his joints, and began to get started with the walking. It was going to be a long day. They were on their last bit of the ten-mile hike when a very angry-looking rhinoceros appeared. Alex swore and glanced around for a bush to drop Walker behind. The rhino did not look happy at meeting them at all. Alex thought they would have been fine, except that David panicked and threw his spear. It did diddly squat, but it ticked the rhino off. The air seemed to freeze and then the rhino charged. The earth seemed to shake as the massive animal ran full tilt at them. Alex dove aside. Walker fell with him behind a bush. Goddamn it. He hated it when this happened. Alex put his hands into his bag and froze as he touched the kindling. Fire. Fire might do the trick. Alex wound the stuff around his “spear” and used the lighter to set it on fire. It was a makeshift torch. Alex noticed that the brush was incredibly dry. Alex dragged Walker out of reach - the rhino seemed to be busy with his classmates - and set the bush on fire. Alex straightened up and grasped his torch. The rhino spotted the fire as it looked around for anyone still standing. The rhino bellowed but went the other direction. Alex walked slowly over and set more things on fire as he approached. The rhino didn’t seem to want to come near him. Alex reached his next two classmates and set more brush on fire, dragging them clear with one hand and brandishing the torch with the other. Alex felt the extra heat from the fire near his head and scooted the torch up a bit. The last two classmates were the closest to the rhino. Alex went painstakingly slow. The fire burned closer and closer to hand. Alex lowered the torch to the brush and the wind suddenly whipped out, catching far more of the brush on fire than he had been aiming fire. That did it for the rhino, which bellowed in what Alex assumed was a mix of rage and fear and tore off in the opposite direction. Alex helped Klaus and Amanda to their feet. He glanced around a bit and jumped as the fire licked his fingers. The torch fell to the ground. “Well, shit.” Klaus and Amanda glanced around and began walking very quickly towards the path ahead, where Alex had laid his fallen classmates, two of whom were slowly rising to their feet. Alex walked over to Walker and picked him back up. He took one look at the field burning behind them, fire being spread by the wind. “Let’s get going.”
They finally made it to the outpost, where Gordon Ross was casually sitting as though he hadn’t been at least helping the other teachers plotting their deaths. It was a small wood cabin and he was sitting on the porch with what looked like the remains of breakfast next to him and a coffee cup in his hands. The man’s mouth dropped open when he spotted them. “You’re all still alive?!”
Alex grit his teeth before sniping out a retort. “Try not to sound so shocked Gordon, people might feel insulted.”
Gordon stared at Alex. “Are you carrying Walker?!”
Alex raised his chin. “Yes.”
Gordon sighed. “What’s wrong with him?”
Alex blinked. “Uhh, he has sepsis and possibly a concussion. I kind of dropped him while I was getting charged by a rhino.”
Gordon closed his eyes and inhaled. “Right. How long have you been carrying him?”
Alex shifted. “The last thirty miles.”
Gordon exploded. “Thirty fucking miles!!! Goddamn it!!!”
Alex glared at the man. “Are you going to get everyone else medical help or not?”
Gordon gestured at him. “Medics! Check Alex and then everyone else!”
Alex felt his jaw drop. “All I’ve got are blisters and first-degree burns.”
Gordon retorted. “Then it’ll be an awfully quick check-up.”
Alex sighed and gracefully lowered both him and Walker to the ground. Gordon looked very grumpy as the medics picked Walker up and the rest of the students went inside the cabin. Alex sighed as he stepped into the shaded and air-conditioned room. Alex’s check-up was, in fact, quick. After being handed stuff for his burns and blisters, he was left alone. Alex sighed with relief as the creams took effect. There was next to no pain at all from any of his injuries. He walked towards the shower and decided it was about bloody time for one and grabbed the change of clothes that had been left for him. Alex was so damn glad to have that shower after two weeks of not bathing. A surprising amount of blood had gotten in his hair and under his nails. Alex eventually left the shower and walked out into the dining area. There was lunch and most likely debriefing with Gordon next. But Alex didn’t mind. He’d achieved most of his goals. He was alive. His classmates had mostly survived. He opened the door to Gordon pouring himself an enormous glass of scotch. Alex sat down at the table. “Where’s everyone else?”
Gordon downed half of the scotch. “Medical.”
Alex sighed and grabbed food to prepare himself for the inevitable questions.
Fin