The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series by Heather Heckadon (portable ebook reader .txt) 📕

Smith can’t replicate it? What if he replicates it and it works great, and then infects us too? It’s all so unknown and scary. It’s not like I’m used to playing with this kind of stuff at home, you know? I feel blind going in.”

“We all do. That’s part of it though, I think,” I said. “Everything is unknown, but everyone is ready to dive in head first. I think that’s the only part that makes me okay with any of this.”

He nodded, and there was a moment of silence between us. When I looked up, I caught his brown eyes looking down at me. “Are you really ready for all of this?” he asked.

“No...not at all, really. But I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“We all have a choice Aella,” he answered.

“When your only choice is run or fight, there’s no choice. Not for me anyway,” I said. “There is no choice. We fight. That’s it. That’s all there is for me. And you can bet on me being ready to see the life drain from Leslie Marshall’s eyes when this is all over with. This was our planet. Ours.”

“I agree.”

We both glanced down at the ground again, quiet. The fire filled air hung silent for only a few seconds.

“I’m ready for some sleep. Are you coming with?” I asked.

“Yeah, let me go grab my things. I don’t know how well you’re gonna sleep with all these people around. It’s been pretty hard for me, but I’ll sleep easier tonight knowing you’re okay,” he said.

I turned to look around the cave. It was large, but with a sixty people crowded in with fires and supplies, it was tight. We would all feel closer after, I was sure. Walking away from the wall to find a spot amongst the people, I realized I had nothing to take with me.

As if it wasn’t hard enough coming to Circadia with my entire life packed into a tiny rubber box, I now had nothing but the clothes on my back. It was scary and infuriating. I couldn’t hold back anymore and bust out crying. A wave of emotion came over me and it felt like I was suddenly drowning. My heart pounded and I went down. The ground caught me hard, and people rushed to me.

“What’s wrong?” they all asked, but I couldn’t breathe. Everything was blurry from the tears in my eyes. I was gasping for air when something hit me in the chest. My breath caught, and I was able to calm down. Looking up, I saw Sierra looking down at me, her hand still in a fist.

“Sorry, it’s the only way to catch your breath again sometimes. That happened a lot to me when my husband first disappeared,” she said. She unclenched her fist and looked down at me with sad eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t even know what happened,” I said. Putting my hand to my chest, I felt the beating start to slow.

“Looks like you had a panic attack...”

Everyone stepped back to give me room, and I decided I would sleep where I was for the night. Just like that, I had lost everything all at once or so it felt. I’m not sure why it hit me at that moment. Maybe it was the lack of having a home to go to, or the realization of what I’d lost many days ago, but it hit me hard. As I settled down, Sierra brought me a blanket and left as Garrett came to lie next to me. I didn’t know how well I’d sleep, but at least Garrett was with me.

Chapter Eight

Peering out into the field, I could see they were flourishing, much to my dismay. I had taught them well. It still gaulded me when I thought about it. Sneaking around camp that morning was nerve-wracking. Every footstep was agonizing. We had to be quiet and fast at the same time, which was not easy. The dead flower weed under us crunched with each touchdown of a shoe, which seemed to echo out across the empty fields.

We stayed hidden in the trees, just out of sight in the darkness that the canopy created. Watching from the shroud, we were able to see the crew and Leslie live out their lives as if we weren’t there. At first, it felt wrong to watch, but the more we watched, the more we learned. Everyone had their own cliques they hung out in, their own routines they followed, and each part of the camp had a flaw.

Catching a glimpse of Smith walking by to a building that surely had all of his testing supplies, I panicked. Where was Dr. Mayhew? Surely, I assured myself, nothing had happened. He was probably just resting. We watched as Smith entered the building and shut the door behind him. I strained to hear the conversation of a group of men walking through the field, checking the crops.

The first man sounded gruff and strong. “You really think he just caught him out there in the woods like that?” he asked the other men.

Most of them grumbled back something incoherent that I couldn’t understand.

“That Smith sure does have Leslie wrapped around his finger, doesn’t he? I don’t think he found him out there in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know what happened, but I think he’s hiding something.”

Another man answered him back, “Does it matter? We have a doctor now, that’s a huge deal!”

“How helpful do you think a doctor is going to be to us if we have him locked up?” the man replied. “He’s not gonna wanna help us, might even refuse. The only good he’s doing us is not being with them. That’s it.”

The heat in my face indicated the anger I felt. I turned to Garrett. “He got caught. Dr. Mayhew got caught,” I said. I waited for his reply with my teeth gritted together and my fists clenched, but he only stared at me blankly.” After many moments,