The Terminals

Read The Terminals for Free Online Page A

Book: Read The Terminals for Free Online
Authors: Royce Scott Buckingham
far up the beach, we move to higher ground. You’ll be in the last one there with the empty bed and Ari.”
    â€œWhat’s an Ari?”
    â€œYour roommate.”
    They passed several huts. Cam could see that they were solid one-room structures, not makeshift or rickety. Each was slightly different—all built by hand—but they appeared to be roughly the same size, and about the dimensions of the living room in the house he was supposed to be renting with his friends at the university. Farther up the beach and wedged against the bluff was a large square building built from cinder blocks, with narrow openings instead of windows. It seemed to be the central and primary structure in the compound. Its stark, angular gray walls contrasted with the vibrant and textured green jungle behind it and the churning blue water before it. It reminded Cam of a jail with arrow slits.
    Beyond the block building lay a natural lagoon with shallow, calm water protected from the open sea. Cam strode past the drab structure to the lagoon edge, curious. The pool was light blue, like the sky, and so clear that, as they approached, Cam could see flashes of color darting between the rocks that dotted the sand on the bottom.
    â€œFish!” He stared for a time, fascinated.
    Ward chuckled. “Yes, they come with the ocean.” He tapped Cam on the shoulder and motioned him back toward the compound. “Let’s go. You can come back and visit them during off time or during hunter-gatherer sessions, if you feel like sushi.”
    Cam followed Ward, wondering what hunter-gatherer sessions were. He didn’t ask. There was too much to take in. Past the lagoon, the north end of the beach was hemmed in by more cliffs. Cam noted that these appeared impossible to climb, as they were worn completely smooth, with few visible hand or footholds.
    As they walked back toward the main building, a cluster of small, orange monkeys appeared on the roof and began hopping up and down, chattering among themselves and watching them come, like excited fans in bleachers.
    â€œThey want food,” Ward explained. “The irony is they are food. They just don’t know it yet.”
    â€œAre you saying we eat monkey?”
    â€œIf you’re hungry.”
    â€œI’m not hungry.”
    â€œYou will be.” Ward laughed again.
    Cam was disturbed by how often Ward laughed. Not everything he laughed about was funny. If someone told Ward he’d just stepped on a jaguar’s tail, he’d laugh about that too, Cam thought. Although, he’d probably also know exactly what to do and wind up with jaguar-skin gloves he crafted himself. Maybe that’s why he was laughing—he knew what he was doing. Cam, on the other hand, had no clue.
    â€œWhen do I meet the others?”
    â€œHow about now?”
    â€œOkay.” Cam waited, but Ward didn’t take him to the big building. “Uh, where are they?”
    â€œAll around us.”
    Cam turned. He saw no one.
    â€œYou’re fast, right, Cam?”
    â€œReasonably.”
    â€œDo you think you can get back to your condo without getting tagged?”
    â€œTagged? Like touched?”
    â€œSomething like that.”
    â€œLast hut on the end?”
    â€œYep. Ready?”
    It was a game. A test. A something. Cam scanned the beach. He still didn’t see anyone. “Sure.”
    â€œGo!”
    Cam began trotting down the beach. He skirted the first of the condos, figuring the others must be hiding inside them. Instead he hugged the bluff on the landward side. He moved quickly, but didn’t run at first. He needed to scope things out. With his eyes fixed on the structures, he didn’t see the padded pole until it hit him in the head.
    The packed sand beach was harder than it looked, and his thoughts were muddled for a moment before he looked up and saw a perfectly camouflaged person separate from the bluff. The figure was male, his age, and

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