Chapter Fifteen

Fifteen minutes had passed and Deke had not heard from Devon and his friends. Concern etched his face. He decided to give them a couple more minutes before really growing concerned. Perhaps they simply forgot to check in…he hoped.

Deke waited for two more minutes and then Keyed open the microphone on his WristVid.

“Devon, please respond. You are late for your check-in.”

He waited for a moment, listening for a response. His WristVid remained silent. He keyed the button again.

“Devon, I repeat, please respond. Are you there?”

Deke shook his head. He hoped that they had simply gotten out of range and it was not something worse. He tried to convince himself that they had gone out of range looking for Flim and would be calling at any moment. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to quite convince himself.

Deke felt that it was his responsibility to keep all of the children safe. If he went out looking for Devon and the others there would not be anyone to watch the children here on the drop ship. He was also still did not know the full extent of his injuries. He had not passed out again, but he still got light headed at times. He just could not take that risk. His only choice was to pray and hope for the best.

When they did come back Deke planned on having a bit more than harsh words for Flim for running off. He knew Flim had a wild streak. Deke had been accused of that more than once as a child. But he would never have believed that Flim would run off like this, but he obviously had.

Deke cursed himself for letting Devon and the others go outside. He should have done it himself. What had he been thinking? Those kids were in danger, and it was all his fault. If they did not make it back before nightfall, they would be in great danger from the bowzers.