The Calculus of Survival

Silas scrambled up the debris. He was agile, powerful. He squeezed through the gap in the rocks, disappearing for a second before popping back out on the other side, on the clear path to the helicopter.

He turned back.

Elian was at the bottom of the rockslide. He looked up, rain plastering his hair to his face. He was exhausted. He couldn't climb this. Not without help.

"Silas!" Elian screamed. "Help me!"

Silas looked at him. He looked at the helicopter, its door open, a pilot waving frantically for them to hurry. He looked back at the tunnel entrance, where the beams of flashlights were cutting through the dark.

Silas crouched down. He reached a hand through the gap.

Elian scrambled up the rocks. He clawed his way toward that hand. He ignored the screaming of his muscles. He reached out, his fingers brushing Silas’s.

"Pull me through!" Elian begged. "Hurry!"

Silas didn't grab his hand.

He paused. The lightning flashed, illuminating his face.

The mask was gone. There was no affection. No partnership. There was only the cold, hard calculation of a predator who had eaten his fill.

Silas looked at Elian’s outstretched hand, then down at Elian’s paralyzed legs.

"You were useful, Elian," Silas shouted over the roar of the rotors. "Truly. The files are priceless."

Elian’s blood went cold. "Silas?"

Silas smiled. It was a look of genuine, terrifying pity. "But you’re heavy. And this chopper only has fuel for a quick extraction."

"No," Elian whispered.

Silas stood up. He looked at the precarious pile of rocks that formed the gap. Specifically, he looked at the wooden support beam wedged into the scree that held the opening clear.

"The guards are close," Silas said. "I need something to slow them down."

He lifted his boot.

"Silas, don't!" Elian screamed.

Silas kicked the beam.

With a groan of grinding stone, the rockslide shifted. The gap collapsed.

A boulder the size of a torso rolled down, slamming into Elian’s lower body. It pinned his legs against the cliff wall.

Pain, white and blinding, shot through him. Elian screamed, a sound that was lost in the wind.

He was trapped. Pinned like a butterfly on a board.

Through the shifting dust and rain, he saw Silas turn away. Silas didn't look back. He sprinted toward the helicopter, the drive with the files safely in his pocket.

He jumped into the cabin. The helicopter banked sharply and ascended into the storm, a black shadow disappearing into the gray.

Elian slumped against the wet rocks.

"Silas," he sobbed.

A light hit his face.

"Subject located!" a guard shouted. "He’s pinned! Secure him!"

Elian closed his eyes as the boots surrounded him.