~Worst Nightmare~
Season/spoilers
info: Well, I can't really say when this takes
place, because I don't know. (Why?) Well, I missed probably half of season 2
because the station it used to be on hadn't been showing it, so I'm still
trying to catch up in repeats now that' it's finally back on, so give me a
break please…lol ;)
Content
Warnings: A
little bit more blood then I'm used to writing about, but not that much. Let's say less then an episode of ER. ;)
Disclaimer:
If I owned it, my name would be on the credits, but
it's not, obviously...
Author's
notes: Ok, honestly, I have not idea why I wrote
this. It's probably the most stupid thing ever, but I just suddenly
felt like writing. I sat down for a few
hours, and this is what I got because of it. Never attempted a Lost World story
before...so this is REALLY new territory for me.
And this had not gotten any beta treatment, just a spell check on my PC, so I'm really
sorry about errors. What can I say? I suck at grammar…my English teachers would
be sooo proud I'm sure…
Feedback/review....
please, please, please?!?!
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Veronica sat high up in the trees looking at the
lowering sun that was slowly heading towards the horizon. Soon, it would disappear, and the land that
filled the plateau would be blanketed in the thick darkness of night. Watching
this was something she'd done since she was a child in this same spot, but now
she knew something was different:
She was happy.
For years she'd come here to cry, let out her
emotions, or think about the horrible things she had seen or lived
through. Now though, she didn't need to
think about these things because she had a reason to go on when that sun came
up the next day. Veronica had been alone for so many years after her parents
had disappeared, but now, she had more friends then she had ever expected in
this dangerous land. Almost 2 years
ago, they'd appeared out of nowhere and into her life, and now she didn't think
she could go on without them. Each had impacted her in some way:
There had been Summerlee, the sweat old
scientist who she had come to think of as a second father, and was sure he had
felt the same way about her. She still
missed him terribly, and after he'd fall to his apparent death, it had hurt
worse then she could ever imagine.
Still, she hoped he was at peace now, wherever life had taken him.
Challenger was like a father and friend mixed in
one. She loved his eagerness to explore
this strange land with her, and was happy to show him the wonders he had always
dreamed of.
John Roxten was more of a brother type to her
because they were closer in age, and they worked well together. He knew the more modern ways of the hunt,
and she knew the older; yet they used both methods together.
Then there was Marguerite, the sometimes-selfish
woman who would betray her own brother for what she wanted it seemed, and yet
still could show compassion when she wanted to. Marguerite was still a very big mystery to Veronica.
Last was the most special to her, Ned
Malone. He'd been the first person she
had ever fallen for, in a relationship kind of way, and even the first moment
she met him, saving his life to boot, she'd known there was something special
about him. He was one of the most kindest men she had ever met, and really
hoped he felt the same towards her.
Closing her eyes, and listening to the sounds of
the forest, she began to slowly drift off in the shade of the huge tree, when
some creature deeper in the forest screeched out. A few moments after that, the wind kicked up for an instant, a
light breeze shuffling the leaves, then all was quite. There were no noises,
Veronica sleepily noted, and just as suddenly, a shot rang out through the
area. Sitting up quickly, she realized
it was one of Challenger and Roxten's rifles.
Jumping quickly to the next branch, she climbed
the way down the tree and took off towards the tree house. Her legs and lungs burned as she sprinted
through the lush forest, never slowing down.
She ran for what fell like hours, when in
reality it had only been a minutes and as she came nearer to her home, she
began to see things she recognized and knew how close she was. After the first two shots, there had been
silence, and she didn't know if that worried her, or made her feel better.
Either way, the fight was over quickly, whether they had won, or lost against whatever
it had been.
'They're
ok, they're all ok,' she kept telling herself as she ran.
As she came upon her long time home, she gasp,
because it was consumed in fire, and was already falling in burning pieces to
the forest floor. She stopped and stared at her home, and a hand went over her
mouth. Looking away, she searched at the bottom of the tree with her eyes, and
saw that debris lay everywhere. Some
was still burning, and yet the wall of fire had not touched others. Turning to
her left, her eyes widened as she saw the first body.
~*~
~*~
~*~
Running at full speed, she slid to a stop in
front of Challenger, who was laying out on the ground, his gun a few feet
away. She fell to her hands and knees
and lay her head on his chest, feeling no heartbeat or breath coming from his
still body. Screaming at him to wake
up, she shook him once, then noticed the blood cover his back and stopped. He was gone, and there was nothing she could
do now for him, except let him rest in peace.
She hardly
noticed the burning leaves floating down as she backed up, only to trip over
something behind her.
Scrambling to her feet, she saw another horrible
site. Roxten lay face first in the
grass, his gun still in his right hand, and Marguerite lay only a few away.
There was blood everywhere and Veronica closed her eyes.
'This
isn't happening, this isn't happening', she tried to think to herself as
she opened her eyes again, leaving them, and once again searched the area,
knowing what she was going to be forced to see next.
For a moment, she saw nothing, but then, the
pain in her chest worsened, and her breath stopped. There he was.
Covering her mouth, she managed to walk over
there, falling to her knees and gently touched Ned's face. She bowed her head, and closed her eyes,
falling deeper into misery.
She sat doing nothing for a minute, before she
froze; he'd grabbed her hand.
She looked up, only to meet his pain filled
gaze, but griped his hand back. "Ned, what happened here?" she
managed.
He swallowed, and only then did Veronica notice
the small stream of blood coming from his mouth. "T...they came and shot the tree house w...with arrows on
fire," Ned said as he struggled to speak as he coughed. "We tried to
g...et out, but they got us when we c...came out. We didn't have a cha..nce. There was t...too many."
His gaze wavered and he looked at her
again. "I'm s..s...orry
Veronica," he said as he reached up and wiped a tear away from her face.
They locked eyes until he could hold on no more,
and he was gone. Veronica looked at him
for another moment, and then looked away, crying. Just as her crying became sobs, she unexpectedly felt dizzy, and
closed her eyes. There was darkness
everywhere, and she felt like she was flying. Veronica was going down fast, and
suddenly, there was pain....
~*~
~*~
~*~
Veronica felt pain jar her entire body, and her
eyes popped open just in time to see the next branch. She reached out as
quickly as she could to grab it, but couldn't get her hands out fast enough to
grip it in time. Her fingers slipped and she felt another sharp branch scrape
past her legs, and she tried one more time. Her hands finally caught a large
branch and she hung on for dear life. Wrapping her legs around and pulling
herself up, she heaved a sigh and lay her head down on it, breathing hard.
After calming herself, she looked up and
realized she was back in the tree, with the sun even farther down towards the
horizon. It had been a dream-- a
horrible dream that had seemed all too real.
Shaken up, she sat up and looked down. She was very close to the ground, and
realized how far she had fallen. Putting a hand to her temple, she felt warm
blood and a large bump. Looking at her legs and arms, she saw the scrapes and
soon to be bruises, and noticed the very large bleeding gash on her thigh.
Not having anything to wrap it with, Veronica
slowly climbed down and leaned against the tree trunk when she finally made
it. Looking up, she couldn't see the
sun anymore through the trees, and knew soon enough it would be dark. She had to get out of here quickly, or risk
being injured and alone out here in the forest.
Starting to walk, Veronica couldn't get the
vision of her friend's faces out of her head.
She'd never had a dream that powerful in many years.
Continuing on, she froze as she heard a loud
screech come from deep within the forest. Realizing it was the exact one she
had heard earlier, she tried to tell herself it was nothing. Just as quickly as she calmed herself down,
she felt a breeze blow through the area, and just as quickly, it stopped.
Veronica forgot about her injuries, and took off running towards the tree
house.
'This
could all just been my imagination going wild,' she
thought as she ran. 'But am I willing to
take that chance?'
Suddenly, she put on an extra burst of
speed. She wouldn't let it happen again
if she was right, she couldn't.
~*~
~*~
~*~
Slowing down and having to rest, Veronica gasped
for breath. She was tired and hurting, even weak from blood loss. It probably wasn't a life-threatening amount
at the moment, but it was enough to make her woozy. Managing to get herself going again, she jumped over a fallen
log, and stumbled.
'I
can't stop now, I can't stop!"
She forced herself up, and with a muffled curse,
she continued. Coming closer and recognizing more of the things around her, she
paused.
'Voices?'
Stopping and leaning against a nearby tree, she
listened closely; sure enough, men's voices could be heard.
Using every bit of stealth she could manage, she
jogged away from the area and came around at a distance. Farther away, she could see the tree house
still intact, and moving slowly, she came closer to the voices. A group of at least ten men, none anyone she
had ever seen before, all stood preparing for something. Veronica looked closer and noticed arrows
and bows laid about everywhere, but what caught her eye was the man holding the
lit torch.
Realizing what would happen if she didn't act,
Veronica slowly pulled her knife from her belt and waited. If she made a run for the tree house now,
they would see her no matter what. If
she could sneak around and catch a few off guard, she might be able to warn the
others before the men could get their arrows ready. Veronica knew she would
have little chance of getting out alive, especially since she wasn't at her top
physical self at the moment, but would rather risk her own life for the sake of
the others.
Gripping the end of the knife she listened to
the men before she made her move. The
one man who looked like the leader stood up and took the torch. Veronica saw
the man and was a little surprised. He was
considerably young, maybe thirty to mid thirties, and was nothing like the
warlord types she had seen. He was
handsome, and seemed intelligent.
"My loyal men," he started. "We
will finally get a chance to repay these people for their intrusion into our
camp. When the first arrow hits, they will flee their tree hideaway, and when
they run out, we will have them. I want no survivors, is that clear?"
The man smiled as the men around them agreed,
and Veronica shrank back.
She 'did' remember these men. A few months before, Challenger, Roxten,
Marguerite, Ned, and herself had traveled quite away from the tree house, only
to run straight into a slave camp.
There'd been few guards and slaves at this time, since the slaves were
going to be moved into a larger camp farther away. The explorers and herself had freed the slaves, and had a quick
fight, but when the guns were fired off, most of the guards ran, afraid of this
new, strange noise. They'd never seen
any of the men afterwards, and she'd forgotten about them. Apparently though, the slavers had not.
Running a hand through her blond hair, she
prepared herself, and went into the fight, just as a group of ape-men decided
to also. While she was surprised, it gave her a chance to take down more men.
All of the slavers had been taken off guard at the site of a women coming at
them with a yell, and just as much when they were jumped from behind by a group
of hungry ape-men. As most went to
fight the half human, half primate looking creatures, the others turned towards
the jungle woman who was upon them.
Veronica kicked out with her good leg, sending
one man flying back into a nearby tree, and right after, another followed. She ducked away from his incoming club, and
came back just in time to give the guy a punch in the jaw that knocked him
flat. Behind her, he could hear the other struggles, and closer, she heard the
leader screaming at his men to stay, but some were fleeing into the forest
behind them. As most of the men were
fighting the ape-men, Veronica used her free opportunity to call out to the
person in the tree house who was most likely standing by for any danger...
"ROXTEN!"
As she finished the call, she was startled as
she flew backwards; a now increasing throbbing pain in her back. The leader
stood a few feet away grinning wickedly, a club in his hand. He dropped the weapon and pulled his sword
free, then approached her again. As he came closer, she kicked out towards his
legs, sending him crashing to the ground. He was up in a matter of moments, but
that we enough for her to be ready for another attack. The two circled each
other as the amount of guards around them lessoned. There were slavers, and ape-men both, everywhere on the ground,
dead, and the few who were now running for their lives.
Before Veronica could figure out her next
attack, she heard screaming of both men and beast. Both her and the slaver leader turned towards the sound, and both
knew what it was. Raptors…
Suddenly, Veronica felt incredibly foolish. The raptors had surely smelt her blood and
followed her here looking for a quick meal, only to run into a feast. Looking to end this quickly, the leader took
another swing towards her as another man's death cry echoed around them. She struggled out of the way, barely, and
felt her leg give. Tripping and
falling, she came face to face with his sword.
She felt time slow as the blade came towards
her, only to see it being knocked aside.
An ape-man had knocked the leader off his feet, and now the two
wrestled. Knowing the creature had not
been trying to save her life, and yet had in a strange way had, she made sure
to take advantage of the chance. Veronica climbed to her feet, only to hear a
shot ring out, and a bullet fly past her.
She quickly turned to see an ape-man dead, only a few feet behind her,
and Challenger in front of her holding his riffle. Off to her left, and she saw Roxten and Marguerite firing in the
directions of the raptors. Managing to
walk a few feet, she began to waver, but felt hands catch her as she fell.
Then, Veronica knew nothing…
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Epilogue
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~*~
Two days later, Veronica was up and about, much
to the objection of a few in the tree house.
"You really shouldn't be up, but why am I
not surprised," Challenger had said as he left the house to help Roxen and
Marguerite make more bullets. They'd
used most of the others saving her two days ago, Veronica knew, and needed more
before any of them dared leave the tree house.
She felt very lucky they had come when they did,
and knew she didn't think she would have been able to get out of there alive,
especially with the raptors closing in.
Ned had told her they had all rushed out when they had heard her call,
and had been stunned by the scene.
After Challenger had finished up the last ape-man, and as she had
started to collapse, Malone had been right there, catching her before she could
hurt herself anymore. They'd all then
quickly hurried back to the house before the raptors got brave enough to face
the gunfire and come after them.
Now, Veronica stood looking out one of the many
openings in the tree house, and began to think; the day before yesterday,
Roxten had went back to the scene, and counted nine bodies total, or what was
left of them at least, in the surrounding area of the fight. One was still out there somewhere, and she
had a good idea of it might be.
This information was stilling running through
her mind as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Veronica turned and smiled as Ned
handed one of her parent's teacups that was filled with a rank smelling brown
liquid. She sniffed it, and made a
face, but managed to swallow some.
"You would think he is trying to kill me, 'not' heal
me," she said, forcing more down.
Ned laughed at her comment, but knew it was good
for her. "Well, Challenger says it
will help you get your energy back," he said as she gave him a face, but
he changed the topic. " I think Marguerite's jealous of you. I heard her complaining about how you got to
stay in bed for two days."
Veronica only made a face. "Well, it could have been a lot less
time then that, but with you and Roxten threatening to tie me to the bed to
keep me there, what could I do," she said as she finished her drink, then
started laughing at Ned's trying to act innocent.
"Well, it was just suggestion!" he laughed.
Both continued to joke with each other as the
day slowly turned to night, and Veronica once again watched the sun setting,
this time from the tree house. She
didn't believe she would dream this night, but knew if she had not two days
ago, the others would have died, just like in her nightmare. It puzzled her how she could have foreseen
something like that, but felt like something or someone was watching out for
them all, and had just used her as a tool to keep them safe. Whatever it was, she hoped the next dream
would not come for a long time.
She paused her thoughts just long enough to gaze
at the beauty that was lowering itself in the sky. While the view was less visible then in her tree-hiding place,
this was much better. Not because of the
view, but the noises of laughter behind her as her friends joked with each
other. Slowly, she turned away from the sun and went to join them.
This was much better then any sunset.
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~Fin~
Aw, come on…you know you want to review…tell me
I suck, I need to hear it…(Well, 'try'
to be gentle for my poor ego anyway.) I'll just be hiding behind the PC now
before the first tomato is thrown…bye!
((Thanks Martin (*you know who you are*) for
well, everything…you're a great online friend.))
