Thanks again for the review, Fleur Rouge. It makes updating so much more fun. I hope you like this one as well :)
Now that he was finally able to burn of some of this energy by training, Lex was feeling a lot less restless. Tai-San had given him the okay this morning. Of course he didn't need her approval and had felt like doing something days ago, but needed to stay on her good side. He was on his tenth round around the yard, when he spotted Tai-San meditating in a quiet corner. He knew, how she hated to be interrupted during her meditation, but it was so tempting. She was finally back and she was not scared or angry at him. All he wanted to do was spend his time with her, but he also didn't want to smother her. She had told him, she needed time to get readjusted, to get to know them all again and Lex wanted to give it to her. Too bad he wasn't a very patient guy. No. He had to keep running, had to give her some space.
She was so different now, a bit more self-conscious, a bit less spiritual and a whole lot more distant. Underneath all that he could still see his Tai-San though. She was still there and he needed her to come back. He needed her to come back to him specifically. He'd had several ideas that would jog her memory, subtle of course, because Tai-San didn't appreciate it, when he pushed her, but none of them had worked. Maybe he should try a Sleeping Beauty on her and just kiss her. That would have to do something to her. He would definitely enjoy that method of jogging her brain.
He ran another five rounds with his brain filled of Tai-San and the love they were sure to have again. By the time he finally stopped, Jack and KC had come outside as well. Jack especially had been on edge since the storm yesterday, worrying about Ellie. Lex didn't envy that group in the least to have been stuck out there in that weather, but he thought them capable enough to have found shelter. They'd probably come back today, wet and miserable.
KC looked up at the blue sky. "Hard to believe it looked like the end of the world yesterday. Wanna bet who's gonna complain the most? I'd say Patsy."
"Nah, it's gotta be Ram", Lex said.
The others seemed to have no interest in a bet. Tai-San didn't say much these days anyway, she didn't really feel like she had earned her right to and Jack was bouncing the baby, his eyes never leaving the main gate.
"Good choice", KC agreed. "What do you wanna bet?"
"Don't have anything."
He had left the cinema barely conscious in nothing but a soiled pair of trousers and since then, Ryan had only brought him some clothes from the hospital and that was it. KC didn't have anything either, he knew. All his stuff burned, when the Chosen set fire to the farm and since then KC hadn't been back to the hospital either.
"Hey look!", Jack interrupted and drew their attention back to the gate, where Paul and Ty were just returning. Lex saw Jack's face fall, when it became clear it was just the two boys. It had been a big surprise to Lex, when he had found out they were together now. How anyone would choose a bloke over a beautiful girl like Patsy was beyond him, but he'd always thought Ty to be weird.
"Where are the others?", Jack asked, when Paul and Ty reached them.
"Aren't they here yet? We'd agreed to be back by today, well yesterday, but then the storm happened", Ty said. "We were lucky, we'd already reached the outskirts of the city, when it started."
"You don't know where they are?", Tai-San asked.
"Well… we know, know that Lottie and Sammy went into the… the woods and Kayla, she wanted t-to ask on the farm", Ty said. His stammer was annoying; how hard could it be to get the words out straight? Any time he suddenly found himself with more than two people looking at him, he got nervous as if he had some big secret to hide. As if everybody didn't already know he was gay.
"And what about Ellie and the others?", Jack asked.
"Ellie?"
"They went out to look for you yesterday", Tai-San explained. "Wanted to get you back before the storm got here."
Paul signed something. By now Lex was probably the only one who hadn't bothered to learn a single sign, but he didn't see the point. Paul had talked back in the mall and he didn't see, why he couldn't do it again instead of having everyone learn his stupid language.
"We haven't seen anyone since we went out", Ty said. "Couldn't find Cara either."
"That's not good. They were out there yesterday, who knows what happened to them", Jack said, starting to pace. "They could be injured or sick or even struck by lightning, who knows. If they were okay, they'd be back by now."
Tai-San carefully took the baby from him. It was a good look on her. That had been his dream once, her by his side and a couple of kids at their feet, but that dream had moved out of reach long ago and even though she was here now, she was still so far away. Tai-San hadn't been very interested in babies back then either, so who knew if she was even interested in that.
"We should give them some time", Tai-San said. "They could've decided to use the night to rest up and come back today. It's still early."
"Or they're lying somewhere in a ditch and we're losing valuable time."
It was so cold and her head hurt like someone had used it as a punching back. She vaguely remembered running through the rain, Patsy pulling her along, but after that everything was gone. Maybe she had an episode. It was always hard for her to form new memories, when she was battling the effects of Reality Space. Where were they now?
Slowly she sat up, which made her head hurt even more. For a moment her vision swam and as she touched her temples, she flinched away, when a sharp pain shot through her. That was new. She must've gotten hurt somehow. Looking down at herself, she could see dark patches of dried blood on her jacket and also on the hard cave ground. She found Patsy's jacket balled up and bloody. Was she hurt as well?
"Patsy?" She tried to shout, but she could only croak. Her throat was on fire and slowly she realized, how cold she really was. Her clothes were still damp, which meant she had laid here in wet clothes for hours. She pulled Patsy's jacket over her own and started to crawl to the cave opening. She felt weak and wasn't sure her legs could hold her, so crawling would have to do for now. But where was Patsy? She would never have left Cloe alone, if she was injured.
Ruby had stood by the window ever since Ram had left, which was now several hours ago. It was clear to all of them that some part of his plan had gone horribly wrong. Even if he wanted to play a prank on them, he would not have spent a night outside in the woods voluntarily. The people Sammy had seen, hadn't been back either.
"We should go out and look for him."
"And what if those people are still there? They looked strong", Sammy said.
"Well, I hope they are. If they have Ram, I want him back!"
"You can't fight three of them. I don't even think all of us can fight three of them", Lottie said, glancing at Sammy. Ruby knew what she meant. Even though Sammy was better now, it was no secret he was still terrified of fighting and she didn't want him and Lottie to fight anyway. Not when they didn't have to.
"Why don't you go back to the warehouses and I'll look for Ram?"
"No, I just said, you can't fight them. You don't even have a zapper."
Ram had had one and apparently it hadn't done him any good. She had just gotten him back a few hours ago and now he was gone? He had to be out there somewhere and she determined to find him. She had meant it, when she said, she wasn't ready to give up on them and that was still true if he had been taken by some weird people in the woods.
"I'm not leaving him behind, Lottie", she said. "Maybe he had to fight them and they left him out there, injured and needing help."
Lottie and Sammy shared a look, then Sammy sighed. "Fine, then we'll come with you."
Ruby didn't argue with that. Although she wanted them so stay safe, she also didn't want to go alone. It would be good to have more people look around for Ram and if they really did find him injured, Sammy and Lottie could run for help, while she stayed with him. Him admitting that he had felt let down by her, had meant a lot to her and she didn't want to abandon him again. Never again.
"Okay, let's go then."
The ground was still soft and slippery from all the rain and there were broken branches everywhere. Even some trees had been uprooted, making it difficult to find a safe path through the woods. They could've really needed someone who could read tracks. All they knew was which direction Ram had taken from the treehouses, but then after that it was a wild guess.
"I wonder who those people were. They looked like hunters", Sammy said after a while. "I think one of them was carrying a rifle."
"A rifle?" Why didn't he say that earlier? They hadn't heard any shots, but who knew how far Ram had lead them away.
"Yeah, another one had a crossbow. They were soaked, probably had been out there during the storm as if it was just a shower of summer rain."
A crossbow and a rifle and people who didn't care about a storm that had uprooted trees all around them? Could this get any worse?
They had waited until noon and now even Lex couldn't help but worry about his friends. Jack was already going through the roof, KC wasn't any better and once Paul had found out Patsy had been out there too, he had wanted to run off immediately.
"I agree, we can't wait any longer", he said, when all of them had gathered in their quarters. "We should go out and look for them, but I think we should all go."
"KC can't go."
"I have crutches now", the green-haired boy said. There was no way, he was going to be left behind. He hated that, Lex knew.
"You'll slow us down", Jack argued. "They might need our help now."
"And your baby won't?", KC asked.
Jack glared at him, but didn't argue with that. He put Wylla in the basket to carry her on his back and the baby started clucking happily.
"Good. KC is on crutches, you carry the baby. We won't be fast, but we won't just sit around and do nothing", Lex said. Was it bad that he was excited about this? He couldn't remember the last time he had been out of the city and he honestly didn't want to come back at all. He didn't believe Amber and her little group would come back and now with most of the others gone as well, it felt clear to him, they had to move on. Find somewhere else to call home.
Since they had next to nothing at the warehouses they were packed and ready to go in a few minutes. Ben saw them off, but the boy had been closest to Amber and Bray and Lex felt he was only making sure, they were truly out of his hair.
Ty and Paul were leading the way, which Lex only allowed because he wanted to be closer to Tai-San, who felt the need to stick with KC who was the slowest of their little group. He also didn't fancy to walk with them, because they were terrible at conversations. One couldn't hear and the other couldn't really speak. They were perfect for each other.
"Do you think it's a good idea?", Tai-San asked, when she caught up with him. "I don't know how far KC can go before he needs a break."
"He would've caused a scene if I had tried to leave him behind and I can't blame him."
"What if the others come back and everyone's gone?"
"Do you believe that is gonna happen?", he asked. "What do you feel?"
She looked surprised that he of all people should ask her about that. He had made fun of her sensing things so many times, but he also knew she believed in that sort of stuff and had decided to support her no matter what. Besides, she had been right about a lot of things she had seen in dreams or had a feeling about.
"I feel… I feel like there's still something back in the city for us, but I also feel something pulling us away", she said slowly. "I can't really explain it."
"Exactly. Well, I don't feel like we're leaving anything behind, but I do feel like we need to somewhere else. Something is calling for us, I know it", he said, smiling confidently.
It made her giggle. "I didn't know you were so in touch with your chakras. I've heard very different things from the others."
"Well, I had a good teacher. You would go on and on about negative energy in the tribe, it's hard not to pick up on a thing or two." A little lie or two wouldn't hurt, right? He did grow to be more accepting of her strange ways, but he wouldn't go so far as to say he really picked some of it up. Whenever he went along with it, it was because he did it out of love for her or because he could get something out of it. He really did like the whole sleeping with her to realign his chakras.
"Were the Mall Rats religious?"
"Not really. It's pretty hard to believe in God, when all the adults have been wiped out by a virus. We usually only did some of that spiritual stuff, when you insisted on it and there were the weddings." Even without the Virus he had trouble seeing any of the Mall Rats as the religious type. Ryan and Salene maybe, Cal would've fit in with them too.
"That's a relief", Tai-San admitted. "Being with the Chosen was a terrifying experience. Watching all these smart and independent people blindly follow one person out of belief. It was not right."
"Tell me about terrifying", he muttered. So far he hadn't talked to anyone about his time with the Chosen, it was something he didn't want to relive. Thinking back on it, he could not say what had been the worst. Torture, starving, sleep deprivation and then watching Gel being beaten to death. Her cries still haunted his sleep. Even though he knew the Guardian was gone for sure this time, he was still dreaming of him. He could even see him standing over his bed, when he awoke from his nightmares. One of the reasons he wanted to leave the city was his hope he'd leave the ghosts behind with it.
"And all the people that died for that strange belief. I still feel so guilty for helping Jaffa become as powerful as he was, for helping him convince people of his way." She looked away. Lex knew she was trying to deal with the guilt, but did not know how to help her. Part of him blamed her too, blamed her for believing that son of a bitch more than them, for taking Brady, for leaving Gel behind. He hadn't asked her about her time with the Chosen either, because he was too afraid of what she'd have to say. He had seen her with him, there had been something there and he didn't want to know how much of it was for show and how much was genuine affection.
It had taken all her strength to get make her way up the beach to the road, but there was no sign of Patsy anywhere. Even though Cloe had only walked, rather crawled a few metres, she was exhausted and she couldn't stop shivering not to mention the throbbing pain in her head. She needed to get back to the others and get help, for herself and to look for Patsy. The waves were rolling towards the shore peacefully, but she remembered how dangerous the water had been during the storm. Had Patsy gone into the water for some reason? Maybe to clean her wound. Cloe just couldn't remember.
Her eyes were drooping, exhaustion taking over. If she fell asleep now, she'd surely be done for. She knew she was sick and she was hurt and there was nobody around. She tried to go further, but she had no strength left and just fell into the dirt of the street. Her vision started to swim and just when she was about to lose consciousness, she heard footsteps approaching quickly. "Patsy?", she asked weakly, not able to raise her head and look.
Strong arms lifted her up. Not Patsy then. Someone was saying her name, but it sounded far away. How did they know her name? Had Patsy gone for help? Was she back now? Her legs were lifted as well and they carried her for a while. There were more footsteps, more people.
"Is she alone?", someone asked. Such a familiar voice.
Cloe blinked trying to open her eyes and clear her vision, it took her several tries until she gazed up into Tai-San's worried eyes. Behind her she could see Lex, Ty, Paul, Jack and KC, but no Patsy. So she hadn't actually gone for help, she had just disappeared.
"She is hurt and sick", Tai-San said. "We need to make a fire and warm her up. I'll brew her some herbal tea."
"We have to look for the others", Jack said. "They could need our help too."
"Right now Cloe needs our help, Jack. And she might now where the others are."
The thought of sleeping by a fire and drinking tea was wonderful. Someone was going to take care of her and make sure she felt better, it almost made her cry.
An hour later, Cloe was finally feeling warm again, although it had taken a fire and both Paul and KC's jackets for her to achieve. Tai-San had taken care of her wound and given her some tea that had helped a bit with her throat. Across the fire Paul signed to her. It was easy enough, but her brain was still working slowly so it took her almost a whole minute to understand then respond with the right signs. "I woke up alone. I don't know what happened to Patsy."
Next to her KC shifted, no position feeling comfortable with his foot in a cast. "What about the others?"
"It was just me and Patsy. We split up to cover more ground."
"We did the same", Ty said.
They looked up when Jack and Lex returned. They had gone to search their immediate surroundings for Patsy, but Cloe hadn't thought they'd succeed anyway. Jack took Wylla from Ty and rocked her gently in his arms. "There's definitely been people out here. There's footprints everywhere."
"It must have been a big tribe", Lex said as he sat down next to Tai-San. "My best bet is they took Patsy. They headed into the woods."
Paul signed immediately, but Lex just stared at him blankly. She was about to translate, when Ty beat her to it. "He wants to go after them."
"Right", Lex drawled. "We have a cripple, a daddy, a sick girl and a deafo. Oh right and you can't fight for shit. Ain't gonna happen."
"Don't call him that!", Cloe snapped, followed by a coughing fit. KC patted her back gently, but if anything it only made her more uncomfortable.
"Maybe if we find the others, we can go after them", KC suggested. Even after she breathed evenly again, he left his hand on her back. Cloe didn't mind, she quite enjoyed the extra warmth, but part of her remembered how offended her younger self would've been by that. Back then KC was the grossest boy, she and Patsy had ever known and being close to him had been unbearable. Times changed.
"By big I didn't mean ten people."
"Lex is right. They outnumber us and if they really did take Patsy, they probably aren't too friendly. I doubt we could fight them", Jack said.
Her head was swimming with all this talk of tribes and fighting. Hadn't they just gone through this? Were the Chosen not defeated? She scanned the faces around the fire, trying to figure out if she was hallucinating or dreaming. Right in front of her: Paul. Patsy's brother. Then Ty. His boyfriend and Patsy's ex. There was a lot of tension there. Then… She stared at the lanky boy with bright blue hair and couldn't find a name that matched. Had he always been here? He noticed her staring, but instead of saying something, he just smirked at her. Ever so slowly he raised his arms and crossed them. No, no… Cloe closed her eyes. He wasn't real. There weren't any Chosen here. But when she opened them again, he was still there and he wasn't alone. The Guardian was standing just a few feet away from them, but her friends didn't see them. They just kept talking about this mysterious tribe, while the Chosen gathered around them. She had to fight them, had to delete them. Her fingers fumbled for the zapper on her wrist to turn the setting from stun to kill, but her zapper was gone.
"Cloe! Cloe! Calm down!"
Her head jerked, when KC grabbed her hands to keep her from fidgeting. Her heart was beating so fast now, she could hear the blood rush in her ears. There was no time to lose. The Chosen were closing in on them, she had to delete them.
"Cloe, listen to me", KC said. "Focus on me. Whatever you're seeing right now is not real."
"They're coming! They're everywhere!"
"No. Tell me where we are and how we got here."
"We're at the beach." She wanted to get away from KC, get up and fight, but his grip was firm. The boy with the blue hair grabbed KC by the neck now, but still his eyes were calm. That couldn't be real. KC would never allow a Chosen to touch him like that. "Patsy and I… We… we were looking for the others."
"What others?"
"Uh…" She couldn't remember. Who had they been looking for? Jack? The Chosen had taken Jack, but… Her eyes flickered to the orange-haired boy holding the baby, sure enough, Jack was here. "I don't know."
"You were looking for Ty and Paul, who else?"
She looked at the two boys, saw the worry in their eyes and that's when she realized, she was having an episode. Something wasn't real. When KC tugged on her hands, she looked back at him and at the Chosen behind him. They weren't real. They had defeated them. The Guardian was dead. They were looking for their friends, not because the Chosen had taken them, but because there had been a storm.
"Kayla", she said, the names coming back to her now. "Cara, Lottie, Sammy."
"That's right." KC smiled. His touch lingered for a moment, then he drew his hands back. "Are you okay? See anything frightening?"
"No." Embarrassed she looked into the fire, avoiding to make eye contact with any of the others. One day they all thought of her as a friend, just another member of the tribe and then she'd have an episode like this and it reminded all of them that she was damaged goods. It was all Ram's fault. He had taken her and doctored with her brain until it had stopped working properly. She would never forgive him for making her the way she was now, but she had decided not to hold on to that hate. It wouldn't magically fix her brain and that was truly all she wanted.
Tai-San came to kneel next to her, offering another steaming cup of tea which Cloe took gratefully. The sympathy in those sparkling blue eyes made her feel a little better. She wasn't the only one, who was damaged goods. If anyone could understand it was Tai-San, who had no memories to rely on anymore. Cloe would rather have to battle through her hallucinations forever, than to lose her memories all together. At least she still knew who the people around her were.
"You should rest now." Cloe couldn't argue with that. There was nothing, she wanted more than to sleep for hours.
"We should go back", Lottie said, but Ruby ignored her. They had to find Ram. She would not go back without him. She would find him. "Ruby! We're going in circles. There haven't been any footprints for ages."
Part of her knew that Lottie was right, but she couldn't just give up. It was not fair. They had finally talked and decided to try again and now he was gone? Just disappeared into the woods with these armed people? That couldn't be right. Ram was a good shot with his zapper, he could've made it. Why hadn't he come back? She was getting more and more frantic, mistaking every little dent in the ground for a footstep, seeing signs where there were none.
Lottie grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "Stop!" Her voice echoed from the trees. Ruby didn't want to look at her or Sammy, knowing fully well what she'd see in their faces. They had given up long ago and had only followed her as to not to lose her too. They had searched most of the day and Lottie was right. They'd gone in circles.
"Stop", Lottie repeated, this time a bit softer. "He's gone. I don't know where to, but he's gone."
"No! He wouldn't just leave like that."
Sammy stepped forward now. "He didn't. But… at least there are no signs of a fight, they probably took him alive."
"Yeah, he's definitely alive."
"And why would they take him alive?" she asked, her voice raising. The Chosen had taken Lex alive as well and done unspeakable things to him. Ruby still didn't know all about it, because Lex refused to talk about it, but seeing his wounds had been enough. "What are they going to do to him?"
"We don't know, Ruby." Lottie let go of her hand. "But they are not here anymore and we have no idea where they could've gone."
He really was gone, wasn't he? Now she knew he loved her back, but he was gone. Just like that. She swallowed the lump in her throat, not allowing the tears to fall. She was not going to cry for him. He wasn't dead and she wasn't going to cry over a temporary loss. He was gone, but just for now. When she found him again, she would kick his ass for doing such a stupid thing and getting himself captured by some unknown people right after they had professed their love for each other. He was such a dumbass.
She straightened her shoulders. "We should get back before the others start to worry. Then we can keep looking tomorrow."
They looked at each other again, but didn't argue with that, which was fortunate, because Ruby would not stop looking for Ram just because it seemed hopeless right now. The other probably wouldn't be willing to go after him since he wasn't exactly popular in the tribe, but if that meant she had to go after these people on her own, so be it.
"They're probably already worried", Lottie said, as she and Sammy led the way back to the treehouses. "You at least, should've been back before the storm, right?"
"That was the plan. I don't think any of the others did. We'd barely left the city when it started."
The way back seemed so much shorter, but maybe that was because they had gone in circles. Now that they had a clear goal, it was easier to find the right way. As they passed the treehouses, Ruby looked up and remembered the day before. How he had begrudgingly invited her into his arms, his voice low and soft as they spoke about their relationship and then his hands and his lips leaving a trail of fireworks on her body. She could already picture herself telling the story to Ellie over a cup of coffee, though she had thought it would be accompanied by joyous laughter and not this forlorn feeling.
Deep in her in thoughts, she didn't realize Sammy and Lottie had stopped and almost ran into them. Why had they stopped? Sammy turned around briefly to put a finger against his lips and tell her to stay quiet. Ruby listened intently and, yes, someone was there. For a brief moment her heart leapt in the hopes of seeing Ram again, but then she heard a couple of voices and knew immediately it wasn't him. The three Mall Rats crept into a bush they had just passed, not eager to be seen by whoever was out there. If they were the same people that had caused Ram's disappearance they would follow them at a safe distant, but if they saw them, they'd surely be captured as well. If that even was what had happened to Ram. Part of her was still picturing different things, worse things.
"This is madness! We can't possibly go any further." She knew that voice. It had a familiar tone, but Ruby couldn't exactly pinpoint who it was. And when it's owner came into view, she knew why. Tai-San hadn't been with them for very long and Ruby hadn't talked to her much except for when they were both treating KC and Lex, so her voice was not one Ruby would recognize immediately.
Sammy and Lottie seemed to have realized they were hiding from friends as well, because all three of them stepped out of the bush at the same time. Tai-San, who was closest to them, yelped and jumped away, but she quickly regained her composure and smiled at them.
"San!" Lex rushed to her side, always eager to play the hero for a damsel in distress.
"It's just us", Lottie said, raising her hands in mock-surrender.
Ruby looked at the little group of Mall Rats. Why on earth was KC out here? He could barely walk on crutches and yet here he was in the middle of the woods. And what had happened to Cloe? She looked like a zombie, leaning mostly on Paul as they walked. Why were they all here?
"What happened to you?", Sammy asked.
"We were worried about you, when you didn't come back", Ty said.
The sun was setting over the treetops now. Well, they did have a point. If it hadn't been for their search for Ram, they would've been back at noon at the latest and now it was already nightfall. And why was Cloe here but not Patsy?
"Tai-San is right", Ruby said. "There's a place we can stay the night not far from here." Questions were running through her brain, but right now it was most important to get back to the treehouses. Apparently this meant there was no place in the city to go back too. No place to call home.