Before I start the next chapter, I'd like to thank those who put this story in their favs/alert thing, I dropped the story a while ago but then I figured. . .It was mean to leave it off where it was, and I got a few people now that want to know how it ends.
And I don't really know how to use the features of FFN so IF any of you left a review, I dunno how to read them. I just know how to upload. Though someone I know told me that someone else reivewed a few chapters ago, or in the last chapter, I don't remember, and I followed their suggestion of putting a break into the sections when I swap from one characters to another. If you see ++++++++++++ that means that I'm swapping charcter views, from Zaji, to Jiggy, to Mokka, or Ralgo Lloyd.
There is not much editting in this chapter, since I'm really quite busy, so please ignore the obvious spelling mistakes.
Lag Seeing, Niche and Mokka arrived at Lag's last delivery destination. It was just a small farming community that sat at the bottom of a large mountain, where they grew various fruits and vegetables. As the two Bees walked through the field, people that were currently picking fruit from trees called out greetings. Lag wasn't wearing his Bee uniform anymore, now he just wore a plain brown jacket and dull clothes, like Mokka. Niche wore her same golden dress, and Steak still sat on her head. Lag waved at the farmers they passed; Mokka just stared ahead and looked bored.
"Here we go." Lag said and stopped to open the gate of one of the houses. He heard a couple dogs barking, but they were quited quickly. Mokka followed close, looking overly paranoid. The wooden door on the face of the house opened and a woman stepped out. Lag blinked, thinking that Julie Glasscat was in front of him. But as he got closer, he saw that this woman was older, some of her long hair was turning silver and she had some faint laugh lines round her eyes. She smiled at Lag.
"What can I do for you?" She asked. Lag opened his bag and handed her the wrapped-up cat.
"This is a delivery from Julie Glasscat." He said. He handed the woman a paper to sign, which she did, and watched her open the package and start to cry.
"Oh thank you so much!" She said and rushed foreword to hug Lag. She was so happy she cried, and Lag almost cried too but he didn't. He smiled hugely though.
"Would you like to come in for some tea or a bite to eat?" She asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"No, we have to get going right away, thanks for the offer though." Lag said. "Have a nice day!"
"You too!" Julie Glasscats mother waved and the two Bees left quickly, walking back the way they came. The farmers now shouted out goodbyes and gooddays, and Lag once again waved at them.
"We need to get back to the Hive as fast as possible, to see if anything else has happened or if I need to get other Bees." Mokka said.
"Yeah. I hope Jiggy can safely get Zaji away from BIT." Lag said, and they both fell silent.
Jiggy Pepper eventually found the carvan's tracks, and the estimated route on the map wasn't far off from it's actual route. He stuffed the map away, muttered a silent prayer, and followed the tracks. He went slower, trying to ride quietly. He was planning on following the caravan at a distance, and waiting for everyone to sleep before finding Zaji. He was going to first ask Zaji how he was being treated, and to tell Jiggy everyone he knew so far, but he wouldn't take Zaji away from the BIT people yet. As much danger as he might be in from the very people he was suposed to protect, Zaji was needed to kill the Gaichuu and make sure BIT can get the plants they want succesfully. Jiggy planned on following them to the forest, but once they were on the way back he was going to spirit away the younger Bee, since BIT could just hire people in nearby towns and try to make it back on a main road where there was less Gaichuu.
He saw in the distance the last wagon of the caravan, and he slowed his pace. He would follow until they stopped, then aproach quietly on foot. But it would be a while before they stopped, so he had to wait. He sighed and looked up at his Dingo, watching her wings pump through the cold air and her tailfeathers swivel to let her turn. The black sky above her and the stars stared down unseeingly upon them. He looked back to the dusty road ahead, watching the wagons.
This was going to take a while.
Zaji sat in a wagon, alone except for the Dingo sleeping at his side. Once others had awoken and seen him coughing and staggering, they told him to stay in a vacant caravan that would be full of plants on the return trip. Zaji was feverish and dizzy, and he couldn't sleep or stay still no matter how much he wanted to. Vashuka twitched in her sleep, chasing imaginary rats. Zaji fidgeted and tried to get comfortable, but to no avail. He hated being ill, and he was getting panicky. He was coughing more and more, and now his nose was running, and more pinkish stuff was coming out from his eyes as well. He wondered if he'd die here, on a caravan full of people he didn't like.
He didn't have much time to wonder about that though, because a man jumped up into the wagon from the front. People often did that, since the lizards pulling the big wagons were slow. The man was tall and odd-shaped. His head was very large, and his shoulders and chest looked too big for the rest of him. His legs were thick, but his feet were small and it gave him a top-heavy look.
He smiled a crooked, disturbing smile at Zaji.
"So, you finally got sick." He said and sat down across from Zaji. Vashuka jolted awak instantly and growled low in her throat. She put herself between Zaji and visitor.
"What?" Zaji asked, his voice cracking and hoarse from the constant coughing.
"Why, I've been trying to get you sick the whole time you've been here. The top guys were right, you Bees are resiliant." He grinned hugely when he saw Zaji's expression of outrage and betrayal.
"You were trying to get me sick?" Zaji said furiously, and was about to say more but doubled over in another coughing fit.
"Yep. Your useful for killin' Gaichuu, but also useful as a research subject now." The man laughed as Zaji cntinued to cough. Vashuka hissed loudly and crouched, facing the visitor. He stopped laughing, and eyed the cat. Zaji stopped coughing, and he wiped large amounts of the pinks stuff away from his mouth, nose and eyes. His vision was blurry and off-colored, since he couldn't get the fluid off of his eyes very well, but he could see well enough to hate the expression the man wore.
"Not much good I'll be protecting you, if I die." Zaji said, and realized how ironic his sentence was. He was threatening the BIT man with his own death, which he didn't want.
"Oh, but you wont, as long as you stay with us." He said and pulled out form his pocket a glass flask filled with faintly green-colored fluid.
"What?"
"We have an experimental substance that can slow the progression of your illness, as long as you take it every single day. It's far from a permanent cure, but we just need you to stay with us and protect us. If you continue your duty, you can live, if not, we'll just let you die and examine you for or purposes."
"You. . ." Zaji said with hatred, "back-stabbing bastard." And he doubled over in another painful coughing fit.
The man just laughed at the Bee.
Lag and Mokka were going to stop in No-Town; where Lag had delivered one of the glass cats, on their way back for food. Mokka had packed light, so he could get to Lag faster, and their food was about to run out. Up ahead they could see No-Town, and it seemed different. Lag couldn't tell what was wrong, but he knew somthing was very wrong.
"Lag, theres something wrong." Niche said.
"I know." Lag replied and gulped.
"What? How can you tell?" Mokka asked and squinted at the town, trying to see what was wrong. He saw nothing though.
"Listen. Where are the children's laughs and yells? The dogs barking, or anything like that?" Lag said and they all stopped to listen. The utter silence that filled the semi-darkness around them engulfed them completely. Lag and Mokka could hear their own breath and heartbeats over anything else. Mokka drew his gun.
"Proceed with caution." He said and took the lead. They arrived at the nearest house, and Mokka looked into the window. Dust streamed through the small yards and streets, and all was empty. They walked slowly, looking all around them. They knocked on no doors, and never called out. They did look into the windows, and saw nothing. Well, untill they arrived at one large house, and Lag looked into a window and gasped. Mokka rushed over.
"What?" He siad and looked in. It must have been a hospital, since it was a very large room filled with only beds. Every bed held a person, and there were even some people sleeping on the floors on blankets and pillows.
"A-a-are they breathing?" Lag asked shakily. Mokka stared intently at them.
"They got that pinkish fluid all over them. They're sick. . .or were." He said quietly. Lag backed away from the window.
"We need to get out now Lag!" Niche said and started pulling him away.
"Wait, what about Mrs. Smelt and her kids?" He said, and without waiting for a response he started running to where her house was.
"Lag!" Mokka called and rushed after him. The two Bees and Niche ran past more and more empty houses. Since No-Town was so small, they got to Mrs. Smelts house quickly. Lag ran up to the door and banged on it, tears streaming down his face uncontrolably. Mokka came up behind him, and watched him bang on the door and call out for anyone that was inside. He put a hand on Lag's shoulder and tried ot pull him away, but Lag just fell to his knees. Mokka didn't know what to say or do, so he looked around the front of the house. He saw a paper stuck to the inside of the window, though the writing was facing outward so he could read it.
"Lag, they're not here, they left." Mokka said, surprised at how happy he sounded that Mrs. Smelt and her kids weren't there. He didn't even know them at all.
"What?" Lag said through his tears and got up. He had to stretch and go on his toes to see the note, but when he saw it his tears changed form despair to happiness.
"I'm so happy they got out." Lag said.
"We should go too." Mokka said and Lag nodded. They left quickly, and put as much distance between them and No-Town as fast as they could.
The illness was getting worse, if a cure wasn't found soon, everyone in Amberground would be in trouble.
Jiggy Pepper walked silently, crouched low to the ground. He darted from behind a rock to a little hill, and crawled on his belly across the cold ground to the top. He looked down on the BIT caravan sitting around a fire. His eyes looked for a Bee, but he couldn't see the easily distinguished uniform. He then thought that they wont want Zaji to wear a Bee uniform, and tried to remember what the boy looked like. He had to look for short, messy black hair, a pale face, and cat eyes. He found him after a minute, sitting leaned up against a jagged rock. He saw no Dingo in sight. Jiggy strained his eyes and ears to understand what was going on, since it seemed to be more than just supper. A tall man that lookd very top-heavy stood by the fire and spoke loudly to everyone.
"We are reaching our destination, and starting from tommorrow we will be going much faster! I will also ask you all to keep an eye on our loaned Bee here-" He gestured to Zaji, who didn't move nor speak, and Jiggy started to get a bad feeling about the whole scene, "but also keep your distance from, he is sick. Don't worry though, he wont die, as long as he does as we say."
Jiggy was sickened to hear that the group of them laughed.
"That abominable cat is also chained up until a Gaichuu strikes, I'll put you in charge-" he pointed to man sitting nearby, "of making sure it dosen't get away."
The cat must be Vashuka, Zaji's Dingo.
"But for now, lets eat!" He said and they all stood up to get some food from a pot that hung over the fire. Zaji stood too, but he went the other way,shakily walked a short distance off and pretty much fell to the ground at the base of another small hill. Jiggy crawled backwards and quickly went to where Zaji was, still keeping out of sight. He came up behind the little hill, and tapped his fingers on a rock to get the small Bee's attention. Zaji turned quickly and looked dizzy for a moment, swaying. He saw Jiggy Pepper and faced foreward again, and sat so that Jiggy was blocked from view.
"Zaji, you're sick?" He whispered. Zaji just nodded and stifled a cough in response. Jiggy closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.
"How'd you get sick, is someone in the caravan ill too?" He asked.
"No, they got me sick by-" Zaji stopped to cough, and continued after a moment, "putting that damn fluid from someone who was sick in my food every day. I can't get away, they have Vashuka tied up, and they have the only thing keeping me alive."
"What? They have a cure?"
"It's a temporary one that I have to take every day, it dosen't make me better but I won't get worse either. I have to do whatever they say."
"I was gonna rescue you, but that will have to wait I guess. How long till you guys reach your destination?"
"A we-" Zaji coughed more.
"Week?" Jiggy suggested and Zaji nodded.
"Can you try and find that stuff by then? I'll bust you out on your way back. Somehow."
Zaji just nodded and stifled his coughs. He breathed heavily and rest his head agianst the hill. Jiggy was about to ask another question, but a sudden cry from his Dingo above warned that someone was aproaching.
"Good luck." He said and creeped away from the little hill like a shadow, quickly and silently making his way back to his motorbike. His footsteps barely made dust kick up, he was very careful with his footing. He'd never snuck around like this, but was mildly proud at how well he did. Zaji didn't even know he was there untill he had tapped the rock.
Once he was back to his bike, he sat on it but didn't start it. He sighed and held up a fist, for his Dingo to land on. Her talons pocked into his leather glove, and she chirped quietly to him and he gently stroked her head and back.
"You did well." He said to her quietly. He looked in the direction the caravan was, but there was an outcropping of rocks which blocked his bike from their view. He really wished Zaji luck, and hoped he wouldn't get treated too badly. He seemed hardly capable of walking, let alone killing Giachuu though, and that might be a problem. Jiggy knew BIT were going for a cure, but he cared more if Zaji died than if they all did.
"When this is over, we all need a vacation." Jiggy muttered to his Dingo, and raised his fist. She launched herself into the air, and flew high. She started to circle, and would call out if the caravan started moving.
Mokka and Lag wandered in complete silence. The wind around them had stopped, and all was still. The valley they were in seemed timeless, with the same rocks that will never change, the same path that would wind through it the same, and the stars would always remiain, watching over and never begin different than they were at this moment. Mokka examined everything as they walked, wondering if he should say something to try and cheer the small Bee up. Since leaving No-Town, even though Mrs. Smelt and her kids seemed safe for now, Lag had been unusually quite and reserved. What they had seen had disturbed Mokka, but at least he mildly prepared for it since he had heard about people that were dying from the illness, but Lag knew next to nothing about it. It must have quite a shock, and not a good one.
The cry of a bird make both of them look up, and Mokka recognized Jiggy Pepper's falcon Dingo. She spiraled downwards and landed on a skinny little tree that was growing out the sid of the valley. It bobbed slighty with her weight, but held. Mokka went foreword and pat her on the head, and saw hse had a letter on her foot. He took it off and read it.
"Mokka, I found Zaji and am following the caravan, but it appears that the BIT people put something in his food and made him sick on purpose. They have a temporary cure that Zaji has to take every day, it dosen't help him get better but he wont get worse either. A day without it and he might die, they're using it to make him do whatever they want. He can hardly fight Gaichuu, or even walk in his condition. Please tell the supervisor when you get back, since you'll get there long before I.
Good luck,
Jiggy"
"Isn't that Jiggy Peppers Dingo?" Lag asked. Mokka folded up the letter and put in his pocket.
"Yeah, he says he found Zaji and is following the BIT caravan now." Mokka said, leaving out everything else. No need to worry Lag more than he was. Lag smiled and looked happy finally.
"I'm glad, at least Zaji's safe." Lag said, not realising how very wrong that statement was.
Mokka pat the Dingo on the head and she flew away, crying out once more before flapping out of sight.
Lag and Mokka traveled quickly, not stopping much and only taking short naps. They both wanted to get to the Hive as soon as possible; for different reasons. Lag wanted to make sure Sylvette and Connor were okay, and to go visit Julie Glasscat. Mokka needed to tell the supervisor about how Jiggy's mission was going, and how Zaji's position had changed.
It was wierd to stop in a town, and have no one greet them as Bees but as normal travelers. Both Lag and Mokka surpressed their atuomatic request for letters that needed to be delivered, and they didn't have the normal respect they were used to. They only bought food, and kept going though, wary of anyone that was coughing or showed other symptoms of illness. Before, there'd be maybe one or two people per town that were sick, now it seemed as if one tenth of the population was showing early symptoms of illness. It was spreading fast, alarmingly so.
The supervisor was reading the reports from the Bee teams that had returned over the last couple of days. They all said the same thing; the illness was spreading quickly, BIT were present in every town (no doubt looking for Bees to nab), and people had started dying. Ralgo sighed heavily. This was becoming a catastrohpe. He started re-reading some of the reports, when his door was suddenly flung open. He jumped a bit at the sudden intrusion, and looked up to see Mokka.
"Mokka! Your here sooner than I expected!" He said and stood up. Mokka closed the door and shoved a very crumple paper at the supervisor.
"After Jiggy and I split up, his Dingo brought this to me." He said. Ralgo read it over twice, and sat back down. He crumpled it in his fist in anger.
"Damn them." He muttered.
"I've written a report, but I'm going to tell you now the illness is much worse than before." Mokka said.
"I know, people have started dying and more are getting sick. And BIT are getting pushy."
"Do you know about No-Town? Population is like seventy-something?" Mokka said. The supervisor thought about it and remembered hearing about it.
"Yes."
"The entire population except for a small family of four has died of the illness." Mokka said and flopped into a chair. The supervisor stared at him, his mind going blank for a moment.
"What?" He finally managed to say, a bit flustered.
"Lag and I saw it. Only one family has been left alive, and we don't even know if they ARE alive, we just found a note saying they left."
Ralgo rested his head in his hands. This was getting out of control.
"And those bastards got Zaji ill? What good will he do them if he's sick, it'd be hard to fight off Gaichuu."
"I don't know, all I know is what was in that letter from Jiggy Pepper."
"Thank you Mokka, you did well. For future deliveries, and until further notice, you are teamed up with Lag Seeing. You will be taking his route, since yours is curently being handled by a different team." He said and stood agian, and shook Mokkas hand in respect. Mokka tried to lighten the somber mood, which was unlike him.
"Oh, you know that some of those Bee teams are making names now?" Mokka said.
"Yeah. My personal favorite is 'Biological Investigations Team Can Eat My Biological Waste', though its a bit long." Both the supervisor and the Bee shared a brief amused smile before parting, leaving Ralgo alone to think about more serious matters.
Once the cure was found and BIT wasn't needed so much, he'd make them face all their deeds and pay for them. If Zaji died because of them, he was going to the government about it.