Chapter 10: Beyond limits
Like most days and nights, I woke to the sound of weeping and gasping; followed by sticky sensation of sweat. Today was one of those days. I was woken by the sound of gentle weeping and crying. I opened my eyes and found myself lying in the corner of the cabin. The fire, was now just a small spec of light dispersing in it's desert of ash. Mother was nowhere to be seen, so was the girl from last night.
It was around evening when I woke up. The sun was blocked by the clouds, and the splattering sound of rain pounding endlessly on the roof. I stood up and expected myself to be lying in my puddle of sweat, but I was completely dry, and so was the floor. I raised my hands up and expected to wipe away a stream of salty tears, but my nothing was there. Despite all of this, the weeping sounds continued and gradually became louder. I eventually started walking around in the cabin, in search for the source of the sound. I was expecting the noises to be the "creepy girl's" mischief, however I was presented with a different conclusion.
For the first time, I was presented to something that I thought I would never see. The weeping sounds came from Lachesis. She laid on the Mareep carpet shivering while clinging the wool, to the point where some of the wool was getting pulled out. She turned left and right before gently squealing for help, soggy wool was present on both sides of the carpet. Her fur was also soaked in sweat.
I was more surprised than worried when I first saw Lachesis crying. She was that brave and fearless type of girl, who you wouldn't expect to see crying; yet here I am. I guess nightmares are just a normal thing, even the most bravest and strongest must have nightmares.
I should probably wake her up, before she hurts herself in her sleep.
"Lachesis." I called out, walking up to her. "Wake up."
"Lachesis." I said, tapping her shoulder.
"Lachesis!" I yelled, shaking her back and forth.
Immediately, she leaped up as if something bit her tail.
"Are you okay?" I asked, staring at Lachesis's expression.
She looked pale, as if she just had risen up from a grave. Her sweat made her fur crest down while giving off and awful scent, her eyes dashed left and right in a panicky manner. Lachesis knelt down and panted for a short time before turning her back to me and wiped away her tears.
"You okay?" I asked her again.
"N-never been better." She stuttered, trying to pull herself together.
Like me, she also has those haunting memories that occasionally come around. However, moments like that weren't as common as mine; and they certainly wouldn't push Lachesis to the point were she would start crying. She once told me it was all because of the war, it was because she saw too much.
"Are you sure? You were crying in your—"
Lachesis turned back and grabbed my golden collar, before pulling me down right in front of her.
"I said I'm fucking fine!" She yelled, a few specs of her saliva flew out of her mouth.
Lachesis had her nose pressed against mine, her eyes were tearing me apart with it's rage and her teeth hissed at me with anger. She stared at me as if I did something to piss her off. She held onto me for a couple of minutes before letting me go. It definitely took her a while to realise what she was doing.
"...I'm sorry, kid." Lachesis apologised while wiping off some of her sweat on her hands. "Don't take it personally."
I never took anything from Lachesis personally, she had been through a lot. She tells me that the things I've been through are nothing compared to hers...of course, I didn't believe her.
After, Lachesis looked about the window before grabbing my sheath and throwing it to me. She then proceeded to climb up onto the window sill before sliding open the window. I followed her and waited at the bottom.
When Lachesis is mad, usually, the best thing to do is shut up. Except, she wasn't mad, she was scared. She was mad because she is scared. I don't know what came over her, or what she saw in her dreams... but I do know that she has never been this mad before. She was...afraid. Despite all of this, she always tries to cover it up. However, it proved a challenge because she couldn't cover anything about the war. The war that the humans waged a long time ago.
"Let's get moving." She said, offering her paw down to pull me up. "We need to make up the distance that we lost."
It was still raining outside, winds made the windows stutter. Despite it still raining, I climbed up the window sill and jumped outside into the pouring rain. There was no arguing and there was certainly no complaining, I did what I was told. After all, Lachesis was the one helping me find my father. Our journey once again resumed, and we also had the same "company" from last night. We spent a good couple of hours walking in silence. The sound of rain supressed every other sound. It made listening to anything impossible. Each step we took forward, the mountain became larger and larger until the terrain changed from a flat surface into a steady uphill climb. However, we weren't the only ones that made this progress. The Sevipers from last night continued to stalk us. Their "stalking" had become relentless, they seemed to be breaking every possible twig. Even with the pouring rain, hearing them was not a challenge. They were desperate for us, they were desperate for food.
Can't the Sevipers go bother someone else?
They couldn't bother anyone else...because there wasn't anyone else to bother.
"Lachesis. T-They." I panted, exhausted from all the walking. "The Sevipers... they seem... angry."
"Let them come." She said blankly, occasionally peering left and right.
"So," Lachesis said, changing the topic, trying to distract me from the danger. "This adventure will be over soon, we should get over this mountain by tomorrow night. Have you thought about what you're going to say to your dad?"
"Not really." I replied. "I'm probably going to ask him a couple of questions."
"Are you going to tell him what happened to your—" Lachesis manged to shut herself up before finishing off her sentence. It was probably for the better because reminding me about my family's deaths definitely wouldn't help. "...never mind."
We spent another couple of minutes, walking in silence through the rain. I never really thought about it, but the forest had changed so much in these couple of days. First we were hunted by humans, and now we were being stalked by Sevipers. Things change quickly... too quickly. One night you hear the sounds of life, the next night you hear the sounds of death. One night you had everything, the next night you have nothing.
"Hey, kid." Lachesis started, breaking the silence. "I don't know how to tell you this but...don't be disappointed about what you find over the mountain."
"What do you mean?"
Lachesis sighed before staring up into the canopy, trying to come up with the words. Words that won't harm me. It's almost like she gave enough hints to me however I still wasn't able to figure out the answer.
"Remember a couple of months ago." She said, blushing a bit. "We were lying in the grass watching the stars...I-I turned you down but we're still here where we are. I said no and you were completely fine with it. You said you don't mind, you're always happy to be by my side. You weren't disappointed. I mean like, if... well if he doesn't accept you then... um; well I think I would like to recons- um... wait... well-"
Of course she doesn't like to talk about it in detail. She was probably too embarrassed to admit it...and so was I.
"Yeah." I hesitated, staring at Lachesis. "...But how does this have to relate to—"
Bang!
I stood there frozen. I couldn't feel anything but the biting touch of the rain. It felt like the same moment, the same moment that I saw Cyrus got shot. Another gunshot took away another life, another gunshot cleared my mind of all it's thoughts. Then, everything started to speed up again. Reality came back into my body, I could not escape this world.
"Are you okay?" Lachesis said, holding the Mauser with one paw and waving her paw in front of me with another.
Thump.
"Come on we need to get going. Quickly!" She gasped before grabbing my hand and sprinting off into the bushes. Her voice was muffled by the sound of ringing in my ears. As we ran, I peered over my shoulder to see what happened. Just inches away from where I stood, there laid a Seviper with a hole in it's body. It's blood oozed out before mixing with rain and mud. It desperately tried to move and get back up, but we all know that's not happening.
One moment we were chatting, the next moment we were running for our lives.
I've seen Lachesis kill before, twice in fact. However, just like the first time, her actions made me sick. The horrible loud "bang" before the soulless "thump", I was too familiar with those sounds. The idea of having a piece of copper tear apart any flesh and organs, was just too much for me.
She only did that to protect me...she only did that to protect me.
We were in trouble...serious trouble. Every time when were being hunted or chased, I always knew that we are going to get out in one piece. However, tonight I was having trouble convincing myself that we were going to be safe. One Seviper decided to go for us, now all of them were on our tails. They weren't just hungry, they were desperate. Two of us could only feed one of them.
"Careful!" She yelled as three Sevipers slithered in front of us. In and instant, Lachesis shot out powerful flares of electricity. The beams danced violently, some of the bolts hit the nearby trees, a couple stroked me in the process, while the rest hit the Sevipers.
"Ahhh!" I screamed before falling into the mud, volts of electricity burning my insides. I stared at my arms and hands, they twitched violently and resisted the commands I gave them. I tried pulling myself up off the ground but once again, my body refused to obey my command. Every time when I tried to move, the muscles in my body cramped up; and a unbearable pain rushed through my nerves. The pain was agonising and endless, but if I didn't get up; I'd probably never getting the chance to ever see my father ever again.
Lachesis pulled out her pistol and shot the two Sevipers that weren't paralyzed.
"Ahhhh!" I yelped, trying to get up.
"Oh shit." Lachesis gasped, turning around to look at my broken body.
"Let's get you back on your feet." She said as she placed and arm around my shoulder and helped me stand up. "Sorry about the friendly fire, I won't use discharge again. We need to get going before more—"
She stopped, then took a minute to catch her breath as the rain continued to pour down on us. Lachesis looked left and right before panicking a bit. For the entire time, she stood there in a worried expression with her arms around my shoulder.
Why isn't she moving?
That's when I raised my head up and looked around. We were surrounded in a circle of Sevipers, seven of them in total. The worst part was comparing ourselves to them, they were big, strong and deadly with their poison. I guess this was what Cyrus experienced on that fateful night, feeling helpless against the humans and their guns. The genuine feeling of fear, regret and hopelessness. I'm pretty sure Lachesis could feel it too, because her eyes darted left right and centre. She was desperate to get out of this mess, and so was I. This was the first time I saw Lachesis so worried, so scared. She was like me, hopeless. Despite all of this, she still stood high. She always did. She was my hero, she was my lo... no... friend. A true heroine.
"I'm scared." I whispered to her, staring into her worried eyes. They stared back at me with a look of courage. Even in the darkest moments, her eyes always sparked with courage.
Lachesis smiled at me as if she was still trying to convince me that everything is under control.
"When I first met you, I made a promise that I'd always be with you until you're Serperior." She gulped. "I'll make sure that promise still stands strong."