Surfing
Tally, David, Shay, and Fausto woke up in their tree hammocks a story off the ground to the sweet smell of breakfast. They climbed down groggily awakening, and helped themselves to a couple of heaping plates of food to chow down. Shay, Fausto, and Zane that is. Lynn and Tally watched in disgust as the city infected their ravenous friends with it's mind-numbing powers to fill you up. David just stared with an unreadable expression vividly written across his scraped, pale face, making his scar more pronounced as he scrunched his brow.
"Why aren't you eating?" Shay asked curiously, although with not much concern in her voice,"I know you don't starve yourselves anymore." "Really Shay-la!" Tally rasped angrily back at her,"I don't trust anything out of this city. Any city." "Thank you, Tally!" Lynn said with a relieved expression pressing on to her tattooed face. "Really," Zane said,"I think you two are so paranoid sometimes." David sighed and nodded in agreement as he graciously helped himself too a plate of city food. Deep down, he was just happy with the fact that he didn't have to cook this morning. Lynn made a plate of her homemade spetzel (little Hungarian dumplings) and green tea for her and Tally.
They laughed and talked just like they had never been apart. it was like they had never been apart, even for Tally and Lynn who had never really know each other but a couple bump-intos in their most distant Ugly days. Every one seemed to notice their resemblance, like they were the same person almost. Same personality. Same flaws and week spots. Same face almost, although if that was the work of two conformitqing surges, matching flash tattoos, and several facial reconstructions no one could tell. Same train of thought - the forceful, clueless, independent, charismatic leadership that echoed in their every thought, word and action. The same taste in guys. The same bravery that couldn't think twice about giving their life to some one else. That fearlessness that had one fatal flaw: the city. Not even death. Just the city.
Tally looked down at Lynn's arms as she scanned her surroundings and stopped cold. Through the pulsing flash tattoos constructed of intricate patterns of Celtic swirls and Japanese kanji, scars sheered the lovely designs. Lynn caught Tally staring and looked down at the swirling pool of water upon which her genetically modified lily pad seat was resting as it pulsed with the ripples silently. Tally pointed to her own scars with her eyes and met Lynn's flushed gave again as if to say, "It's alright. I do it too."
Zane and David caught this gesture, and, unlike Shay and Fausto, could read every word written on their meant-to-be-private gaze. Zane pulled down the sleeves on his black denim jacket further, completely concealing the sorry sins he had committed in her long absence. Tally didn't need to know. Yet. David looked down, biting his lip almost to the point of puncturing it's fragile, un-specialized rose red flesh. He still couldn't get over that. tally in pain was torture enough. tally in pain due to her own purposeful accord made his skin crawl and filled him with many other gruesome feelings he did not ever want to discuss.
Shay was feeling the pain of the awkward silence although she wasn't sure what for."So..."She started, in attempt to get her and Fausto back inside the loop rather than expel the pain, which she managed to do both in the process,"What's on today's agenda?" A toothy smile just like Tally's sprawled across Lynn's anxious face.
"Surfing?" David croaked, a hint of fear in his voice barely perceptible as he fought to keep in back, but of course the special's ears caught it and Shay sneered as he continued,"You're taking us Mag-Lev surfing?" "We could do this at home!" Shay groaned with boredom, but let Lynn continue beings as she had no bright ideas for what to do herself. "No," Lynn said, clearly aggravated although she tried not to let it show. It's alright. she knew they'd have a blast,"This city has the fastest trains in the world. Besides. Who would teach you?" David swallowed hard and dared a glance at Zane. he was telling her no in an inconspicuous manner, and would not have been caught had David not been watching their every move since he had arrived. They had an uncanny way with words and imperceptible conversation. Or rather, a way WITHOUT them. They only spoke out loud for the benefit of their visitors. Lynn nodded her eyes only and gave a crooked smile meant to ease his worry before tearing her gaze away from him.
"But isn't that illegal?" Fausto said, trying ever so desperately to worm his way out of this stunt. Tally and Lynn were determined not to let him off the hook so easy. "So?" Tally and Lynn said together, voices anxious to get on with it. the train would be here in less than 15 minutes. "Never stopped us before," Tally finished with a sly grin. SHE was excited at least. Anything requiring little or no planning, speed fear, and a rush of iciness was right up her alley.
"Let's review," Lynn said in her cheap teacher voice imitation,"When I say go, you drop down Go as fast as possible, and use the magnetic field around the train to help give you a boost. Don't stop no matter what. Do you hear me? No matter what. Lean over until you are level with the top and jump on. make sure you get on before we round the bend and the train straightens out again or your a goner. The decapitation warnings?" "Yellow means duck. Red means lay down flat or you'll lose your head," The others moaned the forcibly memorized directions.
Lynn lead them up to the air vent above the steel tracks. a low roar grew and grew into an ear splitting screech as an exhilarating rush as Doppler effected air violently thrashed their hair around their faces. "Now!" Lynn blood-curtailing scream was barely audible over the train speeding below. Lynn and Tally dropped down first followed by their reluctant and slightly scared posy of Zane, David, Shay, and Fausto.
It was her first run, but Tally was looking like an old pro at this. "Doing great", Lynn said encouraging Tally. She lay down flat on her board and urged it to it's physical limits, letting it seep more power off the momentum of the bullet train. "Lots of practice,' She replied being careful to copy Lynn's movements exactly as she slipped through the turbulence of battered air whipping by. She took a deep breath and released the board carefully, just as Lynn had done. Her crash bracelets caught the smooth aerodynamic surface of the front car with a thud, not to mention almost jerking her arms right out of their sockets.
Tally watched with her wide, black eyes as Lynn shut off the magnets in her bracelet one by one and slipped them over her ankles before reactivating them. The only thing keeping her from falling off and splattering all over the ground bolting past at unfathomable speeds below. "I think your surge messed with your brain a bit more than mine did to say it rather lightly," Tally criticized as Lynn stood up against the wrestling force of the winds."Oh it did. Just not in the way you think,"she smirked in a way that made Tally wonder. She shrugged and compromised to ask later. Right now she had to prove herself. She stopped breathing to brace herself for the force and stood up, too.
"Lynn..." She said awestricken with wonder as she dared so stand on the tips of her toes at the front of the rain, arms out stretched. "I'm flying." Lynn smiled and relaxed her tenseness as she inhaled the morning with her arms out as well. Then some little recess in her mind jolted her awake. Her eyes grew wide as she shrieked,"Get Down!" Tally was thrown to the top of the train. Lynn bolted herself down and shot the yellow flashlight back down the train to warn the others. There were little more than seconds to spare as the overhead flickered overhead.
David was too stunned to do anything. He was at the back of the train almost. It straightened out and he was straining off the momentum of the very last car as the train finished rounding the bend. How was he supposed to get on? "Need some help?" David flicked his head up, startled to see Zane next to him. Great. Just what he needed. To embarrass himself in front of HIM. He sighed. well how much worse could it get? Zane carefully instructed him on how to board the train, although it could have been better. they were racing the clock though as the train picked up speed so his lessons were with a quickness. they bolted down and sat with the cool wind whipping in their hair as they stared down the tracks.
Zane saw how embarrassed David was and couldn't help letting out a chuckle,"It's alright. Your doing fine." "Stop trying to make me feel better. It's not working out well." David snapped and turned away. He was going to say more but his better judgment went against that. "Seriously," Zane persisted," You're doing better than me on my first run. I had to go doubles with Lynn and I still screwed up. Not to mention almost getting the both of us crushed by a steel train." David was still a little pissed. "I thought you were supposedly 'protecting' my sister. Not killing her." Zane looked upset. no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get on his good side. But really, did he expect any different? He did steal Tally from him... and now he thought he had the right to be with his sister? But still, he wasn't letting a good chance to prove himself go.
"That's where the ALMOST crushed part comes in," Zane pulled off his shirt, reveling a scar that ran from the top of his should and traced the edge of his shoulder blade halfway down his back,"My arm got caught in the tracks as the train went over when I threw Lynn out of the way. I had my entire arm and shoulder reconstructed." That struck a cord inside David. Why was he so mad at this boy? He loved Lynn so much... Even her strange ways and cold exterior weren't enough to hold him back. He new her inside. He knew her better than he did. his own sister... Zane was ready at any given second to throw away his life for her... Besides. Anyone who could possibly love Tally for who she really was -is- couldn't be all that bad.
"We are all born fearing death. Tally and Lynn are the only ones I know that have over come that. it makes me feel... weak. That I'm not good enough for someone as strong as her. That I put too mush of my burden for her to carry."Zane said, not really wanting to look David in the eye. David could see very clearly where he was going with this. He felt the exact same thing when he looked into Tally's pained yet strong eyes. But he had learned to look at it in another light...
"But I think thats why they love us,' he reassured Zane,"We save them from the world around them... from themselves... Because when you don't fear the things that can hurt you, thats when you end up hurt the worst." Zane nodded in agreement. That seemed right. Weather it was a way to make himself feel better about what he'd put on her or the plane truth, he liked that. He pulled david down as the overpass shot overhead.
Shay slid trough the turbulence and pounced down onto the roof on all fours, looking like Bastet, the cat goddess with her mystical and silent grace. She hid her fear from her face, draining it of all emotion to hide it from the world, almost succeeding to hide it so deep within her self that she could forget it was there. almost... but not quite. fausto pulled up next to her just as they rounded the bend. 'How do you like this?" Shay asked. 'Loving every minute of it, Shay-La!" She could still hear his muffled sarcasm over the roar of the wind and laughed. She watched wide-eyed and intent as tally and Lynn stood up. She wasn't going to be out done by those two. She hastily strapped her crash bracelets to her feet and stood up. "Woah," She wobbled and Fausto put his arms around her to steady them both.
He set his chin on her shoulder and wind whip her hair and her flash tattoos spiral rapidly across her face. he closed his eyes and felt at peace. Every thought that had just crossed Shay's mind vanished as all of her senses strained to take in the moment of his soft breath on her skin. Her muscles relaxed and went back to a normal stress, only to tense up again at the feeling of Fausto's nose and lips tracing the outline of her bones under her skin. Slowly, he relaxed too and his arms held her no longer for balance, but because he wanted to out of love. Love. When exactly did he start loving Shay? When did he start thinking his name only meant something off her lips? That he would throw himself off a cliff just to see those razor fangs in a smile? It didn't matter because right now, they were the only people on earth and timed seemed to stand still. He opened his eyes to a softly blinking yellow light. He pulled Shay down into his lap and kissed her icy cool lips in the subtle darkness of the overpass. "I love you," He whispered softly in her ear as he pushed back a few of the straying locks of her silken black hair.
They all drifted off the back of the train at the turn after the red decapitation warning. "What do you think?" Lynn said, the rush of the experience making her words clear and as sharp as knives in the cool air of a the bitter winter morning,"There's another train leaving the station in twenty minutes. "Damn right we're going again!" Tally cheered. "Anyone-"Lynn started but david cut her off,"HELL NO!" He said, mind made up and not changing. By the looks on the faces of Zane, Shay, and Fausto, it appears he spoke for the others also. "Whatever," Tally said nonchalantly and she and Lynn raced back to the station for another go.