Sherby: Hello everyone! Welcome back to Darkness Falls. Get ready to enjoy chapter four. Yay. *waves flag pathetically*
Kai: What's your problem?
Sherby: Nothing.
Rei: You're so depressed!
Sherby: No I'm not.
Kai and Rei: *whispering to Oil Pastel* What's her beef?
Oil Pastel: Oh, she just broke up with her ------
Sherby: Say it and die.
Oil Pastel: boy . . . friend . . . Ad . . . am . . .
Sherby: *unleashes knife* now you pay!
Kai: You're single?
Sherby: Shut it sharky, you're next.
It's 20:57 pm Monday. Here's chapter 4. Enjoy.
Oily: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Sherby: You're not helping . . .
Er . . . just to say, if you're put off by . . . well, not sex, but quite graphic descriptions of . . . er . . . intimacy . . . then beware. High detail later. You'll understand if you read it! I apologise now if I offend anyone . . .
Chapter Four: Desire . . .
It was a beautiful view. The charred trees and burned soil was much more appealing to Lindsay than the cities' torn down towers had ever been. She and the rest of the group stood on the top of a high hill, watching the field below them. It was littered with deep brown tree stumps and clusters of moribund grass, attempting feebly to acquire some height and climb towards the ever-darkening sky. The field stretched for a good while. It was very open and there was barely any cover whatsoever – a solitary oak tree stood as the single survivor of this war at the far left of the expanse. Mostly there was soil, deep black, charcoal now, infertile and lifeless. The cloudy sky above the team watched as they began to make their weary ways down the hill.
The team had been on the move for three days now. Exhausted and broken, they had abandoned Tyson's dojo quickly, deeming it completely unsafe. Tala had advised a swift exit from the cities in general – an open expanse of space would be far more secure; the reason being that the beasts would be far less likely to search for surviving humans in the more open places. And so they had ran, as fast as their tired legs would allow them, without stopping for sleep or rest. Luckily enough, they had lost no more of the team. There had been no more encounters with the beasts, and although they had been tracked on more than one occasion by the looming threat of the cannibals, there had never been any full confrontation, and the group had arrived – safe but incredibly tired, in the open expanse of the country.
Lindsay attempted once again to ignore that tired pain in her legs, the manic throbbing in her feet becoming almost unbearable. Tala was ruthless as a leader – he allowed for few rests. They hadn't eaten in ages – their only drinks had been from puddles in the road when Tala wasn't looking. He almost seemed like some sort of robot – able to travel without drink or replenishment for hours – days – on end.
Lindsay glanced to her right through her dull eyes, attempting to see past a lock of scraggly, curly, messy hair, dirty and greasy and unwashed in ages. She didn't want to imagine what she looked like. But nobody else had the time to brush their hair or clean their teeth. They all smelled appalling. No one was looking their best.
Upon catching sight of Sara traipsing downhill next to her, Lindsay managed a small smile. Sara and she had become firm friends during their three-day hike. It was odd – Lindsay had thought she would never be able to get along with someone who was as blatantly irritating as Sara was. But she did.
"Y'alright, Linz?" Sara said, sounding out of breath. She looked terrible. Mud was still splattered all over her face from previous battles, and, strangely enough, she had been wearing mascara recently, and it had run down her face in clumps and globules. Lindsay smiled.
"I don't know where you got that mascara from, Sar, but if I were you I'd wash it off."
Sara's eyes widened. "What? Has my make up run?"
Lindsay laughed now, somehow finding the energy. "Just a tad . . . "
Sara began frantically rubbing her face, only managing to smear the makeup even more.
"Have you got a mirror, Linz?"
"Er . . . no."
Sara sighed. This was terrible. She looked a mess. Throughout this whole experience, she had prided herself on still managing to look good, despite the battles, raging famines, three day hikes and so on. Her mascara was like her best friend. How could it let her down like this?
"Cheap trash!" she cursed as she threw the tiny bottle of mascara away with a grunt. "I don't need you."
Lindsay watched for a moment, and then smiled as her predictions were proved correct. A moment after walking away from the bottle, Sara turned and scampered back to it, picking it up lovingly.
"I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry. . . "
Watching the two laughing girls, trailing behind the group, Rei sighed. He was wearier than he liked to let on. Slung across his shoulder was the limp form of Ozuma, his breathing hoarse and his eyes firmly closed. He hadn't woken up yet. Rei knew that if he only had to carry his own weight, he would have been fine on this journey. But Ozuma's compact form, as light as it was, added a great burden to Rei's shoulders, which were heavy already.
He had barely spoken since the attack on Tyson's old dojo. He'd simply walked behind the group, lost mostly in his own thoughts, allowing Tala to take the lead of the group instead of himself and just tagging along for survival's sake. His thoughts and questions were taking over him, and he was paying less and less attention to what was happening around him. His dirty hair hung into his eyes, blocking them from anyone else's view as he stumbled along wearily, not quite sure why he continued to stumble.
"Rei? Do you need any help with that?"
Rei didn't bother to look up at Tyson as he was spoken to. Tyson and Max, he knew, were both carrying Lee over their shoulders. Lee was slowly becoming more and more able, and at one point he'd even walked a little of the way himself. His wound was closing over and healing slowly, and soon he would be able to help the team as much as he used to be able to.
"I'm fine, thank you," muttered Rei, his head down. Tyson, filthy and dirty as the rest of them, watched with worried grey eyes. He hated to see Rei like this. The rest of the team had dealt with the loss of their Captain and moved on successfully. Of course, they were all sorry – but they knew survival was more important. Kai wouldn't have wanted them to mourn him, not while their lives were still in danger. They were all sure of that. Why couldn't Rei just join them in their certainty and move on? Every rest now, in the brief periods of time where the relentless Tala would allow them to catch their breath, Tyson would catch sight of Rei looking at the Dranzer blade, lost in thought. It was the wrong attitude to have, and it was going to drag Rei down.
"Are you sure, Rei? I can help carry Ozuma too."
Rei glanced up finally, his golden eyes (looking more bronze these days) scanning about himself. Sara was holding out a hand, and behind her stood Lindsay, also looking like she was willing to help. He sighed. He didn't want their pity. For some reason, he just wanted someone – anyone – to agree with him, and believe him when he said that Kai was still alive.
"I'm fine," he insisted through gritted teeth, angry at something that he couldn't place. Sara backed away instinctively, not so much hurt as annoyed. All she wanted to do was help Rei – and he obviously needed it.
~"Look at him, stumbling along without even a purpose. Why won't he just accept it? Why does he have to be so hard on himself? It's like he blames himself or something."~
Sara looked away, suddenly lost in her own thoughts as well. She focused her gaze on the field that they now stood on, its lifeless barren expanse running a chill through her spine, as though her spine itself were the motionless soil, and the wind was trickling along it, searching for some branches to rustle through or someone's face to kiss. The land before her was so dead that she could hardly imagine it ever being prosperous at all. Was this where they were to stay?
She ran to the front of the group and caught up with Tala, who was striding ahead confidently, already testing out this new land without fear or caution. He certainly was brave. After Rei's declination of the position of leader, Tala had quickly taken control – whether for himself or for the sake of the others it was not known – and led them to apparent safety. It was true that his alert eyes had kept them safe from harm, but he seemed to care little about the welfare of the group. If he was not thirsty, then the others weren't allowed to be either. He would not let them stop, but marched on almost tyrannically. Sara generally despised leadership of any kind, but she had to admit that at least Kai had been aware of the physical and mental needs of the team. Tala, although he did a better job of keeping the team safe than Kai had done, seemed to omit the team completely as something that needed to be looked after but only saw it as something that propelled his leadership further.
"Tala?" panted Sara as she jogged up to the red head, whose icy eyes were searching across the sterile land as he walked, "Are we going to set up camp here?"
"Yes."
Sara grabbed his hand and pulled him to a stop. He was a good few metres in front of the rest of the team now.
"You want to set up here? Why? There's no food, no water . . . "
"It's safe here. They won't come out here."
Sara pulled a face. "Yes . . . but we do need to survive, Tala. We can't survive on the reassurance of being safe. We need food and drink."
"We camp here."
Sara's face fell, and she looked Tala in the face. "What do you mean, 'we camp here'? We can't. It'll kill us."
Tala looked away and across the land. There were no rivers, no trees (bar the solitary, dying oak) and no signs of life.
"We camp here."
Sara frowned, her eyes suddenly glinting, and, as the others caught up, they could plainly hear her frenetic shrill screams as she completely bellowed at Tala.
"WHAT THE HELL? ER, MISTER 'I'M SO GREAT BECAUSE KAI'S GONE', SINCE WHEN HAS IT BEEN YOUR PLACE TO DECIDE WHERE WE CAMP? I'M VICE CAPTAIN OF THIS TEAM NOW, YOU KNOW, AND I---"
"And I'm Captain. I have authority over you, Sara. Stand down."
Sara's face froze, her mouth open in the middle of another rant. "Wha---what?"
"Stand down. I'm not going to listen to you."
Sara glared, and the dead land about them seemed to become a little more hushed, as if in reverence of this mighty argument. The team watched in shock. Even Rei had looked up to see what was happening. This was ridiculous.
"Look, guys," began Max, stepping forward, handing Lee over to Tyson, "I don't think that---"
"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE FREAK! ! !" yelled Sara, pointing right at the innocent lad, "Get back where you were, and stay out of this. It doesn't concern you."
"Well, actually, it kind of does," said Tyson, thinking logically (for once in his strange little life).
"Tyson, don't!" hissed Lindsay, clasping a dirty hand over Tyson's grubby face. "She'll eat you alive!"
The rest of the team watched on as Sara and Tala continued to argue, Sara completely mouthing off, with no respect for Tala's authority over her and Tala remaining as cold as his eyes were. He was oddly calm and controlled. With a sigh, Rei turned away, moving back to the slope of the hill, and he sat down heavily, placing Ozuma on the ground behind him. He noticed with a smile that a miniscule tuft of grass was poking its way up through the infertile soil.
~"There's some life here, at least."~
He lay back for a moment, his hair finally falling out of his eyes as he stared up at the gloomy sky above and wondered why on earth all of this was happening. And it was then, with his bronzing eyes turned up to the dismal sky, that the first drop of rain fell.
"Hello? Can . . . you hear me?
Eyes opened, and light flooded in. Pupils constricted dramatically in the sudden glare of the room. Stinging, watering. Barely moving. Flashing in confusion. No sound, just waiting.
"Can you hear me?"
The voice spun, echoed, repeated itself upon itself, as if being pressed back in and compressed against the grey walls of this room, rolling over and over again, trying to escape but only finding refuge in the ear.
"Hello?"
It was too much to move, too wasteful. Eyes opened further now, taking in more, the muscles relaxing a little further. Breath came sharply, suddenly, filling the lungs, pushing the painful diaphragm, a cruel blessing.
"Hellloooo?"
In a dark grey room, illuminated by a strong artificial light, with no doors but a simple trapdoor in the ceiling for food to be passed through, were two young people. One a young girl, of about sixteen, sat up, her long, frizzy red hair tucked behind her ears by a small silver clip. Dirt covered her pointed face as she opened her small, bow shaped mouth to speak. Everything about her was rather pointed, her ears, her nose, but she didn't look snobbish.
Upon getting no reply from her partner, she spoke again, her voice resounding throughout the room. No luck. He barely stirred. She could already see the wound, stitched up badly and unprofessionally, with the occasional hint of yellowing infection tinting the edges. It hadn't been covered or cleaned, and the boy was still as dirty as the day he had been brought in.
Although he didn't stir much, he did move a little, and the young girl, a shoddy name tag hanging close to her breast, scrambled over to him, looking over him cautiously. He'd been here for a good forty hours now – she knew because she'd been stuck in this room a week. Nothing to do, no one to talk to. Well, except this guy, and he hadn't exactly done anything much since being thrown in.
She glanced over his body for a moment, watching as he moved slightly. He was messed up. Everything he wore – well, his once black trousers and a ragged grey scarf – were saturated in browning blood remnants. His head lay on the cold floor limply, his floppy, silvery bangs of hair hanging loosely across his slowly opening eyes. The scarf, slack about his neck – was completely saturated and only the occasional dash of faded cream could be seen amongst the thick patches of blood. Arms, crumpled by his side, were bare. His shoulders were pale and the left arm contained another gash that had dried and was surrounded by black crust. His whole body was layered with a terrible mixture of sweat and blood, drying little by little as the hours dragged on. His trousers, once new, were merely dilapidated shreds of black material, still clinging around his waist pathetically. His chest, ribs protruding sickly and making her feel a little ill, rose and fell gently as he moved.
Her own oddly coloured, black eyes met his dizzy chocolate coloured ones, and she smiled.
"Hi there . . . um . . ." she glanced down at his chest, and then realized that he wore no top, so how could there be a name tag there? She gasped when she saw that the pin badge had merely been thrust through his skin, just above his left nipple. She winced and then looked back up at his face, taking in the odd blue marks scratched into the skin. Almost like tattoos.
"Hi there Kai."
At the sound of his name, the boy blinked, and looked up at her, his gaze seeming to focus upon her face. She smiled, and he grimaced as he moved to see her properly.
"Oh, no, don't move. You're hurt!"
He continued to move, despite her warnings, and soon he was on his back, looking straight up at her. She smiled again, this time a little more nervously.
"How are you feeling, Kai?"
He frowned, his russet eyes shrewdly taking in her features, and he moved his mouth to talk. He frowned even further when no sound came out.
"Are you surprised?" she said, waving a hand, "You don't wanna see how that thing looks right now."
"The---then why---" his voice scratched out, weak and dry, and barely audible.
The girl gasped, shocked in some sort of melodramatic fashion. "Did you just . . . "
She looked down at him again. If he cleared off all of the blood, and maybe took a bath or three, he'd be very nice to look at.
~"Good. That makes this a whole lot easier."~ she thought with a cynical sigh. She focused her attention back to Kai.
"I'm Kate," she said with another smile, pulling forward her own name badge, where the grubby text could hardly be made out. She released it, allowing it to spring back and hang from the light blue baggy T-Shirt she wore. She'd also worn a pair of brown cords, but they'd been ripped to shreds and now the majority of her legs could be seen through the tattered material.
"I'm---Kai . . . "
Kate shook her head. "How are you speaking? Your throat is trashed."
Kai shrugged weakly, and slowly began to push himself into a sitting position from the floor, his thin arms quaking under the sudden pressure. Kate noticed how cut up he was. He was covered in old scars and new slits. His elbows protruded from his arms badly – he was far too thin. But then again, she was thin herself. Days – no, weeks – of malnutrition had worn her own body down. She knew that her own ribs could be seen painfully, silhouetted against her pale skin. She was shadow of her former self and she knew it. Was this true of Kai too?
Once he reached a sitting position, Kai groaned again, and put a hand to his throat. It looked incredibly painful. He touched it gingerly, swallowing once or twice to make sure he still could. Kate watched, resisting the urge to look away as tiny bubbles of scarlet protruded from some of the stitches. He winced, quickly wiping the fresh blood away with his already bloodied hands. It seemed pointless, as the wound continued to bleed.
"Damn," he commented quietly, not seeming to pay much attention to Kate. She looked away as he grit his teeth and pinched the edges of the wound, not hard enough to pull out the shoddy stitching but enough to squeeze any yellow infection out. His face paled but he continued, knowing that it had to come out. Kate's hand flew to her own throat, and she closed her eyes, not wishing to see the sticky liquid trickle down his throat.
When Kai was happy that clean blood was emerging rather than the traces of infection, he stopped, resting his head in his hands for a moment, as he was dizzier than before. He had no idea where he was, or who he was with, or why he was here. Everything was one huge mess. He could barely remember what had separated him from his friends.
He blinked, and looked back up at the girl. She could probably fill him in on some things, if not be more useful if used correctly.
"Um . . . Kate?" he stopped. His throat felt like it was on fire, burning maliciously at every word he formed. This was going to be more difficult than he had intended.
"Yes, Kai?" she turned, and he was hit by how odd her eyes were. The irises were black, as well as the pupils, and they looked almost devoid of emotion, of life. He tried not to let this faze him and continued.
"Where are we?"
Kate stood, stretching her long limbs. She was quite tall – possibly taller than he was. She cricked her neck and clicked her fingers before looking down and answering.
"We're in a compound."
"What?"
"A compound. The only one, as far as I've figured out."
"Who runs it? People?"
"One person. Mostly beasts."
Kai's eyes narrowed, his heart beginning to beat a little faster. "One person runs this?"
"Yes. He's backed up by---"
"He?"
Kate placed her hands on her hips, looking irritated with his sudden interruptions. "Yes, all right? He."
"Who? What's 'his' name?"
She watched him for a second. He was below her, and she felt more powerful than he was, but something in how he spoke, despite the rasping, scratchy sound, commanded her respect, and she complied.
"His name is Boris."
Lindsay sighed, and watched a runlet of water channel down her pointy nose. Her curly hair was plastered to her frame, and her glasses were practically impenetrable because of the water splattered all over them. Tala and Sara had continued to argue for a good while, and then, when the rain had gotten very heavy, they had all looked for somewhere to shelter until the best of the fall had passed. Unfortunately, there had been none. Max had suggested that they take shelter under the nearby oak tree, but not all of them could fit under. The girls had been given first place, and finally it had ended up with Tala and Rei being the ones who had to stay out. Sara had quickly decided that Rei needed a good rest, as he wasn't doing so well, and so she had gone out into the rain with Tala. Everyone had expected another argument, but she'd merely started washing her hair. It was bizarre.
"I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair!" Sara sang merrily, enjoying the fact that she was soaked through. Tyson called out to her.
"Um . . . Sara? Do you realize that you're wearing a white top?"
Sara paused, her hair draped over her head and dripping wet. "What?"
Lindsay burst into laughter as she realized Sara's white T-Shirt had gone completely transparent.
"CRAP!" cried Sara, crossing her arms so no one could see anything. "Well at least I'm clean!"
The whole congregation chuckled at Sara's doziness.
"Nice show," came a voice, and Lindsay turned around to see that Ozuma had woken up.
"OZUMA!" she cried, although she didn't actually know who he was. Max and Tyson jumped over and grinned cheesily at the weak lad.
"Hey Ozuma!" "Nice to have you back!"
Even Rei was moved enough to come over and say hello. After all, it was Rei who'd carried Ozuma most of the way.
"Rei, how you doin'?" asked Ozuma quietly, his emerald green eyes pleasantly bright in the dullness of the storm. Rei smiled faintly.
"Not bad."
"I'm glad I found you guys," Ozuma said, moving a little to a more comfortable position. "I'd be a goner for sure if you hadn't found me. When you came towards me all armed the way you three did, then I just thought 'this is it' and everything disappeared."
He laughed a little, before touching his head, fingering the cloth wrapped around it. "Hey, I'm wearing somebody's . . . shirt?"
"Yeah, that'd be mine," came a female voice, and Ozuma looked up to see a pretty young thing, cleaner than the others, standing nearby, with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Glad you're awake, Ozzy."
Although he could spend hours pondering over why the hell this girl had just called him Ozzy, Ozuma decided not to. He merely laughed at the predicament she was in.
"I think you should take it back," he smiled, beginning to gently unwrap the shirt from about his black, spiked hair.
"Nah, I don't wear stuff that's been bloodied," the girl remarked, turning her nose up a little before leaping back out into the rain and rinsing her hair through again. Ozuma watched in wonderment.
"Who the heck is she?" he asked Rei, and Rei smiled. "She is Sara. Vice Captain."
"Seriously? Why?"
Rei laughed. He was feeling strangely more lighthearted. Having another friend to talk to made things easier for him.
"And I'm Captain," boomed Tala's authoritative voice, and Ozuma leaned over to look at him. He had quietly stalked underneath the tree to dry off a little for just a moment.
"You . . . you are? But . . . I thought K---"
"Well, it doesn't matter what you thought," snapped Tala, his iced eyes flashing, "I'm in charge. Do as I say and you'll stay safe."
Tala marched away, back out into the rain, the drippings running down his body in a menacing fashion, but he didn't shiver a single bit. It was odd. He could face any element without even a twinge of fear.
"Well," spoke Ozuma quietly, watching Tala yell something to the prancing Sara, "What's going on? I thought Kai was team Captain here."
He looked from Rei's face, to Tyson's, to Max's, and to the other girl who was looking down at him.
"Don't tell me . . . "
Kate sat down, and sighed. She should probably break this silence.
"I'm sorry . . . I didn't know that you knew him . . . "
This mysterious boy had spoken to Kate for a good ten minutes as best he could, filling her in on what he knew of Boris Balkov. She'd suspected he was a con, or a criminal, but she hadn't guessed he'd been such a villain in the past. She'd listened with wide eyes to tales of Boris' cruelty in the Abbey, his dealings with the young lads that had lived there, and his rather unorthodox punishments.
"Did he ever . . . punish you, Kai?" she said quietly, looking over at the pale boy. He glanced over at her.
"Yes. Sometimes. The thing with Boris is, no matter how much you try, you can't leave him behind. He'll always follow. Why'd he come after me?"
Kate froze. "Oh . . . I think I can answer that. You see . . . " she broke off, blushing, strangely enough. Kai narrowed his gaze.
"What's going on?"
Kate stood again. It was the third of fourth time she'd stood in the last conversation. Kai knew then and there that she was extremely nervous – or jittery about something.
"You see, Kai . . . Boris wants to restart. He's running on a Nihilist theory."
"Nihilist? I thought that the Nihilists were a political party." Kai intervened.
"Well, they are, but Nihilism is the theory that backs them. Nihilists believe in---"
"Nothingism?"
Kate stopped short, and stared at Kai for a moment. "Um . . . yeah, that's about the most accurate translation I've ever heard. They want to get rid of everything the way it is, and then start again, but start better. Learn from old mistakes. Makes the second round the perfect round. "
"That's dumb. So Boris wants to start again? Which is why he destroyed the majority of the human population, right?"
"We don't know how many people in other countries have survived. All we know is the carnage we're faced with. I'm diverting. Boris wiped out the weaker race here."
"So why'd he bring me here? And you? Why're you here?"
Kate paused for a moment, and cleared her throat, looking down at the floor again. Kai noticed that she had an odd look about her. She was pretty in a strange way. Her hair complimented her weird eyes, and the freckles across her nose seemed like an asset to her face. If she cleaned up a little (not that she was particularly filthy) she would be quite stunning.
"We're here to . . . to start again. For Boris."
Kai cocked his head to the side, and winced as his throat pulled. Kate glanced at him with her empty gaze, and then continued.
"Apparently we're the best left. And we're here to start the new breed."
He couldn't help but widen his eyes, and Kai raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Um . . . right . . . why us?"
"Because we're at the 'peak of physical condition'. We're the perfect couple to . . . to . . . create this new generation . . . according to him."
She spat the last words with some bitterness. Kai didn't know how long she'd been there. Obviously she just wanted to get out – and she figured the best way to do that was to comply with Boris' sick orders.
"Look, Kate," said Kai, gently rubbing his neck and trying not to break the stitching. "I know you want to get out. I want the same thing. But . . . we can do it without giving in to Boris. See?"
He looked away for a second, feeling extremely awkward, and when he looked back, he was surprised to see that Kate was crying, silver tears slipping from those emotionless eyes and proving the colour black wrong. The tears channeled down her face, freer than the two prisoners were by far, free to flow whichever way they wanted, free to choose how they fell, free completely. Unlike them. They made tiny river marks along her pointed face, and dripped from her chin to the dirty floor below, leaving wretched splash marks where they collided with the ground.
"Hey, what. . . ?"
Kai didn't know what to do. Why was she crying? Had he said something wrong? He hadn't meant to upset her.
"What's wrong, Kate?"
"What do you think is wrong?" she sniffed, sinking to the floor and sitting cross legged, leaning her chin into her clasped hands like a small child would, "I want to leave here. I hate this. And you obviously hate me!"
Kai raised yet another eyebrow. "Um . . . why do I hate you again?"
"Well you didn't look too pleased about the idea of . . . you know . . . with me . . . "
Kai rolled his eyes discreetly. This was irritating. He had more important things on his plate than a weeping woman who was upset because he didn't want to make love to her. Honestly.
"Kate, I'm not . . .un-attracted to you, if that's what you're crying over. But I'm not really attracted to you either. . . "
Kate sobbed some more, and Kai covered his face with his hand. He was too tired for this. He generally just wanted to sleep, get a drink, and then escape.
"Look, Kate---"
"No, you look, Mister!" she snapped, suddenly breaking out of sobbing damsel-in-distress mode, "We do it, we have a kid, I get special treatment, you get special treatment, we're all one happy big family! What's the problem?"
Kai stared at her, his face a complete mixture of disbelief and shock. "Did you just really say that? Kate, why do you think Boris is creating this 'race'? Do you think he wants them to run free over the hillside and sing kum-bye-ah all day long? Wrong! He wants to enslave us! Don't you see that? He's evil, Kate; he's purely sadistic. He'll make us – and our 'child' - work for the beasts or something! He's not the good guy here!"
Kate watched his face as he spoke, taking in his every feature. When he finished speaking, she stood, moving over to where he sat.
"You know, Kai . . . you're really . . . attractive when you get angry . . . "
Kai blinked, and looked at Kate's face, his own face bewildered and almost ever so slightly amused.
"You should quit that right now."
"But you are!" she insisted, moving a little closer, her eyes fixed suddenly upon his chest, "And all of this blood makes you look so . . . "
"Stop it," Kai said quickly, inching away. He didn't want to hurt this girl's feelings, but this was getting a little out of hand.
"Kai . . . just give in . . . kiss me . . . "
Kai was about to speak and move away, when she pressed herself completely onto him, locking her lips on his own. Worse than the fact that he really didn't want to do this was the fierce flashing pain that suddenly ran up from his throat and into his head. He tried to pull away smoothly, but she was holding him tightly, her arms suddenly wedged around his back.
"Kate---" he managed in between kisses, "Stop . . . "
She clambered onto him, her whole body pulsating with feverish excitement, and Kai struggled to move away. Unfortunately for him he'd just woken up after being out cold for three days, and he wasn't in the best physical condition. His body was weak and malnourished, and he couldn't pull away. Her kisses moved down past his wounded neck and onto his chest, and he gasped in a quick mouthful of air. She was definitely intent on having her own way.
"Stop, Kate, now. This isn't right!"
She didn't seem to pay attention, and she kissed his chest lightly, the gentle graze of her bottom teeth tickling him in a manic way. He pulled himself away and she reached out with desperate hands, grabbing onto the skin on his chest. Her fingers found the nametag in his chest and she pulled on it, wrenching him towards her again. Kai's eyes widened in pain as she slashed the tag out of his chest and grabbed him about the back.
"What the hell . . . "
"Hope not for mind in women . . . " she hissed, suddenly a different creature altogether, controlling, powerful, cruel, "at their best, sweetness and wit . . . "
"They are but mummy, possessed," Kai finished the famous poem quickly with a snarl, "Get off me."
Her face darkened, and those black eyes seemed to dissolve into something more sinister, less clear, and completely intent. Kai watched her for a moment, his nose wrinkled in scorn for this creature, who seemed fit to live with the beasts themselves all of a sudden, and then she clambered off him, letting go of his back and allowing him to slip backwards to the floor. He lay still for a moment, retrieving lost breath that she had stolen from him, and then he looked over at her, the cold touch of the floor mingling with the warmth of his back.
He didn't get much of a good look of her. She was suddenly atop him again, her legs spread seductively as she began to remove her T-Shirt.
"Kate, get off!" he protested firmly again, attempting to roll her off. She stayed firm, this time using her nails to scratch into his skin, her hot hands framing his face. She lowered her body to his own, moving with supple, writhe actions and rippling her form as she laid on top him.
"Kate!" he hissed, rolling onto his side to throw her off. This had gone far enough. But her hands were stronger than he had expected, and she clung to him, merely rolling him so he now lay on top of her.
"I thought you didn't want this, Kai?" she smirked. Now in an easier position (although not in the sexual way) Kai moved away, knowing he could just stand up and be rid of this demon. She gripped his hair, pulling his face down to hers, and she rolled again, in complete control of this situation much to Kai's distaste.
"You're not going anywhere until we're done."
Kai pulled away once more, refusing to give into this whore, when suddenly, as he attempted to breathe again, he found that he couldn't. Another hot flare of pain ran through his neck, and he winced, wondering what was happening. He glanced up, and saw her outstretched arms clawing towards his throat, and he realized with a start that she was clenching her witch's hands around his wound. He could feel it bleeding once again, and the stitches were pulling so much that he wondered if they would split. He choked for a moment, finding breath suddenly torn away as quickly as his freedom was.
~"STOP!"~ his mind screamed, his senses reeling. His body was out of his control now, as his vision began to blur due to the pressure on his neck. Was she choking him? He couldn't see her properly, just those arms – in fact, just one arm . . .
He tried to pull away again as he felt her claws tear his trousers from his slim waist, letting them slip to the floor. Her free hand slipped below his waist, and he pulled away harder, but the pressure upon his neck was too much and he couldn't keep pulling away if he wanted those stitches to stay in. He winced as he felt blood trickling down his chest; unsure of whether it came from his chest or his throat. His eyes widened once again as he felt her hand tighten, and he felt his chest bucking for air. His whole body was tensing up. Her free hand caressed him and he felt himself stiffening under her touch.
Suddenly, he felt her kisses stretching up his chest again, pressing into his torso viciously, lustily, her hot tongue tracing his every fibre. Her face then swam into his blurred vision, a look of distinct pleasure spreading across her features. She pressed herself into him forcibly, her whole body swaying as if this were some sort of ritual for her, and he could feel himself moving with her, although it went against every one of his emotions and morals. She laughed quietly, her eyes rolling back into her head in sheer bliss. For a tiny moment, she released her hold upon his neck, and Kai wrenched his head away, gasping for sweet air, allowing it to impregnate him, to flow within his lungs and breathe into him again. As quickly as it had come it was gone, as her hand wrapped about his neck again, not so tightly this time, but tight enough to stop him struggling against her. He turned his focus back to her, wondering what she was doing, and he felt the rough taste of her tongue running up his chest, removing the blood from his stained body. Her mouth met his own again and she kissed him savagely, her primeval instinct overpowering his weak struggles. His vision was blurring once more, and all he could see where those black eyes of hers, impassive, detached, cold, and dead.
And then it was over, all of a sudden, and Kai felt his entire body relaxing as she removed her hand from his neck and herself from atop him. He lay still, his weak body recovering, and he gasped in mouthfuls of air quietly, closing his eyes for a few seconds. Had that just happened? The cold sweat across his form told him it had. Blood tickled down the side of his neck and he wiped it away with shaking hands.
"Well," came her voice, monotone, "I must say thank you, Kai. For more than one thing."
Kai looked over at her, his vision recovering, but then looked away when he saw her naked body, shining robotically, almost like plastic in the synthetic light of the room. He couldn't find the strength to say anything now. He just wanted to rest. He was exhausted, not just because of Kate's sudden attack, but because of his condition, his ordeal though the past week. And sleep crept upon him as suddenly as Kate's assault had, taking hold of him stealthily and wrapping itself around him with an unstoppable force, caressing his every sense and forcing him to enter in.
/ Took a long time to build these walls around me.
Yet in a heartbeat you'd torn them down completely.
I let you in with good intentions!
But soon you'd stolen what I should have given! So I surrender to you. I surrender./"Well," said Ozuma, stretching his arms and testing their strength, "Kai or no Kai, this group's sure moved on. But I gotta ask, where do you guys plan on camping? Here?"
Lindsay nodded, watching Ozuma's features through her rain dappled spectacles. "Tala says we've got to."
"That's dumb."
"I know!" said Sara, who had recently moved in out of the rain. "I mean, there's no food, no water . . . well, except the rain, and no proper shelter!"
"Not just that," said Ozuma, his eyes darkening, their green glint becoming a little more ominous. "This place isn't as safe as you guys think it is. I know 'cause I've been here."
"What?" cried Tyson, clambering over from talking to Max under one of the larger branches of the aging oak.
"I wandered across here weeks ago. Funny how I ended up here again. But the last time, I barely made it out of here alive . . . "
All who sat under the tree were enraptured by Ozuma's powerful, yet strangely calming voice. He sat up, leaning against the tree trunk, a deep red slash of hair falling into his eyes.
"How d'you think I got these wounds? The beasts?"
There was a silence. No one dared to answer. Ozuma continued.
"No, it wasn't the beasts. It was them. The cannibals. These open expanses are their resting grounds. And when night falls, they'll come out in full force."
As the sun began to set behind him, the tall figure of Boris Balkov stepped away from a small monitoring screen. He looked very pleased with himself, and a satisfied smirk tinged his lips. Upon the screen, a young, pretty redhead gave him a thumbs up, her naked form shimmering beautifully in the light of the room she was in, and Boris smiled at her before turning the screen off.
Now they only had to wait a few days. Two or three – and then they'd know. But Boris was already sure. He had faith in the boy. The methods the girl had used had been a little unexpected – maybe even a little unprofessional - but Boris had enjoyed watching all the same. Indeed.
And now? Now he could begin. The girl thought she would merely be giving birth to the first child of his new generation. Oh no. How wrong she was. If she had been successfully used, then he would take her away quickly, and begin the next step.
He couldn't wait nine months for this baby. He needed it quickly. If he could remove it, he was sure he could speed up the growth of the child one hundred fold, making the wait of nine days a worthy wait. It didn't matter if the mother didn't survive. The child was the more important one now.
And Kai?
"I think I'll keep him alive a little longer . . . "mused Boris, turning the screen back on again and staring down at the young, sleeping boy, his right hand twitching a little. "Just for fun."
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Sherby: Meep-yans! That was the most disgusting thing I ever wrote. What an odd chapter! Lol! But I enjoyed it, because I know I'll have made you all cringe in so many different places! Sorry if it was a bit much for you. They won't all be this highly . . . gross. Ahem. The song lyrics were by the Chasing Furies, from the track "I surrender". And the poem that Kai and Kate were throwing between each other was something by John Donne (pronounced Dun). It's called "Love's Alchemy" and it's basically about trying to find happiness with a woman is like the search for the 'elixir' of life - (something that scientists used to look for that would make them immortal) – unfulfilled and useless. It ends with how making love to a woman, who at her best is merely 'sweetness and wit', is like making love to a corpse – or a 'mummy – possessed', as Donne puts it. It's a very good poem, despite the fact that it's in old English (for example 'bubble' is spelled 'Buble'). So thanks to Donne. I also took inspiration from "A child called It" in this chapter, the book by Dave Pelzer, and I do recommend it, because it is amazing and you'll all cry at it.
I like the chapter title. Thanks to Oil Pastel for that one, because I came up with it randomly and then she convinced me to use it. I think that's how it happened anyway. There's a lot of desire in this chapter, from Tala's desire for power, to Rei's desire for understanding and fellowship, to Sara's desire for cleanliness, from Boris' perverse sexual desires and his odd Hitler-ish desire to become a Nihilist (although I don't think Hitler was a Nihilist), to Kai's desire to defeat Boris and to escape, and Kate's desire for freedom, plus the whole sexual desire thing with her.
Anyways, hope you liked. I know I did. I liked a lot . . . it's good to torture Kai in new, authentic ways.
Oily: Sadistic old . . .
Sherby: And it took my mind off Adam, my boyfriend.
Oily: I think you mean ex boyfriend.
Sherby: *cries* That was uncalled for! *runs off and cries in corner*
Oily: *looks around and realizes that people are watching her* What? It's not my fault she's like this! And all she'd say right now is something along the lines of "Review, review, and I love you all!" coz she's irritating. So . . . do like she says. Review. Make her happy. She needs love right now 'cause . . . *looks over at Sherby and speaks in loud voice so Sherby can hear very clearly*. . . ADAM SURE AIN'T GIVIN HER LOVE!
Sherby: WAHHH!!! *sobs*
Oily: *winks* Review. Make her day. The time is 00.26 am. Early for her, eh?
Sorry again about Sherby's use of highly graphic language during the course of this chapter. She won't apologize, but I will. Although a naked Kai is nothing to complain about . . .
So yeah, review =p and I'll whip her into starting the next chapter!
Auf Weidersehn!
Sherby: See ya *cries some more*
Oily: Shut up!
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