Author's Note: Okay guys, I'm giving you peoples the biggest, most climactic update I have every done. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but I've worked for this update, and it has a lot in it; drama, romance (Laura/Sam and Gwen/Brian, too), loads of words :), and most importantly, a cliffhanger. Sort of.
To Clintronic Waldrop: Thank you very much for your sympathy. But there's one thing I want to clarify: your writing did actually sort-of inspire 'Close Your Eyes'… but I was trying to fit that story somewhere within the confides of 'No Words Here'. But, actually, writing that did make me feel better, as did your story. But, once again, thank you.
"Hope
Dangles on a string
Like slow spinning redemption…"
—Dashboard Confessional
"Sam?"
Laura's legs dangled from the side of the bench, a strong breeze rippling the fields of knee-length, golden grass before the pair. A large section of the dead grasses were being hand-chopped by some of the American refugees, each of the men donning a rather threatening scythe. Others were planting tall wooden poles into the warm earth, preparing to set up another tent. The skies were a brilliant azure, an infinite ceiling hanging over the couple's heads. Clouds delicately prodded at the western horizon, though no one took any mind to the minor gloom slightly tainting the beautiful scenery.
They had gotten here a few minutes previously; courtesy of the pickup truck they had borrowed. Laura and Sam had carefully avoided the busier parts of the encampment today, in case that he was there.
The seventeen-year-old girl gently brushed her limbs against the boy sitting next to her, Laura's face turning to Sam's, her eyes level with his. "I never thought I could be this happy, after what happened," Laura told him. "And what's been happening. But," a curve formed in her lips, dimples denting the lower part of her cheeks. "When I'm with you… I love you… I love the way you put others before yourself, and I love the way you make me feel… you make me feel like… like I'm wonderful…"
"I—I love you, too, Laura," Sam moved closer to her, closing in the remaining inches between them, the lips locking. He wished now he could say something that would sum up to tell her how much he really cared about Laura, but he knew that those three little words had told her enough.
They each reluctantly pulled away, a brilliant sheen was in each of their eyes that hadn't been there before.
Aaron stared about in sheer terror. The dark formless wall of water that he knew was an enemy had begun closing in around him and he found himself slowly backing up into a thin alleyway. Trying to run his way out of it would be useless and now Aaron knew he was utterly trapped. His fingers finally met the wall behind him and he pressed himself up against it, wishing that the ground would just swallow him up right there. Just as one of the more prominent fingers of water rushed into the alley, Aaron threw his arms up in front of his face and screamed.
"Aaron!"
J.D. jolted up from his cot, beads of sweat dripping down his temple. The next thing he realized was the sharp pain erupting from his leg. His hands automatically went for the area, but as soon as his fingertips touched the leg, the pain was gone, only a tingle of the phantom pain remnant.
"J.D., are you alright?" his mother sounded worried, her arm outstretching to his shoulder from her cot.
"It's just…" he cut himself off.
"Aaron," she finished for him. "I know… but I think they'll find him. I know they will."
J.D. gave a nod of understanding as they both settled into their beds once more. He pulled the blankets over his head, trying to curl into a comfortable position. But nothing comforted him as his mother's echoic words began to sound less convincing, and the image of his brother's mangled body still fresh in his mind.
His mother watched over him until he fell in the blessed oblivion of sleep, and she, too slowly felt tired.
"Excuse me, Miss…"
She jumped nearly a foot in the air from surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry. You startled me." She told the official.
"Miss, you are Rachel Summers, yes?"
She nodded.
"We may have found the location of your son."
"Okay, so I'll meet you after lunch, Brian. Does the pavilion by the Embassy building sound good to you?" Gwen asked timidly, her eyes locked on his, although Brennan was still squirming in his little sling.
"Uh… sure." It was only then, when his hand let go of Gwen's, that Brian realized that he was actually holding it. They each went their separate ways, simultaneously looking back at each other. At one such time, Brian ran—literally—right into someone.
"Uh—sorry." He mumbled.
"Brian is a true mack daddy. Pimp, Brian, pimp." He heard a familiar, playful taunt. It was Sam. "Who's the lucky lady?" Sam added, squinting and flattening his hand above his eyebrows, creating a shadow to shield his eyes, looking for her.
"Her name's Gwen Rossum," Brian answered. "She's pretty and nice… and very pretty… and scary, because usually pretty girls either don't care about me, or they hate me. And she… she's amazing."
The two best friends began to walk alongside each other. "So, when do I get to meet this mystery girl Gwen, who apparently is perfect and happens to be infatuated with dear ole Brian?"
"Soon… I guess…" he answered, trying to veil the uncertainty.
"Oh, really," Sam grinned.
The single cloud on the edge of the horizon turned a purple color as the red-orange sun dipped beneath it. As the last of the sun's light disappeared, the shadows of the night replacing the clear blue skies, the cloud grew, joined by larger, more ominous clouds. The temperature plunged as the night waned on, and soon the sky was completely overcast. Snowflakes glittered as they twirled to the ground, melting as soon as they touched the grasses. Soon, the snow fell in heavier amounts, and the storm gathered strength.
A single lone flake of ice fell above the watery graves of the once proud town of Chiciana, Mexico, which had been swallowed by the wave and was located near the U.S. Embassy.
A building near the drop-off, which used to be a home, was one of the few that weren't completely flooded. It was buried in a few feet of quickly freezing mud, which had toppled it a day or so before the wave even came.
But a hand, bloody and beaten, pushed its way through the cold wreckage, finally surfacing…
Next Chapter: ACTION! Action, action, action! And Laura/Sam, too :)
P.S.: My goal is to have the next update by the Fourth of July. YAY!