They followed the trail together, silently, no one wanting to say what they were truly feeling. To say what they were thinking out loud made it a reality and not simply a possibility.
As they reached the bottom of a hill, Ned looked up towards the top, shielding his eyes from the sun. "It looks like there is a cave on the top of this hill. She is in there! I know it!" Before anyone could respond a shot rang out, and birds squawked as they flew away. And then there was nothing but the dark sound of silence. "Veronica?" he whispered, then yelled it, "Veronica!" He began to run up the hill, but the sight of someone fleeing from the cave stopped him.
"It's Rithos," Roxton said raising his gun, attempting to follow the body with his eyes "he doesn't know we are here, maybe we can trap him."
"We need to get up there, Roxton! He shot Veronica!"
"Calm down, Ned, you don't know what happened," Marguerite said putting a calming hand on his shoulder. "If we trap him we can find out for sure what happened. Veronica is a smart girl; she wouldn't let anything happen to her. Don't worry."
"Ah, but you should worry," Rithos said appearing from the trees beside them. "But there is no point, she is already dead."
"You bastard!" Ned screamed as he threw himself at Rithos, punching him repeatedly in the face as Rithos collapsed on the ground.
"Easy now, Ned," Roxton said pulling him off the body. "He is saying that just to get a rise out of you."
"Oh no I'm not," Rithos laughed as he wiped blood off his mouth, "She's dead I can assure you of that." He shook his head as he looked from Marguerite to Challenger. "Pity that I didn't finish you off when I had the chance."
The restraint that Roxton showed Ned vanished, and he let go of the reporter to pounce on Rithos. Without the constraint, Ned ran up the hill. Adrenaline gave him the strength of a thousand men as he raced up the hill, barely feeling the need to breathe. He stopped in front of the cave, and felt his heart stop beating as he saw Veronica's body in front of him.
"Oh God," he whispered his hand covering his mouth, "Veronica, no, oh my God." He knelt towards her, and felt frantically for a pulse, her blood beginning to cover his hands. When he found none, he collapsed on the ground on front of him. He vaguely heard a gunshot as he took Veronica's hands in his. He brought them to his lips, and kissed each fingertip.
"My Veronica. My beautiful Veronica." He leaned forward, his head lying on her chest, as his shoulders began to shake violently.
"Ned? Is Veron.." Roxton started to ask walking into the cave. He put the gun back into its holster, and began to walk closer to Veronica but stopped as Marguerite and Challenger rushed into the cave beside him.
Neither said anything as they stared at the lifeless body of the jungle beauty they had grown to love over the years. Words seemed pointless as there was nothing that could be said to ease the pain blooming in their hearts. Raising her hand to her mouth, Marguerite turned into Roxton's arms, and allowed the tears to flow freely from her eyes.
Challenger walked over to the reporter in front of him. "Ned," he began. He knelt next to him and reached over in a vain attempt to see if there was anything he could do to revive Veronica.
"Don't touch her," Ned said angrily, looking up forcefully at Challenger. "I don't want anyone touching her but me. I'll take care of her."
Challenger slowly retracted his arm and stood up slowly. "Yes Ned," he said placing a hand on the reporter's shoulder, "you'll take care of her."
I keep hearing Summerlee call my name. It's almost like he is laughing; I don't think I can remember ever hearing him so happy. I keep telling him I'll be there soon, but he remains rather insistent. I just look at him and smile.
"Don't you realize I am busy?" I tell him. "I just want to watch them for a little bit longer."
I look down at my friends, all of them so brave, going on with their life as usual, but still I can feel the pain in their hearts. I wish I could tell them that I am okay. I just want to yell down from the heavens and tell them that I am fine, that I am happy. But, until I figure out a way to do that I will be content to just sit here, watch them, and help them along.
Rithos said a lot of things to me when he brought me to the cave, he was right about some things and horribly wrong about others. There is a special bond between all of us, something not even he could break. None of us are going to be forgotten, it's just something that couldn't possibly happen. I can't explain why that is so, but I know it's true, I can feel it. Those people, currently laughing over some joke Roxton just told, will never be forgotten, at least not by me.