Tempest of Emotions
Chapter Nine- Preparing for War
The sun stretched her golden rays, illuminating the sandy barren land, dotted with scattered rusty homes. A dry westerly wind blew across the deserted landscape, stirring up bits of life forms in the shapes of lizards skittering along the sand. The world slept soundly, not knowing the bloodshed that would soon burst forth, shedding pain and anguish. The two had entered the ghost town as discreetly as their training taught them. They had ditched their car at the outskirts of the town and snuck into a nearly-abandoned building. They were not discreet enough; already many sets of unfriendly eyes were upon the unsuspecting pair. The same thought ran simultaneously through their minds; they must prepare themselves for a war where their friends were the high stakes they were gambling for. There would be no second chance to send a rescue team; although the situation was sure to be dangerous, Max and Alec were about to cross their Rubicon. There would be no turning back from what lies ahead.
The small wooden building was dusty and threadbare. It seemed empty at first and the pair settled in for a night of restless sleep. The building's floor was covered with sawdust and was not nearly as insulated as it should be. Sunlight cracked through the wooden walls, shedding light on the drab rooms. Alec inspected the place with distaste, who knew what has been or was living in this house. It gave him the creeps.
"Ugh, this place is so dusty. It's been eaten alive by termites and a million spiders," Alec griped as he continued his assessment of the small weather-beaten structure.
"At least we have a roof over our heads," Ignoring the other's dislike of the building and started sorting through their bags. She took out some canned food and blankets while she rummaged through their supplies.
"So, what did you hear from Logan?" Attempting to break up the monotonous silence.
"His little secret informant told him that she spotted agents near the center of the town in an old cannery warehouse, it's about two miles from here." She said quietly, knowing that he would hear it. She didn't know why but she had grown skittish about discussing him or even hearing his name. 'Logan, what he thinking at the moment? What was he doing? Probably tracking us via high definition satellite.' She sighed, 'What's the use, why bother with this charade. Logan and I are finished. I just wish it didn't have to end this way.'
"Uh, I'm so hungry I'm ready to faint. Max, can I get something to eat? The last meal I had, was at that dinner on the highway." He rubbed his stomach as it growled yet again.
His comment forced through her thoughts, she shook her head slightly and resumed her actions. "Well, go cook," Max suggested, ignoring his stomach, and started pouring over sheets filled with information with her entire mind. 'Concentrate Max!' she shouted inside herself. She glanced at Alec, thinking 'He looks so pitiful and completely comical. I'm glad he's here. Max? What are you doing Max? Concentrate on the task at hand Max! Concentrate damn you!'
"Me? Cook? What about you?" His eyebrows rose alarmingly high. 'Cook? I hate cooking. Ask me to do anything other than cook!'
"I'll be strategizing our mission," Scribbling furiously.
"What's there to strategize?" Alec asked as he leaned on a creaky door frame. He observe her as she was overly focusing on the blueprints that Logan managed to send. 'What is in her mind?'
"What? You wanna just burst in with guns ablaze?" Max asked with sarcasm.
"Sure, why not?"
"I don't do guns."
"Fine. Max, I'm not much of a cook." Alec replied with a look of grimace upon his face on the impending doom of the show of his poor culinary arts.
"I figured so much. Can you make sandwiches?" Finally cracking a small grin at his obvious discomfort and lofting a loaf of bread from the black duffle bag on her left.
"Yes, I can. But you're not gonna like it. " Shaking his head in doubt.
"I'm sure I'll survive it." She replied with mock seriousness. 'How bad a cook can he be? He's been out in the world for a while now. He must know how to make a decent meal.'
It was a horrendous dinner made up of barely edible sandwiches and a lot of laughter over Alec's botched attempts at making dinner with his confusion with respect to the salt and the sugar. The end result was a mismatch of overly sweet turkey sandwiches and a bitterly salty salad. When the dishes were finally clean, Alec handed Max a cup of tea, something he knew how to make well and the two sat in silence on the porch sipping their beverages. The night was cold and silent and the neighborhood was silent too. It seemed almost too quiet.
"You ever wonder what it feels like to live another person's life? A normal one?" Alec questioned, breaking the silence.
"Always. " After a pause she continued in a different tone, "Now, enough with the idle chatter. We gotta sleep. Tomorrow we set out at 2100 hours. Let's get to bed." She finished her tea and climbed into her makeshift bed. Alec followed suit and climbed into his own, two feet away from hers on the left. Max sat up and started toward the small lamp illuminating the room.
"Max, keep the light on. Please?"
"What? Scared of the dark?" She asked, sporting a broad grin.
"No," he said defensively "Just leave it on. This place puts me on edge."
"Fine," She shrugged and dove in under her covers.
"Night."
"Night."
A few hours later, Max was still tossing and turning. Alec groaned in frustration, he didn't get a wink of sleep. It was all going to end right now.
"Max, some of us actually need to sleep. So if you don't mind I would like to catch some Z's now," Alec whispered drowsily as he turned his head to look at her.
"So, what's stopping you?" Merely trying to annoy him.
"Your loud nocturnal activity of humming, whistling, endless talking, fidgeting and shuffling on your bed keeps me up. Is it too much to ask for absolute silence?"
"Sorry, I can't sleep" Turning on her side to stare at him.
"Try to."
"Talk to me Alec."
"About what?"
"Anything that pops in your mind. Just talk to me"
He groaned and said, "You know, I'm kinda glad we got to go on this trip."
"You mean you're glad that our friends are being held hostage by a ruthless agent involved with some freaky 2000 year old breeding cult, which is bent on destroying our kind. Oh and they have a special grudge against me. Yeah, sounds like fun."
"You know that's not what I meant. What I wanted to say was that I like getting the chance to leave Seattle and Normal's prying eyes," He shivered at the memories.
"Yeah, Seattle is so terrible that you didn't even mind having me as company."
"You're not so bad Maxie. You're not a tough chick 24/7, even when you try. A couple weeks on the road and look how nicely you've loosened up. I mean you haven't slung an insult at me in twelve hours! You're getting soft Max. How bout, when this is all over, we go to Crash and get drunk? Not that it's that easy to get a transgenic drunk in the first place. Now, I don't know about you, but I miss my poison. So, what do you say Max?" He paused for a reply; he heard none. "Max? That is so not fair" Soft breathing was the only sound. She was finally asleep. Alec arose and crept up to the prone figure. She looked so peaceful and even happy. He pushed an errant strand of her ebony tresses from her brow and gently touched her cheek. "Sleep tight, Maxie" he whispered as he softly departed the room, shut the door and footsteps grew faint. He didn't notice the two large hazel orbs follow his departure. Max slept soundly, one of the few times in her life.
A/N- Thank you for the reviews, keep the criticism coming and enjoy the story, although the plot is getting strange, for lack of better word.