Finding Cloe
Beaner-Bop
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A/N: Longer chapter – as promised!
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Disclaimer: No own.
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Chapter One: Starting a Journey
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It was raining hard and the water was freezing. It was the type of weather that you should stay inside for and stay next to the heater or a fireplace. Even so, there was one person out and with only a Techno jacket on – which in itself was completely soaked through. The figure didn't seem to notice any of this though. He had a back pack hauled up onto his shoulder and a preoccupied look on his face.
Ved.
He left without a trace, or at least he hoped so, about three months ago from the Techno Headquarters. He left everything behind, including the marks, back there, being one of the few that knew of the tracers that were in them.
He let his mind wander and wondered if Jay knew about that. Not, that he thought to himself, that it mattered, because from what he could tell, Ram pretty much forgot about them.
He didn't though. And he wasn't going to run the risk of Ram remembering. He knew there was a chance of it being in the jacket but he made sure there wasn't and if there was he made sure that he did everything in his power to jar the signal so they wouldn't be able to work again.
So far, so good.
At the beginning it was slow, not to mention he had to get used to normal clothes again. He grabbed a few black t-shirts and some jeans, hoping that that would be all that he needed. He felt so good, knowing he could finally start his 'quest'.
Finding Cloe.
But after a month and a half of nothing, his sprits began to drift. Sure, he knew that his chances of actually finding her were slim, but the thing was – the chance was there. However, at that time it wasn't taunting him as much as it was now.
Ved brought his hand up to his now blank forehead and rubbed it lightly, trying to release some of the tension that was building up. The rain pounding down on him didn't help much.
He saw an abandoned house nearby and began to run to it.
He probably would've stopped now, if it hadn't been for that one 'loner' tribe he had met a while back. He didn't know they were there, and luckily for him, while they head of the Technos, they didn't really know who they were.
Which means they didn't know him.
He asked them what he's asked the tribe that sent him here.
"Have you seen a dark haired girl…" and keep describing her. That last tribe really got him angry. Told him they saw her, but didn't talk to her, didn't offer her anything, didn't help her. And why? Because she was 'strange', 'different'.
How was she oh, so strange and different?
She talked to herself.
Really, who was sane anymore?
And anyway, they told him, why should they go to her, when she wouldn't go to them?
Somehow he was able to get led to this tribe, and was able to keep in his anger long enough so that he could ask how long his walk was going to be.
A rarity from him.
This tribe was better though. Nicer, cleaner, saner.
This tribe did talk to her, they gave her some food, clothes, said she only talked to herself when she was alone. When she did talk to herself, it was about some cyberspace or some 'Ved' most of the time.
He found her – sort of.
They told him one though that one morning that they woke up and Cloe was gone.
"What happened?" Ved asked. The tribe was called 'Leadai' (singular, it was 'Lead') and the leader of it was Ben answered him.
"There are few paths leading to and from our village. The one you came on, the one to the lake, another, the pastures and the stable. We showed them to her as we have you, but there is one more path. He pointed towards the end of the small village that wasn't lived in. Ved had wondered why but never asked. "We never walk it, many people have gone up there and they never return." Ved found out early on that Ben was a strange mixture of superstition nut and very literal and straightforward person.
"Are you telling me there's like, a monster out there or something?" Ved asked him. Ben just shook his head.
"I'm telling you there's SOMETHING out there." He went silent for a while, "No one who goes up there ever comes back down, even the 'rescue parties'. There's no word from them – they are literally and completely gone. We've even sent people up with weapons – nothing." He looked at Ved closely, "I doubt I can talk you into staying here, eh?" Ved nodded.
"I need to find her."
"I thought as much." He was silent for a while again, "There was something that always scared me about that path, the hill, all of it. There was this old lady who lived on the top of it – before the epidemic." Ved got ready to be told a story and it was a good thing he did. "She…thought I and quite a few others were 'bad' kids. She'd tell us this, she'd slap, she'd make our lives crap, she was the mean lady next door, you know? But then there were the 'good' kids. My older brother was one of them. She helped buy his way into college and paid half of his car – and told him not to pay her back, just be willing to do a few small favors every now and then – and they were small, like picking up her paper or buying her groceries. He never had to do much for his life like I did." He took in a deep breath. "I remember this one time, my brother and I were at the store and it was one of the rare times she was shopping herself. She spat on me, literally SPAT on me, and what did my brother say? I deserved it. She completely brainwashed him." Ved knew the last part had nothing to do with what he wanted to know but he nodded anyway.
And that was basically the end of his information Ved got.
He had some food and extra clothing and a blanket and then left himself, following the path where Ben said Cloe probably was.
From memory, Ben told him the way was a lot longer than it looked. A few hours by car. He wasn't kidding. He'd been traveling on foot for three day and he still he felt no closer than before.
Ved tried to distract himself and began looking around the 'house'. It was actually a shed with a laptop and a phone in it. He wondered why it was here and then shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
He dropped his bag onto the floor, put his head on it, and went to sleep.
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A/N: Much longer than the prologue!
Beaner-Bop