Author: Milady Dragon
Disclaimer: It doesn't belong to me, unfortunately.
Rating: PG-13, not just for language this time…
Author's notes: It's time to get back to John Danziger, as more weirdness happens to the poor guy…
Chapter Eight
"Absolutely nothing," Julia sighed in frustration, putting her equipment away.
Danziger understood. He'd allowed himself to be hooked up to God knew what, all night long, in order to find out anything new about his "condition." And it had failed spectacularly.
"So, big waste of time, hmm?" he asked easily.
"Your theta activity was practically normal all through the night," the doctor reported. "As a matter of fact, it's normal now."
"I can tell." The oppressive feelings he'd experienced yesterday were all but gone. He didn't dare hope they were gone for good, though. "I slept better last night than I have in a while, Doc." And he had. Nothing had disturbed him at all.
"That's good. Let's keep it that way, shall we?" Julia began packing, in preparation for their moving out.
Not bloody likely, was all he thought as left her tent, in order to pack up his own. It seemed that True had already started without him; most of their meager belongings were already put away. "Hey, good job," he complimented, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
"Thanks." She looked up at him. "What did Julia say?"
He helped her fold up the cots, then take everything outside. "She said I'm fine this morning. Nothing bad happened at all during the night."
His daughter looked relieved. "Then it's over?"
John knelt to face her. "I'm not saying that, True. I very much doubt it'll be over for a while. But, right now, I'm feeling pretty good. And that's all we can hope for."
"I understand."
He believed her. They'd had a long talk after he'd gotten back to the tent last night, careful to explain everything to her. She deserved to know what was going on, so hopefully she wouldn't be so worried.
A vain hope, he knew. But it was better than nothing.
The group had packing up down to a fine science. It took practically no time at all now to get the Trans Rover loaded and everyone sorted out. Danziger checked over all the vehicles one final time, munching on a piece of fruit True had given him as he did so. He turned to watch as Devon said something to Uly, her son looking almost inscrutable. The diggers had certainly worked their magic on the kid; there were days when he didn't seem at all human.
"Dad?"
"Yeah, True-girl?"
"Can I stay with you today?"
He chewed his lip thoughtfully. "I…would prefer if you rode in the Rover today."
She looked ready to rebel. "Why?"
"We talked about this last night…"
"But Julia said you were okay!"
"I'm okay now. That doesn't guarantee it's going to stay that way."
"Then you shouldn't be by yourself!"
"He won't be, True." Devon came to stand between them. "I'll be with him."
Danziger looked daggers at her. "I don't need a babysitter, Adair!"
"And I didn't say you did." She looked him calmly in the eye.
This was one of those moments when John wanted to smack her. "Wehad a talkabout this last night –"
"I know."
"You're the one who said I should confront her."
"Yes, I did."
"You did what?" True fairly shrieked.
"That's enough from the both of you," Danziger snapped. "True, you're riding in the Trans Rover, final word."
"Fine!" she stomped off, her back rigid with indignation.
"And, Adair, I can handle myself!"
"I never said you couldn't, John."
"It sure sounded like that to me!"
"Just think of me as…back-up, in case of trouble."
"You can do that just as well by staying with the others."
"Look, I'm not suggesting that I stay with you every second! I'll hang back just far enough to give you privacy, but close enough that, if something does happen, I can be there quickly." She stepped closer. "Since she only appears to you, then it's highly unlikely that she'll show up for an audience."
"I don't even know if she will show up," Danziger answered, somewhat mollified.
"I know. Julia told me. What do you think, though?"
"She will." He was certain of it. While he wasn't feeling her presence at all at the moment, once they were on the trail once more, he knew all bets were off.
"Then let's get started, shall we?" Devon turned to address the rest of the group. "Everyone ready?" When she got back various signs of acquiescence, she motioned for them to head out.
Danziger took the point once more. Devon joined him, the pair of them walking in silence. The wind wasn't as strong today; he wondered if it ever died down. It was beginning to get on whatever nerves he had left.
They had traveled approximately a kilometer when the sensation began.
It started as a chill up his spine, a tingling on the back of his neck. It grew steadily worse the farther Danziger walked.
With it came the fear, and a terrible sadness. This time it was so bad he felt he was mourning something he couldn't name. "Adair…" he murmured, coming to a halt.
She stopped beside him. "Is it her?" she asked, her voice pitched as low as his.
"Y-yeah." There was a tremble in the word that shocked him terribly.
"Keep walking," she directed.
He did so. If he'd been in his right mind, he would have questioned his actions, or at least his lack of argument. But he didn't, he put one foot in front of the other and let the emotions wash over him like a tidal wave.
Devon was no longer beside him. Her absence was like a hole in the air. She was keeping her word, letting him handle this on his own. Danziger was already very close to being in love with her (and normally, he would have questioned that thought, as well…) but this was too much. She was making up for the lack of trust she'd shown the night before, by trusting him to do what he needed to do. She was supporting his decision to face this in his own way.
He felt as if he were walking through mud, and not grass. The wind echoed in his ears like the crying of lost souls. Danziger ground his teeth. I will not panic, he told himself sternly. Devon was somewhere behind him; the rest of Eden Advance not that far away. Even though, in this moment, he felt very much on his own, in the back of his mind he knew he wasn't.
This was bad, the worst it had been yet. His heart labored to beat, the pulse in time with a terrible throbbing that began behind his left eye and quickly spread across his forehead and to his right eye. He could see each blade of grass individually, as if his eyesight had somehow been altered. The sense of mourning weighed him down like a stone across his shoulders.
And, just when Danziger didn't think it could get any worse, she was there.
The cat-girl stood in front of him, her green eyes liquid with unshed tears. He stumbled to a halt, close enough to touch her if he so chose.
"What do you want?" he asked her.
The girl opened her mouth to answer, but John couldn't hear what she was saying; all there was was an insect-like buzzing in his ears, almost below audible.
She could see he didn't understand. She shook her furred head in frustration, then raised her right arm, pointing away from her. He turned to look.
It was a portrait.
One of the figures was his cat-girl. She was seated, a bright smile on her face and her eyes glowing with happiness. Her brilliant white dress seemed very formal, like she had just come from a fancy-dress party.
The second figure was a male. He stood behind her, back ramrod straight. He wore a dark blue uniform, silver buttons polished and braid draped from his left shoulder. He had her coloring, but his eyes were yellow, and he had a tawny ruff that fell from the same pronounced widows' peak, comingaround to meld with a beard that lined his jaw. He resembled a lion Danziger had once seen in a holo-drama.
And, as he examined the portrait, he knew.
This was her father.
The girl must have seen the recognition in either his mind or his eyes…possibly both. She nodded in acknowledgement.
"What happened to him?" John asked quietly, although he thought he could guess.
She turned to look at the portrait herself, lowering her arm. When she returned her attention to Danziger, he had to step back in shock.
She had changed.
The front of her pale dress was saturated with blood, which had come from a terrible wound in her throat; in fact, the entire rightside of her neck was gone. Three long gashes ran from her left ear, down to the ruin of her left eye, across her muzzle, to end just over the line of her jaw. Danziger could see the white of bone within, glistening white in the sun.
John went down to his knees, regretting that fruit he'd eaten for breakfast. The sorrow and horror beat down on him, making it impossible for him to even move, let alone think.
Somewhere he heard someone calling his name, yet he couldn't react. He knelt there, staring at his own vomit, not even realizing what he was looking at.
Then a hand touched his shoulder. It was icy cold, the cold of death, and it made him shiver uncontrollably. Arms wrapped around him, encircling him in this unbearable cold until his body simply froze over. Even in the winter they'd endured it had never been this bitter.
Somewhere deep inside he knew the girl was trying to comfort him, to make up for what she had shown him. He felt her sadness like a blanket over his mind, smothering everything else.
Then hands – warm, alive hands – grabbed his shoulders. He was pulled up and over, away from the presence that had haunted him these past days. Danziger saw a flash of brown hair, then heard a familiar voice saying his name. He was so frozen he couldn't move, but he managed to croak out a name, "Adair," before his vision whited out on him and he lost consciousness completely.
