Author: Milady Dragon
Disclaimers: Earth 2 isn't mine, although I claim my "ghosts"
Rating: PG-13
Author's notes: Here's another chapter. I appear to be slowing down, but it's not by choice!
Chapter Seventeen
The wind whipping her hair into her face, Devon Adair held on for dear life as the Dune Rail fairly flew over the uneven ground. Personally, she thought Alonzo was driving too fast to catch any sign of where Danziger might have gone, however after asking him once to slow down, and his growling back at her, she'd given up.
She didn't want to think about what had happened. She didn't want to keep seeing John Danziger's eyes as he'd turned to look at her.
His cats' eyes.
Devon shivered, then told herself it was just the way Alonzo was driving and not because she was horrified by John's transformation. He'd chosen it, obviously; but had he really had a choice? He'd put himself between the ghosts and Devon herself. He'd protected her from what had been happening to him.
And he had changed.
She couldn't ignore it. Quite possibly, John Danziger had saved her life, by trading himself for her.
While his daughter watched.
How hard had that been for him? To leave his daughter like that, in favor of an alien that had been dead for a very long time? Could she herself have done it for him? Despite any argument to the contrary, Devon felt responsible for each and every member of Eden Advance. It had been her dream that had led them here; her nightmare that had stranded them there...at least until the colony ship arrived.
And John was her friend…perhaps more.
She pushed that thought away. This wasn't the time or place to go into that right now. She just wanted to get Danziger back…for True.
And for herself.
Alonzo stopped the Rail, then stood up in his seat in order to get a good look over the tall grass. "Damnit!" he swore. "Where the hell could he be?"
"He could be hiding in the grass," Devon replied, "and we'd never see him."
What else had changed? Devon ran her hand through her tangled hair. I should have insisted to Julia that something was wrong with John, beside what her instruments were showing. But it was too late now, and John was gone God knew where.
"We're not getting anywhere searching like this," the pilot snapped. "It's just too easy to hide out here."
Devon's heart froze. "Are you giving up?"
"Not on your life." He smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. It didn't work. "I think we're just going about it the wrong way."
Devon wanted to remind him that she'd tried to get him to slow down, but held her tongue. Now wasn't the time.
She got out of the Dune Rail.
"What the hell --!" Alonzo exclaimed.
"I'm walking back," she answered, then proceeded to do so.
"Devon, are you crazy?"
Quite possibly. "I'm hoping I can see something from the ground that I can't from the Rail. Why don't you head back and let them know I'll be there shortly?"
She heard the Rail start up behind her. Alonzo pulled alongside her. "C'mon, Devon. Get back in."
Devon didn't answer. She kept walking, her eyes firmly on the ground. There had to be some sign of where John had gone, and she needed to find it. Maybe this was the wrong way, also, but at least it was something.
Alonzo kept pace with her. She did appreciate it, but didn't say anything. She didn't think she needed to.
Every once in a while, Devon would move across the front of the Rail, hoping to catch some glimpse, some footprint or broken blade of grass…anything that would show her where John had gone. In the back of her mind was a voice pointing out that she was no tracker, that she didn't know the first thing about following a trail. That what she was doing was worse than useless.
She doggedly ignored it.
But, as the sun started to go down, Devon had to admit defeat. There was simply no way they were going to find John.
Tears prickled her eyes painfully. It galled her to give up on anyone, but when that one was John Danziger…well, it rankled her more than she could express.
Ever in front of her mind was the vision of John's strange new cats' eyes.
She'd be dreaming about that for many nights to come.
Tiredly, Devon climbed back up into the Rail, letting Alonzo drive her back to camp. He took it slowly this time, and she had to wonder if he were dreading going back empty-handed as much as she did.
