Ugh... Do you guys ever go back to read your old writing and think 'Dear Past-Me, i love you but wtf?' That happened to me this week. Damn, reading as early as this fics few chapters make me feel bad.
But again, that might be a good sign. A sign i'm improving in my writing with each new chapter? At least thats how i decide to take it.
Anyway, here's a new chapter. DONT WORRY, Steven and Soledad are fine... Or as fine as they can be.
Seriously, these two have One (1) braincell between them. You'll see.
Steven rose to consciousness in the same way one falls down a set the stairs. One minute, he was knocked out; his dreams an entangled mess of images and sounds; and the next he was wide awake, pain bouncing through his whole body —specially his gem, which feel like it might burst out of his belly just to ruin his day.
He lifted his face from the steering wheel, and the first thing he noticed was a pair of black eyes staring at him; a big crow had perched itself on top of the Dondai's hood. Or was it a raven? Steven never learnt the difference. It was strangely quiet too, to the point Steven thought it might be a statue —or a hallucination. Steven lifted a hand and made shooing noises. The 'maybe-raven' tilted its head left, then right and then gave one long and painful CAW! Then it flew off.
Everything was quiet then. The only noise was the radio, blasting at full volume. The crash might have pulled it out of its static flunk. Right now, it was stuck on Dolly.
I'll never see a rose from now on
That will not remind me that you're really gone
Don't trust the rose for the danger it poses
I will forever hate roses.
Steven's hand turned into a fist as he glanced at the damned stereo. Then he breathed out. No, no reason in taking it with Dolly Parton. Or with his Dondai —it already went through a lot. He pressed a button and turned the stereo off for good. That's when he saw the blood on his fingers.
Steven rigorously checked his legs, belly, arms and chest, until he touched his face. It was wet and a bolt of pain shocked him to the core at the contact.
Broken nose, probably broken skull too, he thought, with the coldness only someone used to major injuries could have. He swallowed for the first time; his mouth tasted like blood too. He must've broken a few teeth, maybe even bit his tongue. Not that it mattered. He didn't have a single scratch, just the phantom pain of the injuries. Oh, the joys of pseudo-immortality! Steven considered this just at the same time he remembered there was someone else in the car with him. Someone very much mortal.
Soledad's body was hunched over, head resting against the console. Shit! Panic grew in Steven's chest as he struggled to unfasten his seatbelt. He reorganized Soledad's body so she was lying against the seat. When he touched her, she moaned.
Steven moaned too, full of relief. Oh Stars… oh fuck… his mind raced over, trying to erase all the terrible scenarios it'd conjured. Soledad was alive! Compared to him, she was mostly blood-stains free; just a faint stream flowing from her face. Steven touched her head and she moaned; her hair was soaked in blood, and it wasn't hard to see why. The Dondai's windshield was cracked; Soledad must have hit it when they felt, in the same way Steven hit the steering wheel. Excepting she wasn't getting any better.
Steven called her name and shook her but it was useless; she moved in dreams but couldn't wake up. Steven had half a mind to check her aura; it was small and weak —and getting smaller by the second.
Wasting no time, Steven cleaning his face with the right sleeve of his jacket, ungloved his right hand, spat a blob of blood on the floor and then licked his right palm, which briefly sparkled. He pressed the hand over Soledad's face and waited.
A pink patch of light grew on her forehead and spread through the girl's body, lighting up the inside of the vehicle before going out in a flash. Soledad's aura grew to its normal size. Immediately, she tilted her head left and right.
"Ugh… what…"
"Don't move. You were hurt. But it's nothing serious," said Steven, holding her in place by the shoulder.
"…Steven?" Soledad's eyes bolted open, before shutting down again. She repeated the process a few times. "Whyre you sitting on my legs?"
Heat overcame poor Steven's body. Now, that wasn't exactly true. Steven had been a bit desperate about Soledad's state, and maybe he'd gotten a bit 'physical', with both legs at each side of the passenger seat, one arm on the seat holding Soledad down, and the other on the passenger door, practically surrounding her.
But hey! This was not 'sitting on her legs'. In fact, Steven has taken special care to not fall on top of the formerly unconscious girl. Some contact had taken place however, judging by the smeared blood on the girl shirt, product of Steven 'rubbing' on her.
Steven made a jump backwards at Soledad's comment, falling into the driver's seat with his legs dangling over Soledad's lap. He reincorporated in a blink, sitting like a proper gentleman, with both hands on the wheel and away from her girly parts. Soledad didn't say a word as she reincorporated. She touched her face and forehead and laughed.
"'Nothing serious', uh?" She showed Steven her bloodied hands.
"Sorry, I think most of that is mine," he said, only half lying. "I was checking if you were hurt. Here, you can use my jacket. It's dry. A little."
Soledad accepted the object and cleaned her face with the back of the jacket. She wiped her face and head clean, and then she turned the jacket up and down.
"Your blood?" she said as she inspected the bloodied piece of cloth. Then she looked at Steven's face. Then her face —and her aura too— changed into a mask of dread. "Holyshityourface! Are you alright?"
"Yes Sol, I'm fi-hgmd!" Steven was silenced by the jacket being pressed against his face.
Soledad rubbed the piece of cloth against Steven's chin and neck, making Steven feel he was about to die. Ever since the 'incident' he'd restricted the amount of physical contact he'd with people —humans, specially. It had been heartbreaking for his family. Slowly and with the help of Dr. A's counseling, he'd opened his arms for his dad's touch. Then, the gems. Eventually, he'd let Connie touch him —and later on, kiss him.
But this… this he'd no name for. As early as this morning he'd been cold and touch starved, and now a fellow human was cleaning him up. She wasn't doing a great job; in fact, she was smearing more of her blood on him than cleaning Steven's. But the ministrations felt like a treat —one Steven didn't feel he deserved.
Satisfied with her work, Soledad smirked. "Well, despite my best efforts, you still look like shit," she said. "Forthebloodimean, not in general."
"Thanks. You are pretty too," he joked.
"How are you not hurt?" she asked.
It's a curse, Steven thought. "Just good luck, I guess?" he said. "Just some scratches here and there."
"Scratches? Steven, you're soaked red. And I think you hurt your head. Here, let me."
Soledad's hand barely reached to touch the band of the bean hat before Steven swiftly grabbed her by the wrist. He couldn't let her see under it —see the horns.
"No!" he shouted and quickly let her go. "I mean, I'm fine, really. I'm a 'though one' like you said. A-and this isn't the worst I've been through. Don't worry about me."
He grabbed the red-soaked jacket and threw it into the backseat. It would require a deep wash before being usable again.
Soledad didn't seem satisfied by his answer, but she dropped the subject. "I don't think the same can be said about your car," she said. "Look at that windshield."
Steven tried not to. He didn't dare think about the car falling down at maximum speed. He didn't want to think about Soledad's head bashing against the windshield, cracking it. And he sure as hell didn't want to think about what would've happened if the windshield hasn't hold on. By the way Soledad looked at the splintered glass as she rubbed her forehead; she didn't want to think deeply about it either.
"What happened? Mine's head is spinning," she asked.
"Yeah, we did some of that," said Steven with barely a smile. "We went off road and felt down the hill. I think we bounced a few times. But we're alright, and that's what matters." Steven tried to sound reassuring, but he could sense the anxiety on his voice.
"And Lowe?"
"We lost him at the bifur… when the road split in two."
"Right… When I told you to go left."
"Yes."
"And you went right."
"…Yes."
The air inside the car became electrified. If it was because of Soledad's growing aura of anger, or the 'guilty of manslaughter' glare she was giving him, Steven wasn't sure.
"Would it help if I said I'm sorry?" Steven tried.
"No!" she shouted. Well, that's it for trying. "I knew you were too drunk to drive, I knew it!" Soledad grabbed her head in desperation. "I saw you snoozing on the wheel, for God's sake!"
She lifted her foot and gave a powerful kick to the console. She flinched. Her aura twirled with guilt and she brought both knees to her chest.
"Damn Steven, we wrecked your car. We wrecked your car," she repeated in disbelief. "This is like, your whole house, man!"
"Actually it's not 'like' my house. It is my house," Steven said. "But its fine! Really. Nothing can break this bad boy. It's a Dondai Supremo. Here, listen to this."
Steven flipped the key over. The Dondai went through a long metallic cough fit that made the passenger flinch and their teeth grind in pain.
"I don't like what I'm hearing," said Soledad cautiously.
With increasing panic, Steven flipped the key off and on again. The same noise repeated, quieter, slower each time.
Come on, now's not the time to play hard to get, he thought, full of rage at his car. He kept flipping the key but the car only response was more coughing.
In his angered state, he heard Soledad call for him. "Steven."
"What is it?" he said absentminded.
"How long have the headlights been on?"
Steven looked up. One couldn't say the lights were either 'on' or 'off'; they flickered madly with each cough of the engine, shining over and darkening the rocky landscape. This didn't register in Steven mind until a few seconds later. Then he flipped the key off.
"The whole time," he gasped. "And we had the radio on when I woke up." His brain did a mental flip as the answer came to him. "And now the battery's dead."
In moments like these, there was just one thing Steven could do; rest his head against something solid. In this case, the steering wheel —still wet with blood.
"Steven?" Soledad asked. She sounded lost.
"You know, the last mechanic I stopped at told me the battery was in due for a change. He even offered to sell me one. He had a pile of them. But they seemed a bit overpriced so I didn't believe him. 'No, thank you' I said." Steven laughed sarcastically. "I thought I was being smart."
Soledad's aura was burning so brightly Steven thought he might have the sun in the passenger seat. After a series of calming breaths, her aura shrank and cold down. Strangely, this had the opposite effect on Steven; it just made him more furious.
The anger bottling in his stomach started to grew out of control; a tiger feed by impotence, frustration and anxiety. He could've died there. He could've killed someone else. And now they were trapped in the middle of who-knows-where, in a place they couldn't drive in, with a car with a dead battery, and covered in his own and someone else's blood. And his favorite jacket was completely fucked!
"Damn it," he said through grinned teeth. He clenched his hands so hard the claws pierced his skin through the glove. Steven slammed the wheel with a loud BAM!The sound was deep and brief, but the vibrations spread through the car and outside, shaking the ground and stirring the air; a burst of energy spreading and invading everything around its source, like a silent wave from a powerful stereo; passing through every molecule, leaving no trace behind.
Once the vibrations stopped, Soledad shouted. "Yeah, that's right Steven. Whydontyoubreakthecaralittlemore! That's not helping." She crossed her arms and buffed.
Steven laughed, this time with vile. "Really? Because I think you are the last person who can tell me to stay calm."
"YesStevenimthelastperson," she breathed out. "I'm always mad. All the time. Imreallymadatyounow. That's why you can trust me on this; getting violent with your car ain't gonna fix shit… Look at that, your face is hurt face."
Soledad reached for him and cleaned Steven's blood from his forehead. And there it was, the familiar guilt growing in Steven's chest. He tried to apology but no words came out; just an anguished breath. He focused on calming down instead; bursting into crying wasn't gonna help either. Eventually his chest became less oppressed, soothed by the darkness and the strange sound of water nearby —must be the Dondai dropping oil, he decided.
"I'm sorry, Soledad," he said, and then added, full of determination: "But I promise I'm gonna get us-
"Wait, stop talking," she lifted a silencing hand. "What side did we fell from?"
"What?"
"Whatsideofthehilldidwefellfrom, man!"
Steven's brain did a mental backflip. He lifted his finger and pointed at his left side; to the hillside full of trees broken in half by the force of a car-sized magical hamster ball crashing over them.
Soledad tapped her chin, deep in thought. "OK. So, if we felt from there… then that way," she pointed forward, to the rocky way in front of the Dondai, "should take us into the woods, were we wanted to go." She spun around and looked back. Steven did the same, heads almost crashing. "Then that way," she pointed at the deeper darkness behind the Dondai, "it's the road into town. We're not that lost! Comeongetout."
She was halfway unfastening her seatbelt and opening the door when Steven stopped her.
"Wait, how do you know that?" he asked. "Where are we?"
She stared at him and laughed. "Dude, don't you get it?" She waited for an answer that never came. "We felt down the hill. This is Death River's river."
Steven muted an amused 'what'. Soledad got out of the car and Steven followed her.
It wasn't easy to see at all, what with it being a half-moon night. But as Steven's eyes adjusted to the lack of light, the landscape became clearer. The Dondai had landed in a field of rocks; sharp, yes, but nowhere near as impossible to drive around as he'd first thought. Going further, following Soledad's gaze, the rocks gave room to the sand, until it all became part of the river bank. Then, when the moon shined among the clouds, he could see the 5 foot wide stream of water that was the river. The water slurped and slushed as it hit the rocks and fell down in tiny cascades. So that's what Steven's been hearing!
"I can't believe it," Steven gasped.
"Yeah, I guess the 'River' doesn't have much 'Death' in it except in summer, when the mountains ice melt" said Soledad. "Doesn't live up to its name, does it?"
That's one way of putting it, Steven thought. You'd had to do some real effort to drown in that stream. It must've been massive once to carve this canyon, tho. He squinted and could make some sense of the other side.
"We should call for help," said Soledad wisely.
They reached for their phones inside the car. It was an instant disappointment. Steven's was still out of battery, but it was Soledad's that took the worst part; her phone was on the floor, its screen cracked and splintered. It didn't even turn on. She was more heartbroken than a child that didn't get the Christmas present she'd wanted.
"Goodbye old friend, I wish ye a good trip to the Und… Under… fucking Hell." She dropped the phone into her coat's jacket. "Guess we're on our own."
It won't be the first time, Steven thought bitterly. "Maybe we should climb up were we came from and, I don't know, hitchhike for it?" he suggested.
"Great plan!" said Soledad, with a plastic smile. "Then Lowe could pick us up and give us a drive to jail."
Steven huffed. "OK. Then we cross the river and climb to the other side."
Soledad scoffed at this. "Steven, I don't care if it's not deep, I won't get my feet on the water." Soledad lifted her leg and put her feet on the Dondai's roof —a very impressive move, by the way. "These are Genuine Angus Leather, man! Plus… theyaretheonlypairiown." She took her feet out of the roof with a groan. "Besides, there is only forest on the other side, and I don't feel like 'doing a Blair Witch', trying to find my way in the woods."
Steven's head started to pound. OK, he understood that she was mad; she'd all the right in the world. But he could really, really do without the attitude.
"Alright," he huffed. "Do you have any idea?"
"I do," said Soledad.
"You do?" Steven retorted, surprised. He put his hands on the car roof and rested his head over them, and waited. Soledad copied his pose.
"I think…" she began, drumming her slender fingers on the roof for a while. "I think we should walk alongside the river. I mean, we'll get into the city eventually. Then we could get a tow, or search for Rain or…" She scratched her head in desperation. "Ireallydontknow."
Watching Soledad lost her cool was a hard punch to Steven. She was obviously not good with unexpected, dangerous situations like this one, even after months of living on the road. Steven, unfortunately, was made up of moments like this and he'd to give it to her: her idea was as good as anything —and definitely better than his.
"I'm in for it," said Steven, trying to infuse some calmness in her. "If you are sure about it."
This was an amazing boost to Soledad's aura, which solidified with confidence.
"I am... I am," she repeated as all doubt disappeared from her face.
With a new plan agreed on, they grabbed only the essentials. Both of their phones and the car keys. Steven considered getting his jacket but decided against it. It was too wet to bring him any protection against this cold.
Once everything was settled, they began their march, but Steven stopped after a few steps and backtracked.
"What're you doing now?" Soledad asked.
"I'm shutting the doors and setting the alarm."
"And why would you that for?"
"Because most of my stuff is in the truck?" said Steven with urgency. "I don't want someone to steal it."
Soledad looked at him like he was one of those abstract paintings you could stare at for hours and you would never figure out the meaning.
"Steven, what are the odds that some random 'hobo-thief' decides to take a walk in the river, sees your car and thinks 'oh man, I'm totally gonna steal this kid's baggage with his underwear and toothbrush'?" she asked, flabbergasted.
Ignoring the fact that Steven's baggage also had his laptop and all his family photos, Steven grumbled a response. "I don't know. Probably the same odds as two teens surviving falling down a hill inside a car with barely a scratch to show. Mmh?"
Soledad gave a look at the hillside they have fallen from. She had a brief glare competition with Steven before mumbling a 'Go ahead'.
Steven rushed to the car, closed all doors and pressed the alarm button. BIP-BIP went the Dondai. Then she gave chase to Soledad, who was already walking the seemingly endless rocky road. The town's lights were a halo of light on the dark horizon.
Ta dah!
See? I told you they were both dumb. AND they'll get DUMBER before they get SMARTER. Trust me on this.
As i mentioned before, i'm trying to make the chapters shorter, both for make it easier for you guys to read, and for making it easier for me to rewrite.
Anyway, as usual please comment with your opinions and see you all next time!
