CHAPTER 3: Four Planes and A Warning

A/N: I'm back, with a vengeance! XD Soo . . . there are couple announcements I need to make. First thing I thought was worth mentioning was that part of the title (the "four planes" part) was inspired by Metallica's "The Four Horsemen". The other thing is that this is gonna be a short lil filler because, y'know . . . there's couple things in here that build up the plot and stuff. Welp, that all being said, happy reading, fam! ;)

BANG-BANG!

This was the fourth day in a row that I'd heard gunshots overnight. It's happened so many times, and I'd had so many dreams where I was in the middle of a crossfire that I was never really sure about what was real and what was fantasy when the gunshots rang out at night. My initial fear of hearing the rapports in the first couple of days was replaced by pure irritation.

"Jesus Christ! Wouldn't it make more sense to stage quieter attacks?!" I roared as I shut my window at 3 in the morning one night.

"Well, the zombies are obviously very dumb, so they wouldn't take that into consideration . . ." Peater mumbled as he opened one eye groggily.

"Well, I —" I was cut off by the ground jerking sharply as a loud boom resonated through the area.

"Aw shit, really? BOMBS?!" I huffed as four planes circled overhead.

"What did I tell you nearly a week ago? The zombies could be back!" Peater sniffed.

"I know that . . . but we need proof, so that nobody thinks we're trying to terrorize the city!"

"You're right. Even though it's highly likely to me that it's zombies, I'll just . . . go along with you on that."

"Yeah. Well . . . I wanna sleep. We'll need rest, after all!"

"Heh . . . goodnight."

"'Night."

"WHAT THE HELL!?" I screeched as I tried to turn on the lights in the bathroom the next morning, but to no avail.

"Well . . . take a look at these two stories." Peater suggested as he handed me an issue of the Toronto Star.

I returned to our bedroom and began to read the story as I sat down on the bed.

ELECTRICITY GRID KNOCKED OUT FOR ENTIRE SOUTHEAST REGION

Late the previous night, four planes were reportedly seen flying about, dropping three deadly bombs as they went, resulting in a power shortage for the majority of the GTA and Ottawa.
Recent rumours have been linking these attacks with the possible return of Dr. Zomboss. Ever since the Nate Phillips Brawl, Zomboss has stayed away from public radar and has been presumed to be dead. Could we be face to face with war once more?

"Now read the next article." Peater instructed.

PROVINCES OF QUEBEC AND TERRITORIES OF NUNAVUT AND YUKON COMPLETELY OBLITERATED!

At roughly the same time as the hydro was cut off, several bomber planes dropped what appeared to be an atomic bomb on Nunavut, Yukon and Quebec, wiping out everything and everyone. Warnings that we could be facing a brand new threat are now in place for the rest of the country.

"Holy . . . I can't believe this. I . . . holy crap." I muttered as the news intermingled with what I was already dealing with.

"That's three provinces I've let down. And I thought I could save them." I whispered as I closed my eyes, letting a couple of tears slide down my cheeks. I could almost hear the terrified screams of plants as they were blown to pieces, scalded by the heat of the bomb, or worse, crushed by a thousand kilograms' worth of Zomboss' wrath.

"Come on, Elyssia. You didn't know." he mumbled.

"I should've known! I should've taken action sooner!" I cried, bolts of ice flying from my pods.

"Shh . . . it's not your fault. Don't blame everything on yourself."

"IT IS MY FAULT! I FAILED!" I screeched, more ice flying from my equivalents to hands.

"Look at me." he commanded. I looked obligingly into his green eyes, which seemed to calm me down.

"Elyssia, listen — I'm sticking with you through it all. If we survived the last bout, we'll survive this one, you hear?" he whispered as he hugged me. I only smiled in response as he walked me down the stairs and out the door.

All day at work as I tried to write reports and do my assignments, all that everyone was talking about was the zombies' possible return, if not some recent shooting. I could barely focus, every sentence with the word 'Zomboss' contributing to a progressively worsening headache. Soon, the words, numbers and figures were swimming in front of me, and so was everything else. I couldn't keep my eyes fixed on one thing for more than half a second, because to me, I was merely floating helplessly in the world around me. Everything I heard either sent a massive shockwave of pain into my head, or sounded muffled and incoherent. It didn't take very long for the feelings to become so overwhelming that I passed out.

"You okay?" I heard someone ask me as I came to in the canteen.

"What?" I mumbled, trying to get my eyes to focus.

"Are you all right?" the voice repeated itself.

"I . . . OW!" Pain ran through my body as I began to jerk involuntarily back and forth. I felt myself slip halfway under once more, but something stopped me from fully losing consciousness. I then felt like a puppet on a set of strings, speaking words that weren't my own.

"She who defeats the empire built by the undead is to die, and die NOW!"

"In the case that she doesn't fall, she'll be robbed of her greatest treasure: HER LIFE AS SHE KNOWS IT!"

"You inferior little TWAT! You're hopeless! HOPELESS! Just let go, you worthless piece of —"

"ELYSSIA!" Peater screamed as he grabbed me shook me out of my trance.

"What . . . what happened?" I cried, panicky and clammy from sheer worry that I'd said or done something terrible.

"What you said . . . is it true?" he gasped.

"That I'll lose my memories? That I'll die and won't come back? That you're inferior?" I asked. He nodded painfully, and looked at the floor.

"This is a bad sign. The zombies are coming back. And they're out to get you."

I only sat in silence. I couldn't face the thought of leaving Peater with all this pain. I needed to fight, go all out against Zomboss. And this time, I wasn't afraid to do so, like I was when I was twelve.

"No, don't even —"

"Well what do you expect me to do? Sit on my ass and be all like "Go ahead, kill me off, I ain't running!" NO! I'm fighting, whether you like it or not —"

"What happened to the promise, eh?!" he growled as things began to escalate between us.

"I'LL KEEP MY HEART BEATING EVEN IF IT TAKES HALF MY ENERGY, GODDAMMIT!" I screamed, not caring that I was only adding more fuel to the fire.

"But what if you do something stupid? I mean . . . the Maccabaeus instinct —"

"DON'T YOU DARE INSULT MY FAMILY'S NAME!" I growled as I stood up, my crystals turning a light shade of lavender.

"Well, that's all you're known for —"

"NO IT'S NOT!" I spat, waving the tattoo in his face.

"We're known for being lethally powerful as well, y'know! Be it with electricity, raw strength, sheer brilliance, or wielding a blade, we're powerful and thick-skinned. That's why some plants in my family have this tattoo!"

"I didn't mean it to be offensive, I really didn't know —"

"Well, congratulations! You just learned something new today! And the instinct . . . 8 out of ten times it leads us in the right direction. Think about all those times when I acted out of sheer impulse! Now imagine what would've happened if I didn't do that!"

"But —"

"If I didn't tell our little circle of fellow prisoners to actually try, we'd be eating chickenshit for breakfast, lunch and dinner! If I didn't make that plan back when we were imprisoned, we'd be stuck there! If I didn't take the knife for you when Ash tried to murder you, you'd be kissin bugs and dirt six feet under! I'd be stuck with Adam and his nasty gang of devils back in the dream realm had it not been for my instinct telling me to welcome the pain with open arms! If I'd just let you handle the Zombot back with Harryton and Moses, you'd be ripped into shreds! Oh, and now that we're on the subject, think about what woulda happened if I didn't bite Moses' hand! We'd BOTH be dead! Now, if I hadn't bit Zomboss, we'd still be haunted by Mar and Scuttle because he wouldn't of dragged us into an environment where we could do away with them! And when I said that Latin phrase in Zomboss' freak machine, I took the first step in getting us outta that hell! If I hadn't come up with that crazy plan on the island, we would've come away unsuccessful and with more deaths than we did! If I hadn't did everything I did in the Scally, we'd be nowhere close to where we are today! If I didn't jump out that window in the sewage plant and then go up to lead that army, we woulda lost a hell of an important battle! Had I not told you to do what you did in Nathan Phillips Square, and had just did what any other plant would do, Zomboss woulda whooped our helpless little asses! Where would we be then?!"

"But your impulse is what led you to get hurt so many times, emotionally and physically!" he sputtered.

"But think about this . . ." I trailed off, and knelt beside him.

"If I hadn't got up and almost died on Yonge Street, you wouldn't have met me, and I probably wouldn't have made it to where I stand today!" Tears filling his eyes, he grabbed me and practically smothered me in an embrace.

"Look . . . we're eventually gonna have to fight. You're right about that. But please know that whatever you do in this new war, I'm gonna have to do it with you. Even if it costs me my life —"

"Then hell, I'll take my own life too!" I muttered.

"You know what? That's besides the point! I just wanted you to know that . . . I don't want this struggle to screw us up anymore, all right? I don't want this to end with us not even knowing each other . . . because . . . that'll be too much pain to bear. I need you to keep that promise we made, all right? My father's gone. My mother's gone. You are all I have. You hear?" Peater sighed.

"Yes. I'll try —"

"You either will or you won't. There's no try."

"I . . . I will." I said with a voice full of conviction after a long silence.

"Good." he mumbled, before he kissed my cheek.

Boy, this is gonna be one hard promise to keep.

A/N: ANND CUT! That's the end of chapter three, our little filler chapter . . . what are your thoughts? X3 Anywho, next chapter will be an EXCITING, ACTION-PACKED chapter! One with lots more to buzz about than this one, that's for sure!

~This girl is outta here!