Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine. Kind reviews are always appreciated!
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Chapter Three: Reminiscences
Sora spent the last three hours of sunlight backtracking his path through the jungle, spilling gallons of acid over the bloody patches where he'd carried the pig. The acid burned through the blood, voiding any possible trail that might have led back to the house. After making sure no tracks were left behind, Sora hiked back to the house. This took half an hour longer than normal, since Sora's body was still recovering from his latest near-death experience.
The soreness wasn't as severe as the last time, and it didn't last near as long either. It was weird, to consider that maybe his body was becoming accustomed to having his heart stop for periods of time. He was almost back to full speed by the time he made it back into the house. By then, the sun was dipping behind the distant trees, sending up orange and hot red rays of light, like a warning that dusk was quickly bringing the nightfall.
Even was still tinkering around in the lab when Sora stomped it, kicking off his muddy shoes. He made his way through all the rooms in the house, pulling the shutters closed in all the windows and locking all the doors. He wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. After repeating this process so many times, his body just took over and did the chore itself. Soon all the windows were closed, shuttered, and bolted, and the doors were closed and locked.
Before the outbreak, Sora had enjoyed the night. When the sky was completely cloudless and uncountable stars winked down at him. It was serene and calming. Now, if you were able to see the stars, you had better get yourself inside and locked up. Even now, just a few hours after night had fallen, Sora could already hear the stirrings outside. They were out there, all right. That wasn't the scariest part.
"How are you feeling?" Even asked when Sora clomped down the stairs to the basement.
Sora shrugged, striding over to where the rabbits were locked in their cages. "Like I was just brought back from the dead." His eyes flitted unwillingly to the empty cages, where the infected rabbits had been killed by Even's prospective antidote, "Maybe I'm still there."
Even grunted, holding a vial up to the light to examine the substance inside.
"What about you? Any luck?" Sora asked.
Even had his eyes narrowed as he set the vial down, "With the antidote or watching you die again?" His tone wasn't humoring.
Sora exhaled and rubbed his neck, "Listen, it's my burden to bear—"
"Do you know what happens every time you flat line like that?" Even interrupted.
Sora knew better than to answer that question.
Even continued. "You have a seizure. Your eyes roll back until it's only white and all of your joints lock up. All the color drains from your skin and you make this horrid snarling noise as you stop breathing. Then you go limp and your heart stops. It may be your burden to have these medications tested on you, but it's my burden to bring you back to life when it fails."
Sora let his gaze drop to the floor. He had thought about that, of course, and he hated putting that strain on Even, but Sora couldn't just refuse to let Even test on him. Who else was he going to test his antidotes on? The true-blue infected weren't much for entertaining that thought. The silence rang loud in the lab for several minutes.
"There's a strange code sequence in a strain of paopu fruit that I've encountered." Even broke the questionable silence, as though he hadn't spoken earlier. "It might hold some key factors as to why nothing has worked and it may lead to finding a new antivirus."
"Paopu trees only grow on the smaller island off the coast." Sora informed. "I can bring some in tomorrow. I have to go over there and reset some traps anyway."
Even nodded and went on with his work without saying any more.
Sora didn't sleep much that night. It had nothing to do with the scratching on the walls or the inhuman noises coming from outside, or even the running, scurrying sounds of strange bodies moving around outside. What kept him from sleeping were Even's words. Sora had often wondered what it was like to die. Oh, he'd experienced it, sure, and every time Even had had to use the defibrillator to drag him back from that light. But what was it like to watch someone die? That was a morbid thought.
He didn't WANT to see someone die, but he couldn't imagine what it was like for Even, to not only watch Sora flat line, but to know that he had caused it. Sora shuddered in his bed and rolled onto his side, sliding his arm under the pillow for more support. Now he had bigger problems to worry about.
It had been two years since he'd gone to the smaller island off the coast. He'd only gone there three times after the outbreak. Once to set up a long distance radio signal. Then twice to set traps. He never ventured much deeper than the first few yards of the jungle. He mostly stuck to the shoreline. It was hard to look around, remembering all those years of going there with his friends to hang out and goof around. No more, never again, he thought dryly.
He'd have to suck it up and go back tomorrow though. The smaller island was the only place to find the star-shaped, yellow paopu fruit. He'd probably check the radio tower again too, while he was there. With that thought, Sora exhaled heavily and managed to fall into a restless sleep.
Sora and Even were lucky to get six hours of sleep a night. They usually stayed up late to make sure all the bolts and locks were secure, and they got up early to take advantage of every minute of daylight they could spend outside. Well, Sora did anyway. Even was a bit of a hermit who liked to stay indoors. Sora had never been an indoor person. He loved being outside too much.
The next morning, Sora threw two canteens of water, his hunting knives, a small pouch of first aid supplies, and a small handgun with two clips into a backpack, slinging it over his shoulder as he left the house. He'd leave the chore of pulling open the shutters and unlocking the windows up to Even, he was the one enjoying the house all day anyway.
The air was already thick and hot as Sora trekked through the jungle to the beach. It was still early, so the sun wasn't high enough to scorch, but Sora could tell it was going to be another hot day. Scanning the trees around him out of habit, Sora stepped out of the shade and out onto the long, sloping shoreline. Water was lapping lazily against the sun bleached sand. The shoreline was vacant of course, and the small pier was abandoned save for his little rowboat.
Not taking time to enjoy his surroundings, Sora crossed over to the pier and climbed into his boat, untying it from the pier and pushing away into the open water. He didn't want to focus too much on what he'd see or find on the smaller island he'd played on as a child, but like all things we want to avoid, it lodged itself in his brain and plastered itself over every inch of his concentration.
It used to take an hour to paddle across from the main island to the smaller one. Sora would take his time, talking and joking around with his best friends, Riku and Kairi, as they had wandered their way over. Those days were long gone, Sora knew that for sure. Riku was infected and therefore running around like the other uncivilized prey to the virus. Even though Kairi had escaped on one of the evacuation boats, she was probably infected by now too. You couldn't outrun something like that.
It was too early in the morning to be thinking so depressing like that. Sora sighed, rowing with long strokes towards the smaller island. It only took him a little over half an hour now to cross the little bridge of sea separating the two islands. He ran aground, climbing out and dragging the little boat through the shallows until it rested on the beach sand.
Sora pulled his backpack over one shoulder and walked up the shore, scanning the trees out of habit. There were no seagulls squawking around on the coconut trees. There were no animals of any kind to be seen. They were all lurking in the shadows, out of the sunlight like everything else. The foliage remained unchanged though. The trees kept growing and the grass stood tall, not bothered at all by the lack of wildlife surrounding them.
Sora drew a deep breath and let his gaze wander away from the trees. The plywood pier was half sunk into the shallows, bobbing with the recurring waves. There were no boats tied to it, adding to its derelict appearance. The little speck of land just yards out of the shallows was Riku's island. That was where the main paopu tree was, its trunk twisted sideways so that it was almost parallel to the ocean. The little makeshift bridge connecting Riku's island to the smaller island was gone, torn down or fallen apart. Sora counted at least four paopu fruit dangling under the canopy in his line of sight.
It was a relief to see the fruit there. All he had to do was swim over, pluck the fruit from the tree, and then he could high tail it out of there. He still had to check those traps. What was the real point in that though? There were no real animals left on this island. And he wanted to check the radio tower.
It wasn't even really a radio tower. It was more of a glorified TV antennae. Sora had rigged up a radio broadcast with Even's help and managed to station it from the hut that was built into the rocks by the waterfall. Glancing over, Sora saw the antennae jutting up out of the hill like a blatant anachronism waiting to be called out.
The sun was climbing quickly, and taking the temperature level with it. Sora set his backpack down and pulled off his boots and T-shirt, tossing them down in the sand. His bare shoulders tingled with the sudden direct warmth from the sunlight and he waded out into the water. Once the water had reached his stomach, he kicked out into the water and swam the rest of the way to Riku's island, letting the salty ocean water cool his skin. Once he'd reached the island, he sized up the ladder. It looked sturdy enough, but Sora climbed it very carefully until he pulled himself over onto the land.
Shaking water from his hair, Sora pulled his shorts up again. The water had made them heavy and dragged them low around his hips. Not that there was any danger of mooning anybody around here. Crime of habit. Sora walked over to the paopu tree and climbed out on the trunk. It took all of two minutes to reach and pluck five of the fruit, throwing them from the tree to where his backpack and clothes were.
This done, Sora stepped off the island and back into the water. It had been so long since he'd gone swimming. Maybe he could spare a few minutes to try and enjoy this rare pleasure. So for a while, Sora bobbed around in the shallows, unable to help but to remember the last time he'd gone swimming off this shore. He, Riku, and Kairi had been hatching a plan to build a raft and sail out to adventurous seas, find other worlds and all that. The day before their maiden voyage, the Heartless had come. That day, he'd been put in charge of gathering up fish. Three fish.
Sora tread water until his arms started to get sore. Then he stood up in the shallows and trudged back up to the beach. He didn't feel like pulling his shirt back on yet, deciding to let the sun dry his skin before he did that. He packed up the fruit and pulled his boots on. All he had left to do now was check the radio transmission station and he could be on his merry way.
He cringed as he turned towards the hut. It had to be done or Even would bother him about it until he came back and checked again.
Hiking his shorts back up again, Sora pulled out a few knives and slid them in at his belt, walking slowly and begrudgingly towards the hut. He snapped up a splintered plank from the plywood ramp on his left and approached the hut's ajar door cautiously. The infected were known to lurk anywhere that provided shadow. It was stupid to just stroll in some building and assume no one was home.
Sora pressed his side against the wall of the hut and nudged the door farther open with the plank of wood. Hearing nothing inside, Sora pushed the door open the rest of the way and twisted to peer inside. It was empty; the stairs winding up to the second level were vacant.
Relaxing slightly, Sora javelin tossed the plank of wood onto the stairwell, to scare off any loitering animals. He started to take a step forward, but froze, his foot hovering an inch above the threshold. He'd just heard movement on the second level. Sora fell still and listened. Straining his ears, he could gauge that it was an animal and not the wind.
It sounded like a two legged creature, breathing heavily upstairs.