Running with Wolves 15

Suddenly hands grabbed my shoulders and I spread my arms out to keep balance but then I fell and I was soaked with tons of wet water.

"Clare!" I heard a voice call my name but I was still submerged in the water. I pumped myself up and broke surface. I gasped for air and shook my hair dry. I blinked water out of my eyes and shook like a wet dog.

Zak reached for me and I grabbed his hand. He tried pulling me up but it was more my strength getting me up than his. He pulled me onto the boulder then tugged me onto a patch of vivid green grass. I was stretched out on my stomach. I lifted my head and saw Zak.

"Hey… Clare… I found you." He laughed nervously and smiled like he had just tripped a school bully. "And now you're all wet… haha… silly Clare. I didn't push you!" He blurted. He used hopeful false cheer at first and then became serious.

"Then what did you do?" I spit out water on the grass.

"Well you were sleeping and I tried t pull you into the yard but you woke up, lost your balance and plunged into the water."

I rolled on my back and Zak shielded his face.

"You know Doyle's been looking for you right?" He asked after a short silence.

"I know."

"Why didn't you come?"

"I had to clear my mind. Especially if I can do to Epsilon what I did to that tree. Oh… euuuhhh… Are your parents mad about the tree?" I asked using my arms as props and sitting up a little more.

"No. It didn't hit anything important. Are you mad at me for soaking you?" I didn't reply and stood up. He got up with me and I started to walk to the house and he followed but I stopped without warning, and shook water everywhere.

"I deserved that," Zak admitted calmly when I had finished. I turned again and sprinted to the house. Zak kept a good distance to avoid having water shaken on him. I shook a couple more times to make sure I wouldn't dirty up their house and I wiped my feet and dried up a little before going inside.

Zak caught up while I was drying off. He stated up the stairs and I went after him. When we got to the top floor he opened the door and the whole family was in the living area. It was peaceful and soundless inside but when the door opened all of their heads snapped up to look towards it. Zak walked in and when I came into view there were sighs of relief.

"What happened here?" I whispered soft enough that only Zak could hear.

"They were worried something may have happened like you committed suicide before Epsilon could kill you, or you ran away so Epsilon would kill you, or to at least keep him away from here, or if Epsilon had come early, found you and killed you, or you were injured and couldn't make your way back. They came up with lots of stuff. They were giving up, but I kept looking, they didn't believe I could find you…" he paused his continuous explanation.

"I found her," he announced.

"Where were you Clare? We were worried?" Drew started.

"Seaside. I was mentally preparing myself," I told them. "Ya know, trying to think of a plan if all goes wrong."

"Oh," she sighed.

"What did you come up with?" Whoops. Didn't expect her to ask that, of course I hadn't really thought of anything.

"Well nothing seemed like it work… my best idea is kind of harsh… so um… and it involved lots of death, well at least to Epsilon's party."

"I see." Drew mused.

"Yeah…"

"I'm guessing we all have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen tomorrow?" All was quiet as I took my seat on a footstool. Everyone already knew what might happen but it was silent and they all seemed to mull over other possibilities. I got glances from all over the room throughout the time period. Some were like, "Nice knowing ya," or, "I wonder what we can do to change Epsilon's mind," or "Poor Clare." After maybe 45 minutes of pure silence, what seemed like hours, the sun set low in the sky slowly started to disappear.

"Well, I'd love to stay and think more about how Epsilon's going to kill me, but I really think some rest will do me better in a fight than this."

"You're right," Doc mumbled. Doyle looked dead tired. His shoulders were hunched over and his eyes were only half open. That's what training with me does to a person.

"I think we could all use some rest," Doc continued after eyeballing Doyle.

"Well, G'night." I went to bed but could instantly tell I wouldn't get much sleep with that ending note. Instead I thought some about Liz. I wondered what she was up to. Was she ok? Was she looking for me? Did she wonder about the strange clones that invaded her home? Did she want me back?

With this end note, I was now puzzled at all the questions in my mind and I wondered when I would learn the answers. Which lead to me thinking about tomorrow, which lead to me thinking about death. The cycle would never end. Finally I forced my eyes shut and thought about positives… not that there was any…

Maybe I would survive… Maybe I would learn the answers to my Liz questions… Maybe I would kick the you know what out of Epsilon… Maybe the Secret Scientists wanted to help our sides… Maybe Ulraj- wait… When had he left? He probably went away while I was sleeping on a rock. Oh well… Then I heard my door creak open. I was instantly alert to the oncoming being. Then I recognized the hissing breaths of Komodo. He became visible and climbed up on my bed. He snuggled up in the blanket at the foot of the bed and I smiled. I felt safer knowing I had a friend nearby… meaning in the room. On that safe ending thought I slowly crept into dreamless, sleep.