May 15, 2010
A/N: First, in hopes that you read this first, I want to thank JuseaPeterson for constantly reviewing my chapters and other stories. Thank you, you're awesome!
A/N: Hey everyone. I'm sorry for the very long update. I was doing so good too. Oh well. Anyway, for those who may be fuzzy on the up and up because of the absence in my updating . . . here it is. The Overdrive and Jungle Fury rangers have fought a battle in which rangers from both sides have incurred casualities. If that wasn't enough of an insult, Zhao Lee has been resurrected and so has some of his subordinates. Zhao Lee demonstrates some of his power on none other than Mack, the accomplice to Zhao Lee's resurrections, along with the help of "Rose." There, I think I touched upon the most important parts. Again, sorry for the gap in updating. I will attempt to be more prompt in my updating. Though, if you have read my profile, not that anyone needs to unless they want to check out my other stories (which is okay with me) I'm suffering from a bout of writers' block. Fingers crossed I overcome it soon.
Chapter 11: The Cave of My Memories
Four Weeks Ago, China
"Hey beautiful," Mack goofily smiled. He lay sprawled out on his neatly made cot. The sheer tent he was taking shelter in, filtered the brutal sun, allowing a glowing halo to shine on her. "You look like an angel."
Rose shook her head, watching the red ranger from her spot at the desk. Tilted like an artist's desk, it was layered in old maps, texts, and small trinkets that had been uncovered at the digging site."I think you partied with those Chinese laborers a little too much, Mack. I think someone is still drunk from last night."
Mack chuckled, reaching a lazy hand out to nothingness. Slowly he moved each of his fingers, examining the small dust particles floating listlessly in the light. "I'm not drunk or hung over," he sighed. "I'm just happy that you're here."
The mensa genius grinned, immodest, blushing like a small girl. She crossed the small impromptu room and sat beside her boyfriend on his bed. Mack propped himself on his elbow, his lips meeting hers. Longingly they kissed, finally she grinned so he was kissing her teeth; he also pulled away and began laughing. "What's so funny?"
"I just – I can't believe we haven't been discovered." Rose suddenly became silent, her shoulders slumping and her demeanor somber, she looked down at the dry, dirt floor. "Why are we pretending? Why are we hiding our relationship?"
Mack exhaled, flopping back on his bed. He stared at the roof of his makeshift, temporary home. "It's not that easy, Rose, babe. My dad is fickle, one minute he's laid back, the next he is laying down weird, unfounded rules. But, as far as I can remember, my father never allowed workers to be at the same site as their spouse or significant other." Rose arched an eyebrow, contesting his claim. "Seriously, I've watched my dad remove archeologists and diggers – anyone, if he so much heard they were trying to pull the wool over his eyes." The pink ranger groaned. She lay across her boyfriend, so half of her lay, listening to his heart beat, tucked neatly in the crook of his neck, the other half dangling off his cot, her feet brushing the small patch of grass that had broken free of the barren dirt floor. "I'm sorry, Rose," he apologized, empathizing with her. "I want to tell everyone, sometimes I have to bite my knuckles to stop myself from screaming it, but we'd never be able to spend this time together if we made our relationship public."
Mack kissed her head softly. He pulled her closer, rubbing her arm soothingly. "I guess you're right. I love Ronny to death, but she is not one to keep her mouth shut." Rose snorted thinking about the half a dozen surprises Ronny ruined by accidently blabbing to the one they were hosting the party for.
"Plus, you love this stuff, I'd hate for you to miss it on account of me," he added, trying to lessen the difficult situation they live in.
"Uh, speaking of which, those drawings . . ." she sighed, mentally exhausted, "they're new, and not age-wise, but that I've never seen anything like them," she informed, her mood changing to one of intrigue and curiosity.
"See, I told you there was a bright side, Rose." Rose maneuvered so she could kiss her boyfriend. Their lips meeting, they relaxed, enjoying this rare moment of privacy. Most times, they would share quick kisses behind a tent, or when the coast was clear, but those were few and far between. Knowing that his father paid the laborers and other archeologists, they would be easily ratted out for some few coins. Most diggers were poor farm hands looking for extra money to bring home to their families. Mack both hated the laborers yet admired their tenaciousness to do anything for their families' sake.
"Mack!" The young lovers broke apart, both staring like frightened deer at the flap that functioned as a door. "Mack!" his father called again, Mr. Hartford was enclosing on Mack's tent. With sadness, Rose returned to her spot at the desk, their finger tips gracing the other's in an ill attempt to make the moment last. "Mack," Andrew called again, pulling the flap back. He jumped seeing Rose sitting at the work desk. "Oh, hi Rose!" Rose waved cheerily at her mentor.
Andrew smiled, awkwardly. "Um, one of the diggers found an entrance at the top of the temple. It's a good thing; I guess that you were both here, since we would also like you to come, Rose, to help decipher the drawings."
"Mr. Hartford, I don't mean to overstep my bounds, but I still haven't finished analyzing the first set of drawings found along this city's walls. All these drawings are foreign. And that's coming from me!"
"Hmm, I see what you mean, that is a problem." Andrew paused, contemplating something. He desperately wanted to move forward, but he understood that recklessly barging into something was asking for trouble. He would not repeat the same mistake as he had done with the Corona Aurora. "We'll approach cautiously, the first signs of trouble and we'll leave and focus more on the city walls until we have learned more. But, perhaps this newest discovery will help us learn more about the city, itself." Rose and Mack exchanged wearied glances, before turning back to Mr. Hartford and nodding in agreement. They were willing to follow him, half-heartedly believing his reasoning.
They had be picking and hacking and dusting the dark walls of a passageway that they could not see the end to. Rose coughed as a burst of crusty dirt hit her in the face. "Be careful," Mack warned with concern. She agreed through bouts of coughing. They continued, Mr. Hartford and his team still working at photographing the hieroglyphics left at the cave entrance walls.
"Wow, look at –" Her plea was interrupted as her gasp turned into a scream. Mack rushed to his girlfriend in time to gently pick her body up from the ground. Cradling her in his arms, he called her name over and over. Her eyes fluttered finally; slowly she heaved herself up from the ground and looked about, taking particular interest in her hands and arms, and body in general. At first the red ranger thought she was checking for wounds, but soon his suspicions were raised as she continued to flex her fingers, like testing them for the first time.
"Rose," he gently called, inching closer.
Cracking her neck, she smiled maliciously. "You wish." Mack made a move to retrieve his father, but her next words glued his feet to the dead earth. "You tell anyone and I'll kill her."
"Where is she?" he said cool, his face contorted into a grimace.
"Right here. I'm sharing her body."
"Why? Who are you?"
"Why? Because there's something I was robbed and was left unfinished." She arched and turned, taking in her host's body, with sadistic satisfaction. "Ling is my name and that's all you need to know."
"Get the hell out," Mack growled, growing impatient with her cryptic speak.
"Please, I see I picked well. You help me and I'll help you." Noticing him contemplating her offer, she elaborated. "You help me or I'll kill her." She lifted a pocket knife Mack recognized. It was a hunting blade he gave her in case she ever found herself in trouble and now – now it was being used to hold her hostage.
Clearing his throat and swallowing down tears, he spoke, "Okay, what is it you need help with?"
"Ever hear about a warrior named Zhao Lee?"
Mack found himself absently shaking his head "no." The red ranger's mind sped through any possible ways to evict the thing that was controlling Rose. Subconsciously Mack slid his hand to the pouch that cradled his morpher.
"Hey, don't try anything because by the time you draw your morpher or call for help, she'll be dead and I'll just find another person to control."
"Why don't you then? Just leave I mean."
"Because she's useful. Everything she knows, I know. And she just about knows everything, doesn't she?" she jested, "so, don't try anything. I have nothing to lose by killing her, but you – you have everything to lose."
"Deal, but as soon as I help you get your closure or whatever, you release Rose. Deal?"
The entity smiled. "First, we need to get out of here without being noticed." Before Mack could formulate a plan, the cave started to shake, sand flooding in as the temple started to collapse on itself. Mack stumbled from the force of the quack. He didn't know how, but Ling was making this cave shudder. Mack could hear his father screaming his and Rose's names. "Tell him that you're coming and to go ahead. Do it!" He wanted to tell his dad, leave him a clue, some type of code, but there was no time. Taking a deep breath, Mack obliged. Lying about having found another exit, that he and Rose would meet his father and his men safely in a few minutes, he turned to Ling.
Ling was racing farther into the crumbling cave, boulders dropping like rain, several times coming close to squashing Mack. Mack squinted; keeping Ling in sight, the flecks of white in Rose's tank that peeked out from the bottom of her pink polo and the ethereal vapors surrounding her was all Mack could see. What felt like hours were only minutes as the two emerged on the other side of the city, near a jungle, hedging a steep drop into a fast moving canyon river. Huffing and puffing, Mack wondered how long it would take his father to realize Mack was not coming back. Would his father search for him, call in a rescue team, or just call it quits and pronounce them dead on the spot? How would Rose's family take it? Or their friends? Mack held back from vomiting, lying like this made his stomach turn like a storm out at sea.
Her voice startled the red ranger. "Next, we need a way off this place, without being noticed," she added pointedly.
Mack looked back, the two standing at the luscious city's edge, the ancient outer city walls and towering temple hiding their whereabouts. "I know where we can get a plane," he strained, still recovering from their escape.
Outside Ichigo Temple
He watched the translucent spider's arm stretch out toward him. All he could do was wait. Just as his pupils eclipsed purple, a thought crossed his worn mind, Rose, I can't let it end like this. Of course, it was too late then to avoid the attack. His friends' screams, the hum of the S.H.A.R.C his swan song.
~ End Chapter 11
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