Lemon~Moon
After re-evaluation I had realized that I had false information. So I took out the John POV from chapter three, re wrote it and am reinserting it in this chapter. So sorry for the change. :)))
Point of view chart:
-
John- Normal
Sam- Normal/Bold
Marina- Italicized
Six- Italicized/Bold
At the speed of one hundred and five, thirty five well past the speed limit, I am barreling through the highway glancing at the white tablet propped up on the cup holders to make sure nobody goes anywhere. It's been a while since there has been four dots in Florida. A while ago the fourth must of blew right past us a state over and ever since that happened I have kept a safer eye on all of the dots. I felt like I already knew what happened, that Six was dead and Five was the dot that had diverged from the rest. How would I ever know until I got down there?
No matter how fast I go it all feels like slow torture. My back aches from leaning forward in my seat for hours now. After meeting Adam we didn't waste time getting the hell out of the John Hancock Center without grabbing several weapons and stuffed bags. Sam was waiting with the van where I had wanted him to, everyone packed in and jumpy. I couldn't leave. Bk was still nowhere to be found and the Penthouse was up in smoke.
Bk? I called Mentally. BK?
"John, we've got to move." Sam pleaded.
"Not without Bernie Kosar." I snapped stubbornly.
"John." Sam said sullenly. "Your scars dude…the others may be in trouble."
Bk? I call out once again. Nothing.
The idea of knowing that I may have just lost my oldest friend washes me over with a new layer of dread to heighten the dread I was already experiencing because of one of our own dying. It doesn't help that Adam's Chimera Dust takes on similar forms as BK had such as a moth and sometimes a roach.
I'm not him
Dust reminds me every time I look up hopefully.
Defeated I climb into the seat as Sam slides over. We high tail it out of there, but not as fast as I could have just in case. As we go I continue to call out mentally to Bernie Kosar.
Everyone is babbling around the van wanting to know what happened. Reluctantly I told them about my vision.
"Six is dead now?" Sarah asked carefully, I saw Sam flinch.
I tried to reply lightly to keep him stable. "I don't know, the vision looked to be in the future. Everything was trashed and people looked broken."
"Why was it just me a Six?" Sam wonders.
"What is going to happen to you?" Sarah asks.
"Nothing I hope." I laugh shakily.
Malcolm in the back crosses his left leg over his right. "It could all just be a ploy, he is going to try anything he can to shake you. The remaining Garde are the only thing keeping him from taking over this world."
I know he means Setrakus Ra. "Well." I sigh. "He's getting better at it. He'll have Ella before long now. We can only hope that he wants her alive."
Sarah says something but at the same I hear something that makes me pull over.
"What is it?" Sam asks, pulling out a pistol.
I wave him off and jump out of the car. "I thought I heard something."
John, I'm coming
I let out an exhilarated laugh. "Bernie Kosar!" I call out.
Here I am.
I wait but see nothing and I am looking all around. A bird flies over head and I get overexcited.
"BK!" I call again.
"Where is he?" Sarah asks as her eyes scrape the sky.
"I don't—there he is."
A brown eagle swoops down in a circle and lands roughly on the ground. I can already tell he was hurt. BK limped to me in beagle form and I rushed to heal him.
Thank you.
BK licked my nose and I laughed, hugging him to me. It was short lived because I heard a car coming up the road and it reminded me we were supposed to be on the run.
"Let's go." We ran into the van and I buckled up before peeling out of there. For the first time since leaving the penthouse I was smiling and joy had come back for a while.
Just a little while.
Beneath the surface I marvel at the emptiness I feel down here. I can feel the pressure lightly pressing down on my shoulders. I couldn't help but to feel, relaxed. No sound traveled and the temperature was just right. It was so…placid. Unfortunately the absence of sound is soon over taken by my loud thoughts still fuming over Nine's words. Sometimes I wish he couldn't talk at all. Imagine where we'd be if he could just bite his tongue, or use his brain rather than his impulses…Why couldn't Five have just—No. I force the thought out of my head. Grief won't turn me into a monster.
By now the sun had gone completely down, making it nearly impossible for me to see anything except for the images stuck in my mind. All I can see is Eight stumbling towards me with blood running down his shirt. He was going to say something, but he couldn't hold on long enough. I wish I could have seen this coming, could have been fast enough to save him. Now he's gone forever. A nauseating numbness swirls within me like poison, poison and spikes. I have to move or at least kick my feet, anything but sit still. The feeling doesn't leave entirely, and I can't imagine that it ever will.
I decide to take advantage of what will most likely be the last of my alone time for a long while and I make a promise that I won't leave this water until I find a way to release every bad emotion I have. I don't hold back, I let myself think every negative thought so that I won't have to hold them back ever again. I picture each thought as a single balloon in a balloon bouquet.
Why did I have to get a Cepan who was weak while everyone else had strong, useful ones? Why did she have to die, I don't care how I felt about Adelina I wanted her back. She should have taught me how to be Loric, how to use the objects in my chest, how to defend myself for crying out loud. I picture myself letting these angers go like balloons. Why does everyone I love most dear die? Adelina, Hector, Eight? Do I doom someone by getting close to them? Is Ella next? She already has been targeted by Setrakus Ra and may still be in the Coma. I watch these balloons fly away. I hate Nine. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him I hate him that no good son of a b****. Because of his sorry a** Eight is dead and I hate him for having so little of respect for Eight as to make a stupid a** joke about using Eight to steal take out. I'll never forgive him, never. I send several rocks hurtling through the water. I scream and tiny bubbles escape my mouth.
I take few more moments to cool down, to forgive Nine for his cruel ways, I tell myself that I forgive him, but then I see Nine egging Five on, pissing him off, hurting him and it's like gasoline to the flame of my abhorrence. I just can't feel forgiveness for him right now, but I still tell myself that I do for my own benefit. I decide that I will try to swallow this for the sake of our team. I have no choice, we are already so small in numbers right now that I know it'd be wrong to keep a chip on my shoulder. I let go of those balloons too and feel a bit of peace. I have one balloon left. I try and reign in the acid that is produced by my deep sadness for Eight's murder. I just can't release it, I picture letting it float away but it's like it still hovers close. Regardless I feel much better than I had felt before and I knew it was time to return and emerge a new person. A happy person.
The current takes my hair and has it float above my head like sea weed. I have to sit as tight as I can or else my feet will float up as well. Carefully I lift one hand to wave my right hand tranquilly along in the solid wall of water all around me.. By now I feel silly for running away like a child. I sigh and a dozen tiny bubbles rise towards the surface. Looking up I can see the moon through the rippling Black water. I push off a rock in the water, but as push off something smacks into my side. Fish. I take the opportunity to use my telekinesis to snag one. He wiggles just a bit, but is definitely trapped. A few more dart past and I use my other hand to snag three more. I lost the first one in the process, but at least there is one for each of us.
It is difficult to walk underwater without one of my hands, but with the right momentum I am able to move forward. I walk along the surface and have to turn back once I realize I am only going in deeper. Night vision helps me with my trial and error until I am back on the right upward slope. Once my head emerges I blink the nasty water out of my eyes and wade myself back out.
"Thank Lorien." Six breathes, hopping to her feet to greet me. "Are you crazy Marina? You were gone for hours!"
Nine is back at the picnic table giving me only a quick glance before continuing to poke the fire with a long stick.
I say nothing until I make it to the water bank. I feel heavy from the lack of pressure from the lake. Out of breath I pull my haul out behind me and drop them a few feet ahead. From the look of glee on Six's face I know all is forgiven.
"Alright Marina!" She applauds. Six uses her telekinesis to lift them over to the fire where Nine watches them fall.
I follow her and shake as much water as I can off of my skin and then my clothes and hair.
"Fish!" She cheers to Nine who looks at the fish longingly.
"Does anyone know how to cook them?" I ask. Wringing my hair out.
Six scrunches her nose. "We have to gut them."
"Leave it to me." Nine declares and pulls a Swiss army knife out of his pocket.
Six's eyes widen. "How long have you been carrying that?"
Nine picks up one of the wiggling fish and makes a long gash on its fin. "There is no telling what could happen on our trip, I just came prepared." He then makes an arch from gill to gill and blood pours out and the dying fish kicks his fin defiant to his ill fate. Nine then puts it beside him and grabs the next.
As Nine was wielding the army knife for the first time I noticed the state of his knuckles. The skin looked raw and if I looked closely I think I might of been able to tiny blood stains. For whatever reason I thought back to my dream the night before, I had thought I had heard something and now I realize what I had heard might of been Nine punching trees. I feel a touch of sympathy as I stand and make my way to him. He doesn't look up at first, but when I ask for his hand Nine acts reluctant.
"Let me heal that, it could get infected."
Six zeros in on his hands and cringes. "Gee, what'd you do?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Nine shrugs it off so I forcefully place my hand on his. With a sigh he watches as the sores on his tanned knuckles close up and return back to normal.
"Okay." I say walking back to my seat. "You're good."
Nine nods and adds another gash to the fish.
[X]
Over ten minutes later the fish are gutted and held telekinetically over the lashing flame.
"Where did you learn to clean fish from?" Six asks, giving the other side of her meat a turn in the heat.
"Back on Lorien I was raised by my Grandfather and I think remember watching him gut fish. That or Sandor taught me, he was always teaching me random skills..."
"Good thing." She grumbles. "No way in hell I'm touching a fish."
Nine snickers. "That's just ironic. A chick who can run into a battle full throttle at the drop of a hat, kill hundreds of Mogs, but refuses to touch a slimy fish."
"Go figure." She says flatly.
The corners of my mouth turn up at the little joke. My fish looks brown now, but I am still turning it. Nine looks content with how his was now and brought it to him to inspect.
"Perfect." He states. It drops to his hands and he responds with a curse and nearly drops it.
"It's hot." Six jokes, then brings hers in for inspection.
All of us eat in content silence until every piece is gone. The meat is far from savory, tasting only of lake water. However the hot, chewiness of it does wonders for my stomach which hadn't shut up since they started cooking.
I feel disappointed as I popped the last piece in my mouth, trying to chew it for as long as I could. By myself I would easily be able to down about fifty more of them right now. The only thing stopping me was the fact that I really didn't want to get soaking wet again. My damp clothes stuck ruthlessly to my skin which only added to the discomfort of the humidity. That's when I remember my legacy. I let iciness seep out and it is like a breath of fresh air.
"Whoa." Nine gasps. "Did it just get-"
"Good idea Marina." Six sighed in relief. "If I felt like getting soaked I would have given us a rain cloud, but humid and wet sounds like hell."
"If only I would have thought about it on the walk over." I huffed. I had thought of healing ankles, but not cooling down the weather.
"This is good." Nine spoke in an instructing tone. "The more legacies the better, not to mention since you are our healer."
"John can heal too." Six pointed out.
Nine sat back. "The more healers the better, it's just much much better if they can defend themselves."
"I could defend myself before." I said a little too quickly. With a sigh I added. "But you're right, a defensive legacy is pretty great." And it was.
[~]
We have made it through to the bottom of Tennessee. We are only less than Four Hours away, according to this incredibly advanced GPS Nine's Cepan must have installed himself. This machine was fast.
Six and the others hadn't moved their position all night. I am a little worried that maybe they were captured and that's why they were in the same spot. I glanced over to the tablet propped up so I could see. Three dots in Florida, one in North Carolina, One half-way through Georgia. I try not to let my anxiety affect the speed of the car too much, but as of now we are tearing down an empty highway.
It helped earlier on when everyone was talking, Adam had told me alot of things about his passed. I was taken aback by it all. This guy, this MOGADORIAN gave up everything to help us. We had lost several Garde to the Mogs and now we have one of them. What was even better was that with Adam, came another chimera. I was worried that BK wouldn't get along, but him and Dust were curled up together in floor at Adams feet. I knew this because I could hear them bonding telepathically.
Malcolm and I finished discussing our next objectives about an hour ago. He tells me about a woman in Georgia who could be our safe house and then explained why he believed she was one hundred percent trustworthy. I agreed with him, but I knew getting the others to agree would be difficult.
Still in my gut is a build up of a nasty feeling. I can't help but sigh which makes a low noise.
I still have Sarah's hand in mine, but one look at her face tells me she is burdened by her thoughts.
"What's on your mind?" I ask.
Sarah looks back at me with a somber expression. "I just don't like seeing you sad." She admits.
I am speechless for a moment. "Don't worry about me, death won't affect how we are towards the war. It just gives me a new, um, determination."
Sarah pushes her blonde hair back from her face. "That is a good way to look at it." She says softly.
My head drops a little bit. I can still see Sam in the rear view mirror. He catches my eye and then looks away. I again have a seemingly selfish hope that it wasn't Six.
Lemon~Moon
Thanks for reading and for your reviews which really helped me out there before I got too far in *Phew.