I apologize for the crap in the last chapter. I'm determined to make this chapter a lot better.
I also apologize that this took me forever to post.
The Files of Kazdan Kalinkas
Book Two: After the Storm
Chapter Four: Danger in the Streets
"How could we have fallen this low?...Why are soldiers—who should be protecting the populace—killing them instead? Because those are the orders we were given." –from Hiromu Arakawa's FullMetal Alchemist
I curled up as tightly as I could in the small space, trying to be as little as my hulking form would allow. It was cramped but as long as I didn't move I should be okay. That wouldn't be a problem, though. I'd been trained not to move.
I would like to say the plan was simple but that wasn't entirely true. It was moderately straightforward, alright, but it was down right dangerous. To all of us.
The chains that had held me captive for a month met a quick end at the mercy of the Destiny Claw. It had hurt like heck; I'd felt the Battlegear slicing through the metal; but it was worth it. The next step was getting my up the stairs. That was a bit more difficult. I'd been incapacitated for a month with hardly anything to eat or drink and The Virus had taken a vicious toll on me. I was weak and it took longer than expected to get me out of the basement and out the front door. We had to be quick, we didn't know who could be watching.
Somehow or another, H'earring had procured some transport. It wasn't anything fancy like a hover car but a covered wagon…thing would work better than nothing. Whatever was pulling it certainly wasn't a horse either but I didn't have time to look at it. Cherri and H'earring ushered me into the back of the wagon and draped a canvas tarp over me. Then they piled bags on top and stacked barrels and boxes to stop anyone from peeking. To someone looking inside, it would look like just a bunch of goods being shipped off somewhere.
Because Chaor knew H'earring would rather help me than obey anything he said, Cherri was the one driving the wagon and H'earring would be up front with her, looking surly. Tom, Sarah, and Peyton were hiding in the back with me. I didn't like the idea and I really would rather have just had them meet us at wherever it was we were going but they were stubborn and ignored my protests. We'd try to fool the guards at the OverWorld exit into thinking we—that is, H'earring and Cherri—were leaving on Chaor's orders.
It was a risky gamble but we had no other way out.
I prayed to God that it worked.
Riding in that cramped space in the wagon was a bit uncomfortable but I drew consolation from the fact that my friends were nearby. I shouldn't have, I should have been scared out of my mind for them but I had been through so much crap that I was glad to have them by my side.
The wagon jerked and rumbled down the road. My stomach clenched with fear and all sorts of negative thoughts raced through my head,
What if this doesn't work? What if we get caught? Chaor will have my friends…! He'll kill H'earring and Cherri…! What if Chaor really does make me kill Maxxor? What if I'm stuck here forever and ever? What if I never see my family again?
"Shhhhh!" Said Peyton's voice and I clamped my mouth shut, realizing I'd been making whimpering noises.
We continued on in silence. I wish someone would say something but H'earring had to pretend he was sulking, Cherri was a mute, and we all had to be quiet or get caught so my wish was impossible.
A spasm shuddered through my frame.
Not now…please, anytime but now…!
The Virus didn't heed my wishes. Another seizure sent me thumping against the wall of the wagon. I saw Tom lift the lid of a nearby barrel through the canvas tarp that had slipped down over my head. He mouthed the words, "what're you doing" and reached out of the barrel in a cascade of yellowish rice to push the canvas back up. The growing insticts of the wild Creature I was becoming reacted and snapped at him. Tom snatched his hand back, eyes wide. Bits of rice fell from his hair. I stared at him, begging, pleading for him to understand and forgive me. He swallowed, reached out again, and put the canvas tarp back into place.
Underneath it, I clenched my teeth, dug my claws into my palms, and wound myself into as tight a ball as I could. I would not let The Virus ruin this! I would not! I was Kazdan Kalinkas! I was fifteen years old! My favorite color was green! And I liked mayonnaise on my celery!
The wagon slowed to a halt and my fear spiked, sending The Virus into another gleeful tremor of agony lancing through me. I hoped it hadn't sent the wagon rocking.
I caught the sound of voices outside, muffled by everything around me but still audible enough for me to understand what was being said,
"Nothing of interest to you!"
"You watch your mouth, maggot! Everyone knows you'd rather side with that human scum living with you!"
"Better scum than you!"
"What're you doing out here anyway?"
"Why don't you try staying in that house while he's howling and screaming and crying and shouting nonsense."
"Fair enough. Come on, let's check the back." Two sets of footsteps came around the side of the wagon. I bit my lip so hard a trickle of blood ran down my chin. My whole body was on fire and I was shaking with pain but I was still fighting The Virus' stinging change with everything I had.
Which was, I found out in a second, was not a lot.
One of the Battalion soldiers that guarded the UnderWorld side of the exit into the OverWorld had just clambered into the back of the wagon when The Virus won. I bucked against the floor of the wagon, screaming in agony, and then flew up, sending everything around me shooting into the air. The Battalion soldier was so surprised that he tripped over his own feet and fell backwards out of the wagon.
"GO, H'EARRING!" Sarah shouted, ignoring the blood dribbling from the cut on her head. H'earring and Cherri didn't need to be told twice. The wagon took off with a leaping jerk and I was thrown against the wall.
Spasms and pain clouded my head. I heard voices shouting and the firing of weapons. Flames crackled. Someone screamed. Then I fell into the blackness of agony and then, mercifully, into the unconscious.
When I awoke sometime later, exhausted, sore, and weak, the wagon was trundling smoothly along again. The last thing I could clearly remember was Sarah shouting at H'earring. I forced my eyes open and saw the off-white fabric of the covering on the wagon. I painstakingly rolled over, letting out a small groan as I did so, and looked about to see the damage I'd done.
It wasn't as bad as what I'd thought it would be; there were some tears in the lower part of the wagon cover, deep scratches were raked across the floor, and most of the barrels and bags were missing from the back of the wagon.
"You're awake!" H'earring popped into my field of vision. One of his ears was slightly raised, indicating he'd been worried. I tried to smile but my face hurt too much so I settled for grunting, "It's been three hours since we left the OverWorld and you hadn't woken up. We were scared you weren't going to."
I cast a glance around, pretending I hadn't heard that last bit.
Peyton was sitting at the back of the wagon, legs dangling over the side. When he heard H'earring, he turned around and grinned at me. His left eye was ringed in a nasty shiner that had started to swell. Tom had been leaning against one of the wagon walls and was now sitting forward with an anxious expression. The right sleeve of his shirt was missing and there were bandages tied around his arm, already stained red. I looked down at my hands. The tips of some of my claws were covered in crimson. I felt sick.
"What happened?" I managed to choke out. My voice rasped; I sounded like an animal. H'earring flinched.
"The Virus kicked in again," Tom said and I nodded, hearing my neck crack with the motion. But I didn't want to hear my voice. It scared me. Tom kept going, "And the guard saw you. He fell out of the back of the wagon but his buddy pointed his gun at us. Peyton, who was closest, jumped out and grabbed the end of it and the guy was so surprised he let go of the gun. Peyton smashed him over the head with it."
"Dude, it was epic!" Peyton added, still grinning. The smiled faded, however, as he continued talking, "But then the other guy, he recovered from seeing you spaz out, I guess, and he pulled his own gun out. I freaked, dude, and I dropped the gun I was holding. It's totally all my fault…"
"It's not your fault!" Tom said fiercely, "Cherri made that decision on her own!"
"What did…Cherri do?" I managed to say.
"She jumped 'em, Kaz. It gave us time to get away but…we had to leave her behind." H'earring murmured, "But we can't go back for her!" He stopped me from protesting, "Because the whole UnderWorld's going to be after us now and…and…and Cherri's not…she's dead, Kaz, I'm sorry."
I shuddered. Cherri had given her life up to make sure I had gotten out safely. Me!? I had hardly ever shown her a shred of decency and she had stood her ground against two Battalion soldiers in order for the rest of us to make it out alive.
"Life sucks." I muttered sullenly.
"No," Peyton said cheerfully, "Just your life."
"Thanks, that really—where's Sarah!?" I had suddenly realized that a member of our merry gang was missing.
"Relax, Kaz, she's up front driving this thing." Tom said, waving his right hand through the air. Then he winced and put a hand over the bloody spot.
"Did I…did I do that?" I asked, knowing the answer.
"Not on purpose!" Tom snapped, "But I gotta admit, you've got one heck of a sting in those claws of yours. And you socked Peyton a good one in the face!" The two of them looked at one another and laughed.
"It's not funny!" I shouted and they quit laughing, "What if I'd seriously hurt you!? What if I'd…what if I'd…killed you!?"
"Dude," Peyton said in a tone a voice like he was lecturing an idiot, "We're Code. We can't die, per say, we just get Coded—."
"Out of Chaotic forever!" I snapped. Tom shrugged.
"Would've been worth it to see you back home again."
I felt tears prick my eyes and swallowed hard, determined not to cry. I buried my face in my arm and didn't look at any of them for a while. Silence followed.
"Geez, you guys, it's like Dooms Day back there!" I heard Sarah's voice come from beyond the muffling wagon cover, "Can't you think of anything to do besides sulking?"
"Like what? Play Tiddlywinks?" Tom scoffed and H'earring looked at him questioningly.
"How's abouts a song!" Peyton said.
"No!" Tom and I said at the same time.
"Let's just have some peace and quiet, please." I murmured and stretched. My spine popped and scales across my body crackled and rose. The IRA had began to vanish into my forming Creature body; all that was visible now were the silver spikes coming out of my shoulders, spikes on my knees, the metal band across my forehead, and the—slightly dulled—mess of eerie colors across my chest. The UnderWorld crest still blazed bright red against the black scales that covered me.
"Dude, you know you look like some wingless dragon, right?" Peyton said as the jagged spines across my tail tore strips out of the ceiling of the wagon cover.
"Shut up, Peyton." I rasped, moving stiffly past Tom and H'earring to perch on the edge of the wagon next to him. We were in a part of the OverWorld I didn't recognize; a veritable wasteland of dry, cracked earth, a blistering sun covered only by hazy gray clouds, and no sign of vegetation or animal life. It was like something from a cliché Hollywood film. I licked my lips in the dry heat, feeling my saw-like fangs scrape against my tongue. It was real.
"Your eyes are purple." Peyton commented and I looked around to find him staring at me with the barest hint of a smile, "It's weird." I blinked at him and he chuckled, "You know what, no mater what you look like you're still Kazzudie through and through!"
"That's good." I murmured, "'Cause I really don't think I look like Kazdan Kalinkas anymore."
"We'll set you right." Tom assured me, sitting down next to me on the edge. Dust kicked up by the wheels of the wagon frothed like the wake of a boat across the water under his tennis shoes. He swung his legs through the air as though he could keep the choking dust at bay.
"Honestly…there was a part of me that had already given up hope." I said softly. It felt right to finally say it, to finally admit to myself that when The Virus had started taking over I had lost almost everything that had held me together, "A part of me who didn't believe I was ever going home started taking me over." I looked at my best friend.
Tom's face had made a drastic change. His features contorted into an expression of anger and hurt. He raised a hand and, before I could register what he was doing, he'd slapped me across the face.
I stared at him. I'd barely felt the sting of his slap because of the scales spreading on my cheeks but…
He'd just hit me!
"There! See I hit you!" He said in a shaky voice, "And that means you haven't given up because you still trust us!" He clenched his fingers over the scrapes on his palm that had come from my scales, "You still trust me! I swear I'll get you home! You're still Kaz and I know it because y-you let y-your g-guard down around us!"
He started crying.
I looked away shamefully. He could cry and I couldn't.
"Okay, enough of the water works!" Peyton reached past and patted Tom on the back, "Come on, MajorT, you're better than this! You're acting like a girl!"
"Excuse me!?" Came Sarah's voice from the front, "I'm holding you in contempt for that statement, PeytonicMaster!"
I laughed.
It felt good.
My chest hurt and it ripped at my already raw throat but it felt good to actually laugh.
"Hey, hey, remember that time Kaz and me got in that huge fight!" Peyton said enthusiastically, "And Tom had us do that Scavenger Scan thing!"
"Yeah," I said with a smirk, "I remember kicking your butt!"
"Oh yeah?" Peyton raised an eyebrow, "But I bet you completely forgot that I beat you the first time we mixed it up in the Drome!"
"Um, de-ja-vu?" Tom muttered, rolling his eyes, "You guys start on the Drome talk and I'm gonna have to get nasty!"
"Hey!" Sarah shouted, "Don't make me come back there, boys!"
H'earring chuckled at that and perched himself atop one of the remaining barrels. I looked at him; seemed worn out and tired. I guess I had really done quite a number on him. Feeling guilty, I looked away at the huge expanse of wasteland drifting past us.
"Where are we?" I asked to take my mind off the effect I was having on my friends.
"The Ravage Terrain;" Tom answered, "I've never been here myself but I've heard the OverWorlders talk about it sometimes. It's the outermost edge of the OverWorld, on the opposite side from the Mipedian Desert. Most Creatures avoid this place because they say it's haunted by spirits but I think they're just being superstitious."
"We're going to follow this outer edge until we get to Lake Ken-i-po." H'earring said from behind us.
"Lake Ken-i-po?" I repeated, turning slightly to look around at him, "Why there?"
"One word," Peyton held up a finger, "Najarin."
"Najarin?" I sounded like a parrot, repeating everything everyone was saying but I couldn't figure out where this was going.
"He's a genius, I'm sure he can figure out how to reverse the effects of The Virus and get that Instant Regeneration Armor off of you!" Tom answered with a reassuring smile, "And then we'll all figure out how to get you home!"
I smiled, yawned, and shuffled back into the wagon. I was tired and sore and I needed to sleep. I curled into the spot I had previously occupied, conscious of the fact that the others were watching me. I yawned again and buried my face in my arms, closing my eyes.
"Hey Sarah!" I called, "Try not to hit any potholes, okay!?"
She may have answered me, I'm not sure; I fell asleep almost immediately.
Is it just me or are these chapters getting shorter?
Well, hopefully they'll pick up in the next couple of chapters. Who knows. (shrugs)
Oh, by the way…I'm finishing up this chapter on my brand spanking new…MacBook Pro! That's right! EmptyHeart has gotten her hands on her very first laptop! Yeah! And I'm also sitting in the Student Commons of the college I attend! On my second day!
Okay, excitement time over, ha, ha, ha.
Well, things are finally looking up for Kaz, aren't they? It's about time too! He's was on the verge of breaking!
But now the question is can Najarin really help or was the escape effort—and Cherri sacrificing herself—a waste?
