Huff puff, huff puff. The panting of breaths slightly echoing simultaneously with the crunching of leaves and branches.
"What is going on… where…is Vince?" Chris mutters groggily. His sight is blurry, but he can clearly tell he is being carried on a sprinting body.
"He's waking up, let's stop and check if he's ok," Alana's voice reverberates in Chris's ear.
"We don't have time for that right now; we need to rendezvous with the others!" Boz yells out whilst gasping for air.
From the looks of things, this group seemed far gone from the vibrant red dirt of the wasteland. All that surrounds them are dead orange leaves and dried out branches.
"I can't see Milan anywhere behind us," Estrella says, her sprinting speed sluggish from carrying Esmeralda on her shoulder.
Malik starts slowing down and begins reaching out for Esmeralda, "Give her to me, you've carried her long enough, you can't even breathe," he whispers.
Estrella then begins to slow down and tosses Esmeralda onto Malik's shoulders, "I don't know how you are going to carry Chris and her, but I am going to sprint side by side with you though!" she whispers back, her hand tightly holding onto Esmeralda's tight knit one-piece nylon attire.
"Damn I'm not gonna run off with her, relax," Malik replies in an unserious manner. "Ginger, get over here, I need you to carry Chris, I have my hands full, whilst you are doing nothing but running," he mumbles whilst looking at Dean.
"How have you promoted me from red hair to ginger, that's amazing," Dean retorts with a sarcastic tone whilst straining his voice.
"Stop!" Boz shouts out.
Immediately the entire group halts.
"Something is off here. They must've left a message on where they are heading," Boz claims. He shifts his gaze rapidly around their surroundings and starts heading towards one dried out tree onto the next. Quickly, he inhales deeply and follows up with a lengthy exhale.
"What the hell is he doing?" Dean asks.
"We have a paint that gives off a smell of a familiar place, and since we really didn't have a rendezvous point, one of the others must've painted it on the trees in this area which will lead us to them," Malik responds.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch!
Loud stomping of leaves and branches sound from behind.
"Shh! Do y'all hear that?" Estrella hisses.
They all begin to glance at each other with a sense of fright in each of their eyes.
Boz begins crouching towards where the stomping noises continue to get louder. Malik slowly places Esmeralda onto the ground and reaches into his pouch to grab a pistol.
As the silence among the group grows louder, the stomping of crunching leaves and branches inch even closer.
The stomping suddenly ceases –
Chris's eyes begin to slowly open; his vision still vignetted, he starts to slowly speak once again, "Vince…" he mumbles incoherently as he looks up at the dried branches of the trees.
Dean lunges over and covers his mouth tightly with his hand. "Shh!" he whispers with a tense voice.
Chris does nothing but widen his eyes; his gaze, still focused on the dried-out tree branches above.
"Have you seen a ghost or something?" Dean mutters as he slowly begins to pan his gaze upwards.
"Meuuuu!" Meumeu joyfully squeals out as it drops down onto Dean's face.
"Milan! Are you serious?" Estrella yells out.
"You are so cute when you are mad," Milan says as he jumps down from the tree branch with Vince in his arm.
Boz slowly walks to the front of the group and starts inhaling and exhaling once again. "We don't have time for jokes," he sneers.
Milan walks towards Estrella and puts his free arm around her, "Oh stop it, I couldn't just appear without causing a fuss, I wanted to put fire up your arses a little bit," he says with a soft giggle whilst looking at the back of Boz.
"What happened back there, did you find out who was in that truck?" Alana asks.
"A core soldier, a militia hunter hired by the Motherland I am guessing, a young little girl, 4 years old at most. Good news is, there is no way for them to get around the crater I created, so we are fine," Milan responds.
"Why are they together? That's an unusual band of people being together," Estrella states.
Milan takes his arm off Estrella's shoulders, "I have no idea, but what matters is that we meet with the others as quickly as possible. Boz, no need to try too hard, I know where they will be, the paint smells ozonic; we are heading to the cave next to the waterfall. Oldman and I went there all the time." Milan touches a tree and smells it, "Alright lets head out!" he shouts,"
-
The crunching sound of dead leaves vanishes beneath the frantic stomping rhythm of the group's boots. For the first mile, the forest is nothing but a blur of brittle orange branches and the ragged sound of their own breathing. No one speaks, no one stops, all they do is sprint and follow Milan.
Hours bleed away; the dry cracking ground begins to give way to trees with slight greenery and extremely slippery soil – it seems they are getting closer. Apart from Milan, the physical toll of sprinting through the soil taxes those carrying unconscious bodies.
Dean stumbles on an exposed tree root, and as he is about to plant face down with Esmeralda, Malik reaches out his left arm and grabs onto Dean's tucked in black nylon short sleeve. The others keep running, and as Malik looks up and sees no one stopping, he clenches his jaw tightly and manages to keep Dean and Esmeralda up whilst carrying Chris himself.
As they both sprint to rejoin the group, the sun begins to dip down and cast long shadows of the group across the shifting terrain.
The dark night begins to cover the sky, and the air suddenly snaps from the suffocating heat of the dead woods and the slippery soil of the muddy terrain into a crisp, freezing chill. Birds can be heard chirping deep within the tall surrounding trees. In front, the crash of a waterfall emanating a fresh ozonic mist begins to cling to their skin, and as Milan burst into the waterfall followed by the others, they find themselves in a cave, filled with lit-up flame torches.
-
"Milan is here!" an elderly lady strains her voice shouting.
Every single person within the camp begins to turn their gaze towards the entrance of the cave. They all begin to rise up and sprint towards him. Some bow; others hug him.
"Providence said he'd seen you coming towards the cave, I glad you smelt the paint I left behind," Oldman says whilst smiling behind the rowdy crowd.
"Oldman, are you ok? Is Providence okay? Is anyone injured?" Milan rapidly asks as he gets squeezed by the crowd of young children and elderly individuals simultaneously.
Oldman begins walking towards Milan with his hand behind his back, "Alright, everyone make way!" he softly shouts whilst clapping.
"But…but we miss Milan," a young boy says whilst looking up at Oldman.
Milan twitches and an invisible force slightly push the surrounding crowd away.
"Now look, I know you've all missed us," Milan says whilst pointing at Boz, Malik and Estrella, "and we have missed you too dearly, but we are okay. There is just something I need to announce – you might be seeing some unfamiliar faces behind me, but there is nothing to worry about, these are our new family members, treat them as you do all others, love them as you love me; for their importance to our mission is truly unexplainable."
The crowd begins to chatter among themselves; whispers begin to fill the cave. Boz and Malik exchange quick glances.
Oldman continues stepping through the crowd towards Milan, "He is right! The kid with the purple hair is the Motherlands weakness – for he adorns the Emperors Meraki."
Whispers within the crowd grow even louder.
"How do we know he won't turn against us? A dog can bite the hand that feeds him, we do know this right? Boz retorts.
"Yes, that's true, what can a little kid do against the Motherland anyways? We have you Milan" hundreds of individuals within the crowd shout out.
"You all know I take everything you say into consideration, but this one is different. I am willing to take the risk of him turning on us," Milan responds; his eyes slightly shifting over to Boz with a cold expression.
"I don't know any of you, and you all don't know me and the others – but I want you all to know we have one thing in common, our hatred for the Motherland. You don't have to like us, but we have one common enemy we would like to erase, and I have seen it with my eyes and heard it in my soul, Vince can – no, Vince will bring an end to the Motherland," Alana rambles, her heart almost beating out of her chest.
Vince begins to wake – and although his vision is still blurry, he hears this,
Who…who is this girl really? He thinks to himself.
His blurry gaze sticks onto Alana for minutes, "Pretty," he mumbles.
"Who even are you? Milan where did you find her and ginger over there?" The crowd start shouting towards Alana and Dean.
Milan sighs, "That's a long story, as I said, they are a part of this family from now onwards," he says.
An individual wearing an identical black vest with red stitching like Milan, Boz and Malik, begins walking up slowly behind Alana, "Oh no Milan, we want to know where we got this pretty girl from – don't we everyone?" he yells.
"Get off me!" Alana screams out
"Put her down Cephus," Milan says softly.
"Why don't you like to have fun with me Milan?" Cephus sarcastically asks.
Milan slowly closes his eyes, "if you weren't Boz's friend, I would shatter your bones myself. I said put her down!"
Cephus lets out slight giggles which turn into hysterical laughter.
All of a sudden, the crashing sounds of the waterfall begin to muffle within the entire cave, the whispers and chatter of the crowd begin to subside as they begin to look at one another with a confused expression.
The muffled noises turn into complete silence.
"Come here!" a soft, but yet chaotic voice echoes through the spaced-out cave.
Immediately, Cephus begins to walk with his arm still around Alana as if an invisible force is pulling him
"Come here!" the soft voice says once again,
and as everyone begin to slowly turn their look to where Cephus is walking towards -
there he stands, Vince's regal purple hair grows slightly longer and starts streaking with black strands; orange embers begin to spark around it, which illuminates his surrounding area.
"Stop!" Vince says.
His hair begins to gracefully maneuver in the air as if it were a serpent and wraps around Alana, gradually pulling her away from Cephus and softly placing her down on the cave ground; she slowly gazes at the back of Vince in awe.
Vince lunges forward with blistering pace and wraps Cephus up with his hair, suspending him in the air.
"What the… hell are you," Cephus slowly murmurs.
His hair begins squeezing Cephus to bone cracking tightness.
"Don't ever touch her," Vince whispers in Cephus's ear.
"Let him go Vince," Chris says groggily.
Vince instantly turns and snaps his neck to look behind him.
"Hey," Chris says with a genuine warm smile.
Vince's elongated hair aggressively thumps Cephus onto the ground. He then sprints to Chris; who has his back on the cave wall.
"Chris are you ok, I've missed you," Vince says whilst tapping Chris's body as if to see if he is real.
"You did this to me, remember?" Chris says with a slight giggle followed by a hollow cough.
Vince looks down to the ground, "don't joke around, you know I would never injure you like that," he mutters.
Chris grabs Vince and pulls him in with haste to hug him. "Of course you didn't, I was joking," he claims whilst looking directly at Alana and slightly shaking head.
His hair is long with black parts, but his eyes aren't black like before, how is this happening, Chris thinks to himself.
-
Clap, Clap, Clap!
"Alright, reunion is over, everybody go rest up, we need to find a new place to setup camp, we can't stay in this cave forever!" Old man yells out.
The crowd begins to disjoint and head towards identical mattresses that are laid all over the cave ground.
"I will show you all to where you will sleep for the meantime, follow me," Oldman says whilst looking at Milan, Boz, Malik, Estrella, Alana, Vince, Chris and Dean; who carries an unconscious Esmeralda.
Milan then interjects, "Give us a second Oldman, we all need to freshen up, the journey here wasn't simple."
"Right, y'all are the ones who stink then?" Oldman retorts sarcastically. "There is a little waterfall at the back of this cave, you all can freshen up one by one. For the time being can we speak in private please, Milan, Boz, Malik, and you too Estrella; get your sister off ginger over there."
As they all begin to follow Oldman to a less crowded area of the cave, Alana gets onto her feet and starts heading towards the back of the cave.
-
"You need to clean up first Chris," Vince says, his voice slightly shaking.
"No, you go first, young brothers always shower first – that's what I read in a book," Chris responds.
"But… you are dirtier," Vince states.
Chris pushes his back off the cave wall and gets inches away from Vince's face, "Doesn't change the fact that I am older, now go clean up like that oldman said," he demands.
As Vince gets up and turns his back, Chris lips shape up into a little smirk.
-
Vince gets to the tail end of the cave; the breeze of the crashing waterfall rushes past his hair as it begins to shorten in length. The sharp ozonic smell pierces his nose as he looks up into the dark night which is illuminated by the full moon.
As Vince begins to lower his gaze, a sudden sensation of heat begins to course through his face, his heart begins to thump at a quicker pace, and his hand begins to clam up.
He catches himself in the moment and quickly sprints to trees near the little waterfall.
His feet trip over a rock, and as his body falls into shrubs near the tree, he hears a scream that overshadows the roar of the waterfall.
"Who's there? Come out now!" a soft feminine voice screams out.
On top of the heating sensation on his face, Vince begins to sweat uncontrollably whilst in the shrubs; and as he slowly lifts body, his nose begins to slightly bleed.
"Vince! What are you doing?" Alana shouts whilst crossing her arms on top of her chest.
"I…I am sorry – I will head back now," Vince responds whilst closing his eyes tightly.
Alana slowly lowers herself into the water, "Say you saw nothing!" she demands.
"I saw nothing!" Vince quickly says; his voice cracking slightly.
"Okay…its fine come in, I will just stay down like this," Alana mutters with half her face below the water whilst blowing air bubbles.
The heating sensation on Vince's face grows even stronger causing it to turn bright red. He quickly opens his eyes and wipes the blood stain in his nostril and takes off all his garments whilst running into the water.
"Why is your nose bleeding, are you okay? Also, why are you so red?" Alana asks with her face turned to the side whilst continuously blowing air bubbles.
-
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch!
Deep within the trees near the waterfall, slow footsteps causing the crunching of leaves and shrubs begin to inch closer to the conversing voices of Vince and Alana.
"There they are," a voice whispers ominously whilst staring at Vince and Alana from within the trees.
END OF CHAPTER
THEORIES MERAKI – WHAT OMINOUS FOOTSTEPS ARE INCHING CLOSER NOT ONLY TO VINCE AND ALANA, BUT ALSO THE TEMPORARY CAMP OF THE SKULLDEM.
NEXT CHAPTER – TBD