Leona didn"t know what to say. When she was close to Reggie and Dee, she felt the resonance that showed they were similar to her. She hadn"t felt that with Laz, hence why she wanted to scare him away. But now, even though she didn"t feel the same thing with him, she felt like he must be some how the same as her. The part that she hated the most was that she had so little information that it was hard to make any choices. Everything they did was like trying to figure out what something was when you couldn"t see it or touch it. It was like she was nothing more than a chained prisoner in a cave, discussing shadows on the wall.Leona wanted answers and as much as she hated to admit it, this person might be the only one to give them to her.
Laz didn"t say anything else, but just sat down and waited. He knew that some things couldn"t be forced. He made the offer but saying yes or no was her choice. He didn"t want to get involved, but he had since gotten the feeling that not doing anything when those in front of him were asking for help was akin to betraying all of those who had helped him. And that was something he would never do.
Leona stood there, silent in thought as the light in the sky faded. When she finally looked to Laz, she could only nod her head yes. No matter what, she needed more information than she had. It wasn"t just her that was at risk.
"Good. Sit. Feel free to ask some questions. Tonight was a rest night anyway and it"t been a while since I had some beautiful company." Laz pointed at a car seat near by, indicating that she should sit. It wasn"t exactly a high cla.s.s chair, but Leona could see that it was clean at least. She wanted to ask why he was using wrecked car seats when it appeared that the camper looked pretty new and in good condition, but decided it wasn"t important.
"Am I sick?" The first question and probably the one most on her mind was the first one Leona asked. Based on everything they had been saying, she was led to believe, like everyone else, that she was somehow sick.
"The basic definition of sick is "affected by physical or mental illness." No. You are not sick. You are not ill, you will not die. Well, as long as you don"t do something stupid." Laz answered as straightforwardly as possible. He could feel her stress and worry. He wasn"t sure if she trusted him, but he was going to be as honest as possible anyway.
"Something stupid?"
"Skip that part for now and we will come back to it. Instead, ask the questions that have been haunting you day in and day out. If you were going to do that something stupid that you shouldn"t do, you would have done it already so it doesn"t matter at this point," Laz kindly advised.
"What is happening to us?"
"Ah. Good one. Ok, I"m not 100% on this either so the best I can give you is my guess based on what I know," Laz sat up from his slouched position and leaned forward.
"You know that giant tree that appeared? The came from somewhere else. Where? No idea. Doesn"t matter anyway. But it started releasing a new form of energy that has now spread across the globe, causing things to happen, like changes in plant and animal life and changes in us humans. Also, we will keep changing as long as we want to. We can get stronger if we choose to, which you seem to have already been doing." Laz explained patently. A lot of what he knew was guessing, mixed in with the info he obtained from Vivi and the ever allusive alien.
"What are the chosen they keep talking about? Are they different from us?" Dee and Reggie had thought that going forward was a good idea. Since they didn"t think they were sick, they felt they were special. Leona had felt very worried about this though and had held them back. Now that she found someone who seemed to know something, she wanted answers. She wasn"t sure she believed him, but she felt like he wasn"t lying either.
"They are different and you are not one of them. Neither are Reggie and Dee," Laz asked without volunteering anything extra. There were things he wanted to warn her about, but Laz felt this wasn"t the best time.
"So what should we do? Are they going to hunt for people like us?" Leona was someone who knew that no matter what was happening at the moment, you needed to be ready for later too. She was a senior this year who was getting ready for college. Every step she had been taking was to prepare for her future. Now though, it seemed like those plans all amount to nothing.
"Get stronger." It was two simple words, but it conveyed a host of different meanings. Laz paused for a moment before continuing.
"They will come for you. They will start coming for everyone soon enough. Not today... or tomorrow. But they will. You can either be subject to their whims or you can learn to fight back. But no matter how you view it, nothing will be like it was ever again." It was a cold, hard truth. It would be difficult for anyone to accept, especially for someone as young and innocent as Leona, Dee and Reggie. But it was something they had to accept because it wasn"t going to change.
"Why? I didn"t want any of this. I just... want to be normal. I want to go to college, get a good job, maybe even get into politics. But now your saying that"s not possible?" Leona started to get agitated. It"s hard to accept change but it"s even harder to accept when you don"t have a choice.
"Unless the world"s view changes, no. It"s not possible. At some point you will be found out. The only thing you can do is to be ready for that." Thinking back on everything that had happened to him, Laz was able to clearly see that this is what his grandpas had been telling him.
"How?" Although the answer seemed obvious to Laz, Leona"s mindset wasn"t in the same place.
"Become strong. Strong enough to fight and strong enough to run away. As long as you live, there is hope." Those were the words Laz was living by. He wanted to see his parents, save his grandfathers and get revenge on that bug b.a.s.t.a.r.d. To do all that, he needed to be strong enough and be free.
"How can I be strong enough?" Laz knew she would ask this question and it was the one that he didn"t want asked. Looking at her face, the beautiful eyes that were lined with tears along with her slim and shaking shoulders, Laz finally made his resolve.
"I will teach you, like I was taught. All of you are weak. But we can change that. You will have to trust me though and you won"t like it." This was also the truth. Laz had not stopped his work outs since he began running. Although he didn"t have the facilities like he used to, that didn"t stop him for even one day.
"Why should I trust you?" Despite her fear and worries, Leona was a strong woman with strong convictions. She wouldn"t blindly trust anyone, especially someone she just met.
"Give me a chance and I will show you." Laz smiled. In the darkening light that currently lacked both sun light and moon light, he had a certain glow about him.
Leona agreed it was worth a try.
...
*Why?*
"Do you really need to ask?"
*Yes. This puts you at risk you know.*
"I"m aware.* Laz was frying two steaks over the two burner stove in the camper.
*Then why?* Vivi was being completely serious at the moment without a hint of her normal playfulness.
"Because..." Laz couldn"t help but hesitate.
*Because you feel guilty, that"s why. Even if you don"t want to admit it to me, at least admit it to yourself. You"re going to take on way too much if you keep this up.*
Laz couldn"t help but sigh to himself. He was suppose to be the adult here and yet she was the one who always seemed to know what was what. It made it really hard to live with her. Looking at Vivi, he once again felt a little weirded out by her. Sometimes she was nothing more than a fun loving pup who had a craving for new things to wear and was innocent about the world. But at other times she was like this all knowing adviser who understood way too much.
But he knew she was right. He always seemed to get himself in trouble when he was trying to help people out, hence why he wanted to try to not be involved... But that never seemed to be what happen. This was just a repeat of some of the s.h.i.t he got himself into over the past year.
"I can"t just leave them..." Laz finished up cooking the steaks while sitting down. Although the table was small, it could seat four people so there was enough room for him and Vivi. He put one plate in front of her while he took the other one. He had warmed up a few side dishes in the microwave and set those out as well, dishing some on to Vivi"s plate. As he was doing so, he felt a paw land on his hand and saw Vivi looking at him.
*It"s fine. That"s just who you are. But at least embrace it fully and not worry so much.*
"Yeah. You are right, once again." Laz shook his head and laughed. He didn"t want to get involved because he didn"t want to get noticed. He was being noticed far too many time recently. But then again, these kids meant no harm.
*So um... there is this site that has these super cute bows...*
"Ah, that"s the cute Vivi I love," Laz couldn"t help but think to himself.
...
In a richly decorated hotel room on the other side of town, a handsome young man with golden blonde hair was busily slamming himself into a young, tender girl in a plaid skirt. Two other guys were also in the room, using their phones to record the blonde man having s.e.x while drinking from some expensive looking wine bottles. Although the man was laughing and grunting while at the same time talking to the two who were recording, the girl was crying while begging them.
"Bweese opppttt." Her voice was hoa.r.s.e and hard to make out. If one were to look at her face, they would barely be able to make out what she originally look like. The left side of her face was completely swollen while the right side was covered in bruises with a nasty cut on her forehead.
"Shut up s.l.u.t and move your hips faster." The blonde man ordered while smacking her plump a.s.s. The spot he hit already had large, almost bleeding welts in the shape of his hand. The strong smack caused her to cry out even more as she tried to do what he asked.
"Ha ha, that"s it boss."
"She will be your trained b.i.t.c.h in no time." The two young drinkers cheered on.
"f.u.c.k this s.l.u.t." He grabbed her hair and yanked her head back.
"I don"t give a s.h.i.t about her." The handsome blonde"s face was twisted in rage and insanity as he started choking her while slamming into her harder.
"I. WANT. THAT. b.i.t.c.h. LEONA." Every word he said was filled with rage as he squeezed tighter and tighter.
"Uh... boss?"
"Boss..."
Both the henchmen looked worried as the girls eyes rolled back and her arms went limp. Despite this, the blonde didn"t stop until he had finished. Climbing off, he didn"t even spare the body a glance.
"Uh, what should we do?" The blonde went over to the window and looked out while lighting up a cigarette. The direction he was looking at also happened to be the direction of Leona"s house.
"Just drive her up the mountain and dump her somewhere remote. By the time anyone knows she"s gone, she will have been eaten."
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"OH? Good idea boss."
"I forgot that the place is crawling with those things now."
"That"s right. A person or two going missing is starting to be the new norm. In this coming world, we will soon be able to do whatever the h.e.l.l we want. It"s like welcoming the coming of Eden."