Chapter 23 [Rx]

Shadows danced on the white walls. I stared at the table in front of me, my chair like ice on my back. Thick wraps surrounded my wrists. I raised my hands but found them locked to the table. I could only move them a few inches. On the table laid piles of colourful tablets.

'Take them, and we will let you go.' a voice said. I scanned the shadows but couldn't figure out who said it. Each shadow twisted into a creature, their hands turning into claws before melting away.

'Let me go!' I tried to yell, but my voice was small. I jerked at the wraps. 'Go away!'

'We need to make you better.' a million voices said at once. One shadow darkened and pulled off the wall with a sickening splat. 'Killer.'

Tears rolled off my face. The shadow stood up.

'Killer.' the shadows on the wall repeated. The standing darkness took form. A man with a distorted face. 'Killer.'

'Hunter.' the man hissed. My eyes widened, and I tried even hard to break free. The wraps turned into metal chains. 'Huntress.'

'No. No, no, no!' I screamed.

'Jadien!' a woman yelled. The man vanished. The shadows faded back into their corners. When I looked at the table, the pills had dissolved into dust. 'Jadien!'

'Mom?' I called. "Mom!"

Pisces 6/2261 12:01

"Mom!" I jolted up in bed. It took a moment before I remembered where I was. On the ship. Heading to Quetzalcoatl. I felt something wet on my face. I reached a shaking hand up and touched my cheek. When I looked at my hand, pink stained my fingers. "What... the... hell..."

I was so stunned I could only stared at my hand. Pink tears? That... that is not normal. I stood and scanned the room for a mirror. After finding none, I headed into the hall. Legend leaned against my door as if waiting for me. I jumped back, shock firing through me. He turned to stare at me.

"What?" I asked. I brushed past him into the washroom. He raised his hands to answer, but I didn't see what he said. I glanced back as he repeated himself.

'Are you alright' he asked. I swallowed and peered in the mirror while he leaned on the doorframe. Pink lines stained my cheeks. Blood. Not much, but enough to notice.

"I'm fine." I grabbed a tissue and wiped the bloody tears away. I stared at my eyes, but they seemed fine.

'You were crying,' he said. I threw the tissue in the garbage and headed towards the door, pushing past him.

"I said I'm fine. Go away." I snapped. I walked up to the stairs and into the cockpit. "How long till D.O."

"Morning Stormy," Raven said. "D.O. in five minutes. I sent your boyfriend to wake you."

"He is not my boyfriend, you absolute ass." I smacked her on the back of the head. Then I froze. Did he hear me screaming? I swallowed and looked out the window. I hope not. "This is Quetzalcoatl? Looks boring."

It was only rocks and cliffs. A few small forests littered the tops of the cliffs, and full rivers sat at the bottom. The trees were bright green against the yellow stones. I struggled to see the villages near the woods. The buildings were made of the same rock as the ground.

We flew over one of the villages. This one was easy to see. Red streaks covered the ground around the buildings. As if crudely drawn streets Dark marks told me something blew up in places. I leaned on Raven's seat and frowned.

"Oh..." I muttered. There was no sign of life. "Bloody hell."

"The call came in the day before we left. Valkyrie sent another team that got here three days ago. They haven't heard from them since." Raven said. Her eyes were cold as she looked at the village. "Do you think they're still alive?"

"Don't know. I want to know why the Legion on interested in Quetzalcoatl. You look at their patterns, they attacked places that had large armies. There's nothing like that here. So why did they attack" I mused.

"Maybe they know something about Quetzalcoatl that we don't." The co-pilot added. I glanced at him and nodded.

"Well, whatever it is, we need to get to it before they do." I stood and turned away. "Drop us here."

"You sure?" Raven asked. I nodded. In the other room, I grabbed a rifle and my pack.

"Legend, let's go!" I called. He appeared from the lower levels. He glanced at Raven in confusion before grabbing his guns.

"Kay opening the ramp!" Raven called. I stood by the ramp and held to the bar. Legend stood about a step behind me, ignoring the hold bar. The ramp hissed open, pulling Quetzalcoatl's dry air into the ship. The wind threw my ponytail into my face and tore at my clothes.

I glanced at the Legend. I held up my arm with my hand closed. Like before, he raised his and tapped the back off mine. I smiled before walking down the ramp. He stepped up beside me, and we watched the ground below us. Raven had slowed the ship as much as possible, but she couldn't land. A rule when working with the Legion. The last explosion was reason enough for that. I took a short breath before jumping. I hit the ground and rolled to a stop. Shock ran through my body, making my wrist and back sting. It had only been a few weeks since I had been hit with the shrapnel. The cuts closed fast, but I don't think they were quite healed yet. I rolled to my feet, flexing my hand.

'You okay?' Legend signed when he noticed my flinching. I shook my hand out and nodded.

"Of course." I lied. I swung my rifle around and held it with my bad hand. It concealed the shaking a bit. "Come on, I want to check the village before anything else."

Legend nodded. He took to the spot beside me, and we walked to the destroyed village. His shadow still unnerving, but I no longer had the instinct to stab him.

"I've been researching you," I commented. He glanced at me in question. I scanned the area to my left. "Not much, but I did learn that you were the second top graduate of your generation. You were noted to be a leader. So why do you follow?"

He raised his hands, letting the gun hang from his shoulder. I watched his hands move in answer. Part of me marvelled that he could make such precise movements in the bulky suit. 'I am not a leader.'

"Your file said you were." I frowned at him. He shrugged, picking up his rifle again. "Okay, better question. Why don't you lead?"

He shook his head. My eyes narrowed at him, annoyed with the half answer. I looked at the village in the distance.

"I hate leading," I said, mostly to myself. "It means that their death is on my head. I have to choose who lives and dies. I hate that burden. So I worked alone. But then... I don't know, maybe I was getting hurt too much on my solo missions, but Jermia decided to pair us.

"At first, I hated it. I hated you. In all honesty, I still don't know what to think about you. You appear to be the stereotypical strong and silent type, but those who play the part of a stereotype are usually hiding something." I turned to face him again, my eyes sharp. His stride faltered a step. "So what are you hiding?"

'You play your stereotype.' he signed. I shrugged and forced a thin smile.

"I'm hiding a lot," I answered. I turned. His footsteps faltered again. I realized then it was not from fear. It was shock. I was nearly positive. Part of me didn't even understand why I was saying so much. I wanted to keep silent. Yet my body seemed to disagree. I bit my tongue hard enough to bleed.