CHAPTER 54

7246

DEVON

We first set camp out in the Estrain Outbacks, a cone-shaped plain where the wind screeches through the crevices as if they were banshees into the night. We walked for hours, transportation had to be divvied up amongst the teams that went out and there simply had not been enough for everyone. And so...we walked.

We walked until we could no more, the night did nothing to persuade us on our tracks. Luckily, any small disturbances were nothing to scoff at—travelers looking to mug us were quickly turned away when they saw our power suits. They figured it wasn't worth the hassle getting knocked to the ground several times, so they simply left with a happy "how do you do."

I could tell they were out for no good because nobody sane would dare walk outside without a reason, and they didn't carry the necessity of life—they weren't worried about being out so late. So, they must be there for the purpose of taking advantage of others around them.

Andrew bends over to stretch as we set up the wood we gather. Noah reaches in his pocket for the fire-starter, but Andrew stops him, shaking his hand and nodding, "Let me try."

Confused, he steps back as Andrew places his arm back to his side, taking in a deep breath, closing his eyes, shielding the sky from their green reflections. He shakes a little as he begins to get visibly agitated, and I'm about to walk over toward him when I notice a small flickering of light beside the wood. It begins to catch aflame, and I look at it with amazement. "That was you?"

I can see a grin form on his face, "Yes!" he whispers to himself. He looks up and then feels a stroke of embarrassment, "Oh, uh, yeah. Pyrokinesis was something I learned really early on. I can control the waves around my body and excite them enough to catch fire."

"That's sick," I say.

"It's good to know you won't be totally useless," Noah says, picking at something on his finger, half paying attention, then looking up to him, "Just kidding, of course."

The night passes into the morning we continue our journey through the Estrain Outback. This time, no hoodlums stop our tracks and the sky is a clear force, wishing us well on our track. We don't stop again until we reach the end of the coneish landscape, it dips down and funnels into a cavernous exit. Noah says that this cavern leads to the bottom of the mountain that we must scale to be opposite of the one overlooking the Westerwinds. From there Andrew can transport us where we need to be and we can do our thing...whatever that thing may be.

The outback becomes a little less lonely when we see a checkpoint set up just before the entrance to the cavern. I see about seven or so Garexians encompassed around the whole stand, and unlike Jol, these are fully outfitted in soldier-like armor. Helmets formed around their massive heads and metallic banding to cover their abdomens. I make no mistake in assuming they haven't noticed us already.

"You might want to stay a bit back," I turn the slightest to Andrew.

"Itching for a fight?" He asks.

"Not so much an itch..." I say, noticing that one of them has started toward us.

"How do you want to play this?" Noah asks.

"Why are you asking me?"

"I don't know, you seem to be taking charge, walking ahead of us. You think we can take them on?"

"Honest answer or one that would make you both feel better?"

"Honest," Andrew says.

"No way in hell."

"How about the one that'd make us feel better?" Noah asks.

"No way in frozen hell."

"How does that make us feel better?"

"Honesty's got a way of doing that."

I look down and then back up toward the Garexian heading toward us, the others have begun to join—they must see the power armor and know we're more than rowdy travelers who've gotten lost. That means that we need to take the action to them, first.

"Incapacitate, don't kill," I say. "Not their fault they're forced to be soldiers."

"You think we don't know that?" Andrew asks.

"Just making sure we're all on the same page."

"Should have done that back in camp."

All right, let's get this show on the road. I activate my strength, and lower my gravity as I kick off from the ground, transitioning quickly into channeling my speed into forward momentum—cancelling the rest of them out with my shield hardening around me like a human-sized bullet. This seems to catch the Garexian in the lead off guard, he dives out of the way, hitting the ground hard as he skids on his armor. Noah takes the opportunity and grabs for the gun at his side underneath his trench coat, the wave blaster. I see it for a fraction of a second and my heart leaps as I jump to the thought of him using it to completely eradicate the Garexian. I leap out with my speed before I hit the ground, creating a small sonic boom as I propel myself backward toward Noah. He falls back and the gun's shot flies upward, vibrating against the ceiling of the funnel before breaking apart.

"Agh, what the fuck are you doing?" He yells.

The rocks from above recreate a scene deep from Roland's memories as they crash toward the fallen Garexian, however just before they land Andrew steps up and stops them from falling. He navigates the waves and the boulders catch a hearty flame around them, launching them toward the checkpoint. They crash into the building, denting and crumpling it like a bonfire. This doesn't seem to please the Garexians at all.

"You were going to use your wave blaster on that Garexian! What the fuck happened to incapacitate, not kill?"

He shakes his head as if he'd been told that two plus two equaled seven, "I was aiming for his armor! We're not doing much to them with it on."

The first Garexian stands up, stretches, and begins to run toward us.

"Ugh, damn it, talk later." I say.

"Least you can do is trust me not to kill them," Noah mutters, standing.

"The both of you, quit it. We have more pressing matters." Andrew says, lifting the first Garexian out of the air, throwing him back toward the crowd behind him as if he were bowling. One of them with dark brown-almost-black fur jumps over the attack and pounces, leaping toward me with a scraping claw. He catches my leg and I scream out. White blood sprays into the air. Andrew turns his head to me instinctively, and then I feel a weird rushing sensation in my leg that makes me more uncomfortable than the pain. I see the blood returning to my leg and feel the wound closing up.

"Thank me by getting up and doing something," he says, lifting the Garexian off of me.

I nod and stand back up; activating my speed and feeling my strength power through me. I can feel the brush of Andrew's telekinesis on my back as I break through another sonic boom, sending the other Garexians off of their feet. Noah aims his gun again, "You're gonna need to trust me on this, Devon. I can make the shot."

"What if you don't?" I ask. "That's too much a risk!"

"Not a problem!" He calls back, pulling the trigger, sending out the shot. I activate my speed and rush in to slam myself into the Garexian, sending him aside, the shot misses again.

"What the hell?" He calls out. He shrugs and adjusts a switch on the gun, aiming it at the ground just below the Garexians and fires, caving in the ground underneath the fallen beasts, incapacitating them just as intended. The ground shakes all around them, but he looks directly toward me.

"I said it was too big a risk!"

He shakes his head, activating his speed and stepping up close to me—face to face. "It's not. The guns sync up to specific material's waves. I'm synced to their armor, I can only disrupt their armor. I told you about this."

I remember, and feel it hits me as what he said was true. The gun has to get a reading for it to be useful, and of course he wouldn't have the reading of Garexian waves as there's not been the issue that's needed it.

"I...I'm sorry. I forgot."

He jerks his head back, "You forgot because you got cocky about this leader business. Look, I said that as a joke. You aren't the leader, here." I don't know what to say. I stand back as I look at the hole that his gun created and back over to him. "I incapacitated them, happy?" He shakes his head and walks off.

Andrew walks over to me, standing as he usually does, as if he has something to debate. "You know...that thing I mentioned about a team that works well together gets stuff done together? Well, it works in reverse, too. A team that can't work as a team fails as one."

I look up to the ceiling above us where the first shot had hit, "I know...ugh. I know I fucked up. I was just so worried about doing the right thing, that anything that had the chance of fucking up couldn't happen. What if innocents died while I tried to do the right thing? Would I just continue to be a fuck up?" I shake my head, "I'm sorry for unloading."

"No, no, it's fine. I've unloaded quite a bit onto you as it were. But it isn't me you should apologize to. I did mean what I said, and I know that you want to do good, but you have to trust that we do too. You can't let what happened in the past catch up to you again and again."

"Yeah...Okay. I'll go talk to him, you want to go check on the Garexians and make sure they'll be okay?"

He nods, and I jog over across the way and find Noah holstering his gun just outside the burning heap that used to be the checkpoint building. "Hey, uh, listen..." I say as he turns around, "...I'm sorry I didn't trust your intuition."

He wipes a hand across his forehead and looks down, "I know you have your own stuff that you're going through and understanding."

"But I shouldn't have interfered. It only makes our job harder. I'm sorry."

He sighs, "Just trust that I know what I'm doing. You may not, but you'll get it. We have little room for error."

I nod my head, looking back toward Andrew who has just started coming back from the caved in section of the ground.

"They're alive, but unconscious. The combination of the sonic boom and the quake did a number on them."

"Okay, well, that means we need to keep moving. We still gotta clear through this cave before the sun sets if we're going to stay on schedule," Noah says.

"Okay, well, let's get going." I turn to Andrew, "And nice call on burning their outpost...but what was that crazy magic on my leg?"

"Well, thank you," he nods. "And I just felt the waves around your body, and helped navigate everything back where it was supposed to be."

"Geesh, here I am all thin and tan and you feel up the newbie, I'm kind of offended," Noah regards him, taking a few steps to the cave.

"Oh hop off it," Andrew calls to him.

"Are you still able to get it up, anyhow?" Noah asks.

"Glad you two are still without a room together," I say.

"N-No." Andrew says, flustered. "You know I'm not..."

"Wife, I know," Noah says continuing along. "But you're a widow my friend, and you're not getting any younger," he winks.

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