Iridescent
Chapter
Seventeen
~Tapetum Lucidum~
After the
Fall
Naru drove
the motorbike though the sands. He was glad they found goggles in the packs
that were with the bikes because driving in the sands wasn’t the most glamorous
of situations. He looked over his shoulder briefly and saw Kumo riding slightly
behind. Hina sat behind her brother and Chou sat behind hers.
They crossed
Sand Rock Gorge over the first land bridge they came across a few days before.
Now they were driving north east wandering the desert looking for a place to
settle. They had some gas to last them a little while longer but it wasn’t
going to be long enough in the long run. The desert was large and the heat only
made it feel larger.
He looked
forward again and mentally took note of their supplies. Since they took some of
the supplies from the bikers they had enough food and water to last them a week
or two if they rationed. Still Naru hoped for there to be an unoccupied oasis
for them to settle. Naru felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Could we
stop a minute?” Hina asked.
Naru nodded
and slowed down the bike, “You need something?”
“Yeah,” Hina
rolled her eyes, “a bite to eat!”
Naru stopped
and shook his head. Hina jumped off the bike and opened on of the bags and
brought out a microwave dinner. She took it out of its box and threw it in the
sand. This was how they were getting their warm meals in recent days. The sand
and the sun acted like an oven and cooked whatever they really needed cooked.
Chou brought
out a blanket and laid it out before sitting on it. She brought out a book that
one of the bikers had on them and started reading out loud to the others as
they waited for their food. Kumo brought out a zither he was making out of a
piece of wood he found half buried in the sand. He worked on his instrument as
his sister read from the book. Hina practiced throwing her chains at imaginary
targets as she sat down in the sand.
Naru looked
around. It was an incredible sight. All the sand seemed to stretch on and never
end just like the grass in the plains. It was times like this that Naru
remembered how big the world was. He opened a book he found in one of the packs
and started writing. It wasn’t a journal exactly. He did write in it daily
since he found it and used it mostly for determining rations. But there were excerpts
of little poems and drawings when he was board.
“He was
calling up at Daisy’s request — would I come to lunch at her house to-morrow?
Miss Baker would be there. Half an hour later Daisy herself telephoned and
seemed relieved to find that I was coming. Something was up. And yet I couldn’t
believe that they would choose this occasion for a scene — especially for the
rather harrowing scene that Gatsby had outlined in the garden.
“The next day
was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer. As my
train emerged from the tunnel into sunlight, only the hot whistles of the
National Biscuit Company broke the simmering hush at noon. The straw seats of
the car hovered on the edge of combustion; the woman next to me perspired
delicately for a while into her white shirtwaist, and then, as her newspaper
dampened under her fingers, lapsed despairingly into deep heat with a desolate
cry. Her pocket-book slapped to the floor.” Chou read.*
“I don’t get
this story,” Kumo stated.
“What isn’t
there to get?” Chou smiled, “It’s a great story.”
Kumo shrugged,
“I’m not buying it.”
“You want me
to stop reading?” Chou asked.
Kumo strummed
a few stings on his zither, “Nah, go ahead keep reading. Just seems kind of
boring.”
Chou smiled,
“It’s about to get a whole lot more interesting. Just hold out until the end of
the chapter. It’ll pick up promise.”
“Fine,” Kumo
looked slightly interested, “We’ll see how it turns out.”
An aroma of
Salisbury steak, baked potatoes, vegetables and pie stirred their stomachs. The
four teens looked at each other. Quickly they turned toward each other.
“Rock, paper,
scissors, shoot!” they chanted together.
“Yes!” Kumo
cried when his rock smashed everyone’s scissors, “Come here steaky! Come to
papa!”
“Dang it!”
Hina crossed her arms.
Kumo helped
himself to the steak while the others played two more rounds in rock, paper,
scissors once more. Chou clapped her hands when she wrapped Hina’s rock in the
first round and cut Naru’s paper in the second round. She took the pie for
dinner.
Hina glared at
her brother. They were the only two left and there was no way she was going to
get stuck eating the vegetables. She wanted the baked potatoes and she was
going to win this game of rock, paper, scissors. Naru looked at his sister.
Personally, he wanted the vegetables anyway but wasn’t about to admit that.
“Rock, paper,
scissors!” Naru and Hina chanted.
Tied, rock for
rock.
“Rock, paper,
scissors!”
Tied, paper
for paper.
“Rock, paper,
scissors!”
Finally, Naru
lost. His scissors were no match for Hina’s rock. Hina threw her hands in the
air in celebration. She grabbed the baked potato and started eating it. Hina
made a face. She spit out a piece of uncooked potato. Naru ate his vegetables
like a good little boy. He looked at his sister with a hint of a smile. Of
course she wouldn’t remember that it took potatoes a little longer to cook. She
looked at her brother with a smile.
“Hey, you
know, maybe you want the potato,” she smiled, “You had the vegetables last
time.”
Naru ate a
green bean, “No thanks. I’m good.”
Chou tried to
stop herself from giggling but the smile on her face was so obvious. Kumo
shrugged and continued eating his steak. Naru bit into a carrot with the most
serious look on his face.
“Come on, bro!
I’m starving!” Hina cried.
Naru pointed
to the container, “Just leave it out a little while longer. It should be ready
by sun down.”
Chou broke out
in laughter, “Sorry, Hina. I guess we should have told you first.”
Hina crossed
her arms, “Whatever, I’ll wait.”
As the sun set
Hina ate her potato in peace. Chou and Kumo dug holes in the sand where they
nestled in to the warm sand for the night. Naru sat against one of the bikes
and kept watch. While the others slept, Naru looked up at the hazy moon behind
the low overcast as it sailed higher and higher in the sky. He wondered what
the stars looked like behind the clouds. It had been several months since he
had been able to take a good look at them.
When the hazy
moon passed a certain point in the sky, Naru moved from his position and nudged
Kumo.
“Mmn,” Kumo
muttered.
Naru rolled
his eyes, “Wake up. It’s your turn to keep watch.”
“Yeah, yeah,”
Kumo waved a hand.
Naru sighed
and started digging a hole for himself. The sand had cooled down a bit but
underneath the cold layer was warmth. He nudged Kumo again before settling into
his hole. When he didn’t hear Kumo stir, Naru sighed.
“Kumo,” he
said with an edge to his voice.
“I’m up, I’m
up,” Kumo said.
Satisfied that
the next sentry was finally awake, Naru fell asleep.
Naru woke up
suddenly. He looked into the darkness blankly wondering what had woke him. It
was quiet as the moon sailed quietly overhead. The air was cool after a hot
day, a stark contrast of what the weather had been while they were riding. He
heard his sister’s breathing nearby as she slept. Naru narrowed his eyes. He
found in strange because where the moon was located he guessed that it was in
the early morning hours and Hina was supposed to be on watch.
Naru shot up
and looked around. The three of his company were asleep with no one awake to
keep watch. Something moved on the edge of a bluff a ways away. Four slender
body’s walked toward them on four legs. Naru hurried to his hands and feet.
“Hina!” Naru
shook his sister, “Hina, wake up!”
Hina jerked
away and looked around with confusion, “W-what?”
“Wake up, come
on!” Naru hurried his sister. He looked over at the other two and shook them
awake.
Naru looked
back at the bikes. He got up and ran toward the bike and started going through
the bags. Naru found a flare and pulled it out of the bag. He took off the cap
and struck the end of the flare. The flare lit up and he threw it over their
heads toward the bluff where he saw the approaching threat.
The flare
landed a few feet away from the group and lit up the surrounding area. Four
pairs of eyes light up and glared at them. Chou, who was the closest, jumped to
her feet and backed away. She grabbed her brother and pulled him toward the
bikes. Hina also got up and ran toward her brother.
“What are
they?” Chou asked.
Naru sighed,
“Lions.”
“Lions don’t
live in the desert!” Hina looked at her brother, “Do they?”
Kumo rolled
her eyes, “Well, apparently they do Genius.”
The lions
crept closer, closing in on their prey. They avoided the flare and continued
forward. Naru grabbed another flare and threw it. The lions backed off a bit at
the light.
“What are we
going to do?” Chou asked.
“No sudden
movements,” Naru said, “If we run they’ll chase us down and catch us in
approximately 8.9 seconds. If they don’t bit us in the neck first we might last
10.”
“That’s
encouraging…” Kumo rolled his eyes.
“I found these
while I was looking for the flares,” Naru held out two vials of Blue Gold. The
vials glowed in the dark.
“I really
don’t think stuff that glows in the dark is healthy for you,” Chou looked
uncertain.
Kumo looked
over, “There’s only two vials.”
“These were
all I could find,” Naru looked out at the lions, “If you want to look for more
be my guest but don’t expect me to help while you’re getting mauled by a lion.”
“I’ll use
one!” Hina sounded a little too excited.
“My powers are
pretty useless in this situation,” Kumo said.
Naru nodded,
“Same here. There isn’t a drop of water around.”
Chou looked
around, “Are you serious? I don’t want to inject myself with that stuff!”
“I don’t want
to be digested, soooooo….” Kumo stated.
“Just hand it
to me! I’ll handle it!” Hina was shaking with excitement.
“Hang on a
second!” Naru looked at his sister.
Kumo looked
out at the coming lions, “I say give it to her. Let her go ham on those beasts.”
“Give it to
me! I want my powers back!” Hina was pleading with her brother.
“Just a sec—”
Hina grabbed a
vial and pricked herself. The lions ran at them and Hina ran forward, laughing
hysterically. She used her chains and used them as a whip to strike the ground.
A shock wave blew up sand and dust along with blowing a few lions back. She
used her other chain to attack the other lions blowing them away as well.
Frightened and startled, the lions ran away.
“Yeah! You
run!!!” Hina shouted, “You ain’t got nothing on this!”
She stopped
her celebration suddenly and doubled over and threw up. Naru shook his head and
sighed while Kumo stood back and made a face of disgust. Chou ran up to Hina
and started comforting her.
“Glad she’s
riding with you,” Kumo said.
“Who says
we’re going anywhere?” Naru looked at him.
Kumo looked
shocked, “Hey, those lions know our address! I’m getting out of town before
their wounded pride hurts enough to come back and finish what they started!”
Naru sighed as
Kumo went to get the bikes ready. He had to admit. Kumo had made a good point
and the more he thought about it the more he wanted to get a very early start
on the road.
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