Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Six

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Six

~Food Groups~

After the Fall

“Alright,” Zara sat at a desk, her legs propped up on the table, “let me get this straight. We’re going to the same place.”

“Looks like it,” Chaud smiled at the room full of people.

Miwa sat beside him by the window. He shook himself.

Chaud continued, “It seems that Miwa downloaded the information was the same location where I was told Fang about. Northeast from here on the coast there’s a cove with a sub stationed there.”

“Is it still going to be there when we get there?” Shadow asked.

“It should,” Chaud shrugged, “I’m the only one on the Island who has the codes to start it.”

“Now the question is,” Crow started, “are you supposed to have the codes?”

Chaud just met his gaze, “I neither confirm nor deny.”

“Right,” Zara rolled her eyes, “of course you do.”

“Great!” Crane chimed, “Now we can head out there, right?”

“Not yet,” Fang said, “We have to deal with Chaud’s other issue.”

Zara looked over at Chaud, “What did you do this time?”

“Okay, I just want to go on record and say that I didn’t do anything,” Chaud crossed his arms, “kind of.”

Tempi scoffed, “Sure.”

“He’s being hunted by a group of bounty hunters,” Fang went on to explain, “It looks like this New Order really wants Chaud and his family where they can see them. The Hunters have been on our trail ever since Chaud joined up with us. I admit. They are pretty good at what they do. From what I heard, they almost killed him a few times.”

Zara looked at Chaud, “You almost got yourself killed without me?”

Chaud shrugged, “I wish I could tell you I had a say in the mater. But as it turns out, dying is unpredictable.”

“All right you two,” Tempi interrupted, “let’s get to the point. What are we going to do about those hunters?”

“We could just run for the sub,” Puppetmaster suggested. He sat alone in a corner. Shuppet sat on his shoulder.

“They wouldn’t let us get that far,” Fang stated.

“Then we pound them in to the ground,” Tempi slammed her fist into her palm.

Zara looked at her, “Can’t you think with your head? What about the people who don’t have powers? Couldn’t they get hurt if the hunters decide to attack? And then there are those who have powers. How many vials of Blue Gold do we have? Surely there isn’t enough for everyone and who knows how many the hunters have.”

“How many do we have?” Shadow asked.

“My group has eleven,” Zara said. Everyone looked at her. Zara shrugged, “Leader tendencies to take a mental tally of everything.” Zara looked at Tempi, “I guess only real leaders have that tendency.”

Tempi stepped forward, “Why you—!”

“Nine,” Fang answered.

Crow raised a hand, “Five.”

Puppetmaster smiled, “None.”

Tempi looked around. Not wanting to look incompetent she quickly counted the vials she remembered seeing in her bag, “Three.”

“Twenty-eight,” Miwa added up all the numbers, “We have twenty-eight vials.”

“Thanks, Miwa,” Chaud said, “I’m sure none of us could add on our own.”

“No prob!” Miwa chimed. The he thought a moment, “Hey! Was that sarcasm?”

“No, of course not,” Zara said sarcastically.

“Hey,” Miwa looked at her, “I was just trying to help.” He looked up at Chaud, “I thought we were friends! Why have you joined the enemy!?”

“Enemy?” Chaud was confused.

Fang sighed, “May we get back to the topic at hand. Kids these days…”

“Crane and I could take care of the caravan,” Crow said, “You know, get them away from here while you all fight it out. You can have our vials. We can’t use them.”

“I think that would be best,” Fang nodded.

Crow looked around the room, “How many of you are going to be staying to fight?”

Zara raised her hand, “My team and I are staying.”

“We are too,” Tempi said.

“Shadow and I will stay as well,” Fang said.

“I suppose I could help out,” Puppetmaster smiled, “I wouldn’t want to miss something this interesting.”

“Good,” Fang stated, “We should think of a place for you and the caravan to lie low for a while.”

“We could clear out one of the other hotels around here,” Shadow suggested, “The people in the area seem to be afraid of us. It shouldn’t be that hard to clear them out.”

“I think that would be a good idea,” Crow nodded.

“Do we have a plan?” Fang asked.

Tempi shrugged, “I guess so.”

“We’ll discuss battle tactics later,” Zara said as she stood up.

Fang walked toward the door, “Good. Let’s go get this over with Crow.”

Crow and Crane stood up. Crow followed after Fang and sighed, “Right behind you.”

Shadow and Crane followed after the two men. They appeared to be great friends over the course of the past events. Tempi glared at Zara as she walked out. She paused slightly as she passed her. Their eyes met momentarily before Tempi walked off. Puppetmaster opened the door for the girl. Miwa walked off, muttering to himself about how his best friend had betrayed him and how life was so unfair. Chaud looked after him, wondering if he should go and talked to the dejected pup. He turned to Zara.

“Miwa looks pretty bummed,” Chaud voiced his concern, “Did something happen on your trip?”

“We didn’t blow up any building,” Zara spouted. She cleared her throat before continuing, “Miwa and I just don’t see eye to eye on most, no, everything.”

“Right,” Chaud raised a curious eye brow, “Did you blow up a building, Zara?”

Zara changed the topic, “Tempi seems to hate me.”

“Yeah,” Chaud agreed, “About that building—”

“It’s okay because I don’t really like her either,” Zara shrugged, “You hungry? I am. I’m going to find a bite to eat. After that we can tell the team the plan.”

“The building?” Chaud asked.

Zara crossed her arms. She remained silent for a few more moments before saying anything, “I didn’t have a choice.”

Chaud placed a hand on her shoulder, “It’s okay. I believe you. Now if we can forget this whole almost dying thing…”

“Fine,” Zara walked off.

Chaud followed her. They walked down to the resort’s kitchen. Dr. Jekyll sat in the kitchen. He barely gave the two a look. Zara headed toward the food supply while Chaud talked with Jekyll.

“Did you hear about the meeting?” Chaud asked Jekyll.

Jekyll looked at him, “I guess. Don’t see why no one invited me, thought.”

Chaud smiled, “I’m sure they thought you were busy being the doctor and all.”

“You could have asked,” Jekyll looked over at Zara. He watched her pull a certain of eggs out of the fridge, “To many of those will kill you.”

Zara looked down at the eggs and slowly placed them back. She pulled out some frozen waffles instead.

“If you want to gain weight in your thighs, those will be fine,” Jekyll said.

Zara put the waffles away. She closed the refrigerator and opened the pantry. There were a few stale rice crackers in there and she got them.

Jekyll sighed, “I guess those will do. You’ll be hungry in half an hour though.”

Zara walked past Chaud. Chaud stopped her a moment, “He’s just in a bad mood. You can eat something else if you want.”

Zara bit into her rice cracker, “Yeah, not while he’s sitting there.”

Chaud leaned in and whispered, “I’ll sneak you some pizza or something.”

“Thanks,” Zara took another tiny bite out of her cracker, “these don’t taste very good.”

Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Five

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Five

~Winds of Change~

After the Fall

Chaud woke up when the bus lurched to one side suddenly. The sand storm started a few days ago and had continued since, delaying the caravan’s journey. The winds had subsided substantially the last twenty four hours. There was the occasional strong gust that rattled the vehicle but overall the wind was starting to die down. The bus lurched again. Chaud sighed. There was no way he was getting any more rest.

He stood up and looked out of the window. The visibility was much better than the day before. There was a possibility that they would set out today to the Great Oasis. Fang said they needed more supplies and needed to make a pit stop. Chaud thought it was fine. Their location was near there anyway. Chaud looked out the window and thought to himself.

“What on earth could you be thinking, Chaud?” Puppetmaster asked. His eyes looked with interest at the teen.

Chaud looked over his shoulder, “Nothing.”

“Nothing usually means something,” Puppetmaster smiled.

Chaud decided to throw him a bone, “I just had a dream, that’s all.”

Puppetmaster looked interested, “What kind of dream?”

Chaud shrugged, “Something about a mission. Can’t remember details.”

“You miss the way things were, don’t you,” Puppetmaster said, “Perhaps you miss someone in particular?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chaud said.

Puppetmaster waved a hand, letting the matter pass. The radio in the front of the bus crackled to life. Tempi jerked awake at the noise. She muttered something under her breath before answering it.

“What?” she said, obviously in a bad mood.

“We’re heading out,” Fang said on the others end.

Tempi looked outside, “Now?”

“We need supplies and we need them now,” Fang stated before cutting the line.

Tempi sighed and started the bus. The vehicle rumbled to life. A few slumbering bodies stirred slightly before descending back into sleep. Puppetmaster looked toward the head of the bus.

“It looks like we’re back on the road,” Puppetmaster said.

“Finally,” Chaud looked down at his sister.

Amber had wakened by the bus starting and looked up at her brother. She smiled at him and rubbed her eyes.

“Are we there yet?” Amber asked.

Chaud shook his head and smiled, “Not yet. We’re just getting out again.”

“Oh,” Amber yawned, “okay. Wake me up when we’re there.” She curled up by her brother’s leg and fell asleep in only a few moments.

Chaud looked at her. It was nice to see her so at peace. The past few weeks had been especially hard on them both but especially on Amber. She had to deal with things that Chaud hadn’t wanted her to deal with. In all honestly, she had grown up in the time she and Chaud had been together. Chaud sighed. Taking care of little kids was harder than he thought.

The trip droned on. Eventually Naru woke up. It was amusing to see his hair completely disheveled. Hina made fun of his appearance and said that she didn’t need to take as long as her brother getting ready in the morning. Chaud kept a diplomatic view, not taking one side or the other. Vicky simply watched their antics beside Puppetmaster who found in interesting to see the partial team interact.

Kumo and Chou sat near the front of the bus by their team leader. Chaud glanced at them occasionally. It seemed that Naru, Hina, Kumo, and Chou had come to some mutual understanding. They didn’t talk to each other as much since they were rescued. Now that they were back with they were back with their own teams there wasn’t much of a reason to interact. But Chaud sensed that there would be always be a certain connection between the four of them.

The children started to wake up and make noise. Many of them walked toward Puppetmaster to see what toys he could make them. The parents fed the youngest children food with the supply in the bus. The last to get any food was the older agents. The wind died down throughout the day. Soon the sand cleared up and the sky could be seen. The children in the bus were allowed to open the windows finally.

As the sun started to set, their destination was in sight. They drove toward the Great Oasis for supplies. The caravan curved toward the cluster of oases, resorts and hotels.

Fang veered toward one of the buildings. Shadow leaned against Fang with his feet propped out the window. Fang gave him frequent annoyed glances. Shadow, however didn’t pay him much mind. He even teased Shadow occasionally. Shadow looked our through the dashboard as the windshield wipers smeared sand left and right. He saw something that interested him. Shadow sat up, bringing his feet back into the jeep and pointed.

“Well, what so you think about that?” Shadow smiled, “Looks like someone beat us here.”

Fang had already noticed.

Zara walked out onto a large balcony outside. The sandstorm had subsided and she was out and about to stretch her legs. She propped a sniper on her shoulders and walked around on the balcony. Zara looked out at the desert and stopped. She saw a trail of dust rising in the distance. The caravan approached, Zara called to Deontay.

“Hey!” she called.

“Mmn,” Deontay looked up from what he was doing.

Miwa walked outside. He jumped up on the ledge beside Zara and looked over to see. His tail wagged with excitement.

“We have visitors,” Zara said.

Deontay raised an eyebrow, “Really? Are they coming this way?”

“Yeah,” Zara walked back inside, “I’ll go check things out.”

“I’ll join you,” Deontay followed her, “Keep an eye on things Miwa!”

Miwa turned his head, “Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

Together Deontay and Zara walked out to the front of the resort. The caravan pulled up as Zara walked out into the sun light. The jeep pulled up first. Fang stepped out and looked at her.

“We’ll you seem to be doing well for yourself,” Fang stated.

Zara shrugged, “It’s alright I guess. What are you doing here?”

Fang motioned to the caravan, “We need supplies. That and we’re getting off the Island.”

“The world is small,” Zara pointed to Deontay, “We’re doing the same thing.”

“You have anything we could use?” Fang asked.

Zara motioned inside, “Got a few things. Help yourself.”

“You’re just going to give them to us?” Shadow asked as he walked around the car.

“No,” Zara said, “I just haven’t thought of what I want yet.”

Shadow smiled, “Oh.”

“Zara?”

Zara looked around Fang and saw a school bus. Vicky ran off the bus and ran toward her. Hina walked after her beside her brother. Vicky threw her arms around Zara in a friendly hug. She then ran over to Deontay and gave him a Vicky-sized bear hug. Deontay hugged her back and spun her once in the air.

“Kew!” Kew kewed at Deontay.

Deontay put Vicky down, “Now who is that?”

Kew sat on Vicky’s shoulder. His fur stood up on end making him look bigger than he was. Deontay reached over and petted Kew. At first Kew growled at the stranger but after a while his growling stopped and he even purred a little.

Hina slapped Zara on the back, “Where have you been!? We’ve been looking everywhere for you two!”

“You haven’t been looking at all,” Naru said to his sister.

“I have too!” Hina countered.

Naru looked at Zara, “She wasn’t.”

Chaud walked out of the bus wondering what all the fuss was about. He saw Zara standing there talking with the others. Amber stood by his side. She looked to Zara then back up to her brother. Amber rolled her eyes and sighed. She grabbed ahold of her brother’s hand and pulled him toward Zara.

“Amber wait—!” Chaud struggled.

“Come on! I want to join the others!” she said, “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

When they were close enough, Amber ran behind her brother and pushed him forward. Chaud bumped into Zara. Zara stepped backward. She pushed Chaud away from her.

“Watch where you’re going!” Zara snapped at him.

Chaud smiled, “Sorry, about that.”

Zara looked Chaud over, “You know, I didn’t miss you as much as I’d thought.”

Chaud sighed, “Thanks. I’m glad you feel that way.”

Zara shrugged, “What? I actually enjoyed the peace and quiet that your absence brings.”

“I love you too, Zara,” Chaud caught himself, “As a friend, of course.”

“Right,” Zara walked off, ignoring Chaud the rest of the time.

Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Four

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Four

~The Great Oasis~

After the Fall

“Pineapple or peaches?”

Zara looked over her shoulder, “What?”

Deontay raised up two cans, “Pineapple or peaches?”

Zara rolled her eyes, “I’m not hungry.”

“Suit yourself,” Deontay shrugged. He opened the can of peaches with a knife and ate while he walked.

Zara narrowed her eyes as a gust of wind blew through the desert throwing sand into the air. She took a swig of water as she tried to think. There was a storm coming. She could just feel it and it wasn’t a thunderstorm either. If they were caught out in the desert during a sandstorm they probably wouldn’t make it through.

“How much further?” Zara asked Miwa.

The robotic dog turned his head, “A few more hours maybe, until the oasis.”

“Come on, Deontay!” Zara called, “Lift those legs! Make sure to keep up!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Deontay said as he ate.

They were running out of supplies and decided to stop through the oasis. Miwa said that their way off the Island was near there so taking a slight detour wouldn’t be any problem.  There were several oases that lay like peals in the desert sand but there was one that was unusually large. It was large enough to support several vacation hot spots. In fact, really it was several large oases clustered together in the same area.

Zara wasn’t sure what to expect. There weren’t many people living in the desert but the desert could have attracted several people from the city after the Tower fell because of the fact not many people lived there. The people that came to the desert would need to find water and since most of them didn’t know the ins and outs of the desert the only source of water they would know would be the Great Oasis, where they were headed.

There wasn’t anything she could do about it now. All Zara could really do was to wait until they reached the Great Oasis to figure out what to do from there.

The wind grew gradually stronger as the group of three walked toward the Great Oasis. Zara struggled through the sand. After a few hours, the traveling group crested a large dune they saw the tourist attraction ahead of them in the distance. The buildings in the distance looked abandoned and empty. Zara made it within a mile of the resort type. She ducked down and the others took notice and crouched beside her.

“What’s up?” Deontay asked.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Zara said.

Deontay looked over at Miwa, “Why don’t you ask Miwa?”

“I don’t need to ask Miwa,” Zara stated.

Deontay rolled his eyes, “So Miwa, what is the say on what’s ahead?”

Miwa looked ahead. He scanned the area of the Oasis, “There are a lot of hostiles in the area.”

“Great,” Deontay sighed, “I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“How many oases are there?” Zara asked.

“Seven,” Miwa stated, “Five of them are large bodies of water while the other two are simply smaller connecting lakes.”

“That is a lot of drinkable water,” Deontay nodded.

“The water level has dropped 20% since the Tower fell,” Miwa reported

Zara got back to the problem at hand, “How many resorts and hotels are there?”

“A lot,” Miwa answered. Zara looked at him and scowled. Miwa shrugged in a doglike manor, “What? I just like Deontay better.”

Deontay shrugged, “You are a little rough around the edges.”

“Says someone who likes me,” Zara muttered.

Deontay shook his head, “I told you! I don’t have a crush on you! Someone else does!”

“Right,” Zara didn’t believe a word he said, “Come on, we’ll have to sneak in.”

“What’s the plan?” Miwa asked.

Zara looked at Miwa, “Get ourselves a share of the water here and maybe take over a building while we’re at it.”

Zara crept forward through the dust and grime that blew in the growing wind. Deontay and Miwa looked at each other for a moment. Deontay shrugged and followed close behind Zara. Miwa walked beside Deontay. They reached one of the resort buildings. The building was made almost entirely of glass. The large swinging pool was a buddy brown instead of a crystal blue. People with guns walked into the building as the wind blew in their faces.

“Come on boss!” a grunt complained, “Let us in! A sand storm is coming!”

“Stay there until I say you can come in!” the boss yelled over the howling wind.

Another grunt groaned, “But boss! No one’s going to try to take out turf in the middle of a sand storm!”

“I’ll leave all of you out there if you don’t shut up and maintain the perimeter!” the boss yelled, “Do you want that!? No? Then shut up!”

The door slammed shut and the grunts that stood guard grumbled quietly to themselves. They walked toward their posts and stood guard. Zara looked at Deontay.

“So what’s the plan?” Miwa asked.

“Do we really need this building?” Deontay asked.

Zara shrugged, “I’ve always wanted to visit this resort. Never had the time though.”

Deontay cracked his knuckles, “Alright.”

“Really though,” Miwa sat in between them, “what’s the plan?”

Visibility was bad so Zara decided to use it to their advantage. Zara vaulted over the wall of dried bushes with Deontay’s help. She landed on her feet and couched in the sandy haze. Zara ran low to the ground toward the nearest grunt. She crept up behind him and pulled his legs out from under him. As he fell, she grabbed his gun and struck the man in the jaw with the butt of the gun.

She threw the gun over the bush for Deontay before turning to deal with the rest of the look outs. Zara ran toward another hazy figure in the sand.

The man took notice of a noise, “Don, what was tha—”

Zara ran up and kicked the man in the jaw. He dropped to the ground unconscious. Zara sighed. It wasn’t as stealthy as she had wanted but she could adapt. The rest of the men on the outside knew that she was there. They just still couldn’t see her. She darted toward another man and knocked him out. Then she grabbed his gun and aimed it at the others.

“Drop your weapons!” Zara called.

“There’s like five of us and only one of you!” a man called, “Why would we do that?”

Zara shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

Miwa lunged out of the swirling sand behind the men. He tackled one of them and quickly turned to take down another. His tail lashed out, grabbed a man’s leg and gave a short electrical shock enough to knock him out. Another man raised his gun at Miwa. Deontay hit the man’s arm upwards then hit him in the stomach with the butt of the gun Zara tossed to him. As the man boubled over, Deontay stuck him in the side of the head with the same weapon. In an easy movement, Deontay slung the weapon onto his back and raised his empty shot gun at another man.

“Not so fast, man,” Deontay stated. The man had raised his weapon. Upon seeing the sawed off double barrel shot gun, the man thought twice. He placed down the weapon in his hand and raised his hands. Zara walked up to him.

She looked down at the man, “It’s empty.”

Zara hit the man in the back of the head. She motioned to Deontay and Miwa to head to the door. The class door was covered in a sand film. Deontay walked up to the door and knocked on the widowed glass.

“I TOLD you! You come in when I say you do!” the boss yelled.

Deontay looked at Zara. She motioned to the door. Deontay shrugged and knocked again.

“You bunch of idiots! How many times do I have to say it?! You are not getting in!” the boss yelled.

Deontay nodded, “Challenge accepted.” He grabbed the handle.

“Don’t break my door,” Zara stated.

Deontay looked at her, “I got it, sheesh.”

He pulled on the door handle. The door remained closed, locked from the other side.

“Deontay,” Zara said with a hint of a threat, “I want a door by the end of this whole thing.”

“I know, I know,” Deontay waved a hand at her.

He took a stance and yanked on the door again. The door flew open. Zara ran in and raised her weapon. Miwa ran in beside her. The people in the lobby looked up and got to their feet. Zara looked at Miwa and pointed to the balcony. Miwa ran up the stairs, his tail tazed the men he passed by. Zara ducked down as shots flew passed her. She darted forward and jumped behind the info desk. Zara reloaded her weapon and fired at arms and legs; nonlife threatening injuries. Deontay walked in as the wind blew the door closed again. He sighed and got to work.

Deontay made his way through the resort looking for something in particular. He spotted his target. The leader noticed Deontay’s interest in him and turned to run down a hallway. Deontay rolled his eyes and followed him. The leader ducked into an office with Deontay close on his trail. When Deontay neared the room the man let loose a string of bullets. Deontay crossed his arms and waited a few seconds until he heard a click. He entered as the leader tried to reload his weapon. His fingers fumbled with the clip as Deontay simply watched him.

“You done?” Deontay asked.

The man dropped his weapon and raised his hands with an unsure smile. Deontay grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him back out to the lobby. He raised the man to his feet and pressed his empty shotgun to his back.

“Alright!” Deontay’s voice boomed. Everyone quieted down to look at him, “I’m only going to say this once! The lady wants the resort! So everybody else, get out!”

For a moment everyone just looked at each other, wondering what to do.

Deontay raised his weapon, “I mean it! If you go now you should be able to get to the hotel down the street before the winds pick up to much.”

The men started running out the door. When the door closed behind the last man, Deontay let the leader go who dashed for the door. Miwa and Zara walked to Deontay’s side.

“That went well,” Deontay propped the gun on his shoulder.

Miwa sat down, “That was fun! I really should join your guys’ team!”

“No,” Zara said. She turned around, “Come on. Let’s barricade the resort and make it storm ready. I don’t want those guys coming back. That and I don’t want sand getting in my new resort.”