Kate stayed standing as I sat down with the group, “Sure sure, everyone bounces back from bullets. It’s the new common cold. Hey Wolf, can I borrow you for a second? If anyone can get the truth out of him it’s John.” Wolf looked confused for a second and then shrugged before getting up and walking off with her.
I honestly have no idea how I didn’t notice how weird that was. Her kisses must’ve had some kind of dazing effect.
“Tell ‘em John, tell ‘em I’ve never been to the Middle East.” he pleaded.
I smiled slyly, “How would I know?”
His face turned to an only half-genuine devastated look, “How dare you!? After all we’ve been through!”
The groups shared a laugh for a little while. I could almost feel the love in the air, a tangible cloud of pure joy that had finally started to come down onto us, much like the heavy rain that bounded off the metal roof.
Mark turned his ear to the ceiling, “You think we’ll get any hail?”
Clara followed Mark’s example before shaking her head at the odd angle, “Nah, I reckon it’ll pass by the morning. Wouldn’t surprise me if we got a fair few blue sky days from here on out.” I liked the sound of that, some real time to enjoy the sensation of warm light not bubbling my flesh away sounded positively divine.
I looked back to Harry, “Don’t go changing the topic guys, we’ve still got to find out the go with Har here.”
Harry sighed exhaustedly, “You’re really not gonna let it go, are you?”
“Nope.” I said smugly.
That’s when Mark shot Harry a look that most wouldn’t notice, giving each other a silent and almost invisible cue, Hell, I’ve been trained to notice those kinds of things and even I barely caught it. Then Harry loosened up and shrugged, “Remember how I told you about Spain? I actually did some work there for the locals, nothing big, just enough to get some money behind me.”
Mark relaxed as his partner in crime peppered lies with tiny truths, don’t get me wrong, I was intrigued, but I knew better than to press, “Cool, must’ve been interesting.”
Then Clara jumped in on the conversation, “Hold on…” all three of us held our breath, waiting for some factoid to tear down their web of lies, “The other night when we were… I didn’t notice any scars.”
We exhaled almost in unison and Harry shrugged, “Never got shot before, just got taught how to handle it.”
‘Clever,’ I thought to myself, ‘burying more lies with more truths, very clever.’
Everything was quiet for a few seconds, other than the torrential rain which had gotten to deafening levels, and right as I went to initiate a new conversation Kate and Wolf showed up again, visibly uncomfortable about something, “All good you guys?” I asked animatedly, to which they responded with a half-hearted shrug before Wolf sat down.
“Can I borrow you for a second John?” She asked with a sweet smile on her face.
I had a feeling I knew where it was going, I shot up dusted myself off and nodded, “Sounds good.” I said with probably a little too much vigour.
Kate led me away from the group and out the back door and into the barely covered area next to the truck, “Any reason we couldn’t do this inside?”
She nodded, “I just… I want this to be a moment for us because… Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about you and me and where we’re going.” She was mostly talking to the dirt around my feet, her voice barely coming out over the sound of the rain.
I almost wanted to scream ‘I love you too!’ so she didn’t have to feel so bloody awkward, but I didn’t want to seem presumptuous either, so instead I just went with barely being able to contain myself and politely nodding.
I know it seems weird, but I’d been waiting for that moment for so long. A month of searching and killing and running but I’d found her and now, after a few days of putting it off, we were both ready.
She straightened up and looked me directly in the eyes, the spray of rain shining in tiny droplets on her lightly billowing hair, “John…”
That was it, the moment of truth.
The moment that would make everything that had happened become acceptable, it would finally be worth all the pain and the suffering.
I would be able to justify what had been tearing me up inside.
Losing Steve and Greg, Harry beating a guy to death and getting shot, finding out that both he and Marcus were much more than they seemed and most importantly Gabriel’s story about how Kate and Wolf had decided that I was dead and left me behind.
It was all about to be okay.
“I…”
‘Here it comes!’
“Love…”
‘Don’t interrupt her!’
I could barely control the smile that was spreading across my face, I felt fuzzy, trembling under the weight of my ready to explode heart.
“Wolf.”
“Oh…”
Fuck me, right?
Feelings
“What..? What!?” My emotions had gone into overdrive, speeding right through betrayed and hurt to flat-out rage.
Kate took in a deep breath and exhaled peacefully. Yeah, like she needed to feel better right now, “I love Wolf.”
“Yeah, no, I got that.” I said snidely with a sardonic smile. I felt like my gut was being ripped out of my throat. I paced around angrily without direction, all I wanted to do was run away, hide, just be far away from all the crap, but something was pinning me to that spot.
Was it hubris?
Was it my friends sitting just inside? Who knows, point is I was stuck stomping around wondering if I was justified in my feelings or just throwing a tantrum.
It was maddening.
“Just calm down Joh-”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” I almost literally barked, “You could’ve told me this before you bloody kissed me!”
“I needed to be sure.” She muttered, her gaze returning to the ground as she did so.
“Sure of what!?” I shouted as I spun to face her, “You see, I was under the impression that if you love someone it’s pretty fucking obvious!”
Wolf, what with his perfect timing, came outside at the exact moment that Kate looked up with teary eyes and puffy cheeks, “What’s going on out here? Is everything alright?” He asked me.
I scoffed and pointed at Kate, desperately trying not to look at her for fear that if I saw her crying again I’d burst into tears, “Well I’m sure Kate has something to tell you.”
His head snapped to face Kate, “You told him?”
I almost felt the realisation wash over my face, “You knew!?”
“Yeah… sorry…” He said as he walked over and embraced the sobbing Kate.
“Oh for..! How long has this been going on!?”
Kate’s face filled with anger as she pushed away Wolf and started staring me down, “You’re not the only one this hurts! Do you have any idea-!”
“Don’t! Don’t you dare tell me how hard this is for you!”
Mark busted through the door, “What the Hell are you guys yelling about!” He hissed, “You’ll bring in the zeds!” A sudden burst of rain nullified his statement and his anger, that or sympathy, “What’s wrong John?”
“I suppose you knew too!” I shouted unreasonably.
He looked at me utterly perplexed, “Knew what?”
I was a fuming, uncontrollable, unpredictable and a completely terrifying sight to behold. Kind of like a spoiled sixteen year old girl, “Just..! Whatever!” I screamed as I stormed off to the next hangar and barged my through the backdoor, knocking it off its hinges and across the hangar.
I sat in the right corner closest to the large closed doors and wanted to be able to cry, but I couldn’t for the life of me. For ten long minutes I sat in silence and tried to calm my thumping heartbeat and my rapid breathing, giving up on any attempt to actually control my emotions.
I nearly drifted off for a moment, that probably would’ve been nice, but then Mark came through the door, “
Hey. I would’ve knocked but… You have a habit of breaking these things, don’t you?” He said in a vain attempt to lighten the mood. When he saw that that wasn’t going to get a positive response out of me he shrugged and continued his walk toward me before plopping down few feet in front of me and sighed, “So… They filled me in. I’m sorry buddy.”
I felt like I was getting the break-up talk from my dad…
I was getting the break-up talk.
I know it seems odd for someone over two centuries old, but I was born in a different time, and over the years I hadn’t really been in anything overly serious. And yes, I am aware that it is kind of sad that what Kate and I had was serious in my books, but it’s kind of hard to find someone who you not only have a connection with but is also immortal.
I stretched my legs out and leaned on my palms, “Do you think I’m being unreasonable Mark?” I said almost weakly.
He brewed on the question for a moment before shaking his head, “Not really. I mean, I’m sure there were better ways it could’ve been handled, most involving not breaking down doors, but I’ve seen these kinds of things end up worse. At least you haven’t tried to kill anyone.”
“Day’s not over.” I joked.
Mark exaggerated his uncomfortable laugh, a bid to try and hide the, what I thought was unreasonable, fear he felt.
Maybe it had something to do with me breaking Steven’s spine that one time…
Eh, can’t please everyone.
“Heh… Yeah… how are you feeling now though? Any better?”
I attempted a smile but I felt that it was something slightly creepier that appeared so I stopped trying and stuck with my emotionally drained huffiness, “Yeah, yeah… Look, I’ll be fine. It was just… After she kissed me I thought everything was finally back to normal. I felt all fuzzy and warm and all that crap.”
Marcus stood up and reached out for my hand, “We’ll get there, I know it. But for now it’d be best if we got some sleep.”
I took his waiting hand and let him pull me to my feet, my huffiness replaced with intrigue, “We just got a full night, you really think we need another?”
He led me toward the door and I faintly remembered the last time he’d led me through a hangar, though I doubted that it was going to end with armour and tears. “I don’t reckon we’ll get a chance to touch down ‘til the base and, unless you think we’re gonna find a jet at the airport, it’ll be at least a few hours of flight-time. And, honestly, I’d prefer to have a pilot without baggage under their eyes.” I silently hoped that puns like that weren’t going to become a regular occurrence.
Boy was I wrong.
Wake-up Call
An explosion ripped through my pitch black dreamscape shortly before Neysor’s voice roared my name.
“Not this again…” I grumbled, “Won’t even leave me alone when I’m sleeping. Would you just fuck off alrea-!” Mark silenced me with his hand across my mouth. ‘Oh… Not dreaming… Delightful.’
“I thought you said you killed him!” Mark hissed as the others groggily got to their feet.
I pushed his hand off of my mouth and popped up into a standing position, “I thought I did.” I growled in response. I still wasn’t quite awake but luckily my brain was, ‘Think. Think. Think.’ I commanded my other half, ‘That’s it! The-‘ “Truck!”
Mark gave me a confused look and I remembered the oh so glorious gift of context.
I clapped him on the shoulder and pointed out the back door, “You take the others with the truck, I’ll meet you a kay north on the highway in fifteen minutes. I’ll hold off gigantor for as long as I can.”
Harry decided to butt in with a rather obvious question as he and the others all began crowding around Mark and I, “Why don’t we all just go?”
It took me a second to come up with a reason that wasn’t just wanting to vent some rage, but I got there, “Because I’m operating under the assumption that no-nose out there is after me.”
“Get out here John!” Neysor bellowed almost in response and the sound of a heavy metal something being dragged along became apparent as it drew closer.
“Case in point.” I said while gesturing to the source of the voice just beyond the closed doors.
Kate shook her head, “Doesn’t matter John, he’ll track us anyway, we should stay and fight.”
“No!” I barked a little harsher than expected, “Look… Just… Just go. It’s safer if I stay behind, I’ve dealt with him before and last time I bought us two days, that’s more than enough to get us to Tasmania and I strongly doubt he’s got wings.”
Mark picked up the duffel and frowned at me, “He has access to interstellar star-ships John.”
That’s when Neysor threw the massive hangar doors open like they were nothing more than sliding screens.
Honestly? I was just thankful that I didn’t have to answer to Mark’s damned logic. The first thing I noticed about Neysor was the clothes, a baggy red jumper and a pair of equally baggy black slacks.
I probably should’ve suppressed the laugh, “Hey guys! Look! He thinks he’s people!” I mocked as I turned my back on my opponent.
I only just managed to turn in time to see a propeller flying at me like a massive shuriken. Side-stepping with less than a meter to spare, I watched as it whistled past all my friends and Kate and tore through the back wall like it was paper, “Everyone out. Now.” I said calmly and measuredly, turning back to see the still recovering Neysor.
The sound of feet bouncing off the smooth floor behind me brought an undeniable calm over me, probably had something to do with tweedle-dick and tweedle-bitch-face leaving the room.
“So…” I said as I rolled my shoulders and pulled my shirt off, “Let’s do this.”
Neysor looked at me confusedly for a moment before ripping off all of his clothes and staring me down defiantly.
To say I was shocked would be a gross understatement, my eyes darting between his face and his… Let’s just say he didn’t have any troubles downstairs.
I think I made him a bit self-conscious.
“Fuck me… No! No. Don’t do that… I mean just… Wow…. No shock you’ve got a ship full of women eh?” I said trying to break the weird tension.
That’s when the truck started up and Neysor appeared to remember what he was doing.
He shot at me like a bullet but I’d played the game before, I caught him in a sort of Spartan wrestling style and held my ground as best as I could.
I tried to get better purchase on him so I could turn the tide, but every few inches I would graze past something I really did not want to graze, “This is so unfair… and weird and just… No.” I said as he desperately tried to buck me off.
In the story I’ve done my best to make it clear that I’m not racist or misogynistic and I need to make sure you all know that I am not in the least bit homophobic.
It’s just that when you’re fighting a seven foot alien, one of the last things you want is to have it end up with a happy ending, or, knowing my strength and poor luck with various other knobs, pun very much intended, a very unhappy ending.
I gave up on avoiding his junk and gripped him around the mid-section from above, rolled over the top of him and, after landing an inverted-bridge position, used the momentum and my weight to fling him across the room and into the hangar’s awning.
The Neysor-shaped dent left in the metal along with his delayed forty meter fall to the ground was almost cartoonish, anime-ish if you took into account the nudity.
“Ok, look, mate. My team is gone, let’s ta-” the end of that last word came out as a grunt as the bastard shot at me and shoulder-barged me in the gut, sending me flying across the room.
I lost count of how many times I bounced before hitting the metal wall, it was a lot though.
“Fair enough…” I gasped out as I struggled to my feet, “I deserved that, but just give me one minute to-” I stopped as he darted at me again and prepared for another prolapse-session, but the
n a woman screamed in pain and Neysor ground to a halt, looking back out into the rainy night.
I probably should’ve taken that as my opportunity to strike, but I needed a more permanent solution, a sort of guarantee that I wouldn’t be hunted by him and his merry band of aliens.
So instead I just asked “Who’s that?”
Neysor let a few heavy breaths before answering without looking back at me, “I am unsure of what the equivalent is here, but, in the simplest of terms, she is my wife.”
“What’s got her havin’ a fit?” I asked a little less sensitively than I could but, to be fair, he had just whooped me, again.
He snarled, “She’s-..! She’s going into labour.” His words calmed as he turned to face me, a mix of anger and complacency twirled in his slit eyes, “You want to talk Prince? Fine, let’s talk.”
There’s Not A Missing Chapter
I only just managed to get onto the highway in time to wave the truck down, the high-beams seared my corneas through the light drizzle as it slid to a stop.
They must’ve been doing circuits instead of waiting around in the middle of the road, the only viable justification for why I was left waiting for ten minutes on the side of the testament to deforestation just eight kilometres from the hangar.
I can almost guarantee the conversation went something like Kate saying they should leave me behind while the others convinced her to not be such a colossal cun…try music singer.
But I wasn’t going to bitch and whine about that, not after what I’d just done.
I climbed in through the backdoor and we were back on the road again, “Hey Wolf! Take us to that beach house!” I shouted through the truck.
“Huh?” He asked, either bewildered by my immediate orders or confused as to what I meant.
Either way I didn’t care, I was still pissed.
“The one from our mission, or do you need me to draw you up a map!? Get a move on!” I barked.
He didn’t bother responding, instead he shared an uncomfortable look with Kate and then put his foot to the floor.
The Mulligan Planet 2 (The Mulligan Planet Trilogy) Page 18
