She could see Ro struggling to keep her smiles down, and Shy rather eagerly joined in. "How did we make it without you? I should have known better to doubt you. I thought I'd heard the end of it!"
Finally, Ro joined in for the chorus, and Echo was sure she even heard Irvine humming along. "And now I know how far you'd go to be the next freak show, American psycho!"
Lys was frowning at them all. "I don't like you guys anymore."
"Oh come on," Echo argued, "it's only a song." But Lys just pouted and turned his head away, which made Echo throw up her arms in annoyance. "What about lacrosse?"
"It will have to wait, kiddo." Irvine said. "We don't have any equipment, and we certainly don't have any time. We need to find a place to stay, pronto." And with that, their next course of action was settled and they decided to split up into groups to find either work or a place to stay. "Rendezvous back here in two hours." Maddox told them in his no-nonsense voice. "Head out."
Echo struggled to keep from rolling her eyes and followed Lys towards the centre of the town. Ro and Thena trailed close behind, but no one said a word. It was Echo who broke the silence once again. "Lys?"
"Hmm?"
"Where are we going?" She couldn't bring herself to actually ask if she'd upset him by teasing him earlier. She'd never been very good at apologies.
"To find a newspaper."
"Oh…why?"
"To look for a place to stay or possibly some work while we're here."
"You do this a lot don't you? Is that why you know exactly what to do?"
"I thought you would have figured it out by now. We never stay anywhere for very long. A month or two at the most and then we leave."
"And how long has that being going on?"
"Hmm…well I figure it was Loch's fifteenth birthday when the Hunters came after us the first time. And his seventeenth is next month…so it's been a good two years now that I've been on the run."
Echo gulped, "That's a long time. How do you do it?" She had decided not to ask who Loch was. If she had to guess though, she'd say it was Lys' aforementioned brother.
Lys shrugged and stopped in front of a small diner where a few people were gathered. After a moment's consideration he decided to go in, and the others followed without question. "You get used to it," He answered finally as he selected a table to sit at. Echo slid in the booth across from him, and Ro took the seat beside her, letting Thena sit next to Lys.
"I don't think I ever will." Echo sighed.
Ro looked at the younger girl and smiled. "Don't worry about it. We've gotten really good at dodging Hunters. We'll take care of you."
Lys nodded his agreement. "It'll only be another year of this running crap. And then we'll have different kinds of problems to deal with." Echo didn't want to push the subject any further.
A cheerful waitress who looked to be about eighteen approached them. "Hi there! You guys aren't from around her, are ya?"
"No," Ro answered, uncharacteristically quiet. She didn't offer any more information than that and the waitress frowned before asking to take their orders. "I have eight dollars, guys." Lys said, pulling a wad of American bills out of his pockets. "I've been saving this, so make good use of it. I'll have coffee." He looked at the waitress, "and the local paper, too, if you've got one lying around."
She smiled, "Of course, we've got a few in the back!"
"Lys, will you buy me a slice of pie, please?" Athena spoke up. Lys smiled at her. "Anything for you kiddo. What kind do you want?"
"Blueberry!"
The waitress was still smiling stupidly. "Is that all?" She asked. Lys nodded. "Well then, I'll be right back!"
They all waited until she was well out of earshot before they resumed their conversation. "She was painfully cheerful." Ro complained.
"Don't forget, not everyone shares our burden." Lys reminded her. "Remember when you were happy, Ro?" There was something in his voice, an undertone of sorrow and desperation that made Echo think there was more to what he'd just said that what was on the surface. Ro just nodded at him and kept her eyes downcast.
"Don't ever forget that, Ro." Again…there was a hidden meaning. Echo was lost in the conversation. She had no idea what was going on, but she wasn't about to ask either.
When the perky waitress returned to their table, Lys immediately took the paper from her and started flipping through it, stopping when he found the 'rentals' section in the classifieds.
"Lookin' for a place to stay, are ya?" God, that girl was nosy! "Yes, we are." Lys answered, his voice polite and controlled. He flashed the waitress an almost condescending smile.
"Well then, the old widow Marlow is lookin' for someone to fill up her big ol' house. It's pretty cheap too. You should look into it."
"Thanks, I will." He looked down and almost immediately found the ad referring to the widow Mrs. Marlow and the house she was trying to rent out. It might work if they could convince the old bag to let ten people stay in her house for work instead of money. He circled it and decided to show it to Maddox when they met him later. The group sat in silence for the remainder of the two hours, with only Athena breaking the silence occasionally with her childish chatter.
Eventually, they found their way back to where they had left the van to find that they were the last ones there. Maddox didn't even acknowledge them as they approached. "Did anyone find anything?" He asked.
Lys held up the paper. "Turns out an old widow has a rather large house she's trying to fill up. We may be able to let us stay for a few months in exchange for work."
Maddox nodded and looked at Irvine. "Care to work your charm on the woman?" Irvine smirked, "How is it that this job always falls on me?"
"Coz you're the best at it." Maddox shrugged. "Besides, you know how to deal with these small-town folk. We'll stay back while you deal with her. Come back with the good word."
"What, you want me to go now?"
"Why not?"
Irvine sighed, "Fine, but maybe Lydia should come with me, for sympathy, you know. She is pregnant."
Maddox waved him off. "Fine, just go!"
Echo watched as Irvine laughed off the cranky old man and left with Lydia. She shot Lys a questioning look but he just laughed. "They're not a couple, if that's what you're thinking." He whispered to her as they watched the pair leave. "It's a long story. Maybe you'll here it someday." Echo sighed. Did everyone here have a long story to share? Probably, they did. It was understandable given their situation. "What do we do until they come back?" She asked aloud.
"We could always take you up on that sports challenge, Echo." Shy responded with a grin. "Bold and I were on a soccer team. I'm sure we could find a ball somewhere. Lacrosse, I'm afraid, may be a bit more difficult…"
"I know…" Echo sighed, "But soccer is just as good!"
"Great! But be warned…we really suck!"
Echo laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." She followed Shy and Bold out into the parking lot they were in as Lys dug through the van for a ball. He caught Maddox giving him a queer look. "What?" He scoffed, "it's a bout time we had some fun, wouldn't you say?"
*
In a darkened room deep underground, a lone man stood over the unconscious figure of an eleven-year-old boy. In the dim light the boy's black skin only looked darker. His hair was braided back in rows, but it was beginning to look like it needed to be redone. The man ignored the dishevelled appearance of the boy and took his hand. "Lucien…" He said softly. He looked at the machines that surrounded them but they showed no response. He tried again. "Lucien…we need your help again. We've lost track of group 17. Can you find them?"
The machines gave a slight flicker and the man smiled. "Very good. I'm sure you'll get right on that. He looked back at his bodyguards and nodded for them to leave. After a moment's hesitation, they did and the man was alone with the sleeping boy. "I'm so sorry I have to do this to you, Lucien. But you're doing the right thing by helping us. We're doing the right thing. You have to understand. It isn't f
air that only they can live. Don't you think that we should save everyone?" There was nothing. "Don't you?" He asked more fiercely. There was a buzz on one of the machines that he had come to associate with anger. He chuckled, "You've grown so much, Lucien." He patted his hand softly.
There was a sudden knock at the door and one of the bodyguards stuck his head inside. "Mr. President, the Prime Minister has arrived."
The man nodded and got to his feet. "I'll see you tomorrow, my son." And with that the President of the United States turned sharply and followed his guard out of the room.
Chapter Eight
~*Labour *~
Who would have thought that playing soccer with an inflatable beach ball could be so tiring? By the time Irvine and Lydia returned from meeting with the widow Marlow Shy, Bold, Lys, and even Echo were slumped against the van trying to catch their breath. Needless to say, no one had scored a single goal.
"What's the good news?" Maddox had called when he saw the pair approaching.
"Old bag's as happy as a pig in shit to have people in the house again." Irvine responded coyly. "In exchange for a few simple household chores…and cleaning out her garage we've got room and board."
"All of us?"
"She had a real soft spot for Lydia." Irvine shrugged. "No old spinster can resist the threat of an oncoming baby." He barely flinched when Lydia punched him playfully in the arm. Maddox just nodded at this new information and gathered the group together.
Twenty minutes later they were meeting the widow.
Mrs. Marlow was short, squat, near-sighted and as grandmotherly as could be imagined. Her white hair was cut close to her head, and her reading glasses hung from a string around her neck. She wore an old royal blue cardigan and white blouse with a knee-length black skirt. It was almost stereotypical. She greeted them each warmly, but took a particular liking to Athena. The first thing she said when they approached her was "Look at those big blue eyes!" And then she waddled over to Thena and hugged her like she really was the child's grandmother.
Athena, surprisingly enough, didn't complain. She just smiled at the old woman, her eyes deepening to those of a woman much older than herself. Echo couldn't help but wonder how long she'd been running to have matured so quickly. It was almost as if the eight-year-old child was the one being patronizing. It was eerie.
In another three hours they were all settling down into their new rooms for a good night's sleep after so many hours in the van. Mrs. Marlow had five spare bedrooms in her house, with her own room on the ground level due to her 'bad hip'. So the group had split themselves up into pairs. Despite their weak protests, Lydia and Irvine had been shoved together since Mrs. Marlow was convinced that they were a couple. Lys, in an attempt to avoid sharing a room with either the grouchy Remus or strict Maddox, grabbed Bold's arm protectively and refused to let go until Maddox and Remus were safely out of sight. Athena and Ro, naturally, chose to stick together, which only left Echo and Shy.
Echo didn't really mind sharing a room with the younger girl, but she knew for a fact that Shy never stopped talking, and she was far too tired to carry on a conversation at the moment. All she wanted to do was fall face-first into bed and sleep for three days straight. As if. As far as she knew the Hunters could be on them in a matters of days…possibly even hours. Sighing at the thought, she stumbled into her room behind Shy and dropped onto the small bed, drowning in the floral-printed pillows and comforter. She was asleep the second her head the pillow.
She knew this place. She was positive she'd been there before. She glanced around the gymnasium that filled from end to end with small cots. Of course…it was the local YMCA. She'd volunteered there earlier in the year, coaching a girls' lacrosse team. But now the gym was littered wit duffel bags, old cots, small tables and other mismatched items so that the floor was barely visible. Hundreds of bodies were cramped together, huddling for warmth. Echo noticed how her breath hung in the air and she shivered unconsciously.
She walked to the far corner were a small group of children sat passing a ball amongst each other in a half-hearted game of catch. She smiled as she approached them. "Hi there guys, what are you playing?" She asked the closest girl, a little brunette who had her back to her. She tenderly touched the girl's shoulder as she spoke.
Slowly, the young girl, who was probably only about nine or ten, turned and looked up at her with her large brown eyes. Echo barely glanced at her before she jumped back in terror. Those eyes…they were too wide. All the skin around them had rotted and fallen off, exposing muscle and tissue, displaying the perfectly round shape of the eyeball. Her right cheek had peeled away to almost nothing, pearly white bone visible underneath. "Do you want to play with us?" The girl asked, completely unaware of Echo's horror. Her words were slurred because, as Echo noted, she only had half her tongue left.
Unable to speak, Echo simply shook her head and continued to back away from the child. She spun around and saw that all the other people inside were the same way. Their flesh was covered in ugly boils, rotting and peeling away. They were bodies decomposing without even being dead yet. Echo could feel the acrid bile rising in her throat as she turned to run. An old woman tried to stop her, warning her not to run over any of the children. Echo turned only for a second when the woman's hand grabbed her shirt. She finally screamed and tore her arm out of the diseased woman's grasp, trying not to look at the gaping holes in her face where her eyes had once been. As she turned to run again, the woman's hand came with her. She couldn't handle it anymore. She screamed for all she was worth and shook the disembodied hand from her body, and then she stumbled towards the exit.
Echo didn't even have time to think as she jolted awake that night. She could still clearly see the rotten face of that child in her mind's eye. The bile rose in her throat again instantly and she leapt from her bed and burst out into the hall. She covered her mouth with one hand as the other pushed open the bathroom door. She fell to the ground in front of the toilet and pushed the lid up, immediately vomiting into the porcelain bowl. Her throat was sore and her eyes were stinging because she was sobbing. She could barely find the strength to keep her head up.
Somewhere in the distance she heard someone come inside the bathroom. "Echo? That you, Echo?" Her heard was spinning and she clutched at the bowl to keep her upright. 'Thank God this thing is clean' she thought sardonically. The voice came again and she saw a blurry figure approach her through her tears. Somehow she found the strength to reach her arm up and flush the toilet, spitting the last of the vomit taste from her mouth.
She heard a tap running and the person reached down and fitted their hands underneath her arms. "Are you alright, Echo?" The voice asked softly. Finally, she could place it.
"Lys?" She questioned.
"Yeah it's me." He answered as he helped her to the sink. Echo was immediately embarrassed. She didn't want to be seen in such a state. Lys held her upright as he ran the cold water and filled up a cup with it and offered it to Echo. She took a long sip and rinsed out her mouth with it and spit into the basin. Then she gulped down the last of it.
"Feel better?" He asked gently, his arm still around her waist for support. She nodded uncertainly. "I think I'm okay now. Thanks, Lys."
He smiled, "No problem. Have another dream, did you?"
She nodded again, "I don't want to do this Lys." She whimpered. "The dreams, the Hunters, everything! I hate it! I don't want to endure this. I'd rather just die!"
Lys frowned, "Don't talk like that Echo. The human race is counting on us remember? You can't give up."
"Why can't somebody else do it?" She grumbled as she brushed the tangle mess of red hair out of her face. To her surprise, Lys actually laughed. "The dreams will stop bothering you in a bit, I promise. We all had to go through this Echo, remember?"
"Yeah…"
Lys smiled again and hugged her. "C'mon, I'd better make sure you get to bed alright." He started to steer her out the door and back towards her room when they heard a shout from
Lydia and Irvine's room. Both tensed and almost immediately afterwards the feelings started to roar.
She needs your help!
Without a word, they bolted through the door. They were the first on the scene aside from Irvine. "What happened? What's going on?" Lys demanded. Irvine was clutching Lydia's hand as he hovered at her side when they entered. He looked up at them with a puzzling expression on his face. It was somewhere between terror and joy.
"Lydia's just gone into labour."
Lys lost all colour to his face. "What? You mean like now?" He choked. "Yes now you moron!" Irvine rolled his eyes. "Now make yourself useful and wake up the others."
"I doubt any of them know how to deliver a baby, Irvine." Lys snorted.
"Then wake up the widow too. I'll bet she's had a few childbirths in her time."
"I'll get Mrs. Marlow." Echo offered. "Lys, you go wake up the rest of them." She didn't even look at the others before she was out the door again. Suddenly her stomach wasn't bothering her anymore, and she had all her strength back. She stumbled down the steps and burst into the old woman's room. "Mrs. Marlow!" She gasped. She gently shook the old woman awake.
"What is it, child?" She asked, concerned when she caught the look on Echo's face. "Is something the matter?"
"Lydia has just gone into labour and no one knows a thing about delivering a baby." Mrs. Marlow was on her feet faster than Echo would ever have thought possible. "Let's go then. Take me to her." So Echo helped her up the stairs and into Lydia's room. Echo wasn't surprised to see that everyone else was already crowded into the room. Mrs. Marlow huffed at the sight. "Stop crowding her!" She cried. Even in her cotton nightgown she was pretty intimidating. The group stepped back.
Remus sat near Irvine at the bed, holding up his laptop. "Here, look at this Irvine." He said simply, displaying a web page entitled 'How to deliver a baby'.
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