"How is that possible?" Bold was asking.
"All of you calm down!" Maddox screamed, while Irvine told him to shut up and Andrew started crying.
Finally Angel took a step forward and took a deep breath, "Everyone, calm down!" He voice was loud, but what really made everyone listen to her was the sense of command in her voice. She expected everyone to listen to her, and they did. "I understand this is a big shock to all of you. Your friends and family, or anyone else taken by the Hunters may still be alive. We have an idea on how to get them out, but it's going to take all of you, and you're going to need to keep your heads if it's gonna work. We don't have much time. A few weeks top before the final disasters bring the roof down on us. So pack up, because we are leaving tonight! Anyone who fucks around will be left behind. Is that clear?"
Everyone was staring at Angel, most in shock and awe, but Maddox looked impressed. There were stiff nods from around the group as they all calmed down a bit. Ro was still out cold, but Lys looked determined.
"Can we really save them?" Echo wondered.
Lucien, who was sitting next to her, put his hand on hers. "We're the only ones who possibly can, so we have to try."
Echo blinked at the boy. "Because we have you, right? You can find this place?"
Lucien nodded, "I know where the facility is. The nature of the place prevents me from sensing any Chosen within, so I do not know who is still alive within. But as of last week, the one you call Loch was still alive and being researched on."
"You mean experimented on?" Lys's voice was ice cold. "They're treating him like a lab rat in there!"
Lucien nodded again, "That's why we're going to save them."
"Where is this place?"
"New Mexico."
"Then what the hell are we waiting for? Let's go."
The twelve people were split up into two groups to crowd into the two SUV's. Thankfully they were seven-seater SUVs so it wasn't too cramped and uncomfortable, but everyone was too focused on their final task to care either way. Since the revelation about his brother, Lys seemed even more determined to talk to Echo, but Shy and Bold did their job well and made sure he and Echo ended up in different cars.
Maddox, Irvine, Andrew, Lucien and Athena were shoved into a car together with Lys. Echo and the twins rode with Angel and Bambi, but unfortunately Shy and Bold couldn't keep a very determined Ro from joining Echo in the second SUV.
"Don't you want to be with your sister?" Shy questioned desperately, looking to Echo.
"She'll be okay. She and Lucien are becoming friends." Ro slipped past the twins and took the seat next to Echo. Shy frowned apologetically as she climbed into the back seat with her brother. Echo sighed, but she knew she couldn't avoid them forever. The two girls were quiet until the vehichles got underway and Angel and Bambi started a conversation about their destinations along the road. It was a long trip to New Mexico by car, after all.
Echo was starting to hope the ride would be quiet enough for her to get some sleep, but once they had gotten onto a highway, Ro spoke up.
"Listen Echo, about last night -"
"Forget it," Echo tried to smile brightly, but failed.
"I can't. It was my fault...I..." She chewed her look and looked back to Shy and Bold, who quietly looked away and pretended not to be listening. Ro leaned closer and tried to keep her voice to a low whisper. "I was using Lys," Ro admitted, "I was using him to forget about Loch. He knew it, I knew it. Even Shy and Bold caught onto it. It was wrong, and I'm sorry."
Echo bit her lip. She wanted to respond, but dind't know what she wanted to say. Shy had already told her this the night before.
"He...once we picked you up, he started to distance himself from me. I was jealous, and lonely. And then...he likes you, Echo. Really he does. What you walked in on was him trying to break it off with me."
"It certainly didn't look that way!" Echo snapped. She blinked in surprise, she hadn't realized that she was so angry. She didn't usually let her anger get the better of her.
Ro wasn't put off. "I know. I...I kissed him. I swear. I was always clinging on to him, and when he said he wasn't going to do it anymore, I panicked." Ro took a deep breath. "I'm a bitch. I was selfish and I was jealous of you."
"Me? You were jealous of me?" Echo found that hard to believe.
"Yeah," Ro giggled, "Lys wanted to leave me for you. We never really loved each other after all. He was taking comfort that same way I was. But he fell for you and left me all alone. I'm sorry." Ro was looking at her hands when Echo looked back at her to see her expression. She really did look guilty.
"What about now?" Echo questioned.
Ro knew what she meant. What about now that Loch might be alive? "I'm terrified, Echo. I'm terrified that we'll get there and it'll be too late for Loch. That I'll lose him all over agian." The older girl looked near tears. Echo reached over and squeazed her hand comfortingly.
"You should talk to Lys." Ro told Echo. "Really, with all this craziness, you have to take love when you can get it. Tomorrow it could be taken away from you."
"I don't know it it's love..." Echo blushed.
"Whatever it is, you have to jump on it. Otherwise you'll always wonder. The world is ending, Echo! You may never have this chance again!" she sighed, "Just promise me you'll talk to him, okay? You two are cute together. I can't be the reason you two don't happen."
Echo didn't stand a chance against Ro's pleading blue eyes. "I'll think about it," She agreed finally. Ro smiled and let the topic drop. Echo put her head aginst the window and tried to sleep, but her head was too full of Ro's words to actually get any rest.
*
Angel smirked as she listened to the two teenage girls talk. She remembered what it was like to be young, always worried about boys and friends before anything else. As she'd gotten older and focused on her career, those things seemed less important. She supposed teenagers never changed. Even at the end of the world, they still had the same concerns. Well, it was sweet, at least. Lys seemed like a good kid
"Do you remember being a teenager, Bambi?" Angel wondered out loud.
Dana really didn't like being called 'Bambi'. Apparently it had been the name the other kids used to torment her all through high school. "I try to forget it," she younger woman confessed.
"All the other girls hated me. I had a reputation for stealing boyfriends." Angel laughed, "Do you suppose there was any greater sin in high school?"
"Being different," Dana suggested.
"You're such a downer, Dana." Angel sighed. Dana had joined the military because she wanted people to respect her. Well, she was brilliant and a damn good shot, so the military definitely appreciated her. But, at her last high school reunion she was still teased about her doe-eyes and nerdy interests. Angel figured that she was still sore about that one.
"Sorry, ma'am."
"Forget it," Angel sighed. "I'm almost looking forward to this all being over." But, the hardest part was still to come. Rescuing some captured Chosen from a Hunter research facility, evading the police and getting to the shelters all before the final catastrophe's wiped out the last of humanity. It was a thought just too horrifying to cokmprehend. All of humanity, just wiped off the face of the planet? It didn't seem like a real threat. Angel wasn't sure it ever would be completely real to her. Right now, only the Hunters and their rescue attempt were real.
"Think we'll make it that far, ma'am?" Dana wondered.
"I sure as hell hope so." She put her foot on the gas and cut off a small sorts car. "One thing at a time though, Dana, one thing at a time."
*
The first stop along the trip didn't happen for eight hours, and everyone was groaning in pain when they finally got out of the car. Echo's knees actually cracked when she stood up. The group quickly dispersed and mingled, though the talk was sober. Ro and Athena went inside the rest stop to use the bathroom, and everyone else went into get food. Echo trailed behind the group, but suddenly found herself being pulled away and ba
ck to the cars. With a soft shout of surprise, Echo spun around and saw Lys holding her arm, looking as serious as she'd ever seen him.
"Echo...can I talk to you?"
This was the talk Echo was dreading. She still hadn't decided what she wanted to do about Lys. Should she forgive him? Could she? Chewing her lip nervously, Echo nodded and climbed into the back of one of the SUVs with Lys. They sat down but no one said anything. The silence was unbearable. "So..." Echo started, "How are you feeling? About Loch, I mean?"
"Freaked out," Lys admitted.
"Scared?"
Lys nodded, "How did you know?"
"Ro said the same thing."
"So you talked to her?"
Echo nodded. "She told me about...about you guys."
"I'm really sorry!" Lys cried out suddenly, turning to look her in the eyes. "Really, I was trying to break it off with her, but she just-"
"I know," Echo cut him off.
"I never stopped feeling guilty. Even before I met you. It felt like I was betraying Loch."
"It's alright, really," Echo mumbled, wishing that she could just disppear into the seat.
"It's not alright," Lys declared, "I was an idiot. I kept letting Ro pull me away, even when-" He stopped himself.
Echo looked up at him questioningly.
"I like you Echo. A lot. I want us to be together. I know I've screwed up big time but I...I hope you'll forgive me."
"What about Ro?"
"What about Ro?"
"What will you do about her?"
"We've broken off whatever...thing...we had. Ro understand that."
"Then what about..." Echo stopped, not really sure if she wanted to continue with that line of questioning. She wanted to ask what would happen if they didn't find Loch. Would Lys go back to Ro? But even as she thought about it, it sounded incredibly selfish.
"Echo?" Lys wondered.
"Will you be okay, Lys?" Echo asked instead. "About your brother, I mean? What if he's..."
"I don't even want to think about that right now. Part of me knows that it's dangerous to get my hopes up too hgih. If I lose him again, I don't know what I'd do. But the possibility of him still being alive...I can't stop thinking about it. So many times I wished that I could just see him again. I..." He sighed and broke off. "Well, we'll see when we get there, right? Whether he's there or not, I suppose I'll get through somehow."
Echo nodded and squeezed his hand to comfort him.
"I have a lot of hopes for us, too." Lys said, breaking away from the depressing direction his thoughts were taking.
"Us?" Echo asked.
"Do you think you can forgive me?"
"Maybe..." Echo admitted. She understoofd why Ro and Lys had done what they'd done, but that didn't stop it from hurting. She still wasn't ready to open herself up again.
Lys looked disappointed, "I'll be waiting." He promised. With that, he stood up and followed the others into the rest stop, leaving Echo alone to think.
Chapter Twenty-Three
~*We're on a Bus!*~
Echo was still avoiding talking to him, Lys knew. Even after he had tried to explain himself, she was still upset. He knew he'd done a stupid thing. He'd known it was stupid the first time Ro had ever approached him. Ro was beautiful, of course, but she was still his brother's girl. His brother, who until recently was thought to be dead. He had been hoping to explain himself, be quickly forgiven, and everything would be normal again. He supposed that was an unrealistic expectation.
Even after their talk, Echo had not called off the twins from keeping him away from her. Shy and Bold were relentless in their mission. The two had both taken quite a liking to Echo after all, not that it was hard to understand. Lys felt his gut twist sickeningly every time he looked at her. Even covered in grime, wearing clothes that hadn't been washed for weeks and desperately needing a shower, Lys couldn't take his eyes away from her.
"Women troubles?" A low voice grumbled from behind him. Lys looked back and saw Irvine leaning against the silver SUV they had been travelling in. They were stopped again, taking a short break to eat and try to clean themselves up a bit.
"How could you tell?"
Irvine laughed, "I can always tell when there's woman troubles. Anyways, you weren't exactly making a secret of it."
Lys sighed, it was true he and Ro hadn't really made too much of a secret of their relationship after Loch disappeared. Once Echo arrived, however, Lys found himself less in need of Ro's kind of comfort, and less willing to let everyone know what they were up to. He was actually attracted to Echo, and not just physically. Ro was just...a distraction.
"Never should have shacked up with your brother's girl in the first place." Irvine told him seriously.
"I know that," Lys groaned. Did he really have to phrase it like that? "I've screwed up royally. So what do I do?"
Irvine shrugged in an irritatingly casual manner. "You think I know? That Echo's a sweet girl, and you've messed up pretty bad with her. But maybe she'll come around. Just give her some time,"
"Thanks Irvine," Lys grumbled, "Helpful advice, really."
Irvine laughed, "You worry too much. Listen, we don't have the luxury of time on her side. Echo knows that too. If she's gonna forgive you, or hate you forever, she'll know pretty soon, and there's nothing more you can do about it. Spend your time worrying about how we're gonna rescue your brother and the rest of 'em without getting our asses fried, okay?" He patted Lys on the back amiably and sauntered away.
Lys knew that Irvine was right. He had to focus on their next goal first. If everyone came out alive, then he could worry about Echo again. Lys kicked a stone by his foot and wandered after Irvine towards the bathrooms of the rest stop they're parked at with a mission to try and wash his hair in the sink.
*
For four days they travelled blissfully undisturbed. Echo spent most of her time reading and avoiding Lys and Ro. Thankfully after their talk, Ro had traded places with Lucien so Echo didn't have to spend her days awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact with the girl. Shy and Bold made good travelling companions most of the time, and they kept the conversations light. Even Angel and Bambi were opening up a bit, talkking about their military careers and getting in on the good-natured teasing.
Echo had thought of Angel to be rather intimidating at first. After all, she was gorgeous, strong, in control and a little strict. Bambi, even though she and Angel had technically defected from the military, still seemed subordinate to Angel. It was clear there was a lot of respect and trust between the two women.
Still, every time they stopped, they planned their rescue. The atmosphere was always tense. Lucien did his best to provide whatever information he could, but they still had for less knowledge of what to expect than anyone was comfortable with.
They were already nearing the New Mexico state line and only one thing was really for certain in their plans: they needed to steal a bus.
It wasn't entirely clear how they would steal a bus, or where they would hide it, but it was agreed that only a bus would be a suitable means of transportation once they had rescued those Chosen that were still alive in the research lab.
"Where are we going to find a bus?" Shy wondered, "I mean, we can't just walk onto a city bus and order everyone to clear out."
"Well, we could," Bold started, "But that would bring to much attention to us."
"Listen, the plan is solid," Maddox growled.
"Except that we don't have a bus." Lys pointed out.
"That's why we're gonna get one!" Maddox bellowed.
"Can't we just charter one?" Echo asked.
"Too traceable," Angel murmured. "We need to find something that no one's gonna miss for a while..."
"We passed a sign for a summer camp a few miles back," Lys suggested.
"A summer camp?"
"Yeah, those places always have busses, and for most of the non-summer months they're just parked and collecting dust. The only problem is that it'll be a bus advertising exactl
y where it came from, most likely."
"We can always paint it," Irvine said with a shrug.
"Then it's a plan." Maddox declared. "Irvine, you take Andrew, the twins and Echo to stock up on supplies." He paused a moment as if thinking, "Better take the kids too," he said, looking at Athena and Lucien. "The rest of us are gonna hopefully rob a summer camp of their bus. We'll meet at this spot at 1900 hours. Everyone got it?"
Echo was tempted to shout a 'yes sir!' for him, but bit her tongue and only nodded with the rest of them She wondered if Maddox had told her to go with Irvine because he knew she didn't want to be around Lys or Ro at the moment. If Maddox knew anything, though, he was doing a good job of hiding it. He didn't even glance at Echo as he rounded up the two teams and got everything underway.
"Here you go, Echo," Irvine handed her Andrew as they piled into the second SUV to look for a place to get supplies. Echo blinked at the infant in surprise.
"Why are you giving him to me?" She wondered.
"I've changed more diapers in the last week than most men do in a lifetime, it's your turn."
Echo frowned, she had no idea what to do with a baby. Behind her, Shy and Bold snickered. Andrew looked up at her and smiled, and Echo instantly melted. "Okay," she said to Irvine, cradling the baby in her arms. Echo rather liked Andrew. He was quiet most of the time and seemed to put up with all this travelling better than any baby she'd ever heard of.
Echo let Andrew hold her finger in the ride over to find a hardware store.
"He trusts you," Lucien said to her in the car.
"What?" Echo looked up in confusion. She was surprised to hear Lucien talking to her. The boy talked very little, and then often only to Athena. The pair seemed to have a connection not unlike the one between Shy and Bold.
"Him," Lucien nodded to the baby, "He trusts you."
"How can you tell?" Echo wondered. Lucien was being very mysterious, as usual. He was difficult to figure out. He had the round face of a young boy and large brown eyes with impossibly long lashes. His appearance was altogether cherubic and sweet, but when he spoke it was a wisdom and a...tiredness that shouldn't come from an eleven-year-old. It wasn't unlike the way Athena sometimes spoke when she was imparting wisdom on the rest of the group. The effect was... creepy.
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