Paroxysm Effect

by Reynolds, Ashleigh

  “Sann, why didn’t you stop?”

  “What?” he asked looking up at her.

  “Why didn’t you stop when you saw Allon’s van crash?”

  “My brakes seized up,” he said with a shrug and turned back to the tires. “Looks like Allon had a tire blow out. That must have caused him to lose control.”

  “Our brakes didn’t work either.”

  Sann looked back up at her, his eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

  “We had plenty of time to stop after we saw you veer off, but we couldn’t. It’s a little odd that more than one vehicle had that problem.”

  Without saying another word Sann moved to the other side of Allon’s van where the undercarriage was exposed.

  “Son of a –” he muttered. “The breaks were cut.”

  “That can’t happen on its own can it?” Gemi ask.

  “Not the clean way this is cut. Someone did this and how much do you want to bet the other two look the same.”

  The doctor came around the corner and stopped dead after taking one look at their faces.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The breaks were cut,” Sann replied.

  “Who would do that?” the doctor asked.

  “I’ll give you one guess,” Gemi said in a moment of sheer confidence.

  “She wouldn’t do that,” Sann snapped back.

  “We need to leave,” Gemi replied, ignoring him. “Now.”

  “And how are we supposed to do that? You’re crazy in the head, doctor is banged up, and Jaxton is hanging on by a thread.”

  Her face burned with the all too familiar fire that had grown in her. “Don’t talk to me like that! I know she did this just like she hurt herself to blame me. You heard her; she threatened Jaxton that she would get him back. What do you think all of this is? This is her making good on her promise and I will bet she will be along soon to finish us off.”

  “You’re sick,” Sann yelled back. “We are her family. She may be a bitch, but she wouldn’t hurt us. This has your kind written all over it.”

  “There it is, my kind. I knew that was there, I was waiting for it. I haven’t done a single thing to any of you, but here you are passing judgment. If you want someone to blame why don’t you blame yourselves! Hey lets mess with people’s heads. That sounds like a great idea. Play God and control their emotions to the point where they can’t do it on their own anymore!”

  Gemi bent down and picked up a piece of the wreckage and without really aiming threw it at Sann, putting as much force as she could behind it. He spun away from her, taking the hit on his upper back.

  “Have you lost your damn mind?” he yelled.

  “Maybe. Maybe I am just sick of all of your superior attitudes.”

  “Guys, that’s enough,” the doctor chimed in.

  “Oh shut up,” Gemi said turning and directing all the fire she had at Doctor Askel. “I am just a science experiment to you. Watching and waiting for me to lose it. Well here is your chance, take notes!”

  “Don’t talk to him like that!” Sann yelled over her.

  “What the fuck is going on?” a weak voice called from behind them.

  All three turned at the same time. Jaxton was leaning against the van, clutching his side with a pained look on his face.

  “What are you doing up?” the doctor asked as he rushed to his side.

  “The dead couldn’t sleep through all of this noise.”

  “You need to lie back down,” the doctor said as he checked his various injuries.

  “I will once I get an explanation as to what is going on.”

  His face was pallid in color, his jaw flexing as he fought against the extreme pain he was obviously in.

  “We can talk about it later. Come I may have just a bit of pain medicine left, but we better pray no one else even gets a headache.”

  “I want to talk about it now.” Jaxton replied, feebly pushing the doctor’s hand off of him.

  Gemi dropped her eyes to the ground trying to hide the guilt she felt. Sann was uncharacteristically quiet as well. She hoped that he was feeling at least a little remorse.

  “They had a disagreement is all,” Doctor Askel said, still hovering over Jaxton, concert etched on his face.

  “About what?”

  “It was nothing really,” Gemi said finding her voice again. She walked over to his side and grasped his hand. “Let’s get you back to the van, you need to rest and heal so we can get out of here.”

  Jaxton looked down at their intertwined fingers and back up to her face. Gemi forced a smile and pulled on his arm, leading him back towards the cargo van. He reluctantly followed, grabbing at his side and trying to hide the heavy breathing that each step brought on. Once back she got inside first and grabbed his hands letting him use her as leverage. He was heavier than she expected. Mid step up she lost her grip on his hands and he tumbled forward to the floor of the van. He yelled out in pain, clutching at his side.

  “I’m so sorry!” Gemi said, dropping to her knees beside him.

  His body was shaking; beads of sweat appearing on his forehead as he fought back the pain.

  “What happened?” the doctor said appearing at the doors of the van with Sann close in toe.

  “He fell.”

  Doctor Askel climbed in the van and dropped next to Jaxton. Gently he rolled him onto his back so he could access the bandage at his side. As soon as he pried Jaxton’s hand off it was apparent that he had reopened the wound. The once white bandage was now stained bright red.

  “You popped the sutures. I will have to close it back up. Take the last of the pain meds.”

  Lifting Jaxton’s head up with one hand, he brought a cup of liquid to his mouth and poured it in.

  “It will make you drowsy again,” he said as he set Jaxton’s head back down and went to work closing back up the wound.

  The medicine worked quickly. Soon after Jaxton’s eyes closed and his body quieted the tremors.

  “Sann and I discussed a lookout rotation for tonight, just in case whoever did this comes back,” the doctor said as he finished up.

  “You mean in case Kai comes back,” Gemi mumbled under her breath.

  Doctor Askel raised an eyebrow at her but continued, “We are taking the first watch. Get some sleep in here with Jaxton. You can tap on the roof if anything happens that’s where we will be.”

  The doctor shut the doors behind him as he left, leaving Gemi alone with her thoughts and sleeping Jaxton. She looked down at him, his features were relaxed again, pain free. He was very handsome when he wasn’t disgruntled.

  Gemi grabbed the nearby blanket and covered him up, tucking in the sides so he didn’t catch a draft. She wouldn’t be able to sleep, there was no use trying. Her head was so full it felt like it would pop. It seemed like years since everything went to shit when in reality it had been a little over a week. She thought back to the day it all started and how she had wished for anything to lift the monotony of her day to day. She had gotten her wish and then some. Now as she sat in the cold dark van all she could wish for was that everything would return to normal.

  Jaxton moaned and turned his head towards her drawing her attention. His lips parted as he took deep steady breath. He was still asleep, comfortable at last and dreaming about something good she hoped.

  Gemi moved to one of the nearby gear bags, searching for anything that would give her a little light. The third bag she felt her way through she was able to find a lantern that still had fuel. She switched it on, squinting as it illuminated the darkness. She slid back over to where Jaxton lay, positioning herself by his head and leaned her head back against the wall to stare at the ceiling.

  All she could think was that if Kai came back in the middle of the night she could pick them off with little to no effort. She would come for Jaxton. Gemi had seen the hatred in her eyes when he had banished her. Unknowingly Gemi drifted off.

  ***

  Jaxton made whimpering sounds in his slee
p, pulling her awake. His body tensed, trying to fight off something that wasn’t there. Gemi knew what it was like to have nightmares; she felt bad knowing he wasn’t even able to find peace in sleep.

  She reached down and ran her fingers through his hair, humming under her breath. Slowly he settled back down, his body relaxed and he breathing evened back out.

  As she stared down at him a marking on his chest caught her eye. He had displaced the blanket in his fit, revealing most of his upper body. Although toned and defined, it was littered with marks, scars of all shapes and sizes. Her hand found its way to one on his left peck, a long raised mark that ran up towards his shoulder. She traced it with her index finger, feeling the rough irregular edges of the scaring. Her hand slid to another smaller mark on the other side running her finger over it as she had the other. They even spilled over onto his arms. How had she not noticed them before?

  Gemi was overwhelmed with the desire to hug him and kiss away whatever caused this. It was the same pain that caused him to be so guarded. His life had not been easy she knew, but this, this was caused by something awful, forcing him to wear his emotional scars for all to see.

  She lay down next to him, careful not to touch his injury; she placed her head on his chest. His heartbeat filled her ears, strong and even it soothed her, filling her head with something other than the awful thoughts that had been haunting her. Gradually she drifted back off to sleep. The nightmares never came.

  ***

  Jaxton shifting underneath her brought her back out of her slumber.

  “Go back to sleep,” he said in her ear.

  Gemi stretch and sat up, ignoring his request. “I would love to, but it must be time for my lookout shift. How are you feeling?”

  “Better.” he said, pushing up on his elbows.

  “Not better enough to be up. Lay back down, I’ll be back to check on you.”

  Gemi opened the doors and was surprised when bright light streamed in. She jumped out, closing the doors behind her. Her heart jumped into her throat for a moment worried that something had happened in the middle of the night. Her fears were quieted when the doctor and Sann came into view.

  Both were bent over the front of the van. They had somehow gotten the hood open and were elbow deep in dirt and oil.

  “What happened to waking me up for my shift?” Gemi called to them.

  They glanced at each other before meeting her gaze.

  “We figured we would let you sleep,” Sann said.

  “You mean you didn’t trust me.”

  “That’s not it at all,” the doctor chimed in. “It’s just if we were attacked would you really be able to shoot someone? We wanted to keep you safe.”

  “Yeah Gemi, would you be able to shoot someone?” Sann’s voice was laced with animosity.

  Gemi stopped, thinking about the question presented to her. Sann wasn’t asking if she had it in her, his real question was if her switch had flipped. He was baiting her, trying to get her to slip up. There was no way she would fall for it.

  “You’re right, I probably couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

  The doctor smiled at her, pleased with her response. Sann made a snorting noise and went back to his work on the van.

  “Do you think you will be able to get it running?” Gemi asked, changing the subject.

  “I don’t think so,” Doctor Askel said, wiping his hands off on a rag. “It was damaged pretty bad in the crash. We were lucky to even get the hood open. Jaxton should be well enough to move around tomorrow so we will head out on foot.”

  “Will we be safe for another night?” Gemi asked.

  “There was no sign of anyone last night, but we will still post someone just in case. Sann and I will rotate again.”

  The sound of the hood slamming made her jump. Sann had forced the lid closed despite the way the metal was twisted. He now stalked off towards the road muttering under his breath.

  “Seriously, what is his problem with me all of a sudden?”

  “Like I said before, Kai is family. She may not be the nicest, but that’s what she is and has been for the last few years.”

  The doctor put his hand on Gemi’s shoulder and squeezed before walking away.

  Gemi stood motionless, watching Sann’s figure grow smaller until it disappeared in the distance. Not knowing what else to do, she too walked off in the opposite direction, headed to where the road met the overgrown grass. She breathed in deeply, thankful for the moment of calm silence. She needed it, needed to get her thoughts together knowing that this may be the only chance she would have.

  Gemi flopped down on the ground ignoring the dampness that soaked through her clothes from the soggy dirt. She lay staring up at the blue sky. She couldn’t necessarily blame Sann for being angry with her; after all it was her fault that Kai was exiled. However, it was odd how fast his opinion of her had changed. She couldn’t help thinking that it was her that had changed. She felt different, in the last few days she kept getting overwhelming feelings that she hadn’t felt before. All she could hope was that they made it back to home base and she could learn to control it before it was too late.

  When the sun was high in the sky Gemi pulled herself up, deciding it was best to get back to everyone before they wondered where she was. If they even cared that she was gone.

  Their makeshift camp was quiet when she returned. The doctor was sleeping in the front seat of the van and Sann was nowhere to be found. Gemi opened the back door to the van as quiet as possible and slipped inside as not to wake Jaxton. She was surprised to see the light on and him sitting up nibbling on a piece of bread, his worn out book in hand. He smiled when he saw her, shrugging his shoulders.

  “It’s all the Doc would let me eat.”

  “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better,” Gemi said sitting down next to him. She reached up and ran her hand through his hair. “Your color is back.”

  Jaxton stopped eating and looked at her cocking his head.

  “Oh sorry,” she said pulling her hand away. “I um… kind of did that last night. You were having a dream and I wanted to help. I think it did, who knows.” Gemi stopped rambling and laughed nervously. “Hands off, I promise.”

  He said nothing, but went back to eating. He didn’t look at her again until he had finished.

  “I think it did,” he said.

  “Did what?”

  “Helped. I was having an awful dream, something that happened a long time ago and then I wasn’t.”

  He stared at her, his eyes feeling like they were burning right through her.

  “Oh… uh… good, I’m glad I could help.”

  Jaxton kept staring at her a few more seconds before breaking his gaze and looked back down at his book.

  “We are heading out on foot tomorrow,” Gemi said the first thing she could think of to break the silence.

  “Do you have any idea how bad I wanted to kiss you?” Jaxton turned his gaze back to her.

  “Wait… what?” She was dumbfounded, caught off guard.

  “This morning when you were lying there, it was all I could think about.”

  Gemi blinked at him thinking that she must have misunderstood. “I don’t really know what to say.”

  Jaxton leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. Her mind was racing. She took a deep breath and without thinking leaned in and pressed her lips against his. His eyes flew open for a split second in shock and then closed again as he wrapped his arms around her, his hands splayed out possessively on her back.

  The kiss began soft, gentle, his lips melding around hers, but quickly changed as the fire between them grew. He pulled her in close to him. One of his hands finding her hair, tangling his hands in it as it had the first time. He pulled back hard taking her head with it, breaking their kiss. His mouth moved to her jaw kissing his way down her neck. Gemi’s blood boiled, each of his touches making the fire spread. Her breathing was erratic she clawed at his arms pulling him in closer wanting to be engul
fed in the flames, begging to have his mouth take hers again.

  As if answering her internal plea he moved his mouth back to hers. His breathing was just as labored giving away how much he wanted her as well. Finding that she was bolder than she had ever been, she moved her body, straddling his legs and pushed him to the wall. He grunted on impact, letting his hands fall from her hair and to the small of her back.

  “Careful,” he whispered.

  She leaned back breaking their kiss. “I forgot,” she said dropping her hand to the bandage on his side.

  “So did I. We should probably stop so I can rest.” He pulled her back into him, bringing his mouth to the hollow of her neck and slid his tongue to her ear grasping it with his teeth.

  Gemi put her hand on his chest and this time gently pushed him away. “You should rest actually,” she said as she slid off of him. “I watched you almost die already. I don’t want to go through that again.

  “A bit dramatic at this point, but sure.”

  Gemi made a move to get up, but he caught her by the waist. “Where are you going?”

  “Was going to go check on the others See what preparations are needed.”

  “They’ve had enough of your time. Stay. Nap with me like old people.” He pulled the blanket up around them and lay down on his side.

  With a huff Gemi gave in and laid her head on his chest. She pressed her hand to his wound checking to see that it was not re-injured in their escapades. It was healing unexpectedly well given the severity of it. Her hand moved back to his chest her fingers finding the edges of his scars once more traced them with her index finger. Their presents hardly took away the beauty of his skin or the curve of every muscle. She wanted to ask how he had come to have them, but knew he wouldn’t tell her.

  Gemi looked up surprised to see him staring at her, his eyes clouded. “Are you ok?”

  “The short answer? Yes.”

  “And what about the novel of an answer?”

  It wasn’t something she wanted to get into right then and there. Oh hey, I’m fine. Just a little crazy and will probably murder you at some point. No biggie.

  “I’m fine. Sleep,” she said instead.

  “You’re sexy when you’re being bossy.” He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes.