JC stares down at the scroll of paper as he sits on the floor of his cabin Indian style with the rolled up scroll placed in front of him. It was night by now and the soft glow of the moon was seeping through the small window of the boat. They could reach the main land in a day by the speed they were going at. God bless the new technology. JC couldn’t wait to get home.
Justin was fast a sleep on the bed in the corner stretched out with his feet hanging off the bed. Something about Justin made JC want to trust him. Maybe it was the fact that he looked so young or the fact that he seemed so helpless by himself. Whatever the reason was JC felt like he could trust him. He felt like he needed to trust him almost, so he wouldn’t be alone on this journey.
The scroll was still wrapped up tightly and JC had no idea why he had actually taken it. His uncle had never even shown it to him before. He just knew he needed to get it. Something in his gut told him to go downstairs and find it. So why was it so important then? What was even written on it? JC had been asking himself these questions over and over again, but something inside of him had stopped him from opening it…until now.
JC looks up at the moon through the thick glass of the window before looking back down at the scroll. He reaches forward with his right hand and picks up the scroll slowly looking over it quickly in his hands. Parchment…old parchment tied with a leather band across it. Small symbols were printed into the leather band and JC could feel the indents beneath his fingers as the slowly followed their outlines. He lets out a deep breath before taking the edges of the leather band and pulling them off the parchment. He tucks it safely into his pocket before taking either side of the scroll in his hands and unrolling it slowly.
Then the first wave the boat throwing JC flat onto the floor.
AJ stares up at the stars above him and sighs softly before walking away from the window and back to the inner rooms of the Browers’ house. The six of the Browers were dispersed throughout the living room. Cole and Jordan in front of a TV watching an old movie they had on DVD from the late 2000s. Nate and Stanton perched over a small computer screen. Owen was curled up in the corner reading a book in a large chair. Xander was sitting at a table nursing a cup of coffee talking to Kevin while Brian sat with them. What a crew.
AJ walks over to the computer where Stanton and Nate where leaning on the wall beside them, “What you doing?”
“Ask him I’m just watching,” Stanton says motioning to Nate.
“Looking for something…anything,” Nate says.
“What though,” AJ asks.
“Anything that fills me in to this shit,” Nate says, “Kevin said there was some kind of prophecy, so the prophecy has to be here somewhere right…everything is online now a days. Every fucking book in the world and I can’t find a damned thing,” he says quickly typing commands into the computer, “Fuck,” he mutters pushing away from the desk, “I need to get to the main library.”
“Here?” Stanton asks him.
Nate nods, “They have records there on computer. I need to look at them.”
“You’re not going now,” Stanton says to him.
“I’m 24 Stanton I can go out if I want to,” Nate says to him.
“Not out there,” Stanton says, “Under no circumstances go out there at night. Do you hear me?”
“Fine,” Nate snaps at him as Stanton walks off, “Treats me like a fucking child,” Nate mumbles as he begins to punch codes into the computer again.
AJ shakes his head and looks at him.
“What? And don’t lecture me about how you wish you had a brother like that.”
“Alright I’ll save my breath then,” AJ says looking at him before walking over to the table where Brian, Kevin and Xander sat.
“Who are you waiting for?” Xander asks Kevin.
“Someone,” Kevin says, “no idea who though.”
Xander shakes his head and looks down at his coffee, “What des my family have to do with this?”
Kevin shrugs as his purple eyes stare at him, “I don’t know I’m sorry.”
“Stanton you ok?” Jordan asks looking over at his older brother as he stands gazing out the window, “Stan? Stanton?”
“Stanton,” Xander says as the others turn to look at him.
Stanton looks over his shoulder slowly looking at them all with bright green eyes before falling to the floor abruptly.
“Stanton,” Xander yells rushing over to him along with the rest of his brothers.
Kevin stares at them all crowding around their brother before looking over at Brian, “Brian? Brian are you ok?”
Brian stares down at them all before reaching up with his hands and covering his ears shutting his eyes tightly.
“Brian,” Kevin says standing up and walking over towards him, “Brian!” he yells pulling on Brian’s arms that wouldn’t budge, “Brian!” Kevin yells forcefully as AJ walks over to help him.
“Don’t touch them,” AJ says suddenly backing away from Brian, “Don’t touch them. Don’t touch them!” he yells as every stops and looks over at him as he backs up into a corner of the room staring at them all with bright red eyes, “DON’T TOUCH THEM!” he yells as Stanton curls up into a small ball on the floor in similar fashion to Brian.
“What the hell is going on?” Xander asks.
Kevin stares at Brian, then AJ and then back to Stanton, “The scroll has been opened.”
“The seer speaks. The seer speaks,” a voice says over and over again in Brian’s head through the darkness in a quick wispy voice, “The seer speaks. The seer speaks the herald of death. Go south. Go south. Must go south.”
“Why?” Brian asks.
“Must go south. Must go south.”
“No,” Brian says back, “No.”
“Must go south the seer speaks. Must go south or else…”
“Or else what?” Brian asks.
“Or…else…die,” the voice says sternly now.
Jackson turns over in his sleep and curls up next to Pilar breathing deeply as his eyes scan back and forth under his eyelids. It was another dream. Another dream like so many others. There was a baby, his baby, curled up in his arms. He was standing on a cliff looking down at the ocean tossing and turning beneath him. The sky above him was a deep red color and the ground under him was dark dry earth. Suddenly the wind roared and the ground itself shuddered from it. The sea began to boil and turn as the wind beat down onto it. He needed to go. He needed to run. He needed to save himself…he needed to save his baby. He turns around on his heels to run away before coming face to face with a pale green eyed young man in a black cloak.
“Give me the child,” he says.
“No,” Jackson says backing up.
The young man smirks before the ground gives way beneath him and Jackson could feel himself falling. Falling towards the sea…the boiling turning foaming sea.
“STOP!” he yells out suddenly and sits straight up in bed breathing heavily and sweating. He rubs his hands over his face trying to calm himself down, “Fuck,” he mutters to himself before looking out the window up at the night sky.
Nick looks over at Griffin who is walking down the streets next to him in the middle of a group of other young males around their age. What the hell they were doing walking around the streets so late at night Nick didn’t know. He didn’t know that and he didn’t know half the people that were walking with them. Griffin seemed to know them all though.
“What exactly are we doing?” Nick asks looking over at Griffin.
“You’ll see,” Griffin smirks as they continue to walk down the road.
Nick looks up at the sky above them and begins to try and count the stars…what else was there to do.
The power was working in some parts of the city now. Most of the generators that powered the electricity were on timers and not man operated in most areas. Those that weren’t didn’t have power. The same went for water pressure too. Other then the basics the city was in chaos. Broken store windows were all you saw when you walked down the street now and the streets were littered with abandoned cars and cycles. Various fires were burning here and there until they eventually died out by themselves with no fire department to help. Order…what order. That was all Nick had to say about it.
“Now what do we have here,” Patton says in the front of the group.
“Lost,” Heath asks someone.
“I…I’m fine,” a voice of a male says.
“You sure about that?” Patton asks.
“Fine really,” the voice says again and Nick begins to push his way to the front of the group with Griffin.
“You really shouldn’t be out this late,” Heath says.
“I’m going home,” the voice says and Nick could see it belonged to a young boy no older then sixteen at the most. He was smaller then them all probably around 5’9 with brown hair spiked up and bright light blue eyes.
“You know its not a good idea for you to be walking on the streets alone,” Patton says beginning to pace around the boy, “It’s not really a safe place for Halflings.”
“I…I needed food,” the boy says.
“He needed food,” Patton says to Heath, “Eating our food then?”
“No…no,” the boy says.
“Patton knock it off,” Nick says, “Let him go.”
Patton turns to look at Nick as the boy does the same, “Who the hell does this kid think he is?” Patton asks Griffin.
“Just cool off,” Griffin says to Nick, “They aren’t gonna hurt him. Just scare him.”
“Who are you to talk to me like that?” Patton asks approaching Nick.
“Just let him go,” Nick says to Patton as the boy begins to back away as they fight, “He’s just a kid and he needed food.”
“Don’t talk to me that way Carter,” Patton says as the boy turns around quickly and runs off down the street, “Fuck!” Patton yells racing off after the boy.
“Patton leave him alone,” Nick yells running after him, “You’ll never catch him Halflings run too fast for you! Just stop!” Nick yells turning and not seeing anyone in front of him, “Fuck,” Nick mutters as he begins to walk around again alone through the darkness.
Nick had been walking for at least fifteen minutes alone in the darkness before he saw a shadow move in the darkness, “Hey!” he yells, “Help! Stop!” he yells racing after it and stopping when he sees a dead end at the end of an alley, “Damn,” he yells as he sees a pair of bright blue eyes shine out through the darkness at him. He couldn’t see the body of the boy, but he could see his eyes, “I’m not going to hurt you,” Nick says to the boy as the eyes begin to back away from him towards the wall, “I promise. Just let me help you ok.”
The eyes stare at him before moving forward towards Nick slowly.
Nick stares as the boy comes closer out of the darkness. Nick stares at the boys blue eyes as he hears the sound of rushing wind over his shoulder and a single bullet flies through the air hitting the boy and sending him falling to the ground. Nick looks over his shoulder quickly at Patton and the others who are standing behind him, “No. No. No. NO!” he yells at them racing forward tripping on something and falling slightly before reaching the fallen boy, “NO! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!” he yells back at the others, “He’s just a kid,” Nick yells back at them looking down at the boys unmoving body.
“What the hell is wrong with you carter?” Patton asks walking up.
“Get away from me!” Nick yells at him backing up against the walls.
“Have you flipped your lid finally?” Heath asks, “What the hell is wrong? He’s a Halfling Nick. You used to hate them remember?”
“I was never like you! You don’t kill people,” Nick yells.
“They aren’t people,” Patton says.
“SHUTUP!” Nick yells covering his ears.
“Let’s get out here,” Patton says looking at Nick before turning around and walking back towards the others, “Leave him,” he says as he passes them turning the corner.
“Nick,” Griffin says as the others begin to leave, “Nick…c’mon. You can’t stay out here alone.”
Nick looks at him before sinking down against the wall and sitting on the floor.
“Nick. NICK!”
Nick stares at him before pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them.
“Fine be that way,” Griffin snaps walking off around the corner.
Nick stares at the fallen body in front of him as he holds onto his knees and begins to rock back and forth slowly. Nick looks up at the sky and the stars as the moon shines down on him.
“What the hell are you doing, Justin?” a voice asks him in his sleep.
“What? I’m doing my mission,” Justin says.
“YOU’RE SLEEPING!”
“What am I supposed to do not sleep? And how could you tell me this if I wasn’t sleeping. Fuck that.”
“Well while you were sleeping he opened the scroll!”
“JC?”
“Yes! Now the messages are getting through loudly.”
“They never told me to not let him open the scroll! They just told me to stop him once he gets to the mainland and follow him around!”
“Well now you kno…”
Justin’s eyes dart back in forth in his sleep as a vision flashes into his head quickly. It was a cabin. A small cabin in the woods somewhere. He was standing there while JC sat in a chair over near one of the windows. To his left there was a girl. A girl with bright green eyes, shoulder length brown hair and tan skin. She was crying. He wanted to ask her why she was crying, but he couldn’t get any words to form. He wanted to help her. He had to help her. He had to help her find someone she lost. Justin starts to walk towards her and kneels down in front of her. Her bright green eyes lock with his and he reaches up a hand to wipe away her tears.
“Help me,” she says softly.
Suddenly a thunderous boom is heard and she looks over towards the back of the cabin. Justin jerks his head and follows her gaze. Suddenly a wave of water comes rushing at the cabin shattering the windows as the water starts to surround the cabin and fill it up inside. The water rises a foot every second and soon enough Justin is swimming…no he’s drowning in it. His face is pressed up against the ceiling of the cabin gasping for breath as the water closes in on him. He sees the girl then face pressed up to the ceiling gasping for breath. Then the water engulfs him and he’s floating in it… weightless. He turns over and over again in the water before swimming towards the door under the water. He begins pulling on it as hard as he can struggling with it.
“What are you doing?” a voice asks as he spins around in the water and sees JC’s body floating…dead, “Help us,” JC’s voice says in Justin’s head, “Help us. Help her,” JC’s voice says again.
Justin turns toward the door again pulling on it franticly before turning back around and seeing the girl again struggling in the water. He sees an inky blackness floating in the water making its way towards the girl. He kicks off the door and starts swimming towards her franticly. He takes a breath and his lungs burn as the water enters them. His windpipe cries out in agony as he reaches the girl and draws her to him holding onto her as the blackness reaches them both. He ducks his head over the girl shielding her as an eerie coldness fills his body and he did the only thing he could…he screamed a soundless scream.
“Justin!” JC yells down at Justin as he shakes Justin’s body, “Justin wake up!” JC yells as Justin’s eyes pop open suddenly, “You were screaming,” JC says sitting back on the bed.
Justin takes deeps breaths of air and raises his hand to move some of the loose curls out of his face.
“Jesus you’re trembling,” JC says as Justin looks at his own hands that were shaking uncontrollably.
Justin stares at him then looks down at his hands again.
“What the hell happened?”
“Bad dream…bad dream,” Justin says.
“Are you ok?”
“Fine,” Justin says, “I’m fine.”
“Do you want some water to drink?”
“NO! No, no water.”
“Ok,” JC says backing off, “You sure you’re ok?”
“Yeah I’ll be fine,” Justin says to him as the boat rocks again as another wave hits it.
“Swells,” JC says looking out of the window into the darkness.
Justin nods, “We…we have life vests and shit right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I…I…I just have a fear of drowning.”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” JC says, “You know that a boat hasn’t sunk since 2586 though right?”
Justin nods, “Just paranoid I guess.”
JC nods, “We’ll be off here soon enough though.”
“Yeah. Yeah,” Justin says taking a blanket on the bed and covering himself with it as he sinks back down onto his pillow.
“I’m gonna go to bed then,” JC says to Justin as he gets off Justin’s bed and walks over to his own.
“Ok,” Justin says softly.
“Good night,” JC says.
Justin curls up into a ball under his blanket and shudders. His head hurt, his lungs still burned from something and there was still an odd coldness in his body. He stares off into the darkness with wide eyes. What the hell was going on?
