Angel Of Clinia

20. Recruiting

After the bartender left us to our supposed luckless selves, we were less confident in finding recruits to help us save the world, even after we found out they wouldn't attack us, assuming it wasn't a cold hearted lie.

It would be cruel to ourselves if we stopped now and let the government consume us.

A laughing table of men caught our attention. They seemed to be playing a card game.

"Excuse me." I anxiously croak.

"A Clinia girl?" A man in a pirate hat chuckles.
"Want us to deal you in?" Another man at the table pats a seat kindly.

"No thank you, but we have a request, a plead even." Taylor speaks up.

We fill them in on our story.

"That would be a lost cause I'm afraid. We might as well wait out our days in happiness than waste it on sorrow and worry. Good luck though kids. If you want we can still deal you in so you can have a good time before we all perish or get abducted." The pirate hat man claps us on our backs.

"We appreciate it, maybe later." I frown.

"Abductions you say?" A paranoid man spins around. He has a wooden sign saying 'The end is upon us', which wasn't wrong, but he's insane and not exactly the type we need. "No, no, you heard me incorrectly." I wave him off.

"Well I heard you correctly." A voice speaks up. The voice comes from an adventurous appearing teenage boy with what appears to be 'a mystic loner aura'. "Why yes, we actually-" "No need to continue, I heard your tale of woe. I must say, an intriguing story it is but it needs work. Like a courageous hero to swoop in and have his two female assistants help him save the world." "If you are implying that us two are the assistants after all we've been through-" Taylor gets cut off. "You heard me right. If you want the world saved, I'm your best bet- like me or not, so you might as well buckle down, get used to me, and play along. I'm Sparrow." "Sparrow?" I hold in a laugh. "Correct." He walks with purpose to the bar, grabs a water and pours it into a very large brown cantine. "We'll need this for the trip." With that he pushes the doors open wide with both arms dramatically, and leaves. Still standing in place, we blink a couple times, and follow him, not even sure why.

"Are we sure about this?" Taylor whispers to me. "Not like we have a better option." I shrug.

"Good choice." He bites into a strange fruit as he points at us in reply to our short conversation. "What are you eating?" Taylor and I ask. "A spiked pear apple, duh. Do you not have them in Clinia?" He laughs as he pulls out a tall black spike. "Quite obviously no, since we had no clue what you had in your hand." Taylor remarks. "I like you already," he jokes, "but don't get too witty, that's my job." "Ha ha." Taylor sarcastically replies while rolling her eyes.

I guess recruiting someone wasn't as hard as we thought, even if he may be a total pest.

The sandy world ahead of us smelled of rotted onions and a disgustingly sweet breeze. I've gagged about thirty times in the last five minutes.

I envy those who can go long periods of time in high heat. I was made for the cold. "Stop it's too hot." I pant. "We'll never make it if you keep stopping us." Sparrow complains. "Where are we even going?" I say in a breathy voice. "The space station of course." He points into the empty distance. "How long do you think it'll take to arrive?" "A lot longer if you don't keep walking!" "Fine." I slap my hands on my legs and start to walk.

"But for real, how long?" Taylor adds on. "A few days, but we'll make it before your wicked government destroys the Earth." He answers calmly. "You say that like it's a normal thing." I internally laugh at her comment.

A few hours later we all have a restroom break.

"Well I hate to say it, but we all have to accompany each other, even if we don't watch. We don't want to be cloned or stolen away." Sparrow turns red.

"I guess that's fair." Taylor and I awkwardly agree.

I never thought I'd be having to watch and be watched using the restroom while the world was preparing to end.