Skye City: The Darkness of Emmilyn

Funny Turn

We run through our new gate which is wide open and Anguson closes it behind us. He locks it with a loop of rope which hangs over the fence post and could be nibbled through by anything with sharp teeth. Breathless, we gather in the garden and I squint through the small gaps in the gate, just to ensure nothing is trying to invade.

'I swear every time I venture into the jungle, something tries to kill me,' I say, relaxing a little.

'Let's not make a mountain out of a mole hill! Those creatures weren't too scary, it was just their sheer numbers that were the problem,' Nelson laughs, tempting me to stamp on his toe.

'On the plus side, we found a water supply, but we'll need to figure out if we can make it drinkable. And we've identified several sources of fruit,' Vytali says. Pretty sure it was one source of fruit, but whatever.

'Can't see anyone volunteering to go fruit picking with the giant bunnies around,' Adi says and his scratched cheek looks red and swollen. His injury seems slightly worse than I originally thought.

'We'll go out there tomorrow and clear the area of the little fuckers. We'll reinforce our fence as well and make sure all the remaining windows are boarded up. We need this place to be as secure as possible for the kids, if nothing else,' Anguson says.

'Yup, I'll beat those little buggers to death with my bare hands if they go near my brother,' I say, turning towards the entrance.

We head into the airship, locking the main door, and we climb the stairs to the main deck where everyone seems nervous, having heard our gunfire in the jungle. Mother runs through the wide-eyed crowd and hugs me and I step back, saying, 'Don't worry, everyone's fine.' We take seats and explain all about our near death encounter with the mutants at the beautiful water hole, prompting Kyan to volunteer to go out and hunt them down. Everyone else seems rather unimpressed that we declared war on a flock of rabbits, but were they there? No.

As Adi shows his scratched and swollen cheek to the other passengers, I say, 'You seem to be sweating a lot more than the rest of us.' His forehead is dripping whereas we are only mildly clammy, and his face seems off-colour— red near the wound, grey elsewhere.

'Get lost, Emmi!' Adi says.

'No, you really do,' Nelson says. 'You sure you okay?'

'I'm pretty sure I'll survive a minor scratch from a bunny rabbit,' Adi says.

'Oh, I don't know, it looks bad. We might have to amputate just to be safe,' Samaire says and a few of us laugh. 'Seriously though, if the worst we have to worry about is a scratch from an angry bunny, we're doing okay.'

'Tell me about it, the cities have demons sent from Katona to contend with and we have a herd of bunny rabbits. I'm sure we'll survive,' Nelson says.

'Let's not underestimate the little buggers though. They have numbers and if they caught someone off guard...'

'Chances are, we've already wiped 'em all out. That was a lot of shooting...' Anguson says.

'Yeah, but if those mutants breed like actual bunnies...' I say.

'Like I said before, we'll go out on a hunt tomorrow. Kill anything that poses the slightest threat,' Anguson says.

'I almost feel bad now, there's gonna be a blood bath simply because we moved in uninvited,' I say.

'Well if you'd rather leave 'em roaming around...' Adi says and then he sighs and squints, wiping his brow.

'You sure you okay?' I say.

'Yeah, I'm fine, just a little worn out. I'd best go to my cabin and lie down.' Adi rises from his seat and as he walks past me, his legs buckle. I stand and catch him as he collapses, then Nelson stands to help me.

'It's okay, I'm fine, I just lost my footing, that's all,' Adi says, fooling no one.

'You don't look fine, Mister. That wound could be infected. It really wasn't your smartest move, swimming in that lake,' I say.

'But it was fun... Whoa!' Adi's head momentarily flops.

'That's it, we're carrying you all the way to your cabin and you're taking it easy until we figure out what's wrong with you,' I say.

Nelson and I each wrap one of Adi's arms around our necks and carry him across the deck, down the winding stairs and through the corridor to his cabin. Adi unlocks the door and climbs into the bottom bunk and I say, 'I'll bring you some water.' I hurry upstairs to the bar, collect a warm bottle of water and return to the cabin. The door is wide open and Nelson is sitting on the floor, watching Adi who is already asleep. I place the water bottle at his bedside and say, 'You think he's gonna be okay?'

'I think so, Adi's pretty strong, I'm sure he can shrug off an infection,' Nelson says.

'What if it's the plague?' I say, resting my shoulders against the metal wall.

'Nah, he's already had that and survived,' Nelson says.

'Then what if he's turning into a crazy or something? This could be how it begins and he has guns,' I say.

'Fuck, I'd forgotten all about the crazies. I guess we'll just have to take turns at his bedside and stun him, if he behaves erratically,' Nelson says.

'You guys do realise I can hear every word?' Adi whispers.