Survival

XVI: Losing Time

(This is kind of what the Taipans base looks like but with more building and plants and stuff. If you can't read the names I'm really sorry, I don't have the best handwriting and the words aren't very big either... But I hope it can at least help you get a better idea of what it looks like!)

Liam's POV.

I grimaced as Jasmine touched my wound again. We'd barely managed to get back to the city where some scouts found us and brought us back in. Currently, I was seated on a chair while Jasmine stitched up the cut on my side. It was a decent slice, but nothing that wouldn't heal over time. Once we had gotten back and Nicole found out what happened he had instantly run outside fuming with Batch close behind, I figured they wanted to talk about things away from everyone else or to just get away so that Nicole could yell where nobody could hear him,
"Alright, you're all good," Jasmine finally cut the end of the string sitting up with a sigh. I gave a small but weak smile sitting up and pulling my shirt back on, she had already tended to Mikah's wound, as I'd asked her two, and now Viper walked in situating herself against the table. I was rather surprised by her expression, it was actually glum, she was never glum... She always had a reason to smile sinisterly, thinking about something that made her more superior than anyone else, or that she was so much smarter and more skilled than everyone. But now she was quiet, averting everyone's eyes with her arms folded across her chest,
"You alright?" I questioned (for the first time ever) for once maybe actually concerned for her,
"I'm fine," She said bitterly glaring at me, I just stared at her and a moment later her arms sagged by her sides as she gave a sigh of defeat,
"He shouldn't have died like that... He'd just gotten here and he was actually decent. He wasn't a dick, he did what he was told without question... He never got into fights or minded when people criticized him... Why did the good one have to die? Why not Mikah or me or you? Why did it have to be him...? And so soon..." She didn't cry, but her voice had a crack in it (something I had never heard before) as if she were trying to hold back her emotions. She truly hadn't wanted Adam to die, and I think she felt a small amount of remorse about it for once. Cautiously, I patted her on the shoulder, I knew she needed the comfort... But she could still lash out at any second, I knew the Viper I knew wasn't gone just because of this momentary vulnerable moment,
"I ask myself the same thing... I'd much prefer that it had been me who had died, that Adam was here in my place... But we can't change what is done, so we must move on and do what Adam would have wanted,"
"But what would he want?" Viper asked, she still seemed in a state of disarray,
"I'm not entirely sure... But I know It would be something like getting revenge on those shitheads," She gave a weak chuckle, a small smile slowly returning to her face,
"That sounds like the best thing you've said all day," Viper admitted before shoving him towards the door and showing Jas a wound on her arm. I laughed pushing it open, I knew to never tell anyone of this moment... If Viper found out she'd most likely skin me alive, and if Jasmine knew what's good for her she'd do the same. Deciding that Batch and Nicole should be back by now I headed towards an exit; I wanted to talk with them, see what our next course of action would be. I walked throw a set of halls before coming up to one of the doors out where a burly man leaned against the wall beside the door. I faintly remember bringing Jason in this way when we first arrived. The burly man was Elijah, his job was to stay by the door and make sure nobody got in that wasn't supposed to, and most of the time people didn't succeed when they tried,
"Nicole back yet?" I asked leaning against the wall opposite of him,
"No," He replied simply, he had a deep somber tone,
"Hm," Was my response as I pushed open the door walking out into a rainstorm, the whole clearing was covered in fog and my clothes instantly clung to my skin, the storm had rolled in fast. As I headed towards one of the opposing buildings I realized I'd forgotten to put on a jacket or sweater before coming out here, no wonder I was so cold,
"Hey! Lindsey!" I called up rubbing my arms to keep them warm. A second later a head poked over the wall,
"What is it?" She called back,
"Nicole or Batch back yet?" I asked raising my hand over my eyes as water tried blinding Lindsey from my sight,
"Yeah! He took the way to his remote office this time though!" I nodded giving her a thumbs up before heading off in a different direction. We had, of course, a couple of different buildings, but we hadn't fixed all of them up and the main one gave the most shelter, so we all stayed there most of the time. But when Nicole needed somewhere to talk quietly in private he usually went to his building which no one was allowed in unless he gave them permission. It was close to the main building and only had one floor plus a basement. I pushed back some foliage knocking on the door behind it, a couple of moments later I heard footsteps and then the door was opened,
"Oh, Liam," Batch said stepping aside to let me in. I'd only been in this house a couple of times before, and it always looked the same, there was a small hall that led from the door to the living room, and from there you could go to the kitchen or bedroom, it was a small house, but it worked well for its purpose,
"Jason, explain to me again who you were talking to," I turned toward Nicole's commanding voice not expecting it, he was beside a wall where he paced back and forth. I glanced at Batch in concern and he just shrugged mouthing 'I can't get him to stop' I nodded turning my attention back to our leader,
"He wore a black coat and a sword," I thought for a moment trying to remember any other specific details about his attire, "...On the hilt of his sword was the carving of a black orange and yellow frog..." I said slowly as I described the memory, I hadn't really even taken direct notice of it before now. But clearly, Nicole had as he suddenly came to a halt staring off at a corner, his back rigged. Without looking at me he asked,
"Did he have a scar between his eyes?"
"Yeah... Do you know who he is?" I furrowed my eyebrows wondering if this guy and Nicole had a past at all...
"Yes..." He said quietly before he strengthened his voice, "Yes, I was the one who gave him that scar, his names Cyrus," Batch opened his mouth as if to speak but decided better of it and shut it with a stout look on his face,
"He's second in command of the Ameeregas leader, he and I used to be friends before he decided that the Ameeregas were better than us... That the way I handled things wasn't right," Nicole continued his pacing, "Of course, my way is the way I chose, I wasn't going to change that no matter how hard he tried, because the way I choose to do things keeps us alive, and that's all that matters..." I watched in concern as he continued but couldn't help the small voice in my head, was surviving all that mattered? Was there more than just living to see another day? "So, he left, or we both rather agreed on him leaving, I don't see why he didn't agree with what I do though as the Ameeregas are just as bad as us," He rambled on before turning sharply to me,
"How's Jason?" He squinted his eyes in either worry or anger, I couldn't tell, and a frown creased his face,
"Jasmine said that she spent some more time and was able to figure out, with the girl's help, something to slow down the effects of the poison..." My voice faltered as I sighed before shaking myself out of it, people died all the time, this was nothing, (other than the fact he might know my sister and where she is... the voice said again) "She said that he'll live a week at most, more likely three days or so though," I folded my hands behind my back clearing my mind like Walker had taught me when blocking out emotions, 'they're useless... And they cloud your judgment if emotions ever start to overcome your thoughts then get rid of them as soon as possible and don't make decisions until your mind is clear.' His voice rang in my head as I straightened my back bringing back my emotionless face; if I started to look like I didn't care then I started to feel that way. Nicole coursed, his knuckles turning white as he curled them into balls, from the side I could see Batch watching him cautiously,
"We need a plan, how are we going to get that plant?" Nicole directed the question at both of us, my mind instantly started turning until I thought of something,
"We could try making a distraction and then have some of us sneak in, grab the plant, then sneak out,"
"That might work... But it'd have to be a big distraction and it would have to distract them for a very long time..." Batch countered a hand on his chin in thought as he too started pacing, though slower than Nicole was,
"Maybe so... But it's somewhere, and getting anywhere is good right now," Nicole stated slowly nodding, "Batch, your creative, I want you to figure out a distraction, if you must, ask someone for help but be discreet, we still don't know who we can trust," Batch nodded throwing his jacket back on,
"I'll look and see if I can't find any clues as to who's been snitching on us, and while we do that, Liam, I want you to go scout out the outer walls," Nicole turned back to me, "I want to know if there are any weaknesses in it, any signs of an attack plan... Footprints that shouldn't be there, signs that someone has been scouting us out, anything," I nodded grabbing a random jacket and pulling the hood over my head as we headed back outside where the rain continuously pounded down on us. I watched as Nicole and Batch both headed back towards the main building before stalking out of the main entrance of the city. From what I heard, when Nicole first found this place when he was eighteen (he's now twenty-nine) the city had already had walls around a quarter maybe less of it from someone else, but there were tons of wholes and everything was basically a wreck. But throughout the years they'd rebuilt it, making it the well-fortified base it is now. The whole city altogether was huge... it'd take hours to walk around the whole thing which was why Nicole had focused on rebuilding only the part that was in the walls; we'd been exploring the rest of the city since it was discovered and still are. I ran my hand along the wall looking at the ground for any signs that the Ameeregas had been there, I instantly noticed a pair of footprints leading to the right following the wall, it was possible it was just someone going out for a walk or something like that, but he followed them anyway in case they weren't... At one point where he found a good print, he squatted down trying to decipher whether it was a girl or boy and how old slash big they were. The print looked like a running shoe; I assumed it was a girl, that or a man that didn't have very big feet which would surprise me... Out of every guy, I knew all of them had big smelly feet, trust me. I cringed up my nose remembering a time when we'd gotten back from a mission and Mikah's feet smelt so fuel I had actually ended up sleeping in the hallway just to get away from the smell because we shared a room. Continuing to follow the tracks I realized that there were actually two sets, but by the same person, someone had walked to the edge of the entrance and then turned around and went back the way they'd come. After a minute or two, the tracks started heading away from the wall out into the open fog. I followed them for a little while but it wasn't long before they disappeared as the rain washed them out, smearing them too much into the mud for me to clearly identify, so I'd decided to go back and check again to see if I'd missed anything. I'd circled back to where I had first spotted the tracks and then back again, but I still hadn't seen anything. Just when I was about to leave and continue looking for anything else unusual I spotted some marking on the wall that were almost washed out by the water... My heart skipped a beat as I tried to make out what it said. No... No, it couldn't be, there was no way in hell that Sylvia had been here, right? I shook my head determined that I was just reading it wrong. My mind was lashed back to those moments I'd has with my father and mother about strategies for finding each other and leaving messages for only us... Sylvia would always get distracted by something and wander off while dad explained everything. I chuckled lightly, but sadly, as the memory slowly faded; it would actually surprise me if Sylvia had even remembered how to do it... I looked at the 'S' for a long moment, it was pointing up and to the right where a soaked piece of paper with smeared ink was hung up from long ago... If I wasn't hallucinating... And I Sylvia had written this, then underneath that paper could be where she was, it could be proof that she wasn't dead, that maybe I could see her one more time... Maybe get to know her. She should be, what? Seventeen by now...? I think she was ten when Nicole found us. I looked back up at the paper again, this could completely change my life, I could live a life with my sister, we could survive in this world together... And maybe, just maybe, I would feel a little less lonely, a little less out of place, and a little more welcome, like I actually fit in. I lifted my hand, ready to pull back the paper but I hesitated, and that... One single second of hesitation was all it took for reality to come crashing in, and I knew I would remember this decision for the rest of my life. With a shaky, deep breath, I closed my eyes and walked away. I was seeing things... And even if it was my last family- No... My last blood member; even if Sylvia had in fact survived I was no longer a part of her life, nor her mine. And we were losing time, if I couldn't stay focused we would lose Jason... And possibly even more. The thought of the Ameeregas planning an attack was stuck in my head, the fact that they had threatened to kill all of us, vowing that this land was going to be there's... No, I couldn't let that happen, and if my head wasn't in the game that was exactly what was going to happen. So, without a second glance, I walked along the wall checking for any other signs, and the further away I walked from those markings... The further away I was able to push Sylvia to the back of my mind.