Battle Scars I - The Immortal

Chapter 13 Part 1: Golden Rings

1

24 March 25,022

We walked out of Bart's shop, Emory and Amelia happily chatting behind me and James. James looked as though he were lost in thought and a bit distracted.

     I gave him a quick glance, "Is something the matter?"

     Slowly, James moved a bit closer to me. He whispered very quietly.

     "Is it obvious."

     "Yeah" I said, just as quietly.

     James kept quiet for a moment, as if debating whether or not he wanted to tell me something. Finally, he turned and spoke to Amelia and Emory, walking backwards.

     "Me and John are going to duck into this store quickly and use the latrine." He said to them.

     "Do you want us to wait?" Amelia asked, her and Emory stopping.

     "No, we'll meet you all at the theatre." James said, moving towards the doorway.

     Emory had a confused look on her face.

     "James wait, there's no –"

     James cut her off, practically dragging me inside, "See you there."

     I followed him behind a long row of shelves which held many drink containers and what looked to be vehicle supplies. He looked around to see if anyone was watching, glancing down the aisle one way towards a refrigerated section and the other way which went across the middle of the store to another aisle which held many various candies.

    It was very inconspicuous to begin with, seeing as we both stood quite high over the various shelves, but the checking for anyone made it comical.

     When he was satisfied that no one was there, he crouched and motioned for me to do the same.

     I had a hard time keeping a straight face but tried my best and crouched with him.

     "Alright, so this is my first anniversary with Amy away from the base. I really want to do something that will be special. I've been working on something with Bart, but it's going to require time. Tomorrow, I'm going to need you to distract Amy for say... five hours."

      I raised my eyebrow, intrigued.

     "Ok, so what do you have planned?"

     James smiled and patted me on the shoulder, "Don't worry, you'll find out. Also, do your best to throw Emory for a loop too."

     "You've no need to worry about that, she has work tomorrow." I told him.

     "Well, that works out then, in a way. It's a bit depressing though that she won't be able to make it."

     "Make what? All of this is very vague. It's hard to help you with a plan when I don't know what's going on."

     "You know enough. Just keep Amy occupied and I'll handle the rest."

     I sighed, nodding begrudgingly. I had done similar things like this to him enough over the years that I suppose I could take the hit this time.

     "Alright, I can do that," I stood up, turning towards the exit.

     As we walked out of the store James began again, a bit timidly.

    "Hey John, I do still need to get a little bit of shopping for this out of the way, so after the screening help me come up with a reason to leave."