Ghosts

Chapter 4

Sometime later.

"Pup...wake up. Mai...Mai please..."

The Seed girl jolted up, water spewing from her mouth as she began to cough violently. Her hands fumbled as she reached for the voice, grasping onto their outer coat. The figure's arms wrapped around her, embracing her in relief. From the scratch of his beard atop her head, she knew she was in safe arms.

"Dad-" she huffed with a scratchy voice, "They got Rush-they took Thomas..." she coughed once more, still trying to get the remaining water out of her lungs.

"I know, baby...I know..." Jacob held his daughter close as they stood, holding her until he was sure she was able to stand on her own two feet.

There was no time and lick their wounds. Mai knew that. Jacob knew that. It was not long before they were venturing through the wilderness - scraping up whatever would be useful in a fight along the way. The goal was to reach Prosperity, but Mai wasn't even sure if she could make it over the next hill. They walked for hours on end with no end in sight. For the first time in two and a half years, she felt every ache, every sore, seeping out from every pore of her body. Trying to move her legs felt like a slow form of torture, burning as they tried to keep pace with her father. The fact that she was falling behind the sixty-four-year man was a sign that she was not doing so hot.

It was not only her body failing her, but her mind as well. She replayed the moments leading up to her and Rush becoming separated. Save yourself.. She wanted to object, to say screw that as he put his hands on her, sending her on her way. What good was her life if she could not protect those she had sworn to protect. She could not protect Scorch, nor Bee from the fighting arena. She couldn't fulfill her promise to Rush. Fuck, her job as security captain was just that...fucking security. Rush had saved her life and all she had to do was make sure was that he didn't catch a fucking cold or get a scratch on his head. She was responsible for the protection of that entire transport...and for all she knew, if Rush wasn't dead already, her father, and herself included, were the only ones left alive. Had she not been taken in the first place, Scorch and Bee would still be alive. Perhaps her mother would still be here; the convoy still on their merry way to build more settlements and Rush out of the grasp of the Twins.

That overwhelming sense of guilt is what finally sent her collapsing to her knees, whimpering. Her father stopped immediately up ahead. He dashed to her side kneeling beside her.

"Dad...I can't-I'm so tired..."

She began to breakdown, kneeling on all fours as she began to weep, nearly incidentally forcing herself to heave up whatever was left in her stomach.

"You should be grateful to be alive. The Father has laid out a plan for you after all." a woman's voice whispered.

Mai's head shot up, startled to find a young woman in a white doily dress in her father's place. She was familiar - like Mai had seen her once in a long forgotten dream. She was too weak to move, still trembling with enough force that she was fearful the ground was going to crack beneath from all the tremors. Was this another specter like the man in blue?

"The first step is always the scariest," the woman gently cupped Mai's chin, "but the path to Eden is clear to those who have faith. You'll find him there."

Mai felt as if her head were about to erupt. Him who? Did she mean Joseph? The one ghost who had yet to appear to her? She shut her eyes, unable to find the willpower to interact with the girl, hoping that if she kept her eyes shut long enough, she would simply be gone when they reopened.

When she opened them, she was stunned to open them to an open night sky, the stars dazzling above in an endless dance eons away. It took her a few moments to register that she was being carried, her head rested against the chest of her father.