Descent

Chapter 22

Mai stared up into the open expansiveness of the hazy sky that held itself above her. She blinked, one, two, three times, finding herself agitated that she had once again found herself back here. She lay flat on her back, a speck amongst a never-ending field of grass and white flowers that she remembered from her childhood. The last time she found herself in this place, she had just had a hole blown through her chest with a shotgun, falling two stories out of an abandoned building. This time, she must have slipped into unconsciousness, fighting on the edge between life and death following her deadly encounter with Raven's little pets. She remembered being transported to a medical room, surrounded by Highwaymen doctors tending to her as she teetered on the edge. This was but one of a handful of times she found herself back here, though not all of them were life or death. Sometimes when she was in a deep sleep, she would find herself here. It was like a hiding place where she could divulge in her greatest failures. The people she brutally slaughtered. The people she failed to save.

The coyote shut her eyes, refusing to encounter any familiar faces here. She listed their names as easily as one could recite the alphabet. Bee. Scorch. Sokanon. Takoda. Mickey. Lou. John. Faith. Ethan. Joseph. Jacob. No. Dad.

Her eyelids scrunched together as she prepared herself for whoever's face she was to soon be greeted with. She prayed to whoever was up in that blank sky that she would not see any of her friends. That she would not see Dayana or Roger. No Thomas or Malik. When she opened her eyes, she was relieved to only be greeted by the emptiness of the sky. She sighed with relief, allowing her body to lax along the grass. They had made it to safety. That was all that mattered.

There was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind though. Ramona, despite having lost her grasp on Malik, had got what she was after. She had his blood, and now with Mai as a prisoner, she had another blood bag at her disposal to do whatever evil bidding she had planned. That alone made her stir, beginning to run every worst-case scenario in her head. Just sitting there, forced to imagine the damage Raven could do with an army of jacked-up Highwaymen was a nightmare in of itself. Even worse, what if the other splinter Highwaymen groups got their hands on this limited quantity of Eden's Gift coming from the Seed siblings. They would overrun the country in no time, meaning, Mai had only prolonged her friends and families suffering. In months, maybe sooner, they could very well once again be at Raven's mercy.

Mai opened her eyes of the mere thought that after all she had been through in this past week, it could very well be undone, and she would be powerless to stop it - mainly because she was here. That thought made her realize she had to wake up from this limbo and get the fuck out of here.

"What are you doing here pup?" a voice cut through her tranquil state.

Mai looked the side seeing a man standing horizontal to her body with his arms crossed at his chest. The way the light hit his profile cast dark, sharp shadows across him, blurring his identity. The man spoke with a matter of fact tone, paternal. Familiar. Dad. Mai sprung up as though she had just been bitten by an insect. She scoffed and laughed in disbelief at the cruel hand fate had handed her. This was the last thing she needed right now.

"Nope. No. I am not doing this."

She groaned as she got to her feet, the injuries she sustained in real life finally catching up to her even in the unconscious realm.

"Mai." Jacob called as she began walking away.

"I'm not doing this again." she insisted, "I don't need some spiritual pep talk from the ghost of my father. Just- let me be."

Jacob bided his time, watching her with steady eyes as she stopped shortly after, instead of beginning to pace, shifting her arms from crossed over her chest to places firmly on her hips repeatedly as she looked about.