Thunder and Storm

The Cure

CAMERON.

Peeking out of my tent, I saw that all the tents were closed. They were all asleep. I moved out, closing the tent behind me. Max followed me out and I stopped.

“Go back in there.” I shooed him away.  He sat on the floor and looked up at me, panting with his tongue out.

I moved forward and he got up and followed me, I stopped. “No, Max. Go back in there, now,” I whisper-yelled.

He whined and looked up at me with wide eyes. I groaned. He couldn’t come with me this time. What I was about to do was reckless and I wouldn’t want him to get hurt.

“Back, now.” I pointed to the tent and he barked. “Ssh!” I quickly covered his mouth.

Damn this dog.

“Fine. You can come with me.”

He barked happily and I glared at him. “Shut up,” I grounded out between clenched teeth.

We tiptoed to the car parked behind a bush at the cave’s entrance. I opened the door and Max got in the back. I was about to open the driver’s door when someone spoke.

“Going somewhere?”

My heart jumped in my throat and I turned expecting to see Hiro or Ryan instead it was the new guy, Grayson.

“What are you doing out here? Are you following me?”

I hadn’t checked his sleeping area in the tent before leaving. Dumb mistake. He was so quiet I forget he’s there sometimes.

He scoffed. “You’re not interesting enough to follow. Last time I checked, you ain’t got boobs. I just have a hard time sleeping is all.”

Hmmm. I narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s with the sneaking around? I never heard you come up behind me.”

“I’m sneaking around?” He lifted a brow, his tone sarcastic and I rolled my eyes.

“Whatever, just go back to whatever it is you were doing.”

“Where are you sneaking off to?” he asked.

Nosy much.

“None of your damn business.” I pulled the door open and got in, clicking the lock.

I turned on the ignition only to find him beside me. “What the...” I jumped, “How did you do that?”

He yawned, making a show of covering his wide mouth with his hand. “The way I see it, I’m bored and you’re about to do something that reeks of danger and fun so I’m tagging along.”

“You’re not tagging anywhere,” I protested.

Max growled at him, baring his teeth. He didn’t like him too.

“Tell your mutt to calm down or I might send him somewhere he won’t like.” He moved his fingers around and a wave of black smoke appeared around them.

“Don’t call him that,” I warned; he shrugged.

I turned and patted Max on the head. “Down, boy.” I scratched his head, playing with the fur. He quietened after that.

I pulled the car out of the bushes and onto the dirt road leading away from the cave. There wasn’t much of a road now, it was all covered in crispy snow. At least this way, he was with me and I could monitor the guy.

“By the way.” I turned to face him, “Don’t ever threaten my dog again.”

“Don’t ever threaten my dog again,” he mimicked whilst rolling his eyes and I gripped the steering wheel tighter.

It was official, I didn’t like him. This was going to be a long and gruelling ride.


I parked the car behind a bush, the same spot I’d parked it the last time we were here and looked out at the military base. There wasn’t much of a base left now. Even in the dark, the damage we’d caused to the place was apparent.

I glanced at my passenger. He was staring at the base with an odd look in his eyes. The ride over had been fairly quiet if not for the occasional humming and finger tapping he did on the dashboard.

“Stay here with Max, I’ll be right back,” I instructed and got down from the car.

I walked quietly to the fence and crouched. The fence Hiro broke down the last time had been replaced. The grounds were dark and quiet, eerily quiet. It didn’t seem like this place was filled with soldiers only a few days ago. 

Someone crouched beside me and I groaned. “I thought I told you to stay in the car.”

“Do I look like a dog sitter to you?”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. This guy was a pain in the ass.

“What are we looking for?” he asked.

“A drug,” I mumbled.

“What drug?”

“Fewer questions, more action,” I climbed the fence and landed on the other side. He was right beside me before my feet touched the ground. I rolled my eyes.

“The more information I know, the better for us because we could be walking into a trap right here and I’d like to know if I can get out fast enough.”

“I didn’t tell you to tag along in the first place.”

Our feet made crunching sounds on the snow as we walked. It was too quiet here. Where were the guards and the soldiers watching over this place? I stopped. Maybe Hiro was right and the cure wasn’t here. 

“Seriously? You might need my help, you know.”

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m looking for the cure.”

“The cure to the virus? What makes you think it’s here or if there even is a cure?”

“I know there is and it’s right here, I just need to find it.”

I looked around the pile of rubble laying at my feet searching for the entrance we’d gone through the last time.

“Wait,” Grayson said. He paused and looked around. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and I was encompassed by darkness. My stomach lifted to my throat and my insides churned.

I opened my eyes and we were in a well-lit hall. I bent on my knees and retched. It took me a minute before the nausea subsided.

He looked down his nose at me. “Are you done?” He reached out to help me up and I slapped his hand away.

“A heads up would’ve been nice,“ I mumbled as I straightened.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” He smirked.

“What was that anyway?”

“Have you never teleported through the shadows before?” he asked.

“Obviously not, I’ve never met anyone who could do that before.” I looked around the surrounding. We were in some sort of basement. There were glass doors on each side with some equipment in them. I saw some vials containing a blue liquid. This must be it.

“Is that it?” he asked.

“I think so.” I tried to open one of the doors. The handle turned and suddenly became stiff. The light on it turned red and an alarm blared out.

“Shit! What did you do?” he shouted.

I heard a hissing sound and looked down at my feet to see gas coming out from tiny holes on the ground.

“Quick, cover your nose,” I shouted as I covered my nose with my hand.

“We have to find a way out.” His voice came out muffled through his hand. He ran down the hall and I followed him.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Finding a way out of here.”

“Do your shadow portal thing.” I coughed. It was getting harder to breathe in here. My eyes were starting to get blurry.

“I can’t.” He coughed and bent. He took his hand off his nose and fell to his feet.

Damn it.

“There’s something weird about this place,” he croaked out. His eyes were droopy, his words coming out slower.

It was hard keeping my eyes open when all I wanted to do was close them and go to sleep. My legs were weak, I couldn’t stay up anymore. My legs gave out beneath me just as he fell to the floor unconscious. His figure got blurrier and my eyes closed, darkness enveloped me.

The sound of someone hitting something made me open my eyes and I sat up. I was in a white room with weird-looking tiles on the wall. Grayson was hitting the door with his fists. I groaned.

“Stop that, will you? You’re making my head hurt.”

“I’m in here because of you in the first place,” he growled.

“I didn’t tell you to follow me,” I shot back.

He glared at me but said nothing. He slumped against the wall and looked up at the ceiling.

“Can’t you do something and get us out of here?”

He glanced at me. “I’ve tried but the room seems to be modified.” He pointed to the wall, “I’m guessing those aren’t just regular tiles.” 

I moved my fingers and tried to create lightning, nothing happened. I got up and tried again, concentrating all my energy. Still, nothing happened. He was right, I couldn’t feel anything anymore. I sighed, defeated and slumped to the floor. I wasn’t joking when I said my head was hurting. It felt like I got rammed by a bulldozer.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

He didn’t reply; he just kept staring at the ceiling.

“Hello, boys,” a voice crackled from the overhead speaker. “Trust you had a good sleep? Make yourselves comfortable ‘cause you’re going to be here a while.” He laughed.

The kind of laughter that held the promise of more to come. Something I wasn’t looking forward to.

Grayson moved closer to the door and placed his hand on it, he closed his eyes. His brows scrunched in concentration.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“Trying to see if it’s dark outside, now shut up.” 

I closed my eyes and thought about Max, I just hoped he was still in the car. I shouldn’t have come here alone. They had prepared for us coming back and I had walked into a trap. At least I found the cure I was looking for. The problem now was getting it.

Grayson perked up suddenly and I opened my eyes. His eyes were squeezed shut. Sweat trickled down the side of his face. He looked like he was in pain.

“What are yo–“ I didn’t get to finish that sentence.

Tiny fragments of darkness filtered into the room from the gaps in the door. My mouth fell open as the once white room became dark.

“Quick, give me your hand.” He groaned.

I staggered to my feet and ran to him. He gripped my hand tightly and I closed my eyes. My stomach flipped and the next thing I knew, we were back in the car. Just like the last time he did that, I placed my head out the window and retched, gagging as I heaved air. I’d never get used to that. Max barked and tried to lick my face as I composed myself.

“Happy to see you too, buddy. Let’s leave the celebration for later.” I turned the key and the car groaned to life, I pulled away.


I looked at my passenger. He looked really exhausted. His eyes were closed with blood trickling out of his nose.

“You’ve got a little something there.” He opened his eyes, I pointed to my nose. He cleaned off the blood and looked down at his hand, grimaced and wiped it on his shirt.

“Nice one, Greystone.”

He rolled his eyes tiredly at me. “It’s Grayson.”

“Whatever.”

“Is that a thank you? I totally just saved your life back there.”

I would swallow my tongue first before thanking him for anything. “Consider it as an ‘I owe you one’.”

He shook his head and closed his eyes.  The sun was out now, we had been in there all night. I was scared to think of what would’ve happened to us if we had stayed in there longer than that.

“Why weren’t you able to get us out of there last night?” I asked him.

It took him a while to answer and when he did, I wasn’t expecting his answer.

“It was bright in there and there were no shadows.”