Aer II

30

  Daisy pushes the wheelbarrow along the road, she wipes the sweat off her face. Nix is still unconscious. She's lucky she found the wheelbarrow at a farm she passed, there's no way she could've lifted his body.

  The Ifreann seemed a lot closer when she could see it from Rob's room. She's been making up a story in her head, they got ambushed, Dave's men were killed and they were taken hostage for Arawn. They mightn't open fire when they see Nix.

  Her minds been stuck on Charlie, not for the fact he's dead but the fact she enjoyed causing him that much pain. She doesn't know if her feelings are valid. Everything just hit her at once, and she put an end to her suffering by killing him. After all he was going to kill Nix.

She wipes away the sweat on her forehead, she's wearing a tiny tank top and shorts but she's still overheating, there's only a small sip of water left, she's been keeping it in case Nix wakes up.

The Ifreann comes into sight, Daisy can barely make out the figures lining the fence. She knows there's snipers in the watchtower, aiming down their sights at her, she raises her hands, before beginning to push the wheelbarrow, but she keeps on arm raised.

'The Immram,' she says as she approaches the men at the gates, she's out of breath 'the Immram, they're the cult'.
'That's Nix,' one of the boys say, he stalks off and takes his radio off his belt.
'The cult?' The girl frowns 'what happened to you?'.

  The gates open, the engine of a car can be heard approaching in the distance. The girl hands Daisy a water bottle and repeats her question.
'They ambushed us, there was no horde, it was just them,' Daisy says 'brought us back to their settlement, took Arawn and tried to kill us'.
'Right, okay, I'll radio Dave,' the girl says 'ye get in that car and they'll bring ye to the medics'.

   'How is he?'.
Daisy asks as the door of Dave's office clicks open.
'He's good, vitals are stable, he's a tough boy,' Dave sits across from her 'you know what's funny? For so long we were painted as the bad guys, I know our morals are tainted and our actions speak a lot louder than words but the Immram....'.

'The cult is everywhere,' Daisy says 'but they took Arawn'.
'And can I ask you what's his importance? I understand you and Nix care about him but why do the cult?' Dave frowns.
'They think he's their God?'.
'God?' Dave scoffs 'he's a child'.

'That's why I took him from the cult,' Daisy says 'I...I don't know why they think he's their God but I know he's in trouble'.

'Listen, girl, for years I've protected my people, I've kept strangers off this land to protect my people, I get it and as I said I know ye care about him so I'm willing to help,' Dave looks over at a map on the wall 'show me where their compound is'.

  Daisy takes a pen, she tries to navigate through the detailed map, she was never good at reading maps, it'd be easier for her to explain. Eventually she finds the hotel and circles it.

'What the fuck?' Dave comes up behind her 'they've been right under our noses'.
'Rob sees everything,' Daisy says 'he sees all of your movements'.
'Right, and you think they still have Arawn there?' He frowns.
Daisy shrugs 'where else would they take him?'.

  'I don't know much about the cult,' Dave says 'we stick to ourselves, but I'm guessing they've a bigger compound somewhere, ye found him on the island James attacked?'.
'Yes, how'd you know about that attack?' Daisy asks.
'Nix told me over radio before ye arrived,' Dave says 'me and Nix go way back, when he left I knew he'd heard of a better group, because, after all, who wants to be a member of the Ifreann?'.

  'Why are ye so violent?'.
'It keeps us safe,' he smiles slightly 'James had great ideas but look where that got him, nobody bothers us only the stupid Immram. At first we were a bunch of kids who's parents had just died and we wanted to do whatever the fuck we could, and now we're one of the longest standing, feared groups'.

'Hopefully it stays that way,' she says 'I'm going to visit Nix and try come up with a plan'.
   'Come see me when you've a solid plan'.