Aftermath

Chapter Two - Blaise

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Ummmmmmmmmm

Idk

Miss Miseryguts

3апахло весной

10 reasons i hate you can go fuck itself for stealing the name bianca from me /j

Anyway lets fucking start!

Chapter Two - Blaise

"Where are they? They should have been here twenty minutes ago." I worry, pacing the floor.

"I dunno. Think we should check their house?" Alena suggests stopping me when I pass her the eighth time.

"Sure." I say, sighing and trying to calm down. I hope nothing bad had happened to Artemis. I'm sure they just slept late or something but I can't shake the worry from my mind. We finally arrive at their house. I try the door and its unlocked. Strange. I see a note on the kitchen table. I pick it up and read it over.

Dear Blaise and/or Alena

If you are reading this don't worry i'm fine (probably)

I'm currently in my lab in Cancun (hopefully)

I know I promised I would meet with you two,

But this breakthrough could be exactly what I need to find her again.

There's a car I fixed up in the garage-

I hope to see you soon if all goes well

Stay safe and don't get killed by the kes'!

Yours, Artemis

"What is it Blaise?" Alena says, reading over my shoulder.
"Apparently they decided to ditch us to work on their failed experiment all the way in FUCKING CANCUN!" I say, throwing the note onto the floor.
"Shite. What're we gonna do?" She asks, peering out a window nervously.

"They said they left us a car to visit them with." I grumble.

"Are we gonna go?" Alena asks, still standing behind me. I look back to her, then the paper, then sigh and nod.

"I guess so. Can't believe they'd do this. Typical fucking Artemis." I mutter.

"Okay. I call shotgun!" Alena shouts, running past me to the door.

"Noooooooo why do I always have to drive." I groan, grabbing her arm.

"'Cuz you're better at it, Blaise." She says.

"Finne." I smile at the flattery. She jabs me in the stomach and sprints out and I follow her.

"Oh you fucking aren't getting away with that!"

We head out to the garage where we see a beat-up looking pickup truck.

"This is the car they fixed up?" Alena asks, looking over at me who's still trying to catch my breath. I nod.

"Must be." I say between breaths.

"It looks like it barely works." Alena
"Hopefully it'll get us to Cancun." I say, fixing one of the side mirrors.

"Hopefully it runs at all." Alena says.

"C'mon Alena don't be so negative. I'm sure Artemis has tested it." I say, my mind wondering why Alena seemed to be in a mood. We get into the truck and it starts without issue. I let Alena try working the radio and a few old songs play, which cheers her up a bit. We begin our journey under the golden shine of the setting sun. We continue on into the night until about 1:00 AM when we decide to stop and get some sleep. I start a fire while Alena unpacks our sleeping bags from the back of the truck.

"Who's gonna stand watch first? You or me?" Alena asks.

"Could you? I did the driving." I say, dropping the second sleeping bag.

"How long should the shifts be?"
"I dunno, two hours?"

"Sounds good." Alena says, clambering up on the car roof and sitting down. Before falling asleep I mumble from my sleeping bag.

"Hey Alena? Why'dja seem frustrated earlier?"

"I dunno. I just... thought we'd be sleeping safe tonight or something. Like, we were all supposed to be reunited, but now reality is setting in." She says after a while. I'm quiet so long she must think I'd fallen asleep, and before I do, I mumble "Goodnight." And drift into dreamless sleep.

Eventually I awake to Alena shaking me.

"Get up Blaise."

I get up and they hand me a revolver.

"Get some sleep Alena." I say, clearing my voice and moving towards a spot on the grass a bit higher than the ground where we'd slept.

"I'll try." She says.

The first hour passes without anything happening. However, at about an hour and a half I hear the sound of footsteps. I raise my handgun and press myself into the tall grass, expecting the worst and holding my breath to attempt to not be noticed. I hear it again, something to my left about fifty feet away. I squint but it's too dark to see anything. I silently pray that it's not a Kes', when I finally catch a glimpse and my worst fears are fulfilled. There in the field stands a six foot tall machine with glowing red eyes and an assault rifle. It locks eyes with me and begins to lift its weapon. Time seems to slow around me and my hands clumsily raise the pistol and fire, hitting the automaton in the chest. A stream of green coolant flows from the corpse of the machine. Alena bolts upright.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT BLAISE?!" She shouts, shocked and sleepy. I look back at the Kes' I shot and it seems to be unresponsive. I sigh.
"Umm... it was nothing." I reassure her.

I know that Alena's even more scared of the machines than I am. There's no need to give her nightmares.

"Stop lying. What was it?" She demands.

"Seriously it's nothing. Just a squirrel. My nerves got the best of me." I lie, looking away.
"Oh. I thought it was one of the machines." She mutters. I hear the slight embarrassment and shakiness in her voice.

"I'm Sorry for scaring you. Go back to sleep." I say, trying to calm my own fast beating heart. The danger was gone. When I'm sure she'd fallen back asleep, I carefully dragged the Kes' behind a bush so neither of us would have to see its fucking red eyes in the morning. Eventually the sun rises and we're ready to get back on the road.

"How about you drive this time Alena? The only reason I'm better is because I've had more practice. You should practice too." I reason, holding the door open.

"Alright." She says reluctantly, hopping in. As we continue our journey I lean out the window and breathe in the smell of spring.

End of Chapter Two