The Eden Projects (EDITING)

Chapter 40. Bonnie and Clyde.

"I'm coming with you."

"No you're not. Stay in the car." Kasper unlatched the door.

"Listen- I didn't stay alive all this time to be sitting in some damn car while you go make terrible decisions." Zak's hands busied with his Jacket. "OR to be bossed around by you. That ain't starting now." He unbuckled his seatbelt. "We make bad choices together."

Kasper turned the headlights off with an exasperated huff. Zak was still groggy from whatever he had taken and swayed when he stepped out of the truck. Playing the stutter off in a wildly exaggerated stretch. 

The quiet darkness ebbed and flowed around them in muddy waves. They let their doors close gently and listened to the swift wind breathing down the streets. Closer. It said as It whistled through the alleys. Come closer that I may devour you whole. Clicking came from somewhere a block or so away. An unseeable thing crept over a rubble pile to their right, while another skittered across the metal roof of an old car a ways to the left. They weren't the enemy. Kasper tightened the chest strap on his backpack.

Zak did the same. Momentarily reaching for his flashlight. He squinted, then smiled, sliding his hand away. "Wow." He held it out in front of himself. "That's wild."

"What?" Kasper grabbed a hold of his arm. Looking at it. "What's wrong." He had become overly aware of Zak. He mattered. So what he did in any facet, also mattered.

Zak stepped away. "Nothing." 

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Zak nodded. "Mhm." 

"Do you wanna talk about the tower?"

He shook his head.

"Okay... then stop acting like I need to ask." 

"I'm not." 

Kasper knew something happened there, and he let his mind wander as the pair made their way down the streets in complete darkness. Fully aware that those darting figures he could see were indeed watching them. Zak seemed to linger over the places he did. Like a mimic that every minute, got that much more annoying. "Stop that."

"Stop what?"

They lowered just next to two cars that had ended their lives in a T-bone collision.

"You can't see, so why do you keeping looking like that. It's creeping me out." He traded his gun for a knife. "Seriously. Get your flashlight out."

"I wasn't looking at anything-"

"Zak, stop."

Zak looked through the dusted window of the car. "I was just looking around-" He seemed to struggle, like he was locked in some internal debate. "-okay."

Kasper rolled his eyes. Zak had always been weird. But this was weird. In a whole different sense. He pulled a few steps ahead of his friend. What the hell is up with him? 

"Kas... about the tower-"

"Huh-" He looked out, watching a Flicker disappear into a building. "-I thought you didn't wanna talk about it."

"I don't, I just..."

"What?"

"-when we were in the tower-"

A loud whooshing stopped Zak short and a chill ran down Kasper's spine. It's him. He's here. A can rolled towards them and Kasper followed the noise. 

Ace had landed on top of an old tank just a couple yards away. His arms pulled free from his wings as he rose to stand. Shooting a wave to them. 

Zak jumped up quickly. Tapping Kasper on the shoulder with a peppiness he hadn't yet seen before he quickly whispered, "I'll tell you later." as if Ace couldn't hear the short thrown voice of his version of whispering.