Once Bitten

Journeys End (49)

2 hours can pass by surprisingly slowly when you're stuck in a car, too anxious to take a nap, but somehow he was suddenly staring at barbed metal fences guarding an even thicker bricked wall and it felt too soon. They drove towards the giant structure in the distance, the tallest thing being two tower structures built at the front and the giant white building far south. 

MK suspected the towers were mirrored around every corner, but the fortress was too big to see the other sides. He couldn't see the inside from here, only the barbed fence and the solid wall inside that stretched as far left as it could. 

"Is that it?" Mei asked once it came into view, shoving into the front and knocking into Macaque to get a better look. 

"It looks cool! Big and scary." She said, eyes tracking the barbed wire and spiked trenches in the front and MK shrunk down in his seat. 

"I can't believe we're finally here." He muttered to himself, pressing his back into the seat and Wukong shuffled closer, putting an arm around his shoulder. 

"I know! It feels like ages ago that we found each other." He said, and MK nodded, leaning into his side and holding onto him. 

"Yeah, like a whole other lifetime." He remembered meeting Wukong then, but now it felt like a whole other person had met his brother. MK had changed so much since they met, yet somehow, he was exactly the same, only more broken and worn down. 

"Speed up, Mr Macaque!" Mei yelled to their driver, shaking him vigorously and Macaque shook her off. 

"Don't make us crash." He huffed to the girl, who just grinned wider, too excited to be mad at him, but she did turn to look at him when the guy started slowing down instead of speeding up. 

"Hey? What's the deal, guy?" She huffed and Sandy pointed out the front window toward the towers in front of the fortress. 

"Something's wrong." There was an extra gate at the front a good few meters away from the main wall, and behind the fence stood two people with- 

"They have guns!" Mei gasped, seeing them from here and Wukong's grip around MK grew tighter. 

"And they're aiming them at us." Macaque hissed, eyes narrowed, pulling the car to a stop near the gates. 

"State your business!" One of the men behind the gate yelled, and Wukong suddenly straightened in his seat, leaning forward with a strange look on his face that had MK looking toward him instead of the strangers. 

"We're here for refuge!" Macaque yelled out the window, surprised when the men actually opened the front gate a touch, stepping out with their guns still pointed at them.

"Wait," Wukong said quietly from beside him, surprise clear in his voice but no one noticed and the two men certainly didn't hear him.  

"Get out of your vehicle. You will be checked for the infection and for weapons before being allowed through." One said and MK's face dropped of colour, going snow white at the declaration. 

He hadn't thought about that.

No, no, no. They were supposed just go in, find his dad's and- and- he felt his breath quicken, getting stuck in his throat painfully and knew Macaque and Mei were realizing the same thing when they both glanced back to look at him, unable to discern what they were thinking because panic overtook him. 

He wasn't ready. Despite everything and coming to terms with it all he still wasn't ready to die.

He already knew these men would have no hesitations shooting him, not like his friends and family did. He didn't want to die here! Not when he was so close to finally being able to hug his dads for the last time.