✯ North Star ✯

14 - Biological Clock

We all sat together as the sun finally slipped beneath the water, the sky bruising into deep purples and grays that felt almost mocking in their beauty, given everything sitting heavy behind our eyes.

The air was heavy. Quiet. Too still for what we'd just done.

"First things first. Gotta take care of Terrance. Can't just leave him here. It won't sit right in my conscience," Cleo said, her voice carrying a weariness that made her sound older than I'd ever heard her.

"Cleo's right. We gotta do something about Terrance. And then we have to get the hell out of here all right? Road trip," John B said.

"What?" JJ mumbled, half asleep, his head lolling against the doorframe.

"Road trip to where?" Kie asked.

"John B and I were talking. We think the North Star and the Half Moon Battery is referring to Charleston," Pope said.

I knew it.

I'd known it the second I saw the symbols, some small, stubborn certainty settling into place even amid everything else crashing down around us.

"If we get to Charleston before them, we have a fighting chance." He said

"What?" Kie asked.

"We have no other option. What...what are we doing?"

"What do you mean we have no other option?" Kie pushed, her voice sharpening.

"The zoning notice Kie. We're gonna lose Poguelandia." He said.

"John B they killed Terrance. We're in way way over our heads," Kie said, and I felt the truth of that land heavy in my own chest too.

"I know Kie but we have no choice. Dawn patrol. Hey JJ? Get the Twinkie up and running by dawn." John b said

"All right," JJ nodded, though his eyes were still half closed.

"The rest of us will do right by Terrance. We'll be back here about 0700 hours. First ferry leaves at 8. Let's go to Charleston. Okay with that Cleo?" He asked

"In Charleston we could find the man who killed Terrance. I'm good with it," she said, stabbing the knife into the wood, the sound sharp and final in the quiet.

We finally finished cleaning everything.

Wrapped Terrance in cloth.
Scrubbed the floor.
Cleared the carpet.

Tried not to look at the stains that felt like they were still there, faint shadows my eyes kept catching even after Kie assured me the bleach had done its job.

We carried him out to the boat, the weight of him heavier than I expected, my arms aching with more than just the physical strain of it.

I slipped the gun quietly into the Twinkie.