Fading Flames

Chapter 3

Oct, 27, 2015 Nebraska

(Mabel) I opened my eyes slowly the next morning. It was the crack of dawn, the time when we would be setting foot back out on the trail. I looked over at Lily, who was sleeping beside me. She had a damp cloth on her forehead. "She looks horrible..." I whispered to myself and sat up. I slowly made my way out of the tent and into the center of camp. Soos and his grandma were taking down their tent and packing it into their bags. Wendy and her family were just waking up and eating breakfast. I walked over to Grunkle Stan and Ford's tent, which they were taking down as well. "Hey Grunkle Stan, Hey Grunkle Ford," I said to them. They saw me and walked over to me. "Whacha need Mabel?" Stan asked me. "Can you guys help me take down my tent..? I think Lily's too sick to move..." I said, looking back at my tent. "Dang, is she still not any better...?" Stan asked. I shook my head from side to side. "I'll go check on her..." Stanford said, walking towards our tent. "Alright, you help me with this one and I will help you with yours." Stan said. I nodded. "Deal." And we both started to take down the tent. As we finished, Stanford came back out carrying Lily, wrapped in a blanket. "She's super bad, we need to get some kind of medicine... otherwise there's nothing we can do..." He said, concerned. "Yikes... that bad... we could possibly find a town soon..." Stan said, turning to me. "Make sure everyone is ready to leave in less than ten minutes, bag up that deer, and get everyone together." He instructed. I nodded quickly and ran into the camp, told everyone that we were leaving in 10 minutes, and ran over to bag up the rest of the uneaten deer. Stan quickly took down mine and lily's tent, And Wendy's dad, Manly Dan, instantly ripping down the others and packing them. Each of us carried our own bags, with little possessions and our tents and blankets. I have one sweater, my favorite shooting star one, and waddles' collar. I had to leave him at the shack because he ended up a dead corpse by those nightmare creatures. I knew that Lily took her favorite Tee-shirt that was red and had a yellow star on it, and she also had Dipper's pine tree hat, and his 3rd journal. I'm not sure what the others took though. Manly Dan carried the deer bag. I grabbed my bag and put it on, and then grabbed Lily's. I looked around at the camp silently. The whole place looked deserted, as if no one was ever there. I nodded as Soos ran over to me. "Mabel! There's a town not too far away from here that's deserted!" Soos said, pointing in a direction. "Really? How do you know?" I asked. "My grandma lived here before!" He said, looking back at his grandma, she smiled and waved. "Oh thank god for your grandma..." I said smiling back and waving before running over to Stan. "There's a town nearby here." I told him. "Really? Alright, lets move out then!" He shouted to the troop. Everyone started to walk down the hill, Stanford carrying lily before looking ahead and into the forest.

(Stanford) I looked ahead into the forest beyond. "I have this strange, feeling... that once we reach Florida, what we expect isn't what we did at all..." I said to myself. "Me too..." Lily said weakly, her eyes closed tightly. "L-like... something... resides there..." She finished weakly. "We'll see, for now though... save your breath, Lily, you'll need it, don't worry, we'll be getting you some help soon. Get some rest," I said, pulling part of the blanket over her eyes so she could rest. I sighed and looked ahead at Mabel. I barley know her, or knew her brother, which I only knew him for a month, until that creature attacked there side of the camp and took his life as he tried to defend Lily, which Mabel told me the story about their past together when we had time, she told me that before this whole thing had started, Dipper was talking to her about asking to purpose to Lily, since they were both 16 at around the time, and they both learned how to drive, but none of that would be possible now. after all, she's lost her whole life at a age that no one would believe, parents, brother, and now her husband. I am actually surprised that she hasn't given up yet, but from what I've seen, is that this makeshift family that she lived with for about 3 years, has taught her more about not giving up on anything than anyone could have ever learnt in ten years. I sighed and shook off the feeling as we continued off the hill. As a broken pavement road started to come into view, I saw streetlights slowly flickering on the streets. "It has power..." I said, observing one light closely. I continued walking along, checking on Lily once to make sure she was still breathing, and we started to see the entrance of a town come into view. I sighed in relief as that walk wasn't as long as I expected. We entered the town, not any different than any others we have walked into. It was deserted, a bit destroyed, and blood everywhere. We looked around for any stores or such, knowing we couldn't split up, Mabel was the first to withdraw her weapon, which was Lily's Silver Sword she found a few weeks back. We all came across a Grocery Store, and entered it one by one. I set Lily down and Mabel took her, handing me her Silver Sword. I adjusted it in my hand, my 6 fingers making it harder to hold a sword. I explored the shop, large stocks of food still editable, and I went searching for the indoor pharmacy to find some sort of medicine for Lily. Once I found it, I hopped behind the counter and explored the shelves. "This looks so much more different than I remember..." I said as I picked up a roll of adhesive bandages and put them in my bag. I found a bottle of pills and liquid syrup that described Lily's symptoms and decided to keep those as well. I didn't see anything useful for her eye, though. But we could at least give her a real bandage on it. I walked back to my group, they were picking assorted foods that would last us a while. I spotted Lily and Mabel, and they were talking really softly to each other. I walked over and knelt down next to them. "Alright, I found some medicine stuff that should help." I said taking out the liquid and pills. I gave my canteen to her, she took the medicine, and laid back on the wall, unwrapping the blanket from herself. "Thanks.." She said a bit quietly. I nodded and bottled my canteen and got out the adhesive bandages. "This should help too." I said, removing the cloth from her eye, exposing the darkness where nothing was left. I shivered at the sight and continued to clean it up a bit before wrapping the bandage around her eye in a more professional manor. "Thanks." She repeated again, feeling the bandage on her eye. I helped her stand up, along with Mabel. She took her sword back and started to look around curiously and focusing on one part of the room quietly. A small smile cracked on her face as she turned towards the door and slowly made her way out, still weak from her sickness. Mabel and I followed her outside to where a large gryphon had just landed on the ground, staring at Lily. "Crystal!" She said as her voice cracked and the gryphon ran over to her, and she hugged its gigantic beak and stroked the feathered area between its eyes. I had seen this gryphon once before, and only Lily knew how to call it. She didn't use some sort of magical powers like some others think, but rather a unique whistle that can be heard only by the gryphon. Although the gryphon got much bigger over the past few months since we saw it, I still believe it is the same gryphon as before. "You came back.." I heard Lily say as she stuffed her face into the gryphon's neck. The gryphon put its head across her back, hugging her softly. Once they stopped, they both came back over to us, and Lily let us pet it, well, him. I hesitated, I've seen them before but she convinced me. The feathers felt like the softest thing I have ever touched. We went inside the store, everyone was shocked by the gryphon's instant arrival. "Whoa, haven't seen that thing in forever..." Stan said, amused. "Well he just got back." Lily said from atop it. "You guys ready to move out? Lilz is motivational." Mabel said, looking up at Lily. She rolled her eyes. "Yea, I have a gryphon. I can fly. We'll get there a lot faster, I can find shortcuts." She said, patting his head. "I guess so..." Soos said, looking the gryphon up and down. "Alright guys! Let's go! Standing around won't get us anywhere!" He shouted to the group, and we started to move out after we finished stocking up on food.