The Island Boy

Chapter 79- Safe

Kai gently held Lily to her chest, her fragile body wrapped in her shirt so she wouldn't get sick from this cold night. They got as much water as they could so they could continue their travels. The house wasn't far, they could see it. She had been thinking. Jack didn't need human food to live, because he was basically dead. So... how does he manage to give her all of this...?

"Jack, how is it possible? To give Lily all of that food... You don't need to eat to live... so how is it possible? I mean, you told me yourself that you wouldn't be able to provide for her."

Jack gently smiled. "I'm not giving her my nutrients... I'm giving her Wendy's." Kai's eyes widened. "Surprise...?" 

"Well you see Kai... she felt so bad about all of this, so she hooked herself up. She has double the nutrients Baby Lily needs. To her, as it seems, Wendy is like a godmother. So, the nutrients pass through naturally." Kai nodded, and glanced at her baby girl. As long as she was healthy... all was good. 

"Besides, I knew Lily was going to try and get it all from me." Kai glanced up from Lily, and looked at Jack. She didn't quite understand.

"Kai, do you remember that time we entered a false reality when you fell asleep in your dreams?" Kai nodded. "Of course... but I don't understand what that has to do with any of this."

"That voice that called out for me... it was Lily. Don't tell me you didn't notice..."

Kai wouldn't admit it, but she didn't have an idea. She was much more concerned about Lily's feelings towards Jack. She knew it would cause problems in the future. 

"Guys, I don't mean to interrupt or anything, but we're home!"

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Jake sat on the floor. "What's going on over here?"He asked, glancing at the whole group surrounded by the huge fire. "You know... it's really interesting to see all of these stars up there... I've never seen so many out. That's probably weird coming out of my mouth, isn't it?" He said with a nervous laugh.

Peter gently nudged Joseph. "Do something..." he whispered. "Hey Jake... got any weird stories to tell us...?"

"Huh? I have some stories... but they aren't very entertaining." The crowd boo'ed. "Come on! We didn't all sit by the fire just for you to chicken out! You three have to tell at least one story!"

Jake sighed. "If you insist. Let's see..." Jake thought for a spare moment before remembering what was the funniest thing that had ever happened in front of his eyes.

"Well... once upon a time, General Gray had long hair. I mean long enough to put his hair into a ponytail! He doesn't know about this, because he never saw me, but one  time he was walking around in our apartment, and he got his hair stuck in one of the doors! I was on the verge of hysterically laughing because no one at home understood how he managed to get it stuck there! In the end, Kai had to cut a bit of it off." Jake clutched his stomach as he laughed along with the others. 

"Haha... very funny of you Jake. I've got a much better story, however. There was this time when Kai was pregnant when she wanted to eat Fish. So, she sent Jake to buy some fish. Jake came back three hours later with BAGS of Fish. Jake didn't know that I had already bought her fish, so when he walked in he saw all of us enjoying this Fish Buffet... He was pissed as shit because he was walking around town to get the best fish!" Joseph laughed, and wiped a tear away from his face. "The best part was that Jake bought so much fish they had too much, so he had Fish EVERYDAY for lunch!"

Peter groaned. "That was the absolute worst! It was worse than when he had the job, boxing Fish!"

"I've got a funnier one though... You aren't going to believe this one! Okay... I'm pretty sure you guys all caught that our whole family lived together in that house, right?" The soldiers nodded. " The biggest rule of our house is that you CANNOT take other people's food or drinks if their name is on it. We all respected that, but there was this one time, when Jake bought a gallon of Apple Juice. Don't ask me why, he just did. That day we were all eyeing the gallon of apple juice, but no one was going to take it. At this time, Cedric, General Gray's adopted son, was still a toddler, and didn't really understand the rule quite yet. We went to open the fridge but the gallon of Apple Juice was gone! Kai and I were looking all over the place when we saw Cedric sitting on Jake's bed with the gallon of Apple Juice! It turns out he wanted some, and drank a little bit more than two-thirds! We were about to yell at Cedric for taking things that aren't his, when we realized Jake's name was never on the bottle!" Peter paused the story to laugh. "SO YOU KNOW WHAT WE DID?! WE DRANK THE DAMN JUICE!"

"AND TO THIS DAMN DAY, JAKE STILL FORGETS TO WRITE HIS NAME ON THE FOOD!" The crowd laughed hysterically. "WE JUST EAT THE FOOD MAN..." Jake smacked Peter on the head. "This is why Mom wouldn't let you into the kitchen!"

"Hey, don't blame me! I wasn't the only one! Kai did it too!" Jake frowned. "She's my wife!"

Jake was about to talk about all of the embarrassing things Peter did as a baby, but froze. That crackling noise... He knew that noise. It was a flare!

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I gripped the flare gun in my hands. The instructions were clear. 

Kai, when you arrive home, take this flare gun and shoot out the number of children we have. This will tell me you're safe... I will shoot back as soon as I see yours.

I only needed to shoot a flare up into the sky once. I secretly wished he would see it... the sky was clear enough... 

"Wouldn't that display our location?!" I laughed. "Of course it won't. It's only visible to those within our borders! Jake is about twenty miles away, so he'll see this. Hope however, is about fifty, so he won't be able to see it."

I looked up at the night sky and smiled. There it was. A bright green flare shooting up into the sky. He was safe.