Written in Life

(Chapter 17)

I followed the man around as he talked to other soldiers. I basically figured out where we were most of the time.

"... Yeah, I took the lieutenant's fresh meat out for a stroll," he said, displaying me to his friends. An older man chomped on his cigar and blew a smoke ring.

"What's your name newbie?" he asked.

"Cody," I answered. He chuckled. I crossed my arms and looked to the group of men.

"Is my name hilarious to everyone for some reason?" I asked.

"It's tradition to pick on the new guy," a man with a twang said." When I re-entered it was my accent."

"Hey, you got any kids?" the man I was following asked.

"No. I'm nineteen," I said. They laughed.

"Age isn't any excuse!" the southern man said.

"No matter. You'll probably have one while your here," the older man said.

"What?!" I asked, shocked.

"Your advisor is Lieutenant Wilson!" the southern man yelled.

"But I thought she was engaged?" I said.

"One thing about Wilson, she never does what she's told. Plus, she definitely has her eye on you," the man with the cigar said." Yep, she doesn't even care what the General thinks."

"I don't think you guys know what your talking about," I said. She wasn't exactly the nicest person, but she is my partner for who knows how long. The least I could do was stick up for her." Plus, I would never do that."

"We'll see," the southern man said. Suddenly everything froze and I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. I fell and landed on the vast forest ground where we had been before and Bernie was unconscious next to me. I crawled to her side and there was ink flowing from her temple. Damn it. I couldn't heal her or it would scar, and that would draw too much attention. I sighed and took off my shirt, tying it around her head. I flung her over my shoulder and trudged on, over brush and logs. I ducked under a fallen tree and I felt a sudden pain in my thigh.

I looked down and an arrow was implanted in my leg. A man landed in front of me and held a knife to my throat. He said something in a language I didn't know.

"I mean you no harm," I said slowly. He scowled.

"Your english," he spat, annoyed.

"Correct," I said. He pressed the knife closer an I felt a trickle of cool ink dribble down my neck.

"Why are you 'ere?" he demanded.

"We are here to find a fragment of this story so that we can save this genre," I said.

"What the 'ell is that supposed to mean?" he said. I sighed, the knife cutting deeper. I should've known he wouldn't understand. He was wearing down my patience.

"If you would please loosen your grip on that knife, I would gladly answer questions," I said. He didn't move one inch and I sighed." Very well."

I pushed the blade away from my throat using the ink that had spilled from the wound, blending it and making it the same ink that everything else in our world was made of. The man panicked and fell to the ground, shouting something in another language. Arrows flew through the air towards us and I drew a force field over us. The air was cool in the dome and as I walked the force field shifted to where I was going. I reached the edge of a the city and let the force field drop. There was massive pools of human-fish creatures and as soon as one caught us out of the corner of their eye, let out an ear-piercing cry. It stunned me and people charged for us, yelling out war cries. A girl stood in front of me and held her hands up.

"Stop!!!!" she cried. Everyone froze. 

"I know them," she declared.

"Than how come no one else has ever seen them before?!" yelled a woman from the crowd.

"They're from a distant land, far above the surface. They are practically gods," she said. Everyone's faces went white and they dropped their weapons and bowed. Who the hell was this lady and why was she helping us? She looked back and smiled." Follow me." She walked through the crowd of people and I hesitated but followed. She led us to a hut, on land instead of water. We walked in and the smell of incense was strong and the air was clouded with smoke. I set Bernie down on a straw bed and the girl rushed over.

"What happened to her?" she demanded.

"Why did you help us?" I asked ignoring her question.

"Because I know Bernice," she said, sorrow heavily coating her words.

"What's your name?"

"Renae," she said." We go to school together. Or, we did before the whole Inked incident."

"Wait, so you know about us? Being Inked, I mean," I said. She looked at me, her face white.

"So you're one too?" she asked. I nodded and she took a deep breath." It was hard enough to deal with one." I placed a hand on her shoulder and he winced.

"We're not like they say we are," I assured." Well, not now."

"It could change at any moment," she said, moving away from my touch. Blue scales sparkled on her cheekbones, mixed with tears.

"I don't know what happened," I said, answering her first question. She sniffled and nodded.

"It looks like she got hit in her story with a gun. It's happened before," Renae said." Can't you guys heal each other?"

"Yeah, but only once a day, or it'll scar," I said.

"Than what happened today?!?!" she asked panicked. I hesitated." It was a beetle, wasn't it?" she said, burying her head in her hands. I nodded. She sighed." She should wake up soon."

"I hope so," I said.