Love Is Moons Away

Chapter 6- New People Suck

It's been a month. We went to China for a week. It seemed like my necklace was getting warmer, but then suddenly it froze. Is this guy that much of an ass, that he runs away from me?
We took a train from China back to the tip of India's fine country.
And Shane is trying to buy illegal tickets.
"Come on man,this is all I've got!" Shane whispers in frustration.
That was a lie. President Lockhart gave us unlimited funds.
The man and him argued for another five minutes until I finally interjected.
"Listen, buddy. We're with ten RFO." The man's eyes widen. "Yeah, so unless you want trouble from us, you better give us those damn tickets!" The man gives us the tickets. More like throws them to us, and runs away without his money.
"See, Shane? I told you men can't handle any of the dirty work!" I giggle. He's staring at me with open mouth.
I roll my eyes and start walking to the train station. He eventually catches up.
"What's the RFO?"
"It's a hate group," I respond. "It stands for Re Freeze Organization. They target all the people not accepted in society or criminals. The government says they're taking care of them, but we all know that's a lie, because they're the ones funding them, plus they haven't stopped them yet," I continue, until I see Shane's face. It's shell shocked.
"What?!"
"Don't ever pretend you're apart of that group!"
"Why, it got us the tickets!"
"JUST DON'T!" He shouts. I stop. Shane has not once yelled at me. My heart races.
I watch as Shane composes himself, and keeps walking like nothing happened. I follow in pursuit, my footsteps less confident.
I look around. The streets are abandoned at this time of night.
I keep walking, a good ten feet behind. I'm about to say something, when a hand clamps over my mouth. I kick out trying to free myself.
I scream against his hand, but he muffles me even more. Shane tells me to catch up.
But he doesn't hear a response.
He slowly turns his head. I see his face it written in guilt, but it quickly changes to concern.
A small metal barrel is pressed against my forehead. My heart races. Tears stream down my face. Fear has iced its way into every inch of my body.
"Let her go," Shane says calmly. I do not even understand how he can stay so calm. I guess years of practice.
But shouldn't I have years of practice? I've hidden my emotions from everyone for my entire life! But I guess since I've unleashed my emotions, now they won't stop.
"I heard you kids were playing toy soldiers for the RFO. Do you know what we do to fake soldiers?" He whispers. The barrel has been replaced with the sharp edge of a knife, that's tracing my jawline. Instead of flinching away like I might once have, I stand perfectly still.
"Yeah. But do you know what we do to RFO members?" A voice rings out from behind us, and the man holding me goes rigid. He slowly lets go of me. I calmly walk forward five steps, and turn around to see this man. He is quite hidden in all black face paint. I can't see who is every behind him, but it's clearly a woman.
A small hand with the butt of the gun comes down on his head. He crumples like a doll.
Behind his crumpled figure, it reveals a very small woman. She only seems to be two inches taller than me.
Her hair is pale blonde, kind of like platinum. Her eyes are purple. But if I look closely though, I can see under her contacts they are a startling gray. Her skin is as pale as the freshly fallen snow. She wears a black dress that flows around her in waves. The dress has thin straps. I don't understand how she isn't cold.
"Ha! This gun isn't even loaded and he froze like a baby!" She laughs. Her voice is like a soft song. The gun disappears in the folds of her dress, and two butterfly knives are replaced with it. She kneels to the man, and lifts up his head, revealing his neck.
"Zoe... don't." Shane says. She looks up, scowls, and the knives disappear. She stands up, blowing the long strands of hair out of her face.
She marches over to Shane, and punches him in the gut. He crumples.
"Hey!" I shout. I roundhouse kick her like Shane taught me. She catches my foot, and twists it. I scream out, pain lacing up my leg.
She drops me, and I crawl away, my leg throbbing. I watch as Shane runs straight into her, taking her down.
"What the hell, Zoe? She's my friend! Don't attack her!" He shouts. He get's up off her, and helps me up. She pushes herself up, and points a finger at him.
"What the hell me? What the hell you! You think you can just run away like that, without telling me anything?!" She screams.
"I don't think I need to tell you everything, Zoe!" He shouts back. My ears are starting to ring.
"Don't need to tell me everything?! I'm your fucking sister!" My heart stops.
Shane seethes, folding his arms over his chest. My mind stops for a minute.
Shane has a sister?!
They both glare at each other, completely forgetting I'm there.
I start to get up, but pain laces up my injured leg. It feels like I'm on fire. I screech out. Shane snaps towards me, suddenly recognizing my existence. He rushes over to my side, examining my leg.
"ZOE! You dislocated her damn leg!"
"It's not my fault! She tried to roundhouse me! It was self defense," she crosses her arms over her breasts in a defiant manner. He glares.
Shane picks me up in a bride's cradle, and turns towards his sister.
"Where is your base?" He questions. She rolls her eyes, and starts walking. Shane hesitates, but follows quickly in pursuit.
"You didn't tell me you had a sister," I whisper. He looks at me.
"I don't like to talk about her much," he whispers back.
There are so many questions I want to ask, but Shane clearly doesn't want me to push the subject. I close my mouth.
Zoe leads us through many streets and alleyways. The amount of turns we take make me dizzy. I close my eyes, trying to steady myself. My leg is starting to feel numb.
"Shane, I can't feel my leg," I mumble. He looks at me, concern leaking its way into his face.
"Zoe, are we getting any closer?" Shane asks urgently. She looks back, and nods. I must look pretty bad, because her mouth opened in concern.
We all walk faster, until we reach a manhole. Zoe looks left and right, and removes the cover. She does a twirl, diving into the hole in the concrete.
"Zoe?" Shane shouts.
"Yes?"
"I'm going to lower her down to you," he calls out.
"Alright, I'm ready!'
Shane lowers me down to the ground. My leg feels numb and swollen, so I cannot feel the obvious pain I should be. My legs hang in the manhole.Shane links his hands under my armpits, and picks me up easily. He starts to lower me down.
He lets his hands slide up my arms until he's holding my hands. Cold water hits my legs, until I am halfway submerged. Shane is leaning all the way into the manhole. Hands slide up my legs, until they firmly grip my waist.
"Shane, I've got her," Zoe calls out. Shane lets go of my hands, and drop the rest of the way. The cold water shocks my entire body into shivers.
Zoe's arms wrap around my waist, keeping me from falling all the way into the water. Shane slides into the water, and takes me from Zoe. I'm back in the bride's cradle, my head laying against his chest. The water has a florescent glow to it. Shane starts walking through the water, following Zoe.
The water numbs my leg even more. We arrive at a door, and Zoe punches in a code. The water has numbed me to my core. I feel myself losing consciousness. I greet the warm darkness with delight.
................................................................................................................................
I wake up in a warm, soft bed. I look around, my neck and back cracking as I move. I see Shane sleeping sound in a chair next to me. I'm about to say his name, when a hand on my shoulder stops me.
I look over to see Zoe standing above me.
"Don't wake him up. He looks so content while he's sleeping," she whispers.
I nod. I look at my leg, and see it's all wrapped up.
"Your leg is going to be fine. They relocated it," she explains.
"Can I walk?" I whisper, my throat hoarse. She see's how thirsty I am, and grabs me a drink of water. I glug it down.
"You'll be able to walk, but it might hurt like hell. You can either use crutches, or wear a leg brace," I look to where the leg brace is. I looks like a death contraption. But it's better than crutches. I decide to ask the question that is on my mind.
"So you and Shane are siblings?" She sets her mouth in a firm line and nods. I see how uncomfortable she is. But she decides to continue.
"I never knew I had a brother. Until about five years ago. When his soulmate died. I saw a picture of him in the news, and he looked exactly like my dad." She takes a seat by my bed.
"I went home, and questioned my parents about it. They broke pretty easily, and finally told me the truth. I went in search of him. I found him on the streets two years later. He was pretty pissed. Mainly because my parents never told me about him. And how they basically got a different identity when Shane went 'rogue'"
I look over at Shane. It's hard for me to imagine him mad. Zoe snaps me back to reality.
"Shane, though, decided to try and get to know me. I told him about our parents, and how our dad was part of a hate group. Called the Re-Freeze Organization." My heart stops.
"He questioned me about our father mostly. About the hate group." I nod my head, taking in all the information.
"But I wanted to know more about Shane. So he told me about his life. Everything, except the stuff that would endanger the society. He even told me about the night Edward died. But a sudden realization dawned. My dad was working that night. I reacted how anyone would react, and Shane figured out what had happened," She breaks off, pain leaking into her voice.
"Your dad was involved in Edward's death," I whisper. She nods. I put my hand on her, showing her that I'm there.
"I know Shane resents you for that. And I know his hate for the group. But I know he doesn't hate you specifically. He hates your father. And whenever he see's you, he is reminded of that. And so it makes him resent you," I say. "But I'm sure, deep down, he actually really cares for you."
Tears stream down her face, as she nods, squeezing my hand. She wipes the tears off her face.
"I better be going. The boss wants to talk to me," I nod. She gets up, and walks out of the room, her black dress flowing around her.
"So you've met my sister," Shane says. I scream, seeing that his eyes are wide open.
"How long have you been awake?" He smiles at my shocked face, and comes sits on the bed.
"The whole time," he says, checking my morphine drip. I bow my head in shame.
"I'm sorry, I just got-"
"I know," he smiles. "You're curious." I smile back, and lay my head on his shoulder. He flips through the TV channels.
My mind wanders, though. With my leg, when will we be able to get out of here? And how slow will we move with a brace?
"You're wondering when we'll leave," Shane says. I nod.
"I honestly don't know, love. I don't want your leg to be permanently damaged from traveling too fast and not letting your leg heal," he reasons. "But I don't want us to lose any time."
"I guess we're in a pickle." Shane nods.
"Tell you what. You rest for the next day, and then try out your brace for a day, and then we will decide from there. How does that sound?" I nod my head.
My eyes feel droopy as heck. Shane smiled at my new found sleepiness, and gets off the bed. He pulls the covers up to my chin, and strokes my hair, until sweet dreams greet me.
*****
"It's all your fault."
I sit up in a start, and see someone standing in the corner. The person reveals himself. It's Shane. But he looks like a zombie. Blood oozes from holes in his bodies. I'm scared.
His hair hangs in sweaty clumps. Everything about him is discolored.
"What my fault?" I whisper in fear.
"My injuries. You are the reason they caught me, and the reason they shot me. I am this way, because of...you." His voice is as sharp as a knife. My heart races as he steps closer.
"I don't understand."
"What's there to understand? They caught us at a hotel in the middle of the night. I told you to run, just in case." He laughs a cold, sharp laugh. "I was stupid. I should have just handed you forward. But I protected you," He sneers.
"They took me, once realizing who I was, and put me up for the shooting block."
My heart contracts at every word.
"And they shot me. Eight times. No one could save me. Too much damage had been done. And here you are. Alive." Every word is lined with venom. Tears start to stream down my face.
I wipe them away, just to discover they're made of blood. I feel it pouring out of me in gushes.
Shane smiles, his color returning, and the blood flow stopping. He strides all the way to my bed, and whispers in my ear.
"A life for a life, huh, Viper?"
His laugh fills my ears, as blood gushes out of my orifices. I try to scream, but blood is clogging my throat.
"Goodnight, Viper." Shane whispers. I heart my heart monitor flatline...
I shoot up, the blankets tangled around my feet. My screams pierce the air.I throw the blankets off, wiping the phantom blood off my skin. I look around, expecting evil Shane to be there. But it's just nurses. Footsteps pound down the hallway, and Shane's face appears in the doorway.
I scream bloody murder. Shane runs forward, holding my arms down.
"Anthia! ANTHIA!" He screams. I stop flailing. I cup my hand around his face. This isn't evil Shane, it's MY Shane. I cry out in relief, and throw my arms around him. He strokes my hair in calming patterns. The nurses leave us alone.
"What were you dreaming about?" Shane whispers. He lays me back down, pulling up the blankets and adjusting them around my legs. Sweat drips from every pore in my body.
I don't tell him everything. It's too painful. I just tell him the gist, about his death. He rubs my back, soothing me.
"Viper, I'm not going to die. And I wouldn't wish that upon you," I nod. Shane smiles, and increases the sleep drug into my veins. I drift off slowly, to Shane's sweet voice.
................................................................................................................................
"I HATE THIS DAMN CONTRACTION!" I scream out. I woke up at three in the morning. I ate for the first time in a few days, and read for a little while. By the time it was six, I was getting restless.
Zoe walked in.
"Ready to get on your feet?" She asks. I nod in agreement. I was tired of laying around. Zoe pulled back the covers, and lifted my leg to slide the brace under it. It was like a cup, that wraps around my entire leg. Then tight straps that dig into my skin wrap all the way around it.
It's not that flexible, because they don't want me to move my leg.
Zoe helped me up off the bed, balancing on a metal pole. Shock laces through my entire leg. I almost crumple, but keep myself standing.
After three hours of walking, my leg is sore. Everything is digging into my skin. My leg was already sore as hell, and it feels like it is on fire.
"Let's take a break, sweat pea." I glare at her, and she just smiles a sweet smile. She helps me limp over to the chair.
I wipe sweat off my face and neck with a towel, while Zoe fetches me a glass of water. I gulp it down as quickly as it's given to me. Once I catch my breath, I decide to ask more questions.
"So, what is this is place?" She sits on the floor next to me.
"It's a group that helps anyone in need. Silver, bronze, or gold. Kind of like an emergency group for all kinds of people," she chitters. I can tell she really loves being in this group.
I nod along as she tells me about the entire group.
"Ladies, sexy...has...arrived!" Shane boasts. He strikes a pose as he enters the room. I think Zoe and I rolled our eyes so hard, you could hear it.
Shane came, and helps Zoe take the brace off my leg.
"How's my girl doing?" Shane asks. But it wasn't pointed towards me, it was to Zoe. Because Shane knew I would lie, and say I'm alright.
"She's in pain, which can be expected. She feels like she's on fire-" I'm about to protest, but when the damned thing comes off, I sigh at the rush of cold air hitting my leg.
Shane chuckles, and peels it off my sweaty skin. He takes wet paper towels, and drapes them all over my leg.
My leg cools, and only feels a small throb.
The real doctor comes in and pokes at my leg.
"So let's ask the question everyone's wondering. When will we be able to get on the road?" The doctor ponders for minute.
"Maybe two, three weeks." My heart clenches.
That's a lot of time that I can't afford to lose.
Shane squeezes my hand in reassurance.
"What if..." Zoe ponders aloud.
"What if what?" Shane and I say at the same time.
"We have an underground tunnel system. And we have tons of jeeps. What if you took, a jeep, and drove around until Anthia's leg got better? You could make double time," my mouth gapes open. For the first time in a month, my hope sores. Shane and I glacé at each other in excitement.
"I'll go check with the boss," Zoe flurries. She runs out of the room. I clench Shane's hand with nervousness until she returns, forty five minutes later.
She looks somewhat nervous. But then she smiles, and nods her head. I yell out in joy. We'll make double time in a jeep.
We'll be in Afghanistan in no time!
................................................................................................................................
"Anthia, I think your leg is almost entirely healed," the doctor says. I smile. It's been three weeks since we started traveling by jeep. We've got three days until the end of the month. We've nearly made it to the very edge of the border of Afghanistan.
Zoe has traveled with us, but has to go back after tonight. The boss wants her back. I wonder a lot about his infamous boss. Was it a he or she? And how did the boss get all the control? But I allow my questions to be unanswered.
Zoe and Shane have honestly grown to be a true brother and sister. They laugh and joke like siblings should. Just like Tim and I did. But every time I see them, I see Tim and I.
Tim, despite being an enormous pain in the ass, is still my brother. And I most indefinitely love him. And it hurts when I think of him.
Tim loved me so much, and never mistreated me. He was so proud of me in everything I do. Even the slightest good grade, I got a letter telling me that I was doing such a good job.
He came home from college for every single performance, even stuff where I was a towns person or in the ensemble.
I always loved when he came, because ocelot like a big deal.
And not just another lonely girl.
"Another day of traveling, and your leg will be healed," the doctor informs. I nod my head, and start re wrapping the compression bandages.
My necklace has gotten warmer. I find myself constantly grabbing it. It has become a comfort to hold onto.
Whenever I wake up from a nightmare, I grab it and find comfort from the slightly warm metal. But it's still a reminder that it's been two months, and I'm only the tiniest ass bit warmer.
But I allow the smallest glimmers of hope here and there. Just the smallest though.
................................................................................................................................
"We'll keep in touch," Zoe whispers, giving me a hug. I smile, and tighten our hug. Shane and I are to set off on our own now, without the jeep. This makes me a little nervous. I'm not sure how much time we'll make.
Zoe and I separate from our hug, and she goes to hug Shane. I sling my backpack over my shoulders. Then I readjust my brace. Even though my leg is almost healed, the doctor wants me to wear the hell device.
Zoe and Shane separate, and Shane takes my hand. We wave our goodbyes, and set off hand in hand, down the tunnel. We emerge into the sunlight, and I have to blink a few times.
The brisk air tears at my coat. I shiver, and zip it up. Shane hides my necklace, and we put on our faux ones.
Then we hand in hand towards the sunlight, towards new beginnings, towards new hope.