Parasites: The Journey

1: In The Beginning

                Alex stared at the stars, looking, pondering. How did it get here? How did they come back here? Halfway; once their home, now their awaiting gravesite. So much happened, it was hard to grasp. It was moving too fast. It seemed like yesterday they had a year, now only four months. Where did the time go?

                No one was even talking to each other. Kyle and Kat were having even more issues. Alex and Blake were barely looking at each other. Even Jordan and Anthony were fighting. Franklin and Lady some days just laid in bed, not moving or talking. The kids even accepted their inevitable death. Valerie and Luke were the only ones enjoying their final moments.

                Alex, their leader, he took the burden of it all. It was his job to keep them safe. His job to guide and train them. Yet, it’s his fault they were all in a constant fear of their final hours just ending.

“Hey doom and gloom,” Alex looked back at his one-eyed, Elf Uncle Kyle, “What’s on your mind?”

“How did we get here?” Alex asked.

“What do you mean?” Kyle tilted his head.

“We should tell stories…” Alex ran inside the house, “Everyone! Living room now!”

                Alex ran into the room, arranging it as people filed in. They all at first, thought he’d gone mad. They thought the final hours ticking had made him hysterical. And he couldn’t disagree, the tears weren’t stopping.

“Everyone sit down,” Alex started a fire in the brick casing in the living room.

“Alex, buddy, relax,” Kyle tried to calm him.

“No! I won’t relax! This is the most lively any of us have been!” Alex looked around at everyone in shock as they sat down, “It’s been a year almost, and we’re so depressed! Cris, Tony, Parker, Colton, dad, Bradley; I know how you all feel. I miss them too, but they’re safe now. Yeah, I won’t lie, we are going to die. But, we haven’t made any efforts to change it. We haven’t even tried training. It’s like we’re on our knees, heads down, waiting for them to just come shoot us. I get it, we’re all very old now. I’m tired, I’m sick. But I’m sick and tired of this… Apathy! It’s like we don’t even care!”

                No one argued, they just watched and listened to Alex’s rant. What could they say, they hadn’t tried to better their chances. They hadn’t tried to come up with a strategy. They just moped and bitched at each other.

“We haven’t even been acting like a family. That’s what Phoenix is, a family. Not just a team or an army. We’re a unit, we work together. And yet we’ve spent the past eight months fighting each other. It hurts, I want us to at least look at each other, spend the time we have together. Blake, my love, “Blake looked up with teary eyes as Alex walked to him, “I miss us talking. I miss our cuddles, laughing together. I even miss you fussing when I don’t eat or sleep. It’s almost like we don’t even love each other. I miss my puppy…”

“I miss my spider monkey…” Alex hugged Blake, planting a soft kissing on his forehead.

“How about story time?” Everyone turned their heads to Jordan, Alex and Blake’s adopted demon son.

“That was exactly my idea kiddo,” Alex sat by the fire with Blake on his lap.

“Then, start us off,” Darin sat on the recliner with Bradley on his lap.

~Alexander~

We all sat down for the stories. Jordan and his husband, Anthony sat beside Blake and I. Kyle and Katze sat against the wall next to them. Cris and Tony took their seats on the far couch beside Franklin and Lady. Peter, Timothy, Agóri, and Hana sat the couch opposite them. Parker sat on the floor by Tony and Cris, Colton sat between his legs, laying back against him. Luke and Valerie laid side by side on the floor between the couches.