The Story of Udonia

Chapter Thirty Four: Marshallville

It was about three hours to the border and then we just traveled along the bottom of it. So we reached the border directly above the castle and then drove so we would be directly under Marshallville in Haruhi. The next step was crossing the border.
Hannah had put up a warning to her border guards telling them not to let me or anyone I'm directly associated with in. I was hidden in the back with Jasmine and Lacey. The guards only looked at the two in front. James and Jacklyn had moved up to the front at this point. They were playing the part of a couple with kids that want to see some land marks in Haruhi. The guards bought it and let us through. We didn't figure we would have too much trouble getting past the border. The biggest issue was what would happen after leaving behind our van in Marshallville.
We entered the town. It was a small little village. It was very remote and not agriculturally based. It was just a little town in the middle of a forest. It was an interesting area and defiantly a strange place to build a town. I kinda liked it though. James pulled into the nearest parking lot which was in front of some cute little store. It was an hour from the border to Marshallville and still two hours from there to Hannah's castle...in a car. We were going to travel on foot, which could literally take days. We came prepared...or at least we brought like a thousand dollars to buy supplies in Marshallville. Most of us left our bags in the van except for James who brought his rifle suitcase and Mr. Puttoff who volunteered to carry the supply bag.
So we bought snacks, bottled water, and other paraphernalia.
The next step was to start walking. We walked from one end of the town to the other which only took about a half an hour and I was already tired.
I groaned. "Can we take a break?" I asked.
"We can't stay here too long...you could get recognized." Jasmine replied.
I frowned. "But my feet hurt." I complained to Jasmine in a very whinny tone.
Lacey grumbled. "Yeah, and my leg hurts."
The Colonel stepped in to our conversation. "Are the woman having some difficulty on the hike?" He put on a fake pout.
I furrowed my brow. "Yeah, well I'm sorry that Lacey and I are getting over bullet wounds. Next time we'll just avoid the shots." I snipped and continued to walk forward.
Lacey and Jasmine followed behind me.
"So we're not stopping?" Lacey asked.
"Nope. We're almost out of the town. We'll wait until then." I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks.
A shiver traveled down my spine. I shook it off and my stomach started to feel strange. It felt like nerves. I continued to walk and that's when things got even weirder.
I hear a sound. It was ear piercing. I sounded like a jack hammer right in my ear. I flinched and furiously covered my ears with my hands. Still standing still, I let out a moan of pain. I glanced up to see concerned and confused expressions on my comrades.
I was the weirdest sound I'd ever heard and I had never experienced this before. I headache formed and a stumbled backwards in pain. The noise stopped.
"What the hell?!" Lacey asked.
Jasmine approached me and grabbed my arm. "Claire, what's wrong?" She asked in a calmer tone than Lacey.
I looked around still with the headache.
"The sound is gone...but I still have the headache." I mumbled.
I took another step forward so I was back to where I was when I first heard the noise and it returned.
"It's back!" I shouted.
"What's back?" Jasmine asked.
"Uh oh." Jacklyn said from the front of the group.
I stepped back to relieve my torture and looked down the road to where Jacklyn was staring. There were about ten men all in uniform. They looked like police or guards of some kind. They all had weapons in hand. They turned and looked at us.
Jacklyn immediately pulled out her gun. Shots were fired. They shot first.
Jacklyn fired back and waved to us. "Run!" Her waved gestured in all directions.
Jasmine grabbed my arm and pulled me down the side street. Lacey and James moved across the street while the other's stayed engaged with the men. Some screams came from the locals as they walked the battle unfold. Jasmine and pulled me down the street and to the corner. We turned right to go around the block.
I stopped and pushed Jasmine off. "Wait! I can't keep going...it could happen again." I exclaimed.
"What could happen again?!"
"You couldn't hear it?!"
"Head what Claire?!" She was very confused now.
"The sound...I have a headache. It was like a jack hammer...like in my ear. It was so loud and it hurt. My head hurts. What was that?" I panted.
Jasmine eyes widened. "I think I might know...but I'm not sure."
"Well how can you become sure?" I asked quickly.
She blinked. "Well...I would have to ask Monica her opinion on it."
I frowned. "Fine. Whatever. If there is a possibly that she could help, then call her."
Jasmine pulled out her burner phone. "We should keep walking."
We slowly continued down the side f the small town street. I could still hear the gun shots in the distance. With each deadly sound, I jumped a little.
Monica began to talk to her phone.
She explained my symptoms to Monica and then said, "Yeah, that's what I thought. How do I explain this to her...I don't know...You're right, hold on." Jasmine turned to see my nervous face. "She wants to talk to you about this." She pushed the phone in my direction.
I grumbled and put it to my ear. "Tell me what the hell is happening and don't leave anything else."
"Okay." Monica's voice responded; I hadn't heard that sound in a month. "Claire, it sounds like you have a magical connection for some reason with someone in that village." She explained. "The sound appeared when you were near the person. Do you have to track them down and try to help them."
"What's a magical connection?" I asked.
"Well...it varies for different people. Most of the time it's just a person who has the same power level as you and you two travel on the same magic wave length. Your paths are meant to pass at some point in your life. It is always so you can help the person and they can help you." She paused to take a breath. "Sometimes...well, you see sometimes the person you meet is your soulmate."
I stopped walking and listened intently.
"But the odds of that are quite low!" She protested. "It's like 1 in 10 connections or something like that. In fact, Jasmine and I were connected and we were soulmates. I helped Jasmine by giving her friends and family and she helped me by helping you. So, um, well you should just know that before finding them."
Well that got awkward.
"Right, okay Monica. But that won't happen to me, because I have a soulmate already. Thanks for the help." I hung up the phone and handed it back to Jasmine.
She shrugged and we continued to walk.
"Claire?"
"Yeah?"
"You know this is something that you are going to have to do alone...I can't help you. So I will go find the others to help them. Be careful and don't get lost." She smiled at me and picked up pace walking down the street.
"Okay." I said to her retreating back.
I slowly walked forward and focused on the noise. I could hear it. It was softer than before, but still there. I turned it I got and cold with the noise in my head. On the left of the street I was on were little shops, but to the left were houses. The houses looked the same, all small with two stories and had about five yards between them.
I walked down the street and the sound grew louder in my hear until it was the piercing sound I encountered before. I was in front of a simple brown house like the others. This one looked nicer then some of the others. It turned to walk up to the house's front door and the sound grew. I turned back around and tried walking in different directions. Every turn I took had the sound getting quieter, so this was the house.
I knocked on the black door. There was no answer.
Should I break in?
I was about to turn back down the steps when the door suddenly flew open. There was no one behind it. It had to have been opened by magic. I shrugged and walked in.
It looked like a normal person's home with furniture and things. There weren't any photos that I could see, so I kept looking around for whoever I was supposed to meet.
"Hello?" I called to an empty living room.
I turned to go into the kitchen. "Hello?!" I asked again.
There was still no reply.
"The door opened." I said and then mumbled. "Possibly by magic."
I walked back into the skinny hallway. The stairs were in front of me now. There was another door to the right, but it was only a bathroom. I looked at the steps and noticed something. I leaned in closer and saw something red. Blood! I swiftly turned and saw a little trail leading from the door o the stairs and up.
How did I not notice that before?!
It looked fresh too.
"Hello?!" I shouted. "Do anyone here near help?!"
I moved up to the top of the stairs. I wrapped around the corner and saw three doors lining the hallway.
Then I heard a voice. It was quiet and hard to heard over the jack hammer.
"Where are you?!" I called out.
I opened the first door. It was a little girl's bedroom which was obvious by the pink walls and unicorn stuffed animals. There was also a twin sized bed that wasn't made with purple sheets. I shut the door and opened the next one. A bathroom for the little girl. The curtain was pink and there was a little stool by the counter that was purple probably for her to be able to use the little pink toothbrush. 
I slowly reached for the knob to the last door and heard the person again. It sounded like a woman's voice.
"Help!" She yelled from behind the door.
I opened the door and the noise in my head ended. The pain subsides as I observed my surroundings. Stupid me could have just followed the blood trail to the room. There was more blood in the room leading all the way to the bed. Around the bed were tissues and towels that were drenched in the red fluid. Laying on the bed was the woman. Her hair was a dark brown and she wasn't white. She looked Greek possibly, but I wasn't sure. She was gorgeous in her thirties.
I ran over to her. "Oh my god! What happened?! How can I help?!" I asked.
She took a deep breath and moved the hand she had covering her chest under her left breast. She dropped a blood soaked rag and sighed. I observed the obvious large bullet hole.
My eyes teared up. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. Let me help! I should call..."
"No." She cut me off. "I need you to listen to me. I heard it too. We're connected."
"Yes." I nodded.
She grabbed my hand sneering blood on it.
She put on a begging expression. "You need to help her! You need to save her."