Changing Tides [JohnProudstar]

27

"We should go on a date." A smile covers my face, as John and I walk down the hall, to Marcos' apartment. He was shot last night, but Cait says its nothing serious. Probably just a graze. "Like a real one."

"What, right now? In the middle of all this?" He chuckles, while looking down at me.

"Yeah." I grin, "we might get shot at, or thrown in jail but I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Tell you what." John puts an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. "We make it through this, and I'll take you on the best date you've ever been on."

"Deal." I smile, opening the door to the apartment, to reveal Marcos laying on the couch, staring intently at his phone on the Coffee table.

"Trying to make that ring with your mind?" John questions sarcastically, upon noticing Marcos' staring.

"Yeah, kinda." Marcos chuckles.

"How you holding up?" I look to Marcos, who's clutching the side of his torso where he was shot.

"Well, I got shot." He says blankly.

"You're lucky it wasn't serious." John adds.

"I still haven't heard from Lorna." Marcos says, looking up at the ceiling.

"Could be a lot of reasons for that." John nods.

"And about 50 of them involve her getting killed." Marcos says, and I begin to fidget with my fingers. Lorna and I may not be on the best of terms, but I don't know what I would do if she died. "You know, she doesn't even know that things went sideways when I tried to grab Max." He sighs. "She's out there alone."

"Lorna is gonna be fine." John says, reassuringly. "She could always handle herself."

—
Marcos' phone finally vibrates from over on the coffee-table and he sits up, showing John and I the unknown caller ID.

"Who is this?" He puts the phone to his ear. After a few minutes, he hangs up, dropping the phone onto the table before looking to John and I. "That was Clarice."

"She called you?" I question, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah." Marcos nods. "The Purifiers are hitting the Morlocks. She needs our help."

—
"Where's Clarice?" I question, as John and I climb out of the silver SUV, along with Marcos who decided to drive the other truck, just in case we needed more room.

"I don't know. She said they'd be here." Marcos answers. "There." He points to the purple light shining from over in the alley. "Hey! Cars are up here! Let's go!" Marcos says, motioning the people coming out of the alley, over towards the trucks. I look to see Clarice, helping some of the littler kids across the street.

"You gonna be okay?" John puts a hand on my lower back, once noticing the indistinct look on my face.

"Yeah, it's okay." I place a reassuring hand onto his arm. "Just stay here a sec?" He nods, as I jog over to the purple haired girl, who I haven't seen in a few weeks.