Peter Pan The Killer

Chapter 17: Peter Pan and His Neverending Secrets

"EM signal scramblers... Nice. No GPS trackers here. But my phone doesn't work either. Guess we're cutting off from the world." Belle's spirit diminished at the thought.

Crocker had led them off-road through a semi-hike till they reached a heavy four-wheel drive, parked in a clearing. The vehicle was revamped to prevent tracking. Belle took the passenger's seat since Peter wanted to stay as far away as possible from Crocker and wanted Gwen to do the same. Soon they were rocking precariously down a dirt path. When Crocker said he was planning to take the long way round undetected, he was serious.

Gwen glanced at Peter who was leaning against the window, arms crossed. At first, his eyes were darting around, mind on full alert. He still had not relaxed, but his gaze turned distant. She noticed him unconsciously clutch the pendant around his neck.

He was hiding something. Well, he was hiding a lot of things. But he remembered key information last night that he was not willing to share. It must have been traumatizing because for some reason, he started doubting her trust. There was a pang in her chest when he claimed he was just another Anna to her.

Was it true?

She was most definitely driven by her loss of Anna to help Peter. However, that was not all. Peter did remind her of Anna, but there were also some major differences between them. For starters, Peter's trauma had brought him past depression and towards psychotic behaviour. Then there was the fact that she had no reason to help him. Anna was her sister. Peter... Peter was someone else.

She felt a gnawing in her heart. She cared for him despite having no reason to. Despite his flaws, his wrong-doings.

He must have noticed her staring. Peter's eyes met hers. He tilted his head as if asking her if anything was wrong. Gwen scooted nearer.

"Do you want to talk about those memories you regained?" Gwen whispered. Peter furrowed his brows in contemplation.

"Crocker... His entire presence has triggered more of my memories. It's getting pretty hard to ignore," he replied.

Gwen slipped her hand into his. He gratefully squeezed it. "So I won't ignore them... In fact, I think the more I remember, the more I will uncover... Skul's plan," he muttered. Then he fell into silence, done discussing.

Gwen's gears had been turning since Crocker showed up. If his claims are true, then Skul must have done whatever it is he did it to Peter on him, and succeeded? Then why was he insistent on getting PXDST back? The silver pendant gleamed. Something was not quite right. Gwen had a suspicion, one she did not want to admit for the fear of losing the people she cared about. There was more to PXDST than just the pendant.

Peter was regaining memories. He would solve it in his head soon enough. But then what? Whose side would he choose? What if PXDST was far more dangerous than they knew, and Pauline's life was expendable in comparison? Somehow, Gwen knew, she had to figure this out on her own. She needed answers that Peter was not willing to give her.

Maybe Crocker could give her insight.

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It was after they made a stop that Gwen decided to switch places with Belle. Peter was far from pleased and they almost broke into an argument. However, Gwen did her best to assure him she was trying to pry information out of Crocker. She could not trust Belle to do it. Peter relented, but not without shooting death glares at Crocker's way.

"You fought with him or something?" Belle asked.

"No. I'm not that petty!" Gwen retorted.

Belle snorted a laugh, "Really? Bet you're still hard up on finding out about Peter's track record of girls," she replied.

A burning sensation filled her gut. Belle was toying with her. She had to be. "I'm not." She flicked her hair and got into the passenger's seat.

Once they had set off on the road -thankfully it was a road- she mustered some spirit to break the silence with Crocker. The loud grumbling of the engine made it close to impossible to hear low conversations from the back, she figured she had some privacy.

"So... How long have you been working with Skul?" She started, but was met with silence. Crocker was staring at the road as if she had not even spoken.

"You're like enhanced, right? Ever wondered why Skul did that to you?" She tried again. Still nothing.

"Do you know what PXDST is supposed to do? I'm just curious."

Gwen went on and on, hoping persistence would crack the guy. He was unfortunately as impassive as ever. Gwen slumped into the seat in defeat. If she thought prying information out of Peter was hard, Crocker was virtually impossible. She decided it was for the best to keep the PXDST questions on hold.

Thickets of trees whizzed past her, she saw the clouds grow darker. Soon rain came pelting down. Her backpack rocked between her legs, the single key chain ringing as it shook. The pendant with a tiny image of herself and Pauline hanging from it bounced. She shut her eyes and took a breath. There was one other question she forgot to ask.

"I know you're not too fond of answering me. But please, can you tell me what exactly has happened to Pauline?" Gwen said. Her voice was shaky and low, almost swallowed by the loud rain and engine.

But Crocker heard her. For once, he responded. It surprised her.

"Like I said, she's fine," there was an edge to his tone. He was holding something back. It made Gwen more nervous.

"Please... Tell me the truth." Although she had an urge to cover her ears if he did. Again she was met with silence.

Just when she was about to give up for the second time, he spoke in a whisper. "Gwen."

She sucked in a breath. She thought he did not know her name. But the way he said it, informally...

"She talks about you." Crocker's voice was barely a grumble, Gwen strained to hear him. Her heart was pounding.

"Y-you've spoken to her..." She muttered. He stared ahead, but now she could she his features soften. His hard set brows furrowed in what she hoped was slight concern.

"She speaks to herself a lot while in captivity."

They locked Pauline up in Skul's lair. As terrible as it sounded, Crocker made it sound that she was not dying or anything. But how could she be so sure? Pauline was a prisoner of psychopath and his assassin. Was she fed? Was she hurt? Was she on the brink of insanity? She was talking to herself.

"Did Skul torture her?" Gwen dared herself to ask whether she wanted to hear the answer. She thought she saw Crocker wince at her words. She saw his hands tighten around the steering wheel. Did those hands manhandle her best friend?

She felt nauseous and dizzy. A lump was forming in her throat, and her pulse was loud in her head. But Crocker's words after that threw her off.

"I made sure he didn't."

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A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter leave a vote and comment, Lost Boys. Chapter 18 will be out on 5 July 2020.

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