The War That Never Ends

Chapter 8

Another short warning for a minor depiction of mental illness!

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"I'm sorry." Zoey whines once more as she lugs Tyler around with his arm draped on his shoulder. "I think I just got so scared I couldn't do it completely." The brunette laughs with a drained face as he limps across paved road, eyes flicking to his back where is injury rests half-healed.

"I told you it's fine." He assures. "It just hurts to put too much weight on it but you got the thing scabbed over, right?"

"Yeah, but scabs don't fix everything. It'll scar."

"I'm cool with that." He snickers, releasing a sigh through his nose. Zoey only frowns and they keep moving through the cool air. It nips colder than before. They move slowly across cracked pavement, past broken down cars and destroyed guardrails. Tyler hums a pleased tune as they move, his oddly positive mood making a soft smile stick to Zoey's lips. She looks down to her map and the compass Tyler holds out next to her. Her stomach drops nervously at seeing their position.

"Uh, Ty-?"

Loud crunching and whirring makes them stop and stare ahead. Before them, a large military truck swerves around them, stopping behind them with following two smaller vehicles stopping before them. People file out of the cars, hollering at them and brandishing guns and bayonets, waving the weapons at them.

Zoey releases a startled cry, dropping the map and holding her hands up swiftly. Tyler blinks as he stares at the uniforms surrounding them and the unnerving shouting pressing down on them. He pushes his bag off his shoulders, the military surrounding them pausing a moment. "Are you on side with the humans?" He calls out and Zoey turns a shocked eye to him.

"There's no need for-!"

"I have the T-14456!"

Silence engulfs them for a long moment.

"What?"

Tyler holds up his hand passively before reaching to his pocket and unzipping it, shuffling around for a moment before pulling out the flash drive. One of the infantry is directed to grab the flash drive. He grabs it and brings it back to his Lieutenant. The man examines the flash drive for a long minute. "How did you get your hands on this?" He asks in a gruff voice.

"We were in southern France and ran into an old soldier. We never got his name."

"Just you two managed to get this up here?"

"We had two others. We lost both of them." Tyler's voice is rough and Zoey angles her gaze down with a gentle nod. Another silent moment passes.

"Are you injured?"

"Bandits ambushed us and slashed up my back. She healed me a bit."

"A powered?" The tone is hostile.

"We had an animal and one other human with us but they both died saving us. She's no more harm to you and another human. She's fifteen." Tyler quickly defends and the man before him nods.

"Come with us."

Weeks pass.

Tyler sits on a dock, overlooking a muddied bay and he sways his legs slowly. He stares down at Adrian's butterfly knife with the animal swaying his legs next to him. The animal looks pleased, his ears ripped on the top of his head and his tail still snapped. Tyler flips open the knife and swings it around his fingers. "You know, I've always hated these sorts of knives. They're so damn useless." He grouses and Adrian's blue eyes look over. He laughs.

"Yet you seem pretty proficient with it."

"I suppose you're right."

They're engulfed by silence and Tyler notes how transparent Adrian's feet seem. He sighs through his nose and looks back to the knife in his hand. He closes it and slams it into the wooden dock next to him. Adrian grins toothily, the transparency climbing up to his knees. Wind brushes against them.