Dead Inside

49.

"Dust Alex!" Portal Steve exclaimed. "Thank goodness we found you!"

"Why?" Dust Alex turned to face him. "What's going on? I something wrong? Do I have to help? Ooh, I love solving problems! I'm in!"

"Wait, what?" Portal Steve raised an eyebrow. "But, I haven't even explained why we need your-"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Dust Alex shook a finger at him. "No need explaining. I know what the problem is."

"You do?" Galaxy Steve questioned. He leaned closer to Alex and muttered, "She's good."

"I do!" Dust Alex smiled proudly with folded arms. "Emburn's alive and Bright Steve and her are getting married and we are invited so you and this group came all the way here to pick me up so we can head on down to wherever the wedding is taking place but Emburn needs a party planner and she has chosen me to do it." she stuck out her hand, palm up, in a 'See?' way. "Isn't it obvious?"

Green Steve face-palmed before motioning his hands to her. 

"Oh!" Dust Alex exclaimed. "Well, duh! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Before anyone could speak, she ran off with such speed, she was gone in seconds; the only thing left of her was dust flying through the air. 

"Dust Alex!" Portal Steve yelled after her. He ran a hand down his face in annoyance. "She hasn't changed one bit."

Dust Alex rushed back in a flash of dust and sand. "What is it? I thought we were going to go find the others!"

"We are," Portal Steve told her. "But you run so fast! We can't keep up. And besides, we don't know how to get out of here."

"Great!" Galaxy Steve fell back to the sand with his arms splayed out. "We're going to die, out here."

"No, we're not," Portal Steve said. He turned back to Dust Alex. "Could you run at a pace where we can keep up? And lead us out of here? We still need to find Blue Alex and Bright Steve."

"Bright Steve?" Dust Alex echoed. "I saw him yesterday! He's not far from here!"

"Where is he, exactly?" Portal Steve questioned her.

"No idea," Dust Alex responded. "Yesterday, he said he was getting supplies. Collecting fruits and nuts and picking flowers. It was strange, really, but I'm guessing he's on his way back to his cabin, by now."

"We have to catch up to him," Portal Steve told the group. "I know where he's going. He always goes there for the full moon." He turned to Sabre. "Remember what I told you how he and Emburn are thing?"

Sabre nodded. "What about it?" 

"He's going to the rainforest," he said. "The place he first met Emburn. He made his own grave there for her, hoping one day she would visit. But she can't, not when what can happen to her if she did. It's pretty dangerous and easy to get lost in, but Emburn taught Bright Steve how to survive so he is able to find his way in, and out. We can't. We have to find him before he goes into that rainforest."