Erik

"We have no chance," the doctor grimly stated. "Against raiders and your armed tail, no." Enraged, he pounded his fist on the ground once, making all of us jump. "You never told us about this. Not one word. When we all agreed to blindly follow you."

"Hey," Josiah interrupted. "This argument is irrelevant right now. We need to cooperate."

"Cooperate? Do you really think cooperation will get us out of this nonsense, Nolett?" Mikhailov was far more exasperated than necessary.

"I mean we shouldn't tear each other apart when there's our common enemy prowling outside," Josiah explained.

"No! That's Miss Garcia's enemy, not ours!"

"You don't know the history behind--" Josiah closed his eyes and lowered the volume of his voice. "Never mind."

"Illya, stop it," Nikole added. She softly whimpered under her uncle's weight. She was suffering from an incurable disability, after all. Mikhailov moved his arm from his niece's back and clenched his fist.

I looked at Jessica, who was speechlessly absorbing in the fury directed at her. She slowly pulled out her gun from the hidden holster in her jacket and loaded the empty slots with bullets, lips pursed to form a decisive thin line. There was a complex maelstrom raging in her eyes; now I wasn't a great observer, but it didn't take much talent to catch the guilt, vexation, and slight terror melded in her blanch complexion. Jessica met my eyes for a fraction of a second. I sighed. I knew what was coming.

"You all stay in here," she voiced in an authoritative tone. "Yeah, it's my fucking fault, so let me right this." She rose to her feet and straightened the jacket. I got on my knees and gazed up at her.

"They'll kill you," I said.

"There's no other choice," she snapped back. "And I won't die."

"Fucking right," Soeun sniffled miserably and dug his face in his boyfriend's shoulder. "We're all going to die."

"No one's dying, babe," Josiah hushed him.

The shrill cry of a woman boomed from outside, cutting off our conversation.

"And we want that son of a bitch who shot our Fritty!"

With widened eyes, I glanced at Jessica, tilting my head. "Do you suppose that means..."

"...Yeah, I think it's you," she admitted.

"Okay great."

I, also, scrambled to my feet, disregarding Josiah's quizzical stare that seared my face. He grabbed me by the ankle and tugged at it once.

"What are you doing, Erik?"

"They clearly hold a grudge against me," I muttered. "Let me go, Josiah. Maybe...maybe Jessica and I can pull this off." I shook his hand off my leg and headed for the door.

"Splendid. The very two people we need to get to the promised land," the doctor remarked to himself for everyone to hear.

"Not helping!" So his niece admonished him.

"Look, I'm sorry for not informing either of you--," Jessica pointed at Doctor Mikhailov and Nikole, "beforehand. But...give me-us, a shot. Pray that we get back on this trailer."

"You don't need more arms?" Josiah asked.

"It won't even matter," she said.

"...Best of luck, Sica." The man gave a short nod, renouncing his attempt to stop her from confronting our vengeful foes with hardly any means of defending herself. Soeun murmured something under his breath, something containing the word 'Erik' so I could infer that it was perhaps a word of encouragement from him. From Soeun Jeong. That was something.

"Thanks, I'll need it," Jessica acknowledged Josiah's words and stepped outside the van. I followed her outside.

It was a sight. The type of sight that made my stomach churn and hauled my soul down all the way to the core of the earth in the glory of despondency. I silently cursed, "Shit," as I turned 180 degrees to take in the view of the semicircle of very minacious people with every weapon aimed at the two of us. Six raiders--masked, too, this time--were forming a widely spanned-out line on their motorcycles, creating a boisterous noise with the engines just to intimidate us. Jerome King and Gabriella Izabel were standing in the middle. King's gun was propped against his shoulder and Gabriella was tapping the muzzle on her right palm.

"Found them on the road," she began. "Girl, you are one talented bitch in making enemies." The familiar woman in smoky makeup jeered.

"I know. It hurt when you shot me," Jessica countered, tapping her waist with her revolver. That silenced Gabriella for an untold reason.

"Jessica, my dear," King purred. "It's been a while. Haven't you missed me?"

"Fuck you, too," Jessica curtly spat.

"I'll ruin that pretty little mouth of yours and teach you how to properly address me." King narrowed his eyes and shook his finger at the brunette.

"You ain't teachin' her nothin'," the woman in a black mask with a large X painted across it indignantly shouted. "We're gon' tear off her limbs one by one."

"Who the hell are you?" I boldly stepped up to ask this female raider. She was clearly the one who had yelled on top of her lungs for me to present myself before them. I had no weapons, no chance against her or any of them building a wall in front of us. Might as well be as gutsy as my guts allowed me to be, then. If I was going to perish anyway, I considered dying a reckless coward would be a more honorable death than dying a craven hero. Having Jessica by my side boosted the imprudent courage.

"Oh, ain't you lucky, boy," she responded. "You get to know who killed ya before you are killed."

"Entertain me?" I shrugged.

"The name's Fynna Sharde. Or shan't I say your doom?" She, to my surprise, yanked the plastic mask off her face to reveal her scarred face and bared her teeth like a wild lion. The charcoal curls flopped down on her shoulders. Her mouth was spewing venom as she spoke and from her eyes contemptuous ignition flared.

"Now, Fynna," King held out his hand to calm Sharde in the manner of a trainer trying to soothe a beast. "We had an agreement. Jessica Garcia is mine. You can have the boy and do whatever with him as you please."

I did not like this. I did not like this at all. They had sorted out an agreement. On what to do with us. Rather, how to expunge us from existence. My head was swimming, and a bead of sweat, in spite of the fairly chilly air, trickled down my face.

"Hell, no," Sharde fought back. "She took four of us down. You will give us the chance to rip off her arm."

"I like my goods undamaged. That's a sealed discussion," King intoned, brushing his long rifle with his hand.

"What are you going to do with her arm, anyway?" Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"Hey." Jessica snapped her fingers and walked a few steps closer to them in big, light strides. I watched her back in nervousness. "Stop speaking of me like some object. I'm not your damn goods, Jerome 'Motherfuc King'."

"Oh but you are, darling," he spread out his arm and beckoned Jessica to come closer. She merely crossed her arms and held her head up high while I internally cringed at the term 'darling'. It sounded way too wrong on so many levels coming from this disgusting man. Unlike how Jessica liked to refer to me in our conversations. "Come back to me and be my toy that you are."

"I ain't lettin' you take her unless I get to avenge my boys and boss," Sharde hissed.

"Back off, Fynna Sharde. You take out the anger on the boy. She is mine."

"That ain't enough, bastard."

Jerome King suddenly shifted his position and pointed the end of his rifle right under her chin but an inch away from her flesh. A predatory glint flashed across his eyes and a completely different aura shrouded him as if a condensed ball of his vile nature had been unfurled by a triggering action Sharde dared to take. Sharde flinched back and held up her hands to show the sign of defeat and surrender.

"End of the discussion, Sharde," he let out a bestial growl. He ignored her minions re-aiming their weapons at him. Gabriella was at his side, meeting the end of their weapons with her pistol with a silencer attached.

"...Fine," Sharde gulped and took a step back. "Lower your weapons," she commanded to the rest of them. It was probably humiliating for her, but guns were way more destructive than clubs or crossbows. Collisions were to be avoided.

"Don't touch Erik," Jessica warned Sharde.

"Go to hell, girl," the raider dismissed it. "Get 'im, boys."

"You'll regret it. I mean it," Jessica shouted when two masked men got off their motorcycles and began their march toward me. I held my ground.

"You won't be makin' me regret no nothin', bitch," Sharde cursed.

I was ready to fight them tooth and nail, seeing those two stoutly built figures approach. They didn't stop once on their way. Bile rose up my throat. I wasn't quite prepared to be lacerated, or decapitated. Nevertheless, two hands grasped my biceps with bruising force and I instantly knew my strength would be no match for theirs.

"Stop!" Jessica practically screamed. "He's a valuable asset!"

What?

"What?"

"What?"

Everyone halted in their tracks and braced from an unexpected bang that echoed in the air. Jessica fired once into space right above our heads where a vast, murky sky was unfolded. But what confounded me was not the gunshot. It was what she had said in advance. An asset? A valuable asset? What the hell did that mean?

"...Jessi...what are you talking about?" I inquired, violently shaking off the hands of the masked guys.

Jessica sent a sad glance at my direction and faced King, Gabriella, and Sharde.

"He's a valuable asset protected by the Elysian City Patrol. You lay a finger on him, and you'd see devastating consequences within a day."

A dead silence hung in the air. No one was able to process this new information. I blinked again and again, trying my earnest to register what she had calmly revealed at the last second. Asset...? Elysian City Patrol...? Consequences...? Every word she said was foreign. Very much so. I wasn't able to discern whether she was creating all this up at this second to save me or if it was the truth that was pouring out from her lips. If this was a lie, it was a considerably believable one, as her demeanor was convincing. So was it a fictitious story or not? Should I follow along or stay as blank as the others?

"You lie," Sharde whispered. "I don't believe you. I shan't listen."

"No, I'm not lying, you dumb fuck. We have a Patrol Leader a few miles from here, waiting for us. Leroy Dawson. Ask him, and maybe you'll be able to extend your lifespan."

Okay. I was puzzled. All this was an impossible conundrum to me. Leroy Dawson? Wasn't that a former Elysian resident that had agreed to be our broker? Also, had I not only escaped from my home in search of the one person that mattered to me most? Was this not a clandestine, personal journey? My skull was overflowing with questions that had to be answered. Otherwise, it would bust and fester my insides.

"Jessica, you'd better be honest," Gabriella said. She was wearing a confused expression. I knew, though, that mine would be worse.

"Well...fortunately, that has nothing to do with us. Unless you're going to tell me that you're somehow protected by the ECP, too," King grunted.

"Actually," Jessica tucked her revolver back in her jacket and then pointed at herself. "I'm in charge of taking him to Elysia. You'll suffer similar consequences if you touch me, too, Jerome." She put her hands on her hips and studied the overturned atmosphere. It was as if she was triumphant, almost. At least, the subtle change she had brought upon us was actually a formidable one.

"Nonsense," King exclaimed. "You just made it up."

"Like I said, jackass, meet Dawson and you'll see for yourself."

"As if I'm going to let you sneak away like last time!" he roared.

"Get your facts straight; you chickened out last time. Cowardly fucker," Jessica snapped. I couldn't see her face from my position but somehow I could tell she was smirking.

"You really buyin' this shit?" Sharde incredulously asked King.

"Shut up, Fynna. We can't risk it."

"You know why it took you so long for you to find me?" Jessica added. "That's because the ECP erased my recent tracks so I could roam about of my volition."

King contemplated these words and I, too, gave it a thought. It made sense and no sense at the same time the more I thought about it. I mean, I could not believe it. My head would just not accept any of it. Strangely, though, a part of me was wishing it was true. Possibly because it was our only way out alive of this situation.

"So if we confront this Dawson, you'll be able to prove it?" Gabriella chewed down on her thumbnail.

"Yeah. How many times do I have to repeat this? Brie, you are the intelligent one."

"Don't call me B-"

"Alright, I get it, Gabriella."

"We'll go with you to the meeting point, then. And hear for ourselves," King lowered his rifle and rubbed his beard.

"Really?"

"Yes. Really," King replied to Sharde in an annoyed fashion.

"I can't believe it," the raider mumbled to herself. Neither could I.

"My god, you're being rational for once in your pitiful life, Jerome," Jessica gasped in mock surprise. The audacity she had even under circumstance such as this one never failed to amaze me. It was on an inspirational level.

"One condition." He held up a finger. "You ride with Gabriella on our car while I go on your trailer. Fynna and her gang-"

"The Blackmasks, bastard," she interrupted. I couldn't help thinking how unoriginal that name was.

"Fynna and the Blackmasks," he corrected himself, annoyed, "will guard your party on the way. We won't be risking anything."

"Deal." Deal?

"Wait, Jessi, I don't know if this is a good idea," I blurted out. I heard Gabriella muttering 'Jessi' to herself disapprovingly.

"We gotta prove it, darlin'," she threw a sharp glance at me. Play along, it seemed to connote. So I zipped my lips. That confused me even more. Was all of this a lie?

***

So it came to be that on our way to Grand Canyon Village, we were escorted by the most dangerous foes with swapped members on our vehicles. Jessica was on King's sedan with her suit on, sitting with Gabriella and an injured raider in the backseat. That was the raider I had shot with an arrow when I was totally consumed by rage. I drove my Cadillac in my own suit provided by Josiah with a raider wielding a dagger seated beside me. Her bright pink locks were in stark contrast to the flawless chestnut hue of her skin and the lambent golden pupils that shone through the holes in her mask. Jerome King was in the first trailer, holding Josiah in check with his fancy rifle. The raiders decided to take Soeun with them because he seemed to be the 'weakest link' out of all of us in our party. Thankfully, no one was riding with the doctor and his niece. Instead, the Blackmasks surrounded their car in case they deviated from the road.

"Close the window. Radiation ahead," I said to the raider beside me. She did not utter a single word but did as I said. I assumed this was going to be a long, awkward, and silent ride. And of course, a perilous one. She looked ready enough to bury the knife in my chest should I make one wrong move.

"Happy trip," I said to no one in particular, starting the engine.

This, for sure, was nothing I had been expecting. It was the worst of discords; the wildest of coexistence.

And so our journey to the first destination resumed.

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Thank you for reading! Comments and votes are always appreciated. I will upload a new chapter every Friday (my time) or whenever I have the chance to, from now on.