The rain drops hit with just enough size and frequency to drive a person mad. Like the drips of some sort of Chinese water torture, the droplets all seemed to smack Ian right between the eyes. A frustrated growl escaped his lips as he wiped away the wetness on his brow, it was the most anyone had said in the past hour.
Rayne winced at Ian's display. It was obvious that no small part of his frustration was because of her. He hadn't said anything to her about it yet, but the stone cold silence spoke volumes. He can't leave me alone for this... can he? Her stomach turned at the thought that he might not want her to stay with them anymore. She had no desire to try and survive out here alone again. However, despite her anxiety she couldn't bring herself to believe anything she had done was wrong.
Liv tugged at Ian's sleeve forcing the silent troupe to a stop. "I need to pee." She whispered into her brothers ear. Ian's eyes drifted down the abandoned street they had been traveling on. Tall winter stripped hickories spanning either side of the narrow one lane road, provided little cover, and it had been some time since they had left the small run down neighborhood where they had met Sophia. They had left in the middle of the night rushing from the infection riddled foreclosure and had been walking ever since, the small glow of the sun's silhouette behind the cloud cover gave Ian a guess at the time, mid morning, maybe ten. Everyone needed a break.
Ian chewed his lip, considering what to do. "I guess we should rest here for a bit." He cast a lamenting gaze around at the lack of places to hide, before finally pointing to the densest portion of the surrounding foliage. "Let's see if we can find you a private area over there."
They slogged through the mired undergrowth. "Alright, this place looks good." Ian muttered looking at a clump of three trees that were close enough together to hide behind. "Go ahead and use the bathroom then we will rest up a bit before we look for a place we can sleep."
The 7 year old put a hand on her hip and cocked her head to side, in a way that reminded Ian so much of his late mother he couldn't help, but crack a smile. "I am not going to use the bathroom with you standing right there."
Ian sighed, looking around again. "Fine. We will be over there by that fallen tree." he said finally, before leaning over to be eye to eye with his little sister. "Don't wander off, as soon as you're done you meet us over there. And if you see anything at all you yell for me. Promise?" the little girl rolled her eyes and nodded pushing him away and disappearing behind the trees.
The other two made their way to the place Ian had pointed out. Rayne hopped up onto the fallen log immediately laying down with a loud huff. "Finally, I don't know how much longer I could walk." Ian leaned up against the log and said nothing his eye still trained on where Liv was, a deep crease on his brow. "So how much longer are you going to pretend I'm not here?" Rayne blurted out.
Ian looked down at the ground. "What were you doing last night?" His eye sliding up to meet hers.
Rayne ran a hand through her matted crimson dyed locks, slowly playing with the ends wrapping and unwrapping them around her index finger in a nervous fidget. "Rayne? You must have been in the kitchen to hear the people in the basement. Why were you even out of the room?" The girl finally sat up jerking out her pack and tossing it down at Ian. He opened the bag and riffled through roughly, "Seriously!?" Ian growled "You were stealing food from the woman who had just taken us in and fed us out of kindness?!"
Jumping down from the log she stepped right up into Ian's chest staring up at him defiantly. "NO! I was stealing food from the crazy bitch who just threatened to throw us out of her house into a world full of blood thirsty demons." Turning around she waved her hands gesturing to where they were. "And guess where we are now!"
"We wouldn't have been thrown out in the middle of the night if you hadn't gone out and attacked the person trying to help us." Ian shouted back.
"Really? So you would rather we were still back there in a house full of infected people?!" Rayne nearly screamed. "You would rather Liv was still in that place?" Ian choked back on his anger for a second. "We have food when we wouldn't have because of what I did, and we are safely out of that infected house because of what I did."
"But you didn't know any of that before you decided to steal, what if it had actually been a safe place What if what you did ruined our chance at a safe haven?" Ian said rubbing his temples.
Rayne slumped back onto the log. "She said she was kicking us out. I am not going to go on faith anymore. This world is not kind to naïve people.... it never was" She paused for a moment her knuckles white as she clenched her fist. "You're not going to make me leave now are you?" her voice was almost a whisper.
A look of genuine shock painted onto Ian's face. "No. of course not." he shook his head almost as though to clear out the confusion. "But you can't do this. You say you can't trust people. Well, if you are going to stay with us you have to do at least one thing." He placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "You have to trust me." Turning away he rubbed the back of his neck. "I want you to talk to me first before you do something that puts me, and my sister in danger." Ian hopped up onto the log next to her, laying down, crossing his arms on his chest, and closing his eyes. "As long as you can do that you can tag along with us as long as you want."
Rayne stared at him for a long time silently. Is this guy for real? Finally she smiled and nodded "You have a deal Dudley"
"Dudley?" Ian asked propping up on his elbow to look over at her with an arched eyebrow.
"Dudley Do-Right?" She said with a laugh. "Didn't you watch cartoons as a kid?"
Ian rolled his eyes. "Apparently not as much as you." Turning he glanced back to where Liv was suppose to be. "What is taking her so long?'
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Liv peered around the tree watching the loud exchange between her brother and Rayne. Why are adults always fighting over things. She wondered to herself. People need to learn to just get along.
A blur of movement shot past the corner of her eye The hair pricked up on the back of her neck as she spun around, only to see a soft chestnut bubble of color sitting about ten steps away. Long ears flattened against the small creature's back as it sat frozen under Liv's watching eyes. "A rabbit" she whispered with a giggle. Pulling up a handful of still slightly green grass, she motioned to the animal. "Here little guy come get something yummy."
The rabbit hopped off tentatively and Liv followed, easing slowly so as to not scare it into a full on run. She tried to lure it back, to no avail, each step she took had the animal taking another to keep the distance. Finally she gave up, turning back she noticed she had actually wandered a fair bit from the spot Ian had told her to stay. But she could still see the two of them on the fallen log, so she decided to head back.
A gust of wind sent a chill down the girls back, the temperature dropping quickly. The small droplets of rain had been largely shielded by the sparse branches of the thin forest, but one by one rogue splashes hit the girl's face, a second later she was soaked through. A roll of thunder had her at full sprint. She could see her brother heading towards her as well, holding his sword in one hand, the other hand vainly trying to shield his eyes from the sudden downpour.
She slowed down to a walk at the comforting sight of her older brother. Suddenly her world went white. The blinding light reached down from the clouds overhead touching the tree in front of her like a finger of God. The clap of thunder that followed had the frightened youth crouching on the ground holding her ears. In a fraction of a second the world around her changed. The white light turned to a flicking yellow as the leaf bare hickory burst into flames from the lightning strike.
The flaming pillar crashed to the ground and the fire spread, jumping from tree to tree like some sort of living thing. Before she knew what was happening there were flames all around her. The heat billowed in waves, smoke quickly filling her vision, and the roaring crackles of the flames completely drowned out any other noise. As a result Liv found herself unable to find any signs of her brother.
She dropped to the ground hugging the earth as hard as she could, sucking at the tiny wisps of air still clean enough to breath. She dug into the cool mud covering her arms and legs desperately trying to keep the blistering heat from her. Tears streamed down her face both from the smoke burning in her eyes as well as the shear terror.
The darkness came on slowly, first the vision ebbed from the far corners of her eyes, slowly receding until only a small tunnel of color connected her to the world. Sound went next deadening everything until even the shrieking snaps of the wet wood burning sounded like the soft pops of popcorn in the microwave. Then nothing....
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"Daddy, it's hot" Liv whined wiping sweat from her forehead, as she hugged the small tabletop fan that provided the sole source of cool air in the modest bedroom she shared with her brother.
Sitting down on the bed next to her, the small man looked more like her grandfather than her dad. The little hair left on his balding head was several different shades of gray, which matched his wrinkled brow nicely. Working two jobs and raising two kids alone had take its toll on the poor man. "I know Honey. The AC broke, just as soon as possible I will get it fixed." Running his forearm across his own forehead, the sleeve of his off white button up shirt came away with a long wet streak, that matched the stains under his arms. "We just don't have the money right now. But soon Hun I promise." Patting his little girl's head he rose from the bed walking back into the living room.
"It's not fair!" Liv grunted, crossing her arms to pout. "Christi from my class has a pool, a big screen TV, and a dog. I don't even get air conditioning." Tears welled up in her eyes, as she looked across the room to her brother. "I am not asking for everything Christi has. I just want to not be miserable!"
Her brothers eyes softened, putting down the book he had been reading, he crossed to her side of the room and sat next to her on the bed. He sat there quietly for several minutes. "It's that dang dragon." He said finally. The young girl arched her eyebrow quizzically up at her brother, who just continued nonchalantly. "Yup. Dad tried to slay it yesterday, but its a tough one." He looked down slyly. "You know those dragons sure do love capturing princesses. I guess Christi just isn't enough of a princess to attract her own dragon."
The little girl jumped up giggling, standing on her bed. "Not a dragon!" she yelped laughing. "What are we going to do?"
Ian stroked his chin thoughtfully, then suddenly sprang up and disappeared down the hall. A few minutes later he returned, his hand was behind his back. "I don't think Dad brought out the big guns last time." Sliding a toy squirt gun out from behind his back he blasted his little sister with an ice cold stream of water.
"AAAHHHH!!" she screamed laughing "You are working with the dragon!"
"And now I have you just where I want you" Ian chanted back in his best villain voice, rushing over and tickling her into a fit...
A splash of cool water brought Liv back to the waking world. Sitting up she saw she was sitting back on the street, the forest fire still raging only a dozen yards away. Ian stood over her holding a water bottle he had gotten from Rayne's pack. "Liv are you alright?" his gentle voice was laced with fear.
Liv only smiled up at him, whispering in a raspy voice "You have been working with that dragon again haven't you?"
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