The Cursed Pandemic

Amelia scowled as Flint called them love birds. "Not....love birds..." She grumbled sitting at the table and grabbing a large glass of Orange Juice. She couldn't believe her roomie had just left her alone with a guy all night. Granted...Locke seemed to be the trustworthy sort and for some reason had been and was genuinely concerned about her well-being. It was a new experience having someone actually care about her genuinely and not just cause they needed something out of her.
"How's the new kid?" She asks, changing the awkward topic.
 
"Doing fine." Flint replied. "Tex and Mini have been watching over him in Tex's room. Figured you wouldn't mind Torch." Giving Locke a wink. "Kid was a blubbering mess when he showed up, but Mini's a special kid. If I didn't know better, I would've sworn that her actual Para ability was being able to make everyone around her happier, I'm sure he'll be ready to get used to life around here soon enough."

Locke was grateful to hear that, but remained silent. Still feeling guilty about everyone else having to pick up the slack for his failure. He knew he needed to be better than that and was more than willing to take Ame's advice about learning from it and moving on. He'd be better next time, he swore it to himself.
 
At that moment, Tex, Mini and Gabriel come down the stairs. Mini was holding Gabriel's hand with a sweet little smile on her face. "Hi!" She waved to everyone.
"Hey, the Sun Queen is up. How are you faring, M'lady?" Texas asks with a smirk and a teasing bow.
"Call me M'lady again and I'll show you." Ame threatens.
Texas laughs and plops down next to her on the couch, putting an arm around her shoulders. She frowned, none-to-happy with that but had no where else to move with Locke on her other side. Texas did introductions for Gabriel. "Now, Gabriel...I think you owe a couple of people an apology for what you did yesterday. Hmm?"
 
Gabriel had a nervous and guilty look on his face. He approached Locke and Ame, trying his hardest to meet their eyes. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused yesterday. I should've listened to you Mr. Locke, instead I was stupid and tried to take the easy way out. You hurt yourself saving me Ms. Amelia, I'm sorry for forcing you to do that. I promise I'll try my best to make up for what I've done."

Locke gave him a heartfelt smile. "No worries, you're safe now, that's all that matters." After that Mini pulled Gabriel by his arm to come and join the other kids at their campfire while everyone else showed up. "Alright listen up gang." Flint announced when everyone was around the campfire. "It's grocery shopping time. We're low on meat, and low on fish for Ariel. The heat is still heavy in the area after the ruckus we made rescuing Gabriel, so we'll need to keep inconspicuous. Any volunteers?"
 
"Yo! I'm all about those inconspicuous missions!" A figure came up to stand beside Locke. It was like seeing someone with a bad connection. Their body fluctuated in and out of visual contact, remaining mostly invisible but sometimes, briefly, a dark face and body would come into view. The figure seemed to turn to Locke. "What up Flame-boy. I'm the ninja in this group. I hate my real name so everyone calls me Shadow." The guy shakes his hand.
"I'll go." Ame shrugs.
"Oh, no. You're staying here for another day." Texas says firmly. "Don't want to push your para too much, especially after yesterday."
"That was nothing. I'm fine." Ame protests.
"Nothing!? You were passed out for 12 hours. I wouldn't call that nothing. You're staying. Ok, Locke, Shadow, Flint...anyone else?" Texas looks around.
 
As Ame grumbled to herself, Locke leaned over and whispered in her ear, "At least he's not asking you to babysit." That task was normally Claire's job, taking care of the kids when she wasn't needed to repair something. Since it seemed no one else wanted to volunteer, the three of them climbed into the same truck that Texas had used to bring them here two days ago. Flint in the drivers seat, Locke next to him, and Shadow in the back.

On the way into town, Flint went over the plan. "Alrighty, Torch since you were involved in rescuing Gabe, you'll likely be the one their looking for, keep that hood up and try not to get in any trouble. Shadow, you're with me, try to keep yourself invisible and keep an eye out for any heat. Remember, we're just grabbing food today, meat, fish, oh and eggs if you find some for cheap. Not essential but keep an eye open." Locke nodded, pulling his hood up, he only hoped that such a simple sounding mission wouldn't go wrong.

Arriving at the local convenience store, Shadow seemed to disappear completely from Locke's view. He jumped when the guy suddenly opened the truck door and hoped none of the common folk saw that. He nodded to Flint as they split up. Plan was to meet at the registers in half an hour. Locke went over to the frozen foods section, found some bacon, steak, hot dogs and hamburgers. At the designated meet up he saw that Flint was approaching with a cart filled with fish and buns for the hot dogs and burgers, along with an assortment of sauces. Looks like they were on the same page. He did wonder what happened to Shadow though.
 
Shadow had climbed onto the roof of the store and was looking out for any danger. A suspicious looking van had pulled up into the store parking lot and was just sitting there with the engine running. Shadow climbed down and got closer to the van. "Maybe the sensor was faulty, the gun isn't reading any cursed in there."
Shadow's heart started beating faster. They had a sensor for Para's now!?
"Keep looking. Maybe they're hidden behind someone or something."
"I dunno...oh, wait. Yeah, I see one. Two...there are at least two para's in there buying groceries."
"Wait until they get to the exit then shoot them."

Shadow pulled open the door suddenly and stabbed a knife into the heart of the would be sniper. The driver freaks and is about to scream when a second knife cuts his throat. Shadow wipes the blood from his hands and closes the doors to the van. He calls Flint's cell. "There's a sensor in the store. They know you're in there. Get the stuff and get out!"
 
"Got it." Flint said. Quickly hanging up. "We gotta move, they know we're para's. Just grab and go." Locke nodded as they each grabbed entire handfuls of what they could and ran out of the store. Multiple people shouting at them to stop as the alarm sounded in the store. Shadow was already flickering inside the truck when they got to it. They quickly threw their food in the back and peeled out as fast as they could go.

There were no signs of police showing up yet, Locke hoped it would stay that way. Looking back over to Shadow, he noticed the blood stains on his shirt when he flickered back into view. "You've got blood on you man, what the hell happened out there?"
 
"Sniper. I took him out before he could get you guys." Shadow replied. "Damn it..." He punches his fist against the back of the seat. "They have sensors all over the city now. Things that can detect Para's. As if the laws against us wern't enough! Every last one of those soldiers needs to die." He exclaimed in rage.
 
"Shadow, take it easy. You're not gonna be able to handle that many soldiers by yourself." Locke tried to soothe Shadow down. "Torchy's right. We're just gonna have to make due. Head to a smaller town that hasn't had those sensors installed. You go on a killing spree, things are just gonna get worse." Flint added. This would be a discussion that the whole group needed to have.

As they pulled into the motel, Locke did a quick search of the truck to make sure it wasn't tagged while the others helped with the groceries. Once everyone got settled, the group relayed the story to the others. "Heading into the city is out of the question now." Flint said. "They'll be having a sensor installed in every store. Options are, we stick to natural foods I can grow, we start up a farm, or we find ourselves a less populated town to do our shopping activities in."
 
"Or, we get in contact with Haven." Texas suggests, his arms crossed. Everyone looks up at him. "Mini has been having these...cluster dreams. Sensing multiple para's in the same spot. Kinda like what we have here but on a larger scale. It's possible there's either a larger safe-house out there...or an actual Haven." He sits down. "I'd like to send a group of people to check it out with Mini. The approximate location is a couple days drive from here. Normally, she wouldn't sense para's that far away...but alot of people clustered together might have allowed her ability to pick up on it. Unfortunately, I can't go. I have to watch over things here. Is there anyone willing to take a risk and go with her?"
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rue
"I'll go darling. I suggest the people who just went out stay behind and get some rest as well." Claire spoke with a silent authority. Locke was a bit taken aback though. "What? No way, I didn't use my power at all during that food run, so I'm fine. I'm coming along." Claire looked at him slightly concerned, but nodded, impressed by his determination. "Very well, so that's Mini, myself, Locke. Who else would like to volunteer?"
 
"Yeah, I'll go." Ame replies.

"Good. That's makes four. That should be plenty. Pack up everything you need for a week long trip. You guys leave early tomorrow morning."
"Already packed. I'm always ready to go." Ame says, leaning back on the couch. The others leave to begin their own packing leaving Locke and Ame alone for the minute. "So, what happened out there? Did Shadow really kill a couple guys?"
 
Last edited:
"Yeah, sniper and a driver. They would've killed Flint and me if it wasn't for him. Poor guy was pretty upset about the whole thing." He turned to look at her. "How about you? Feeling a bit better since this morning?"
 
"Yeah. Much better. Been sitting out in the sun all day." Amelia nods. She waited until someone passed through the living room and outside. "You think we're actually gonna find haven?"
 
"I don't know Sparky. If our meeting was nothing but a trap, I have a bad feeling that Haven's the cage. I'd be ready for a fight." He knew he would be, he'd try to cling onto the hope that Haven was real and one of the flyers just got intercepted, but he wasn't going to fool himself.
 
The team left early the next morning with XO and Mini leading the way. Claire drove while Locke and Amelia hung out in the back seat. In the bed of the truck was several extra gallons of gasoline for and fuel for XO and the truck. Along with everything they'd need to camp out during the night.
The travel wasn't all that bad. They talked about casual things, Ame shutting down whenever things got too personal but perking right back up about other things. The first night of their three day journey, they camped near a river in a clearing of trees. It seemed as good place as any.

Mini was already sleeping, tucked away in blankets and pillows in XO's arms and Claire had passed out soon after, tired from all the driving.
Ame was nibbling on a piece of jerky while she leaned against one of the tires of the truck. "You got a funny look on your face Torch. What'chya thinking?" She asks curiously.
 
"Just thinking up new ways to try and use my power." He told her. He'd been keeping the fire going in short little bursts, while deep in thought about how he could make himself more useful, more mobile. "Ok, so you know how Iron man flies by firing jets out of his hands? I'm wondering if I could do the same with mine."
 
Amelia snorted and then coughed. "Sorry, no...that's actually not a bad idea, but...it takes alot of fire power to lift off the ground. You sure you have that in you? You may just end up waisting more energy than you have."
 
He smirked at her. "Well you see, unlike some Sun Queens I know, I haven't found a limit to my fire power yet. I think I'll give it a try next time I'm not surrounded by flammable material. Had one too many forest fires happen on me because I tried stuff in the woods."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top