The Epic Tale of Cregan

Chapter 7: Begging

Cree grabs Regan's bag and pulls out the clothes he was told he would find. After Cree woke up, Regan headed down to the stream to grab some more water before they leave. According to the map Regan took from the prison, they are about a quarter of the way to a city called 'Balmoral', so that's their next agenda.

He still feels horrible, and his entire body is stiff and sore and any sudden movements cause his wounds to send sharp jolts all over his body. Because of this, he's careful as he pulls the white tunic on over his head. He grabs the simple black leather jacket Regan got him, then the matching gloves to hide his metal hand. Now that he's dressed, he rolls up his sleeping bag and packs it into his backpack. He finishes breaking down camp and walks over to the horses.

He unties the horses and leads them to the northern side of the camp, since that's the direction they're going to be heading in as soon as Regan gets back. He doesn't bother tying them down again as the horses seem to be pretty tame and show no signs of possibly running away. A good thing too, because Cree highly doubts he'll be able to make it to Balmoral on foot.

With nothing else to do but wait for Regan, he sits in the grass beside his horse and stares off in the distance over the field. After taking a deep breath, he closes his eyes and remembers his nightmare from last night.

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He's standing on the edge of a cliff, a rainless storm cycles around him, yet he feels no wind or chill. There is no ground beneath him that he can see, just an endless fog making the world below a mystery and above him is no sky, just a blank white void.

Looking at his hands, the metal that would usually be in place of his right arm has been replaced with skin.

Yet he still can't feel.

In the silence, he hears a sudden gunshot. He desperately searches for the source of the sound, but still finds nothing in the emptiness. But then he looks down.

He has a gun in his hand.

As he stares at it, he can hear a little girl crying. She's screaming and begging for someone to stop.

He realizes that she's begging him.

Stop what? What did he do wrong?

The screaming stops, and there is silence once again. But he can't get that girl's cries out of his head. He no longer has the gun. He still can't feel the wind nor the storm that carries on around him.

But as he focuses closer, he realizes that it's not just the wind.

He can't feel anything.

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"Tyrell!~ I have returned!" Regan wears a bright smile as he waves while walking over. He has Romeow tucked under his arm like a football.

Cree grumbles and opens his eyes, feeling for a brief moment that numbness carries from his dream. He pushes himself off the ground and crosses his arms. "Finally ready?" He frowns.

Regan nods and steps up to his horse. "Indeed I am! I've got plenty of water that should last us the day, Romeow is rested and ready, and Juliet's all saddled up!" He playfully pets the palomino horse's nose and giggles when it snorts in his face.

Cree raises a brow quizzically and tries to decipher what's going on in the lunatic's mind. "Juliet?" he questions.

Regan nods with enthusiasm that would scare an auctioneer and smiles at him. "Yes! That's what I named my horse! A beautiful lady like her deserves a beautiful, poetic name, don't you think?" He turns back to the horse and places Romeow in the leather saddlebag.