The Majors, Cold Fury (Book 2)

Chapter 85: The Meeting in the Shadows

~Gemini~

I swept through the forest, pitch black and silent.

Like a blanket, darkness wrapped the tree trunks in thick coils that made it impossible to see more than three feet in front of me, the sky nonexistent from the leafy canopy above and the smoke clouding above.

The trees were void of the chirps and rustling of wildlife. Only the swaying of overhead branches could be heard within the deafening quiet.

The stitch in my side was growing with the deep inhales I took, my breathing ragged and strained from running. But I kept going. We were to meet in the Derelict Forest again...to deal with the damage.

I just hoped everyone's news was better than my own.

It was nearing midnight when I heard the crackling of fire, the smell of the surrounding smoke growing stronger, this time welcoming, the scent filling my nose.

I heard a murmur of voices come to a sudden halt when I tripped over shrubbery, causing a rustle to echo through the near woods.

I breathed a sigh of relief after catching sight of Fwhip's bright red hair in the light of the campfire.

"It's just me." I called out, just loud enough for them to hear, forcing myself through the trees and into the clearing.

"Gem?" A second voice replied. I matched it to Joel quickly, spotting the man sitting on one of the overturned logs. He didn't look in the best shape, however he was alive and that was good enough for me.

I spotted...six within the clearing. 

Shrub, Joey, Lizzie, Pixl, Pearl and of course...Scott, were missing of those who were supposed to arrive.

There was not a happy face sitting around the fire.

Fwhip was the same as I had left him nearly three days ago, his hair still singed on the ends, a smell of burning lingering around him. Now, Katherine seemed to match, her face stained with ash, a visible but not too serious looking burn tracing the side of her neck.

Jimmy sat rather close to Joel, his gaze in his lap. His expression seemed blank, flat and emotionless as he remained still next to his brother-in-law. He didn't seem any more injured than he had been a few days previously. Joel on the other hand seemed much more somber, all traces of mischief that he usually held gone.

And then there was Sausage...

He looked nearly as bad as Fwhip, his shoes nearly burned through. His staff was leaned up beside him, the ivory grey with dust. He had his face in his hands, and for once in his life he was completely silent, not even looking up to acknowledge my presence.

"Where's everyone else...?" I said, and although I hadn't intended it to, my voice was hardly a whisper.

Fwhip let out a deep sigh, his hands clasped in front of him, and elbows resting on his knees. He tended to do it when he was stressed, I should know. "We were...we were about to go over that. Everyone else just arrived."

I swallowed thickly, before taking a seat around the fire. The warmth did nothing to settle the cold dread I felt, my hands shaking with it as I placed them in my lap.

Again, there was silence for a few moments. I kept my eyes on the flames, watching as the oranges and reds pooled over the fuel and licked at the wood within the pit. Soon the image of the flickering tongues of fire was branded into my vision, remaining there even when I turned to let my gaze rest upon my brother again.

"Let's start with you Joel." Fwhip said, his own voice quiet, especially for him. "You went to go find Lizzie?"

Joel looked like he wanted to melt into the floor, slowly raising his head. "She...with the quakes something...happened. The ocean is gone...and her memory with it."